Bokaro, March 3: Life is about getting slapped, carrying luggage and guns up hilly dirt tracks and trying to sleep amid the sound of bullets. Death is being pushed forward to face police bullets.
Two boys aged eight and 10 years old, who were kidnapped by rebels four months ago and rescued by the police and CRPF on March 1 when they were human shields in an encounter at Lugu Pahad in Gomia block, 78km from Bokaro district headquarters, personally narrated their chilling ordeal to The Telegraph this afternoon at the office of Bokaro SP Y.S. Ramesh in the presence of CRPF commandant Sanjay Kumar, after a news conference.
The boys were part of a six-member group below 12 years, including two girls, in the Maoist squad headed by Mithilesh Mahto alias Duryodhan and Santosh Mahto alias Ajay Mahto of Jhumra-Parasnath zone, exposing once again the inhuman trend of rebels across Jharkhand kidnapping rural minors to exploit and groom them.
Little better than bonded labourers, the children carry luggage and arms, run errands, help in cooking and cleaning, and in case of encounters, are pushed in front to face bullets and splinters.
These two boys, one from Chatrochatti in Gomia block of Bokaro aged eight, and another from Parasnath in Giridih aged 10, went to schools before they were kidnapped in November 2015.
"I was alone with my sisters at home in Chatrochatti. My parents had gone to visit relatives. Suddenly, 10 armed men entered and ordered me to go with them," the eight-year-old boy told The Telegraph. "They told me I'd get food, money and good clothes."
Travelling with armed Naxalites - "I recognise AK-47, SLR, Insas, carbines and rifles" - on hilly forested terrain, he never stayed at one place for over two nights. "All six of us, including the girls, were asked to carry luggage and light arms. The girls cleaned utensils, helped cooking food. We all worked as coolies."
What does he remember? "Being slapped for crying, walking through forests and hills, not much sleep and sounds of firearms," said the child. "Veer Sen carried AK-47 all the time. Pankaj Manjhi carries a carbine. Santosh Mahto does not carry anything, his two assistants go around with Insas rifles," the boy rattled off names of rebels and arms that would help police and CRPF in their future combing operations.
He couldn't escape, he said, because he didn't know where he was.
The 10-year-old was also kidnapped when he was alone at home at Parasnath in Giridih, his parents and brother away at his uncle's house some "20km away". "A dozen of them (rebels) came in the evening and told me to accompany them. They promised me good food, money and job. When I joined I realised that only my dead body will reach home, if at all," said the boy sounding wiser than his 10 years. "We were fed rice and vegetables. But life was miserable. A teenager of Asnapany village had been with us only 20 days when he was shot dead in front of my eyes after he was ordered to be a human shield."
"Kidnapped children are taken to hilly and forested locations they don't recognise," said Bokaro SP Ramesh. "So, they can't escape. It's a living death. They pass each day toiling for rebels and never know when they would be asked to be bullet fodder during an encounter."
CRPF commandant Sanjay Kumar said Maoists are making kidnapped children, including girls, into human shields, while playing with their lives.
"As rural youths are refusing to join rebels, children are kidnapped and put to work as carriers of arms, messengers and shields, which is simply inhuman. We have to rescue and rehabilitate them," the CRPF commandant said.
Agreeing that rehabilitation and security were prime concerns, the SP said: "The lives of these rescued children are at risk now from rebels. Special care is being taken to rehabilitate them to which district administration has agreed. We will adopt the existing Latehar model of education-cum-security."
Inured to bullets, the boys haven't stopped dreaming. "I want to study and open a shop when I grow up," said the eight-year-old. "I want to study and become a policeman," added the 10-year-old. "I want to meet my parents and brother, but how can I endanger their lives when rebels know I have told the police everything?"
