 "Following attack, Chattisgarh AAP leader Soni Sori fears for children's lives, at odds with police")
Tribal activist and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Soni Sori said that she fears for her and her children's lives in the wake of Saturday's attack on her, The Hindu newspaper reported on Monday.
According to The Hindu's report, Sori told reporters at the Raipur airport that “What is happening is not good". "Now I fear for my life and the safety of my kids,” she said. She was flown to Delhi on Sunday and would reportedly be treated in AIIMS.
According to a NDTV report, three unidentified men on Saturday allegedly hurled an acid-like liquid, suspected to be grease oil, on Sori’s face when she was returning from a public rally. The alleged attack took place in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.
Sori had reportedly received a threat to her life earlier this month. According to a Catch News report, she received an anonymous letter threatening to burn her alive.
Asked about the attackers, Sori told The Hindu that "she received a call at 6.12 pm on Saturday that some people were conspiring to attack her".
“I told the person that I would meet him today [Sunday]. I was getting constant reminders from the people that the police wanted to eliminate me. But I ignored them. Most of my fight has been against the police department in Bastar,” she added.
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Sori has previously accused the Chattisgarh police of torturing her.
In October 2011, she was arrested for allegedly ferrying money from Essar Group to the Maoists in a deal to protect the company's assets in rebel-controlled territories. Sori denied the allegations, as did the Maoists and Essar group.
Alleging that the state police had tried to kill her in a fake encounter, she fled Chhattisgarh. She was subsequently arrested in Delhi and transferred back to a prison in Chhattisgarh. In letters smuggled out of prison, Sori accused the police of torturing her while conducting interrogations. The activist went on a hunger strike in prison to protest against the poor living conditions in prison and the alleged withholding of medical assistance by prison staff. A medical report by the NRS Medical College in Kolkata lends credence to some of her claims.
The Chhattisgarh police has denied Sori's allegations. On Republic Day in 2012, Ankit Garg, a policeman who allegedly oversaw her torture, was awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry for his bravery in anti-Maoist operations. Garg has also denied Sori's claims.
In February of 2014, nearly two-and-a-half years after her arrest, Sori was granted bail by the Supreme Court and was declared as AAP's Lok Sabha candidate from Bastar in March of that year.
Sori's candidature had given rise to expectations of a serious triangular contest in Bastar between the AAP, BJP and Congress.
However, when the poll results came out in May that year, Sori could secure only 16,903 votes and stood in the fourth position.
Referring to the recent attack, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter: "Very painful. Whats happening everywhere? Hope she recovers fast. Chhattisgarh govt should nab culprits immediately."
However, according to The Hindu's report, Dantewada's SP "questioned the sequence of events and circumstances leading to the attack". Speaking to The Hindu he said, “There was no attack on her. Wrong vocabulary is being used for the incident. There was nothing like that… everyone is lying here.”