Hundreds of women took part in the International Women’s Day celebrations organised by the banned CPI (Maoist) in the Sileru area of the Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) region on Thursday. The Maoists appealed to the women to join in the outfit to fight against the atrocities against the women in the region.
They demanded that the State government conduct an unbiased inquiry into the involvement of policemen in sexual assault and rape of tribal women of Vakapalli, Balluguda and Kundili in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The meeting was organised by the cadres of Andhra Orissa Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC), who demanded that the government punish the policemen for violating the rights of tribal women and committing crime against them. Highlighting some of the incidents, the left wing extremists alleged that the governments have been utilising the rapes and murders as weapon against the women in the conflict zones such as Chhattisgarh, AOB, Jharkhand, Bihar, Kashmir and the northeastern States.
Sources say that AOBSZC leaders Gajarla Ravi alias Uday and Naveen participated.
