A Communist Party of India (CPI) Maoist couple, who were forcibly sterilised in order to get married, surrendered before the West Singhbhum police on Sunday. The police had announced a bounty of ₹1 lakh on each of them.
Goinda Gagrai, 32, along with his wife Shanti Kandulna, 30, surrendered before West Singhbhum superintendent of police (SP) Chandan Kumar Jha, citing exploitation by the Maoist leadership. Gagrai had joined the wing in 2014, while Kandulna became active in the same squad, led by hardcore Maoist Anmol Da alias Lalchand Hembrom, since joining in 2010.
Jha said that while participating in Maoist activities in border areas of Odisha and Jharkhand in Saranda forest, the two fell in love. They wanted to get married and informed the Maoist squad leaders about it, he added. They were allowed to tie the knot, but only after Gagrai agreed to sterilisation. The couple got married in 2016 after he went through the operation, ensuring they would not become parents, the officer said.
The couple continued working for the ultra squad, but their feelings had changed. “Their commitment to Maoist activities was shattered after the sterilisation incident. Due to this exploitation, they decided to surrender before the police. Gagrai, a resident of Chhotanagra in West Singhbhum, and Kandulna, originally from Sundargar district of Odisha, informed their family members about the wish. They talked to the police and, eventually, the couple surrendered under the Jharkhand government’s surrender policy,” Jha said.
{{/usCountry}}The couple continued working for the ultra squad, but their feelings had changed. “Their commitment to Maoist activities was shattered after the sterilisation incident. Due to this exploitation, they decided to surrender before the police. Gagrai, a resident of Chhotanagra in West Singhbhum, and Kandulna, originally from Sundargar district of Odisha, informed their family members about the wish. They talked to the police and, eventually, the couple surrendered under the Jharkhand government’s surrender policy,” Jha said.
{{/usCountry}}The police had announced a bounty of ₹1 lakh on each of the two hardcore Maoist activists. They were involved in a Chaibasa jailbreak in 2014 and other Maoist attacks on the police in Saranda. Three FIRs were lodged against them in different police stations in the district.
The SP said that the police gave ₹50,000 to both of them during the surrender, while each person’s family members will get ₹1 lakh under the state policy. He added that the district police, along with the Central Reserve Police Force, was trying to convince Maoist activists’ families to persuade their “diverted members” to surrender.