Attack on tribal girls in Chhattisgarh: CPI to gherao Narayanpur Collectorate

New Delhi: CPI has decided to gherao the Narayanpur Collectorate in Chhattisgarh on Thursday demanding immediate registration of FIRs against those who attacked three young tribal girls, travelling with two nuns in July. The party claimed that communal attacks on tribals and minorities were continuing in the BJP-ruled state.

CPI Rajya Sabha floor leader P Sandosh Kumar and other party leaders would participate in the protest, besides submitting a memorandum to Chhattisgarh Governor Raman Deka. Sandosh Kumar said the protest is against the non-registration of FIR against culprits who were involved in the attack on nuns and tribal girls.

Strongly condemning the "continued communal attacks" on minorities and tribals in Chhattisgarh and the "complete failure" of the BJP government to uphold constitutional rights, he said not a single FIR has been registered against the "aggressors from the VHP and Bajrang Dal".

"Instead, the victims continue to face harassment, humiliation, and intimidation, as was evident when members of the Chhattisgarh State Women Commission questioned them about their religion instead of addressing their pain. This exposes the deep communal bias of the administration and its collusion with the Sangh Parivar outfits," he said.

Two nuns were arrested after Sangh Parivar outfits alleged that the nuns were taking the three tribal girls out of Chhattisgarh for religious conversion, though the girls denied any such attempt. The nuns were later granted bail. "While there was wider mobilisation in support of the nuns, the three young girls continue to walk a much lonelier path to justice, facing threats and humiliation," Sandosh Kumar said.

He said the CPI has "consistently exposed the dangerous design of the RSS-BJP-VHP-Bajrang Dal nexus to turn Chhattisgarh into a laboratory of hate but they are determined to resist every such move with the strength of people’s unity."

"The CPI wants to send a clear message that we will not bow to intimidation, we will not allow impunity to communal goons, and we will continue our uncompromising fight for justice, equality, tribal dignity and secularism," he added.