One of the surrendered Maoists, Madhuri,with Jajpur police. Telegraph picture

Jajpur, Aug. 27: Two Maoists, one of them a 15-year-old girl, today surrendered before Jajpur police, taking the number of such surrenders in the district to 20 in the last eight months.

The rebels, Tukuna Badara alias Rakesh, 20, and Suturi Jamuda alias Madhuri, 15, both from Baligotha village under Kalinga Nagar police station limits, laid down arms before district superintendent of police Deepak Kumar. The superintendent said steps would be taken to rehabilitate the Maoists in the mainstream of the society.

“Tukuna and Suturi were armed cadres of CPI(Maoist) in Kalinga Nagar division. They were active in Jajpur and Keonjhar districts since 2009. They were also involved in a case of blast at Dozer Padia under Kalinga Nagar police station last year. We suspect their involvement in a number of violent incidents,” Kumar said.

The rebels decided to shun violence and join the mainstream as they were disillusioned with Maoist activities. They had been made to join the Maoist movement through inducements.

But after joining the Maoist party, the duo were allegedly subjected to torture and kept hungry for days together.

Tukuna admitted to his involvement in Dozer Padia blast in Kalinga Nagar. “I have been involved in Maoist activities since 2009. I was lured to join them with attractive offers, but all that was a charade. Hence, I decided to quit,” Tukuna said.

The surrendered rebels would be rehabilitated as per government policy. “We are trying to rehabilitate them and provide them assistance so that they become self-dependent and can lead a normal life,” said deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, central range, D.S. Kuttey.

While 20 Maoists have laid down their arms before the Jajpur police in the last eight months, a large number of surrenders have also taken place in the neighbouring district of Keonjhar. The two districts together constitute the Kalinga Nagar division of the CPI(Maoist).

Significantly, quite a few Maoists, who laid down arms in the two districts during the last one year, were minors. Some of them were girls and they confessed to having been sexually exploited in the forest camps of the Maoists.