The Chhattisgarh police on Monday provided security to social activist Bela Bhatia after she complained that her house in the Maoist insurgency-hit Bastar region had come under attack by vigilante groups.
Additional Inspector General of Police (Administration) Abhishekh Pathak, in a press note, said, “Today [Monday] residents of Pandaripani village protested against Bela Bhatia in front of her house. The police team reached the spot immediately and pacified the villagers. A 15-member team, including four women constables, led by sub-inspector Krupal Singh Gautam has been posted at Ms. Bhatia’s house to provide security to her.”
Ms. Bhatia, a former visiting faculty at Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences, alleged that 30 people barged into her rented house in Parpa village of Bastar on Monday and threatened her of serious consequences if she did not leave the region within 24 hours.
Ms. Bhatia, who has been living in Bastar since 2015 on research, is actively involved in raising issues of human rights violation in the region. In a statement posted on social media group, she said, “The group threatened to make their way into the house and said I would have to leave immediately or they would burn down the place. I somehow persuaded them to allow me to change [my clothes] and said I would leave the house after that.”
The group made the houseowner sign a statement that Ms. Bhatia would vacate the premises by Tuesday. “They threatened the landlady and said she must see to it that I move out immediately. I kept assuring them that I would do so as soon as possible. My landlord and his son were called to the local police station yesterday and they have told me that I must leave.”
Ms. Bhatia said, “The village headman was also present at the spot with the mob. Though the inspector of Parpa police station arrived after half an hour, the mob continued to issue threats.”
Ms. Bhatia said she has informed Bastar District Collector about the incident. Bastar range Inspector General of Police Shiv Ram Prasad Kalluri did not respond to the calls from The Hindu . However, a member of a police-backed anti-Maoist group claimed that villagers had surrounded Ms. Bhatia’s house accusing her of being “hand in glove” with Maoists.”
Isha Khandelwal, a member of the legal aid group that was forcibly evicted, said, “Bela Bhatia was being threatened repeatedly over past few weeks. She had recently accompanied a team from the National Human Rights Commission to Bijapur.”
Two Maoists killed
Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh police on Monday claimed to have killed two Maoists in Bijapur district.
“Two bodies of Maoists in uniform were recovered along with a 303 service rifle, a 315 rifle and a Bharmar (muzzle loading gun) in Bijapur district. The encounter took place in the forest near Padmetta village under the Bedre police station limits between Maoists and a composite police party of the District Reserve Guard, the Special Task Force and the CRPF led by Bijapur Additional Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg,” said Bijapur District Superintendent of Police K.L.Dhruv in a statement circulated to the media by Mr. Kalluri.
