While 13-year-old Shefali is the daughter of Joydeb Bera, 35-year-old Kanika is wife of Raju Adak. Both Joydeb and Raju went missing in December and their families had lodged a case at the Jhargram court against the district administration as they alleged that the police had picked up the duo.

According to the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), the police were pressurising the family members of Raju and Joydeb to withdraw the case. “So when the two families refused, the women were arrested and branded as Maoists. The police will also slap false cases against the women. This is a part of the continuous torture that the joint forces are perpetrating in the Lalgarh area,” said Asit Mahato, spokesperson of PCAPA.

The police submitted a report to the court on December 24 saying they never arrested the duo. Today, the police backtracked from their earlier statement and said the two arrested women were not hardcore Maoists. Manoj Verma, Superintendent of Police (West Midnapore), said they were produced before the court today as “witnesses” of the two-day raids that were carried by the joint forces in the area in which they reportedly seized a laptop belonging to Naxal leader Kishenji. Verma also said that the police had not arrested Raju and Joydeb. “We have already made it clear that we have not arrested the two persons. We have also clarified this in court,” said Verma.

A Human Rights NGO, Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), has, meanwhile, stepped in to help the two women and their families. “We will file a petition at the Calcutta High Court on this issue,” said Sujata Bhadra of APDR.