‘Naxal’ girl’s killing: Kin allege rape and murder,village points to govt job for brother

Meena’s mother Gutiyari,sitting beside him outside their crumbling hut,can’t understand how the girl who loved animals got slapped with charges of being a Naxal. “She would go with me to graze our goats the whole day or stay at home. Why do they speak such things?” says Gutiyari.

From the Uraon tribe,this BPL family has five goats. Younger sister Sajanthi,14,says Meena had names for all of them — “Sukhini,Sukta,Surila,Bhootni,Ladhgudni”.

“Meena dropped out of school after Class V. I often teased her that she left studies as she wanted to roam free with cattle in the forest,” says Sajanthi,pointing to a pond and the adjoining hills.

It’s a beautiful landscape — thick trees,streams and Chunchuna hills,bordering Jharkhand. The Chunchuna hills and the forests,untouched by symbols of modernity including electricity,form part of the Naxal “liberated zone”.

On the evening of July 5,Meena left home to venture into this jungle saying she was going to see a friend. Two-three kilometres away from Karcha,near Chando village,she was caught in an “encounter”.

“Around 3 am,we heard three gunshots,but scared,we did not come out. When we went out around 6 am,we saw many policemen,” says Vimala Bhagat who lives opposite the “encounter” site,adding they had been warned by police not to talk about the incident.

While the Chando and Balrampur police deny the claim of only three shots being fired,there is little to show otherwise.

“Where was the encounter?” asks Chando sarpanch Sanjit Kujur,and people living nearby agree. “In any encounter at least 50-60 rounds are fired from both sides. But here,only three bullets were fired,of which two hit her.”

The police have not been able to prove the presence of any Naxal at the spot either,and the only explanation that Chhattisgarh Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar has is that the girl was found away from her home in the middle of the night which showed her Naxal links.

While the “encounter” officially took place around 3 am,Meena was reportedly found wounded a few hours later. Balrampur SP Jitendra Meena suggests that other Naxalites might have slipped away. “The encounter took place in the dark,and when the police team began searching the area around 5 am,they found her wounded. According to the Chando police team,she named a few Naxals who had been with her.”

The Chando police station itself is around 4 km from the encounter spot — a vast,almost open field. Meena’s parents and the villagers believe she was kidnapped,raped and killed,by personnel posted at the police station.

“If anyone has Naxal links,not only the immediate neighbourhood but even distant villages come to know about it. She was not a Naxal,” says Aiku Ram,a teacher in Government School,Khajuri,around 20 km from Karcha.

Following an uproar,the Chhattisgarh government initiated a magisterial inquiry and the case has been transferred to the CID. All officials of the Chando police station have been attached to the Ambikapur police lines.

Her brother Ravindra Khalkho incidentally has been given a job at a girl’s hostel in Chando and the family awarded Rs 2 lakh compensation. “When did you hear of such a job for the brother of a Naxalite killed in an encounter?” asks Kujur.

Surguja Collector G S Dhananjay says the job was given on the direction of the Chief Minister. “They (Khalkho) are among the poorest tribes. The job was given on humanitarian grounds.”

“There was requirement of a peon in the hostel. We have inducted him on daily-wage basis as he did not have the requisite qualification. Once he clears Class X,he will be made permanent. At present,he draws around Rs 4,000,” Dhananjay told The Sunday Express.

However,two months after Meena died,her family has had to go through more. Citing a postmortem report,Kanwar recently told The Sunday Express that the girl “had links with truck drivers” and was “habitual about sex” — a claim that even some policemen don’t buy.

An officer posted at Chando after the earlier personnel were replaced finds it surprising that the postmortem report makes this comment. “It is expected to tell only about the nature of injuries and cause of death,” says the officer.

Villagers allege that the part about habitual sex was inserted later in the report which mentions “rupture of urinary bladder” and “tearing of upper part of the uterus” — suggesting sexual assault. Her vaginal swabs,according to Balrampur SP Jitendra Meena,were sent to a forensic science laboratory and the results are yet to arrive.

While all the villagers have rallied behind the Khalkho family,Kujur fears that the “stigma” will make life difficult for them.

For now,Sajanthi holds on to the passport-size photograph of her sister — the only thing left of the 16-year-old. The remaining items in her box — nailpolish,hair-clip,frock and old school books — were deposited by the family in the Kanhar river on the night of July 6,when they buried her along its bank.