Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar on Tuesday rubbished the allegation of Chhattisgarh Police linking her to the murder of a tribal villager in Maoist-hit Bastar.
She said that it was a clear case of being framed and that some people in Bastar were forced to name her and others in some way, reports Indian Express.
She told ANI that she hasn’t been to the area since May. She termed the FIR against her “absurd”.
Sundar also accused IGP (Bastar range) SRP Kalluri of forcing the wife of deceased villager Shamnath Baghel, to file a complaint against her and others.
“The FIR is patently absurd. We condemn the killing of Shamnath Baghel and reiterate that it has nothing to do with us. This is clearly part of IG Kalluri’s attempt to intimidate and harass journalists, lawyers, researchers, political leaders and human rights activists who have exposed the reign of fake encounters, gang rapes etc. that are going on in Bastar,” she wrote on Facebook.
Sundar, along with JNU professor Archana Prasad and 10 others, were booked under sections 120B, 302, 147, 148 and 149 of the IPC at Tongpal Police Station in Chhattisgarh.
A number of civil and human right bodies called the charges a tactic of ‘revenge and harassment’. The polit bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemned the BJP government in Chhattisgarh for registering a false case of murder against noted intellectuals and activists.
Sundar, Prasad and others were the part of a fact-finding team that looked at the Maoist violence and state violence on ordinary villagers in Bastar.
Earlier, the PIL filed by Nandini against human rights violation in Chhattisgarh , which led the Supreme Court to ban the Salwa Judum movement.
In October, multiple media reports showed Chhattisgarh police and security forces reportedly burnt effigies of journalists, petitioners and activists, including Nalini Sundar.
