Sanjeeta Kumari was just 11 when she was lured by her neighbour into joining Maoism in Jharkhand. After eight years of being with the rebel group, she developed interest in studies and ran away to Gumla. However, she failed to pursue her dreams as the Maoists killed her claiming that she was a police informer.
Sanjeeta was abducted by Maoists from Sibil village on Tuesday and her body was found near the hills in Gumla on Thursday. With the body, the Maoists had left a note in which they claimed that Sanjeeta had to die as she did not take their warnings seriously, Hindustan Times reported.
The insurgents had claimed that Sanjeeta was a police informer, but the police refuted the claims, saying they do not even have records of her being a Maoist. "She was not our spy, and do we not know of any Maoist related case against her name so far," said Gumla police superintendent Bhimsen Tuti.
Sanjeeta dreamt of bright future
Sanjeeta dreamt of a bright future and in order to acheive it, she left behind the life of rebellion and came to Gumla, where she was staying at a rented accommodation. She enrolled herself at a local school for studies even as she was frequently threatened by the rebel group. On 28 July, she told the english daily about the threats she had been receiving while studying in Gumla.
"I cannot surrender because the moment my leaders come to know, they will kill my parents and siblings," she had told HT. But, she did not want her story to be published as she feared the Maoists would take her away to the jungle forcibly.
"I will be able to study as long as I am not identified and captured or my bosses in the jungle do not take me away forcibly," she said.
She also told the national daily about sexual expliotation of women by Maoist commanders. She also revealed that there are minor girls in the camp.
"Abortions are a routine affair as female commanders cannot become mothers... When I had left the camp in April, there were 23 minor girls in zonal commander Nakulji's camp, few of them were as young as 10 years," she had said.
While at the camp, Sanjeeta was trained in handling weapons and she had also become an expert at using Insas rifles and carbines.