This Article is From Oct 06, 2011

A reporter's account of Soni Sodi, arrested for being a 'hard-core Naxal'

A reporter's account of Soni Sodi, arrested for being a 'hard-core Naxal'
Sameli, Chhattisgarh: I do not know whether Soni Sodi, arrested by the Delhi Police with remarkable alacrity this week, was actually a Maoist or even a Maoist sympathiser. She, the Chhattisgarh Police claims, was allegedly channeling protection money to the Maoists from the corporate giant Eassar.

I had met Soni Sodi at her home in Samali near the Chhattisgarh - Andhra border. It is virtually the line of control where the writ of the state ends and that of the Maoists' begins.

The meeting sticks in my mind for two reasons - that day India was playing Sri Lanka in the Cricket World Cup finals and Hridayesh Joshi, my colleague from NDTV India couldn't stop cursing me for having chosen such a bad time to meet the Maoists. Secondly, April 6, 2010 was just a few days away - this would be the first anniversary of the tragic massacre of 76 jawans at Chintalnar by the Maoists in a single encounter. We were hoping to interview the Maoist commander who had led the strike.

Our over ground contact had indicated to us that we should be reach Palnad by 8 am after which we would be guided to our destination. After several near-disasters including being questioned by a stray police patrol as to what we were doing in that area - it is easy to make out who is a local and who isn't - we did manage to meet up with our guide who identified himself as Kopa.

An hour into the straight road to Sameli from Palnad, our guide Kopa announced that we were now safe and that the police rarely ventured that far. The Koya Commandos - the Special Task Force of the Chhattisgarh Police - he said had been seen in the recent past. But the Koyas, he said, came only at night. It was mid-afternoon and Kopa's point was that we were out of reach of the police and safe for the moment.

Another half hour through the bumpy road showed us deep trenches had been cut in at least three places so that land mines could be laid at short notice.

And then we reached Sameli and were taken straight to Soni Sodi's house. Although I am a television reporter and am expected to barge into offices and houses with or without the permission of people who occupy them, I confess I am not good at it and have no intentions of honing these skills. Hesitantly, I asked Soni whether we - Hridayesh Joishi, my colleague from NDTV India, Xavier Thomas our camera person and I could come in. Even before Soni could answer, Kopa said "Dada ne bola hain bhiayalog yeanhi rahenga aaj raat." (Dada has said these people will stay here tonight.) Soni got us some water and never uttered a word.

The men in the Maoist cadre are referred to as "Dada" and the woman cadre as "Didi" by the locals. About an hour later during which Soni quietly cooked for us, Kopa left to inform the Maoist camp that we had arrived. Almost immediately, Soni became more relaxed, the quiet tension in the air lifted slowly.

She told us how her father had been beaten up and attacked by Maoists. She said her husband Anil Bhutana had been wrongly charged and locked up by the Chhattisgarh police. Bhutana, the Chhattisgarh police say, was part of the Maoist group that tried to kill local politician Avdesh Gautam. Soni said the police rarely brought him to court for hearings. Bhutana's bail was pending for months at the local district court, she said. "Either the judge is absent or had too many cases to hear, the bail plea hasn't been heard even once in the last six months" she claimed.

She also told us about how a relative of hers - who ferried villagers from the local market to nearby villages in two jeeps that he owned - was constantly being pressured by the Maoists to fetch supplies and ferry cadres around. She said that she didn't keep a telephone because the Maoists suspected villagers with phones of leaking information to the police. "If the police were to pass by, the Maoist look-up the people who have telephones first," she said.

She also told us about how women Maoist cadres are sterilised because the party says so. And, also how villagers including her and her daughter have to be present at party meetings every now and then at short notices and carry out orders and tasks as asked. Nonetheless, the police, she said, expected them to not only pass on information about Maoist movements but also oppose them.

Sameli is a typical tribal village with about 30 houses at the most. People depend on forest produce like Mouha. It had a PDS outlet but had to be closed because the state couldn't protect it from the Maoists. Chintalnar, where 76 CRPF jawans were killed in 2009 is hardly half an hour away through the forest that adjoins Sameli. And, seven kilometres down Sameli is Jagargunda. It has a Salva Judum Camp - one of the few existing today. The entire village of Jagurgunda stays behind a concertina-wire fence with gun-mounted guard posts at regular intervals. A road link to Jagargunda is non-existent. Supplies - from rice to fuel - are airlifted every three to six months. In short it is a state-controlled island in Maoist territory.

As night fell, the Sangam members - the People's Militia in Maoist terminology - descended. Those who constitute the Sangam are worst-trained both in terms of ideology and warfare but are known for their brutal methods of dealing with people. Earlier, about five years ago, they used to be armed with bows and arrows and sickles. Now they mainly carry locally made bolt-action rifles and country-made guns. They also form the first ring of defence in Maoist-liberated areas.

Soni's chatty mood vanished. She kept ordering her daughter to hurry with the food that was being cooked for the Sangam members and us. The Sangam members got busy checking our equipment and our authenticity. Some from the group were sent to watch the road to make sure that a police party wasn't following us.

After dinner, we were taken to another house. There, on a battery-powered television set, we watched India beat Sri Lanka with some of the Sangam members standing guard over us. For sure they did clap and shout when India took the last Sri Lankan wicket. Before dawn, Soni was back with a kettle of tea for all of us. She apologised that she didn't have any sugar to go with it.

By 4 am, we started our trek inside the forest with Soni and her daughter in tow. She too had been summoned to the Maoist camp. At the camp we met the local commander who claimed that he had led the Chintalnar strike the year before. He identified himself as Comrade Badru. After our interview was done, Soni was called aside. I do not know what instructions or orders were passed on to her. On our way back, she asked us whether we could ask someone in Delhi to ensure that her husband in produced in the court on every hearing and whether the Chhattisgarh police could be asked to argue the bail plea at least? We did pass on the message to the Chhattisgarh Police. But the Chhattisgarh Police was more interested in knowing how we had reached the Maoist camp.
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