13-year-old Maoist surrenders in Orissa

A 13-year-old boy, forcibly recruited to the Maoist rank two years ago, today escaped from the clutches of the ultras and surrendered in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa, police said.
     
Jatia Siddhu was forcibly taken away by the Maoists from his village Gadasahi in Keonjhar district two years ago and renamed him as Bipin, superintendent of police, Dayal Gangwar told newsmen here.
     
Jatia, then a class IV student, was trained in jungle warfare and made the area committee member in Similipal, the SP said.
     
The boy was being used in transport of goods from one place to another and maintain vigil on the camps whenever the ultras left for other places for operation.
     
Jatia, tortured, ill-treated and not properly fed, was waiting for an opportunity to escape and when he spotted a police party on an operation against the Maoists at village Mathurasahi this morning, he ran away from the camp and surrendered to police, Gangwar said.
     
Before taking away Jatia, the Maoists had held a meeting in the village and showed videos on their ideology to the villagers among whom Jatia and one of her five sisters were present.
     
The boy would be rehabilitated as per the scheme announced by the government for surrendered Maoists, the SP said.