New Delhi: Tribal rights activist Soni Sori, who was attacked with an acid-like chemical in Chhattisgarh in February, says her face reflects the plight of the poor in Bastar area of the central Indian state.
“My face today is the face of the fight in Bastar, the condition is the same,” the 41-year-old schoolteacher-turned activist told the student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)in New Delhi on March 7.
“I was also jailed in a fake case of being associated with Naxalites (Maoists), the same way he (Kanhaiya) has been framed for his so-called terrorist links. I am glad that JNU has started this massive movement which helped in getting bail for Kanhaiya,” she added.
Kanhaiya Kumar is the JNU student leader who was arrested for sedition charges in February. He was granted interim bail for six months on March 2 after 20 days in jail.
At Monday’s meeting in JNU, Kumar introduced Sori at the varsity’s administration block, which has been the venue of protest ever since the students union president was arrested.
“Government will not say anything when women are raped by policemen but in this case they applied all their tactics but could not find a single evidence against Kanhaiya. But JNU students have always expressed solidarity with my fight since 2011,” Sori said.
Sori, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on an AAP ticket, was brought to the capital by the party and taken to the hospital as the local doctors were “unable” to identify the chemical and treat her.
She was arrested by the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch for Chhattisgarh Police in 2011 on charges of acting as a conduit for Maoists, rediff.com reported.
During her imprisonment, she alleged that she was tortured and sexually assaulted by Chhattisgarh state police. By April 2013, the courts had acquitted her in six of the eight cases filed against her because of lack of evidence.
When the agitation for Kumar’s release was going on, a group of JNU students had burnt the effigy of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh condemning the attack on Sori.
Sori was born in Sameli village of Dantewada in south Bastar, Chhattisgarh.