Soni Sori says cops intimidated her, wanted her to miss court hearing. Why?

RAJKUMAR SONI@catchnews |
First published: 11 August 2016

Men in unmarked cars scare Soni Sori at the very spot where she was burned with chemicals. Who were they?

Soni Sori alleges cops in civvies intimidated her and tried to prevent her from reaching court. Why?

Men in unmarked cars scare Soni Sori at the very spot where she was burned with chemicals. Who were they?

Soni Sori alleges cops in civvies intimidated her and tried to prevent her from reaching court. Why?

The human rights activist and AAP leader Soni Sori was "intimidated" by unidentified men in Jagdalpur on Thursday. Sori, who is leading a 'Tiranga Yatra' through the Maoist hotbed of Bastar, was on her way to appear in the district court

According to Soni, "policemen in plain clothes came in three cars without number plates" and overtook her car, forcing it to stop in the middle of the road. They came out hurling abuses at her. Adivasi journalist and Soni's aide Linga Kodopi was driving her vehicle. She was also accompanied by the journalists Kamal Shukla and Tameshwar Sinha, and two security guards. The incident took place at the same spot where she had been attacked and burned with chemicals early this year

Soni realised they were trying to prevent her from reaching the court, so she asked Kodopi to continue driving along the muddy road. But the mysterious vehicles tailed them, honking and abusing Kodopi before going into Kodenar police station. Soni eventually reached the court, only for the magistrate to reprimand her for being late.

Soni alleges the police wanted her to miss the hearing so that the magistrate would issue an arrest warrant for her. But the plan didn't work as many other people were travelling with her. Soni has, nevertheless, expressed fears that she and Linga Kodopi might be attacked again.

Soni is currently leading a 7-day-long Tiranga Yatra. The foot march started on 9 August from Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. She shuttles between the yatra and the court every day. The 180-km march is planned to pass through areas considered as Maoist strongholds and end at Gompad in Sukma district with the unfurling of the Indian flag on August 15. Gompad is the village where a tribal woman, Madkam Hidme, was allegedly raped by security personnel and then killed in a fake encounter last month. Several social organisations under the banner of Bastar Bachao Sangharsh Samiti are participating in the march.

Also Read: #SoniSoriAttack: they have burned her, but they can't break her

Sanket Thakur, the convener of the yatra, has alleged that the police and the civil administration "are adopting all means to ensure the march fails".