Chhattishgarh 'crossfire' casualty: Injured girl's father says police shot her

RAIPUR: The father of the 16-year-old girl, who was shot and injured during an encounter between security forces and Maoists in Abujhmarh on Dec 12, says it’s a police bullet that’s lodged in her throat. She may have to live with the bullet — and pain — all her life.
Speaking to reporters Raipur in Gondi dialect, the girl’s father alleged that she was wounded in police firing. “There are no Naxalites there, only police from Bhairamgarh? We saw the bullet hitting my child when she was playing,” he is heard saying.
On Wednesday, Bastar Range IG P Sundarraj had described her and the three other minors injured in the encounter as “victims of Naxal violence”.
“When the encounter broke out, Maoists used villagers as human shields, causing injury to four.
Maoists have returned to their old cruel means of using children and villagers as human shields in order to protect senior cadres. Primafacie, it appears they used children as shields in a desperate attempt to protect Odisha State Committee cadre Kartick,” he said.
The 16-year-old girl was brought to Dau Kalyan Singh (DKS) Hospital in Raipur two days ago. It’s been an agonising week since she was injured, but the bullet is still lodged in her throat.
Doctors are discussing if they should let the bullet remain or remove it.
She is in pain and has swelling near her jaws, but her vital parameters have been stabilised, and she’s able to talk, walk and eveneat, doctors at DKS told TOI.
“The bullet is lodged near the mandible after entering from the back of the neck. While the outer neck injury is being treated and is healing, we performed a CT scan and a few other tests to discuss the next line of treatment for the bullet.
A team of doctors is discussing which organs would get affected if the bullet is extracted and if leaving it as it is would be better,” Dr Rajiv Sahu, HOD neurosurgery department, told TOI.
The girl is “neurologically intact”, as she’s responding well and is performing her daily chores normally, the doctor said.
The doctors — and the girl — are at a crossroads on the bullet. “We will explain to the family the consequences of both scenarios,” Dr Sahu said.
A statement issued by Bastar police said that after the guns fell silent on the day of encounter, security personnel collected Naxal bodies but did not find any injured person. Tribal rights activist contests this.
“When security forces can carry the bodies to base, why didn’t they take the in-jured children to hospital? Because, body count will get them rewards but wounded kids won’t. When the forces searched the site, they found only dead bodies and none of the injured?” Sori asked.
She and some local social workers had gone to the remote village on Saturday and brought the three children in a boat to Bhairamgarh and then got them admitted to Dantewada and Jagdalpur hospitals, from where the girl was shifted to Raipur by the administration.
The three other injured children are being treated at Bhairamgarh and Dantewada hospitals and their condition is stated to be stable. The IG said govt is taking care of their medical expenses.
Opposition Congress demands answers from govt. Former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said Congress will bring an adjournment motion in the House on Friday, the last day of the winter session of assembly, to discuss law and order, and the Abujhmarh encounter.
“It’s a very serious issue where women, children and civilians are getting killed in Bastar,” Baghel said.