Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court today sought the Chhattisgarh government’s response to an allegation that tribal teacher and suspected maoist activist Soni Sori “was dying” in a state hospital due to torture by the police.
A bench of justices Altamas Kabir and H L Gokhale asked Chhattisgarh’s standing counsel Atul Jha to seek necessary instructions and information from the state government on the allegations and report to it by tomorrow.
“You take instructions. Find out about her physical condition. He (Sori’s counsel) says she is dying. Please verify and tell us tomorrow,” the bench said.
The apex court passed the direction after senior counsel Colin Gonsalves,appearing for Sori,alleged that the tribal woman was on the verge of death due to police torture in custody after her arrest from Delhi last week.
He said Sori,in fact,had filed her petition to the apex court prior to arrest but before the matter could be taken up for hearing by the court,she was arrested and subjected to physical torture in Chhattisgarh.
He claimed the woman was falsely implicated in a number of cases linking her to Maoist activities.
The senior counsel said Sori was willing to face any probe by any agency other than the Chhattisgarh police to prove her innocence.
A suspected Maoist conduit and accused of receiving “protection money” from the Essar group for rebels,Sori was arrested on October 4 in south Delhi by a Chhattisgarh police team and taken to Dantewada for interrogation. Essar has denied giving funds to Maoists.
