Celebrating Human
Rights Day, West Bengal Way
On the Human Rights Day,
the WB Govt evicted about 25000
bustee-dwellers living on the sides of Beliaghata Canal in East Calcutta
to implement an ADB sponsored project by force. There were massive protests
and the police made several lathicharges. Bull dozers and pay-loaders
were used to remove the shanties and at one staze police along with
ruling party hoodlums set fire to the shanties resulting in a huge fire.
Sujato Bhadra, Dilip Das,
Sachin Mitra and other APDR leaders Saktiman Ghosh,Hawkers Union leader
were among many arrested from the place, for organising protests against
the forceful eviction, without making any alternative arrangements.
They were however released in the late evening, after APDR took
out a procession protesting the eviction and arrests. On that day APDR
submitted a memorandum to the speaker of the West Bengal Assembly. (
See Annexure I.)
Annexure I
The Honble Speaker
and Legislators,
West Bengal Legislative
Assembly,
Kolkata
Re: Concern over arrest,
torture and repression of political activists, common citizens and APDR
activists and gross human rights violations in West Bengal
Sir,
With deep concern, we come
here today, the World Human Rights Day and place this memorandum before
you to draw the attention of the members of, the West Bengal Legislative
Assembly and seek their intervention.
Perhaps you are aware of
the fact that a large number of
activists, reportedly belonging to various political organisations,
have been languishing in the jails of West Bengal.
APDR has case details of
402 radical activists arrested over the
last two years and there are indications that there are at least 300
more. Besides, 1,000 Kamtapuris and 47 alleged SIMI activists were held
merely on suspicion. Even 22 activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali
Ekta Samaj, who support the demand for end of monarchy and establishment
of democracy in Nepal, have been slapped with a case of conspiracy against
the state in Siliguri.
Of late, because of public
opinion and media coverage, the
government had to declare its no-objection in respect of bail petitions
of some of them including Prof. Kaushik Ganguly, Sm. Mithu Roy and Sm
Sampa Dasgupta. Though some of the detained political workers, whose
names were highlighted in the media because of their social status and
who could afford
the expenses of stringent bail conditions, could come out on bail, a
large number of political workers and many common citizens, mainly poor
villagers, are rotting in jails, we are constrained to say, because
of the blatantly discriminatory policy pursued by the government. Many
of the villagers were arrested on mere suspicion that they were providing
food and shelter to the
workers of various political groups, whose ideology and activities are
not liked by the party in power. We have also learnt that the government
has decided not to release quite a good number of them on the purported
ground that they are hard-core.Though there is no legally
sustainable allegation against most of them, they are being implicated
in one false case after another to keep them behind bars. Further, we
do not know what are the
criteria to identify a political activist as hard-core and this policy
is
leading to the use of government power in a most arbitrary and discriminatory
manner to deprive citizens of their constitutionally guaranteed right
to carry on political activities and to excercise freedom of expression
and of association.
We demand:
A. All police atrocities
on political opposition must stop forthwith.
B. All persons arrested for
political activities be released immediately and
unconditionally.
C. All false cases registered
against political activists be withdrawn
immediately.
2. Though legislation of
the West Bengal Prevention of Organised
Crime Act (POCA) is shelved for the time being, the respite is only
temporary as it was declared that the Act would be promulgated at an
opportune moment. Instead of encouraging an open debate and examining
public opinion on the proposed Act, the government was trying to enact
the legislation surreptitiously. The attempt was foiled as APDR could
procure a copy of the
proposed Act and could organise a strong public information campaign
on the attempt and many eminent social personalities and some of Left
Front constituents voiced their opposition. The public debate, though
not thorough,could establish quite emphatically that the proposed Act
was nothing but a successor and version of black laws such as the British
Rowlatt Act,
Rajiv Gandhis TADA and Vajpayee-Advanis POTA.
We demand:
D. All attempts to enact
POCA or any similar laws infringing on human rights and civil liberties
be scrapped forthwith.
E. WB Electricity Bill, which
subverts normal legal process and provides for arbitrary punishment
without trial, and the court fees ordinance which seek to take away
the little opportunity of knocking at the doors of justice poor people
have by unduly hiking all sorts of court fees, be withdrawn immediately.
F. The practice of promulgating
ordinances bypassing the legislature must be stopped forthwith.
3. APDR has learnt that
the detained political activists are not
being recognised as political prisoners. We hold that this is in clear
violation of clauses 24(vi), Chapter BII of the West Bengal Correctional
Services Bill, 1992, which provides for classification of political
prisoners. The Left Front government came to power 25 years ago riding
at the crest of a civil liberties movement, one of the main demands
of which was appropriate status for political prisoners. Needless to
say, this demand was also raised
throughout the national struggle and during the post-1947 Congress regime.
Even the British rulers and Congress governments of the 1950s had to
concede this demand partially. It is deplorable that in spite of clear
legal provisions, the present government chose to deprive political
opposition workers of their rights even when in detention.
We demand:
F. All persons detained for
their political activities must be awarded the status of political prisoners,
whatever might be the charge against them and whatever might be the
sections under which they are booked. Such prisoners should be provided
with fecilities so that they can carry on their study and other activities
permissible under the jail code.
4. It is also a matter of
great concern that the police are
following systematically a policy of keeping a person detained without
trial by registering new cases one after another. Many of them have
been booked in six or seven cases. Fresh cases are being added even
when the person concerned is in jail custody and the prisoner is again
taken into police custody. As
soon as one comes out of the jail gate or court after obtaining bail
in one case, one is rearrested and tagged with another case. Instances
are there aplenty. One of the latest is that of Babulal Ahir. Sri Ahir
is a poor peasant of Belpahari, Jhargram sub-division, West Midnapore
district. He was granted bail by the court concerned in all the five
cases registered against him. With
much difficulty, his family could arrange the expenses and security
for the bail. When he was coming out of the Jhargram sub-jail on 8.11.02
afternoon, plainclothes policemen took him away manhandling his lawyer
and son, without assigning any reason. He was detained illegally in
the Jhargram PS overnight, even whose OC could not cite any reason for
his detention when contacted by APDR. He was booked under a criminal
case the next day in Bankura district. This is in effect a policy of
indefinite detention and enforcing the provisions of POCA or POTA without
enacting them. This is in clear violation of Supreme Court directive
and observation regarding rearrest and bail, which
states:
...if after the order
of bail passed by us, the authorities of the state considered it fit
to arrest any of the petitioners for any other offences, it was bounden
duty to apprise this court before taking these persons in custody, especially
when no disclosure was made to us when we passed the order of bail that
any case or cases were under investigation against any of the petitioners.
We regard that this elementary courtesy to this court was not
shown. We would like to reiterate that the petitioners shall be treated
as free citizens in spite of the fact that they have been subsequently
arrested, which arrests are clearly contrary to the order of bail passed
by this court.
[Uday Chand and others vs. Sheikh Md. Abdullah, chief Minister, J&K,
1983, SCC
(Cri) 529]
We demand:
G. This policy of indefinite
detention and enforcing the provisions of POCA or POTA through the back
door without enacting them must be stopped immediately.
5. We have evidences to
show that most of the arrested political
activists including Sudip Chongdar, Kaushik Ganguly, Tinku Ghosh, Parashar
Bhattacharya and others were tortured brutally in police custody under
the supervision and direct participation of the SP and ASP of West Midnapore
district. Mithu Roy and Sampa Dasgupta have been abused and tortured
mentally.
They are still suffering from trauma. It is also evident from the newspaper
and television reports. There has not been any proper medical treatment
for the injuries sustained by Sudip Chongdar during torture and his
health is rapidly deteriorating. The victims also complained of such
brutalities in the courts, but the government seems bent on giving a
licence to the police to
continue such brutalities. Some of the methods of torture in the police
lock-ups as described by the victims to APDR teams are : slapping uninterruptedly,
beating with lathis, applying electric shocks in ears and fingers, spitting
and coughing inside the prisoners mouth, beating after blindfolding
and tying hands and legs, kicking in the chest with boots and beating
with rifle butts, bending fingers backwards and breaking them, continuous
beating on the sole with lathis, kicking in the scrotum, beating on
the genitals with lathis, pouring ice-cold water on the prisoner
in freezing winter nights and making him sit below a fan, making the
prisoner stand in front of a gun and threatening to shoot, placing a
pistol/revolver close to the ear firing rapidly, inserting pins and
nails into the toes, making a prisoner lie while four/five persons stand
on his feet, kicking in the face, and so on. In addition there are mental
tortures with filthy abuses and night-long interrogations. Many prisoners
in various jails bear testimony to such tortures. The government had
a set up an administrative
committee to investigate into the allegations of torture on Kaushik
Ganguly, Tinku Ghosh and Parashar Bhattacharya. Its report has not been
made public even after five months. We apprehend that even this executive
report will meet the same fate as that of the previous inquiry reports
on custodial death and violence, if its findings go against the police
and the government.
We demand :
H. Police personnel responsible
for torturing arrested persons and not following legal provisions while
conducting arrests, raiding premises and interrogating and detaining
persons be punished according to law.
I. All affected persons of
police torture and atrocities be compensated adequately and financial
liabilities of such compensation shall have to be borne by the police
personnel concerned.
J. The report of the administrative
committee set up to investigate into the allegations of torture on Kaushik
Ganguly, Tinku Ghosh and Parashar Bhattacharya be made public and all
allegations of torture be investigated by an impartial, non-government
agency and the government act upon their findings.
5. We would like to draw
your attention to the consequences of
systematic police action (SPA, as termed by the police) in the villages
of West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum, parts of Hooghly, South
and North 24-Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad and the Operation Kamtapuri
I & II and Operation Shadow in the North Bengal districts. Several
fact-findings by APDR as well as media reports have confirmed that these
operations have been disastrous for the life and properties of the villagers,
as well as for the social and
economic fabric of the communities. Torture and destruction of the means
of livelihood have been rampant. Almost all the villagers of a small
village Bamundanga (Salboni PS) were arrested. Among them were six women
agricultural labourers. Sm. Archana Mahato, wife of Anjan Mahato, of
the adjoining
Paluiboni village, was taken into custody after snatching and throwing
away her two-year-old child from her lap.
Tribal village women at Banshpahari,
Belpahari and other places have been systematically stripped and sexually
abused in order to humiliate them into subjugation. There are numerous
incidents of taking wives into custody in lieu of the husbands, arresting
fathers not finding the sons and vice-versa, or detaining someone when
his brother is not available. These are locally known as badli
(substitute) arrests - meaning detaining someome in lieu
of
another. The police arrested Sm. Sulekha Soren, the pregnant wife of
Jaleswar Soren of Kochutua village (PS Belpahari), when they did not
find her husband. She gave birth to a child in jail and is still languishing
there.
Those who were told that
they would be released if their relatives wanted by the police surrender,
are still behind bars even after their wanted relatives surrendered.
There are many instances of entire families being detained. Women like
Sulekha Soren of Lalgarh, West Midnapore and Malati Roy of Dinajpur
are
being forced to rot in jail with their babies in their lap. The police
burnt down the house of Bijoy Singh of Majugorah (PS Belpahari). There
are many allegations of breaking open villagers homes and looting
their cash and valuables by the police. Special forces are being deployed
in the name of curbing Naxalites. One of these forces is particularly
targeting the women. The name of the Combat force has become synonymous
with terror in south Bengal as well as north Bengal villages. In addition,
an India Reserve Battalion is being raised, West Bengal Police units
are being trained by the notorious Greyhound of Andhra Pradesh and the
murderous CRPF is being brought back in the state, resurrecting the
spector of the 1970s.
We demand:
K. Immediate end to the policies
of systematic police action (SPA) and badli (substitute) arrests and
compensation to the victims of these policies.
6.The undertrials are not
produced in court on the dates of the
case, nor are they allowed to contact their lawyers. Defence counsels
and the human rights workers are being intimidated. The Midnapore district
secretary of APDR has been implicated in a false case. The house of
a senior professor and vice-president of Midnapore APDR was raided 23.6.02
midnight. Four members of an APDR fact-finding team were detained illegaly
on their way back by the Midnapore police on 3.11.02 for several hours.
Three other APDR activists of Midnapore were arrested on 26.10.02, ostensibly
to prevent them from attending an open rally called by the Struggling
Forum for Peoples Resistance in
Kolkata. It appears that the goverment wants to create an atmosphere
of terror and deprive the arrested persons from any legal assistance
and keep them incommunicado.
We demand:
L. Such terrorisation and
harassment must stop and the state government must adhere to the UN
Declaration on Rights of Human Rights Defenders to which India is a
signatory.
7. After the September 2001
militant raid on the WTC and Pentagon in the USA, a new wave of worldwide
aggressive attacks led by the USA is trampling all established principles
of human rights, democracy, sovereignty and individual liberty. This
is done to safeguard American interests in the name of fight against
terrorism. This environment is being utilised by the
central government to implement its anti-democratic and anti-minority
policies. The West Bengal government is treading the path so faithfully,
that the central home minister and law minister have advised other states
to follow its example. A large number of minority community members
were arrested and a tirade of wild allegations against Muslim religious
and educational institutions was started by the chief minister himself,
leading to sporadic
violence against minority community members. As a result, there was
communal flare-up at various places in the aftermath of the Gujarat
pogrom.
We demand:
M. Such attacks, branding
and harassing Muslims as ISI agents and Muslim religious and educational
institutions as centers of anti-national activities, be stopped. No
one should be arrested merely on suspicion of being associated with
an organisation. We are against banning an organisation for its political
or other activities.
8.The disastrous policies
pursued by the state in areas such as
education, health, industry, agriculture and governance throughout its
last 25 years regime, particularly by faithful implementation
of the WB-WTO-IMF-dictated programmes of globalisation and liberalisation
during the last decade have already found expression as cancerous growths
in all aspects of public life in this silver jubilee year of the Left
Front regime. After 25 years of zero-deficit budgets, the people of
the state learned for the first
time that they are endowed with a whopping Rs 75,000-crore debt -
even every newborn in the state has external and internal debts to the
tune of Rs 8,000!
The improved Left Front rulers made it emphatically clear
that everything from education to healthcare are market commodities
and available only to those who have enough money to purchase them.
From Tollys Nullah and Beliaghata canal to Rajarhat, from the
Chandmoni tea garden to the city streets - everywhere people are
being evicted from their occupation and dwelling by World Bank-funded
bulldozers in the name of developement. Poor people - slum dwellers,
marginal farmers, street hawkers are made to realise that developement
does not mean to include them.
We demand:
N. Eviction of people from
their occupation and dwelling in the name of developement without making
any alternative arrangements must stop.
O. Violation of rights in
the name of globalisation and liberalisation should not be allowed.
9. The police is behaving
literally like a gang of uniformed
hoodlums while dealing with peoples resentment, burning, looting and
destroying property at will, beating and arresting people indiscriminately,
misbehaving with women and using filthiest of abuses. Beldanga in Murshidabad,
Purbasthali in Burdwan, Chanditala and Rabindranagar in Hooghly, Purulia
witnessed such police vandalism. A little of the incidents found a place
in
the press, but the magnitude and intensity of the police barbarism is
to be seen to be believed. APDR made a videography of the aftermath
of police vandalism in Rabindranagar in Chinsura PS, which shows how
the police which was acting in collussion with all sorts of antisocials,
destroyed properties worth several lakhs of rupees out of sheer revenge.
In such a situation the government is arming the police with sophisticated
assault weaponssignalling
a further step towards militarisation of police. we are further concerned
that the Govt is inviting ill-famed CRPF and getting its personnel trained
by Chandrababu Naidus fake-encounter specialist Greyhound to carry
on its stride towards a police state
We demand:
P. The government must take
effective steps to stop such police vandalism and lawlessness. Complaints
of police vandalism from citizen and APDR, which are lying with the
Govt. should be properly investigated , the guilty police personnel
should be punished and victims be compensated.
Q. Militarisation of police
forces must stop. Police be rather trained to use minimum force when
dealing with peaceful demonostration.
Lastly, we want to emphasise
that searching for the roots of
injustice, for an alternate way and protesting against the prevailing
situation is inborn to human nature, all rulers seek to silence the
voices of protest, to stick to power by might and to aquire still newer
weapons of repression. As the objective is to retain and achieve power,
the justifiability of methods adopted had never been a concern for the
powers that be. Democratic principles demand that political opposition
must be faced
politically and not by terrorisation and repression. We are at pains
to say that the 25 years of the Left Front rule in the state have gone
the opposite way. APDR in its 30 years of existence is relentlessly
striving with its small might to develop a democratic polity commensurate
with a civil society.
In this 26th year of Left
Front rule and 31st year of APDRs
fight for rights, we are submitting this memorandum to you, hoping that
you will share the concerns expressed here and take appropriate measures
in the interest of such cherished values as democracy, pluralism, civil
liberties and human rights.
Thanking you,
Yours
faithfully,
General Secretary, APDR