Jailed tribal teacher and suspected Maoist supporter Soni Soris husband died Friday,triggering allegations from relatives and rights activists that the death was a result of injuries and ailments caused by the torture he underwent in custody in Jagdalpur jail. The police,however,refuted the charges and his lawyer also expressed reservations. Anil Futane,in his late thirties,was Sonis co-accused in a few cases,including the July 2010 attack on Congress leader Awdhesh Gautams house in Dantewada. He was acquitted in April. At the time of acquittal,he was in hospital after suffering a paralytic attack in jail. When he was released,he was in a poor condition and found it difficult to speak. He could not recover since then, his brother Suresh Futane said. Anil died at home in Geedam,Dantewada. Days after reports emerged about Anils poor health following his release and right activists attributed it to custodial torture,The Sunday Express had visited his Geedam home and found that his condition was deteriorating. Suresh had then spoken about Anils paralytic attack and a head injury he took in jail but denied that the police had hit him. He told me that some jail inmates attacked him, he had said. On Saturday,however,Suresh claimed that when I asked my brother later,he said that someone hit him from behind,he fell down and suffered the attack. The assailant was probably a policeman. He also alleged that the police did not allow Sori to attend the last rites of her husband. Jagdalpur jailor R Gaikwad denied the allegation of attack by a policeman. It was a paralytic attack. Anyone can have it,outside jails too. We immediately shifted him to Jagdalpur hospital and later to Raipur. It is an unnecessary controversy. He died as he could not get proper treatment. His lawyer K K Dubey also denied the possibility of torture. The attack must have been due to hyper-tension. He was released two months ago. If he had faced torture,they would have approached any forum by now, he said. So while the torture charge is not substantiated,his death seemed to have been caused by the attack he suffered in jail. Sori is in jail since October 2011. While Anil was arrested soon after the July 2010 incident,she was arrested 15 months later after she was made an accused in Essar-Maoist pay-off case. Since then,she has repeatedly alleged torture in police custody,including insertion of stones in her body by then Dantewada SP Ankit Garg.
