Nagpur: Opposition parties in Chhattisgarh have threatened to go on protest if the government fails to order a probe into the alleged extrajudicial killing of two tribals by the police. The incident took place in the Maoist-infested Bastar region near Purungal-Dokapara on January 29. The spot is located near the Dantewada-Bijapur district border.
The State police has claimed that two Maoists, identified as Bhima Kadati and Sukmati Hemla, were killed in the encounter and weapons including a rifle were recovered from them.
The villagers approached tribal activist and AAP leader Soni Sori and other political parties for support, and have refused to bury the bodies. “Hemla was Kadati’s sister-in-law. They were returning after meeting Kadati’s brother Baman in Kirandul town on January 28 when they were picked up by the security forces. They were killed on January 29. The villagers told me that neither had Maoist connections. The condition of Hemla’s body suggests she may have been raped before being killed,” Ms. Sori told The Hindu .
‘Police putting pressure’
Ms. Sori alleged the police is trying to destroy evidence by burying the bodies. “The villagers have protected the bodies for over 20 days, but security forces are trying to compel villagers into burying them.”
The Congress, led by Dantewada MLA Devati Karma, extended support to the villagers’ protest and appointed a team to probe the matter. Former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s Chhattisgarh Janata Congress (CJC) has already begun protests over the issue. Mr. Jogi led a protest march to Chief Minister Raman Singh’s residence in Raipur on Saturday, accompanied by relatives of the deceased. They demanded a second post-mortem and a judicial probe.
Mr. Jogi’s son and Marwahi MLA Amit Jogi has already threatened to perform the last rites in front of the Chief Minister’s residence in Raipur if the police personnel responsible are not arrested. AAP leader Sanket Thakur said he is accompanying the victims’ relatives to Bilaspur to file a case in the high court. Mr.Jogi has also said he would move the HC over the issue.
SP (Dantewada) Kamlochan Kashyap denied the allegations. “An encounter had happened on January 29 in which two Maoists were killed. Both were Maoists and a part of senior Maoist leader Ganesh Uike’s supply team. They had a number of cases registered against them in various police stations of Bastar. Post-mortems were conducted on both bodies, and they were buried on January 30. However, some elements asked the villagers to exhume them. We can’t do much about the politics being played over this incident,” he said.
