The West Bengal government today admitted that it had given in to the Maoists’ demands — and helped free 22 suspects — to secure yesterday’s release of Atindranath Dutta, the abducted Officer in Charge (OC) of the Sankrail police station.

Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen justified the decision by claiming that India was a “soft” state. And cited the release of militants in the 1989 Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case and the 1999 IC-814 Kandahar hijack as precedents.

“The decision of not talking to the Maoists unless they eschewed violence is a long-term process but when you are placed in such a situation you have to make a compromise,” Sen told reporters at Writers’ Buildings.

“We had to make a choice between getting the OC alive and freeing some Maoists,” he said. “When a plane was hijacked (read Kandahar incident) three terrorists had to be released to get the passengers back. It happened in Kashmir, too (in the Rubaiya case). India is a soft state. We have seen these instances earlier in the 60 years since Independence. There is a difference between the Indian government and the Government of Israel. We cannot do what they can do,” Sen said.

Asked why the police did not take any action when the OC was being released, Sen said: “That would have been too adventurous.”

Dutta was abducted on October 20 by armed Maoists who raided the police station and killed two officers, looted the armoury and a nearby bank.

The same day, Maoist leader Kishenji said that the OC would be released only if the government freed those arrested during security operations in Lalgarh and Salboni. He also demanded a halt to the operations.

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