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'political prisoners'?  Are Maoists 'political prisoners'?  Last
updated on: September 25, 2012 18:28 IST   Bibhu Prasad Routray
examines how that decision will affect India's battle to control
and fight the Maoist menace.  Two judicial decisions in Kolkata
have opened up a dormant debate on the status of the jailed
cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist. Whether the
arrested left-wing extremists should be treated as 'political
prisoners'? Whether India should recognise the Maoist movement
as essentially political in nature?  In August, the Kolkata high
court declared seven suspected Naxalites, including CPI-Maoist
backed leader Chhatradhar Mahato and Maoist spokesperson for
Bengal and Gaur Chakraborty as 'political prisoners'.  Following
the trend, on September 21, a sessions court in Kolkata bestowed
a similar status on nine suspected Maoists -- including head of
the outfit's technica