NY Protest message board 01-17-11
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 14:57:41 -0500 From: Todd Eaton
Published on New York Activist Calendar (http://nycal.mayfirst.org) Human Rights, State Repression and Sedition in India: Or, Why are Kartam Joga, Kopa Kunjam and Binayak Sen in Jail?? By Anonymous
Human Rights, State Repression and Sedition in India: Or, Why are Kartam Joga, Kopa Kunjam and Binayak Sen in Jail?? Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - 6:30pm - 8:00pm Room 5409, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue [email protected]
Human Rights, State Repression and Sedition in India: Or, Why are Kartam Joga, Kopa Kunjam and Binayak Sen in Jail??
Panel Discussion moderated by Vasuki Nesiah, Associate Professor, NYU?
Panelists
Peter Rosenblum Clinical Professor of Human Rights Law, Columbia Law School Prof. Rosenblum served as the Associate Director of the Human Rights Program at the Harvard Law School, before joining Columbia University. He has had a wide range of experience outside academia, including Human Rights Officer with the Geneva-based precursor to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Program Director of the International Human Rights Law Group, and Researcher for both Human Rights Watch and the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights.
Meenakshi Ganguly South Asia Director, Human Rights Watch Meenakshi Gnaguly has investigated a broad range of issues from police reform to discrimination against marginalized groups, and has researched abuses surrounding the sectarian riots in Gujarat, the lack of justice in Punjab, issues of religious freedom, the failure to protect India's vulnerable communities--including those affected by the Maoist conflict, and abuses related to the fighting in the states of Manipur and Jammu & Kashmir. She has also advocated a human rights approach to India's foreign policy particularly on countries like Burma.
Somnath Mukherji AID-India and Free Binayak Sen Campaign Activist, Bhopal Advocate? Somnath Mukherji has been a volunteer with Association for India's Development for 8 years working with grassroots groups in India, on various developmental issues. He is also associated with the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and other campaigns within AID. He works closely with people in the Sunderbans on agriculture, Aila rehabilitation and other issues. Somnath has been involved with the International campaign working for the release of Dr. Binayak Sen since early 2008. He is based in Boston and spends some time every year working with grassroots groups in India.
Discussion preceded by a Photo feature by Journalist Javed Iqbal Javed Iqbal is a journalist with the New Indian Express doing reportage on tribal dispossession and conflict in tribal areas across the states of Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, MP and Andhra. Over the past few years his work has been key in exposing the myriad ways in which violence by all parties has wrought devastation in indigenous areas and violated law, due process, rights, livelihoods, community and entire ways of living. His reportage and photographs have become a key part of understanding the extent of these violations in the central heartlands of the country.
Who are Joga, Kunjam and Sen? On December 24th 2010, a sessions court in Raipur, Chhattisgarh state in India convicted Dr. Binayak Sen, a medical doctor working for indigenous people for nearly 30 years and a renowned civil liberties activist. Along with two others (alleged Maoist leader Narayan Sanyal and businessman Piyush Guha), Dr. Sen was convicted under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was sentenced to life imprisonment for 'sedition and conspiracy against the Indian state.' Dr. Sen has been challenging human rights abuses by all parties in the state and the state sponsored vigilante group - Salwa Judum. He was earlier arrested in 2007 and granted bail after two years. In 2007 Kartam Joga participated in petitioning India's Supreme Court regarding human rights violations in Chhattisgarh and impunity for security forces and Salwa Judum. Joga has been in Dantewada district jail since 14 September 2010. Like Dr. Sen, Kartam's conviction is under the draconian CSPSA and UAPA acts. Kopa Kunjam is an adivasi youth leader working with the Gandhian organization Vanvasi Chetna Ashram for justice, peace and democratic rights in the tribal villages of Dantwada and Bijapur in Chahttisgarh. In recent years, he had been helping people defend their rights against abuses by state, police and Salwa Judum. Framed under murder charges, Kopa was arrested on 10th Dec 2009.
In 2005, the Salwa Judum movement was started with state support in Chhattisgarh to oppose the Naxalites. With state backing, the Salwa Judum began committing serious human rights abuses, including killings, beatings of critics, burning of villages, and forced relocation of villagers into government camps. As a prominent leader of the human rights group People?s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Sen called for an end to Salwa Judum abuses. He also opposed the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, criticized human rights violations such as torture, extrajudicial killings and campaigned for improvements in prison conditions. - Human Rights Watch Statement
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