In a show of humanity, a jawan of district force (DF) of the state police on Monday saved life of a Naxal, who was injured in the Sunday’s gunbattle between the Maoists and security personnel at Mankell in Bijapur district, by donating his blood in a hospital at Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh.
A joint team of DF, special police officers (SPOs) — tribal youth recruited by the Chhattisgarh police for anti-Maoist operations, and Border Security Force (BSF) raided a Maoist camp on the foot of Mankell hill on Sunday, following a tip off.
There were heavy exchanges of fire between them, in which one Maoist was killed and another injured. The injured Naxal, Mangulu Manti, was rushed to the hospital at Bijapur. Later, he was shifted to the government hospital at Jagdalpur in Bastar district, when his condition deteriorated. The injured Naxal needed blood immediately to arrest his fast declining health. The jawan of district force C.L.Hidri was part of the Mankell operation and accompanied the rebel to Jagdalpur, volunteered to donate his blood.
When contacted, the jawan said,“ I am happy that I was able to save someone’s life. It never occurred to me that I was donating my blood to a Naxal against who we are fighting”. “When the doctors desperately looked for blood to save the Naxal, the jawan himself volunteered to donate his blood”, a senior district police officer told this newspaper.
Later, Mangulu thanked the jawan. “I had never come in association with policemen in my life. I have been with the Naxalites for the last five years and I have been indoctrinated to consider policemen as enemy of the tribals. But my heart has now changed and I can see the real side the policemen”, the police officer quoted Mangulu as saying after he regained his consciousness.