20yr old girl killed by insurgents because she chose school over guns



Sanjeeta Kumari’s dream of making a fresh
start in life was shattered this week when
Maoist insurgents killed her for allegedly
spying on behalf of the police. Her blood-
stained body was found near the hills of
Gumla in Jharkhand on Thursday October
8th.
Kumari, who also went by the name of Guddi,
was lured into the outlaw group when she
was 11 by a neighbour and transformed from
a cook into a crack shot, serving under the
Maoist banner for eight years, before she
decided to turn over a new leaf.
The 20-year-old ran away from the rebels and
went into hiding in Gumla, where she rented a
house and enrolled herself at a local school
but the outlaws continued to threaten her
regularly.
When Hindustan Times met her on July 28,
Guddi recounted chilling tales of the looming
threat to her life but said she was committed
to her studies and wouldn’t return to the
extremist fold under any condition.
"I cannot surrender because the moment
my leaders come to know, they will kill my
parents and siblings," she told HT, on the
condition that her story wouldn’t be published.
"I will be able to study as long as I am not
identified and captured or my bosses in the
jungle do not take me away forcibly," she
said.
But her dream wasn’t to be. When she went
home to see her parents and siblings in the
Maoist-infested village of Sibil on Tuesday,
she was abducted by the insurgents, who left
a handwritten note saying Guddi had to die
because she didn’t mend her ways despite
several warnings.
Her body was brought to the hospital by local
villagers, not police personnel, who live in
constant fear of Maoist attacks.
"She was not our spy, and do we not know
of any Maoist related case against her name
so far," said Gumla police superintendent
Bhimsen Tuti.
Guddi said she was lured into the group by
her neighbour Savita Didi, who was a Maoist
leader. Guddi served as a cook for a year
before undergoing arms training and became
an expert at handling Insas rifles and
carbines.
Once fighting the forces in the Latehar
jungles, a bullet pierced through her foot.
"With the injured foot, I ran and walked for
four days and nights till we reached a safer
place," she said.
She fell in love with zonal commander
Kanchan and wanted to marry him but he died
from police bullets in an encounter.
Guddi also said Maoist commanders regularly
exploit women sexually but it was often
projected as consensual sex.
"Abortions are a routine affair as female
commanders cannot become mothers," she
had said.
"When I had left the camp in April, there
were 23 minor girls in zonal commander
Nakulji’s camp, few of them were as young
as 10 years."

Source: Hindustan Times