Sukma / Saleem sheikh: 105 tribal people heaved a sigh of relief On Saturday after they were released from the Jagdalpur central prision. Police and security personnel had arrested them along with 16 other villagers for having naxal links after 24 CRPF jawans were martyred in a Naxal attack in Burkapal area of Sukma district of Chhattisgarh. NiA court Dantewada however, declared them innocent on Friday after 5 years of suffering. The voices journalist spoke to some of the tribals who were released from jail.

Gory memories of Burkapal Maoist attack still haunts 70 year old Madkam Aayte for the incident incident brought insurmountable pain and miseries to her family. The grim attack destroyed her entire family with her eldest son Madkam Baman shot dead by security forces allegedly for being a Naxal and her younger son Madkam languished in jail. Madkam was booked with serious charges including UAPA. When Madkam was arrested, he had his wife who is now married to another person and two innocent daughters.

Madkam Hoonga has returned home after being released from jail after 5 years and 2 months on the orders of the NIA court. His devastated is left with his old mother and two minor daughters. "The financial condition of my family is very pathetic", he said whil le talking to the Voices. His innocent elder brother was gunned down by the security forces."Both of us (the two brothers) had nothing to do with the Naxalite attack. After I went to jail, there was no one in the house to take care of my mother and children. My old mother took care of herself and my daughters too", he recalls the ordeal his family had to face during these troubled years. He remembers that fateful day of April 24, 2017 when the whole village was celebrating the festival of 'Beej Pandum'. Madkam was also present in the temple along with other people.

His terrified mother Madkam Ayate who cannot speak Hindi, therefore, told 'The Voices' in Gondi dialect that 'there was a massive movement in security force camp when the attack took place. The CRPF jawans killed his elder son and police sent her younger son to jail, she elaborated. When her younger son went to jail, his wife got married with another man. Her family was emaciated, now Ayate was left with her two innocent granddaughters aged 3 and 1. The responsibility of their upbringing had come over to the aging woman.

Earlier her family was blessed with a tractor to cultivate the farmland. However, she had to sell the vehicle to finance the legal battle of her prisoned son Madkam. She even raised some money by selling the household cattles and continued to fight a legal battle for 5 years to get her son free. "My son has returned home. But I am still afraid that the police may book him again. If he is arrested again, I will not be able to live because there will be no one to earn in the house then, Aayate apprehended.