SAMBALPUR: On the one side are the jackboots of the security forces and on the other, gun-toting Maoists. Sandwiched between them are the villagers with nowhere to go. Over the past months, as Maoists have struck at will at several areas in western Odisha, police have picked up innocent villagers who have been branded as hardcore Maoists. Such mishandling of the situation earlier had isolated the people further from the mainstream. The poor villagers were put behind bars after being branded as ‘suspected Maoists’. Now, it seems, the old theory of booking the poor and innocent is back in practice. This ‘whimsical harassment’ of villagers, experts feel, would cost the police dear and help the Maoists. The police have fallen into a trap and their action will only help Maoists rope in sympathisers and supporters to their fold. While the Sambalpur police is taking credit for arresting suspected Maoists Arta Bhoi (30), Bisi Pradhan, Rohita Chura alias Mithun (19), Kusha Bhoi (45) and Satyanarayan Bhoi (30) in quick succession, there is panic among the villagers. Some of these suspected Maoists are out on bail while there are a few who have admitted that they joined the red cadre out of fear. Ever since the Maoists struck for the first time in the district on January 23, 2003, the bloody confrontation has led to killings of several civilians and policemen. But after an encounter in 2008 at Badpata forest, there was a series of surrenders. And the Maoists had fled the district. There was lull for at least one and a half years till the Maoists regrouped again. Presently, the group is being led by Ashutosh alias Girish Bhokta, who led the banned outfit in the region from 2003 to 2007, till his arrest.
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