Teacher, students detained for visiting Maoist area in Jharkhand

A six-member group from Delhi University, including a professor and five students, were detained for some time for moving around in Maoist-hit Gurabandha area of East Singhbhum of Jharkhand, a senior police officer said today.

Sub-divisional police officer (Ghatsila) Anup Birtheray said the group, which included three female students, went around two/three villages in the area and interacted with locals yesterday when they were detained by the police.

The group claimed to have come to the village to see for themselves the alleged displacement of locals in the area due to mining activities but no such activities took place in the area, the SDPO said.

The group members, who included three PH D researchers and a Miranda House Professor, were later allowed to go after interrogators were satisfied with the response, he said.

They were, however, asked not to venture in the Naxal-affected areas without intimating the district administration.

While the group claimed to have come to Ranchi on the invitation of a human right's group People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) a couple of days back, a senior member of the rights group and its former general secretary Nishan Akhilesh they did not have anything to do with the team. Further, the PUCL did not hold any conference in Ranchi  recently, Akhilesh claimed.