Raipur Central Jail deputy jailer Varsha Dongre was suspended on Saturday for indiscipline in connection with a post written by her on Facebook about the recent Maoist ambush in Sukma, reported ANI. An investigation was ordered against her after she wrote the post on the social media platform questioning government schemes in tribal regions and alleged police torture of tribal girls.

“A preliminary Enquiry has been conducted against Varsha for some objectionable posts on social media,” director general of police (Jail) Giridhari Nayak had told The Times of India on May 3. “If it is found that she has violated the rules, action would be taken against her.”

The post was deleted after it kicked up a controversy. However, The Times of India, who claimed to have a copy of the post, reported that Dongre wrote, “…whosoever dies in Maoist attack from either side is a citizen of our own country but eviction of tribals from their own land for investors, molestation and rape of tribal women isn’t right. As per the fifth Schedule government has no right to acquire ‘jal, jungle, jameen’ of tribals on pretext of eliminating Maoism. Moreover, the tribal land is full of opportunities for industrialists which is being evacuated for them.”

She was earlier posted for four years at the Central Jail in Jagdalpur in Bastar. “whosoever raises voice in favour of tribals may it be civil rights activists or a journalist, they are stuffed into jails, what is the government scared of if everything in tribal land is going right? Why don’t they let the truth come to the fore?...neither we would do injustice nor tolerate it, Jai Samvidhan, Jai Bharat,” she wrote.

“Eyes will be on those too who ‘liked’ or ‘commented’ on the post,” KK Gupta, DIG, Jail, had said after the investigation was ordered against Dongre. “If the post was written by Varsha is also a matter of investigation, while we have all the updates of post saved, notice or action against her would be decided after PE report which is expected to come within a week.”

On April 24, 25 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed in a Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district. The troops were guarding workers constructing a road in the Burkapal-Chintagufa area (pictured above) of the Bastar region, which is a Maoist hotbed.

The incident was the worst Maoist attack on security forces in Chhattisgarh since April 6, 2010, when 76 CRPF soldiers were killed in an encounter in Dantewada district. On March 11 this year, a dozen CRPF soldiers were killed in a strike by Maoist fighters in Sukma. They belonged to the 219 battalion. These troops, too, had been guarding road construction workers.