Soni Sori’s Letter That No One Wants to Read
By Soni Sori
On the night of Saturday, October 8, 2011, I was subjected to torture in the new police station building, which is located next to the old Dantewada police station.
I was asleep when two female police officers woke me up. When I asked why, they said that SP Ankit Garg had arrived.
They took me to another room, where SP Ankit Garg and the SDPO of Kirandul police station were present.
I was made to sit in the room while the two female officers remained for a while. Later, they were ordered to leave and were warned, “Whatever happens here, do not tell anyone. You know very well what I can do if you disobey.”
The two officers responded, “Yes, sir, we will not say anything.” Then they were sent away.
After that, Manhkar and Vasant were called in. The SP reassured Manhkar, saying, “Do not be afraid, I am here. This ‘madar saud’ (abusive slang) can do nothing to you. You should know that we made this plan, and it is working successfully.”
The SP then praised Manhkar, saying, “Son, you have done a very brave job. I am very happy with you. Madar Saud, do you know who I am? I am SP Ankit Garg. I was earlier posted in Bijapur, and soon I will be promoted to a senior officer at the range level.”
He then banged the table and declared, “Everything happens from here. Whatever we say will happen. The administration, the government—this is what they are! Understood, Madar Saud?”
He continued, “What can you do to defame Manhkar? He is going to get a promotion now.”
For a long time, they hurled filthy abuses at me and mentally harassed me. I have mentioned many of these abuses in my previous letters, which you might have received. However, I cannot put everything in writing.
They forced me to sign some papers and write statements. When I refused, they threatened me and tried to intimidate me. When I still refused, they began giving me electric shocks through my clothes on my legs.
After some time, they paused and said, “Do as we say, it is for your own good. This way, you will be saved. Understand?”
They forced me to write a letter accusing Himanshu (Kumar), Swami Agnivesh, Prashant Bhushan, Colin Gonsalves, Lingaram Kodopi, Kavita Srivastava, Medha Patkar, Arundhati Roy, Nandini Sundar, Manish Kunjam, Rama Sodi, and the owner of the Essar Company of being Naxalite supporters.
They wanted me to confess in writing that Linga and I were passing on all news from Dantewada to Delhi and that we had traveled to Delhi at their request. They wanted me to write that Essar company officials used to give money to Manish Kunjam, Rama Sodi, and me, which we passed on to the Naxalites.
They pressured me to write such a letter, but I refused to write or sign their document.
They then forced me again to sign the papers. I told them they could take my life, but I would not sign false confessions against people who had done nothing wrong.
I told them, “It is better to kill me than to force me to do this.”
At this, SP Ankit Garg said, “We could do that too, but we won’t because you were arrested in Delhi. Since you are not obeying me, I will make sure you are punished before you go to jail. You will be so ashamed that you will kill yourself by banging your head against the jail walls. You are an educated woman—you will not be able to live with this humiliation.”
Then they started giving me more electric shocks, stripped me naked, and forced me to stand without clothes while SP Ankit Garg sat on a chair and watched.
He looked at my body and verbally abused me with filthy words, humiliating me.
After some time, he left the room. Then, after a while, he sent three men inside. They started misbehaving with me.
They pushed me, and I fell down. Then they brutally inserted objects into my body.
I could not bear it and lost consciousness.
When I regained consciousness, I found myself in the same room where I had been sleeping earlier.
By then, it was morning—Sunday, October 9, 2011.
I endured the pain throughout the day, suffering in silence because I had no one there to confide in.
On Monday, October 10, 2011, in the morning, the female police officers told me to freshen up because they had to take me to court.
I told them, “Madam, I am feeling dizzy. I don’t have the strength to get up. Please wait for a while.”
But they said, “We have orders to get you ready quickly, or else we will get scolded.”
I requested, “Please give me a cup of tea so I can gather some strength.”
After drinking tea, I slowly went to the bathroom. A little later, I felt dizzy and collapsed.
Even though I was in no condition to walk, they forced me to go to the bathroom—probably because they wanted me to appear in court looking fine.
But that did not happen. I fainted in the bathroom.
After that, they took me from Dantewada police station to Dantewada hospital.
I regained consciousness after a long time, but the pain worsened. I could not get up from the bed, completely injured.
I did not immediately reveal the details of my torture because I had been threatened.
However, I kept looking for an opportunity to tell someone what had happened to me.
Policemen were with me at all times.
Later, around 2 PM, they took me to court.
They kept me outside the courtroom for a long time and did not take me inside.
Instead, the SDPO brought some documents from inside the courtroom and told me to sign them.
I said, “Sir, I want to give a statement before the judge.”
He said, “That will happen later. These documents are just to send you to jail. Sign them.”
I thought, “Going to jail is better than this torture,” so I signed.
The judge did not even listen to me and sent me to jail.
After court, they took me back to Dantewada police station, where two men were already waiting to interrogate me.
Despite my terrible condition, they kept questioning me about Kavita Srivastava.
I told them, “I am not in a condition to talk. Please do not force me.”
By then, my brother Ramdev arrived at the police station with my family and asked, “Why is my sister still here? The court has ordered her to be taken to jail.”
Hearing this, they immediately sent me to Jagdalpur Central Jail.
When I reached Jagdalpur Jail around 7-8 PM, seeing my condition, the jail authorities refused to admit me.
So, the Dantewada police took me to Jagdalpur hospital for treatment.
On Tuesday, October 11, 2011, the Jagdalpur doctor referred me to Raipur for further treatment.
By Wednesday, October 12, 2011, I reached Raipur hospital.
However, despite my severe injuries, the guards forcibly got the doctors to discharge me that very evening and took me to Raipur Central Jail.
I pleaded for treatment, but they ignored me and said, “Once you see the Red Gate, you will automatically be fine.”
I could barely walk but had no choice except to drag myself through the prison gates, suffering immensely.
Signed,
Soni Sori (Sodi)