Days after Bastar activist told to vacate house, govt assures

Two days after activist Bela Bhatia was accused by protesters as being a Maoist sympathiser and told to vacate her house in Bastar district, senior state Home department officials today visited her residence in Pandripani village and assured her of full protection.
Principal Secretary (Home) BVR Subramaniam, Special Director General (anti-naxal operation) DM Awasthi, Bastar Superintendent of Police RN Dash and other officials visited the activist and assured her of full protection by state.
"We have assured Bhatia that we are committed to extend full protection to her. In democracy, every citizen has equal rights to work freely anywhere in the country," Awasthi told PTI.

On January 23, villagers held a protest outside her rented accommodation and asked her to vacate it for being a 'naxal sympathiser'.
However, the activisthad claimed that a group of men barged inside the house and asked her to leave immediately, failing which they will set the house ablaze.
Bhatia had said she would leave the house on January 24, but not Bastar, as her landlord was being pressurised.

She has been working in the region for past several years.
Bastar SP had said enough security was provided for Bhatia's protection.
In the wake of the incident, the Chhattisgarh police had deputed 15 police personnel, including four women, for her security.

Notably, Bhatia was among a group of people who had accompanied a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team to villages of Bijapur recently to record the statements of alleged rape victims.
Earlier this month, NHRC had sent a notice to state government over alleged rape, sexual and physical assault of 16 women by the state police personnel in Bastar division (in October 2015 and January 2016), observing the government is "vicariously liable" for it.