A group of tribals today alleged they were beaten up by police jawans, who accused them of sheltering a woman Naxal.
These tribals - Sakharam Narote, his wife Mangala, daughter Smita, their relatives Shyamrao Narote, his wife Vanita and Natthuji Atla made the allegation at a press conference held here this afternoon.
The Narotes reside in village Nagweli, while Natthuji is a native of adjoining village Kaneli.
Sakharam said Ramko Atla, a woman from his village who is also his relative, was forcibly taken away by the Naxals to join their 'ranks' some two years ago.
"The girl (Ramko) came to our village on January 5 and stayed with us as she is our relative. We called her father (Natthuji) and were about to inform the police about her surrender plan. However, we could not do so because of other urgent engagements," he said.
On January 10, some police jawans in civil clothes came to the village and thrashed Ramko and Smita, a Class IX student, who were in an agriculture field, Sakharam said.
"The jawans destroyed all our foodgrains and misbehaved with the girls. They also took away a bank pass book," he said. "The policemen took Ramko with them and threatened us not to tell anybody about the incident."
On January 15, policemen from Potegaon Police Station again came to our village and assaulted other members of the family and also Natthuji after accusing them of harbouring the woman Naxal, he said.
Police have not yet told us anything about Ramko's whereabouts, Sakharam said.
He demanded action against the policemen who committed the atrocity and also sought compensation for the foodgrains damaged by them.
When contacted, Sagar Kawde, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Gadchiroli, said he was not aware of any such incident. Calls made to District Superintendent of Police Sandip Patil's phone went unanswered.
In the next two months, the children would be given
training ahead of the academic session. Every child selected will have a local guardian alumni who will be meeting all their expenses, Mathew said.
The children who took the examination in the local language-- Malayalam, were tested for their language, numerical ability and Intelligence skills.
On the challenges faced by them during the project, Mathew said to equip the children for the test was a herculean task.
A total of 24 children were selected for the coaching spread over six months from July last year to Dec 31.
The children, who go to government and aided schools in their area, were imparted coaching for about 180 hours during Saturdays. Residential camps were also held during Pooja and Christmas holidays, he said.
"We provided them conveyance, food and trained them. Classes on Social and Emotional Learning (SCL) was imparted to them.
"Initially there were apprehensions. We spoke to the children and their parents and gradually we noticed a change among them. Our spouses and children also interacted with the children and their families and that really helped," he said.
Parents were also regularly told about their children's progress.
Mathew said there were plans to train 100 kids this year, but were facing fund crunch.
"We need more funds. Last year we spent Rs 12 lakh-Rs 14 lakh contributed by alumni. This year the plan is to do 300 academic hours", he said.
The school alumni, comprising doctors and software engineers among others, visit the children on Saturdays and interact with them giving them a new confidence, he said.
