New Delhi   

Dharna to express solidarity with Sodi Sambho

— Photo: V.V. Krishnan

‘WE ARE WITH YOU’: A candlelight vigil outside AIIMS in New Delhi on Monday in solidarity with Sodi Sambho .

NEW DELHI: A number of human rights organisations held a dharna and a candlelight vigil in front of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences here on Monday in support of Sodi Sambho.

An Adivasi woman from Gompad village in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, Sambho is undergoing treatment at AIIMS and has been resigned to being a de facto “prisoner” for appearing as a key eyewitness in a Supreme Court case of alleged killing of nine Adivasis in her village by the security forces this past October as part of a “sanitisation operation”.

Questioning why she is being prevented from meeting anyone and expressing concern that she might be isolated to “intimidate her into changing her statement”, the protesters demanded that she be allowed to meet her lawyer and friends freely.

They also demanded that the lives, liberties and rights of eyewitnesses and complainants in the Gompad incident be protected.

All-India Progressive Women’s Association national secretary Kavita Krishnan said: “Initially the police at Dantewada tried to prevent Sambho from coming to Delhi for treatment. Following a Supreme Court order she is now in a private ward at AIIMS but is a virtual prisoner prevented from meeting anyone including activists, the Press and even her lawyer. Some of her fellow petitioners and eyewitnesses have been jailed in Bastar and they are all being intimidated to withdraw and change their statement. We demand that police officers and other security personnel guilty of brutalities and massacres be punished instead of being protected.”

“Moreover ‘Operation Greenhunt’ should be called off immediately and Adivasis of Bastar should be allowed to return to their villages in peace. A petition demanding that Sambho be allowed to meet her lawyers and friends is coming up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday and we want to let her know that we are with her all the way in her brave struggle,” she added.

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