Chhattisgarh lawmakers arrested on way to Dantewada village
March 30th, 2011 - 12:40 am ICT by IANSRaipur, March 29 (IANS) Chhattisgarh Police Tuesday arrested 10 legislators of the main opposition Congress party while they were on their way to a village where security forces allegedly went on a rampage against tribals. They were later released.
The Congress lawmakers were held at Pollampalli area in Dantewada district, over 500 km south from here, when they insisted to visit Tarmetla and two other tribal hamlets.
The villagers there have alleged that the state police and paramilitary forces had burnt down over 200 houses, killed some people and raped women between March 11-16.
The state government claimed that the attack was launched by Maoists and not the police.
“We were forcibly stopped and arrested by police in Dantewada,” former state home minister Nandkumar Patel, who was one of the 10 members of the delegation, told IANS over phone.
The Congress legislators were released later.
Patel added that they were attempting to visit the site as the Congress party had asked them to make an on-the-spot visit of the area and file a report.
Ankit Garg, the newly-appointed superintendent of police of Dantewada district, said “the arrest was a part of a preventive measure and they were released later.”
Social activist Swami Agnivesh was attacked in Dornapal March 26 by a crowd drawn from the state police and cadres of Salwa Judum, a civil militia movement launched with the state government support in June 2005 to fight out Maoists.
Agnivesh was pulled out of his car and manhandled. The crowd threw eggs at him and forced him to return without visiting the villages.
The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist has pasted leaflets at several places in Dantewada’s forested areas Tuesday in which it vowed to carry out attacks on police as a revenge for the Tarmetla brutalities.
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- Dantewada area not fully in our control: Raman Singh (Interview) - Mar 31, 2011
- NHRC notice to Chhattisgarh over attack on Swami Agnivesh - Mar 30, 2011
- Dantewada still burns, year after India's worst Maoist strike - Apr 05, 2011
- Panel to probe alleged excesses in Chhattisgarh village - Mar 24, 2011
- Help for police rampage victims in Chhattisgarh - Mar 25, 2011
- 'No starvation deaths in arson-hit villages' - Apr 04, 2011
- Swami Agnivesh's assailant shot at by Maoists - Apr 28, 2011
- Court slams Chhattisgarh on issue of burning tribal houses (Lead) - Apr 18, 2011
- Villagers shun Chhattisgarh 'carnage' probe - Jul 14, 2012
- No starvation death confirmed in Dantewada: Official - Apr 07, 2011
- Staged gunfights: Congress walks out of Chhattisgarh assembly - Sep 09, 2011
- Chhattisgarh slammed on tribal houses burning issue - Apr 18, 2011
Tags: ankit, cadres, communist party of india, forested areas, hamlets, home minister, leaflets, maoist, maoists, militia movement, opposition congress party, paramilitary forces, preventive measure, rampage, salwa judum, security forces, state government support, state police, swami, tribals