Supporting Maoists
will invite 10 year jail

Thu,
May 6 09:24 PM

New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) Those who speak in
favour of Maoist guerrillas will face legal action and 10 years
imprisonment, the government announced Thursday in a warning to civil
society groups who raise voices in favour of Leftwing extremism.

'Any
person who commits the offence of supporting such a terrorist
organisation (like Communist Party of India (CPI)-Maoist) with inter
alia intention to further the activities of such terrorist organisations
would be liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term not
exceeding 10 years or with fine or with both,' a home ministry statement
said.

It said such action would be taken under Section 39 of the
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The home ministry said
the government has noticed that some Maoist leaders were directly
contacting certain NGOs and intellectuals to propagate their ideology
and 'persuade them to take steps (and) support the CPI-Maoist ideology'.

'General
public are informed to be extremely vigilant of the propaganda of
CPI-Maoist and not unwittingly become a victim of such propaganda,' the
statement warned.

The Leftwing extremist group and all its front
organizations have been designated as terrorist organisations by the
government.

According to the ministry, the 'sole aim' of the
CPI-Maoist is to overthrow the Indian state.

It 'continues to kill
innocent civilians including tribals in cold blood and destroy crucial
infrastructure like roads, culverts, school buildings, gram panchayat
buildings so as to prevent development from reaching these
under-developed areas', the statement added.