August 9th Sonipat: Multiple students and faculty members of O.P. Jindal Global University stayed back with tribal activist Soni Sori after they felt that Ms. Sori had been not allowed to fully speak during the panel she was invited to be a part of. Organised by the Jindal School of Public Health and Human Development for World Indigenous People’s Day, the fourth panel of the event, Conflict, Violence, and Impunity was moderated by the dean of the Jindal School of Journalism and Communications Kishalay Bhattacharjee with panellists Yashovardhan Azad and Dr. Virginius Xaxa, along with Ms. Soni Sori.
Ms. Sori began with her story of imprisonment after being labelled a Naxal and put into jail. Multiple tribal women have been wrongfully imprisoned in Bastar, and upon interacting with them, Ms. Sori decided to speak up about her own experience with imprisonment, police brutality and custodial rape. “The Manipur video affected me – the only difference is that it happened behind closed doors.”
Mr. Yashovardhan Azad, a former IPS officer who has worked in law enforcement for 40 years, stood against the allegations made regarding the custodial rape of tribal women. When asked what empowers the police to turn against their own citizens, Mr. Azad said, “Our cops don’t have time for rape – they’re dying of malaria. They have had atrocities done to them by Naxals.” In his view, the policemen in Baster are dealing with their own set of grievances and custodian rape is being sensationalised.
Speaking on impunity, Dr. Virginius Xaxa stated that India has failed its people in extending constitutional and legal provisions. The condition of tribals in the Northeast is a result of the failure of state development; he referred to India as a ‘sea of development’ which is a paradox as the tribals have not received any of the benefits.
The opposing viewpoints held by Ms. Sori and Mr. Azad instigated a response from the audience, however, due to the paucity of time, they were not fully engaged. As a result, multiple professors and students – mostly women - stayed with Ms. Sori to hear her talk about her experience.
Since Ms. Sori publicly spoke about her experience, nearly 600 tribal women have been released from wrongful imprisonment. “It’s because I raised my voice that police in Bastar think twice before committing custodial rape.”
The panel was the concluding one of the two-day event and was followed by a dance performance as the closing ceremony.