“I know that the government may jail me or even shoot me dead for what I am doing to secure the rights of our people in Bastar. The spying must have been done to collect evidence against me so that I can be thrown behind bars and thus stopped from doing my work. What else can be the reason for spying on me?” says Soni Sori, the well-known social activist from Chhattisgarh.
Soni Sori figures in the list of the politicians, officers, social activists and journalists whose mobile phones may have been hacked using the Pegasus spyware. “I am a woman, yet the Government of India committed all sorts of atrocities against me. I was subjected to horrific treatment in jail. Policemen and NIA personnel come to my place to question me at regular intervals. This has been continuing for some time. What I want to know is whether it is a crime to speak up for the rights of the Adivasis? Our people are facing untold atrocities. They are being displaced. Fake encounters are common. Hills are being stripped of their wealth. In this situation, what option do we have except waging a democratic struggle? We will continue with our struggle. The government can spy on us, it can restrict our movement. But we will not abandon our struggle.”
