Raipur: More than 70% of Maoist cadres are forcibly recruited as children without the approval of their parents.
They mostly flared up at the age of 15 and was given a gun at 17, said the ‘survey’ carried out by police Bastar among Maois who surrendered.
Children ‘recruited’ were not allowed to go home for years, some were never, even if they were parents who died, police said.
Moreover, the shocking 25% finally became forcibly sterile in youth, said the survey.
Requesting his comments about the findings of the police, Ham activist Bastar Bela Bhatia told TII: “Children should not be used as soldiers.
I will welcome a similar survey by an independent agent.” The survey report made a disturbing reading.
Perception is that Maois puts children only in ‘Bal Sangham’ and did not give them weapons until they were 18 years old, but Maois who gave up, including several senior cadres, had revealed that this was far from right, police said.
“Most of us do not join Maois from our own will.
We were forced,” Maois told the police.
The survey was conducted between 41 Maoists who had surrendered in Dantewada between 2013 and 2021, and had a gift of Rs 5 lakh or higher.
Police officers interviewed them for more than a month and made them fill the questionnaire 10 points before they came up with this data.
“At the age of 17 when they had to study, they were given weapons and were told to carry out attacks.
At the age of 20, they handled automatic weapons,” said the report.
Dantewada SP Abhishek Pallava said: “The results of the survey will be used to spread awareness among the local residents in the villages of ‘Hotspot’ recruitment ‘from the Dantewada district so that they did not join Maois.
The police will notify the villagers that Maois is not revolutionary.
There are people who are carried by Maois as children and never returned, also did not know about their fate or existence.
The villagers must know about the dark side ‘holding weapons and being strong’.
“There are 12 Maoist recruitment hotspots identified by police – villages Where at least 10 cadres join the PLGA.
The cadres who were handed over together shared the stories and pains that they experienced as children in rebel clothing.
They are forbidden to visit houses or meet parents for years.
They are not allowed home even if parents die, not to talk about visiting family for the festival.
At least 25% said they had never seen their parents after being taken away by Maois, and 30% could meet their families every five years.
To add to this, they see severe discrimination in Maois ranked between the ‘Telugu cadres’ and the Chhattisgarh tribe.