Soni Sori

Soni Sori
Born	c. 1975 Bade Bedma, Chhattisgarh
Nationality	Indian
Citizenship	Indian
Education	Higher Secondary
Alma mater	Mata Rukmani Kanya Ashram, Dimra Pal, Jagdalpur
Occupation	Labourer
Relatives	Munda Ram (father), Ramdev (brother)

Soni Sori (born c. 1975) is an Adivasi school teacher turned political leader in Sameli village of Dantewada in south Bastar, Chhattisgarh, India. She was arrested by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch for Chhattisgarh Police in 2011 on charges of acting as a conduit for Maoists. During her imprisonment, she was tortured and sexually assaulted by Chhattisgarh state police. By April 2013, the Indian Courts had acquitted her in six of the eight cases filed against her due to lack of evidence. After release from prison, Sori began campaigning for the rights of those caught up in the conflict between Maoist insurgents and the government, in particular criticising police violence against tribespeople in the region.

Sori is a member of Aam Aadmi Party on whose ticket she unsuccessfully contested the 2014 general elections from Bastar, but lost to Dinesh Kashyap of the BJP.

Soni Sori was born to Munda Ram, a former Indian National Congress leader who served as the sarpanch (elected village headman) of Bade Bedma village for over a decade. Her brother Sukhdev and his wife were also elected to the panchayat (village council) as Congress representatives. Two of her uncles were also Congress leaders, who served as MLAs. Her cousin Amrita Sori is Deputy Superintendent of Police in Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar district.

Sori's family owns large tracts of lands in Dantewada district. In the 2010s, the Naxals forbade her relatives from cultivating their land. Her father served as an informant against the Naxals. On 14 June 2011, the Naxals looted the family's house and shot her father in the leg. He was given Rs. 80,000 as compensation. Sori's mother, a housewife, died in 2012.

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