I/II.
https://in.news.yahoo.com/soni-sori-moved-delhi-fears-034400006.html
Soni Sori moved to Delhi, fears for her children
The Indian Express
February 22, 2016
[Photo: Soni Sori moved to Delhi, fears for her children]
A day after tribal rights activist and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader
Soni Sori was attacked with grease-like chemical, she was moved from
Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh to the national capital Sunday for further
treatment.
Senior police officers said a case has been registered at Geedam
police station in Dantewada district and investigations were under
way.
Her face swollen and blackened, Sori spoke to the media briefly at
Raipur airport Sunday and said she was worried about her children’s
security, and that this was the latest in a series of attempts to
intimidate her. “There is a danger to me and my children,” Sori said.
“I got a call at 6.15 pm (on Saturday) and was told that some people
may attack me. But I never thought something like this would actually
happen,” she said.
The attack on Sori is being seen by many activists as one in a series
of action against people working for rights of tribal communities. It
came a day after Sori was told by the district administration that her
home stood on illegal land, days after freelance journalist Malini
Subramaniam, and the Jagdalpur Legal Aid group were forced to leave
Bastar, allegedly on police pressure.
According to information, Sori was returning home, in Geedam, around
10.30 pm after meeting members of the Jagdalpur group, who were
leaving Bastar for Bilaspur. She was riding pillion with another
woman, Rinki Thakur, when three men on a bike forced them to stop near
Bastanar, in Bastar, around 10.30 pm. “One of them held a knife to
Rinki’s threat and the other two smeared her (Sori’s) face with a
blackish substance... and fled,” said AAP’s Chhattisgarh convenor
Sanket Thakur. He said Sori had earlier been warned against taking up
cases against Bastar range IGP, S R P Kalluri, and against raising the
issue of an alleged fake encounter in Mardoom, Jagdalpur, earlier this
month.
Emphasising that the incident cannot be termed an “attack”, Dantewada
SP Kamlochan Kashyap said a case has been registered based on the
statement of Sori’s colleague Arvind Gupta. “We are following all
procedures. But you cannot call it an attack —her face has been
blackened by some grease,” Kashyap said. “We are in the process of
getting a statement from her as well.”
Hours after police booked the complaint, Gupta said pamphlets were
thrown at his house in Geedam: “The pamphlets say it is my turn next;
they threatened my family. I have informed the police but I am very
scared.”
An AAP statement said, “Soni Sori’s attackers directly threatened her
to stop raising her voice and to give up the Mardoom case. She has
been warned that they would attack her daughter too if she does not
stop.”
II.
http://scroll.in/article/803914/why-is-chhattisgarh-afraid-of-soni-sori
A NOTE OF DISSENT
Why is Chhattisgarh Police afraid of Soni Sori?
The Aam Aadmi Party leader was attacked on Saturday night.
Supriya Sharma · Yesterday · 11:00 am
[Photo]
Operation Eviction is underway in Bastar. The police and its
supporters want all those who ask questions to leave.
They have managed to evict Scroll.in contributor Malini Subramaniam,
who was writing about alleged rapes and killings by security forces,
and lawyers Shalini Gera and Isha Khandewal of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid
Group, who were defending adivasis and giving them legal assistance to
challenge the police. In an extraordinary coincidence, both the
journalist and the lawyers were served eviction notices on Thursday,
after their landlords were called in for questioning by Jagdalpur
police.
The next day, policemen came looking for the landlord of Bela Bhatia,
scholar and activist, who lives on the outskirts of Jagdalpur, and has
documented the spate of rapes and sexual violence in the region.
But the same strategy will not work with Aam Aadmi Party leader Soni
Sori. Unlike other human rights defenders who moved to the region to
stand witness to the forgotten war between Maoist rebels and
government security forces, the 40-year old adivasi woman is a local.
Born and raised in Dantewada, she has a large, extended family, long
history, and deep roots. The former school teacher survived police
arrest and alleged custodial torture in 2011, only to emerge stronger,
contesting Lok Sabha elections in 2014 on an Aam Aadmi Party ticket.
She cannot be driven out. She needs to be silenced.
On Saturday night, Sori was returning from Jagdalpur, where the
lawyers had addressed a press conference to place on record the police
intimidation that had forced them to leave the town. She was
travelling on a motorcycle with her colleague, a young woman named
Rinki. On the highway to Dantewada, about ten kilometres short of
Geedam town, where she lives, three men on a motorcycle overtook and
stopped the women. They threw a black substance on Sori's face, which
led to intense burning. In the initial panic, her family and friends
thought it could be acid. Later, it turned out to be grease oil,
though it is possible that the substance was laced with corrosive
materials.
On Sunday morning, Sori told lawyer Shalini Gera that she was still in
pain and had difficulty opening her eyes. The identity of the
attackers is not known but they had told her to "stop complaining
against the IG, stop raising the issue of Mardum, and if you don't
behave yourself, we will do this to your daughter as well." The IG is
a reference to Inspector General SRP Kalluri who heads the police in
Bastar region. Sori has been trying to file a complaint against him.
Most recently, she had taken up the case of Hidma, a resident of
Mardum village who was killed by the police in January. The police
claimed he was a Maoist, but the entire village contested that claim.
Keen to get the case more attention, Sori had taken Hidma's family to
Raipur, where journalists were shown his voter identity card and bank
account papers. A few stories appeared in the national newspapers,
which Bastar police was unlikely to have appreciated.
The black taint might not leave permanent scars. It might not even
scare Sori, who has endured worse. But it might still serve its
purpose of silencing others who dare question the police.
Last Monday, Sori was in Raipur, planning a protest march from the
villages in Bijapur where women had been allegedly raped and molested
by security forces, all the way to Jagdalpur, a distance of nearly 200
kilometres.
She wanted the march to begin on February 20 and wind up in Jagdalpur
on March 8, International Women's Day.
She wanted people from all over Chhattisgarh and India to join it.
But the plans had to be put on hold. The forced evictions of the
journalist and lawyers had sullied the atmosphere for democratic
dissent.
The attack on Sori has darkened the horizons further
--
Peace Is Doable
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