HC orders govt to file status report on arrest of Maoist

Cuttack, Jan 18 (PTI) The Orissa High Court todaydirected the state government to submit a status report beforeit within seven days on the arrest of a woman Maoist ofDeogarh district whose mother had filed a habeas corpus writ.

Banita Gadnaik of Jujomara in Deogarh district, whohad earlier claimed that her daughter, Sulochana, died in2006, petitioned the high court on Monday stating that she wasalive and had been living with her all these days and waspicked up by the police on January 12 this year from herhouse.

She said she had announced her daughter, a Maoist,dead in 2006 under police pressure.�����������

Apprehending that the police had killed herin a fake encounter, Banita prayed for a direction for theproduction of her daughter in court.

When the petitioner''s counsel informed the courtthat Sulochana had been produced in a local court by theDeogarh police, the Division Bench of Chief Justice V GopalaGowda and Justice B N Mohapatra directed the state governmentto submit a detailed report on the case by next week.

���������Banita at a police awareness camp in 2006 haddeclared that an expectant Sulochana had died duringhospitalization on November 16, 2006 at the Deogarh GovernmentHospital.