Tribal woman killed in Dantewada: Family alleges rape and murder

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A 24-year-old tribal woman was gunned down in an alleged maoist encounter in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh by District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel on May 31. The DRG claimed that they had found arms and ammunition on her, along with the bag and other essentials carried by Maoists. Her mother, however, claims that she was picked up from their house by the police and alleges that when the body was handed to them, it was mutilated. The mother also alleges that her daughter was raped.

Her mother has written to the station-in charge that in the early hours of May 30, her daughter was taken away by some female constables and also named 7 DRG personnel who forcibly took her with them. She states that they chased the vehicle for at least half a kilometre and the next morning when they approached the police they were redirected to Dantewada where they were informed that their daughter died in police firing. In the letter, the family also alleged their daughter’s body had injuries on her breasts, thighs and her hand, reported Indian Express.

The Sarpanch of the village supported the claims of the family and told IE, “She was to get married in June. She had been involved with maoists around five years ago, but had returned home a couple of years back. There were no weapons in their house, and she did not carry any on her either”. A senior police official told IE that the family was being forced to protest by Maoists.

IE also reported that Dantewada SP Abhishek Pallava stated the woman was a member of platoon No 16 and her name had come up in the interrogation records of all surrendered and arrested Maoists of Indrawati Area Committee of CPI (Maoist) and her platoon.

Further, Bastar IG P Sundarraj stated that DRG received a tip-off about the presence of Maoist cadres and an operation was launched in Gumalnar area. In the exchange of fire, the concerned woman died. “She carried a reward of ₹2 lakh. Two country-made weapons and improvised explosive devices IEDs were also recovered from the site,” he said.

A few weeks ago, Sukma District Collector directed an inquiry into the firing on May 17 that allegedly resulted in 9 deaths whereby security personnel claimed that they had 3 Maoists had died in the firing. Thousands of villagers had gathered to protest the decision to set up a security camp at Silger, Sukma and the police maintained that they were protesting under pressure from Maoists and that those who were killed were Maoists in the garb of protesting villagers.