Raipur: Soni Sori, the tribal teacher who was held in Delhi last week on charges of being a Maoist conduit and is hospitalised here with head and back injuries, on Wednesday said Chhattisgarh Police were treating her like a criminal.
"They (police) are treating me like a hardcore criminal. They had put a chain on my legs... I oppose such moves by police," Sori told some mediamen at a government hospital here where the police brought her to recover from the injuries.
Sori was held in Delhi and brought to Chhattisgarh on transit remand.
"Why are they treating me like a criminal? What I did, why they put `janjir` (chain) on my legs," Sori was heard saying in footage aired by local TV channels.
Police denied putting a chain around her legs or harassing her.
They shifted Sori to Raipur-based Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Government Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday night from Jagdalpur, headquarters of the Bastar region, where doctors suggested advanced treatment for her injuries on the head and lower back.
Sori, who is accused of receiving money on behalf of Maoists from the Essar Group as "protection money", sustained injuries in Dantewada on Monday while in police custody.
Human right activists had termed her injury a case of "custodial violence" and sought an independent probe to expose police atrocities while Chhattisgarh Police have denied the accusations and said Sori slipped and fell in the bathroom while in police custody.
Last week Sori had moved the Delhi High Court requesting that the Chhattisgarh Police not be allowed to take her back to the state as she faces a threat to her life.
IANS
