In abducted collector’s shadow,families of two slain PSOs hope for help

Four days later though,a harried government that is trying to rescue the Collector has all but forgotten the two PSOs who also fell victim to the Maoists that day.

Apart from a guard of honour at the Sukma police station on Sunday morning,where Bastar IG T J Longkumer was present,Kujur and Amjad Khan,the other constable killed with him,have received no recognition from the authorities. Kishun Kujur turned 33 on April 3 this year,while Amjad Khan was 30-year-old.

The police didn’t even send own men to bring their bodies from Manjipara,where they were killed during a gram sabha meeting,to Sukma,said Khan’s brother Firoj. “After the police refused,locals had to arrange for the same with the help of the CRPF.” While the incident took place around 4 pm,the bodies were brought back only by 10.30 pm,even though a CRPF camp is just 4 km away.

Sukma SP Abhishek Shandilya admitted the police didn’t go in,but said this was only because of the presence of the CRPF nearby. “Yes,CRPF men brought the bodies back,but I asked them myself. The CRPF camp was near,it would have taken long for the police to reach there,” he told The Indian Express.

The grieving families were informed that they would be handed over the bodies by Sunday morning,but they were kept waiting for hours till the IG,Bastar,came and attended the ceremony. “We were waiting under the sun pleading,but no one listened to us,” Khan’s friend Sunny Chandwani said.

Worried about Khan’s father Kalim,a heart patient whose condition deteriorated on hearing the news,they put pressure for a chopper. “They promised a chopper,but then backtracked. The body was taken to Jagdalpur (100 km from Sukma) by ambulance,and then as the condition of my father worsened,we managed to put political pressure and arrange for a helicopter from Jagdalpur to Dhamtari (350 km from Sukma),” Firoj said.

Kalim is now admitted in a Raipur hospital.

Similar was the case with Kujur. A chopper took his body to Raipur,and from there his wife Seema along with his friends carried it by road to Bageecha in Jashpur (which is around 800 km from Sukma).

“It took them 12 hours to reach the village,” younger brother Amod Kujur told The Indian Express. A constable in Bijapur,he is finally on his way to visit his brother’s family since the killing — he couldn’t get leave for the cremation.

Shandilya admits that chopper availability is always an issue,but adds that they did their best. “It’s not possible to provide helicopter to everyone,especially when a crisis is on,” he said.

Amod said he worries for Kujur’s family,including Seema and sons Ansh (3) and Ishaant (1).

“My brother was a quiet man and was ready to be posted anywhere. He never complained.”

The Indian Express couldn’t talk to Seema as their village has no phone signal.

The Sukma police headquarters itself does not have any contact details for the deceased constables. As The Indian Express asked for their background,all Sukma police could tell was the names of their villages.

With so much public attention on Menon’s abduction,the families of the constables hope the government will also show their dead ones some consideration.

“My brother sacrificed his life for the Collector,yet no one grieved for him. There is no worth for his life,” said Firoj.