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Priyanka: I am a journalist and I need to speak to you about Sodi Sambo? Where is she now? Why was she illegal detained last night?
From: Priyanka Borpujari Date: Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 12:06 PM
Subject: Conversation with SP Dantewada Hello,
There is no electricity at VCA since morning.... all lines of communication jammed... no battery in laptop, phone batteries have also died....utter chaos...!!!! sending this mail from somewhere now...
today at 7.45 am (January r 4), I called up Amresh Mishra, SP of Dantewada. This is the conversation that transcribed between us. The conversation lasted 6 minutes.
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Priyanka: I am a journalist and I need to speak to you about Sodi Sambo? Where is she now? Why was she illegal detained last night? Amresh: She has not been detained or arrested. She was only brought for questioning. We wanted to record and put our case in the Supreme Court also as there was no FIR lodged in the police station.
First of all we never had any authentic information about her encounter. It was only with Himanshu Kumar statement and other people who were talking about it that we learnt about the incident. There was no FIR; we were searching her for the last 3 months, and we knew that she was captive somewhere. We learnt that she was most probably in the custody of Himanshu Kumar to which we had no access and we are still verifying the facts with her. Whether it was legal or illegal, we don’t know. That we will learn only after we speak to her guardians.
P: Were there any attempts made to get in touch with Himanshu Kumar in the interim period and ask him about her?
A: There were 3 letters sent to him, which were duly signed and returned by him. He was one of the complainants. We told him to kindly co-operate with us and to find her. But he made a mockery out of it on a Youtube video, where he said that, Police nahin bol sakte toh mein kaise bol sakta hoon?” Yesterday we learnt that she’s being taken to Raipur and we tried to get her. She’s not been detained. We have handed her over to her family. P: Where are the family members right now?
A: They are in Dantewada.
P: Where is Sambo right now?
A: She is in Dantewada.
P: Where in Dantewada sir? It is a big town...
A: That we cannot disclose.
P: But she’s also an eyewitness to the incident that took place in Gompad…
A: She can be an eyewitness to anything. There’s no problem with that. But there was no FIR. We are not defending the police. There should have been an FIR. I needed first-hand information and not some borrowed information.
P: As far as I know about the law, any person who’s been an eyewitness to any incident, the statement from him/ her needs to be taken from the most comfortable location of that person which is usually the home. So why wasn’t the statement taken from her home?
A: More than an eyewitness she’s also a complainant to me that all this has happened to me and please do justice to me. Eyewitness is a separate thing; that issue will come up later on. First of all there’s a complaint against me by her in my name just after the incident so I needed to get that information. We are not recording her statement right now, but have handed her over to her parents, or her mama/mami whatever. I think that is the best confines for her right now and protect her form the clutches of other people.
P: But she needs a surgery on her leg for which she needs to be taken to Delhi. So what about that? Will you be making arrangements for it?
A: We will take care of it. It’s a medico-legal case and nobody except police and Govt doctors have any business into it. She’s also against vilification of evidence and destruction of evidence because she has been shot in her leg. It is a medico-legal case. She should have reported to the police, get the MLC conducted and then government doctors can refer her to any other doctor for treatment. All of that was not done in the last two months, due to the agenda of some people.
P: I would like to give you an example: if there has been attack on me by the police, and if I need to write an FIR, do you think the police would write an FIR against themselves, stating that they have themselves attacked me? Because that I what has happened now. Was there any better way that she could have taken this forward?
A:Our many SPOs are in the jail! But we wanted to be sure first rather that malign good SPOs. If we are sure that this has happened, then we will surely file an FIR.
P: How long will Sambo now be in Dantewada and in your custody?
A: I don’t know. She is now with her parents and she will leave with them in a bus in a few hours. If she needs a surgery we will take her to Raipur or Mumbai or wherever she needs to be taken. We will take care of everything.
P: Is there any likelihood that you will issue a warrant to arrest her?
A: There is no question of arresting her at all. Why should be arrested at all? This is again another concocted story. There will be no arrests. She is only a complainant for me; not an accused for me. She is a complainant who has written that she was shot by a police party. I need to verify that because till today, parties are claiming that there was an encounter.
P: As far as I know it has been a detention of a different kind. This could have been done during the day time too. Why was it done at night?
A: There was no detention at all. We were abiding the law. You can go to the Supreme Court and find out. This was not any detention.
P: But why was it done specifically yesterday? You could have done this earlier too…
A: Before that we had no access to her at all.
P: But there was no FIR also lodged. When she wanted to file one, it was rejected…
A: All of that is under enquiry. That is why we want to enquire with her. Once that is done, we will file the FIR. P: What about her treatment now? Who will be taking responsibility for it?
A: It will all be taken care of. The state will take care of it.
P: Do you have her medical files with you?
A: Not right now. I will get them; I have to ask her guardians for it.
P: But why were the medical files not taken earlier? You were working on this case since yesterday… besides, since it is a medico-legal case, her guardians may or may not have the files…
A: After all the work yesterday till late night, we all wanted to sleep since we were all tired.
P: Do you have a translator for her, because I believe she cannot speak in Hindi..
A: 99 per cent of our men are Gondi-speaking, which is her dialect.
P: But she doesn’t speak Gondi….
A: 99 per cent of our men know all the languages here. The translation will be managed.
P: But she doesn’t speak Gondi….I know that for sure sir.
A: Does she speak Telugu? Does she speak Koya Mata then?
P: No sir she doesn’t.
A: Then whatever she speaks, we will find that out. And we will have all the information in hand.
P: Sir can I please come and meet you today?
A: I will be out all day today. I will let you know.
P: Can we confirm our meeting at 11 am?
A: I have other meetings. I will call you later than 11 am. Are you leaving today?
P: No I am not, but there are many other matters that I would like to speak to you about.
A; Is this your number? I will call you a few hours after 11 am. Don’t worry, we will meet today.
P: Thanks you for your time sir. Have a nice day.
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