On September 10, 2022, at Kuppam near K. Paramathi in Karur district, Jegenathan died in a road accident, that a forum, the Human Rights Defenders Forum (HRDA)  has alleged was a guise for a brute murder. In a communication to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Forum states that Mr Jegenathnan was targeted in the road accident because he was involved in a movement to get the “stone quarry and successfully getting it sealed since on August 15. The quarry was leading to environmental degradation in Kuppam village of Bukalur taluk in Karur district.” The communication addressed to Mr Inderjeet Kumar, National Focal Point – Human Rights Defenders & Deputy Registrar at the NHRC also expresses concern that “subsequent police and revenue action indicate to a clear collusion of the local police with the perpetrators and pose a further threat to the lives of more HRDs engaged in this issue.”

The HRDA has also sent an Urgent Appeal regarding this incident to the Director General of Police Tamil Nadu, District Collector of Karur, Deputy Superintendent of Police of Aravakurichi, Regional Director of Geology and Mines of Tiruchirappalli, Asst. Director of Geology and Mines of Karur District, National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC), UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and various international organisations.

Background of the Incident:

Karur district is an area with abundant stone quarries and sand, due to which the groundwater and environment has been very badly affected. The livelihood of the people in the area, mainly agriculture has therefore also been increasingly affected by such activities.

It is to safeguard the environment and livelihood, various organisations and movements are working peacefully in the region. However the HRDs who are working in such movements are being targeted and the attacks and the killings on them are on the rise. Even before this, for example Nallathambi, son of Veeramalai of Mudalaipatti village of Karur district, (NHRC Case No 2449/22/11/2019) who intervened legally to protect a lake, was murdered on July 29, 2019. HRD Viswanathan, (NHRC Case No 1950/22/11/2019) and others who are fighting to protect the river Cauvery, have been attacked continuously and false criminal cases registered against them. In February 2020 a false case was registered and HRD Shanmugam was illegally arrested. ( NHRC Case No 702/22/11/2020). In May 2022, HRD Tamilselvan (NHRC Case No 1751/22/49/2022) was attacked in the same district and on September 10, 2022 HRD Jeganathan has been killed.

Who was Mr Jeganathan?

Mr. Jeganathan is an environmental rights activist who has been working against illegal stone quarrying causing degradation to the environment in Kuppam village, Bukalur taluk, Karur district.

According to the HRDA, the family of Jaganatthan alleges that an illegal stone quarry has been operating in the near Tennimalai in Karur district since 2015. It is owned and operated by a person called Selvakumar who has been operating this quarry illegally, based on false documents in the name of his wife. Stones are cut from the illegall quarry, crushed into gravel at the nearby crusher factory and sold all over Tamil Nadu. Such quarries have mattered a lot after 2015 when these quarries have started using machines resulting in large-scale damage to the environment and consequently on agricultural activities in the area and the health of people in the area.

In the Gram Sabha meeting held on August 15, 2022 demanding action against the illegal stone quarry the participants were instrumental in bringing a resolution to close the illegal quarry being operated by Selvakumar. After this, the Department of Geology and Mining authorities closed the illegal quarry which was operated by Selvakumar on September 9, 2022.

Previous History

There was an earlier attack that was made on the deceased human rights defender Mr. Jagannathan about 15 days prior to  May 31,  2019 but yet no case was registered since the perpetrators prevailed upon the HRD to settle the matter and assured that the quarry would remain closed. However, on May 31, 2019 there was yet another attack on the said HRD by the quarry owner Selvakumar and one Ranjit subsequently registered as Crime No 106 of 2019 in K. Paramathi Police station u/s 147,148,294(b), 324, 448 and 307 IPC. The deceased was admitted in hospital for several days with grievous injuries. These incidents precede the present attack resulting in murder of the HRD concerned.

Details of present Incident:

On September 10, 2022, Mr. Jeganathan was returning home in a two-wheeler near Kalipalayam where Selvakumar, the owner of the illegal quarry who was agitated about the closure of illegal quarrying on September 8, 2022 based on the HRD Jeganathan’s complaint resulting in a Panchayat resolution on August 15, 2022, on September 10, 2022 rammed his mini lorry into HRD Jeganathan who was on a two wheeler. Mr. Jagannathan was killed on the spot near K. Paramathi in Karur district.

On the same day September 10, 2022, an FIR (No. 115 of 2022) was registered in K Paramathi Police Station, against the mini lorry belonging to Annai Stone Quarry registration number bearing TN 47 BY 2877, under section 302 (Punishment for murder) of IPC due to the direct telephonic intervention of HRD Shanmugam with the Inspector General of Police of Trichirapalli.

As information spread, a group of social activists, led by Mr. Shamugam and others from the Tamil Nadu Environment Protection Movement, and the victim’s relatives and friends gathered in front of the hospital and staged a dharna. Alleging that HRD Mr. Jeganathan was murdered only for fighting for the closure of the illegal the Annai quarry that had been continuing functioning since the year 2015. They demanded a detailed investigation into the death and a re-postmortem conducted by a team of forensic experts drawn from different medical college hospitals from the neighbouring districts. The peaceful protestors HRD Shanmugam and another were illegally arrested on the morning of September 12,.2022 and were taken separately in different police vehicles to different police stations, all contrary to the procedure for arrest as per the Criminal Procedure Code and as laid down most recently by the Hon’ble Apex Court in Satender Kumar Antil versus Central Bureau of Investigation on July 11, 2022, and released only by 08:30 PM in the night. The said illegal arrests were resorted to with the full connivance of the senior police officers of the district, so that they may not be able to continue to advise the wife of the deceased HRD to continue insisting on a repostmortem of Jeganathan’s body.

Revathy, the first wife of HRD Jeganathan, said her husband was brutally murdered for exposing the illegal operation of the quarry and refused to accept the body on Sunday until all the accused persons were arrested.

It was later in the day, the police arrested S. Selvakumar, 39, the quarry owner; Sakthivel, 24, the lorry driver; and Ranjith Kumar, 40, of Rayavelur, on the charge of murdering Jeganathan. Incidentally, as stated earlier, in the year 2019, Mr. Jeganathan had a narrow escape when a group of persons attacked him with lethal weapons for opposing the functioning of the quarry. Selvakumar and Ranjith Kumar were citied as accused in that case too.

HRDA undertook a fact-finding mission on  September 17, 2022 into the said killing of HRD Jeganathan, comprising of lawyers and one  Member of the Legislative Assembly as well as the National President of the Swaraj India and State Secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and after sending advance and proper intimation of the same in advance to all authorities, including the District Collector, the Superintendent of police and the Assistant Director of the Department of Geology and Mining on 15th September. Unfortunately, all of the above district authorities named above, remained elusive to the fact-finding team when the team visited their respective offices. though members of different police intelligence agencies had travelled all along with the fact-finding team members during their investigation.

In its communique to the NHRC, the HRDA has stated that it strongly holds the view that HRDS Mr. Jeganathan’s family members ( first and second wives) as well his sons, relatives and others who witnessed the incident live in danger of their own lives today since HRD Jegaanthan’s carrying out one of his fundamental duties enshrined in Article 51 A (g) of the Indian Constitution which says “It shall be duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures”. Right to a clean environment is also one of the basic elements to ensure a welfare state which is stated in the Directive Principles of State Policy.

It is submitted that the continuation of the above-referred illegal stone quarry and several others in the district for so many years indicate the negligence of the district officer responsible for allowing the functioning of such an illegal stone quarry, namely, the Assistant Director and the Regional Joint Director of the said Department based at Trichirapalli. This clearly amounts to negligence in the prevention of the above said human rights violation of not only the life of the said deceased HRD but also the lives of the people in the area for so many years to the right to lives of the public for the environmental hazards that this illegal quarry and other such quarries have led to.

Besides, Article 21 of the Constitution, guarantees fundamental Right to Life and liberty. Right to environment, free of danger of disease and infection is inherent in it.

Invoking the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment that is now recognized by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) 48/13, the HRDA has pointed out that the UNHRC has now adopted a resolution that “recognizes the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right that is important for the enjoyment of human rights”. This resolution has been supported globally including by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI).

Furthermore, the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders 1998, seeks to protect the monitoring and advocacy functions of defenders by recognizing their right to obtain and disseminate information relevant to the enjoyment of human rights.

In this communication, the HRDA has appealed to the NHRC to treat this as a case of inaction by the District authorities and the local police that had ultimately led to the attack on the very life of an environmental HRD for exercising his constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right to resist degradation of the environment. The subsequent illegal arrests demonstrate how actively in collusion with perpetrators the district authorities have been only because they wanted to prevent any orders being passed by them or through a court of law demanding a repost-mortem in the case.

Appeal to NHRC: 

• ·Direct the Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu to initiate a speedy inquiry in pursuing the present case by transferring it to the Crime Branch CID for investigation and directing its completion of enquiry speedily ;

• Direct the Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu to, in the meantime, submit a report to the NHRC within two weeks to the specific averments made in this complaint ;

• Direct the Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu to ensure complete physical and psychological safety of the HRD Jeganathan’s family (two wives and sons and relatives) and assure the NHRC of the same actions within one week.

• Direct the District and Sessions Judge of Karur District to initiate action suo motto using his powers as the Convenor of the Witness Protection scheme 2018 in the district to protect every witness connected with the case after obtaining a threat analysis report as required under the scheme.

• Direct the Government of Tamil Nadu to immediately provide a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the family of the deceased HRD and a government job to one of his family members.

• Direct the Commissioner of the Department of Geology and Mining to enquire in a time-bound fashion into the history of the continuous existence of the said illegal stone quarry in Thennimalai in Karur district since 2015, despite complaints preferred continuous surprise checks by officials responsible and owned and operated by Selvakumar, one of the accused in the present murder case registered after the death of the HRD Jeganathan.

• Consider exercising Section 12 (b) of the Protection of Human Rights Act and intervene in the relevant criminal court to defend the environmental HRD Jeganathan by arranging for expert legal assistance by engaging a senior criminal lawyer to assist the prosecution from the time of investigation of this case onwards till the final report is filed and trial completed and obtain for the family of the deceased HRD and his family members and other witnesses proper witness protection as mandated under the Witness Protection Scheme 2018.

• Direct the Additional Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Forests to create a safe atmosphere conducive to EHRDs in the state.

• Direct the State Government of Tamil Nadu to implement the mandatory precautionary principle directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court to protect the environment by anticipating, preventing and attacking the causes of environmental degradation.

• Recently, in a strange directive emanating from the NHRC, the Commission had, through an order dated March 16, 2022 in NHRC Case No 7090/22/11/2020/OC, directed the Director General, Investigation of the NHRC to investigate the allegation of misusing the Commission and directed it to submit a report. Since 2010, the HRDA asserts that it has invoked principles of non-partisan reporting to file as many as 800 complaints to the NHRC.

Related:

Front Line Defenders condemns repression of human rights defenders in India

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) must stop the harassment of journalist Ashish Sagar Dixit, said Human Rights Defenders – Alert (HRDA) on March 21, 2022. The forum alleged that the environment and RTI activist has been facing fabricated cases and intimidation from the Banda police since the start of the year.

The police listed Dixit as a “history-sheeter” on January 5, when two officers visited the Bundelkhand Press Trust Founder and Voice of Bundelkhand Digital Editor’s house. Since January 5, the journalist has received multiple notices from the police and judiciary regarding as many as six cases filed against him.

The HRDA demanded an inquiry into these FIRs saying, “Depending on the result of the inquiry, direct the DGP to initiate action against the police and administrative officials responsible for abuse of power and continued harassment of journalist Dixit.”

On January 9, he received another notice from the city magistrate that described him as a person of criminal nature. The sub-city magistrate ordered his presence in the district court on February 8, to argue against the penalisation of one surety bond and two bail bonds of ₹ 50,000 each. This was followed by yet another notice by the district magistrate regarding his Facebook post. In it, Dixit said that the current district magistrate had lodged an FIR on journalist Pawan Jaiswal earlier, for a news report on mid-day meals of salt with roti to school children.

On February 12, Dixit replied that he was being harassed with fabricated charges and apologised for unintentionally hurting the official’s image. Similarly, he wrote to the Banda Superintendent of Police on February 15, to reiterate the conspiracy against him. He said the allegations were politically motivated due to his journalistic work. Still, he did not receive a response.

“We would like to express our grave concern about the extreme mental and legal harassment being faced by Mr. Dixit for his work as a journalist. We believe that the multiple charges against him, showing him as a hardened criminal, are fabricated and an abuse of power by the police personnel and local administration,” said HRDA.

Citing the freedom of speech and expression, the human rights defenders’ forum demanded that the National Human Rights Commission warn the State Chief Secretary against the misuse of laws to criminalise the same or harass journalists.

“If journalists are targeted when they criticise public officials, they will seldom dare to take a stand and the democracy will be crushed further,” it said.

HRDA said that the fabricated charges against Dixit and similar harassment demonstrate the abuse of power by the state police to stop journalists from criticising public officials. The protection of journalists and ending impunity for attacks against them, is a priority for safeguarding freedom of expression. The forum said that a free expression of journalists is essential to ensure the public’s right to know, so that governments and institutions can be held accountable.

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Human Rights Defenders – Alert (HRDA) on January 31, 2022 decried Rajasthan police for its failure to arresting the main accused in the assault and torture case of RTI activist Amraram Godara.

On December 21, 2021, Godara was abducted by an SUV parked near his house and taken to an isolated location. There, the accused Nagaram, Manaram and Bankaram broke his hands, hammered nails into his legs and forced him to drink urine.He was finally thrown near a bus stand, as the assailants presumed he was dead. But Godara survived and narrated that the assailants had first tried to run him over with the vehicle. He was sent to the primary health centre Pareu village then referred to Nahta Hospital, Balotra and then finally to Jodhpur.

Godara filed an FIR with the Gida police station for attempt to murder, assault, abduction and criminal conspiracy. However, the police initially registered the complaint against unknown persons. Even after arresting four persons, the police did not arrest the main accused Nagaram – an ex-sarpanch and husband of the current sarpanch. The other accused are Pareu gram panchayat sarpanch Bankaram and local contractor Manaram. The latter often receives village level contractors from panchayats. These accused were angry with Godara for repeatedly raising corruption cases like sale of illegal liquor through RTIs.

Most recently, he sent an application to the state government under the ‘Prasashan Gaon Ke Sang’ campaign on December 15. Godara said in the document that the panchayat had paid more than the fixed amount for some work. Two days later, his allegation was investigated by a committee, who found the claim to be true. On December 19, the panchayat had to return the excess amount.

In January 2022, Godara went on a hunger strike and wrote to the Superintendent of Police about the delay in arrests. His dissent received the solidarity of the HRDA that wrote to the concerned authorities, saying, “We believe the delay in arresting the main accused who are political heavyweights in the region exposes the negligence of the police towards protection of a HRD who was subjected to torture and kidnapping. Their lax attitude has put the HRD and his family in danger of reprisal. We also fear that the main accused may interfere with the investigation.”

Therefore, they demanded action against Gida SHO Jay Ram as well.

A fact-finding report on this assault also raised several red flags such as Godara’s initial statement by the police on December 22, at 11.20 AM. By then, the RTI activist had only received first aid. His subsequent statements were added under ‘views added later’ and have not been acted upon. The report demanded that his subsequent statements be treated as his original because he was not able to provide a clear statement in the immediate aftermath of his attack.

Further, the HRDA asked the Director General of Police to ensure complete physical and psychological safety for Godara and his family and give it in writing to the NHRC within one week. It argued that the RTI activist must also receive ₹ 10 lakh as compensation.

“We believe that the role of the local police and ongoing negligence in the arrest of the main accused needs to be thoroughly investigated as we believe that the police negligence has been instrumental in this brutal assault of an HRD,” said Working Secretary Henri Tiphagne.

According to the HRDA, RTI users are among the most vulnerable and targeted human rights defenders in India. Protection of such activists is a state-duty as specified in the declaration on human rights defenders, adopted in 1998 by the UN General Assembly.

Related:

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Human Rights Defenders’ Alert India (HRDA) is a Tamil Nadu based Human Rights forum that works towards initiating actions on behalf of Human Rights Defenders under threat or with security concerns. In addition to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), HRDA India has also appealed to Bihar Human Rights Commission, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly.

They have recently expressed their concern over the use of force, firing, illegal arrest, threats and intimidation of HRDs in Kaimur district by the Bihar police. The HRDs were attending a two-day peaceful sit-in demonstration at the Birsa Munda Smarak Sthal in front of the forest department office in Kaimur district’s Adhaura block on September 10 and 11, 2020, to press on long-standing demands and protest against the forest department destroying houses in tribal hamlets and digging pits in farmlands during the lockdown.

The HRDA took cognisance of the brutal assault and firing by Bihar Police officials on Kaimur Mukti Morcha Activists were aggrieved over instances of forced eviction of Adivasis from their land in Kaimur district’s Adhaura block since the beginning of the lockdown in March 2020. The organisation has also cited the fact-finding report by a four-member civil society (members of Delhi Solidarity Group and All India Union of Forest Working Persons) that visited Kaimur in the last week of September.

The report provides documentation of several instances of police and paramilitary forces abducting and/ or illegally arresting KMM activists in Kaimur the aftermath of the incident. The complaint further mentions the instance of some HRD’s like Mr. Sipahi Singh and Mr. Ramshakal Singh, both residents of Goiyan village in Dumrawan panchayat and activists of KMM, who were asked to meet the Subdivisional Officer and the Superintendent of Police on September 12, 2020, at around 5.00 PM under the pretext of having a dialogue, but were arrested upon their arrival.

Finally, they have appealed to the NHRC to undertake an independent transparent enquiry into this incident as it believes that the Police officials have violated the freedom to peacefully assemble under Article 19 of the Constitution of India. Depending upon the conclusions reached upon following an independent investigation, they have also requested for direct legal actions against all officials involved in firing and lathi-charge of the peaceful Adivasi protestors.

HRD Alert India has also humbly requested the NHRC to direct the State Government to monetarily compensate all Adivasis who have been subject to state excesses and direct the forest and police officials to not harass, threaten or arrest Adivasis when they venture into forests to pluck tendu leaves (used in bidi-making) and other medicinal plants from the forest for selling them for survival.

On September 30, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and All India Union of Forest Working Persons (AIUFWP) had also moved NHRC against the illegal firing of Bihar Police Officers on peaceful protesting Kaimur activists and other forest dwelling communities violating their human rights. The findings of the detailed report, co-published by CJP, were released in an online press conference on October 23 by Ms Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) and Vice President of Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch.

Since March 2020, the forest department officials of Adhaura block, Bhabua subdivision, Kaimur District, Bihar have been employing means such as encroaching upon agricultural lands of the Adivasi people with the intention of evicting them from their villages.

These villages include: Gulu, Goiya, Dighar, Bahabar, Pipra, Sodha, Bahera, Dumrava, Sarainar. In Sarainar, they allegedly destroyed 50 houses of the Agariya Adivasi villagers in a bid to evict them. When the aggrieved Adivasis decided to mobilise themselves to protest against this, they were met by bullets and lathis.  

The entire HRDA India complaint may be read here: 

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The Human Rights Defender Alert (HRDA) on September 29 condemned the Chhattisgarh local police’s failure to protect a group of journalists including veteran journalist Kamal Shukla from a 3-hour-long assault by a mob outside the Kotwali police station on September 26.

“If journalists are assaulted or live under fear of reporting stories critical of the local administration or politicians, it will be a breach of both the Constitutional rights and international human rights,” said the HRDA in a press release.

The organisation appealed to the National Human Rights Commission to protect the journalists who were targeted for demanding the recognition of their constitutional rights. Accordingly, they made the following demands:

·       Investigation of the alleged nexus of police, local administration and local political leaders for the assault of journalists Kamal Shukla, Santosh Yadav and others and of the role of police in protecting the assailants.

·       Submission of CCTV footages, wireless records, duty records and other necessary information for the date and duration of the incident. This should also include video footage taken by witnesses while the assault was taking place in the streets.

·       Disposal of the fabricated FIR against Kamal Shukla and other journalists as well as assured physical security to Shukla who is still at risk from the perpetrators.

·       Implementation of laws recognised by the Indian government to protect journalists.

A mob of 250-300 people led by well-known Congress leaders physically assaulted around 25 journalists outside the local police station on Saturday. According to one of the survivors, Shukla and his colleague Satish Yadav, who was originally dragged to the station compound, asked the police for help on two occasions but were refused both times. Shukla was even threatened at gun-point during the incident. Earlier, Yadav who reported on corruption in the Kanker municipal corporation was beaten outside the police station until Shukla, a nearby resident, came to help the man.

Later, Shukla said that the police station in-charge stonewalled their attempts to charge the assailants with attempt to murder. Instead he registered a counter complaint alleging that Shukla started the whole thing with verbal abuse and death threats for not paying for an advertisement published in his newspaper.

The HRDA added that the accused people were arrested later in the evening after the organisation contacted the HRD Focal Point, C. S. Mawri and the Joint Registrar Mr. Sunil Arora. Even so, concerned about the manner in which the local police had handled the incident, the organisation questioned in its statement, “Why was the mob of assailants allowed to enter the police station and attack the journalists? Why did the police not register an FIR and arrest them immediately after the assault took place inside the police station? Why did they not allow the journalists to remain inside the police station? Why were the FIRs registered [initially] under bailable sections and not attempt to murder (307 IPC), despite a video showing a serious assault on Mr. Shukla in the streets?”

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Human rights Defenders Alert (HRDA), an organization that acts on behalf of Human Rights Defenders under threat or with security concerns, has written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on July 30 about a BBC journalist being illegally detained in Uttar Pradesh.

The letter raises concern over an incident whereby a BBC Hindi journalist named Dilnawaz Pasha, who had gone to the Bahjoi police station at Sambhal district to inquire about illegal arrest of his relative, was illegally detained by the police at 2 A.M on July 19.

Pasha, along with a cousin, had gone to the police station, the next morning, to inquire about his relative who was picked up by policemen in plain clothes who said they were from Bahjoi police station. The SHO asked them to wait outside if they wanted an answer. While Pasha and his cousin were waiting outside, some policemen allegedly surrounded them and took away their mobile phones and one policeman slapped Pasha and misbehaved with him. As Pasha did not return, his brother informed the details of his intended whereabouts to his colleagues at the BBC and then that evening a senior policeman called the Bahjoi police station and asked them if they had arrested a BBC journalist.

The policemen then apologised to Pasha and told him that his detention was done by mistake and even released his other relative who had been detained by them the previous night. Pasha met with the Superintendent of Police and told him about the incident; Pasha was assured that strict action would be taken against the policemen. As per the HRDA letter, no action has yet been taken.

The letter points out that this incident shows the attitude of police in UP towards law and human rights. “The abduction of Mr. Pasha’s relative by policemen without uniform, without an arrest warrant, without an arrest memo, at 2 am in the night, etc. is a violation of the basic detention and arrest procedures laid down in the CrPC as well as guidelines in the DK Basu Vs the State of West Bengal and NHRC’s own guidelines on arrest. It is clear that by abducting a citizen at 2 am, the police had some nefarious and illegal purpose in mind,” states the letter.

The letter further states that Pasha was released because his identity as a journalist with a reputed news agency was confirmed but an ordinary person would not have been that lucky. “This incident clearly shows the misuse of official power by police personnel and they should be held accountable to ensure that law enforcement agencies in UP do not violate and abuse law,” says the letter.

HRDA has urged the NHRC to initiate an immediate, fair and transparent inquiry in the instance of illegal detention and to direct DGP, Uttar Pradesh to submit CCTV footage, duty registers and vehicle logs of Bahjoi police station on the day of the incident. The letter further sought directions from the NHRC to DGP, UP to mandatorily conduct training on law and duty of the Police for all police personnel and report the update on the same to the Hon’ble Commission within 3 months.

The letter by HRDA may be read here.

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HRD Alert, a Forum of Human Rights Defenders, has written to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) expressing its grave concern about an incident in which the Kashmiri journalist-author Gowhar Geelani was stopped by the immigration officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on August 31, 3019.
 
Apart from the NHRC, HRDA also sent appeals to Jammu & Kashmir State Human Rights Commission, Chief Secretary of Jammu & Kashmir, DGP of Jammu & Kashmir, LT Governor of Delhi, Chief Minister of Delhi, Chief Secretary of Delhi, Commissioner of Police of Delhi, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and various organizations.

Gowhar Geelani is a respected and well acknowledged writer and journalist whose voice has potential of influencing international audience.

More recently, his book Kashmir: Reason and Rage had created ripples in several circles for its searing account of the conflict in Kashmir. The book offers fresh insights about a number of themes about Kashmiri nationalism; resistance of the new age and rebellion after the demise of militant commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani in July, 2016.

Geelani was stopped from travelling to Germany at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. Reportedly, he was travelling for a programme with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in Bonn. Notably, Geelani had served as an Editor for the broadcaster in the past. Immigration authorities at Indira Gandhi International Airport Delhi stopped him, saying he can’t leave the country. As per a report India Today, the authorities stopped him from flying abroad due to restrictions imposed on his travel.

About the specific incident, Geelani told Scroll in an interview, “At around 9 pm, the immigration officer looked at my passport, smiled and said, “Yahan toh case hai” [There is a case here]. He took my passport and boarding pass with him and then came back with another immigration officer who identified himself as Mr Abhishek. At 9.30, Mr Abhishek said I had to come with them and they took me to a room. He only said, “Aapko pata hai dikkat hai Kashmir mein” [You know that there is a problem in Kashmir]. I agreed with him that there is a problem in Kashmir but asked him why they were stopping me. I waited in that room for another half an hour.”

“There is an attempt to stop Kashmiri voices even if they are not speaking about the government. You cannot even speak about the medical situation and emergencies happening there. It is to stop the Kashmiri pain from coming out,” he said.

He had also pointed out that another attempt is being made to stifle any voice that has potential credibility and influence internationally and regionally. “The government’s propaganda is being peddled. The state is having a free day and it is confident that it will get away with anything.

The work of the media has been shoddy,” Geelani lamented.

More recently, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha was not allowed to leave Srinagar airport even as Jammu and Kashmir faces an unprecedented lockdown. This is the 45^th day of a total communication and internet blockade after the Central government abrogated the Article 370 giving the state a special status.

Since then the government has resorted to a lot of draconian measures such as the imposition of the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) on the former Chief Minister of J&K, Farooq Abdullah.

The only politician who has been able to come out in public and make a statement is the CPI (M) leader Yousuf Tarigami who said, “I am not a foreigner nor are Farooq Abdullah and other leaders are terrorists. The situation in Kashmir is bad not because of the people of Kashmir but because of all of us politicians and politics.”

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Human Rights Defenders Alert (HRDA), a forum of Human Rights Defenders, has urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to intervene in a reported murder of a young human rights defender on the lines of caste. Ashok from Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu (TN) was murdered on June 12, 2019. HRDA has drawn NHRC’s attention on the issue saying “this particular case is yet again an example of caste discrimination and reprisal against human rights defender Ashok for taking a stand against caste atrocities.”
 
Ashok, who belonged to the Pallar community, a sub-caste among Dalits was the District Treasurer of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), CPI (M)’s youth wing. Ashok had been continuously working on various social issues in the district of Tirunelveli, especially in his village of Karaiyiruppu. He had been extensively working against incidents and issues of caste discrimination, especially against the members of Pallar community to which he belongs.
 
HRDA has alleged that the murder was committed by a “gang of persons from dominant community.”
 
Details of the incident
 
On April 21, 2019, around 4.30 pm, Ashok and his mother were travelling on a bike. They had the harvest from their field. As they were reaching a nearby temple Uchimakaliamman, their bike reportedly hit another bike, which was parked in the middle of the road. The bike belonged to a person from the ‘dominant community.’
 
Soon afterwards, a group of five persons, all from upper caste, allegedly led by one Pechiraja stopped Ashok and abused him. The attackers used filthy language and abused his caste. Ashok’s mother, who tried to intervene and stop them, was also attacked. Both sustained injuries and were later admitted into Palayamkottai Government hospital.
 
Ashok filed a complaint against this incident at Thatchanallur police station in Tirunelveli district against the five persons in the presence of the Inspector of Police, Meenatchinathan. However, no action was taken against the attackers and a reverse case was lodged on Ashok.
 
HRDA has alleged that since the time of this incident and subsequent lodging of FIR, the accused, Pechiraja and his acquaintances “developed enmity towards Ashok”. HRDA also said that they were planning to avenge this.
 
On June 12, 2019,  as Ashok was leaving his workplace with his father Murugan and his friends Sivasankar, Gouthaman and Murugan to catch the company bus near Sibakumar mills in the village, he was reportedly attacked by the same persons namely Pechiraja, Ramachandra Thevar, Mookan, Ganesan, Balu, Murugan, Subramaniam. Allegedly they attacked Ashok with machetes and other deadly weapons on his head and chest. The gang shouted at Ashok saying that “How dare you act against our caste and file case against us. You can only act against us if you are alive” and mercilessly attacked Ashok and hacked him to death and as a result Ashok died on the spot. Afterwards, the gang fled from the spot. Ashok’s father and his friends couldn’t help him as they were threatened and kept aside.
 
Attacks on HRDs
 
Several reports in the past have highlighted that human rights defenders, especially belonging to marginalised castes are more susceptible to attacks and interference in their work. HRDA said that there was a need to address the issue of caste discrimination which is still prevalent in the country.
 
The Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted in 1998 by the UN General Assembly, states that governments are under a duty to “take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of human rights defenders by the competent authorities against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary actions” as a consequence of their efforts to promote human rights.
 
Therefore, it said that the government is bound by its by its international legal obligations to ensure that all activists and human rights defenders are provided with security against harassment or intimidation so that they may enjoy their constitutional right to due process, life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
 
Despite several international mandates to protect HRDs and to provide them a safe and secure environment to work, HRDs across the world have faced the wrath of not just regressive elements on the ground, but also hostile, apathetic and almost vindictive governments. HRDs such as Ashok, routinely come under attack and even lose their lives. The existence of many structures on the ground, makes it especially hard for the HRDs to work.
 
As per a 2017 Amnesty report,
 

• 3,500 human rights defenders have been killed worldwide since 1998
• 281 HRDs killed globally in 2016—a significant increase from 156 defenders killed in 2015 and 136 in 2014
• 48 journalists killed worldwide in 2016 according to the Committee to Protect Journalist
• India among deadliest countries for defenders of rights related to land, environment

 
Another report titled Defending in Numbers by the Asia Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), documented 88 cases of violations and abuses affecting 4,854 people — including human rights organisations, local communities and media outlets — across 18 countries in the continent between 2017 and 2018.
 
Most common forms of violation were:

• Judicial harassment (327 cases)
• (Arbitrary) arrest and detention (249 cases)
• Violence (164 cases)

HRDA has appealed to the NHRC to take necessary steps and to address the grave state of affairs.
 
 • Order an immediate, independent, thorough, transparent, effective and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned incident of brutal murder of Dalit HRD Ashok;
 
• Ensure that the investigation on the brutal murder of Dalit HRD Ashok is expedited and a charge-sheet is filed soon to bring the perpetrators to trial before the court of law;
 
• Ensure that Karaiyiruppu village in Tirunelveli, given the history of caste-based violence towards the Dalits be identified as violence-prone area under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and adequate protection is given to Dalit families who are facing continuous threats from persons belonging to dominant community;
 
• Ensure that the family of deceased Dalit HRD Ashok receives compensation under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act;
• Ensure that one person in the family of Ashok is provided a government job as per their qualification.
 
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https://sabrangindia.in/ann/csos-hrds-welcome-nhrc-meeting-civil-society-human-rights-defenders
https://sabrangindia.in/article/human-rights-defender-teesta-setalvad-targted-yet-again
 
 

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