Raipur: Civil rights activist and researcher Bela Bhatia, who was threatened by dozens of men late Monday evening, has reiterated she will not leave insurgency-hit Bastar in the face of intimidation and will continue to work for the people.
“I will not be leaving Bastar and will continue to work for protecting the rights of voiceless and marginalized communities. Since November last year, a propaganda is being done against me that I have complained to police that people here are manufacturing liquor,” said Bela Bhatia, who is the wife of Belgian born economist Jean Dreaze.
"As of now, I am just leaving my current address but not Bastar," she added.
Meanwhile, Bastar SP, Rajendra Dash, claimed a police team was rushed to Pandripani village to provide security to Bela Bhatia after reports that villagers have staged demonstration outside her house.
"Police will protect Bhatia's democratic rights despite she is being accused of sympathising with Maoists," added Dash.
Notably, the activist was threatened by dozens of men on Monday and was asked to vacate her rented house. The miscreants also took an undertaking from her that she will leave one just one day.
This comes two days after Bhatia visited villages in Bijapur district with a National Human Rights Commission team that recorded statements of women who had allegedly been the victims of rape, physical and sexual assault by security personnel between October 2015 and January 2016.
Two weeks ago, the NHRC had issued an interim order stating that 16 women were victims of such acts. In November 2015, Bhatia was one of the activists who had entered villages deep inside Bijapur, facilitated the registration of FIRs and brought the alleged incidents to public attention
Strongly condemning the attack on Bela Bhatia, social activist Swami Agnivesh asked Chhattisgarh as well as Central government to ensure elaborate security to the researcher.
"Moreover, the government should immediately remove IG SRP Kalluri from Bastar and take legal action against him on charges of violating Supreme Court directives and violation of Human Rights," said Agnivesh.
Demanding immediate arrest of attackers, Chhattisgarh CPI (Marxist) Secretary, Sanjay Parate, alleged that the mask assailants were backed by the state government and police.
"Those people were backed by police which are targeting organizations and people actively working to protect the interest and rights of tribal people in Bastar," Parate said.
Parate further said that Bela Bhatia is targeted because she is continuously raising the issues of sexual harassment of tribal women in the region by security personnel and helping NHRC to investigation the police excesses.
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