They met on the job in the dense forests of Bijapur in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district and married in 2022. On January 15 this year, Kudiyam, like hundreds of other Maoist cadres, surrendered before the police. All Kudiyam has of Punem is a photograph from their wedding day, saved as her phone’s wallpaper. All the cadres had to undergo vasectomy on the instructions of senior leaders,” she says. She thinks back to what made her join the Maoists: “I was impressed by their dancing and singing troupes.

Source: The Hindu April 10, 2026 06:01 UTC