Reds dark underbelly out in open

BARGARH: The recent arrest of a pregnant Maoist has laid bare the dark underbelly of the outlawed organisation. That the Maoist Shambati Dubba was five months pregnant has lent credence to the sexual harassment theory in Maoist organisations, said experts.This also nails top Maoist leader Ganti Prasadam’s claims that there is no instance of physical or sexual harassment in the Red camps. Shambati was arrested along with two other cadres on July 15. One of them was Commander of newly formed Mahasamund-Bargarh Division Anil Kumar alias Azad. And the trio were nabbed when they were going to get the pregnancy aborted in Nuapada.There are other instances too. After the death of a woman Maoist in exchange of fire with cops in Patnagarh sub-division of Balangir district, condoms and anti-pregnancy pills were recovered from the camp. In the past too, women cadres, who either surrendered or were arrested in Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts, admitted to the dark secret, DIG (WR) YK Jethwa said. The women Maoists had also revealed that they were coerced into physical relationship at times, he added.A senior police officer said sexual exploitation has become the order of the day in the banned outfit.Two women Maoists, who surrendered in Gajapati district on July 22, had cited sexual exploitation as the reason for giving up.According to them, exploitation of women cadres has increased in the Orissa wings of Maoist outfit with the  recent influx of Chhattisgarh cadres.Not long ago, a woman deputy commander of Maoist organisation Arati Patra had surrendered in Gajapati district. She had levelled similar allegations too.  10th Company: One Pramod is believed to be heading the area comprising Gariabandh, Dhamantri and Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh besides the districts of Nuapada and Balangir. Azad worked under him as a commander. Named as the ‘10th Company’ by the Reds with 50 to 55 members, including women, it was the same group with whom the SOG jawans exchanged fire in the forests of Sanbanjipali on June 21 in which an unidentified woman cadre was killed.