Tribal activist Soni Sori acquitted in 2011 sedition case by Dantewada court
With the exoneration in this case, Sori has finally been acquitted of all the cases lodged against her under the previous BJP regime. A tribal activist from Dantewada, Sori has been raising issues of merciless killings in Bastar by security forces and the Maoists.
Soni Sori A special court in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada acquitted tribal activist Soni Sori on Tuesday in a sedition case filed against her in 2011. Sori and three others, including an Essar company official, were accused of supplying money to Maoists. She was arrested from Delhi in 2011 in the same case.
With the exoneration in this case, Sori has finally been acquitted of all the cases lodged against her under the previous BJP regime. A tribal activist from Dantewada, Sori has been raising issues of merciless killings in Bastar by security forces and the Maoists.
Special judge Vinod Kumar Dewangan found Sori, her aide Lingaram Kodopi, a contractor BK Lala and Essar official DVCS Varma not guilty in an FIR filed by the Dantewada police in September 2011. Police had alleged that the accused Lala had paid Rs 15 lakhs to Sori and Kodopi to pay Maoists for the Essar company.
The case was transferred from a special NIA court in Jagdalpur to a special court in Dantewada on January 28. According to the order copy, the court found that the prosecution couldn’t prove the case against Sori and the others. The court registered that several witnesses of the prosecution have given contradictory statements. “The prosecution has not been able to prove the charges against the accused beyond any objectionable doubt,” the order read, acquitting the four due to lack of proof.
Sori, who has alleged police brutality towards her, welcomed the decision, but asked a poignant question: “Can they return the 12 years back to me?”
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