August is Not a Good Month for Us, a Son Expresses Anguish at the Witch-Hunt of His Parents, Twice Over

August 29, 2018

Sagar Vernon Gonsalves speaks of how courteous, and helpless the family felt again, with the witch-hunt of the state. Read the son of Vernon Gonsalves and Susan Abraham

I experienced a familiar sense of helplessness yesterday morning.

Around 6 am our house was raided by more than 10 people from the Pune Police along with constables from our local MIDC Police Station. They had come to search our house and arrest my father. Our mobiles were taken away, landline phone kept off the hook; our personal CPU was opened, books were taken down one by one, CDs were examined, pen drives were scanned for suspicious material.

Any book that had Mao, Naxal or Marx in its name was cross examined and many of them were taken away as evidence. These are books you could very easily have found in a library or online. My personal copy of the Bolshevik Revolution Volume 1 by E.H. Carr was also packed away as evidence. They were in our house for almost 7 hours till around 1:45 PM with some police constables standing at our building gate as well. We were not allowed to go out of the house in all this time.

The helplessness deepened when I saw the casual conversations my parents were having with the Police constables. About what they had studied and where they lived. At one point my mother even made tea for the entire police team and said to me “They are still our guests”. Tea was had, and conversations were shared but that feeling of helplessness kept clawing at me from the inside. There was nothing my parents or me could do against the might of the all-powerful State and its machinery. So, we coped with it through small talk and smiles. We cooperated and let them do their jobs.

The feeling was familiar because this had happened more than ten years ago in August 2007 when my father was arrested on numerous false charges, brought home at 12 in the night, and our house was raided from 12 midnight to way past 6 am. I was 12 back then and was witnessing the scene more from the eyes of my mother who could do nothing even though she was a lawyer. At that time, she was told to co-operate, or she could get arrested as well. Back then also there was small talk to cope with the helplessness. The police officers were very impressed by how much I studied and complained about their own children who had no such inclinations.

In August 2007 also, we cooperated and let the State do its job. After spending five and half years in jail, my father was acquitted in all cases. Five and a half years of a person’s life was spent languishing in prison for crimes he had never committed. What a wonderful job the state had done.

This was the condition our room was left in after the raid. The Police sealed all the evidence in this room while my parents and me were sitting in the hall at Mumbai

Fast Forward to August 2018, August clearly is not a good month for us, the feeling has returned. Back then it was the midnight knock now it was the morning bell. And believe me it is not a good feeling. To be persecuted by the very state whose duty it is to protect and safeguard your rights. To watch while someone whom you love and admire, more importantly someone whom you know has done no wrong, be taken away to jail and all you can do is give that person a tight hug and tell them to be strong. Even to that my father’s response was “Don’t Worry! At least I’ll be able to keep the others company inside!” Along with helplessness, I learnt a lot about hospitality and optimism yesterday.

Among the many things that I admire greatly about my father is his commitment to his beliefs and ideals. To stand up for what his right and help those whose rights are denied. He has always done that and will continue to do so. This did not deter him the last time and will not do it now as well. He has an unbreakable spirit and will always stay true to what he believes in.

What we can do as citizens of this country is to protest against this crushing of dissent by the state and its machinery. The systemic oppression of people who raise questions and have an opinion which opposes from the existing narrative. The undemocratic way they are treated and the labels which are being given to them.

Defend the right to dissent. It is a fundamental right of all the citizens in a democratic state.

All Five Arrested Should Be Under House Arrest till Sept 6: Supreme Court

August 29, 2018

Justice Chandrachud: Dissent is the safety valve of democracy
UPDATE: Breaking- #BhimaKoregaon Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) issues notice on a petition filed by eminent citizens- Romila Thapar and others challenging arrests of human rights activists and probe into violence in #BhimaKoregaon
All 5 to be on house arrest till next date.

The court asked the state government to respond to the petition and also asked for allegations and materials against the accused. It also permitted the accused to file rejoinders and adjourned the matter till September 6.

This is a small yet significant victory for the civil rights movement in India that has of late faced extreme oppression by the state. Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan who is himself one of the most vociferous defenders of the freedoms and rights of people, said, “The large-scale swoop on and arrests of some of our finest Human Rights activists, represents a new and very dangerous phase of this creeping fascism. In many ways it is worse than the Emergency of 1975.”

Prominent Indians from across the political spectrum, historian Romila Thapar, academic Devaki Jain, left economist, professor Prabhat Patnaik, professor of s0ciology Satish Deshpande and human rights lawyer, Maja Daruwala have approached the SC urging that the highest court intervenes and seeks an explanation from the Maharashtra government on the recent spate of arrests of lawyers, academics and activists.

Supreme Court

The petition may be read here.

The petition states that none of the persons arrested were even present at the Bhima Koregaon rally (or meeting) held in Bhima Koregaon and Pune respectively on December 31, 2017 and January 2018. The deliberate inclusion of the draconian provisions of the UAPA are meant only to deny basic freedoms and terrorise the populations, the SC was told.

Did Kasganj cops frame Muslims to protect Hindus, derail investigation?

August 29, 2018

Report reveals how members of one community were framed to protect those from another

On Republic Day this year, Kasganj town of Uttar Pradesh became the scene of violent communal clashes where a young man Chandan Gupta lost his life. While it was initially claimed that the riot was triggered by members of the minority community who tried to prevent members of the majority community from taking out a bike rally, this turned out to be far from the truth. This special investigation unearths a dark conspiracy wherein the police showed their communal colours and actually tried to frame the Muslims and save the Hindus.

The report titled Truth of Kasganj: Sham Police Probe Protects Hindus, Frames Muslims is endorsed by several human rights organisations such as Alliance for Justice and Accountability, New York • Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai • Indian American Muslim Council, Washington D.C. • Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties, New Delhi • South Asia Solidarity Group, London • and United Against Hate, New Delhi.

According to this report, the violence had broken out at Abdul Hamid Chowk were members of the Muslim community were about to hoist the tricolour, when bike borne members of the Hindu community interrupted them and started heckling them using obscene slurs. But even though it was just one instance of violence, the police registered two FIRs; the first about the clashes, the second about the death of Chandan Gupta. It is the second FIR that exclusively names Muslims as accused, even though Hindus were also carrying and discharging firearms. Moreover, even though the incident occurred a mere stone’s throw from the local police station, the FIRs were filed after 12-14 hours.

Interestingly, a wounded Chandan was first taken to this very police station and it was the police that arranged his transfer to the hospital where he was declared dead. The hospital also sent a memo to the police station informing them about Chandan’s death and yet the FIR wasn’t filed at that time. In fact, in a huge procedural lapse, an autopsy was carried on Chandan’s body without the FIR having been filed!

Interestingly, though police arrested 19 Muslim youth within two weeks of the incident, no Hindu was arrested for over two months! This brings the report to the manner in which Anukalp Chauhan, the young man who organised the motorcycle rally was let off with just a slap on the wrist. First during the FIR stage, the police declared him absconding. Yet he was present at the funeral of Chandan Gupta the following day. Then on February 2, an officer met Chauhan to record his statement in connection with the second FIR. In a mockery of justice, while we was made an accused in the first FIR, he was made a witness in the second! He was finally arrested after two whole months and then promtly released on bail!

There are also discrepancies in the recording of location (Bilram Gate Crossing vs Abdul Hamid Chowk) and timing of the clashes (9:30 am vs 10 am). The police have allegedly not taken the CCTV footage into account and three accuse dallegedly have alibis. The report concluded by asking for quashing the tainted FIRs, a fresh investigation, a high level inquiry into police failure to prevent violence as well as their alleged complicity in framing members of the minority community. The entire report may be read here:

Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has in a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), urged a suo motu notice and investigation into the perpetrated violence against minorities in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh. A copy of the complaint may be read here.

Ensure Justice in Kasganj: CJP moves NHRC
Kasganj Violence Planned
Why are Muslims arrested in Kasganj

PART-2: EXCLUSIVE! How Pune Police flouted Raid and Seizure Laws

August 29, 2018

In law, the Search warrant, and raid, is an extreme step warranted only and if only when non-cooperation is seen or observed and the correct and proper course of action would have been for the agencies to search. To search and raid a premise is to humiliate and ostracise the victim and that is what the police are doing.

During financial crimes, except under the present regime, when raids against political opponents have made the headlines, there has been traditionally a secrecy and confidentiality maintained during income tax raids. However as we experienced in 2015 when the CBI was let loose on us, selective assigning of criminality is the way of this regime.

Search and Seizures under the Law:

In two crucial judgements, Queen v. Syed Hossain Ali Chowdhury 8 WR 74 and Prankhang v Emperor (13 Cr LJ 764) Judges have held inter alia that the intention of the legislature is not to make harassing domiciliary visits to inquire minutely into the private concerns of individuals on the bare chance that something might therein be found tending to the conviction of any accused parties. Then again, in AIR 1968 SC 59, Comm of Commeriial Taxes v Ramkishan Srikishan Jhaveri, a decision of the Supreme Court where the inf infirmities in the search warrant have been taken seriously.

Criminal Procedure Code:

91. Summons to produce document or other thing.
(1) Whenever any Court or any officer in charge of a police station considers that the production of any document or other thing is necessary or desirable for the purposes of any investigation, inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Code by or before such Court or officer, such Court may issue a summons, or such officer a written order, to the person in whose possession or power such document or thing is believed to be, requiring him to attend and produce it, or to produce it, at the time and place stated in the summons or order.
(2) Any person required under this section merely to produce a document or other thing shall be deemed to have complied with the requisition if he causes such document or thing to be produced instead of attending personally to produce the same.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed-
(a) to affect sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872 ), or the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act, 1891 (13 of 1891 ) or
(b) to apply to a letter, postcard, telegram or other document or any parcel or thing in the custody of the postal or telegraph authority.

92. When search warrant may be issued.
(1) (a) where any court has reason to believe that a person to whom a summons or order under section 91 or a requisition under sub-section (1) of section 92 has been, or might be, addressed, will not or would not produce the document or thing as required by such summons or requisition, or
(b) where such document or thing is not known to the Court to be in the possession of any person, or
(c) where the court considers that the purposes of any inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Code will be served by a general search or inspection,
it may issue a search-warrant; and the person to whom such warrant is directed, may search or inspect in accordance therewith and the provisions hereinafter contained.
(2) The court may, if it thinks fit, specify in the warrant the particular place or part thereof to which only the search or inspection shall extend; and the person charged with the execution of such warrant shall then search or inspect only the place or part so specified.
(3) Nothing contained in this section shall authorize any Magistrate other than a District Magistrate or Chief Judicial Magistrate to grant a warrant to search for a document, parcel or other thing in the custody of the postal or telegraph authority.
That, under Section 93 of the CRPC, a Search Warrant is is primarily meant to succeed a S91 process which is or is likely to be unheeded. This was not the case in this case. The Applicants were never asked to produce anything so what was the need of the Search?
Secondly, the pertinent nexus between what is sought, the search and the criminal proceeding that is mandated by S.93 needs to be noted by the Ld Court….

PART-1: Did the Pune Police violate Settled Law on Arrests, Seizure and Raid?
State Crushing Dissent Again!
Raiding the Resilient

Meet Sudha Bhardwaj: Lawyer and Trade Unionist accused of being an “Urban Naxal”

August 29, 2018

Sudha Bharadwaj, born in 1961, has been associated with the trade union movement in Chhattisgarh for more than 25 years. She is the general secretary of the Chhattisgarh unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and a member of Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS).

After living and working in Bilaspur for several years, Sudha had recently moved to Delhi and was teaching at at National Law University Delhi as a Visiting Professor, where she taught a seminar course on tribal rights and land acquisition, and a part of the regular course on law and poverty. As part of the programme of the Delhi Judicial Academy, she addressed the presiding officers of labour courts from Sri Lanka. Shock gripped parts of the country when this relentless defender of human rights was faced with sudden raids yesterday by the Pune Police, and an attempt until late at night to arrest her. However, currently she is under house arrest until August 30 on the orders of CJM after which a petition will be heard in her case in the Delhi High Court.

Sudha Bharadwaj’s early days

Bhardwaj had the opportunity to grow up in a politically charged and motivated environment, as her early days were spent in JNU along with her mother, renowned academician Krishna Bhardwaj, who was a professor of Economics. She had closely witnessed the vibrant student political movements at JNU. However, she was radically politicised at IIT, Kanpur where she later went on to pursue Mathematics. She was actively involved in political activities on campus. She experienced exclusion as a woman in a largely male-dominated campus and also as an alleged “commie”. She became a part of the NSS and was keen on teaching. Her repeated rural visits through NSS exposed her to the harsh realities of caste and rural India.

The journey to Chhattisgarh and work with Shankar Guha Neogi

After her MS in Mathematics, she decided to move to Chattisgarh and started working with mine workers. She started organising under the banner of the trade union, ‘Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha’. She worked very closely with Shankar Guha Niyogi and organised women under the ‘Mahila Mukti Morcha’, the union’s women’s wing. She relentless organised women in the union and struggled to bring them to the helm of the leadership within the union. She worked towards creating an equal playing field between the male and female members of the union, as it was equally important for women’s political participation. The union did not merely address the economic question, it also focused on education, health and anti-liquor campaigns.

She believes that working with the mining trade union in Chhattisgarh was an important process of humanising and de-classing for her as someone who hailed from a privileged background and had shifted base to work for the rights of labourers.

The Bhilai movement

As Shankar Guha Neogi got assassinated in 1991, in 1992 there was a police firing in which 17 workers were killed in Bhilai. Hundreds of workers were put in jail, along with their leaders. The workers faced repression for demanding their basic rights, such as eights hours of work, minimum wages, wage slips and attendance cards, and the fact that they were organising.In the Bhilai movement, four thousand workers had been thrown out of work. The employers refused to negotiate, and Neogi was murdered, leading to the massive strike.

Organising the women

Sudha Bharadwaj, on the lines of Neogi, believed that one did not just work with the workers, but had to be involved in all aspects of their lives. Here, she felt that women experienced different kinds of issues that were not adequately addressed, nor discussed. Some women’s husbands would refuse to use contraceptives, leading to unwanted pregnancies or abortions. Most of them would be over-burdened with housework. Here, she emphasised the role of the women workers in the movement.

The need for a Law degree

Being the only ‘educated’, or literate person in Bhilai, it was painful for Sudha to approach lawyers every time to argue the workers’ cases. At this, her comrades suggested that she take up legal studies herself. Much later, in 2000, Sudha completed her law degree and started representing the workers herself. The first cases she fought were those of the workers and she practiced in lower courts between 2000 and 2006.

While working for trade unions, and later, after becoming a lawyer, she realised not just the workers, but the farmers also required legal representation, given the cases of land acquisition. It was then that she thought of setting up the group Janhit, to fight for community forests rights, for Adivasis, in cases of Public Interest Litigations (PIL), environmental cases, and the like.

When she was asked about the extent to which the law could provide justice in a state that was anti-poor, anti-tribal, anti women and the like, she had responded, “See actually we shouldn’t look at it as just laws, right? There are two kinds of law, one kind of law is the law which we have struggled to create, to represent our aspirations, whether it is labour law, whether forests rights law… we have struggled to create it. It was a response to movements. It was a response to the push which came from below…But there is another kind of law, which is the status quo law which is to preserve law and order.”

As a human rights lawyer she appeared in cases of habeas corpus and fake encounters of Adivasis in the Chhattisgarh High Court, and also approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the defence of many other human rights defenders. Recently, the NHRC had sought her assistance in investigating a case in the Kondasawali village (Sukma, Chhattisgarh). In all these cases, she “acted with the professional integrity and courage expected of a human rights lawyer.” It is this integrity and appeal that has become a thorn in the eyes of an establishment bent on bringing her down. However, in her own words, “If you try to be safe and in the middle, you will never succeed”.

Pune Police forcibly detains activist Sudha Bhardwaj
State Crushing Dissent Again!

EXCLUSIVE Did Pune Police violate Law on Arrests, Seizure and Raid?

August 29, 2018

Analysis of procedural lapses during nationwide raids on activists on August 28, 2018

Activist Gautam Navlakha being arrested by the Pune police in Delhi on Tuesday. Image: The Hindu

It is one of those judgements that hold well in statute books, the Basu case that we use, activists, lawyers and all to point out procedures that need to be followed when the state executive (police) wishes to infringe the rights of a citizen: arrest, seize, raid. It is the conclusions in this judgement that we cite to ensure that the rights of persons, often violated with impunity by the police are protected during arrest. This is the DK Basu Judgement of 1996 and also procedures under the CRPC and IPC. (Read a detailed extrapolation of the Basu Guidelines Below)

Reasons for arrest not specified, all documents in Marathi: Bench

Most critically, when the Pune Police, with dramatic fanfare conducted countrywide raids, and some arrests they found, when questioned by the High Court that they had no answers! It was when the Maharashtra police was unable to explain the specific offence for detaining journalist and social activist Gautam Navlakha that the Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered that he should not be taken away from the capital till it heard the case on Wednesday. The High Court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Mr. Navlakha by his advocate Warisha Farasat after his arrest by the Maharashtra police.

Mr. Navlakha was arrested from a residence in South Delhi’s Nehru Enclave by a Maharashtra Police team from Pune on Tuesday afternoon. He was produced before a local court in Saket that allowed the police to take him and produce him before a local court in Pune. The Bench of Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Vinod Goel said the documents submitted by the Maharashtra police while seeking the transit remand did not clearly specify why Mr. Navlakha was detained.

When Bench asked the Maharasthra police official, who was present in the courtroom, “what is the specific allegation” against Mr Navlakha, the official could not give any clear answer. Not satisfied with the response, the Bench said it was “not possible to make out from the document (submitted by the Maharashtra police) what precisely was the case against the petitioner (Mr Navlakha)”.

Provisions of Law disregarded

Basics Disregarded, Documents not in Language which accused could understand: the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code regarding search and arrest were not followed as the warrants were in Marathi, which Mr. Navlakha could not understand and the grounds for the action were not given in writing.[1]

Witnesses Imported from Pune, Not Local: The Bench also questioned how the Maharashtra police was able to receive a transit remand order from the local court within half an hour of Mr. Navlakha’s arrest on Tuesday afternoon. Questioning why witnesses were brought from Pune to authenticate the arrest, the court said that under the law, witnesses were supposed to be local persons from the area where an individual was being arrested. It was following these gross anomalies that the Bench said Mr. Navlakha would remain at his residence here under police guard. The High Court will take up Mr. Navlakha’s plea as the first case on Wednesday.

Crucial Aspects Violated

How was due process violated in this case? Section 141 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code grants law enforcement the right, to issue notice and call for questioning, any persons they are investigating for any crime. There was no need at all not to follow this procedure in the present case. These are prominent advocates and activists, their movements are knows and hence this procedure ought to have been followed, says Vijay Hiremath speaking to us. Technically section 141 is meant to apply to those offences for which punishment is less than seven years but there was no need not to follow it in this case. The FIR had been filed in February, the first arrests made in June 2018, why this tamasha now?

Ploy to Delay Charge-sheet in Original Case?

Vernon Ferreira sees a plot against human rights activists; Pune police say they are acting on certain evidence: Susan Abraham, the wife of activist Vernon Gonsalves, told The Hindu that Tuesday’s arrests are nothing more than a ploy by the police to gain more time since they had been unable to file a charge sheet in the original case in which activists were arrested in early June 2018. Mr. Gonsalves, along with Arun Ferreira, Varvara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, and Gautam Navlakha, were arrested by the Pune police, allegedly for their involvement in Maoist activities.

Mr. Gonsalves was picked up at his Andheri residence while Ms. Abraham and their son Sagar were in the house. “Under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the police need to file a charge sheet within 90 days of the arrest, failing which the accused have the right to apply for bail. The deadline for filing a charge sheet against the five activists arrested earlier expires on September 6. With Tuesday’s arrests, the police can seek an extension claiming new facts have come to light which need to be probed,” Ms. Abraham said.

On June 7, the police had arrested Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Soma Sen, and Sudhir Dhawale, and charged them under the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA. They were accused of organising the Elgar Parishad in Pune, during which provocative speeches were allegedly made, which contributed to the Bhima Koregaon violence on January 1. “I have been falsely implicated by the police,” Mr. Gonsalves told reporters on his way out. A similar scene played out at Mr. Ferreira’s residence in Thane, with the police arriving around 6 a.m. and leaving with him by 4 p.m.On his way out, Mr. Ferreira, answering a question on whether he thought there was a plot against him, said, “This is a plot against human rights activists across the country.”

He said his books and journals had been seized, after which he was bundled into a car and taken to the Thane court, where the Pune police got his transit custody. Mr. Ferreira’s family refused to speak to the press.

DK BASU Guidelines:
Were these procedures followed during August 28 countrywide raids against lawyers, activists and journalists?
(1) The Court opined that Custodial Violence, including Torture and Death in Lock Ups, strikes a blow at the Rule of Law.
(2) The Court observed that despite the presence of several Constitutional and Statutory provisions aimed at safeguarding the personal liberty and life of a citizen, there had been several instances of torture and deaths in police custody which was a disturbing factor.
(3) The Court severely criticised the existence of Custodial Death and regarded it to be one of the Worst Crimes in a Civilised Society to be governed by the Rule of Law.
(4) A Reference was made to the case of Neelabati Bahera v. State of Orissa (1993) in which the Supreme Court had held that prisoners and detenues are not denuded of their Fundamental Rights under Article 21 and only such restriction as permitted by law could be imposed on the enjoyment of the Fundamental Rights of the prisoners and detenues.
The Court issued a list of 11 guidelines in addition to the Constitutional and Statutory Safeguards which were to be followed in all cases of arrest and detention. The guidelines are as follows: –
(i) The Police Personnel carrying out the arrest and handling the interrogation of the arrestee should bear accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags with their designations. The Particulars of all such personnel who handle interrogation of the arrestee must be recorded in a register.
(ii) That the Police Officer carrying out the arrest of the arrestee shall prepare a memo of the arrest at the time of arrest and such memo shall be attested by at least one witness who may be either a member of the family of the arrestee or a respectable person of the locality from where the arrest is made. It shall also be counter signed by the arrestee and shall contain the time and date of arrest.
(iii) A person who has been arrested or detained and is being held in custody in a police station or interrogation centre or other lock-up, shall be entitled to have one friend or relative or other person known to him or having interest in his welfare being informed, as soon as practicable, that he has been arrested and is being detained at the particular place, unless the attesting witness of the memo of the arrest is himself such a friend or a relative of the arrestee.
(iv) The time, place of arrest and venue of custody of an arrestee must be notified by the police where the next friend or relative of the arrestee lives outside the district or town through the Legal Aid Organisation in the District and the police station of the area concerned telegraphically within period of 8 to 12 hours after the arrest.
(v) The person arrested must be made aware of his right to have someone informed of his arrest or detention as soon he is put under arrest or is detained.
(vi) An entry must be made in the Case Diary at the place of detention regarding the arrest of the person which shall also disclose the name of the next friend of the person who has been informed of the arrest and the names and particulars if the police official in whose custody the arrestee is.
(vii) The Arrestee should, where he so requests, be also examined at the time of his arrest and major and minor injuries, if present on his/her body, must be recorded at that time. The “Inspection Memo” must be signed both by the arrestee and the police officer effecting the arrest and its copy provided to the arrestee.
(viii) The arrestee should be subjected to medical examination by a trained doctor every 48 hours during his detention in custody by a doctor on the panel of approved doctors appointed by the Director, Health Services of the concerned State or Union Territory.
(ix) Copies of all the documents including the memo of arrest should be sent to the Magistrate for his record.
(x) The Arrestee may be permitted to meet his lawyer during interrogation, though not throughout the interrogation.
(xi) A Police Control Room should be provided at all district and state headquarters, where information regarding the arrest and the place of custody of the arrestee shall be communicated by the officer causing the arrest, within 12 hours of effecting the arrest and at the Police Control Room Board, it should be displayed on a conspicuous notice board.
D.K Basu, The Executive Chairman, Legal Aid Services, West Bengal, a non- Political organisation on 26.08.1986 addressed a letter to the Chief Justice of India drawing his attention to certain news items published in the Telegraph Newspaper regarding deaths in police lock up and custody. He requested that the letter be treated as a Writ Petition within the “Public Interest Litigation” Category. Considering the importance of the issues raised in the letter, it was treated as a Writ Petition and notice was served to the Respondents.
While the Writ Petition was under consideration, one Mr. Ashok Kumar Johri addressed a letter to the Chief Justice drawing his attention to the death of one Mahesh Bihari of Pilkhana, Aligarh in Police Custody. The same letter was also treated as a Writ Petition and was listed along with the Writ Petition of D.K.Basu. On 14.08.1987, the Court made the Order issuing notices to all the State Governments and notice was also issued to the Law Commission of India requesting suitable suggestions within a period of two months. In response to the notice, affidavits were filed by several states including West Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Maharashtra and Manipur. Further, Dr. A.M.Singhvi, Senior Advocate was appointed as Amicus Curiae to assist the Court. All the Advocates appearing rendered useful assistance to the Court
Authored by Dr. A.S. Anand, J. (as he then was)

[1] The petition was first mentioned before a Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V.K. Rao by Mr. Navlakha’s lawyers for urgent listing. When urgent listing was allowed, the lawyers approached the Bench of Justices Muralidhar and Goel, having the roster for habeas corpus cases, which issued an interim order that the petitioner be not taken out of the State.

State Crushing Dissent Again!
Raiding the Resilient

Dissenting Voices being crushed Again as people protesting activists’ arrests detained in Hyderabad

August 29, 2018

A group of people protesting the nationwide crackdown on human rights activists were picked up and arrested at Liberty chowrasta near the Ambedkar statue in Hyderabad around 11am on August 29. The protesters were not even allowed to stand near the Ambedkar statue and were arrested and detained by Hyderabad police. Some bystanders were also picked up and nearly 5 vans full of people have been dragged and taken away. Nearly 250 police personnel have been deployed in the vicinity. Protesters, however, continue to gather around the area.

The protests were organised in connection with the August 28 raids against on human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, teachers and cultural activists and trade unionists. Pune police conducted raids on the houses of Varavara Rao, poet and renowned activist, Sudha Bharadwaj a well known civil rights activist and lawyer who has been working and organising labourers in Chhattisgarh, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, Mumbai based activists who have repeatedly expressed dissent against the State and Gautam Navlakha, also a civil rights activist and journalist who has extensively written about the Human Rights violations in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. They were arrested for allegedly having ‘Maoist’ links and being connected with the Elgaar Parishad. Right-wing Twitter trolls have been quick to brand them ‘Urban Maoists’.

The arrested have been booked under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and 3 of the 5 arrested are expected to be presented in court today.

Apart from this Father Stan Swamy, who has been organising Adivasis in Khunti, Jharkhand has also had to experience the wrath of the Pune Police who presented him with a warrant written in Marathi. Interestingly, Swamy had nothing to do with the Elgaar Parishad!

It is clear that the State is hell-bent on stifling voices of dissent that threaten their electoral power. This witch-hunt is a clear threat to a Democracy and the Constitutional Principles of Freedom to dissent.

Human rights defenders and activists have expressed their solidarity and concerns over the State’s unprecedented attack on these activists. Protests meetings and conferences have been organised in various parts of the country.

Dalit Family Targetted by Upper-caste Mob in Bhima-Koregaon Violence Still Awaits Justice

August 29, 2018

First Published on June 12, 2018

While they have faced a bureaucratic runaround in trying to get the government officials to do their duty, they have been subjected to various kinds of pressure.

A Dalit family, which faced the wrath of the upper caste mob in the anti-Dalit violence that gripped areas around Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1, has now spent five months awaiting action from a seemingly reluctant Maharashtra government. From May 31, they have been sitting in a protest outside the District Collectorate in Pune, having run out of all other forms of recourse.

Ashok and Rama Athavale were successful entrepreneurs and social organisers in their community in the Sanaswadi village. Ashok owned a welding and fabrication business, which employed eight local youth. Their three sons are in college – Sachin is in his second year of a BA, Satish is in his fourth year of Chemical Engineering in Mumbai, and Pritesh is studying Hotel Management. The couple together ran an organisation named Panchsheel Bauddheshi Trust, through which, they conducted a variety of activities, including organising women’s health camps, blood donation camps, and running a small free-of-cost library. This had raised hackles of a local RSS worker – who the couple identified as Midgule – and Ashok described to this reporter how he had often attempted to dissuade them from conducting such events.

It was as a part of their work through the Trust that Rama and Ashok used to set up a stall serving tea and pohato people passing through the village to visit Bhima Koregaon on January 1 every year. They did so this year as well, in defiance of a “resolution” by the Gram Panchayat that the day was to be observed as a “black day” and no businesses were to remain open.

Sanaswadi is located on the Pune-Ahmadnagar highway, a mere 7 kilometres away from Bhima Koregaon, and thus has large crowds passing through the village on the day when Dalit Bahujans from across Maharashtra arrive at Bhima Koregaon to celebrate and commemorate the victory of a Mahar army of 500 soldiers over the 28,000-strong Peshwa army, in 1818. The celebration was initiated by Babasaheb Ambedkar in 1927 as an assertion of Dalit pride and as a recognition of their success in overthrowing the Brahmin-controlled Peshwai, which is remembered as a regime which strictly enforced inhuman caste rules of untouchability.

This year marked the bicentennial of the battle and thus, a much larger crowd was anticipated than in previous years. In the lead-up to the event, on December 31, a group of Ambedkarite and left organisations had conducted a conference titled “Elgaar Parishaad” at the Shaniwarwada fort in Pune – which used to be the seat of the defeated Peshwa rulers. After the event, many individuals and groups were on their way to Bhima Koregaon.

This year had also seen a campaign against both the Elgaar Parishaad and the celebration and commemoration of the battle itself orchestrated by Brahmin and right-wing elements. Statements issued by Hindutva ideologues Milind Ekbote and Manohar Bhide (who Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed as his ‘guru’ in the past) as well as several other outfits such as the Akhil Bharatiya Brahman Mahasangh objected to the speakers who were to participate at the conference and opposed the celebration as a whole.

While these exhortations were made through the media, evidently the message was passed down through the ranks to RSS workers on the ground as well, and accordingly the Sanaswadi gram panchayat announced on December 31 that it had resolved that the following day was to be marked as a “black day”. Locals were instructed that no business should be running in the village. They were forbidden from even serving water to the visitors who would be passing through.

Rama says, “We hadn’t anticipated that there would be such big riots. So, we set up our stall serving pohaand tea as we have done every year. Between 6 am and 11:30 am, we served 2 quintals of poha and 20-30 litres of tea.” Meanwhile, a large crowd had gathered at the village centre, and had blocked the road. Vehicles with the blue Ambedkarite flag were being attacked with stones; the mob was trying to ensure that no one passed through to reach Bhima Koregaon.” Rama recounts hearing members of the mob saying: “You are celebrating the fall of the Marathas – the Hindus – as a day of victory. For us, it is a black day, and we will not allow you to go to the venue.”

At around noon, the hostility of the riotous mob began to turn towards the Athavale family. On his way to the Sansawadi market, Ashok saw Midgule, who – aside from being the local RSS shakha pramukh –is also a journalist writing for Dainik Prabhat and Saamna, at a temple along with two priests. He came to know that a rumour had been spread that the couple had thrown liquor bottles and mutton into the temple.Then came a phone call from a gram panchayat member warning them to shut down their stall or else to be prepared to face the anger of the mob. Within minutes, the entire crowd, estimated to be around 1,000-strong according to Ashok, had gathered outside their home. The family fled through the back door, hiding in a shed some distance away from their home, and watched as the mob first ransacked their home and the premises of their business and trust, and then burnt it down.

At around 3 pm, they received another call, warning them that plans to kill the family were afoot. The caller advised them to leave Sanaswadi immediately. Their immediate destination was the home of a relative who lives a kilometre away. Rama managed to make it to their home along with two of her sons. Ashok, however, was caught by the mob. He was beaten first till he was near unconscious, and then doused with petrol. However, before the final act of depravity, the mob was apparently dissuaded by a phone call that someone received. He was not killed, and managed to reunite with his wife and family after regaining consciousness a couple of hours later. By 1 am, all the members of the family were together, and they made their way to Pune, never to return. All told, according to a panchnama prepared by the tehsildaar, they had suffered losses amounting to Rs. 60 lakh.

In the subsequent months, the family has been moving from place to place in Pune, all the while seeking action from the police. In the FIR they, they have named and identified several culprits who, according to them, were involved in the atrocity. The FIR includes sections of the IPC, as well as of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, under which stringent action would have been required of the police and government, including immediate arrests of the accused and rehabilitation and compensation by the government.
The act specifies that in case of homes being burned down, it is the government’s duty to provide a new home within a month’s time at the government’s expense. The act also specifies that the government must compensate for financial losses, as well as offer additional compensation amounts based on the number of different crimes that were committed against them in the course of the mob’s actions. There has been no action on these fronts.

At the time when the FIR was filed, the act also specified that those named in an FIR under the act were to be arrested concurrent to a police investigation (this requirement was later dropped by the Supreme Court in a controversial judgement). A chargesheet is supposed to be filed within 60 days. However, those named by the family remain at large. After five months of administrative and police inaction, the family has now chosen to sit in protest outside the district collectorate, vowing that they will not move from the spot until their demands of action against the perpetrators, and appropriate rehabilitation and compensation are met.

While they have faced a bureaucratic runaround in trying to get the government officials to do their duty, they have been subjected to various kinds of pressure. They have had various individuals – including a police officer of the SP rank – trying to persuade them to “compromise” and drop the cases that they have filed. Meanwhile, Ashok says he has been told by Midgule, the RSS worker: “You go anywhere – go to the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister.It is our government, our people are in the office, and no one can do us any harm.”

In their agitation at the district collectorate, they have received some support from organisations focussed on Dalit Bahujan issues, including Association for Assisting Victims to Achieve Justice, a Mumbai-based NGO, and Pune representatives of the Maharashtra Kranti Sena and Prakash Ambedkar’s Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh. By and large, however, their plight has gone unnoticed by the major political parties and the media. This is in contrast to the case of the killing of Rahul Phatangade by a mob, which also took place in Sanaswadi. That case received significant media attention, and the victim’s family were granted Rs. 10 lakh as compensation by an under-pressure Devendra Fadnavis government, which also launched a CID probe into his death. Four suspects have already been arrested. Athavales’ demand is for similar police and administrative attention.

At an initial meeting on May 31, they were assured by the district collector that their rehabilitation and compensation procedures would be completed within 10 days. A subsequent meeting on June 8 however turned out to be fruitless. At the time of writing this story, the couple had been sitting outside the collectorate for 10 days braving both scorching heat as well as rain. Such is the fate of Dalit businessmen in Modi’s India.

Photographs by Sanghash Apte and the Author.
The author is a Mumbai-based independent journalist. Translation from Marathi by Ketan Kamble.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

1...1,7231,7241,725...2,697 Page 1,724 of 2,697

August is Not a Good Month for Us, a Son Expresses Anguish at the Witch-Hunt of His Parents, Twice Over

Sagar Vernon Gonsalves speaks of how courteous, and helpless the family felt again, with the witch-hunt of the state. Read the son of Vernon Gonsalves and Susan Abraham

All Five Arrested Should Be Under House Arrest till Sept 6: Supreme Court

Did Kasganj cops frame Muslims to protect Hindus, derail investigation?

Report reveals how members of one community were framed to protect those from another

Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has in a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), urged a suo motu notice and investigation into the perpetrated violence against minorities in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh. A copy of the complaint may be read here.

Related:

PART-2: EXCLUSIVE! How Pune Police flouted Raid and Seizure Laws

Search and Seizures under the Law:

Criminal Procedure Code:

Related:

Meet Sudha Bhardwaj: Lawyer and Trade Unionist accused of being an “Urban Naxal”

Sudha Bharadwaj, born in 1961, has been associated with the trade union movement in Chhattisgarh for more than 25 years. She is the general secretary of the Chhattisgarh unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and a member of Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS).

Sudha Bharadwaj’s early days

The journey to Chhattisgarh and work with Shankar Guha Neogi

The Bhilai movement

Organising the women

The need for a Law degree

Related:

EXCLUSIVE Did Pune Police violate Law on Arrests, Seizure and Raid?

Analysis of procedural lapses during nationwide raids on activists on August 28, 2018

Reasons for arrest not specified, all documents in Marathi: Bench

Provisions of Law disregarded

Crucial Aspects Violated

Ploy to Delay Charge-sheet in Original Case?

Related:

Dissenting Voices being crushed Again as people protesting activists’ arrests detained in Hyderabad

Dalit Family Targetted by Upper-caste Mob in Bhima-Koregaon Violence Still Awaits Justice

While they have faced a bureaucratic runaround in trying to get the government officials to do their duty, they have been subjected to various kinds of pressure.

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

Important Links

Other Links

CONNECT