KHAMMAM: The high number of deaths of their women cadre in the latest major ‘encounter’ is worrying the Maoist party, it is learnt. Of the 10 Maoists killed in the gunfire with the state’s Greyhounds police, seven were women.The CPI (Maoist) party’s leadership, according to sources, is planning to give extensive training in attack and counter attack to its women members so that they can save themselves during operations and ambushes. Women Maoists are playing a key role in spreading the party’s activities in villages. They attract people with their dances and revolutionary songs. They visit villages and mingle with women and men, and play a key role in enrolling them into the party.
According to intelligence officials, a dalam led by a woman was involved in the attack on the sand mafia and contractors in Manugur area. “Women Maoists have proved themselves in handling situations and completing the task given by the party. Recently, Manugur area dalam commander Sujathakka successfully handled the torching of sand lorries and earth-movers, and also killed one Jogaiah branding him as a police informer at Janampet in Manuguru area,’’ a source said. Sarada, secretary of the party’s Cherla and Venkatapuram area unit, is another woman Maoist leader doing “successful” work. Not only these two but there are several other women who have proved themselves but when it came to encounters more women Maoists were dying.
“This is the hot topic in the party as of the 10 Maoists who died on March 2, seven were women. Though there were more than 30 Maoists on the spot, the other 20 managed to escape,’’ a former Maoist party leader said on condition of anonymity.In the past encounters more women died than men. In the Kanchala encounter in Chhattisgarh near Telangana border in 2006, 18 ultras were gunned down and a majority of them were women.
In 2016, eight Maoists were gunned down in an encounter and four of them were women. According to information, about 100 women Maoists have been killed in police encounters since 2006. Some former Maoist leaders blame the women cadre’s vulnerability on lack of proper training. That is the reason many of them cannot escape when an encounter takes place. They want the party to focus on training women Maoists in self-defence and escape when crunch comes.
Bodies of nine slain Maoists handed over to families
Bhadrachalam: The police officials have finally handed over the bodies of nine slain Maoists to their respective kin who came from Chhattisgarh to claim the bodies on Monday afternoon. More than 30 members of tribal community along with their children reached the hospital to claim the bodies, which were sent to Cherla. Bhadrachalam ASP Sunil Datt said that they have handed over all the bodies to their relatives and entire process has been completed. About 10 Maoists including seven women were gunned down in an encounter by the police forces at Pujarkanker forest area in Chhattisgarh on March 2.