Deogarh: A young girl who was declared by Deogarh police Tuesday as a surrendered Maoist has opened a can of worms for the police department.
Reports emerged that the girl, who was arrested by police when she was not even 18 years old and was kept in custody for last two years, was propped up before mediapersons Tuesday as a surrendered Maoist only after she turned 18 recently.
The girl, identified as Sabitri Murmu (18), hails from Krushnapur village under Telkoi police limits in Keonjhar district and was reportedly an active cadre of the Kalinganagar Maoist division comprising Jajpur, Deogarh, Angul, Keonjhar and Rourkela districts.
Sabitri joined the Maoist fold in 2008 after dropping out of school when she was only a Class IV student. Her role as a Maoist and her surrender was announced Tuesday to media by SP Sara Sharma. Quoting Sabitri, Sharma said the girl left the Maoist fold as she was feeling let down and insecure, and that she wanted to get back into the mainstream of society.
Sharma was however struggling for answers when asked specifically on Sabitri’s exact role in the Maoist fold. Sharma was unable to provide details of any cases pending against Sabitri in any of the police stations in the state.
Sharma said Sabitri will be taken on remand for further investigation, adding that she would be given requisite compensation as put in place by the state government for surrendered Maoists.
Sabitri, after coming in contact with top Maoist leader Sushil (now deceased), was helping lure gullible tribal youths into the Maoist fold. She was mostly active in Nagira, Phatamunda, Rengali, and Pallahara areas of Angul district, and in Mahulpada, Kumudi, Tikayatpali in Rourkela, Harichandanpur, Ghasipura, Telkoi, and Pithagola in Keonjhar district and in Daitari, Kaliapani, Tomka and Tikarpada of Jajpur district, according to police.
Reliable sources, however, refuted the version of police stating that police are not coming clean on the full details of Sabitri’s surrender. According to available reports, Sabitri had met Keonjhar police officials two years back and had expressed her desire to surrender before them.
Instead of accepting her surrender, the Keonjhar police instead handed her over to Deogarh police who kept her in their custody and used her to extract information on other women Maoists such as Jaya, Jayanti and Rashmita of Kalinganagar division.
Interestingly, the above mentioned Maoists had surrendered before Jajpur police one year back. Rejecting the police version, Sabitri’s family members in Telkoi said their daughter was in the custody of Deogarh police for the last two years and was in touch with them twice a week. SP Sharma, however, rejected the charges.
Observers demanded a high-level probe into these charges and sought the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission to unravel the truth. PNN
