Annoyed with the police for not making any headway in the recovery of 35 children who were forcibly taken away by the Naxals to train them in guerrilla warfare, the Jharkhand High Court warned State Police to either tackle the Naxal menace or shed their uniform. A division bench of Chief Justice Virender Singh and Justice PP Bhatt was hearing a PIl filed after it took suo motto cognisance of media reports on children having been forcefully taken away from their homes in Gumla to induct them in their cadres.
“The court has asked the State Police to tell what steps were taken by them for the recovery of kids,” said amicus curie Sumit Gadodia. The court observed that the police was not serious in this regard and was not able to work on its own action plan.
According to the reports published in the Newspapers, the Naxal outfits had demanded at least five children from seven villages under Bishunpur block in Gumla for inducting them into their cadres to be used for courier purposes who could also be used as human shields in case of encounter with the security forces.
The issue was also highlighted earlier in September 2013 after 11 children were forcefully taken away by the CPI (Maoists) to train them in planting bombs. later, all of them were freed by them after the death of a child was leaked in the media.
At least 11 children were also taken away forcefully by the Maoists from Bandhua village under Herhanj police station in latehar after they failed to pay a fine of `5000 imposed by the rebels on each household of the village alleging them of cutting trees of the adjoining forest area for preparing filed for cultivation.