Questions raised on Chhattisgarh ‘encounter’, activists say woman was gang-raped and killed

Correspondent

NewsBits.in

BHOPAL/RAIPUR: The woman who was dubbed a Maoist and killed in an ‘encounter’, was abducted and gang-raped before she was killed in cold-blood, allege activists.

The victim, Madkam Hidme, was picked up by security personnel who sexually assaulted her and later claimed that she was a Naxalite, they said.

The incident had occurred in Sukma on June 13. The police had claimed that Hidme was a member of a platoon of Maoists and was killed in an encounter in the forests of Gompad.

They had claimed that after the encounter, the body of a uniformed woman Maoist was found during search in the jungles. However, activists and local residents refute the police claims.

The local residents were angry and refused to conduct last rites. Activists said that the police were not allowing people including and activists to go to the area and meet villagers in order to ascertain the truth surrounding the ‘encounter’.

"Madkam Hidme killed by Chhattisgarh police, alleging she was a Maoist guerilla...' & 'The uniform is brand new and crips. Can the uniform fo a guerilla killed in an encounter be so unblemished", wrote Rahul Pandita, author of Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement, in a series of tweets.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Soni Sori has alleged that Hidme was dragged from her house, gang raped and later killed. She sat on a protest, demanding a fair inquiry into the ‘encounter’. The Raman Singh government has been urged for an independent probe.