Tribal Activists

The police had arrested a Jharkari tribal from Chitki village of Sindewahi Block just for a petty quarrel with his brother. So the tribal villagers pleaded with Paromita Goswami to help them get their kin released.

- F. M. BRITTO

Paromita, a jail visitor, discovered that the police had not even filed an FIR against the man. Refusing to release him, the police justified their conduct, saying he was taken into preventive detention according to the election code of conduct.

Paromita then questioned the Chandrapur Collector, “How come a poor, illiterate tribal has been arrested under the ambit of the election code?” The collector immediately ordered him to be released.

That night, on 25 August 1999, Paromita wondered about the plight of the illiterate tribal villagers and the gullible prisoners who had no access to legal aid, and how the Maoist-affected Gachibowli district did not have a criminal justice system.