A National Commission for Women member has stressed that Soni Sori, the tribal teacher arrested for alleged Maoist links, needs psychological counselling so that she gets over the mental trauma she had suffered in police custody.
A special court at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh has acquitted tribal activist Soni Sori and three others in a case lodged against them in 2011 for alleged transfer of 'protection money' to Naxals.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed alleged Naxal sympathiser Soni Sori, arrested for allegedly helping the outlaws in Chhattisgarh, to be shifted from a Raipur jail to one in Jagdalpur.
Tribal rights activist Soni Sori, who was attacked with an acid-like chemical in Chhattisgarh last month, has said that the condition of her face is reflective of the fight in Naxal-hit Bastar area.
A bench of Supreme Court judges, Justices Altamas Kabir and Jasti Chalameshwar, has directed the Chhattisgarh government to produce the Adivasi teacher, Soni Sori, in All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi within one week.
Tribal teacher Soni Sori and her activist-nephew Lingaram Kodopi were released from Jagdalpur jail on Thursday after the Supreme Court granted them bail following their arrest two years ago for allegedly receiving money on behalf of Maoists from a corporate house in Chhattisgarh.
Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Soni Sori, a tribal teacher, and journalist Lingaram Kodopi in a case lodged against them for allegedly receiving money from Essar Group on behalf of Maoists.
As the doctors at a Delhi hospital said the condition of tribal rights activist and Aam Aadmi Party leader Soni Sori was stable and there was no threat to her life, Chhattisgarh police here denied that they had any role in the attack on her.
'India is my country and we will raise our voice against anybody who harms the interests of Adivasis, be it the state government or the Maoists.'
Adivasi teacher and alleged Naxal sympathiser Soni Sori was admitted to Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Thursday afternoon. AIIMS had refused to admit Soni Sori on Tuesday, in spite of directions to do so by the Supreme Court.
'Many of them are mutilated beyond recognition. Every day an encounter takes place.' 'Bastar has been burnt to ash.'
A 36-year-old suspected woman Maoist, wanted by the Chhattisgarh police, was on Tuesday arrested from a south Delhi locality where she was allegedly hiding, police sources said. Soni Sori, a primary school teacher and an aunt of Lingaram Kodopi who was recently arrested for allegedly acting as a conduit between Maoists and Essar, was apprehended from Katwaria Sarai by a team of Delhi police. "We raided the premises on a tip-off provided by the Chhattisgarh police," said a cop
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, T N Seema (CPI-M) said Soni was "brutally tortured" in police custody for last one year in Chhattishgarh, a remark which drew sharp reactions from BJP members who opposed raising a subject related to the state in Parliament.
'By hoisting the national flag we have kindled a small flame of hope among the Adivasis.' 'We will strive to keep this flame burning forever among their hearts.'
Under threat from the Maoists, and jailed by the police, AAP's Soni Sori plunges into the election for all she holds dear. Aman Sethi reports
'In Bastar, as in Delhi, being branded 'anti-national' in the eyes of the government now seems to have acquired new meaning,' says Aakar Patel.
In this photograph, which is being circulated on social media, Manhas, a commando with the 210th CoBRA battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), is seen sitting in a hut alone without any Naxal in the frame.
'Adivasis are a critical national treasure, so we need to protect them.' 'The fight for the tribals of Chhattisgarh needs people from all political parties. It cannot be about any single political group.'
The activist claimed during her arrest her autonomy was violated and her photographs were splashed all over the news. "My actions were pronounced guilty -- not in the court of law, but on flat screens by seekers of TRPs," Ravi lamented.
A day ahead of a meeting called by dissidents Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday spelled out its warning to party members that its top-decision making panels would determine what action would be taken against those found accepting the rebel camp's invitation.
CoBRA commando Rakeshwar Singh Manhas went missing after the April 3 ambush in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region.
Aam Aadmi Party's eminent women supporters are backing the 'Swaraj Samwad' with a focus on women participation in politics. They also haven't given up on dreams of a united AAP. Upasna Pandey reports
'In the districts of Jagdalpur and Dantewada, the only time the accused walked out of jail was when they were acquitted. There is no concept of bail.' 'The women were very clear -- they had to fight. Remaining silent any longer was not an option.'
'Under the guise of Maoism, the State is presently determined to clear out the whole Bastar area of its tribal population.'
'The police go into villages, kill villagers, rape women, burn homes, file false cases.' 'They want to empty Bastar of the tribals so that corporate houses can be given a free hand in our land.' 'My father was killed by Naxalites. This is very ironical because the police accuse me of being a Naxalite. If I had been a Naxalite, would I not have been able to prevent my father's death?'
Sandeep Pandey salutes women who have contributed to social transformation in India after 1980.
'The Congress should have accepted our demands.' 'Gone are the days when it could decide how many crumbs to throw at us.' 'Now, we make the demands.'
'Maoists are enraged that the media is reporting the truth.' 'They want to physically isolate the media and psychologically isolate the villagers who have found the confidence to speak to the press about the real situation.' 'Like terrorism ended in Punjab, Naxalism will end in Chhattisgarh,' the AIIMS doctor-turned IPS officer and SP of Dantewada tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
'Isn't it tragic, comic as well as ironic that the people who owe their allegiance to the Constitution of India are declared deshdrohis without an iota of evidence?' 'But this mistake has to be corrected and those who actually and directly fomented the Bhima Koregaon riots and the masterminds behind these people will have to be exposed now.'
Before the situation in the Naxal-affected areas got out of hand, the Raman Singh government intervened to calm tempers between the police and human rights activists.
'When you come to Delhi, you see that there are many Kashmirs here -- the Dalits, Muslims, women, bonded labourers.'
In dramatic scenes, Umar Khalid, the Jawaharlal Nehru University student who had been untraceable after being accused of sedition, returned to the campus late on Sunday evening. Khalid turned up at JNU's administration block, where hundreds of students began to gather, and gave a rousing speech just shy of 14 minutes, insisting that he would stand his ground and asked that all students unite against the attacks on our country. This is what he had to say.
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