THE MULTI PRONGED ROLE OF FEMALE MAOISTS

SMW News :: Exclusive Report

CHATTISGARH: Eighteen-year-old Radha looks too young to be called a comrade. But there’s no mistaking the gun she swings over her shoulder. Radha’s desire to be a part of the ongoing festivities in Dandakarnya forest’s Bhumkal divas is almost infectious. But it is a measure of her guerrilla discipline that she skips the festivities until her sentry duty is over.

For all her teenager-enthusiasm, Radha carries the significant mantle of being a third-generation Naxal fighter. Her grandfather joined the rebels and his two sons followed suit. Radha, her older brother and a sister are gun-toting comrades, familiar with the terrain, comfortable with their way of life. There are several young girl comrades in this group. On the one hand innocent, on the other trained to shoot and debilitate, these girls are a strange mix of girly behaviour and warrior grit. Comrade Soni, 18, transforms from soldier in olive fatigues to a dancer in a red-and-white sari, her gun resting on the ground as she takes to the stage, with the intensity of a focused soldier.

Not everyone is in fatigues here, although all the women are trained fighters. Comrade Sanjini for one doesn’t wear the olive uniform and could pass off as any other tribal woman if it weren’t for the black plastic holster she casually slings over her right shoulder. Sanjini heads the chetna natya manch.

Lalgarh: Mahato Remanded to Police Custody Till Oct 1

Tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato, who was arrested yesterday near Lalgarh where he had been leading an agitation against alleged police excesses since last November, was today remanded to police custody by a special court till October 1.

The Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate also remanded eight others, arrested yesterday, to police custody till that date. The eight include persons arrested along with Mahato and those held during planting of a landmine at Katapahari.

Mahato, an alleged ally of the Maoists, was booked for three offences, including setting fire to Jhargram police outpost and torching of several other police stations.

Mahato, chief of the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities, who had evaded police arrest ever since he started the anti-police stir in Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, was caught at Pirka, near Lalgarh, while he was giving an interview to a journalist who was followed by policemen posing as TV journalists.

Mahato, who was kept in the Midnapore Police Lines after his arrest yesterday, was brought to Jhargram amid tight security this morning.

Initially, he was taken to Jhargram police station from where he was taken to the court around noon.

Move to neutralise Maoists’ top leadership

A file photograph shows a Maoist training drill

Manan Kumar
First Published : 25 Sep 2009 02:49:00 AM IST

RAIPUR: The recent arrest of CPI (Maoist) politburo member Kobad Ghandy in New Delhi wasn’t any fluke. It matured after a long hunt by the security forces, aided by the Andhra Pradesh police special cell on Naxals, and key support by others, including the Intelligence Bureau.Effecting a course correction in its strategy against the Naxals, besides taking them on in jungles, the Union Government has decided to pluck out the top leadership to render the Maoists rudderless and a disjointed lot. Yet it has a long way to go _ as even after neutralising or arresting eight top leaders and 22 central committee members in recent years,the politburo still remains at large.After Kobad Ghandy, agencies are on hot trail of nine PB members _ Ganpati alias Mupalla Laxman Rao, Mallojula Koteshwar Rao alias Prahlad, Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da, Nambala Keshav Rao aloas Gangana, Cherkuri Rajkumar alias Uday, Mullojula Venugopal alias Vivek, Rajesh Da, Balraj alias Arvind and Katakam Sudarshan alias Anand.

Chhatradhar Mahato’s arrest: – Cops in media garb draw criticism

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Midnapore, Sept. 26: Interview over, the “reporter” pulled out a revolver and pointed it at Lalgarh tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato.

Two police officers disguised as journalists “from Singapore” today arrested the spearhead of the Lalgarh agitation at last, one holding him at gunpoint while the other grabbed him from behind.

The head of the Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities had “eluded” the cops for nearly three months while moving freely around Lalgarh, giving sundry media interviews and even appearing on TV.

It was apparently one interview too many he gave at his hideout near his home village of Amlia in Lalgarh today. Maoist guerrilla chief Kishanji told The Telegraph the police had tried to trap him the same way but he had rejected their request for an interview and thus had had a “narrow escape”.