19-20 November 2011, India Islamic Centre, New Delhi
EDItED by HarsH DobHal tExt EDItors avrati bHatnagar matHew jacob anupam kisHore traNsCrIptIoN nanD kisHor
DEsIgN maHenDra bora
HUMAN rIgHts LAW NEtWorK
Concept Note
two-day National Consultation on Defending the Human rights Defenders was organised by the Human rights Law Network and the World sikh organisation (Wso) in col- laboration with ACHr, AIsA, ANHAD, ApDp, Human rights Defenders Alert, IrDs, Lawyers for Human rights International, MAsUM, Naga Mothers Association, parivartan, pEACE, pVCHr and surajay sangharsha samiti on the 19th and 20th of Novem- ber,A 2011, at India Islamic Centre, Lodi road, New Delhi. participants in- cluded renowned activists such as binayak sen, Kavita srivastav, Himanshu Kumar, Henri tiphagne, Iftikhar gilani, prashant bhushan, teesta setal- vad, Mallika sarabai, sanjiv bhatt and many other human rights defenders from across the country. Human rights activists have come under repeated attacks recently.r ight to Information activists have been killed and many have had cases filed against them. Journalists have been jailed in criminal defamation cases, have been attacked, some of them killed, and media houses have had their offices ransacked.t ribal activists particularly in conflict areas have been hounded by the police and many of them are in jail today. The situation has never been so dire. The need of the hour is to protect and defend human rights activ- ists in India today. There have been many initiatives in the country on defending the defenders and several organisations have developed expertise in various areas such as documentation, action alerts, approaching the UN system, legal aid, medical aid, counseling and so on. These initiatives have developed as a response to the cry from the grass-root activists who have been hounded by the police in many states. The two-day programme was further sub-divided into various sessions where activists and experts from various parts of India expressed their concerns and challenges and sug- gested ways of strengthening the solidarity and efforts. The various themes discussed were threats to human rights defenders, role of human rights organisations, situation in punjab/’84 genocide, defenders in Kashmir, defenders in conflict states, assaults on the media, attacks on anti-communal activists, attacks on trade unions, attacks on rtI activists, role of lawyers, situation of defenders in the northeast, attack on environmental activists, politics of hate, assaults on activists and sharing by Ips sanjeev bhatt. This consultation gave many of the participants, including the families of the activists who have been killed or victimised, a chance to interact and to develop better strategies to deal with the increasing use of violence by the state against social activists. It also led to the formation of Coalition for protection of Human rights Defenders (CpHrD). The pHrC D will work towards strategies of defending the defenders which will include action alerts, legal aid, medical aid, media coverage, documentation, counseling, cam- paigns and sharing resources. 3| P rogramme Schedule S aturday, 19th November 2011
Te im Topic Speakers
9.30– 9.45 Key-note address Paramjeet Kaur, widow of advocate Jaswant Singh Khalra
9.45 - 10 Can we ever forget? Balpreet Singh, World Sikh Organisation
10 - 10.30 Threats to human rights Dr. Binayak Sen l Kavita Srivastav (PUCL) defenders
10.30 - 11 Role of human rights Henry Tiphagne (Human Rights organizations Defenders Alert)
11 – 12 Situation in the Adv. Phoolka l Adv R.S. Bains Punjab/’84 genocide l Adv Navkiran Singh
12 -1 Defenders in Kashmir Iftikhar Gilani l Parveena (APDP) l Adv Arshad Andrabi (J&K Bar Association) l Adv G.N. Shaheen (J&K Bar Association) l Sanjay Kak
1 -2 Lunch
2 - 3 Defenders in conflict state Himanshu Kumar (Chhattisgarh) l Kopa Kunjam (Chhattisgarh) l Zulaikha Jabi (Chattisgarh) l Dayamani Barla (Jharkhand)
3 - 5 Assaults on the media Shoma Chaudhary l Manoj Mitta l Ajay T.G l Maqbool Sahil l Kumar Badal l Samiuddin Illiyas Neelu
5 – 6 Attacks on anti-communal Teesta Setalvad l aMukul Sinh activists
6 – 7 Attacks on trade unions Santosh Rai l P.C. Tiwari l Gayatri Singh
8 p.m. Dinner
|4 P rogramme Schedule S unday, 20th November 2011
Date Topic Speaker
9 – 10.30 Assaults on RTI activists Shailesh Gandhi l Santosh Koli, Parivartan l Vijay Kumbhar, Maharashtra
10.30 – 11.30 Role of lawyers Prashant Bhushan l Maharukh Adenwala l Amarnath Pandey, Chhattisgarh l Shamin Modi (M.P.)
11.30 -1.30 Situation of defenders in the North-East Sharmila’s case: Singhajeet (Justice for Peace Founda- tion) Babloo Loitongbam (Justice for Peace Foundation) Rosemary (Naga Mothers Association) Nava Thakuria (Guwahati Press Club)
1.30 – 2 Lunch
2 - 2.30 Politics of hate Discussion Mallika Sarabai
2.30 - 3.30 Assaults on activists Sandeep Singh (AISA) l Tenzin Tsundue (Tibetan activist) l R ajat Kalsan (Mirchpur case)
3.30 – 4 Open session with Sanjiv Bhatt Shabnam Hashmi (Chair)
4.30 – 6 Defending the defenders: Strategies: Suhas Chakma, ACHR l Henry Action alerts l Legal aid l Medical l Tiphagne (Human Rights Defend- aid l Media coverage l Documenta- ers Alert) l Satnam Singh Bains tion l Counseling l Campaigns l l Paramjeet Kaur l Balpreet Singh Sharing resources (WSO) Lenin, PVCHR l Anil Choudhary, PEACE
5| content DaY 1 Dayamani barla 95 introDuction Kailash Meena 98 Harsh Dobhal 07 Himanshu Kumar 100 Colin gonsalves 09 Zulaikha Jabi 102
sEssIoN 1 sEssIoN 10 keY-note aDDress attacks on traDe unions paramjeet Kaur 15 gayatri singh 107 sEssIoN 2 santosh rai 110 can we ever forget? p C tewari 112 balpreet singh 19 Amarendra sharma 114
sEssIoN 3 & 4 DaY 2 tHreats to Human rigHts sEssIoN 1 DefenDers & role of Human assaults on rti activists rigHts organisations shailesh gandhi 121 Kavita srivastav 25 Vijay Kumbhar 123 binayak sen 27 santosh Koli 125 Henri tiphagne 29 sEssIoN 2 sEssIoN 5 situation of DefenDers situation in punjab/’84 genociDe in tHe nortH-east H s phoolka 33 babloo Loitongbam 129 r s bains 35 Nava Thakuria 131 satnam singh 37 rosemary Dzuvichu 134 Navkiran singh 40 Irom singhajit 137
sEssIoN 6 sEssIoN 3 DefenDers in KasHmir role of lawYers Iftikhar gilani 45 Maharukh Adenwalla 141 sanjay Kak 48 Amarnath pa ndey 143 parveena Ahangar 50 prashant bhushan 145 g N shaheen 52 shamim Modi 148
sEssIoN 7 sEssIoN 4 attacks on anti-communal activists politics of Hate anD Mukul sinha 59 Discussion on communalism Manisha sethi 62 anD situation in gujarat teesta setalvad 65 Mallika sarabhai 153 sanjeev bhatt 156 sEssIoN 8 assaults on tHe meDia sEssIoN 5 Manoj Mitta 71 assaults on activists Kumar badal 74 tenzin tsundue 165 shoma Chaudhary 76 rajat Kalsan 167 samiuddin Illiyas Neelu 81 sandeep singh 169 Maqbool sahil 85 Ajay t g 88 Discussion on DefenDing 173 tHe DefenDers strategies sEssIoN 9 DefenDers in conflict state Kopa Kunjam 93
|6 Introduction
y name is Harsh Dobhal and I work with HarsH DobHal Human rights Law Network. I welcome all of you here today on behalf of HrLN, Director, HRLN ACHr, AIsA, ANHAD, ApDp, Hu- man rights Defender Alert, rDs, Jamia teachers’ solidarity Association, Jan sangharsh Manch, Jus- tice for peace Foundation, Kashmir High Court bar Associa- Mtion, Lawyers for Human rights International, MAsooM, Naga Mothers’ Association, parivartan, peace, pUCL rajas- than, pVCHr, surajay sangharsh samiti and World sikh or- ganisation. Friends, we have gathered here today, at a juncture, at a time in history when we know that the people, the social activists, social leaders who have always been talking about peoples’ rights, talking about exploitation of the marginalized, of Dalits and tribla, and many other disadvantaged In this context, I think, sections of society are coming under increasing threat by the agencies of the time has come to the state and even by non-state actors. The rtI activists, people working think and sit together to in the north-east, conflict zones of Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, journalists, talk about rights defend- lawyers, individuals, organizations, anybody disagreeing with the state, ers, about all of us who anybody trying to be critical, trying to question or interrogate the state have gathered here. We is immediately subjected to suspicion, intimidation, harassment, arrest, always have been talking and torture. sometimes even people are even being killed! Well, much is made out of the largest, vibrant democracy that we are. The Indian about others, as one of state, often, instead of treating such leaders and people as partners in a my friends who will be very vibrant democratic process, actually perceives such leaders as threat speaking later, was tell- to national security, threat to national interest and is more interested in ing me yesterday. Many targeting them, profiling them. of us today, not in Delhi so much, but outside In this context, I think, the time has come to think and sit together to talk about rights defenders, about all of us who have gathered here. We Delhi, find ourselves at always have been talking about others, as one of my friends who will be considerable risk while speaking later, was telling me yesterday. Many of us today, not in Delhi so working on human much, but outside Delhi, find ourselves at considerable risk while work- rights issues. ing on human rights issues. That is why it is important today and tomorrow to talk about ourselves, the kind of threat we face, the kind of intimidation that our works, our
7| people, our activists face and may be try to work towards developing a re- sponse to the situation. I would now like to invite Mr. Colin Gonsalves, our senior colleague, senior Supreme Court advocate to come forward and set the tone for the proceedings to today and tomorrow.
|8 Introduction
e are very pleased to have with us today colin Mrs. paramjit Kaur who most kindly gonsalves agreed to come to inaugurate this meet- ing, to start this meeting. For those of Founder Director, HRLN you who do not know her, she is the widow of Jaswant singh Khalra, one of the finest human rights activists this country has ever seen, who found and dis- coveredW the list of the disappeared in punjab. Hundreds and hundreds of young sikh boys who were taken by the punjab I just want to say that police, tortured and then extra judicially executed. Kps gill Human Rights Law Net- said that these young boys are or have actually escaped and work is a tiny organisa- tion and it is not really gone to Europe, America and other places, are illegal immi- our initiative that we do grants there and are working there. sardar Khalra stumbled the human rights defend- across this list when he went to the crematoriums where these ers work today. We are bodies were burnt and the punjab police were bold enough facilitating the meeting of as to take the bodies there and burn them. Actually with the some of the finest people names of the police officers who had brought the bodies to in this country who fight that place. That is all history now but he got the names and for human rights and that case is going on still even to this day. In 1995, he was who have come under at- picked up from his house and extra judicially executed for the tacks. Many of them will work that he did. We follow in the foot-steps of shaheed Jas- tell you their personal sto- want singh Khalra. We are inspired by him and his speeches ries. So, ours is a very lim- and the way in which he organized his work. Even in the face ited role of a facilitator. We have gathered people of death, we salute the steadfastness of Khalra sahib, absolute here who will not only tell steadfastness, as he was warned that he would be killed. Ap- you of the suffering that parently, the police called and said, we want the list of these they are going through thousands who have disappeared and we are glad to give you because they fight for the list of thousands plus one, referring to Khalra sahib him- human rights, but they self. He was certain. He knew about his death and he came to will also come up with an India from Canada where he disclosed the list of the persons. action plan. He returned from Canada to India, even though he knew that he would be picked up and executed. paramjit Kaur , thank you very much for being with us today. I would also introduce
9| B alpreet from the World Sikh Organisation. The president of the organization had certain difficulties in coming to India. So, we shouldn’t get into the reasons for not coming. But he had certain problems in coming to India. So, Balpreet will speak briefly in his place. w A sort of an action plan for all of us to work together, to build a kind of a network, not that it doesn’t exist, it would be already existing in some way, but to strengthen a network of human rights activists, so that, whenever any of us comes under attack, any defender of human rights comes under attack, that person will not be alone. That person will not be isolated. That person will not be demoralized and say oh god! Look at the situation I find myself in. We will come to the assistance of such people and get them out of the trap created for them by the government. With that, we start with Paramjeet Kaur.
|10 DAY 1 Novemver 19, 2011
11|
sEssIoN 1
KEyNotE ADDrEss
13| 14 y story is not one of a victim but rather that paramjeet Kaur of a victimized defender. My late husband Jaswant singh Khalra was a human rights Paramjeet Kaur is defender and the work he took up was essen- the widow of the late human rights tially related to human rights. Linked to his story is the story ofM punjab. In reality the story of punjab was different. There activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. She is were some problems in punjab, mainly social, the issue was currently continuing water and the conflict was more about the rights ofp unjab as the work of her a state. However, the politically inclined morphed the issue husband in Punjab into a religious one. Eventually the entire conflict was painted and has established in a religious colour. The most sacred places of sikhs were at- herself as an active tacked with the help of tanks. The issue thus snowballed and force in bringing before we knew it sikhs were being attacked and in 1984 the justice to the social aspect of the issue was completely forgotten and it had victims of the 1984 become a religious war. violation. The ikhs religion has its own unique tradition and history. In 1943, sikhs laid down their lives for the independence struggle. but when it came to state sponsored violence in punjab, the sikhs were completely isolated. After Indirag andhi was murdered in 1984, the sikhs were brought to streets and burnt alive. Women were raped and sikh religious places were desecrated. Even the supreme Court and the High Court were closed down during this time. selective killing of children from each house is one of the ap- palling realities of the sikh genocide. The case of punjab was one of the first cases of state violation in India. If the government had taken a differ- ent stance in this situation I am sure incidents like babri Masjid would never have happened. There would have been no riots in gujarat and the injustices that people of Kashmir, the Northeast, Andhra pradesh, Chat- tisgarh and orissa are facing would have never reached such a magnitude. In punjab, sardar Jaswant singh Khalra took up this issue as a defender of human rights despite being well aware of the consequences. He was threatened by the government of the state, to be reduced to another name in the list of those who had disappeared in the state, and that is ex- actly what happened. He was apprehended from his home on 6 septem-
15| ber 1995 and subsequently tortured and killed. We he is about to get murdered and does get murdered started our legal fight in the Supreme Court (SC). is not given justice by the judiciary. This is what all We filed a petition on 9 September 1995in the SC. of us working in this field need to think about. We brought this case from the SC to CBI, CBI to The situation is not limited to Punjab. There are Sessions Court, Session Court to High Court and many disappearances happening in areas like And- then back to the Supreme Court. hra Pradesh and Srinagar. These states have ap- In the short period that Sardar Khalra worked for pointed commissions to probe into the matter. In human rights, he did not get adequate opportuni- Punjab, however, there is no such initiative taken ties. Due to his inspiration we continue our hu- by any government or non-government commis- man rights work in Punjab till today. For 16 years sion. I have failed to discern the reason behind we have fought approximately 2097 cases includ- this. Without a proper inquiry is it possible to get ing that of Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra. The list of accurate data on the disappearances of people and these cases was drafted by Khalraji from the list of to further the work from a human rights platform? people buried in 3 crematoriums in Punjab. The I believe that we need to draft a national level strat- affidavit was filed and theB C I admitted the truth egy under which Punjab should be designated as a about the deaths of the victims and consequently priority state. Violations do occur in other states as ordered that an inquiry be convened. The Supreme well, however, in my opinion the situation in Pun- Court acknowledged that from 1984 to date; only a jab is worsening with time. The appalling details handful of people were compensated for their loss. of Sardar Khalra’s legal battle are a case in point. However, the issue is not limited to the work of The court case was fought as a defense case, a state Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra, it is graver than that. against state case, that is, CBI against Punjab Police Whilst Sardar Khalra only focused on three crema- wherein even the name of Sardar Khalra was obliter- toriums, there are numerous other crematoriums ated from the proceedings leaving little hope for any all over Punjab where the people who disappeared sense of justice. According to the lawyers the little were disposed of. To date the relatives of the victims compensation that the victims received was only be- are being threatened and killed by the police. The cause of media pressure not because of any inherent intention behind Sardar Khalra’s work was to stop justice in the system. It is extremely disheartening mass-murdering and to stop the ensuing injustices to note that if human rights defenders are treated in done to the families of victims, not just to bring to such a way, what hope do the common people have trial the cases of the victims. with regard to human rights?! Therefore, the work of Jaswant Singh Khalra is im- Thus, the intention of this meeting is to focus on portant. The voice of a human rights activist is cru- devising state oriented programs that will provide cial in a country where human rights victims are a platform to victims who have otherwise been si- deprived of their rights in the political and legal sys- lenced and subjugated. It is frustrating that nothing tems. It is true that there have been no outbursts of has been done by the government to provide relief violence in Punjab since Sardar Khalra’s death but to the victims either socially or economically. I have the people who reside there still live in fear and ap- often repeated at many places that one of the fore- prehension. Cases like those of Shameender Shera, most objectives to be accomplished is to punish the Surjeet Singh and Pal Singh Trance still happen in offenders. The Indian state should admit its mis- Punjab. The gravity of the situation can be gauged takes against the human rights of its people. They from the fact that Sardar Khalra was murdered de- should punish the guilty and compensate for losses spite his press release on 19 February 1995. He that numerous families have suffered. The people of specifically mentioned in this release, later filed in Punjab and elsewhere should have their birth right court, that his life as under threat and if something returned i.e. a life of dignity. Until the culprits are happened to him, it should be understood that KPS punished, I sincerely doubt that the masses will for- Gill and Beant Singh were responsible for it. This is get the atrocities committed against them and their where the real challenge faced by the human rights family members. The political leaders in the state defender lies today i.e. a man who openly claims that have often remarked that the people should forget
|16 what happened in the past but forgetting becomes diate in the context of Punjab and the nation. I also difficult till a sense of closure has been achieved. The believe that the discussion has only started. There story of human rights violations are not over in Pun- is a lot more to consider and a lot of actions to be jab and it will not be until the guilty are punished. taken. I am hoping that this meeting will play a key role in doing so. These are the issues and concerns that I find imme-
17|
sEssIoN 2
CAN WE EVEr ForgEt?
19| |20 he World sikh organisation (Wso) of Canada balpreet singH was founded 27 years ago. I am the legal counsel World Sikh Organisation of this organization and I am delivering a mes- sage on behalf of our president Mr. prem singh who could not be a part of this event due to certain circum- stances.t This event is very important and momentous occa- sion for us as we get together and remember the sikh martyr sardar Jaswant singh Khalra. The people who got to know Jaswant singh Khalra personally will always have very fond and vivid memories of him. He was so passionate about his work. once, during a visit to Canada, members of Wso tried to convince him to stay in Canada as his life was under threat in India. He could have easily received the status of an ap- proved refugee and stayed in Canada with his family until it was safe to return to India. The officials also guaranteed the same. However, he was so engaged in his work that he refused In victim studies, the the offer. victim is often told that nothing happened and if He stated that if he stayed in Canada what would he say to the families for whom he worked for in India?! If he was afraid for his life and could something did happen, not return to punjab, why would anybody in punjab who was affected then forget it. It happened come forward and fight for their rights? Why should they tell their story a long time ago; move to the world? on with your life and it is probably your fault As such, he was determined to return to punjab and continue his work, anyway. That is what is whatever the consequences may be. He returned that summer to punjab and in september 1995 he was abducted by the punjab police. He was happening with an entire held in custody illegally and despite an international outcry, he was mur- community and we are dered and his body thrown into a river. just one such victim. I believe it is rational to Khalra was the voice for the families who had lost their sons, daughters say that the state must be and husbands during the 1984 genocide. He forced an unwilling state governed by the law. to concentrate on hard facts and that is what a human rights defender does. It is about going into the field and searching for hard facts and pro- claiming these facts to the world to show them that there is something wrong here. He was fearless, selfless and diligent. In short, Jaswantsingh
21| Khalra, to me and to all of us, was the ideal human it is Punjab, Kashmir, Assam or anywhere else, we rights activist. It is befitting that we are all here to- see that the same pattern of innocent people being day to commemorate his memory. There are many taken away from their houses and being killed and other ways that we can honour his memory such as tortured is being repeated. If we forget the abuses plaques and statues but they are made of stone and of those politicians and those police officers we will do not exemplify the living spirit that encompassed see them rise in the ranks. If we don’t deal with it Jaswant Singh Khalra. This is why we are so excit- we will see them increase in rule. And what message ed about this project as it is a living and breathing does that send to the next-generation of politicians project that has so much potential. It reaches out to and police officers? It tells them that if you crush the carry on the flame that JaswantS ingh Khalra held in human rights of the so called anti-nationals in the his hand. It takes forward his mission. That is why disturbed areas you will be promoted. And that is WSO is present here today as Sardar Khalra was why we cannot simply forget and forgetting would such an important person to us. simply mean that we are bound to repeat our his- tory. It will happen over and over again. This project This brings me to the second reason as to why I am will hopefully create some ideas as to how we can so inspired and overwhelmed to be here. I am sur- deal with these issues. This is your project – and we rounded by human rights activists not just people as a Canadian organisation are here to support you representing Punjab, but people from all over India in any shape or form. It is no secret that when we as- who despite threats to their lives and challenges to sociate ourselves with any human rights work, peo- their liberty still stand up for the common people. ple may say that this is anti-national. This is a radical We also work as Human Rights activists in Canada and an extremist point of view. Even when the Sikhs but the challenges that we face are insignificant to in Canada talk about Punjab we are labeled as being what you have to face here in India. Your work is radical. They say that the second generation ofS ikhs absolutely essential. Make no mistake that you are have become extremists. That is not the case. This the people who can be the voice that will tell the is actually the discourse of victimisation. In victim stories of human rights victims to those who hold a studies, the victim is often told that nothing hap- position of power. I am going to talk about why we pened and if something did happen, then forget it. cannot forget the 1984 genocide and I think we al- It happened a long time ago; move on with your life ready know the answer to that. If we forget the anti- and it is probably your fault anyway. That is what is Sikh genocide of 1984, we forget the fact that those happening with an entire community and we are just were state agents prompting killings of one minor- one such victim. I believe it is rational to say that the ity community. If we forget that, then we are bound state must be governed by the law. It is not radical to to repeat that. It will come back in a different form. say that humans/citizens, regardless of their politi- It might come back as the killing of Christians in cal beliefs, possess certain inalienable human rights Orissa or in any other form, if we forget. If we turn a that cannot and should not be violated. Perhaps in blind eye to the excess committed by theS tate agen- another time and in another place people who have cies and by the security forces including the disap- these beliefs would be considered to be patriots as pearances and torture of human beings then what opposed to anti-nationals. I look forward to the out- would happen, and what has happened, is that those come of this meeting and hope that it serves well in excesses would become systemic and normalized. commemorating Sardar Khalra. They will become a pack of what is normal for these security agencies. In every disturbed area, whether
|22 sEssIoN 3 tHrEAts to HUMAN rIgHts DEFENDErs &
sEssIoN 4 roLE oF HUMAN rIgHts orgANIsAtIoNs
23|
SPEAKER 1
his meeting is extremely timely and is an oppor- Kavita srivastav tunity for all of us to not just talk to each other Social Activist and but actually collectively think about what to do National Secretary, and share our views in a manner such that we PUCL really move forward. This meeting was born out of the kind oft attack that I faced last month. I am a simple human rights worker and I want to discharge the very obligation of being a human rights worker if I call myself that. but every act that one performs is now being esteemed as human rights work. I am presumably living in one of the safest states- rajashtan, where there is no maoist problem or terrorist acts, but in reality we do face both these problems. some terrorists bombed the Ajmer Dargah and then there are the cases of those who claim themselves to be the Indian Mujahedin. We don’t know who they are but it is a state which has not come very well We need to understand under the framework of movements which are trying to overthrow the government or any such thing. In that supposedly safe state I was at- that the threat is all tacked when 150 policemen came to my house and to my father’s house, pervasive. It is a threat which is 60-70 meters away from mine, and surrounded the entire area when you are involved in order to look for an Adivasi woman who is a supected maoist accord- in any small everyday ing to them. They came with such a huge force to intimidate us and to engagement of trying to destroy any confidence that we have. Their intention primarily was to let protect human rights. the people in that area know that henceforth they are not to respect my If the threat exists there work or respect me. What we have seen here and what I would like to then it also changes the term it as, and begin this meeting with, is the Chhattisgarhisation of the whole situation. Its not Indian police. Everybody knows me and my work for the last 25 years just Kashmir or Manipur in the state. I am a really well known activist. yet, 150 policemen were but all of India that is provided with two jeeps to survey the area I reside in and they were armed. so, if rajasthan police, especially in Jaipur where I have spent a going to be like Kashmir crucial part of my life, can do this then it can happen anywhere. It can and Manipur as we see really happen anywhere. the whole phenomenon of Chhattisgarization that is I belong to the pUCL. It is one of the oldest organisations in India already happening. though it is very small. There is very little that a human rights organiza- tion like ours can do but whatever we do, we do it honestly. I believe that it is time that we sat together and thought about whether we are going to allow the criminalisation of our acts and let the judiciary hand over
25| whatever it is that the the police want or whether are several mechanisms and organisations, along we are going to stand up and fight the oppression? with those that are named, that are human rights Yesterday the judiciary struck down a certain order organizations. The kind of associations of persons that we are all so proud of. It has modified its ear- that all of us represent here is a very small part of the lier order saying the ban on appointment of SPOs mechanism that even the State has tried to put to- would apply only to Chhatisgarh. What will happen gether, like the various human rights institutions we to the 6,400 SPOs in Jharkhand and 8,000 SPOs in have – the women’s commission, the children’s com- Orissa? We know that Chhattisgarh does not need mission and the other whole line of commissions in it. It has counted them into a battalion. I’d like all total are more than 18, if we look all over the coun- of us to share with each other our experiences in a try. Do we see any role for them? Is there any way frank manner, not to boast in front of each other but that we can make them accountable? Or are we sup- to share because we must talk very openly and really pose to ignore them? Bear in mind that this is also ask ourselves, what are we going to do? How many a session on the threats to human rights defenders. I more of us are going to go to jail? One Binayak, one think we have got to understand that. The suppres- Ajay T.G. and so many others that we can see here, sion of freedom that we have witnessed earlier is still how many more do we want to send away? I do not happening in Manipur and other states of Northeast want to think what is lost in any way. We believe in and Kashmir along with a kind of targeting of the the Indian State. We believe in the Constitution of minority community. What needs to be focussed India and therefore we believe that we can come up upon is, as Henry has said, that such violations are with a solution. also a violation of everyone’s human rights. This engagement is also getting problematic. We need I think it is very clear that protection of human rights to understand that the threat is all pervasive. It is a is dependent on the nature of governance and the threat when you are involved in any small everyday kind of socio-economic policies that any govern- engagement of trying to protect human rights. If the ment pursues. So, basically, these are the two sides threat exists there then it also changes the whole of the same coin. Therefore, when Henry says that situation. Its not just Kashmir or Manipur but all of you don’t have to go by the name of human rights to India that is going to be like Kashmir and Manipur do the work it means that all of us become activists as we see the whole phenomenon of Chhattisgariza- when we question any dimension of policy or any tion that is already happening. We therefore need to discharge of duty of the State apparatus. Thus, we be earnestly involved in discussing this issuse and in are discharging the duties of a human right worker. coming up with firm ideas to tackle it. We need to consider this in detail. Secondly, there
|26 SPEAKER 2
y sister bibi paramjeet Kaur and my friend binaYak sen Kavita asked me to talk about my story. but I Social Activist, don’t really intend to do that except for pass- Chhattisgarh ing it as one of the examples in the host of oth- er examples that I wish to bring in front of you. I would like to startM with the story of Jitendra Marandi, Jharkhand. We had a meeting on 12th November, to take about the case of Jiten- dra Marandi, who is sentenced to death and is in a Jharkhand prison on a totally concocted case. I would like to talk about my own case as the example of the way in which the judicial system is dealing with efforts to highlight the problems of hu- man rights. Kavita talked about Chhattisgarization. I am from that Chhattisgarh, I don’t know about which she is talking about. I would like to talk a little bit about Chhattisgarh and draw parallels from Chhattisgarh to the rest of the situation in the country. so I will start with Jitendra Marandi. He was of course unable to come to our meeting, which was held in ranchi. His wife, Aparna Marandi, a young girl, a very brave girl with a baby, a As far as the judiciary is two and a half year old baby, who at the time when she addressed this concerned I don’t think meeting was suffering from cerebral malaria.s he left that child in the hospital and came to address/attend our meeting. anybody is suggesting that we all become cyni- Adding on, in Chhatisgarh the special police officersspo ( s) disarma- cal about the judiciary. ment, announced in public that they were going to employ exactly those I think that we have same police officers as regular police officers. The only difference in their to have recourse to the condition of employment would be that where they were getting a salary judiciary, we have to have of 3000 rupees, initially 1500 rupees and then 3000 rupees and were given 3 months of training in arms and then let loose on the community. recourse to the laws, but it In their place we would have a situation in which the same people would is the state in its function- be employed as regular police officers with the salary of 7000 rupees ing which is adopting an to 8000 rupees. And all the other strictures about the manner in which extremely cynical attitude these vigilantes had been deployed, which the supreme Court passed, all towards the judiciary. those other strictures were to be ignored. An utterly cynical and defiant attitude towards the rule of law by the state government and supported by the union government. I would now like to come to another aspect and that is what is happening, we see the same situation in Chhattisgarh
27| being repeated in Jharkhand, being repeated in West problem and what needs to be done. I am so very Bengal, being repeated in so many places across the glad that we can all come together and try and think country. There is today a situation of stable famine and plan about the kind of response we should make existing over large parts of the country. More than to this phenomenon that we see before us. a third of the total population of the country is in a As far as the judiciary is concerned I don’t think any- state of famine. This is shown by government data body is suggesting that we all become cynical about utilizing anthropometric measures of nutritional the judiciary. I think that we have to have recourse to status. There is a stable famine across large parts of the judiciary, we have to have recourse to the laws, the country and on top of this situation, across the but it is the state in its functioning which is adopt- country we have a situation where the government ing an extremely cynical attitude towards the judici- stand guarantor in the process of displacement of ary. I think, that is something we need to highlight these very people who are suffering from this stable and bring before the people. For instance, the way in famine. And all of the common property resources which the Salwa Judum judgement has been treated are taken over by the government under the doctrine by the State, that is outrageous and it just surprises of eminent domain, those resources are handed over me that the sort of noise that has come about in the to private interests; to corporate interests. What cynical way; Mamta Banerjee goes in a public meet- Sudarshan Reddy identified as tax breaks for the ing and says that ‘Banduk Uthana Hai to Sarkari rich and guns in the hands of the poor. I come from Banduk Uthao’ means that your basic validity of the Chhattisgarh. I had the privilege to work for a long militarization of the situation remains unshaken. time with a trade union leader called Shankar Guha So, we are not suggesting that we should be cynical Niyogi. Chhattisgarh has a history of people being about the judiciary but I think human rights work- killed by the state. In 1977, when 10,000 workers ers are all over interested in proving the relevance formed a trade union, police fired on a gathering of of the judiciary to the problem that we face today. unarmed workers & twelve workers were killed. In The other part is that, I have already mentioned 1984, three workers were killed in police firing. In about the stable famine that exists, the polarisation 1992, sixteen workers who were sporting on the rail that is taking place more and more in this country tracks in support of their demands, were killed in today. It’s true that the rich are becoming richer and police firing. In 1991, on 28th September, Shankar the poorer are going into famine. These people are Guha Nyogi was himself killed. Fifteen days before surviving because of their access to common prop- he took a delegation of representatives of Chhat- erty resources. And these are the very people whose tisgarh Mukti Morcha to the President of India Mr. access to common property resources is being ter- R. Venkatraman. Mr. Shankar Guha Niyogi told the minated. So we have to have, some kind of debate president that his life was at risk and that he was about eminent domain, about what constitutes ac- going to be killed. After he went back to Chhattis- cess to legitimate common property resources and garh, fifteen days later he was shot dead while he how that access has to be legislated. And, in such a was asleep in his bed. I was remembering Shankar situation, a situation resembling genocide is being Guha Niyogi when we were hearing about the story created because genocide is not only about killing of Jaswant Singh Khalra. Five hundred people were with bullets but genocide is also about creating a sit- killed, 100 women were raped by Salwa Judum and uation by which the survival of a large part of a com- so many people were arrested for no reason! False munity is threatened. So, if we take that definition cases were registered against them and this pattern of genocide, we find a situation which is genocidal is being repeated over and over again in Chhattis- in large parts of the country. This is something that garh, Jharkhand, Kashmir, and in so many places, all needs to be realised and projected. across the country. We now have to think about this
|28 SPEAKER 3
y participation in this meet is particularly because of the Henri tipHagne same feeling of solidarity that one experiences being in Executive Director, the midst of people who have paid prices. prices of dif- People’s Watch, ferent sorts; people have lost their beloved, have been forced into prisons, made to face a judiciary which is totally insensitive; Madurai Mpeople who are threatened, who continue to be threatened and in the process, are attempted to be humiliated and disrespected for the works that they undertake and the stance they have made in life. My concern here will be with the role of human rights organizations. I started my career in the year 1979 as an activist of the pUCL. Moved by some of the pioneering initial works of the pUCL till the year 1981, when I got Justice tarkunde into trouble for getting our beloved Kan- nabiran beaten up in a city called Madurai in the state of tamil Nadu. In 1993, an opportunity arose to be in Vienna at the second World Confer- ence on Human rights. It provided us a completely different view of how There are continuous human rights organizations were organizing themselves in other coun- fights going on in the tries of the world. There I realized that the state can be monitored and country to ensure these the state is indeed being monitored and made accountable in different charges but with little suc- parts of the world with a variety of experiences. It is in this background cess. Despite the presence that we initiated our work, modeling our work on the vast global experi- ence. of national level organiza- tions NHRC, NCW, NC There are a large number of human rights organizations working in this for SC & ST, and such country today. There is also a huge group which does not refer to itself institutions which are as a particular organization and it is them that need consideration. These funded by the State, the are the Human rights defenders. Many of those who are really champi- status quo of the situa- oning for the cause of Human rights in their own ways do not even use the word Human rights in their day to day work. These people engage tions remains unaltered. themselves in protecting, promoting and monitoring human rights in It therefore becomes a their effective locations. Thus, the role of a human rights organization crucial role of human is not only to monitor, intervene, campaign and network but also to re- rights organisations to habilitate a variety of individuals, groups, sections of populations who monitor these institutions have suffered a variety of violations including civil and political as well at the various levels that as economic, cultural and political. That is, the work of a human rights they function in. organisation today is to subvert the state. by subversion, I do not mean achieving it through the struggle on streets only but subversion through our creative interventions. Their work is to ensure that the provisions, the policies, the stands of the state which lead to greater poverty of the
29| country and marginalization of the populations in tinue the day to day struggle on the streets. An or- this country are changed by the suggestions put ganization after its growth and its engagement with forward by the human rights organisations of this larger political questions should remain committed country. to engage, understand and believe in the variety of people involved in the task of making this country. While we are looking at human rights organisations, This right to life, equality, freedom and dignity are it is important to publicly recognise that there are more meaningful in the day to day life of the poorest organisations working exclusively with communi- of the poor. And, therefore, I think this juncture is ties, i.e., with children, women, dalits, adivasis, per- important for us. The human rights platform must sons with disabilities, sexual minorities, people who permeate itself to the roots of this country and which are displaced etc. For the current discussion to be an is owned by everyone. That is, a platform of human informed one it is crucial that we emphasize repeat- rights defenders which intends to protect ourselves edly that these organizations are more than often only because we want to continue the struggles we marginalised and it should be finally acknowledged are engaged in and continue the protection of rights that these organizations, working on civil and po- of others. litical rights of the people, should be given their due recognition. Same goes to individuals working for But the effective implementation of this platform fighting communalism. A good beginning towards has still not been effectively achieved. It has taken defending the defenders will be to bring these un- several years to remind the NHRC that they have to der the umbrella of human rights organizations. It is cater themselves to human rights defenders. It was also important for all of us to recognise national and only in May 2010 that their focal point on human international standards established by human rights rights defenders was established and yet they are organizations all over the world. not willing to subject themselves to procedures, the process of criminalization of human rights defend- Another engaging issue in this regard is the Hu- ers. So now it becomes our responsibility to correct man Rights Commission and the cloud of corrup- this by continuous emphasis. tion that surrounds it. There are continuous fights going on in the country to ensure these charges but Finally, a platform for Human Rights defenders es- with little success. Despite the presence of national sentially needs to remind the courts of this country level organizations NHRC, NCW, NC for SC & ST, that they can no longer continue to silence us by and such institutions which are funded by the state, registering cases against us. While many of us are the status quo of the situations remains unaltered. engaged in aforesaid court cases, it remains the duty It therefore becomes a crucial role of human rights of those outside these cases to expose the moving organizations to monitor these institutions at the away of the judiciary from the core of rights dis- various levels that they function in. In the states of course in this country. Therefore, it would be a huge Chattisgarh and Orissa when the State established achievement for all of us if we are able to get to- institutions failed to protect the human rights of the gether and construct a national level platform where people it was these organizations that played a key in those who were earlier denied the status of hu- role and they still are. Also, another role that the or- man rights defenders like people who are engaged ganizations have to play is to monitor the state insti- in labour issues, who are engaged in raising voices tutions according to global standards of protecting against the wages, who are fighting caste discrimi- and promoting human rights. The work does not nation in different places, who are fighting manual stop here, it is equally important for us to critically scavenging in different places, who are continuing work with regional outfits, a variety of UN Organi- struggles in terms of fast for several years, or who sations, HR Council and the treaty bodies. are in jails facing charges against them. Finally we should have an organization that preserves them Along with this, the most important and basic role and speaks for their rights. of an organization is not to forget the ground work. It is the role of human rights organisation to con-
|30 sEssIoN 5 sItUAtIoN IN pUNJAb/’84 gENoCIDE
31|
SPEAKER 1
here are only two things that I would like to men- aDv. H s pHoolKa tion. First, there is absolutely no doubt that we Advocate, Supreme Court need such an organization. There is a dire neces- of India sity to start an organization like this. The neces- sity arises because the government organizations and bodies thatt are responsible to protect human rights are not working properly. The Human rights Commission fails to work in the manner that it should be working despite being an apex organization in the field of preserving human rights. but ac- cording to me we should not take the Human rights Com- mission as defunct and create a parallel organization. I think we should rather try and devise ways to make the HrC more effective. We should devise ways to put more pressure on the I would request this government so that it makes the necessary changes in the Act, organization to probably amend the law and put the people who are more effective in have some kind of screen- powerful positions; people whose mindset is more oriented ing committee, so that towards human rights instead of people who are sitting there when we are getting cases for their own purposes. And that should be the purpose of throughout India, we can our organization. determine that these are the cases of grave human The other point is of handling the cases of the 1984 carnage in Delhi rights violations and are and parts of punjab. I belong to the victim community and I know how needed to be taken up. Let difficult it is for the victims to follow up these cases. They are always the human rights activists labeled as anti-nationals or terrorists. In 1984 when the congress had a two-thirds majority we still carried this fight forward in such hostile who are located there pass circumstances. We had planned to let other people speak for us. It was on the information to people like Justice sikri and others speaking for us in the front while we this organisation and this were in the background doing all the work on the field. That is how we organisation can protect managed to take this forward and I could make my contribution without those human rights activ- being jailed for tADA or something. I think this is a scheme that can be ists/defenders plus take followed in other cases also. up the case. That is, let the other human rights activists come and speak on behalf of the victim community and the victims themselves should be there in the background. I would request this organization to probably have some kind of screening committee, so that when we are getting cases 33| throughout India, we can determine that these are we succeed or we do not succeed is immaterial. We the cases of grave human rights violations and are have to raise our voice and carry on the fight. One needed to be taken up. Let the human rights activ- day or another we will succeed. Keeping the issue ists who are located there pass on the information to alive, telling it again and again is a success by itself. this organisation and this organisation can protect Though we have not succeeded in achieving the those human rights activists/defenders plus take up conviction of the political leaders involved in 1984, the case. We ought to go to the Supreme Court, the we have succeeded in ruining their political careers. HRC, and the High Court because the status that They are recognized as mass murderers and com- these apex bodies have achieved is needed to bring mitters of heinous crimes against humanity and at out the violence against the human rights defenders. least we have succeeded in that. We should continue There is no other way around this. Many of us said to fight whatever may be the time gap, whatever may that whenever we talk about human rights activism, happen. we are labeled as anti-nationals. If we bring forward These are few of the suggestions. I want to congratu- people who are known to have a liberal view and late Colin for taking this effort and Balpreet and persuade those people to take up the issues that will WSO, who have supported Colin in this effort. I have a huge impact on the media and also on the congratulate all of you who have come forward from general public. For example when Justice Sikri and different parts of the country. Sorabji spoke for 1984 carnage the people heard them and it made an impact. Secondly, whether
|34 SPEAKER 2
he moment one uses the phrase human rights aDv. r s bains it immediately invokes an idea that one is going Senior Advocate after some important person; some police offic- er, a rich man or a criminal. Human rights, after all, does mean that one is standing by the victim and trying tot help him/her. Therefore, once we try to corner these im- portant people, at one stage or the other these people turn around and show their criminal side. say a police officer will ultimately threaten you with physical harm or a rich corrupt businessman will show you his mafia connections. Inpunjab, since the case of Jaswant singh Khalra the open killings have decreased considerably but still whenever one has a witness to follow up on or any other important case, one has to face false implications bordering around planting rDx or plant- ing high explosives. tragically, in law we have limited means to save these people and none to save ourselves.
It needs to be re-empha- recently a similar incident happened with an acquiantance of mine who has been active in this field for the last 15 years. I am personally grap- sized that the ambush of pling with the task of saving him. but there is little that can be done. human rights defenders He already got himself acquitted with 15 serious cases.y et again finds by the State or the victim- himself involved in a rDx case. This time he has not surrendered. No izer needs to be addressed other country is ready to give him asylum because the moment you are as the key impediment in charged with a serious crime you are a terrorist and a dangerous man. He the establishment of a just cannot approach other activists because the moment he does, they are society. The mutual net- sheltering a dangerous man. As such, a man in such a situation has no work amongst defenders other choice but to surrender and accept torture and spend time in jail working in separate parts for the next 5 to 10 years. of the country can be fur- In the face of such serious and not to mention false cases, the question ther supported by raising to ponder over is how can an activist defend himself/herself? They can public opinion about this either leave the field or leave the state. A working proposal could be to much neglected issue. maintain a network amongst defenders spread throughout the country such that when one activist is facing heat in one part of the country he can be moved to another safer location. The resources can either be gen- erated or be drawn out of the country. This step is crucial because other-
35| wise there is no way out but to surrender and suffer some assistance by one or the other member of the much like the way Binayak Sen did. concerned authority. In my personal experience not much has worked when it comes to open killings and It needs to be re-emphasized that the ambush of hu- false cases other than what I have mentioned above. man rights defenders by the State or the victimizer The only strategies that I can opine are to strengthen needs to be addressed as the key impediment in the the internal network and build our resources such establishment of a just society. The mutual network that the person involved in the conflict can be kept amongst defenders working in separate parts of the away temporarily. The person under threat often country can be further supported by raising public does not take these warnings seriously. It is the com- opinion about this much neglected issue. One ef- mittee around him that needs to jump into action. fective way can be by carrying out private investiga- This implies again that we need a stronger network, tions and publishing a largely documented parallel wherein, others are liable to take decisions on the report deemed with authority using witnesses. Once behalf of and support the threatened activists. both the reports, the police and the private one, are filed, both trials can run simultaneously. There are This particular meet that we all are a part of should of course, problems with this approach too. It needs be utlized to develop proper co-ordination to put an abnormal amount of resources and witnesses and this network into implementation. We are a country families that refrain from succumbing to pressure. with so many dimensions that one or the other strat- However, the import of this approach lies in the fact egy is certain to work provided the necessary talent that once measures like this are utilized by a particu- and resources are put in. It is an accepted fact that lar group it sets an example and it will not be wrong there is no lack of committment to the cause but at to say that it is a serious warning to the authorities. the risk of appearing repetitive, let all of us remem- We can thus hope for things to improve gradually. ber that coordination and networking are the key- words to make a strong defence system for activists Another observation that I intend to make here is to become operational. that when the state is not directly involved the hu- man rignts defender can sometimes expect to gain
|36 SPEAKER 3
et me begin by commending the great victory that aDv. satnam has been achieved after a sixteen year long struggle singH in the case of Jaswant singh Khalra. The sacrifice which sardar Khalra made is particularly important for the human rights front because it was the only way that theL true horror of what took place in punjab during 1984 to 1995, could be conveyed and demonstrated to India and the international community. It is extremely ironic that sacrifice of life is the only means to show to the world that in punjab a police officer can knock at the door of a house at 2 o’clock in the morning, forcibly abduct and take your son away, not to the police station but to some illegal detention centre and interrogate him for 4-5 days, have his hands tied behind his back and killed at point blank range which is later duped as a police encounter. Earlier nobody could understand or even If this is a country that believe what was happening. sardar Khalra dedicated his life, respects the rule of law which met a torturous end, just to convey the true situation and the rights of its of punjab. citizens and follows the Constitution, then it has In 2007, while working on some human rights documentation, we trav- elled around the country. We went to the states of Chattisgarh, tamil nothing to fear in repeal- Nadu, Andhra pradesh, punjab and also had the oportunity of interact- ing the Armed Forces ing with the victims of Kashmir. What was realized from this experience Special Powers Act, 1958. was that punjab was the crucible where one could try and test the theory The police officer is no of when there are minorities that the state regards as subversive or anti- different than the street national that the best way to quell them is to kill them.. sadly, year after vendor or army official. If year, struggle after struggle, people after people, the same atrocities are every one is equal before being mirrored all across India and very little seems to be done about it. the eyes of the law, let the Chhattisgarh had appointed Kps gill as a security advisor to help un- law test and judge who lid Naxlites in 2006. The fact that this person who is the perpetrator of is responsible for acting violation in punjab is being courted by state positions instead of being outside the law. charged shows the kind of country we are all in. During my practice in London I have not come anywhere near the kind of difficulties that activ- ists, lawyers and social groups face in this country. today if one looks outside India, the general perception is that India is a
37| country with a vibrant-democracy, an adherence to shows the hypocrisy that if these states contained oil the rule of law and respect for the rights of its citi- or if they were strategically important to the west- zens and the litmus test applied is that by looking at ern countries maybe the dynamics would change as Indian Standards in comparison with India’s neigh- they have in the Arab countries. bours, Pakistan, China and Burma, India is better We will be talking more about what can be done. We off. Out of the bunch of the neighbors or regional should take hope from these events, both national powers in South East Asia, India indeed, has a com- and international as it was quite correctly noted by paratively better record but I think the international Henry that when these facts are documented they world and media need to come to the events like become a database. And recording our history, is this. If this is a country that respects the rule of law one of the things that we as a community, that is and the rights of its citizens and follows the Con- the Sikh community must learn. Sikhs are known stitution, then it has nothing to fear in repealing the for making history but have not afforded so much Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958. The police time in recording their history. Now is the time to officer is no different than the street vendor or army record history. If nothing else, some of the lessons official. If every one is equal before the eyes of the of what happened in Punjab and in other places law, let the law test and judge who is responsible for can be learnt. Documentation is very important. acting outside the law. There was a question asked Whether or not the court listens, or acts or imple- by one of our younger friends earlier that, are not ments becomes secondary, that is, more important- you human rights activists regarded as acting out- ly the future generations should know the people side the law? Well, we condemn any one who acts in hundreds and thousands suffered in that way in outside the law. As lawyers we act within the permits the history of modern India. And for those who are of the law that give us certain rights. Our argument involved in academic work not necessarily lawyers is everybody must act within the permits of the law. it is important to go to these areas and document Whether it is a police officer or an army officer or a this history. When we came back in 2009, we spoke personnel, we should always act without any blan- to our friends and colleagues here and we looked ket community. Unfortunately, the situation in the at the litigation. I refer to them as the Khalra cas- world is not much better. It is just perhaps cam- es. Again the judgements were a depressing read. ouflaged in a better way. Because if you look at Sri When they tried to say in a strong voice that this Lanka, 50,000 Tamils were slaughtered on the LTTE was not just confined to just 3 cremation grounds dominated areas. The UNHRC has said there needs and that it happened throughout Punjab, it fell on to be an urgent UN led independent inquiry into their faces. And the response of the judiciary was, what has happened in Sri Lanka. Is there any politi- where is your evidence? Thus, a lifetime of work that cal will amongst any of the nations internationally affected more than 25,000 people just disappenred to implement such an independent UN Commis- and evaporated into thin air. We undertook a very sion? The reason I talk about the Sri Lankan exam- small and humble project – and I am not going to ple is that when international campaigns were held pretend that we achieved such great figures or made to have an inquiry into what took place throughout a huge impact as we intended to but we decided to that decade in Punjab it fell on the face of the de- go to a court in Gurudaspur which produced Am- mand makers. In the late 90’s they tried valiantly to ritsar to see that if we could establish a pattern to try and lead a peoples tribunal which was scattered show that all was not just talk in the wind and it did by the court system in Punjab and Haryana. Unfor- not disappear. Gurudaspur was the mirror image of tunately, I look at the kind of mechanisms that are what happened in Amritsar. We were told that we supposed to Internationally protect all people and were going to face all sorts of reactions from peo- after everything that happened in Sir Lanka, if eve- ple, some of bitterness, some of anger, some of too rything is documented and kept, and the UN does little, too late and we did come across all of them. not have the will to lead the independent inquiry But there was also some resolve among the people, in Sri Lanka then I am afraid that the hope that we who were disproportionately affected by the attacks. would have done something for Punjab, Kashmir or The people of Punjab are very stoic. They suffered, all the conflict states looks all the more forlorn. It
|38 unnaturally more than perhaps any other state now other ways of documenting the history. It is impor- settled in India. They suffered the horrors of parti- tant that it is recorded in places like Chhattisgarh tion, having to leave home lands and villages in Pa- and Jharkhand. All the horror stories that we have kistan during partition, suffering from unspeakable heard and will continue to hear should be recorded atrocities during that time. There has also been this and eventually one day it can be presented to the kind of traditional hostility by the central govern- whole nation to say that this happened to our own ment towards the border people. They are seen as people. It was believed for so long that these anti- the subversive smuggler types, who live close to the nationals were smuggled over from Pakistan and border. The investment there is very poor as the in- that they are agents of enemy countries but we have dustries were lost during the partition period. Dur- not found a single person who was killed who was ing all this the people suffered twice as much and not born and brought up in Punjab. It is important after 1984, they almost became a soft target, an easy that we share experiences, we document history and prey. The suffering thus knew no bounds. What we we go away from this with all the useful suggestions understood from some of the documentation work that are decided as strategies whether it is litigation that we did was one of the things that affected these or whether it is making the media understand. people more was illiteracy, not understanding what Another important aspect is that the outside world their rights were, not having resolve and the abject needs to understand what is happening in India. poverty. Punjab is regarded as one of the most afflu- There is a two-tier India and there is a conflict going ent states in India and the area from where I come on here which all of you understand better than I do. from you have a huge NRI diaspora. Its almost a The world needs to understand it and hear it. The tale of two Punjabs. You go to Gurudaspur, parts of world at this moment considers India to be devel- Amritsar, Firozpur and there are people living in the oping from strength to strength and it will change way that they were living since the past 20-25 years. the dynamics of the world and very little is being I just wanted to share some of these things. Also I said about the problems here. want to reiterate the significance of having access to media, digital recording equipment and so many
39| SPEAKER 4
he organization I represent are lawyers for Hu- aDv. navkiran man rights International. This organisation came singH into existence when we lost four of our lawyer colleagues who were killed by the punjab police. All that those lawyers were doing was handling human rights casest and one of them was killed along with his wife and a three and half year old child. When we realized that this is the situation and that we need to protect ourselves from this po- tential threat, we formed this organisation. once this organi- zation took shape not only were we able to stop the killings but we were also able to secure justice for the lawyer families and get those police officials behind bars and get the victim- ised families compensated. Thereafter we took up the work of protecting the rights of the individuals and now this organisa- tion has been working for more than 15 years. primarily we take up cases on behalf of people who are very poor, and who cannot access the courts, and provide them with free legal aid. We also file pIL & get matters marked to the CbI. Lawyers know how to recently we took up a matter wherein ap unjab police Dsp, who was defend themselves and dismissed and was a proclaimed offender in 3 cases, was openly living do not really need de- in a city of punjab and was running a sex racket along with his two sons. When it came to our notice about two months ago, we filed ap IL and fenders but what about were able to get the matter forwarded to the bC I. Hopefully, the Dsp the people who are not would be arrested and his sons would be behind bars too. We have been trained in law? Unless a doing this work on our own in this manner and the most wonderful part system is formed where of the story is that we are not funded by anyone. We have not accepted we are able to exchange any funds, nationally or internationally till today. We do not have a bank the problems we are account and we do not need any funds because we are lawyers and we facing and we are able to are able to serve people through our profession. That is the beauty of it. I help each other, nothing think, if we can formulate something in order to defend ourselves, it can is going to change. be really fruitful. Whenever we have met the defenders I have always pointed out that we must co-ordinate and formulate a strategy. but even after late night meetings and consultations nothing could ultimately be figured out. I
|40 am quite fed up with these consultations. Although er person in 1991. I made him sit in my car and the some may not know the cases that we are discuss- police came in front of me. In youth, you do not see ing, they are well known to most of us. But does what you do so I hit them and I ran away with my that make a difference? Until and unless we are able car. They started shooting from behind and both of to have a platform where we can exchange views and us barely survived. Another lawyer’s car was hit and we can help the defenders if one of the defenders is the bullet hit the back glass and came through the in trouble, it is useless to have any consultation. That front glass. Although it was a vacant car, the person is my personal view and may not be the perspective could not ride that car again. I ran away with the boy of the people who have organized this meeting. I told and was able to save his life. And the second time Colin that before this meeting ends, there must be a was recently when we were prosecuting a police of- system. We have had these consultations quite of- ficer who had killed hundreds of young men and he ten. Twice a year we meet somewhere and exchange openly claimed this while having drinks at par- views but where are we leading ourselves? Lawyers ties. He claimed that he had killed 400 sikh youth know how to defend themselves and do not really with his own hands. The fact was so atrocious that need defenders but what about the people who are we decided we would ensure that he does not stay not trained in law?! Unless a system is formed where in service and is charged for his offence. When we we are able to exchange the problems we are facing filed a PIL against him, he sent a person in the High and we are able to help each other, nothing is going Court premises who assaulted me. This was in 2006. to change. The man who assaulted me wanted me to beat him up in front of the other lawyers and he already had Personally, as a human rights lawyer I have faced po- a story made and even brought some journalists lice officials twice in my life. The first was in 1991, with him. The police had managed the journalists. when I was taking one of my clients who was acquit- He, however, did not succeed and the judiciary was ted from the court, the police wanted to take him good enough to file a complaint in the registrar of- in because at that time whenever a Sikh youth was fice. The Chief Justice himself said that Navkiran acquitted he was again abducted by the police and Singh is not alone and we are with him. So it is not killed in a false encounter. We wanted to stop that. that the system does not work. We have to see that So the lawyers and journalists collected. It was a day we do n’ot cross any lines ourselves. We need to be when a young boy was to be acquitted so it was de- focussed and need to ensure that our ideas are mani- cided that he would be seated in a car and driven fested despite facing threats and hurdles. away and the rest will be taken care of. I was a young-
41|
sEssIoN 6
DEFENDErs IN KasHMIr
43| |44 SPEAKER 1
n 2002 and 2003 I was a guest of the government of iftikHar gilani India in tihar Jail. A question was raised in parliament Journalist and one of the Member of parliament asked: Why was this journalist arrested? The anwer to his question was given as: he was arrested under national interest. After eight monthsI I was released. The government found itself under pressure from the media and under pressure from people like you and also from within. The government eventually had to withdraw the case and again this move was questioned in the parliament and it was answered that he was released in the public interest. so, I think, it’s a very comical situation but it The problem is that we is also true that the gulf between the public interest and the do not have institutional national interest is widening. support from anywhere. When elections were held in Kashmir, keeping the dispute aside, the That is a case in point whole of India, the Indian society, the media, celebrated it as a festival of itself. In 2008, with great democracy. but when these political parties came to power under some difficulties we could get manifesto and tried to implement their manifesto in the state there was lame statements from hue and cry all over because of AFspA. one of the senior army offic- the Editors’ Guild, that ers was pleading that if AFspA is lifted fromb udgaon, what will hap- too after having to knock pen to the army who had to go to Kargil in the treacherous geography of Kashmir. In the unified headquarters meeting ins rinagar they said that on the door of each and if AFspA is lifted from Kashmir we will get independence by 2060. They every editor. In 2010, themselves acknowledge the fact that they are keeping Kashmir just be- it was almost a similar cause of army routes. There are 62 battalions ofr ussian rifles, 3 infantry case. The newspapers brigades totally operating for the counter-insurgency operations, and ceased their publications. there are 55,000 CrpF, and almost every police officer of Jammu and There was nobody to take Kashmir engages in counter-insurgency duties. With these forces, they cognisance of that and do not have the courage to lift AFspA and even to allow their own politi- the Press Council very cal parties to do so, who are known in Kashmir as a face of India, who sit reluctantly admitted the in the assemblies and who rule Kashmir. case and issued some The tates does not allow them to implement their manifestos on which notices. they have come to power. Media is part of the human rights defenders campaign. Media itself is a human rights defender by highlighting the work of human rights defend-
45| ers as Mr. Kak said. The attitude towards media is PSA was repeated and recycled for almost three and also to be noted. One of the cases is that of Mr. Maq- a half years. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court bool Sahil. I was somehow indirectly involved in his quashed this Act three or four times but again the case. The day he was arrested, the South Asia Free Act was recycled. Media Association was in Srinagar. They were tour- In 1990s, when there was a crackdown in Sopore, ing Srinagar. On those days, I was working with the they took almost 20-30 youths to the Punjab bat- Kashmir Times and on the invitation of my newspa- talion stationed in Sopore. Actually, it was not a per, I had been summoned from Delhi to be the tour crackdown. They needed some young boys to do coordinator of the SAFMA. During the time I was some labor work in their camp, They were building in Srinagar we received a press release. It was not a bunker in the camp. A day earlier, one of the boys even a press release, really. They have made up al- got an appointment as a government teacher, so most the whole news from some counter insurgen- he refused to work as a labourer. So, they thrashed cy unit, that they have arrested a journalist who was him and fractured his arm. The next day, when the involved in taking aerial photographs and was send- parents came to take the boy, the army refused to ing the photographs to the ISI and to people across release him stating that if they did then these people the border. This release came to me when I was in would go to the human rights group and make an the office and there was actually a commotion there. issue out of it, and that he has a fracture and there It was a grave situation because on one side, it was are doctors here who can attend to him and after a colleague who had worked with them and on an- 3-4 days, they would release him. The next day, to other side it was the SSP who could not be offended. the misfortune of this boy, a brigadier was visiting Since the entire team was there including the editors the camp and he saw these civilians including the and the chairman of the trust, we stood by the fact injured boy and asked the army personnel about that we will not print this news. There were some the injured civilian. They said they were keeping discrepancies and unless these were addressed the him as he was injured as someone from the camp news was not to be given out. If he has taken some thrashed him and they did not want to make it an aerial photographs, somebody must have lent him issue. The brigadier took this injured boy with him. a helicopter and that needed to be clarified. Only The next day, when the parents came to pick this in- one newspaper came up with that malicious press jured boy, the army men said that the brigadier had release which had been issued by the counter insur- taken their son along with him. For six months they gency unit. Most of the Srinagar based newspapers had no news of this boy. After six months, they got did not follow that news. a post card from the Udhampur jail that the person Once I was back in Delhi, the then Chief Minister had been booked under the Public Safety Act and he Mr. Mufti Mohd Syed was present in a meeting of was in Udhampur jail. They went to the High Court; the Planning commission in Delhi. Me and one of it took six months for the high court to quash this my senior colleagues of the Indian Express went to sentence. He was released from one gate and sent to him and asked if they had arrested a journalist who another gate in the prison in another case, again in was our colleague. We asked him to tell us why he the PSA. I have followed this case for seven years. I was arrested and what are the facts related to the in- don’t know what happened to that boy after that. Up cident. He said, he will tell the DGP to talk to us. until 1997, his PSA was quashed and recycled often. After a week or so, the DGP was here in Delhi and His father, mother and most of his family members he called us. Both of us went to meet him in the have perished and I have no idea what happened in Jammu and Kashmir house, he said this case be- this case. longs to the army and that it is not their case. But Coming to the media, you have seen what happened if you people keep quiet and don’t raise issues he to the media in 2007 and in 2008. The problem is will be released after 3 months and we will not file that we do not have institutional support from any- a charge sheet against him. After 3 months, they did where. That is a case in point itself. I remember in not file a charge sheet against him but they booked 2008, with great difficulties we could get lame state- him under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and this ments from the Editors’ Guild, that too after having
|46 to knock on the door of each and every editor. In The heart rendering photographs, where the mi- 2010, it was almost a similar case. The newspapers nors are being picked up and taken handcuffed to ceased their publications. There was nobody to take the examinations of 8th standard, where they are to cognizance of that and the press council very reluc- sit the examination with the handcuffs on. Why do tantly admitted the case and issued some notices. the same national media, the NCPCR or such kind This is last year’s case where the press council issued of institutions, not take cognizance of these cases is some notices. Once I asked a former chairman of beyond anyone’s understanding? Why do we not the press council that why were they so reluctant in get any institutional support from anyone? We need taking up the cases? He said, it was a conflict zone, to go beyond this seminar. On the human rights de- it happened everywhere in a conflict zone. Just days fenders issue, when this government was legislating before, there was a press council meeting, where a bill on whistleblowers against corruption, when this issue was brought up and the Chief Minister they report anything about corruption, they had to had given a detailed reply as to why the freedom be protected. But I think the issue of liberty and the of the press was curbed last year; why some media issue of life takes precedence over corruption. Cor- organizations had to cease their publications. They ruption becomes secondary over life. When there is said that now that a reply had been given we should life, only then can you do other things and I think we accept it and close the case. The same Press Coun- must press the government on the Whistleblowers cil, when there was a similar situation in some other Bill. You must include the human rights defenders in parts of the country 3-4 years back, went to the capi- this bill. When Mr. Shaheen was mentioning about tal of that state and stationed there for a week. They Kashmir, it is the only state that has nearly passed a summoned the Chief Secretary and the DGP of that law on freedom of the press. Some sections of the state. As the press council of India had come to the PSA, the Section 35 of the Jammu & Kashmir Cus- state capital it was an encouragement for the local tom Act, Section 8 of the PSA, the J&K State News- media. They actually got to know that they are part papers Act of 1990 is still in operation in Kashmir. of a system. But in this case, they were complacent Rule 34 of the J& K Public Safety Rules of 1946, with the CM’s reply. Yesterday I read in the newspa- rule 35 of the same law, which provides 5 years of per that the National Commission for Protection of imprisonment for the contravention of the orders Child Rights (NCPCR), have taken a suo moto case of the Public Newspapers’ Act, rule 36 provides 3 of a Sainik School in Jhumri Talaiya of Jharkhand, years of imprisonment; section 10 of the Press and where some ragging was going on against some mi- Publication of 1932 is there too. I think there is a nors. The NCPCR took suo moto action and issued need for the Human Rights Law Network to go and notices to the Principal of the Sainik School and do a thorough study of the Jammu & Kashmir laws even summoned him to Delhi. But I fail to under- and see how these laws are being used with impu- stand why the same NCPCR ignored the report of nity. the Asian Center for Human Rights on the issue of how the juveniles are being treated in Kashmir.
47| SPEAKER 2
am a film-maker and I don’t really come here with any authority ex- sanjaY Kak cept that people who are described as human rights defenders are Independent Documen- people from whom one learns continuously and for whom one has tary Film Maker a great deal of respect for. I am not going to try to speak with any authority on the situation of the human rights defenders in Kashmir but I just want to make a few comments, which is basically how I see the situ- ation in Kashmir from Delhi. Mine is the view from Delhi as a Kashmiri. I think that the situation of people who work with human rights seems to me always quiet symbolic of the wider situation and that wider situation in Kashmir is a shift by a very particular political situation and I think in some sense this is what distinguishes the situation of human rights defenders in Kashmir from those in other parts of the country. There has been a conversation about AFspA (Armed Forces special power Act) last year both in the context of Manipur and Kashmir and of course it is visibly a very dramatic law and draws attention to itself by its power to give non-commissioned officers the authority to shoot and to kill. Also, But the real worrying I think in Kashmir what is much more significant is probably thepub- thing is, if one sees what lic safety Act that is used in prisons that continuously intimidates and is happening in the harasses all kinds of people, particularly those who might be described recent years, that while as human rights defenders. one of the problems is that those who are the situation is described described as human rights defenders in Kashmir have always been iso- as improving they are lated from the wider community of people who work in human rights actually tightening in south Asia and that has something to do with the political nature of controls on the media the demand there because that always complicates things. I think when we had this conversation some months ago, the possibility of AFspA be- in Kashmir. This has ing applied in Chhattisgarh (Central India), there was this chorus that, made it more and more we cannot use AFspA against our own people. people have remarked difficult for the work of upon this clearly that it implies that the people in Manipur, Nagaland human rights because and in Kashmir were never regarded as our own people which may not after all human rights be such a disappointment to people in Kashmir since they don’t regard defenders are only a themselves as Indians. tiny minority and their but the real worrying thing is, if one sees what is happening in the recent work gets a certain kind years, that while the situation is described as improving they are actually of sustenance only from tightening controls on the media in Kashmir and I refer here specifically exposure in the media. to the local media. This has made it more and more difficult for the work of human rights because after all human rights defenders are only a tiny minority and their work gets a certain kind of sustenance only from ex- posure in the media and I think that over the last couple of hours that |48 I have been listening and have observed the grow- are not serious. The fact that you harbor separatist ing reluctance of the media to actually engage with sentiments is in itself is considered a serious enough issues of human rights or sometimes the partial at- charge to put you away for six months. I know of tention that media gives. I think in Kashmir it is not someone who has spent the last one and a half years because of the laziness or reluctance, it is because under PSA in jail for inciting people on Facebook there is a great deal of pressure on the local media to and for organizing a seminar. Therefore, I think it is ignore certain kinds of reporting. important to take away the fig leaf of legality from these laws, which basically allow the police to just It is almost impossible to look at what is happening pick up anybody and put them away. with human rights in Kashmir in isolation, like it is impossible to look at human rights in isolation in We are not just looking at human rights violations, Chhattisgarh or in Jharkhand or in any other part. It when we talk about Kashmir, but we are talking is just that the context changes. So, I think it is very about a systemic issue, which applies to everything, important to keep in mind that there is a particular whether it is the use of law, the judiciary or the ma- political situation that awaits resolution and that nipulation of the media. I think the important point the issue of human rights in Kashmir is intricately to draw from the experience of Kashmir is how tied in with that political solution. The whole rang- much of what we see as human rights violations is es of illegal laws are used with such impunity and actually constructed into the system of governance have been so used with impunity for twenty years of Kashmir. whereby PSA orders are issued even when charges
49| SPEAKER 3
ince the 1990’s my son has been missing. In 1994, parveena I formed an association and filed a case in the High aHangar Court for habeas corpus and the lawyers there were Founder APDP, fighting the case for free.s ince 1997 my file is pend- Srinagar ing for being sanctioned. In Kashmir, it seems that there are slaws binding the civilians but there are no laws whatsoever governing the security forces. It has been twenty one years and I am still fighting to know the whereabouts of my son. I do not need a job and neither do I need money; I just need my child back. The situation in Kashmir is such that almost everybody has a missing report and an FIr filed for someone or the other. In these twenty one years I have been to every village and district in the state and we have collectively de- cided to fight for justice along with other victims. Around 15-30 victims from these villages and districts had taken an initiative along with me and particiapted in meetings that After not recieving any were held at my house. This went on for about three to four positive response from years. Afterwards, these victims lost the will to fight saying there I went to the High that no one listens here. Then they decided to go to the Kash- Court but the High mir parks and met in groups every 25 days. Court also did not do anything. They were on a particualr day, I conducted rallies and hunger strikes for the cause. giving one lakh rupees in Around 30 women including me were put in jail and detained till evening. the form of compensa- The order was passed in the court but the judge presiding over the mat- tion but what would I ter retired and then I went to the state home office. After not recieving any positive response from there I went to the High Court but the High do with that money. I Court also did not do anything. They were giving one lakh rupees in the did not want money, I form of compensation but what would I do with that money. I did not wanted justice. I took a want money, I wanted justice. I took a picture of my child along with me picture of my child along and went to plead in front of them. I promised Allah, that unless I get my with me and went to child back, I will continue fighting. plead in front of them. today, mass graves are a common issue in Kashmir. Every district has a mass grave. security forces pick up kids now and then and some of these kids have disappeared. We demand justice and want the government and
|50 the authorities to search for our kids. Our missing and the court will declare whether he is guilty or children are the responsibility of the government not. I will die, but I will not be scared. The media since they were the ones who had taken them away has been very co-operative but the bottomline is without any reason. The security forces do not ap- that my child is not back yet. We would not be in pear in the court and then they claim that the case is control of our situation unless we don’t find a solu- one-sided. I have fought for 21 years for my child. If tion to our problem. I am not alone; many people my child has been picked up by the security agency, are with me. then I demand that they should get him to the court
51| SPEAKER 4
am a lawyer and the secretary general of the Jammu g n sHaHeen and Kashmir High Court bar Association for the past Advocate, J&K 5 years. I am personally a victim of human rights viola- High Court tions for defending the victims. I have personally dealt with more than 10,000 habeas corpus petitions in the High ICourt of Jammu and Kashmir along with thousands of mat- ters of appeals. Me and a collegue, who works with me, were detained last year under the provisions of the public safety Act (psA). The president of the bar Association Miyan Ab- dul Qayum was detained on the 7th of July, 2010 and I was picked up by the forces on the 17th July, 2010. I was removed from srinagar to a faraway place near rajouri which is 450 kms away from my home. I was in custody there for two months. The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir quashed my In the past 20 years detention orders directing the force to let me free but authori- because of the armed ties detained me again on unidentical grounds under the pro- conflict which is going on, visions of the psA. We were put behind bars where convicts the people who are in the for the offences under the section 376 of IpC were also kept. army are fighting against the militancy because they The third detention order was imposed upon me and I was again de- believe that they are put boarded from srinagar to Jammu which is 300 kms from my home. There I suffered for another three months, so the total detention period was under detention. India more than nine months in the year 2010. I started with this background is not readily agreeing to because I feel it is pertinent to say that once you try to become wise of resolve the dispute with the wisest, you have to suffer, but as a human being, as a conscious citi- Kashmir but we Kash- zen of Jammu and Kashmir we have chosen to act on behalf of the voice- miris are a conscious class less, whatever the consequence. Every human rights situation has a back- of the society. We believe ground to it, so Kashmir too has to be taken in that perspective. Human that all disputes need to rights violations have become such a huge norm in Jammu and Kashmir be resolved on the basis of that I would describe it as hell on fire because of the gravity and magni- human values and demo- tude of these violations. The question arises: Why? I personally feel that cratic law. it is a political thought across the globe and a hard reality accepted at the international level that Kashmir is a zone of conflict. It is a dispute between India and pakistan in which India has fought three wars and the nuclear clash cannot be ruled out. bill Clinton, in a statement in Delhi,
|52 said that India and Pakistan are two hostile enemies, Parveena’s son Javed was picked up in 1990 by spe- hostile states and any miscalculation is ready to lead cial operational group forces and disappeared from any nuclear clash in the sub-continent because of the custody. She has been crying for justice since then. differences on Kashmir. Both the countries tend to She wants one glimpse of her son to know for sure claim at international platforms that we are address- if he is dead or alive. Almost fifty seven mass graves ing all the bilateral issues including that of Jammu & are being identified in Kupwara and Madhipura dis- Kashmir but, in fact, non-addressal and non-hearing tricts alone and that is through the human rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in this dispute commission of Jammu and Kashmir. The Interna- resolution mechanism has given rise to the cause for tional efforts forced them to act and they worked the people to agitate. I do not feel ashamed of be- on this project and have discovered more than 2753 ing part of a society which claims freedom, which mass graves. We are certain that there are unidenti- claims the dispensation of the dispute in accord- fied and unmarked graves where our sons, daugh- ance with the aspirations of the people preferably ters and fathers are buried. Approximately, 10,000 in accordance with the United Nations resolutions people are missing since 1990. Another aspect is, of 13th January 1949 along with resolutions of 5th random arrests. I think we have created history, in January 1949 along with 13th August 1948. terms, that, for the first time the president of theB ar Association and the secretary of the Bar Association Kashmir is a dispute and it is important to acknowl- of the High Court are imprisoned, detained ruth- edge and accept this fact. On 6th November 1947 lessly in violation of a court order. So, it is the first six lakh people had left Kashmir. This thing is not time in the world history of lawyers, but we are not known to people in other Indian states because on sorry for it. Also, there is another set of killers I wit- 6th November 1947 there was an organized state nessed last week. Around 10 people were brought level genocide in which 6 lakh Muslims from Jammu for remand and among them 5 were below 10. The and Kashmir region were massacred at the railway police used the explanation of hardcore student ri- stations. On the sides of it 60,500 people were killed oting. A third class student and ninth class student in a single day and buried there. In 1947, the dawn were present. I exclaimed at the police that what of freedom was celebrated in the sub-continent, but nonsense they were doing by remanding them in we are put into further darkness and personally we police custody. Under the Juvenile Justice Act, when feel that there is no end to this dark channel. We have such a boy comes to your court you have to hand suffered a lot in history in terms of human resources, him to his parents on bail, ask them for surity or get in terms of economics and in terms of social values. a bond signed by their parents but they were keep- In the past 20 years because of the armed conflict ing them in police custody. Such is the plight that is which is going on, the people who are in the army continuing. In the last year, in the aftermath of the are fighting against the militancy because they be- past years we have faced a lot of troubles. Thousands lieve that they are put under detention. India is not and thousands of boys have been picked up, incor- readily agreeing to resolve the dispute with Kashmir porated in police stations. The gravity and magni- but we Kashmiris are a conscious class of the soci- tude of these violations can be determined by the ety. We believe that all disputes need to be resolved presence of the forces. In India we have estimated on the basis of human values and democratic law. In that more than half a million army forces and army the past 21 years, I have taken no gun in my hand, troops are stationed in Jammu and Kashmir. Then neither have I touched a gun because I know the there are Para-military Forces, Border Security implications of touching a gun as a lawyer. I have Forces, Industrial Security Forces, the Indo-Tibetan acted as a lawyer since 1985 and I have contributed Forces, Central Reserve Police Force. The state- towards serving the people. In Kashmir, the human government has created its own machinery and rights violations are marked firstly, by random kill- the director-general of the police has estimated the ings and extra judicial killings and we are witnessing strength of our forces and it’s about 80,000-90,000 this phenomena since 1990s. Secondly, people are policemen. We feel that every eighth person in arrested and then they disappear in custody and we Kashmir is followed by the state government so you are clueless as to where have they gone. can imagine the condition we are living in. Now, the
53| state is perpetuating crimes to deny the rights of the states were interested, but since there is no coopera- people. To perpetuate its operation of crimes they tion from the state authorities in implementing the have carved and legitimized it in the name of law court orders and directions, therefore the efforts are making. So, what the Indian State is trying to do in made redundant because of non-cooperation and Jammu and Kashmir is try to legitimize it as needing non-acceptance and also because of executive au- the application of Armed Forces Special Power Act, thorities and police officials. Disturbed Areas Act, Public Safety Act and such As a lawyer, I feel that in Jammu and Kashmir there laws under which people are detained without trials. is neither supremacy of the courts nor the suprem- Then we have Criminal Law Amendment Act also. If acy of the laws which is cherished so much under the court convicts anyone then we have no right to constitutional law. There is only supremacy of au- appeal before any other court, but we do have the thorities. The government has constituted screen- right to appeal before the government. The govern- ing communities at district level, at divisional level ment prosecutes and convicts, and as a person we and at state level involving only police officials and have the right under that Act to appeal to the gov- concerned district magistrates and other officials ernment. Another is what we call the Enemy Agent’s from security agencies. The court passes orders Act. Likewise we have dozens of laws which try to and these orders from high courts go to screening legitimize the human rights abuses, extra judicial communities and these communities review these killings, random arrests and sexual abuse. orders and decide whether we should act upon this What I personally feel is that the current situation is or not. I personally feel that no conferences, consul- at its worst in Jammu and Kashmir. It is worse than tations are going to change situations in India unless Palestine and Sri Lanka. We are a land-locked state someone like Martin Luther King or Anna Hazare and have no access to the outside world because the come on the roads which have an influencing factor government is coming down heavily on the people. in political decision making. Real efforts are needed In every state you will find a boom of media expo- today. Unless, there is political control over human sure and electronic channels. But in Jammu and rights violations, human rights movements and the Kashmir, the private channels only display films that decision making in India, I do not think that there are usually made by Sanjay Kak and do not broad- would be any improvement in the human rights cast any news. The print media is heavily attacked cause or there will be any reduction in human rights and we have lost dozens of journalists. So, we have violations. We have to create a strong public opinion no access to the outside world. against human rights abuses, whether it is done by the state or non-state actors. The Indian electronic and print media is an asset to human value. Kashmir deserves coverage in the In order to improve the human rights situation in electronic media or in the print media because it’s Jammu and Kashmir, at least, we demand the re- the duty of the media to upgrade its people with bet- moval of AFSPA. This will lead to improvement in ter and proper information. As a lawyer in Jammu human rights situation because all human rights and Kashmir, I feel that we have problems as human abuses are legitimized under this Act. The Public rights defenders. Across the way, we have lost doz- Safety Act under which the detention is prolonged ens of lawyers who were working as human rights without trials and hearings. So, this Act should be lawyers because they were targeted and killed. We removed so that there is some amount of consola- believe that even under occupied authorities, the tion. And, in the larger interests of humanity, peace, occupational authorities are under legal obligations security and development in the sub-continent the to give some kind of legal system to their subjects. resolution of the disputes which have a dangerous We have a legal system in Jammu and Kashmir, we potential for disturbing people deserve to be ad- want to use it and we have used it and sometimes dressed in Jammu and Kashmir which has not just we have succeeded and sometimes we have failed endangered my life but has endangered the life of and yet we are proud of it. By and large the judiciary millions in India and Pakistan has acted positively, barring a few exceptions where
|54 sEssIoN 7
ATTACKs oN ANtI-CoMMUNAL ACtIVIsts
55|
SPEAKER 1
ommunalism is one of the most important issues aDv. mukul sinHa that are plaguing the country today and we have Advocate, Gujarat to understand that it is quite different from other High Court types of violations that we see perpetrated by the state. Communalism and communal attacks actually en- Cgulf the entire society unlike class conflicts. In class conflicts, parts of the society, sections of the society will get involved but when it comes to communal conflicts, not only the state, but if it is between the majority and the minority the entire majority gets involved and that makes things very difficult. We are here all talking about defenders but there are mo- ments when the minorities are under attack by the majority and the entire state is manned by the majority community; there are no defenders and the entire minority community is overwhelmed. This situation has been increasingly observed in certain states over the last few years. The worst scenario is when a party that claims to have a national presence and has held national office, indulges in communal violence.g ujarat is one such state where we have seen this in practice. One thing necessary to be one thing necessary to be pointed out when it comes to communal vi- pointed out when it comes olence is that the defenders from the minority community are almost to communal violence is missing in most of the cases. primarily because the victimization of the that the defenders from defenders is the most acute when the minority is under attack. I will give the minority community you a small example of what we saw in gujarat. on 15th March 2002, about a couple of weeks after the massacre had taken place in gujarat are almost missing in and the minority community were totally devastated and paralyzed, cer- most of the cases. Prima- tain Muslim advocates were trying to organize themselves to try to ar- rily because the victimisa- gue some kind of legal defence. They had called Mr. Majid Memon and tion of the defenders is film maker Mahesh bhatt to a hotel in Ahmedabad. There were around the most acute when the 20 brave lawyers. Mr. Majid Memon was giving them a long lecture on minority is under attack. the constitutional niceties of the law and I happened to have a copy of sandesh, the local vernacular paper, with me and the headline read that all the cabins and chairs of the Muslim lawyers in criminal courts have been totally burnt down and not a single Muslim lawyer was allowed to
57| enter the court. I asked Mr. Majid Memon to find in the beginning, in communal situations there are out some way to get into the court before we discuss really no defenders. Advocate Mr. Phulka had sug- our constitutional law. When I filed a writ petition gested that the minority community which is under requesting the police to file an FIR, the judge was attack should retreat into the background. I disagree absolutely shocked as to how I could argue such a with it as a strategy, because our strategy in Gujarat case. That was the way the judiciary was operating in was exactly the opposite and I believe we are seeing 2002. That is the problem in acute communal situ- some success. ations and we have to find some strategy that will We have to understand, (and this is my personal help us fix this. view) that humans are created by nature but rights Gujarat was chosen to be the communal laboratory. are created by society. So when we talk about hu- This was developing for a while and the media had man rights, these two words, somehow to me do a special role to play in this, especially the vernacu- not fit in together. In fact, our Constitution does not lar media. On 27 February 2002 the train burning really talk about human rights, it talks about funda- took place, we still believe and will continue to be- mental rights and there are reasonable restrictions lieve, that it was not a pre-planned murder at all. Of placed on fundamental rights. Whatever violation of course, the judgment is exactly the opposite. The en- fundamental rights occur, occur within the sweep of tire media suggested that it was Jehadi terrorism and these reasonable restrictions. The grievances that we that it was further instigated by a statement given by have against the court are essentially the reasonable Mr. Modi himself. That set the ball rolling. The next restrictions they have been putting on our unrea- day, 28th February the media reported, in one of the sonable exercise of fundamental rights. So, first try worst reports that we have ever seen that the Mus- to understand the irony at hand. When we say the lims not only closed all the doors of the coach and word ‘human rights’ in a society which is divided set the coach on fire, but they had also taken some of by caste, class, creed, religion and community, there the Hindu women, raped them, cut their breasts and are no humans that we can generalize. It is either then they had killed them. This is absolutely wrong. you have working class rights, or you have Adivasi The next day, even the government refused it and re- rights, or you have rights of different castes, different jected the news item but the damage was done and creeds, rights of different religions etc. but there are the entire Gujarat was in flames. Most of the women no human rights. The Human Rights Act is there- who were attacked and burnt alive were killed to fore a useless piece of legislation. So my first point, avenge the alleged rape and killing of ten women as strategy, is that we have to look at the courts dis- that was reported in the vernacular media. That was passionately because the court system is also a part how the media operated in those days. But the press and parcel of the State and by upholding all the hu- has changed over the years. The same vernacular man rights violations, the court is essentially trying press now reports the other side quite prominently to support the State within the framework of rea- and I can give some examples. But there was one sonable restrictions. Now, those of us who accept person who did a commendable job in those days the State as a primary arbiter of the disputes within and that was Teesta Setalvad. In the first two weeks society would expect the courts to deliver justice. when absolutely no information was coming out of Those of us who do not accept the State to be the Gujarat, especially from the communalized media, primary arbiter, will look at the courts in a different she and her team would get an almost comprehen- way without any illusions and I think our strategy sive report of what was happening all over Gujarat. lies between these two view-points. I, personally, That story was published in her magazine, Commu- reject the State being the arbiter and therefore, I do nalism Combat, and that was the first time I read not accept the courts’ role as primary defender of ei- and got an understanding of what was occurring in ther fundamental rights or human rights. Of course, Gujarat. I think that was a very brave and brilliant I do not even believe there is anything called human piece for which she must be praised. Starting from rights. There are rights for the human; human be- there, the struggle has intensified. The issue today is ings are divided into different caste, creed and reli- defending the defenders. As I was trying to tell you gion. Now, having said so, the question comes to law
|58 and whether we like it or not, after having said eve- portunity to cross-examine the entire police force rything against the court system we all fall back on right from the DGP to the lower level officers and the same mechanism. The reason I made my open they unwittingly made several admissions including remarks is that if I go to court without any illusion, the fact that the Chief Minister had ordered that the or any other institution of the system, perhaps I can dead bodies of the 56 persons who had died in God- use it to my advantage. When we say that all courts hra be brought to Ahmedabad, because Ahmedabad are corrupt, useless and cannot deliver any justice was the place where they wanted to start the entire then we are going wrong somewhere because if we genocide and I do not know how many of you know accept the system then we have to accept the courts that the dead bodies were not brought by the police. and therefore, we have to make full use of it. In Gu- The dead bodies that were still not identified dead jarat, both at the level of the apex court and now at bodies which are still a part and parcel of a crimi- the level of the high court and at the lower courts, nal case, were handed over to the general secretary we have started to see results. of the VHP, Mr. Jayadeep Patel. I have that written takeover sheet, it was signed by Jayadeep Patel tak- As part of the human rights strategy I totally agree ing the 56 dead bodies from the police and bring- that other factors like culture, education etc. are im- ing it to Ahmedabad. And then, they had a funeral portant but that is simply not going to immediately procession at 10.30am, something like 25,000 peo- protect you from the atrocities of police. You need ple joined and the morning paper was full of those legal protection. So the human rights activists must stories. You can’t imagine what the state of the mind as a strategy accept and adopt methods and contra- of the people was and the VHP leaders openly led dictions within the system to use the various insti- them and from there, the first burning took place tutions of the system. I will give a small example, that was the Naroda Partia Noorani Masjid. that is the use of Nanavati Commission. I have been doing it for the last ten years. In 2002, everybody So, therefore, a democratic institution can still give boycotted it and in their right mind they should rise to a lot of information. Similarly, I think as a part have. But I did not have that right mind and so I of strategy at the national level, we must have an al- joined it. And believe me we could get a gold mine liance of organizations. Also, I think HRLN espe- of information out of it. Today, if we are able to file cially can play a very important role that we should cases, it is primarily because of the massive amount be able to train lawyers not with illusions, but with of information that has come out of that particular clear vision about how the law and courts can be commission. I have absolutely no illusion that this used at the local level. The apex court is there. There commission is going to give a report which would are senior counsels. But the problem lies with the go against the government. In fact, it has already lower courts. I would conclude by saying that as a provided a report stating that the Godhra riots were part of the strategy let there be an alliance formed by a case of conspiracy and has given a clean sheet to all the human rights organizations and of different Mr. Modi since nobody has ever alleged that he had states and let Mr. Colin Gonsalves take the responsi- burned the train. Now that the next election is near- bility of starting that initiative. We should have seri- ing, the second part of the report will be released, ous, aggressive lawyers who are not the traditional and the second part of the report is quite obvious. type, lawyers who do not accept this legal system to But that is another issue. This is a place where, pro- be the primary arbiter. cedurally, there was little democracy. I had the op-
59| SPEAKER 2
intend to talk about not communalism in general, but manisHa setHi in particular about the kind of communal witch-hunt Assistant Professor, we have been observing since the year 2000. We have Jamia Millia Islamia seen that the police, the intelligence agencies and the University security agencies have been allowed, in the name of national security,I to target minorities as part of the national security program such that this communal witch hunt has become a kind of national duty. In 2001, directly after the parliament attack, the Indian parliament quickly passed the prevention of terrorist Activities Act (potA). This Act closely resem- bles the patriot Act, and was passed despite the controversy. Thepot A was infact a kind of reworked version of the earlier tainted draconian law tADA. Now, what has been happening We have seen just how since 2001 is a steep rise in encounter killings. We have seen easy it is for the secu- just how easy it is for the security agencies to pick up some- rity agencies to pick up body and kill them while suspending all the legal norms. somebody and kill them ‘picking up’ is a phrase that has become normalized today. while suspending all the It means illegal detention without any warrants being pro- legal norms. ‘Picking up’ duced; it is when security agencies arrest people, raid homes is a phrase that has be- and produce seizure lists without issuing seizure memos and come normalized today. so on, all in the name of National security. The easiest and It means illegal detention without any warrants unquestioned target is the youth and people from the minor- being produced; it is ity Muslim community. when security agencies In this way you find that there is a methodological definition of suspects arrest people, raid homes and frame-ups which have been shaped over the years. Encounters are and produce seizure lists justifiable, even though they do not follow any legal process, and it has without issuing seizure become legitimate to target and kill a section of your citizens and claim memos and so on, all in that it was an act of national security. Earlier on, in a city like bombay, the name of National the people who were encountered used to belong to the underworld but Security. gradually we began to notice that the underworld actually identified with a particular community. That is, the people encountered were also in a certain cultural category. We have had the Kashmiris, the sikhs during the years of sikh militancy and now the Muslims.
|60 I may not have had experiences as strong as some of documents under police pressure. So even though those present here however, whatever little experi- there was no credible evidence against anyone and ence I have had was as part of the Jamia Teachers no independent witnesses these five men were pros- Solidarity Association (JTSA) intervening in the ecuted and sentenced to six years imprisonment. Batla House encounter and so on. We soon realized Legal principles were suspended because there were that the Batla House encounter was not a unique or these five men belonging to the minority communi- rare phenomenon. It is rampant and prevalent. ty, who can easily be branded as SIMI or sometimes as HUJI or Laskar-e Taiyaba and so on and so forth. I will speak very briefly about my experience in Recently, an RTI inquiry revealed that the special the Batla House encounter case. The National Hu- cell has a successful prosecution rate of 30% only. man Rights Commission had issued guidelines in This means that 70% of the cases filed by the special 2003 which said that an FIR must be filed against cells end in acquittals. the encounters by the police and there has to be a magisterial probe, lacking which no merit promo- There was quite a lot of drama about it, saying that tions and awards can be given to the member of the the police force are not so technically equipped, that police party which conducted the encounter. All they suffer from poor infrastructure, that they are these guidelines and norms were suspended in the not trained well enough and so on but if you really Batla House case. When these issues were raised look at the kind of judgments that have been coming and petitioned in the Supreme Court, the SC said out and examine the cases a little more closely you that the magisterial inquiry into the incident would will find that it is not a question of poor investiga- lower the morale of the police force, which is a tragic tive skills or poor infrastructure at all, it is a case of attitude. There is a great amount of fear not just in very convenient frame ups. If you look at the special the Jamia Nagar locality, but also in Azamgarh for cell cases, regarding Kashmiris for example, they are example, where the boys who were killed and ar- clearly under surveillance in this city by the special rested originate. After the encounter, there were a cell. They can be picked up at any time, and branded number of illegal detentions and arrests and that as LeT etc. very conveniently, without determining is again very common across the country. A couple the truth. The press do not comment on the judg- of months ago, we visited Madhya Pradesh in a fact ments most of the time because it is deemed very finding mission as we were getting calls from some unpatriotic to question the acts of the special cells. organizations saying that there have been a series of We have seen this at the time of the Ansal Plaza en- arrests in June in Madhya Pradesh in the name of counter and at the time of the Batla House encoun- SIMI. We made enquiries and found out that not ter. When the Batla House encounter happened, only in the recent past but from 2001 onwards, since Pranoy Roy came out on national television and the day the SIMI was banned, there have been hun- said that those who are questioning the martyrdom dreds of arrests made in the name of SIMI. of Inspector Sharma have stooped very low. This is how all the institutions, from the secular media to The injustices are so blatant in the country today. the court room, operate. In a particular case in Ujjain five people were ar- rested by the Madhya Pradesh police and they There is another case in which six youngsters, of were accused of being members of SIMI and that which five were Kashmiris and one was from Bihar they were practicing air-gun firing in the backyard were framed. It was said that the special cell had en- of a mosque. The story originated in a local neigh- gaged them in an encounter and caught them and bourhood; eventually it became a national head- they were members of HUJI and were caught with line. Later, the police in its defence claimed that a large amount of RDX and ammunition. These there were four eye-witnesses at two o’clock in the youngsters were acquitted by the court six years morning. Now, each of these five men, who were ar- later and it turned out that the police had actually rested, have submitted affidavits in the court saying kidnapped them well before the encounter was dat- that they were not present at the site. The truth is ed and this kidnapping by the special cell is quite that they were called from their homes the next day routine. They kidnap people, keep them in an un- to the police station and were made to sign blank disclosed location for days. They are tortured, made
61| to confess crimes they did not commit, and then Also, there is the issue of prosecution. In the same charged. The special cell then holds a press confer- case, under which these five men were acquitted, the ence, displays a lot of arms and ammunition, money court ordered that an FIR be lodged against these and so on and then claim that HUJI Laskar have erring policemen and a departmental inquiry had been caught. The case comes to the court and after to take place within a month. So, after a month, the six or seven years the court sometimes acquits these JTSA filed an RTI application with the Delhi Police people. But there are no media present outside the trying to determine the status of the inquiry. We court room to report the story and rarely does the learnt that there was no trace of any investigation, story, at the time of acquittal, get a similiar media rather they had already filed an appeal in a higher hype as it does during the arrest. court and the case remains pending till date. It is not a case of a few bad apples and of some people There are a few things that we would like to put forth being problematic. If that were so, then these err- on behalf of the JTSA. This is something that has ing policemen would not have gotten away for so happened in Malegaon. We have just seen what hap- long, they would have been suspended and taken pened in Mecca Masjid, where the CBI overturned off duty. But this is not happening despite repeated the theory of the Andhra Pradesh Police. The AP po- complaints and this is not the first time when the or- lice made out a separate case of conspiracy and still ders have been made against them. I think it is time kept harassing those boys. So as we are discussing a to review the extraordinary powers of these special strategy to overcome this, what we need to do is to cells and these ATSes. and all of these crime branch, build up a national alliance across the country de- and mind the extraordinary power that has been re- manding reparation for those who have been falsely warded to them. The notion of national security is framed and prosecuted. By reparation I do not mean fine, but these special cells have been fortified like only compensation but reparation in a more exhaus- the army, having complete immunity from prosecu- tive sense. There has to be compensation for the loss tion and from departmental inquiry. This needs to of dignity and for the amount of years fighting the be reconsidered and questioned from an objective charge. There are cases where the family members point of view through a national level campaign. of implicated Kashmiris are suffering from depres- sion and mental illness. Somebody has to pay for it.
|62 SPEAKER 3
want to begin with Mukul’s comment that gujarat has teesta setalvaD become a kind of show case study for some of us. I Social Activist would like to pay reference to the echoing of absolutely chilling stories from punjab and Kashmir which one has been hearing from 15 to 70 years. It is very obvious to thoseI of us working in western India, I would say Maharashtra and gujarat together. I would emphasize between what hap- pened in 1993 in bombay and what happened in gujarat. It is really appalling how we are not able to keep centre-stage issues like punjab and Kashmir and the devastating human rights violation there. And now things are getting more and more mainstream, the violations are coming more and more to the heart of India. If we look at Jharkhand, I can’t get over the way nun Valsa John was killed just three days ago and I am appalled at the media. today (19 November 2011) we have one report in the Indian Express which is trying to track the story, which says that she tried to report the rape case the day be- fore she was killed. but other sections of the media including the largest circulating English daily has gone all-out to divert the story, as if all are A great deal of commu- speaking the mind of the mining mafia.s o, I think this is really the core nalism is faced with if you of the issue for all of us here today. are battling as a human The media is no longer looking at human rights work on the ground, rights defender in the ed- human rights defenders working on the ground and talking about the ucational, cultural arena culture of human rights within our institutions, without any degree of as it requires relooking at sincerity and this should be part of our strategy. I am bringing it up not symbols, histories: Dalit to bash the media, I consider myself a part of the media as well, but we history, Tribal history, need to look at what it means in terms of our strategy. Media today is not minority history, women an ally in exposing human rights violations. The same gujarat of 15th studies etc. A lot of that March 2002 that Mukul referred to, did not become like that overnight. also needs to come some- What is strange about communalism is that it festers and captures insti- tutional space and societal space for years before the party that represents where into our focus. it actually comes to power. I still remember when Justice Ahmedi who rose to become the Chief Justice of India, was first appointed as a district judge in gujarat in the 60s, all the bar associations of gujarat tried to protest that a Muslim Judge was appointed. yet you have a large number
63| of Muslim lawyers in the state. There are all sorts of need to systematize this. It is not simply to say that contradictions one has to deal with. One of the core it happened in Gujarat, it’s basically to understand areas we need to be looking at when we talk about that without the protection, they would have not tracking communalism as human rights defenders, deposed in Sardarpura, they would have not de- is on the cultural, educational and legal front. There posed in Gulbarga, they would have not deposed in are two areas of experience that I need to share with Partia. It’s all very well for Modi to say that I have you. Many people are learning about our work in won an election and Gujarat is safe. The point is that Gujarat. But in terms of rewriting a social study and it is not. Because of protection given to every eye- history syllabe which is more democratic, which witness, survivor and victim, he or she would have means looking at our minority communities’ past, had that courage to go up and depose within the present and future we have run into trouble. For court. We have plied through this whole experience instance, in Maharashtra, when we tried to project to focus on some very key issues that I would like to Shivaji as a pluralistic leader who had lots of differ- share with all of you because many of us are fight- ent communities in his army and was not somebody ing in the courts. We need to ask for a very simple from the upper caste, as the Brahmins would like to thing like a CCTV in the court room. I think trial think, but was actually from ‘Shudra’ caste, we were courts must have CCTVs, if not open to the media. attacked physically by the Shiv Sena. A great deal of With the help of close circuit televisions, if the con- communalism is faced with if you are battling as a duct of that trial is prejudicial to the victims, survi- human rights defender in the educational, cultural vors and complainants, it can be used as evidence arena as it requires relooking at symbols, histories: in the higher court. We can do so because we have Dalit history, Tribal history, minority history, wom- seen situations where our Gulbarga witnesses have en studies etc. A lot of that also needs to come some- been humiliated by the Judge and actually made where into our focus. Otherwise, what we are talk- comments like ‘does this woman look like as if she ing about is legal fire fighting. During the Bombay lost her son’, in the open court while the Supreme riots in 1993, in which Justice Sri Krishna indicted Court was monitoring the case. It took us one year, 33 policemen in the report, some of us filed an RTI with the Supreme Court monitoring the case, to get in 2007 and discussed that every single policeman that Judge transferred. Because the Supreme Court that was indicted by Justice Sri Krishna Iyer was pro- don’t come to us directly, we went to the Principal moted by two Congress Governments from 1990 to Judge, then the session court, then we went to the 2004. This particular characteristic of communal- High Court. The High Court adjourned the mat- ism is what I would like to point out. Phulka saab is ter 18 times between February 2010 to September here, so he is the best person to speak about the kind 2010. Every week, we mentioned it twice and it got of impunity of the perpetrators of 1984 and the fact adjourned. Finally when we pointed it out in the Su- that in the law, you actually have the perpetrators of preme Court and the Supreme Court asked, what is communal violence being in large majority, because your problem with the Judge? We said, look at the the majority backs the violence perpetrated on the remarks that have been passed by the Judge in open minority. court while our victims were deposing. When we make a balance sheet of how much we So, the whole atmosphere of criminal jurisprudence have succeeded and how much we have lost, I think is so loaded against the complainants, and loaded a lot of it has got to do with just procedurally fight- against the victims, and if you are poor, adivasi, mi- ing hard at every stage in terms of the struggle for nority or a woman, how are you going to sit alone justice. So, the first time, for instance, due to our col- without the assistance of either legal aid groups, lective efforts and for that I would really like to laud legal rights groups or human rights groups. We are Mukul’s valiant struggles in the Nanavati Commis- fortunate that we have just got a judgment in the sion, so much evidence has come out in the open. Sardarpura case finally, which said that we did not For the first time in the history of the country the tutor the witnesses, but we don’t know what will Supreme Court has given protection to over 560 happen in another court, or in another case because witnesses, victims, survivors since 2004 and we constantly allegations are made on us of tutoring the
|64 witnesses. Our constant position is that we were not tion but we do not want the death penalty for the ac- there when this incident happened; we are simply cused. These are some of the nuanced victories that enabling them to depose with courage, to get decent we have gained. These are some of the rewarding legal counsel and to make sure that the procedures, moments in the whole struggle. But it is a very pain- which are very onerous legal procedures, are ful- ful process because at the moment I think the judi- filled. So, you have a whole system actually working ciary is really posed on the sides of the status quo, against the deliverance of justice. But somehow, we if not with the perpetrators. That is, they would not have managed in the Gujarat cases so far to get wit- like justice to be actually delivered because I do not ness protection. About the question of prosecutors, think it is difficult for theS upreme Court and for the however, we have not been successful. Despite the higher courts to monitor their own orders. That is fineness in the Best Bakery case, where we had a where they failed. The failure of the higher judiciary very good prosecutor in Bombay and the Bilkis case is in monitoring the orders that they pass. Why is where we had a good prosecutor in Bombay, the Su- that such failure is not being monitored? Why does preme Court, monitoring the SIT cases, does not the higher judiciary in this country so far take sides have good prosecutors. with the state governments, government affidavits, government officials and believe in affidavits rather The Supreme Court today is presiding over 8 trials than human rights groups and people in general. We in which all the prosecutors are not of the highest in- have to be so careful about what we put down on an dependence and integrity. So, it’s actually two steps affidavit because if there is a small error we are likely forward and five steps backward even when it comes to be slammed for life. to the higher judiciary in this country. I would like to pose the issue of discriminatory justice in this In our own case, the Gujarat state had lied on affida- country with the poor. When it comes to commu- vits before the Supreme Court on seven occasions nalism, I would just like to say that if the accused is a and Justice Ruma Pae passed an order in 2004 say- Muslim or a Christian or a Sikh, then you are much ing that the state of Gujarat has misled the Supreme more likely to get discriminatory justice as any other Court on the question of bail and even then no stric- category that is discriminated against. One of the tures or anything else was seen in the final judgment. most infamous records of the whole Gujarat justice This desire by the courts to be kind towards the gov- process has been the fact that 86 of the Godhra ac- ernments and by and large towards the government cused were not given bail till the judgment was de- officials in their affidavits’ and being stingingly criti- livered. They were never given bail, whereas all the cal of the human rights groups and ‘PILs’ is also a post-Godhra accused, except for 7-8 in the Gulbarga huge deterrent. There have been attacks on lawyers case and 8-10 of those who did not have a godfather apart from attacks on social activists. I have, for in- or were of lower castes, all others like the Babu Ba- stance, three anticipatory bails granted to me from jrangis, the Maya Kotnanis and all these people were Gujarat and Bombay High Courts because of vari- out on bail within 2-3 months of their committing ous allegations made in the course of the struggle. the very violent gruesome crime. Many of us have But apart from that lawyers like Mukul and Suhail articulated this, we have stated this in writing and have been targeted by the Bar Council of Gujarat. invoked the wrath of the Supreme Court for saying This has taken the targeting of communal acts to an that there is discriminatory justice in the country. all time low. A lawyer is doing his/her professional I am very ashamed to say that the Supreme Court duty by helping the victim community simply be- appointed SIT, when they were arguing the Godhra cause they are the people who are proved to be the case and it did nothing to challenge the prosecution channel for deliverance of justice. charge sheet, did nothing to improve the investiga- If we take up the issues in Uttar Pradesh, you will tion or correct it. On the contrary, they had very vin- recall the blasts that took place in 2007 and 2008. dictively argued for the death penalty of 11 of the There are many attacks on the young lawyers inB ara- convicted accused. Our organization along with the banki and in Lucknow. Any lawyer who wanted to victims and survivors in the Sardarpura case gave in appear for the terror accused, even Suhail and anoth- written arguments and said that we want a convic- er lawyer were brutally attacked. I think we need to
65| invoke the institution of the Bar Council in various steps backwards. The worst example is that of SIT, states because I see that in Maharashtra since about which is a continuing nightmare for us as we are the mid 80’s the right wing swings of the Bar Asso- tackling the cases, now the Jakia Zafari case, and the ciation supporting the communal groups is so appar- CGP case. The SIT is the major stumbling block. ent that they have forsaken their professional ethics The National Human Rights Commission, for a by supporting them. I remember in 1993, when the change, petitioned the Supreme Court but after pe- Babri Masjid was demolished there were just three titioning it has disappeared from there. Nobody ap- lawyers arguing for a resolution to be passed in pears for it, nobody asks for it, there is not a single Bombay to condemn the violence there and it was document filed by the NHRC. And after that it has very difficult for them to get that resolution passed. completely vanished from the scene. There is a need There was a huge opposition to it. So, I think these to question steps like this. are issues that we need to flag when we talk about I would like to talk a little about the Haren Pandya our strategies. I want to mention two or three more case, and several encounters, about many of which issues. One is the name which surfaced this morning Mukul will refer to as he is handling many of the in the context of Punjab. What can we possibly do in cases. But Haren Pandya’s case like many of these the human rights community, how do we remember, extra judicial killing cases in Gujarat reveal another who the perpetrators were and who the collabora- terrifying possibility that is emerging. One thing tors are? I think this is something we are not used that is very clear to some of us after 2003, is the col- to. We need to profile the people who are the per- laboration of the powerful in Gujarat using sections petrators of 2002, 1993 Bombay riots, and 84 riots. of the criminals gangs who happen to be Muslims. It struck me so sharply when Mr. Phulka mentioned The powerful use gangs for their criminal acts, this Mr. K.P.S. Gill. Do any of you have any idea what he is becoming clearer and clearer. Accused number did in Gujarat? He was brought in by the NDA in one in Haren Pandya’s case, Mufti Sufiyan disap- May 18, 2002 to Gujarat and it was only when he was peared; escorted ostensibly by a Gujarat police of- brought in that the so called violence started to sub- ficer to Pakistan via Bangladesh. He vanishes and side. how do we know who the mastermind is? Similarly, I am saying all this in order to emphasize that there Nadeem Syed, who has just escaped, threatened by are connections in it. These things don’t happen Mehboob senior is again part of the criminal gang. naturally. It’s not naturally happening that the judi- Imtiyaz Sheikh, one of our witnesses in the Gulbarg ciary is not giving us our Constitutional rights. It is case, threatened by Mohd. Sahid, FIR has been filed. happening because certain kind of people are being So, this is the very sinister sort of scenario which is placed in the judiciary by a certain set of collabora- emerging and poses a huge challenge to us. The high tors who are violators of not just communal rights, court judgment in Haren Pandya’s case has com- but also of economic rights. They are also pro-glo- pletely reversed the convictions that were given by balization and support large corporate groups and the trial court. So technically investigation should it seems that the political lines between the BJP continue till the time the absconding accused is and the Congress Party are now blurred. These are brought back. Therefore, there is a greater respon- the kind of issues we are looking at. Gradually I see sibility for the human rights defenders who risk things getting worse in the years to come and not much more than their lives. I would like to, in their better. The Supreme Court has spoken on com- absence, pay huge tribute to the lawyers who have munal violence for the first time in Gujarat related worked with us. 18 lawyers working for CJP, two in cases. In the Best Bakery case, the higher judiciary each trial case. Seniors and juniors who are moni- is speaking about communal violence for the first toring the trial every day; without them, this work time. But, we are moving two steps forward and five would not be possible.
|66 sEssIoN 8
AssAULts oN tHE MEDIA
67|
SPEAKER 1
am from ‘Thet imes of India’ and I have with me a manoj mitta panel of fellow journalists and as it was pointed out in Senior Editor, the session preceding this one, human rights defenders, Times of India those specially dealing with communal violence, have expressed grievances about the manner in which the media, hasI by and large, been conducting itself. As a journalist, I must admit at the outset that I have no quarrel with that grievance. I am acutely conscious of the fact that as an institution, media has ceased to be an ally of human rights defenders. There are of course honourable exceptions, but they really constitute a minority. As Justice Katju very infamously said, and which is a major controversy in the media, that journalists these days are more into promoting cor- porate interests rather than public interest. That is how the media is be- ing increasingly perceived and there are good reasons for doing so and there are ample examples which bear out the suggestion that we often are more into promoting corporate interest and often working at odds contrary to public interest. some of those instances were given like Manisha was citing the example of how the media bought into the police ‘lines’ on instances like the batla House or wherever. That is what to say that batla House was necessarily a fake encounter. I mean that’s what you immediately jumped to. There are some valid questions to be asked There are some valid and there was reluctance on part of the media to raise those questions questions to be asked and or highlight those questions. We have not been in many instances inde- there was reluctance on pendent enough, I plead guilty to that charge and fortunately, the panel part of the media to raise that I have here are an exception to that general rule. And there is shoma those questions or high- Chaudhury, from the Institution tehelka, needs no introduction as far light those questions. We as human rights defenders are concerned. you know that in the context have not been in many of gujarat riots, where they (tehelka) played a stellar role in exposing instances independent the state complicity, who can forget the great sting operation done by enough. I plead guilty to tehelka and bringing to light a whole lot of admission made by the VHp that charge... activists and police officers in their unguarded moments. All that played a major role in the courts as well. The ehelkat tapes were examined, they are bona fide and their authen- ticity has been established and they were part of evidence by the court.
69| You can’t totally debunk the role of the media, there So, this is a kind of speech that Rajiv Gandhi would are exceptions like this. So, when it comes to the never be remembered for. Rajiv Gandhi, his party mainstream media, I want to make one, may be dis- and his successors would never live down this insen- play my sensitivity to human rights by drawing your sitive and infamous statement of his. And we must attention to the date on which we are holding this do the same to Modi too. I mean, this habit is signifi- meeting. Today, as you all know, is November 19th cant and this will empower the hands of those who and it’s a big day in Delhi because the whole lot of are combating human rights violations. politicians on this day will make a beeline to Shakti And there is Mr. Kumar Badal, he is one example Sthal because, it is the birth anniversary of Indira of a journalist who actually spent several weeks, Gandhi. But then, to me, as a journalist imbued with months in jail because of the works he was doing for some human rights consciousness, November 19th Tehelka. He was out to probe the insane poaching is also an anniversary of a very shameful episode, that was taking place in Uttarakhand and the man- which none of us should ever forget because 19th ner in which it hit back at him, festered false case November was a shameful anniversary of the inci- against him, subjected him with incarceration for so dent that on this day Rajiv Gandhi made a shameful long and he is still, if I am not mistaken, he is still justification of the 84 riots, in his first ever public facing that case. So, we as journalists, despite all the address as Prime Minister from the boat club. This infamy, we ourselves face attacks for what lots of our is what he had to say that when a big tree falls, the colleagues do, some of us still put ourselves to this earth is going to shake. It was a statement of extraor- positions of great danger, like any of you, go through dinary insensitivity; it was a statement that sort of the rigors of very harsh legal system, fighting these set the tone of the cover up that followed. Why (the false allegations. entire speech is there as part of the official records in a book brought out by the government of India) And as Mr. Kumar has rightly said that it would be the very first or second speech of his is this one. unfair if we are all tad with the same brush, but at And there is not a word of sympathy or concern the same time I must say that this bias that is there expressed about the thousands of members of the against the media is not entirely unfounded espe- minority community, whose lives were devastated, cially when it comes to the mainstream media. And who lost their lives, who were orphaned, who were as one of our friends here said so too, and so is right- mangled, maimed, rendered homeless, raped, not a ly justified in distinguishing the mainstream media word of sympathy. On the contrary, the Prime Min- from the kind of organizations that Kumar Badal ister went out of his way to express his empathy for has been working with. I am part of the mainstream the anger, the intense anger that people felt over the media and I can vouch for the fact that the environ- killing of the Prime Minister. ment in the mainstream media is very corporatized so much so that the bias we see in corporate India So, this is the kind of selective outrage he expressed, in favour of an infamous, egregious human rights setting the tone for the cover up. This is similar to violators like Modi. Sorry to keep citing that exam- what Modi himself did in the context of Gujarat ri- ple but he is such an obvious example for any of us ots, his speech came in September 2002. Again it to cite. Now he is the darling of the much respected was sandwiched between the massacre and the elec- corporate figures like Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, tion that followed. That was a speech in which Modi or you name it. Other than exceptions like Anu Aga, infamously talked of how he has been, and is very most corporate leaders seem to think that this man intolerant of these relief camps, how he saw it as is the Prime Minister material. He would be great child producing center, and he went on to talk very for the country, he is pro GDP. He is great for eco- insensitively about this minority community which nomic growth. That he has blood in his hand is a has just been attacked on a large scale and hardly minor detail that they would not be let it come in recovered from that violence and this man has cho- the way of overall appreciation. Now, that bias, even sen that moment to talk about “hum paanch, hamare media in a sense betrays. We would ideally like him pachchis”, and how we have to very strict about fam- to somehow emerge unscathed from these human ily planning and so on and so forth. rights issues, as and when there is anything that
|70 makes nice copy, we might devote a little space to brief as journalist, this can be a very ephemeral and him, but our overall biases of him is the economy this can be very subjective or sustainable to change that counts, and he is not so geared to dealing with as evident from one example, I cited just now and the human rights issues in a very tenacious manner, you know to give one more small example from my and take them to the logical conclusions. So, we dis- home town from Hyderabad. You know we grew up play that bias. in seventies and eighties seeing very rapidly com- munal role played by a Muslim organisation like Further talking about the points of Ms. Shoma MIM. You know it was in many ways the absolute Choudhary has about the myth, about the imparti- counter part of RSS and its grouping in Hyderabad ality couldn’t have been more valid in this context and very often who were responsible for the fre- because even when the face of egregious human quent instances of communal violence what we saw rights violations you see, that the media is often un- in Hyderabad but come an incident like Mecca Mas- der pressure to be impartial. We detach and those jid, it is because media was so keen on being very who are aggressively probing those violations are professional, very objective that they were happy to often accused of taking activists’ position, of cross- go along with the line that was given to them, that ing the line of being professional journalist and this was set to them by security forces that Mecca Mas- is a connote, that is often spread in the media that jid blast was caused by these Muslim activists. These so and so are activists and these are professionals. I elements who are part of all these terror groups so I myself in 80s, when I was pursuing the issues of the mean that was something that we very uncritically 84 riots, I remember the hostile environment that accepted and we are reporting at as one more jehadi prevailed there and the kind of insinuations that terror incident . used to be made in those days that whoever has es- pousing the cause of the victims of the 84 riots are There was so much evidence that was staring in the somehow mixed up with anti- national elements, is face that we ignored, simply because we are often being unmindful of the conspiracy of the breaking intimidated by what our sources in security forces, up the country and so on and so forth. Therefore, I whether it is local police, CBI and others, said so found it very instructive, very gratifying, that years’ too. And look at how because of void left by us, it later, in vastly different circumstances that the 84 ri- was all left to MIM, is the point I am trying to make ots was enquired all over. out. It was left to Majalish Muhaji Muslim in to play the role of human rights defender you know what So it all become very exciting story, suddenly you we for many years saw essentially as communal or- know the crusader and Chief Mr Phulka was much ganisation. It is because we reneged our responsibil- in demand and that was such a contrast to those ity of you know, questioning these security agency days in eighties when the wounds were still fresh of looking at evidence critically. It is because we when there was so much evidence available and yet failed in our duty. It was left to MIM to you know the media was so determined to, you know, turn its filling the gap and which it was successful in, I mean face away from that issue that was crying for atten- it was indicating ultimately what happened to those tion. We are so sewed, so taken by the election result people, those Muslim boys who are languishing in and the corporate you know, the pressure that we jail for many months and ultimately let off. are under to see the new government of Rajiv Gan- dhi as a saviour of the country and so this are some And, there is dark side about us (media) and there issues that needed to be, sort of ignored or not high- is bright side too. We are a mixed bag. It’s for hu- lighted so much in those days. So it was very ironic man right defenders to use us. Sometimes we let you and suddenly 2005 in it become big front page news down, and sometimes we are your allies. That’s the there and somebody like Mr Phulka would be busy way things go and we hope at the end, we would also with interview request and you know, So these per- have the role to play, in promoting this culture of hu- ception of some you know, journalist being accused man rights defenders being protected. of being an activist and you know exceeding his
71| SPEAKER 2
ome people in this room has this generalized opin- kumar baDal ion about the media and I can sense it is that that the Jounalist media is gradually becoming a weeping boy. but we have also suffered. one cannot ignore what tehelka has gone through, what I have gone through and whosoever swho had an experience of a frontal and scathing attack by the then NDA government when they started witch hunting against tehelka and the way they went about it. The govern- ment agencies, such as the CbI, the It department, the ED started raiding at the behest of the governemnt. My home was raided, our (tehelka) office was raided and then happened the whole process of spreading stories that the journalist is absconding so that they can declare as a criminal and then finally comes the release of notices and arresting. so, after the arrest, I was kept in a dingy cell just a few yards away from Generalizing the media the CbI head quarters. I was threatened to make statements against is not part of this human tarun tejpal, our editor and Anirudhha behl. The main reason for ar- rights process for not do- resting me was to implicate them in false charges and till today, 10 years ing their work as fairly as have passed and the case is still in the court. There were two gentlemen, they should be. It does not on the basis of whose statement I was arrested, and they have told in sound proper since we are the court that they do not identify me, and that I am not the person a living example of how that they gave a statement against, but I am still facing that trial. techni- honestly and courageous- cally the trial has not even started although 10 years have passed. The ly we are doing our work charges have not been framed yet but I am still being harassed even after ten years. I still go to the court, I still have to pay fees to the lawyers, I still . And even despite the have a Damocles’ sword hanging on my head and that criminal case is witch hunting and arrest, pending against me. we continued with sting operations that exposed I am also a part of the media and I have been doing my work honestly the government and the despite the witch hunting, going through an arrest and being in the jail. high and mighty and we I was kept in two jails for six and a half months. Even after that, i.e. af- ter coming out of the jail, we did a very big story, a very big sting op- will continue doing that. eration, operation Duryodhan, which was on ‘cash for queries’ scam. 11 Mps were dismissed on the basis of it. so, we are not intimidated that ways. And I think, the major section of the media is doing their work honestly. generalizing the media is not part of this human rights proc- |72 ess for not doing their work as fairly as they should and arrest, we continued with sting operations that be. It does not sound proper since we are a living exposed the government and the high and mighty example of how honestly and courageously we are and we will continue doing that. doing our work. And even despite the witch hunting
73| SPEAKER 3
e all know that there are increasing numbers sHoma of attacks happening not just on journal- cHauDHarY ists, but also on human rights workers, rtI Managing Editor, activists, whistleblowers and also on people Tehelka who are from the organized networks. tehelka is amongst theW most high profile target of these attacks. Not just Ku- mar badal but also shankar sharma was jailed for almost six months in tihar jail without a charge sheet against them. Ku- mar was devastated and lost about 30-40 kg of his weight in jail. shahina was a journalist with us working on a terror case which involved Madini in Karnataka, she was put under a lot Today, we tell our of distress by the police. I had this real experience when a journalists that we are Karnataka police officer called me and said, “Aap Shomaji bol not just stenographers or rahi hai, Shahina kya terrorist hai?” I said, no, she is not a ter- amplifiers. We are medi- rorist; she is a journalist working with us. but they still went ating the world and it is and filed a case against her. so we stood beside her and got very important for us to the anticipatory bail for her. This case is still running in court. ascertain objectivity, and neutrality means that you There is a distinction between those of us who are in the mainstream media, are in the metros, English speaking media because there is a bar- go to all the stakeholders ricade that protects us possibly from death or incarceration. people seek- of the story, you get their ing out for us can be seen as security for us. There is a much bigger hin- side of the story and you terland of journalists, human rights workers, rtI activists on the ground represent that faith- who do not even have the film of protection that we do. Those are the fully in your story, and so people that we must focus on because I believe that journalism cannot journalism must become really make us immune from the process of a democracy which is a legal a point of view of journal- system. I don’t believe that we should stay immune from court cases; we ism. You must ascertain must submit ourselves to the processes of the state as every responsible the facts, the truth as citizen does. you believe it to be the so, I don’t seek unnatural immunity for journalism. yes, what we do seek truth and put your moral is factuality, certain amount of legislative protection, but as I said I want weight behind it. to make that distinction between those who really fights on the ground with anonymity and those of us who are protected by just the very lan- guage that we speak. before I go into some of the larger points I want to make, I want to acknowledge people like Kopa Kunjam, Linga Kodopi,
|74 Soni Sori, and numbers of tribals in Chhattisgarh hatred and prejudice ever can be. I am bearing away jails who are just languishing there without anybody purely for the journalists but I think a lot of this at- to raise a campaign for them. Tribals in Orissa, West titude in the society is the one that allows us to as- Bengal are mostly picked up without any cause. In sault a spectrum of people, ranging from innocents Tehelka, we have done a lot of stories on people like to those who are defending human rights. them. We have also done a very disturbing story So, that is something we must stick to as a society. which unfortunately didn’t catch many attention, The other is the framework of legislations. By large, which was about Dalits and many left of central rad- we have a growing Constitution, if we live by that icals, intellectuals , almost 200 of them in Maharash- Constitution, amending it as the years go by, but tra alone, who have been picked up and put in Jail sticking to some basic principles on which this na- for the possession of either Bhagat Singh’s writings, tion was built. But I think there is a sea of legisla- Arundhati Roy’s writings or Mao’s book. tions which are being discussed, for instance the So, the fact is that we are beginning to constrict the Whistleblowers’ Protection Law and I think that intellectual freedom and the political dissent and I it must not just include government functionaries, think that we have to be extremely worried about it. but as a part of this society, anyone who blows the There are four aspects to this, which is, as a commu- whistle. We have the principle of the presumption of nity who cares for civil liberty, we should be focused innocence before one proves guilty, anybody who is on. There is a State, media, internet and the com- blowing the whistle, who is raising a flag according munity of activists itself. I want to focus first on the to me should statutorily get some protection which State and I think there are three or four trends here must be legislative. But as we all know, people who that we must both combat and amend, and one of are fighting for human rights, is for that legislation the most significant is that as a society and country only, but it too is just one small piece of that fight. we have started to value security much more than Legislation by no means is a protection against pub- freedom. I think too much of the atrocities that are lic opinion, media’s onslaught and lack of informa- happening to the community and to the ordinary tion. As journalists, we are not activists. citizens, are done in the name of security and I So, we don’t necessarily have to be in a position of think again and again, that we must push back and extreme confrontation that activists must neces- blow back to this trend, where the question of secu- sarily be. I often wonder about this ambiguity and rity matters more than the individual freedom. The complexity of position that people must have and I amount of harm done through atrocities and terror have come to this metaphor for myself to explain the attacks are way less than the harm done in the name kind of positions that all of us must keep in society. of security. We will defend those who are picked up I have come to this idea of deterrence and believe wrongly in the name of terror attacks. But I think that peoples’ movements in the ground, people even when we acknowledge that, we acknowledge who are activists, people who are really fighting for the difficulties of security establishments from find- livelihood and for life itself on the ground can have ing those who are behind these attacks. Doggedly, black and white position of extreme confrontation. as a society, we must stick to the idea of freedom Journalists are as much in the business of exposing rather than the idea of security because when we wrong as of persuading those who are empowered pick up the wrong people, we pick up people who to do better, to appeal to their better faces and to are blowing whistles on things and we pick up inno- persuade those in the opposite end of the fence to cent people which increase the cycle of hate and re- come to a more middle grounds. I feel rhetoric and venge; we push people out of the system into a place absence of information is a big factor of why there is of despair and I often say that despair is the most so much of assault on human rights workers. When dangerous form of emotion because that means you I speak to politicians or speak to bureaucrats, I have have nothing to lose, you have no stake in the system realized that apart from whatever prejudicious posi- and you really don’t care. When life become such an tion that they have come from, there is also a huge up front that is merely incidental, then I think it’s a absence of information. We are all functioning in much more dangerous emotion in society than even shallow waters, we do not have a window into each
75| other’s world and we do not have a window into be heard and we have to be there in the mainstream. each other’s compunctions. I wanted to give you a Our magazine has to be read by those who are in specific example.S ‘ ome years ago, Himanshu Ku- power, it is not enough to speak to the converted, mar was attacked and his Ashram was demolished the converted does need a conversation amongst and apart from doing a cover story on it, and on life itself; because we have to keep the shudder strong. of Binayak Sen, Tehelka did much more than the There is a kind of language we need to speak, to keep just doing the journalism that we do, we appealed the faith, to keep each other’s morale up, whereas I to lawyers, we appealed to political parties, spoke to believe there is a wider world there and the job of political parties. the media is to have its voice outstay amongst the The BJP and the Congress appealed to the people non believers. Tehelka’s attempt is to be in main- to understand from where Binayak Sen was coming stream. I want to bring out an example, for instance from because there was such a miasma that was cre- of Soni Sori, whom we did a big story on. We have ated among people that it is difficult to understand repeatedly done stories on Kopa Kunjam, Soni Sori, that sometimes wrong decisions are taken, not just Linga Kodopi, Maoists, tribals taken to be Mao- because political leaders, corporate or bureaucrats ists, and the mainstream media has always branded are bad essentially. Because they are functioning anybody who speaks up for human rights whether from the wrong set of information and I remember its Prashant Bhushan, whether its Arundhati Roy, trying to push Rahul Gandhi to meet Mr. Himan- whether its Binayak, Himanshu or Tehelka. We are shu Kumar and I remember one of his aides being immediately branded as either radicals or as Mao- told by officers on the ground that Himanshu was a ists. And it just seems to be that we are outsiders of dreaded Maoist and was not somebody to be trust- the system and are ready to bring down the nation ed. Now, when you are only getting that kind of in- state. That is again prejudice. What I find appalling is formation, you can understand the kind of prejudice that the mainstream media is not only disinterested and smoke screen out to which people operate. Very in these issues. They have no framework from which often political leaders are only hearing what officers they are operating. They do not believe in a face of on the ground are telling them, what bureaucrats on society that we are all struggling to protect which is the ground are telling them and they too are getting basically of civil liberties, of freedom as being the vague information from the certain point of view in basis on which democracy are formed. Individual the world. freedom and also free idea that political dissent is not a crime, that dissent at all is not a crime. I think I think even as we have strong deterrence on the that is the fact that the mainstream media as journal- ground, we isolate political leaders, corporate and ists do not understand this. bureaucrats as being essentially the enemy. I think it’s very important to keep bridges and the chan- There are two kinds of construction that the media nel of information open to them. They must begin has. There is the corporate construction which is to understand the world that we inhabit, the world very difficult to write against because their liveli- that we are representing. Its only when you have hood depends on it. These are structural issues that that open channel and multiple channels of infor- not just Tehelka but I think across the broad main- mation, at least then we might hope, that they be- stream media is struggling with and that’s something gin to take decisions based on fair assessment of we will come to. But the fact that morally, and that something rather than the prejudice that they are framework, we failed to understand that these are operating from. I strongly believe that this chan- people that we must seek for and we must write for. nel of information is important which really brings The vacuum of information is something that the me to the measure. Today, the discussion is about media is certainly morally responsible for and it is assault on media, but unlike Kumar, I really believe the vacuum in our society that has to be fixed. When that the media is a very strong part of the problem stories have been written about, nobody bothered today. Manoj mentioned the mainstream media, to ascertain the truth, what if it was written about Tehelka is very doggedly trying to be a part of the that alleged Maoists who have been arrested in a pay mainstream media because we believe our voices to off case where they were caught taking money in an
|76 extortion racket that involved Essar. That was pretty of our time. Stories like Himanshu Kumar, Binayak much the sum total of the kind of stories that was ap- Sen, Ajay TG and many of them in Jharkhand. pearing in the mainstream media. Repeatedly, you There is this endless number of cases, where it is re- would have heard of Binayak Sen being a dreaded ally the laziness of the media that the information Maoist until the campaign really gathered around. has not gone out the way it should have been. I am It is unpopular to be from the media and to criticize going to end with two very quick points. One is the the media, but the media has been groomed with new media. The new media has a huge potential to this fallacious idea of journalism which is neutrality protect us from the assaults we are facing because and objectivity taken to extreme of impishness. information can be shared in real time. We have CG- Today too much of the media is ‘he said, she said’. NET and what Himanshu was doing, all the Dalit Tehelka was victim to this and I think that is the first and Tribal networks to tell the stories without the time we really understood this when we did this mediation of anybody else and I think, it is a very 2001 story on corruption in defence procurement. important tool. It can go viral across the world and I We were subjected to the most slanderous campaign think it is a big safeguard. We must train more and possible and the most frustrating aspect of that is more on this ground, more and more people to tell you could imagine the government coming down their own stories with the cheapest kind of technol- strongly on you. What we could not understand is ogies, so that at least the grounds facts can reach to that the media fraternity would do as x, y, z from larger audiences. But equally I think that the internet the BJP government said this, Tarun Tejpal from has a very negative potential and that to something Tehelka says this, and that was the end of the story. that we must brace ourselves against. I also mention That puts you into dialectic of two opposing forces, the activists’ community itself and here I am going he said this and she said that and what is the audi- to speak out something that is very raw to me right ence supposed to believe? How are they supposed now, but I think it is very symptomatic of the prob- to read the world? Today, we tell our journalists that lems that we are going to face increasingly over the we are not just stenographers or amplifiers. We are time and that to a link. It is the negative power of the mediating the world and it is very important for us internet and the activists and very rudely speaking to ascertain objectivity, and neutrality means that the left fraternity itself. you go to all the stakeholders of the story, you get I think everybody in this room would have been vic- their side of the story and you represent that faith- tims of gathered campaigning, slanderous attacks, fully in your story, and so journalism must become physical attacks, jailing and all of that from the right a point of view of journalism. You must ascertain the wing. When I said right wing, that’s a very loose facts, the truth as you believe it to be the truth and grouping of corporate positions, of communal posi- put your moral weight behind it. And I think, that tions and of status position, I think that’s the kind is the risk that media must take. You must declare of assault one can understand. We have increasingly your position so that the people can assess where seen that in the dialogue that happened between you come from, what your view point is, because Gladson Dungdung and Binayak Sen, it’s just hap- we are not neutral beings, we are not apolitical be- pened between Tehelka and infinite number of peo- ings, we believe in a whatever end of the spectrum ple out there who accused Tehelka, without fact, on you may come from, right, left, center, whatever it a lot of things and I think that what is happening, is is, it must be a declared position. Our journalists are an attempt to seem so pure. This left group of com- trained to do that. We might make mistakes when munities is beginning to erode our own base. We we do that, but at least there is transparency. That are beginning to erode our own desires to stand up is what Tehelka believes and X said this, Y said that for things. We are beginning to erode our own be- but our journalism proves that X is probably lying lief in each other and our own tenacity to stay with for this many reasons and Y is where the truth lies things. I am not going to go into the details of what and so far as we can see the truth that is where it is happening in Tehelka, but I really want to leave lies and I think, that putting moral weight behind a this thought with us. That is if we begin to outlaw certain version of a story has really become the need everybody in our desire for purity, we will find that
77| we can’t even live in this world anymore. I think we important. Above that there are many positions that must understand that first of all, there is a complex- are fighting for the same freedom. Let’s strengthen ity to our battles and what we fight on the ground is each other rather than eroding each other.
|78 SPEAKER 4
am a staff reporter of Amar Ujala. I am a resident of samiuDDin Lakhimpur kheri, Uttar pradesh. In lakhimpur a food illiYas neelu scam took place. The pDs food of poor were available Journalist in the stock for distribution, but administration never allocated these pDs food to poor. Either they sold this food toI the mafia or ate it themselves! I exposed this nexus in the food scam and published it as a front line news in my news paper. The impact of this food scam news was so intense that CbI immediately took the case and started doing inquiry. besides this, one IAs officer and five pCs officer were immediately suspended. so, due to this, the administration was very angry and they threatened me with dire consequences. They said ‘in future you will face a lot of trouble if you publish this kind of news against the administra- tion’. but I ignored their warning and still am writing on bold issues without any fear. I also identified the important issue which is prevailing I was helpless at that in this area as to how police administration is helping land mafia in a big time because nobody way, to snatch away the poor’s land for their personal benefit. This case was also published as a front line news in my paper. was present where this incident took place. I ap- so after this I got many threatening calls but I ignored them and con- pealed to them to not kill tinued with my work. but at other the end, when I heard that they are me, that I don’t have any planning to drag me in a serious false case, I met chief home secretary on enmity with them, but 3rd Feb 2005 in Lucknow and on 5th Feb. 2005, I met Dgp with my few have so with the superin- journalist friends of Lucknow regarding this. I met chief home secretary and submitted memorandum to him along with all news paper cuttings, tendent of police only. If and explained how the sp of that district N. padamja is threatening me the SP has felt something and is trying to kill me, so I requested him to provide me security and bad or is upset by any also put up an enquiry in this matter as well as transfer the districtsp news then they should from that district immediately. Not going deep into the matter, the chief take me to the SP office. home secretary thought it to be a small issue like the sp might have just I would try to clarify my mildly scolded me and so on, and so I came to Lucknow to complain position but they should about this to him. He reassured me that nothing is going to happen to not kill me. me. Contrary to this, what happened is as follows: on 9th February in the morning I reached Lakhimpur, went to my office and finished all my pending work till 10.30 pm, then along with my four colleagues, I went out from the office and together we walked for at least half a km and after
79| that everybody scattered on the way to their homes. be punished as well because the whole city knew Then I started going towards my house alone and I about my hostility with the superintendent of po- didn’t notice that policemen were following me on a lice. Finally they informed and explained everything jeep and three motorcycles. Suddenly they stopped to their master. As a result they changed their plan me and took my bike key, strongly grabbed me and and decided not to kill me, but they kept me there after that one person got down from the jeep and till four o’clock. Then they took me to the police put his revolver on my head. At that moment I could station and kept me in a cell. not understand what was going on. I thought, that Meanwhile my family members had already started may be police were looking for some criminal and searching for me in different places, they had even by mistake they had stopped me. called my office and friends. They thought some in- But when I asked, what was the matter and why have cident may have happened due to dense fog. Around they had stopped me they said, “we are looking for 6 o’clock my friends came to the police station and you because we have some work, so don’t worry they were shocked to see me there. I asked them to and keep quiet.” After that they put me in the jeep first find out what charges were lodged against me. and took me to the outskirts of the city and after- According to the charges I was trafficking animal wards they discussed something for a few seconds items like Crocodile skins, Lion skin, horned Rhi- amongst themselves near the railways crossing, and noceros and Sandal Wood. They had made me in- then the police man told me that ‘today is your last ternational smuggler within one night. After that I day’. I was helpless at that time because nobody was went to jail and many people demonstrated at the present where this incident took place. I appealed district level, state level and also in other state like to them to not kill me; that I don’t have any enmity Uttarakhand and at Delhi too. My case was also with them, but have so with the superintendent of raised up in the Assembly and Legislative Council. police only. If the SP has felt something bad or is As a result, SP’s transfer order was issued but since upset by any news then they should take me to the she was very close to Mulayam Singh’s son, her trans- SP office. I would try to clarify my position but they fer was cancelled. So, then my case was transferred should not kill me. Thus again they put me in the to CID who declared me innocent and charged the jeep and started moving their jeep towards the rail- police with handling the case in a careless manner. way crossing gate but the gate was closed because And so I repeatedly demanded that kidnapping, some train was coming. They blew the horn to call murder charges case should be registered against the gateman to open the gate because the train was the police officer but nobody listened to me. After late. When the gateman was trying to open the gate, that I came to Delhi to meet the Press Council of I was thinking that they would kill me that day. Im- India. My application was already there, therefore mediately I shouted, “I am Nilu, a press reporter and PTI took the matter. After Ayodhaya episode it was these police men are trying to kill me so please help the second time PTI formed a Fact Finding Com- me.” But yet again they suppressed me. So, when the mittee. This committee comprised of five members gate was opened again they took the jeep straight and its coordinator was Uttam ChandS harma. He is and stopped near a bush and compelled me to write the editor of Muzaffarpur Times. a suicide note. So, when a summon was sent by PTI for the first When I refused to write a suicide note they threat- time to her, she didn’t turn up. PTI sent three more ened to kill me. Then I wrote a suicide note and summons but she didn’t come. Finally, PTI sent a mentioned the reason for it to be family problem. summon letter through the DGP of U.P. after which I reminded them that my hostility was with the su- she came for it. PTI even summoned the DGP UP perintendent of police and not with them. If they and chief home secretary. PTI team also visited the want to kill me the SP should come and kill me area and took written statement of all members. In because I had already written letters to the human February 2010, PTI passed five point ordinances in right commission, the Press Council of India, the which it was strongly recommended that the state DGP, the chief home secretary and the chief minis- government should immediately provide security ter. So when the inquiry would start then you would
|80 to me for five years. As I mentioned that when the death. This order is also available on the website of incident took place, the administration provided me NHRC; we can see this order and it also ordered with two Gunners’ for security. And, when CBC- for the inquiry by ADG rank officer to see the con- CID gave me clean chit and they (the administra- duct of SP Padamja. ADGP was appointed by the tion) found that I was strongly lobbying for my case government. He instead of supporting me was forc- in PTI and also putting my case in front of Human ing me to compromise but I refused.Therefore he Right Commission, they decided to remove my se- (the ADGP) send his report to NHRC and recom- curity in the year 2007 without any prior notice. But mended to close the case. Reason given by him was I continued my job without any fear and followed that during the proceeding time Mr Nillu was not my case in Lucknow and Delhi. The second recom- present in front of the inquiry commission and mendation of PTI was that every six month my se- he did not produce any evidence against the SP so curity should be reviewed and observed. The third his allegation against SP Padamaja is false. When recommendation of PTI was that, it noticed that SP NHRC sent me letters and said that ADGP has Padmja behaviour towards journalist was not satis- reported that during the time of inquiry I was not factory so she should not be posted in those places there, I explained to the commission that I was very where she may have to directly handle or deal any- much there but commission didn’t call me. I have thing which is related to journalist and journalism. many evidence which can prove that I was there The fourth recommendation is that all accused po- at the time of inquiry. Through my statement the lice men should not be posted in the same district Commission (NHRC) was fully satisfied, so again and fifth recommendation is that the attack on jour- commission asked them to produce written state- nalist is a serious matter and it should be discussed ment of Mr Nillu. in all four houses (Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Vidhan As a result they again sent their report to NHRC Sabha, and Vidhan Parishad). and described these points that whatever allegation Besides this they also recommended that if any I was pointing out in my statement. CBC-CID had journalist was arrested by the police then within 24 already done its inquiry and there is no need to do it hours, his arrest should be informed to his editor again. And regarding the Five Lakh compensation, and also letters should be send to PTI. All recom- when the NHRC asked them whether he is a suffer- mendation of PTI were neglected and they didn’t er or not , then the state government sent its written provide any security to me, so again I went to PTI statement to NHRC and accepted that really he is a and met PTI officials. I explained to them that state victim, therefore the state government had decided government did not implement any of the recom- to give him Rs five lakh as compensation. Moreo- mendation made by the PTI. PTI said that we had ver, when they found that this money will go from the power to recommend and if they were not giving the SP pocket, all SP and IAS lobby united and de- any attention to their recommendation then I could cided to sent it for reinvestigation to CBC-CID and move to the high court. Then again I wrote letters’ to within 20 days the final report came out and on the the administration and reminded them that PTI had basis of CBC-CID report they said to the NHRC recommended these points but still it had not been that the case was still going on so there was no point implemented. But administration was unenthusias- to give compensation. So in this background I met tic towards implementing the PTI recommendation NHRC officials and presented my view on how they and they decided to teach me a lesson, and for that were manipulating the fact, and also how they were reason they put forward my final report, which was contradicting their own written statement which reserved by them at the time of investigation in the they have given to the commission. So I asked the court, so in that situation I decided not to say any- commission that this matter should be handed over thing against them. In the meantime Human Right to the CBI to find out the real truth. If the com- Commission also forwarded its recommendation. mission would not send this case to the CBI then I would go to high court and even Supreme Court, The Commission said that Rs five lakh should be but I will fight against this victimization. So many given to the victim as compensation and also ac- journalists are facing harassment by the police. Even cept that this offence was not less than custodial
81| now administration is exploring an opportunity to his aid and also framed him in false cases like that attack me and trying to persecute me in my person- of power theft. al relation. Another very important point that I want to discuss During this period I minutely observed that the is that on the NHRC website my case number is main intention was to harass me at any cost, leading 14303/2006-2007 but it is the only case on NHRC to which they are creating plenty of problem and so website, whose details are not available anymore. they are expecting me to compromise thus. I told Before they knew anything about me and my case the commission that I am not going to compromise development, I came to know everything through because I have seen the support when I was in jail. the NHRC website only. But they have now blocked This is not my personal fight. This fight is for our my site through lobbying; and everything is avail- journalist friends. Here I want to share an important able on the NHRC website except my case. So I point, that when the government refused to accept am still a victim and continuously facing plenty the PTI recommendation then I went to Sharmaji’s of problems. I want a law that can stop attacks on (coordinator of the five member committee formed media people and if any administrative official is by the PTI regarding this case) office again, to meet misusing his powers and ill-treating media person- him and to tell him that the state government is not nel then he should be punished. The law should be doing anything. When I reached his office some- effective and strong. body told me that state government has stopped
|82 SPEAKER 5
ome time I wonder that what was the reason for maqbool saHil Mughal emperor Jahangir, to say that “Agar Firdos Daro Jami Asto Hamin Asto Hamin Asto”, that is if Journalist there is paradise on the earth, it is here, it is here, it is here. These days when we see Kashmir we can say “Agar Dojaks Bane Jami Ast Hamin Asto Hamin Asto”- if there is hell on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here. The reason why I say this is because Kashmir today is populated by armed person- nels and security agencies. There are hundreds of Kashmir policemen and more than two dozen intelligence agencies that are active here along with some of the resistant groups militant organisation. If we calculate, not less than hundred types of guns are working on the soil of Kashmir right now. How do we journalist work in that scenario? I remember that sometime I met Mr Martin Dail, when he was working for bbC tV as a war correspondent. Now he is a member parliament of UK. He shared some of his experience with me. He said that when he was in Vietnam, he was facing two sides of gun. one the resistance forces of Vietnam and another the Us army. He said that at first when Later on when I was re- he entered Vietnam he started writing literally in favour of United state leased, I visited the grave of America and the Us army because of allies. so the Vietnamese were of my late father and unhappy and they used to accuse him of being a biased journalist. Then he said that after some time he found out that the Vietnamese were be- heard a voice that said ing suppressed, killed and harassed by the Us army, who were illegally you are back. I asken him occupying their land. He said that then he started favouring Vietnamese. what my fault was, that I Now Us became his enemy. However, after a while, he started opposing was not a militant and I both of them and then both became unhappy with him. so, when I asked was not a political leader, him to guide me in the matter concerning journalists role in Kashmir, I was not resistance or he said that he could not because there are 70 to 80 sides at that time and separatist and I have lost not just two. There were about 30 militant organisation and the security each and every thing in forces and the army and other police having guns and weapons. He said these four years. that we have to find out our own way because there are many people fighting with each other and if one manages to survive while doing so, it will be a blessing of god only. As far as my story is concerned I was working with a local weekly here.
83| It is a well known weekly newspaper in Jammu & in the jeep. After that they blind-folded me and took Kashmir called Chattan. I was working as an execu- me to the joint interrogation centre in Srinagar on tive journalist and exposed many stories about hu- the banks of Dal lake. man rights violence, fake encounters and bungling Suddenly I was subjected to third degree torture in the recovery of arms and ammunition by the without being asked a single question. They kept security forces and selling them out of the market me blind folded for three-four days. They use to put to the militant again. Also there were some stories some food in front of me to eat, but they didn’t allow as well about extracting money from the people by me to either wash my hands, my face, no toothpaste kidnapping and harassing their sons. was given and neither did they allow me to go to Many police officers were therefore unhappy with the bathroom and toilet on proper time. I was put me. One day they made a plan to target me. I had vis- in a cell and after four days they brought me out and ited Pakistan on a proper passport-visa along with a started questioning. They dubbed me as an active political delegation some time ago. This was made a agent of ISI. They issued a statement that they had basis for my arrest. They deduced that this man had arrested a top brass activist of ISI, Sahil Maqbool visited Pakistan recently, he is a journalist and uses who was working under the garb of journalist in internet and so can be targetted using these things. Kashmir and they also claimed that they have re- Some pictures which I used to send to various news- covered some sensitive documents from me. These papers, like press releases, encounters, killings and sensitive documents comprised the invitation card such emails were downloaded from my website and of a relative in Rawalpindi whose daughter was go- were collected from my email. There was a fight go- ing to be married. It was in my laptop bag. ing on between two army Colonels at that time. One Everything was taken from me because I was a pho- was Colonel Ravi Batra and the other was Colonel tographer and reporter. I was having a complete Mukhtar Singh. Colonel Mukhtar Singh was a pub- journalistic kit with me like Camera, Mobile phone lic relation officer of 15 core of Army which is based and digital recorder and some other electronic gadg- in Srinagar. He was there since two or three years. ets and a diary. But everything was taken away. Then He had established good relations with media and they subjected me to third degree torture for fifteen used to allow media at the places of encounter, dur- days under police remand after which I was shifted ing operation sadhbhawana and many others pro- to central jail court Balwal, where I spent 41 months grams of army and the media were cooperating with from 16th September 2004 up to 9th January 2008. him. He was suddenly replaced by Colonel Ravi The so called Decennial Law,P ublic Safety Law, was Batra who, being new there, could not relate with imposed on me and recycled for five times. It is a the ways of Colonel Mukhtar Singh and perhaps record in Kashmir history as far as the present aero- there was some jealousy between the two. station is concerned and after that one day, the SP So at an advertisement, he took me to the press club who arrested me called me in his office and said that in Srinagar in his own vehicle and I parked my vehi- I will be released on one condition that I will give up cle there outside the BBC office. He asked me to go the work of a journalist. I was warned against writing with him and collect the bill and come back right anything against them. I said, I was a journalist, I will in front of dozens of media persons watching there. remain a journalist, I am determined and have taken And when he took me to his office he told me to an oath to write the truth. I completed eight books wait as he was getting money for me. But after half in my detention time. My first book, also the first an hour he said that there is some problem with the jailed diary book on Kashmir is Sabistane Ojood, money transaction and my bill cannot be cleared ‘The Darkness Within’. This book was awarded as and will be taken care of at some other time. So after the second International best book on Kashmir con- that, when I came out of the Bagarni Bhag Cantt, flict and on Kashmir Jail. I have exposed each and the biggest Army headquarter in Kashmir, two peo- everything. What happens with a political detainee ple who were sitting in the office of Colonel Ravi in Kashmir, not only political detainee but even the Batra, caught hold of me and threw me in a bullet- common criminal. This book was taken as a refer- proof Jeep. Some other people were already there ence book by ICRC (International Community for
|84 Red Cross). Another book ‘Tanaja Kashmir Tarikh I was released, I visited the grave of my late father Ke Aine Mein’ – ‘the Kashmir dispute in the historic and heard a voice that said you are back. I asken him perspective’, is the six hundred ninety years history what my fault was, that I was not a militant and I was of the Kashmir dispute. I coupled this book in my not a political leader, I was not resistance or sepa- detention time because when I found out that they ratist and I have lost each and every thing in these are not going to release me very easily so I started four years. He said look into your bag. There were utilising my time properly in studying and writing. I scripts of my books. He said you have gained a lot have written two poetic collections too- one in Urdu and not really lost anything. That day I decided that and one in Pahadi, because it is very close to Punjabi I will not keep anything ill against the people who language and that is my mother tongue. Also, there arrested me as they provided me the chance to in- are two novels and fiction. trospect and so write these books. Mr Parvez Diwan, a very good friend of mine sug- This is a small story and I have been covering the gested me to write a fiction and I wrote an Urdu afsa- conflict for 22 years now. Kashmir is my story and na on his suggestion called Kadam, Kadam Tajeed: there are dozens of stories like mine concerning Punishment at Every Step. It is about to come out many other journalists. We have lost eleven journal- in 20 or 30 days. I saw most of my family members ists during these 23 years of conflict. Eleven jour- and even my only daughter Ashmin after 20 months nalist were killed either by the security forces or and that too when ICRC helped them to come to may be one or two by those renegade militant who Jammu, 300 kms away from my home, and provided were supported by the government itself and many them a vehicle and some hotel accommodation. I other have lost their limbs. Many have been arrested saw my mother and my another brother who is a dis- and detained and all that. We need to think about abled after fourteen months. They could never visit all these people today and take considerate steps to me because they did not have financial resources support them. that they could use to come visit me. Later on when
85| SPEAKER 6
n 23 January 2008, I was going to raipur to at- ajaY t g tend a meeting of national leaders. on my way Documentary I got a call from my home and was told that the Film Maker police men are asking about me and my pres- ence is needed. since I was about to reach raipur I decided to ogo back after attending the meeting. The policemen, however, took the phone from my wife and said that I must come back immediately. I called my colleague sudha and both of us went back to my house. When I reached there I found that the enitre residential area had been converted into a police Chhawani. police men were standing all over the place with guns. They were searching my house. When I asked them if they had a search warrant they said that since they are here already, there is no need for any warrant. After nearly three hours when the search operation was completed, they told me that they have a search warrant under the Arms Act. They took me to the police station along with my When I was in jail, it computer. At the police station they told me to sit in one corner. Five was compulsory for every minutes later a policemen came with a blank paper and asked me to sign prisoner to parade in it. I refused and in turn they threatened me. I stood firm and told them to front of the jail admin- write something on it first. Afterwards they wrote that they carried out istration every monday a search operation in my house with my permission and then I signed it. and all the details were They called me to the police station continuously for ten to twelve days. written on paper. It was on 5th may I was on my way to get milk for my child and was stopped by only when my turn came a police motorcycle. They told me to come to the police station instantly and I read those papers as an officer wanted to meet me. I tried explaining them that I was going that I came to know to get milk for my child and will visit the police station as soon as I am about the charges that I done. They did not relent and took me to the station where my cellphone had been framed with. was taken away from me. Around 5 o’clock they took me in a jeep and The main charges were presented me in the court unprepared and handcuffed. In the court even under sedition and the the Judge did not ask me anything and sent me to jail. When I was in jail, Chhattisgarh Security it was compulsory for every prisoner to parade in front of the jail admin- Act. istration every monday and all the details were written in papers. It was only when my turn came and I read those papers that I came to know about the charges that I had been framed with. The main charges were sedition and under the Chhattisgarh security Act.
|86 Here, I can say confidently that although the role now I was unable to move anywhere independently. of local media was biased but the role of national In my petition I also explained that more than one media was very positive towards my case especially and half years had gone and still the police has not that of The Times of India, The Hindu and Tehleka. filled any chargesheet against me.B ut the judge told I am very thankful to people like Harsh Mander me that I was facing sedition charges and my pres- and Sidharth, who highlighted my case in National ence was essential for the case and so instead of giv- news, wrote many articles and so built pressure on ing me any relief in this case, he said that now I had the government to take the decision in my favour. to go to the police station every month and it was This mass support was the main reason that the state to continue for four years. After four and half years government did not frame serious charges against I got an invitation from England to present a paper me. One day DGP Mr Vishwaranjan came to jail in a seminar. Again, I applied a request application and met me and started talking about many things. in the court explaining that this seminar was very He said that his father was a revolutionary and he important to me because it was related to my work. himself was a revolutionary as a child. He talked This was also refused and I was told that due to the about Firag Gorakhpuri, who is a noted poet. Then, nature of charges that I was facing my presence in he asked me about Binayak Sen. I said that he is the the country was essential and it was only academic president of PUCL. He said no he is a naxalite and activity that I have to go abroad for anyway. PUCL is the fictional unit of Maoist. Then he asked Then I moved my case to the high court and there my me the whereabouts of Anup Singh. I said at present advocate told me that the judge had agreed to give I don’t know where he is. He, then, asked me the me permission but somebody had to give guarantee. connection between Anup Singh and Sudha and he I was confident of getting permission this time. But further asked that if they are married but I refused when I saw the order-sheet, it was written there that to give any more information. He threatened to reo- I was facing serious charges and the enquiry was go- pen my case. ing on so they needed me to be present in the case Three days later the SP came to me with some pa- and so my application was rejected on this ground. pers and told me that I would be released if I signed I, then decided to approach the Supreme Court and them. In those papers they had written a statement the matter is still due. from me saying that I am a member of PUCL and I I want to draw your attention to the fact that when know Binayak Sen, who is a naxalite. When I denied my bail application was rejected by the court, all the to own the statement the SP insisted that I have al- local Hindi news papers reported my case as case ready confessed all this in front of the DGP. At first in which the court has rejected the application of I firmly refused to sign the papers but he returned naxal sympathisers to go abroad. Local media also again three days later with the papers which stated spread this propaganda that I am a pro-naxalite that I have some doubt that Binayak Sen has close and am providing sensitive information to them connections with naxalites but I refused to signed and have good connection in the foreign countries these too. They approached me in this way two or and am making documentaries for them. The local three times but I refused each time. They kept me in media is so biased that they do not want to listen for 90 days and finally presented me in the court. your story. They (the local media) are only doing The judge granted me bail on condition of visiting what the government wants them to do. Their bias the police station every fifteen days, to sign there is to such a level that they only report news related and inform the police with all the details everytime to two people, who are in their view, are the only I go out of the state. ones actually working for the state, one is Raman This went on for near about one and half years. Singh and the second person is Naveen Jindal. In Every fifteen days I used to go to police station for fact there are social workers too and they are work- my signature on the register. My work started suffer- ing day and night in Chhattisgarh. I have even heard ing severely because of this order and I was unable that Jindal has already started a Law School and in to concentrate on my work. I am a film maker and this school they are discussing Sedition Acts and outdoor shooting is an essential part of my work but so learning new methods to crush their challenger.
87| They are also doing seminars on human rights. I can the land of these tribals without giving anything to tell you what they are doing in Temsha or Tirmor them in return. Now the Central government (Min- area where number of tribal people are dying due to ister of Environment and Forest) has given permis- road accidents and the percentage of death is much sion to Jindal to run its activities which were earlier higher than the death of Baster and Dantewada. It rejected by the same government. The ground real- is surprising that all these accidental deaths are fre- ity is that these poor farmers whose lands are illegal- quently occurring due to the Jindal vehicle. ly occupied by Jindal, are planning to protest against Jindal. This is the real picture of what Jindal is doing In Delhi they are discussing sedition and death pen- in these areas. When we see the name of HRLN in alty and in reality they are killing tribal people in the Jindal seminars, we really feel very sad. We all the form of accident and this is their human rights. need to see through the tacts of the state and be alert In this context, I have made one documentary and all the time. the title of this documentary is Andhere Se Pehle. In this documentary you can see how Jindal has taken
|88 sEssIoN 9
DEFENDErs IN CoNFLICt stAtE
89|
SPEAKER 1
n Chhattisgarh, the salwa Judum campaign is support- kopa kunjam ed by Chief Minister raman singh and also by the Con- Social Activist, gress which is the opposition party. This movement was Chhattisgarh originally started from the villages of Ambedi, Karkeli and Katru. The people of these villages decided to make an Iorganisation and they tried to contact the Maoists because they wanted peace at any cost. When the campaign intensified, the Maoist realised that their organisa- tion was crumbling and they killed ganpat patel and Enka Kishor, both of whom belonged to Ambedi village and were one of the originators of this campaign. At the same time, Home Minister Mr ram Vichar Netam and leader of opposition Mr Mahendra Karma of Chhattisgarh visited this place and decided to name the campaign salwa Judum in the second meeting. The literal meaning of salwa is peace and Judum is to add peo- ple, that is, to add the people for peace work but the government is doing just the opposite. They are not helping and protecting the tribal people but they are planning on ways to kill them. If the salwa Judum campaign was really initiated by people then it could have continued for longer and we would have found peace long ago in the bastar region. As soon as the development programme was finalised and the funds started coming on The Salwa Judum sup- behalf of the salwa Judum, the people who were really connected to this porters blame me that I movement, the tribals, were ignored and non-tribals, especially, urban am a naxalite supporter people who had little to do with salwa Judum movement suddenly be- and have started op- came leaders of salwa Judum. posing me. In the mean All the people who were now associated with salwa Judum and working time, Singaram massacre as spo (special police officers) were not Naxalites, but they were work- incident happened, where ing for the Naxalites and their main task was to threaten common people they gunned down 18 at gunpoint for the Naxalites meeting. but the government appointed people in a queue out of them as a spo and also promised them a salary of rs 3000 per month. In which two people sur- reality the government has used them. They are being asked to provide vived and four women information about the Naxalites and in failing to do so they are being tortured. Apart from that, the police men are also forcing these spos to were raped. enter first in the village and compelled to recognise anybody who looks suspicious. so many people have been arrested in this process. When this campaign had started I had spoken to Mahendra Karmaji and warned that we have already tried this two times earlier and are familiar with the
91| results. He however was reassured of the govern- services are not functional in many villages. Aangan- ment support. But what really did happen? On be- wadi is also not working. So many schools were also half of the Salwa Judum thousands of tribals were not running and old age pension scheme is also not either killed or their houses were burned and they available. They said that all these schemes were func- were forcibly made to migrate from their villages. I tioning and if anyone raises their voice against the was threatened when I refused to join the campaign inactive system, discrimination or atrocity they will and then they started saying that anyone who does be branded as a Naxalite supporter. After that a meet- not join will be considered a supporter of Naxalites ing was organised at Raipur and I met Himanshu and his/her house will be burnt down with Rs 500 and he said to me that he has taken permission from fine. Everybody was afraid and so I decided to join Chidambaram for Jan-Sunwai for bringing peace cov- Salwa Judum but right after two months I withdrew ering the entire Bastar region because a lot of the vio- because I found out that they are terrorising vil- lence has occurred in recent times. TheS P then called lagers on mere suspicion. I told Mahendra Karma me and said that the whole Baster region was like a that I will not support this kind of work and I got golden bird and I should stop supporting Himanshu. separated from this movement. As I left Judum, I told him that Himanshu was not even a tribal but he the Matwada incident occurred where police men was fighting for tribal people and against the discrimi- killed three villagers and blamed the Naxalites. Next nation and being from the tribe it was my duty to sup- morning when I heard this news I went to the po- port him. I was even offered a sum of one lakh rupees lice station which is not far away from my place and and an SUV which I rejected and supported the Jan- there I spoke to their family members. They told me Sunwai. The SP said I was a human rights defender that the policemen were the real culprits and so I and when Naxalites kill people then activists like me met media with these people and explained every- do not say anything but when the government kills thing. The inspector who was involved in this fake the Naxalites it was made an issue and hyped in the encounter is right now in Dantewada Jail. media. He even threatened to shoot anyone who par- ticipated in the Jan-Sunwai and declare him a Naxal- The Salwa Judum supporters blame me that I am ite. Next day they called me again and told me that a Naxalite supporter and have started opposing the DIG wants to meet me. I and HRLN advocate me. In the mean time, Singaram massacre incident Alban Tappo went there and waited for a long time happened, where they gunned down 18 people in after which we were told that the SP wants to meet a queue out of which two people survived and four me at his residence. They took me in a closed vehi- women were raped. I visited this place along with cle and turned their vehicle towards Bijapur at which Tehelka journalist Ajeet Shahi. TheG overnment or- point I called Himanshu and told him about this and dered an inquiry because the local MLA had visited he asked me to get off the vehicle. When I asked them this place. There I met a Naxalite leader, Sarita, and to let me go a fight started between me and the police she told me that, “Kopa if you are taking them for men. They started pushing me in the vehicle. I over- justice, I will not stop you, but you will not get jus- came them and told them if they wanted to arrest me tice either in High Court or Supreme Court because they should take me to the police station. After that till date tribal people have never got justice. Only they took me to Bhairamgarh and asked me why I was paper work will be done but you will not get justice. doing the Jan-Sunwai being a human rights activist I told her that I will try but I really could not manage and about my relations with Himanshu ji. They tor- to get justice and if she will ever ask me what hap- tured me and my colleague the entire night and I lost pened I have no answer to give to her.” my consciousness. They presented me in the court Ramanji is repeatedly making a mistake and thinking and they made me reluctantly sign the charge sheet. that through Salwa Judum he would be able to main- They did not even let me meet anyone so that I could tain peace in the entire Chhattisgarh, which I per- get some support. All I want to say is that I am a tribal sonally think is impossible. Hence, I and many other man and I am not afraid of death. All I want for my alleged ‘Naxalites supporters’ met the Chhattisgarh struggle to succeed is your co-operation. government official and complained that the health
|92 SPEAKER 2
want to share a few things about Jharkhand and what DaYa mani barla is going on over there. Jharkhand state was created in Social Activist, 2000. but before 2000 we had been demanding for a Jharkhand separate state for tribal people and were fighting for this. The reason we are fighting for a tribal state is because the developmentI of Jharkhand is well connected to the develop- ment of tribal culture, their language and their jungle. After becoming a new state, the state government has displaced 80% of Jharkhandis from their land only for the sake of development and within that only 4.5% have been relocated. The rest of the people are wander- ing in other big cities for their survival. As soon as the new Jharkhand state was formed the corporate houses announced that they are going to conduct a fashion parade in the state. We strongly protested against this corporate sponsored fashion show and during our protest we said that this state was created for development of tribal people, not the corpo- rations. We demonstrated where the fashion show was being organised and they called the police. When the police came they tried to disperse us, they even beat us and threw us in a police jeep. This was our first protest against the corporatization of Jharkhand. We also gave slogans saying we will not make this state available for corporate houses. We all know that Jharkhand has almost completed ten years. In these years the Our ancestors however state government has signed a memorandum of understanding with 104 have already given their corporate houses. The real actors behind the 104 memorandum corpora- lives for this land and tion with these companies are only politicians, bureaucrats and the ma- therefore we have de- fia. They have done everything according to their own benefit. All the companies that have signed a memorandum with the state government cided we will not let their are trying to displace us from our land. We are trying to protect our land sacrifice go to waste. Our and for this we are protesting against this corporate move. new slogan is we will neither give away our I truly do not understand why people are saying that human rights vio- land nor our life and we lence is not prevalent in Jharkhand. being a human rights defender I feel are confident of winning that in the present situation all the Jharkhandis are ready for a movement and that they have decided that they will not give their forest, land and this battle. water to these greedy corporate houses. I can proudly say that in 104 companies, only 3 companies Electro steel plant, Jindal steel and Abhi- jeet groups have managed to set up base in the state. Even these compa- nies have managed this because they successfully cheated the Jharkhandi
93| people. The areas like Saraikala Kharsawan, East The present situation in Jharkhand is different as Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, Gumla and Loharda- compared to Bastar and other parts of the country ga where maximum memorandum has been signed, because now we have given one slogan that we will I can say with pride that to date no company has not give a single inch of our ancestral land to these taken any land from these areas and have not dared corporate houses. We have learned so many things to start their work because all the Jharkhandi peo- from the movement of Koel karo. We were fighting ple have now given a slogan. They have decided that against the displacement at Netarhat and after that they will not give their ancestral land to these greedy we are also fighting against the displacement in all corporate houses. over India. Recently government has started op- eration Green hunt against extremists in Saranda I want to share with you exactly how we are protect- area because government has already given permis- ing our land. When I was protesting against Mittal sion to companies like Essar, Tata, Mittal, Bhushan groups, I got a call from an unknown person saying and Abhijeet group for iron ore mining and these that if I will create any problem in their work then corporate houses are pressurizing the government I will be shot. I thought about how to respond to to vacate this land as soon as possible so that the this call. Again they threatened me and then I said mining may begin. The government is trying their that you told me the same thing three months back best to vacate this land but they have not been suc- and I am still waiting for your bullet and am ready cessful. As a result they are now saying that in these to accept it but will not stop meetings with the vil- areas extremists are very active and they are creat- lagers. I will do my work without any fear and will ing problems in the development work and are even continue giving my support to the villagers. When being supported by the villagers of Saranda. Besides I went to the police station to register an FIR com- this, the government has already given permission plain against the threat call, the police inspector of and provided police force to private companies to that station countered me by saying why are people vacate these 34 tribal villages as soon as possible protesting against developmental work which is but these companies are unable to use force to va- essential for the government and without develop- cate the villages. Our two friends Mangal Homhaga ment work no tax will be generated and it will be and Soma Munda have been killed on the pretext difficult for government to function. I simply asked of vacating the land by the government. In Saranda him to perform his duty, which is to write reports. encounter, the police is saying that they used firing You may be aware that on 6th December 2006 some but the Jharkhand IG is saying something else; that untoward incident took place at Kathikund where there was firing from the other side. Anyone can our colleagues Munni Hasda, Murmur ji and others understand that they deliberately killed these peo- were fighting against RPG group. When the police ple. We made a demonstration against the govern- registered the FIR against these people they were ment and this killing. Recently Home Minister Mr. normal criminal cases but overnight seven more Chidambaram visited that place and promised that criminal cases along with terrorist acts were charged a large amount of development work will soon take against them. In East Singhbhum our colleague place in the state and we are desperately waiting to Kumanchand Majhi was fighting against Bhushan know exactly what kind of development work is go- Company and there was no news of it in the media. ing to take place. All I can say is that the government They have repeatedly said that they will not allow only has one intention, that of vacating our land for the establishment and functioning of this company corporates. and are also requesting the company officials not to I want to draw your attention to the fact that we are work. When the officials are insisting on working fighting to protect our land from these companies and someone decides to present a shoe garland to but now the government has given a new direction the officials it immediately becomes news. The com- to these companies of purchasing land directly from plaints that are registered against these people are the people and these private companies are now tak- normal initially however they are later framed into ing help from land mafia active in this area and the extremist charges. mafia is using all means possible even in the form of
|94 threats and are forcing tribal people to sell their land had said that we will give our life but we will not give and those people who are not selling their lands are our land. Our ancestors however have already given being killed. Mr Jindal who is a Member of Parlia- their lives for this land and therefore we have de- ment, is trying to open a new steel plant in Patratu cided we will not let their sacrifice go to waste. Our area but the way he had adopted to grab the land is new slogan is we will neither give away our land nor very shameful. Being a parliamentarian, he and his our life and we are confident of winning this battle. goons are compelling these tribal people to sell their In Jharkhand we are fighting against corporate land and if anybody is opposing them then their goons on our own and have no advocate available to goons are openly threatening and killing those inno- fight our case readily.R ecently Jitendra Marandi the cent people. For the Patratu plant he had purchased cultural activist has helped us but the government 300 acres of land from Birla in order to produce 600 put charges on him that he is a sympathiser and is million tonnes of steel. Since that much land is not now facing the death sentence. We are searching sufficient to produce 600 million tonnes of steel for advocates to defend his case but we could not they want more land to fulfil his target and for this find anyone and I am facing charges in four other work he wants to vacate more villages. The surpris- cases as well. What is disappointing is that we are ing thing is that even the administration is helping fighting alone and no advocate is available to even these people. Nobody can call a meeting in these suggest us anything. We can see the way the level of villages because Section 144 of CrPC is already im- human rights violation is increasing in our state and posed in this area and if anybody violates this then we know that we will continue fighting for our rights the administration intends to take strong action but we do not understand legal complications. I am against such persons. In this way the whole admin- hoping HRLN can help and support us in this field. istration is fully supporting the companies and the mafia. We are fighting for our rights and earlier we
95| SPEAKER 3
e know each other because we all have faced KailasH meena similar kinds of problems or victimisation in Social Activist, our life, so my story is not new for you and Rajasthan yours is not new to me. I want to put three examples in front of you. In the first example, I want to ex- plainW the real truth about how our judiciary is functioning. Through demonstration, we forcibly seized two trucks which were loaded with very dangerous explosive items and the court ordered that since the culprit have already confessed their crime therefore they should be released immediately on the penalty of rs 1000 and if they are unable to deposit that amount then they will be detained for two months. Further in his order, the judge said that they are poor people and if their trucks were seized then they would face economic loss, the trucks being their sole source of income. Therefore their trucks should be immediately released and all the explosives Those, whose duty it is which were seized from these trucks were to be immediately to protect democracy destroyed. When I enquired through rtI about the place are now being a threat where the explosives were destroyed no one could give me a to democracy because satisfactory answer. people are losing their faith in these people. The I have been fighting against illegal mining inr ajasthan since 1995 and situation is very tense in this context I filed a pIL on behalf of pUCL against the illegal mining. because they have created In 2010 I got a positive judgment in my favour prohibiting illegal mining insecurity in this area. in these areas. The supreme Court also gave its direction to the admin- Due to our movement, the istration but the administration did not do anything to stop the illegal mining. When we saw this we decided to expose the nexus between the local administration is so mining mafia and the administration and we were threatened against this furious at us that they are but we did not deter. calling us naxalites and creators of problems in once during that time we were all coming from the field and suddenly the development work. we saw a police vehicle parked in the middle of the road. They stopped our vehicle and surrounded it without saying anything. These police of- ficials then started abusing us and beating us up. Thereafter, they took us to the police station and again beat us. There were two young girls in the
|96 PUCL team who were with us at that time. The po- and tells them to not inform about the death to any- lice showed us their real face that day and detained one. Now the situation has deteriorated further be- these girls in the police station for the entire night. cause the mafia has called so many hooligans from I want to ask you, since so many law scholars are outside and these hooligans have created a sense of present here that on what basis can one force minor fear among the local people. We insist on intensify- girls to stay at the police station for whole nights? ing our protest without fear at a large scale. The SP The next day we conducted medical tests on these once called a meeting and in this meeting all mining girls and also tried to register FIR but to date no FIR mafia was present and theS P asked them what their has been registered. problem was. Without listening to anything from our side he said in a threatening tone that some seri- Before this incident we were sitting at a dharna with ous action will definitely be taken against us. Those, some ex-army officers and six dalit women against whose duty it is to protect democracy are now be- the mining and our demand was to protect the land ing a threat to democracy because people are losing for our cattle food. Our demonstration was peace- their faith in these people. The situation is very tense ful; even then police used excess brute force on us. because they have created insecurity in this area. When Himanshuji visited that place, Kavita asked Due to our movement, the local administration is so me to show him around. When we were visiting furious at us that they are calling us Naxalites and that area, the SP of Jhunjhuna district called me and creators of problems in the development work. The started enquiring about the man with me. I said, he reality is that we are protecting our land and rivers is Himanshu Kumar and he is a Gandhiwadi and a and so instead of commending and supporting us lot of injustice has been done to him. TheS P threat- they are against us. Regarding this we met the ADG ened to stop this investigation with him otherwise I in Jaipur and we explained everything to him. He would face a lot of problems. I said I will do my work called the local SP and the SP told him that Kailash and whatever he wants to do, he can. Himanshuji Meena is a blackmailer and he is the real culprit. Our visited for three days and after that we organised location is very close to Delhi, only 350 Km from Kisan Swaraj Yatra against mining and since that Delhi and we are fighting against this powerful mafia day we are directly fighting against them. They have who are the real enemy of democracy and who are filed so many charges against us. In addition, we saw trying to destroy it. In this situation we have to stand in the villages that on an average, in a month three united and fight against these people otherwise our people die due to illegal mining and their houses are democracy will be destroyed. We are here from dif- either broken or destroyed. Instead of protecting ferent parts of the country and the situation is pa- these helpless people, police are doing the opposite. thetic everywhere. If we show our unity at this time We have authentic evidence of how the police are then democracy will be restored and we can protect taking money and deciding the price of life. If some- the common man from these types of atrocities oth- body dies due to mining work then the police forci- erwise it will be impossible to save them. bly give three lakh rupees to dead person’s relative
97| SPEAKER 4
have visited the ‘illegal mining’ area of rajasthan and HimansHu kumar what I found there is that all the businessmen there are Social Activist, from outside the state and they are able to purchase Chhattisgarh these mountains after giving bribes to the minister. Their main motive is to make money and for this, they are dig- gingI 1000 feet in the mountains and then detonating it. Due to these blasts the houses of these villagers were destroyed and their agriculture fields were also covered with stones and even their animals were killed. In addition the entire atmos- phere of this area was also covered with dust and this dust directly affects the lungs of people and due to this many peo- ple are suffering from silicoses disease. Even Kailash younger brother died from silicoses.
I just want to say that During my visit when I was interacting with these people I advised them to fight in the gandhian way. They told me that when they did sataygrah if any farmer in India in a peaceful manner against the mining but the administration framed who wants to protect them in a false rape case and arrested all 74 people and put them in jail. their land and is fighting It was very surprising to know that all 74 old people and even some for their land and if the women raped one woman. In my previous meeting with these people government is not listen- they told me that one person from this village that was in the army and ing to anything and they has received prestigious bravery awards, Vir Chakra, for the Kargil war are using their power to was also framed in a false case. And when these people were hiding in crush these movements the jungle, this man, who got bravery awards, was so frustrated with the then they are giving clear system that he said that he wanted to become a Naxalite. I just want to signals to the farmers say that if any farmer in India who wants to protect their land and is fight- that you cannot protect ing for their land and if the government is not listening to anything and they are using their power to crush these movements then they are giving your land. By doing this clear signals to the farmers that you cannot protect your land. by doing the government is com- this the government is compelling these people to become Naxalite be- pelling these people to cause of their faulty policy. Therefore, you can imagine just how bad the become Naxalite because situation really is if a soldier who has won many bravery awards wants to of their faulty policy. become a Naxalite. His only fault was that he wanted to protect his land from the government. Wherever we are fighting, we are fighting not only for the right of poor people but also against the injustices which frequently take place to-
|98 wards people all around. Due to this reason the gov- ginalised section of the population and in this way ernment is calling us trouble-makers. This meeting they are performing atrocities upon these people. In is very important to us because we are gathered here this continuous struggle we have decided to give our from different parts of the country and are sharing support to the poor and marginalised and therefore our bitter experiences to each other. After hearing our fight with the system will be unavoidable. Colin the experiences of many speakers I am able to con- and HRLN are trying to give all kinds of legal sup- clude that we are fighting within our own sphere and port to all the human rights defenders. we do not have any knowledge of any movement or Furthermore, when I was in Dantewada I consulted fight that is going on in any other part of India. So with Colin on many occasions and he was giving in this way we are not helping or supporting each me a lot of information. When the police took away other in a manner in which we should. During the Sodi Sambho, I tried to contact Colin but I could seminar this problem came to the limelight that if not get any response from him and till today we activists in Punjab are fighting against any injustice have not received any information about her. Apart or against the atrocities committed on human rights from my case, Colin is also working on more than defenders, they are unaware of a similar kind of ac- 50 cases so due to a heavy workload he was unable tivism in Kashmir and similarly the activists fighting to respond. Instead of blaming Colin or HRLN, we in Kashmir do not know anything about the move- should work together in an effective manner so that ment in Punjab. This story is the same all over India. we can remove our weaknesses on our own and To remedy this, HRLN is trying to develop a kind of make ourselves stronger that we can support or help mechanism which centrally connects all the activ- each other in any situation. Finally, I want to raise ists and their movements such that they can know the major question which is how can we support about each other and about the respective activisms each other in the future in times of crisis and also and can provide moral support in a time of crisis. give strength to each other? We must think in a posi- In the present scenario the main cause of our fight- tive manner and try to develop a mechanism for the ing is that rich and influential people are trying to future so that we can help each other. establish their hegemony upon the poor and mar-
99| SPEAKER 5
want to discuss the Jashpur and sarguja belt of Chhattis- ZulaikHa jabi garh. Under the new economic policy, the government Journalist, Chhattisgarh of Chhattisgarh has selected the whole area of Jashpur, Manendragarh, Chirmiri and raigarh, under the belt of sarguja zone. recently we went there for fact finding because oneI retired CrpF person was killed in an encounter with the police. We found out that the reason for his death given by the police was that he was staying in the Naxalite villages. Af- ter seeing his body we need to question as to whether any- body is safe, whether it be a police man or an army man and also who is the real Naxalite? Due to our wrong policies, our country has become a factory of terrorism. Everything is true: whatever we are listening to today and whatever we will lis- ten to tomorrow. people everywhere in India are fighting for their rights and fighting against laws such as AFspA and the special security acts, whether it is in Manipur, Chhattisgarh, Since I could not find a gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Up, Maharashtra or any other proper place to stay in Raipur for the last two part of India. Even those areas in the country where there are years I took up a place no such laws like special security act and AFspA, the people which is 20 minutes of these areas are fighting against the state to protect their life away from Raipur and and their resources in one way or the other. I want to say that still my place has been nobody will come forward to save Zulaikha, Iftekhar, Irshad, secretly searched twice. Faizaan and Imran, when these people would be attacked. My window was found I live in Chattisgarh and am a social worker there. Due to my profession broken one day and all I face a lot of problems. some of my well wishers ask me why I work in the important documents this field. They say that earlier it was better when my work was limited to were stolen. When I Muslim women and their affairs. I told them that I am just doing my duty registered a FIR against as a social worker and cannot differentiate between the human rights of the police they did not do Adivasi women and Muslim women merely on a religious basis. I am a anything. state committee member of pUCL. The Home Minister of Chhattisgarh has given an interview in the newspaper and has alleged that the Chhat- tisgarh state unit of pUCL is providing arms to all the Naxalites in the country. In raipur the president of the press Club, Dr Lakhan singhji
|100 who is very close to us, asked us, why is that if a ter- morning an IB officer came to my house pretending rorist kills people then you do not say anything but to meet me. But his real motive was something else when a policeman kills someone then you always as he had come at an awkward time of 6 o’clock in raise your voice. We asked him to advise us of one the morning. Since I could not find a proper place to instance in the last five years when we have ever stay in Raipur for the last two years I took up a place made a statement saying that whatever is happen- which is 20 minutes away from Raipur and still my ing in the state is very good. When Linga Kodopi place has been secretly searched twice. My window was arrested, some of my journalist friends advised was found broken one day and all the important me that PUCL should say something regarding this documents were stolen. When I registered a FIR because he was arrested while he was taking money against the police they did not do anything. for ESSAR. I asked them whether they still believed Regarding my every word that the police told them. This is, indeed, financial condition a very common trend in India that the police present innocent people as victims in the form of terrorist I have been working with children on gender issues or Naxalites. You cannot trust even a single word of and also provide training to them. Earlier the gov- the police without an investigation. The whole area ernment used to call me as faculty for gender train- of Jashpur zone spans across 6093 acres and what is ing but they have stopped that for the last four years. surprising is that the government has already signed a ‘memorandum of understanding’ with different There is another allegation that when Binayak Sen companies for 6023 acres of land such that only 70 was arrested I was there with him at the police sta- acres of land is left. The government needs to be tion in Bilaspur. It was merely a coincidence that questioned that is 70 acres sufficient for any district? we were there at the same time. So after his release many journalists called me to get a piece of the story, When the Employment Guarantee Yojana Cam- however, I told them that I am not a personality to paign was started, a number of journalists and stu- provide you with information about his release. dents from all over India and even Jean Dreze par- ticipated in it. They covered Delhi via Chhattisgarh I agree with what Ajay T.G. has said about the lo- and finally reached Bihar. I was there because Jean cal media as I come from the media profession my- Dreze was leading this campaign. When we reached self. It is unfortunate but also true that the media is Balrampur the police attacked us. In this attack the biased towards Human Rights Activists and their police broke my knee. We tried to find out the cause movement. I stay in a state where the police con- of the attack which took place inB alrampur district, trol room uses the letter-head of the Press Club of which is a newly formed district, but the SP, Mr SRP Raipur for government news and this news comes in Kaluri, said that he was not there when the incident the newspapers. Due to all this we decided to form took place. But I was a witness of the attack and a movement with the help of 32 organisations to know that he was involved. As I am associated with save Chhattisgarh. We collected 10 lakh signatures many human rights organisations from all over the through this movement and filed it in VidhanS abha country and with violence against women and state to procure government support but to date we have prison at the national platform, I face a lot of harass- not received any response from the government. ment by the government due to my involvement in In Sarguja district a tribal girl was raped and killed. these campaigns. The police, however, are telling a different story of Once, when we were travelling to Dantewada from the girl being a Naxalite and that she was killed in Raipur to attend a meeting, the police stopped our an encounter. When people protested against this vehicle and said that all the papers of this vehicle are statement the government suspended all the police fake and we could not go ahead. When we decided officials who were involved in this fake encounter to take the bus they removed the bus key and told and also announced that they would give two lakh the driver that Naxalites were sitting in your bus and rupees to the victim’s family. However they did not they would only return the bus key if he made us get accept that she was not a Naxalite. We decided to off the bus. In another incident, one day early in the meet the Governor, with a journalist delegation re-
101| garding this case as well as other cases and present compelled our close friend Dr Lakhan Singh to pay our case to him. Unfortunately, we have not suc- Rs 1,79,000 in a case only because he helped us a ceeded in meeting with him as of yet. great deal during Himanshu’s campaign in Dante- wada to raise public support against the arrest of Bi- I can only say that the Chhattisgarh government nayak Sen. Thus, the government is doing its best to is causing harassment in a planned manner in the create a divide within the media fraternity. state. First they arrested Binayak Sen and then they
|102 sEssIoN 10
ATTACKs oN traDE UNIoNs
103|
SPEAKER 1
his session is on attacks on trade union activists gaYatri singH and I think the general feeling is that compared to Lawyer, Mumbai other conflict zones where people are repressed High Court and tortured the situation for trade unions is not that bad. We have to divide the assault situation in the coun- tryt into two parts. one is in the rural areas and the other is in the urban areas. While the situation in the rural areas is bad, the urban area situation is worse. If you compare the condi- tion of organised workers and unorganised workers you will see that their situation is equally bad. once, I had someone from Nasik who came with a woman who was bad- ly beaten. It was not really related to trade union activity but they were opposing the Thermal power project of Indiabull when they were picked up by the police. The woman picked up belonged to a village and is the sarpanch of that village. she managed to oppose a project and unite all In one instance the judici- the people in the area in the absence of any organization and for this the police picked her up, beat her up brutally and threatened to rape her. No ary stated that ‘you have person or organisation was willing to come forward to help her. created a law and order situation, therefore, you And, there is a case of students who were targeted during their examina- should go behind bars’. tions. young students were picked up from their exam centres and hand- The same judiciary, how- cuffed and the principal did not say a word about the handcuffing. Now ever, is shockingly silent the case is in the supreme Court where we have challenged the handcuff- ing. If it is a belting case then the media is interested in the case but if it is on the issues of law and regarding the beating up of an activist then they do not show any interest. order situation created by the management and As far as an urban centre is concerned, the attacks on activists in a city by the police. That is one like Mumbai are shocking. I was a part of a trade union movement while aspect. How do we deal working among the textile workers. We were attacked when we were try- with the judiciary and the ing to prevent the machine over factories been taken out. I was there and I saw that the factory owner had called local goons for support and these problems that arise from goons beat us up very badly and when we went to the High Court, the the legal judgments that factory owner and his goons physically assaulted us. We wanted to take come out in such cases? action against them but one judge said that gayatri singh should either work as an advocate or a trade unionist but should not do both simulta- neously. If she is doing that then the court cannot do anything. such is our judiciary.
105| I think you know about Jaitapur where a huge strug- ation. Criminal provisions under the IPC and the gle is going on. I am diverting from the trade union CrPC are being put into effect on trade union activ- session to some extent but it is pertinent to what is ists in areas like Mumbai, Pune and Nasik. happening amongst trade union activists because Also I want to talk about two issues that need to be when we activists try to organise meetings the gov- addressed. One is the right to form an organization ernment imposes the Section 144 of CrPC. Every which is a basic fundamental right in our constitu- other week a new notice was issued stating that ac- tion and we are also a signatory to various Interna- tivists are not permitted to participate in any form tional Instruments which say that you have a right to of gathering. When one particular activist filed for form an organization. Even that basic right is being anticipatory bail in the High Court, his plea was taken away. The right to assemble and the right to refused although he had a right to ask for bail. This have meetings are also being taken away. All this is a was then taken to the Supreme Court where he result of what rights the judiciary believes, should be managed to get anticipatory bail. But in the case of taken away. That is why I think we should come for- trade union activists, similar situations have arisen ward and critique the judiciary, which raises issues where organised workers are fighting for their right of this nature and says that workers have no right to to organise, right to form an organisation and a right assemble. In one instance the judiciary stated that to form a union, which is the most basic right and ‘you have created a law and order situation, there- is being denied. We have many cases like this like fore, you should go behind bars’. The same judiciary, that of Maruti workers’ struggle. We have many such however, is shockingly silent on the issues of law and instances in Mumbai where workers of large facto- order situation created by the management and by ries are being denied the right to even form a union the police. That is one aspect. How do we deal with and the consequences of that is that the activists are the judiciary and the problems that arise from the targeted. They are issued show-cause notices by the legal judgments that come out in such cases? company and the other effect is the economic stran- gulation of a worker such that if a worker is active The second aspect is something in which we have and protests against the management then the only been successful to some extent. In a city like Mum- way in which he can be prevented from participat- bai, contract workers were trying to organize them- ing in the movement or being active in the union, is selves and they have succeeded because we have to strangulate him financially. So in the case of Ford been able to get people from outside the trade un- Motors which is a big company in Pune, the man- ion movement. Getting people from different sec- agement issued show-cause notices to 200 workers tions of society, whether they are democratic rights saying that production has been heavily reduced organizations, women’s rights organizations or hu- therefore no wages will be paid. As a result, for two man rights organizations helps to draw attention to long years the workers were without wages while these issues. It pressurizes the government into tak- they reported day in and day out. The situation is ing some positive action. In Mumbai two workers not just limited to Ford Motor’s, but everywhere it were very badly beaten because they were trying to is the same. form a dock workers’ union located in Mumbai and controlled by Mr. S.R. Kulkarni. They were trying The second issue is that everyone has certain fun- to form a union in JNPT which is in the outskirts of damental rights and certain basic democratic rights Mumbai and the goons of that area tried to suppress to agitate and to form a union; to assemble in or- the movement by physically attacking those activists der to protest injustice against the management. who took initiative. Immediately, we formed a team That right has also been taken away. So Section 144 where people from outside Mumbai were called and is being imposed in industrial areas where workers journalists were called. We also conducted a report are protesting. We have cases filed against activists, which was circulated, not only throughout the In- where they are picked up repeatedly and put behind dian trade union movement and various other au- bars and the situation is such that workers who go thorities but also to international agencies and sup- for work to earn a living find it unbearable to keep port was generated out of that. So whenever there reporting to the police station and eventually drop are such struggles taking place, we need to react to out of the movement because of their financial situ- |106 them and bring it out in the open so that we can get support from different sections of society.
107| SPEAKER 2
e have discussed how workers and trade un- santosH rai ion activists are faceing a lot of difficulties DTC Trade created by the company and also that they Union Leader cannot form any type of workers’ union in the Maharashtra region. I am the president of DtC workers unionW and it is our bright and clean buses that are operating on Delhi roads although the government is taking the credit that they have changed the Delhi transportation system. I want to say something about DtC management, government policy At present about 16,000 and permanent workers and also about the large number of contract contract workers are workers who are working on a contract basis at DtC. As it is a govern- working as either a ment organisation, the management of DtC does not accept contract driver, a conductor or a workers as members of the DtC workers union. However an important point to note is that the DtC itself hired all these contract workers but sweeper. The situation they are not receiving minimum wages which is fixed by the government became worse when blue at around rs 6500 per month in Delhi. At present about 16,000 contract line buses started to be workers are working as either a driver, a conductor or a sweeper. The considered as the killer situation became worse when blue line buses started to be considered bus-line in Delhi and as the killer bus-line in Delhi and due to public pressure the Delhi gov- due to public pressure ernment decided to ban all blue line buses. The tD C management then the Delhi government hired a large number of drivers as well as conductors on a contract basis. decided to ban all blue generally these drivers are uneducated and come from remote areas and line buses. The DTC are required to report at their office in time. If he is unable to take the bus management then hired back during duty times then he does not get that day’s wage. Therefore, a large number of drivers although he worked the entire day, management would not pay him if he brought the bus back late. However, in reality if management has not as well as conductors on a assigned any duty to him on that day then it is their mistake. They should contract basis. Generally not be allowed to treat contract workers in this pathetic manner. these drivers are unedu- cated and come from some days ago I attended a consolidated campaign, with my friend san- remote areas and are deep, which was called by the contract workers. In this meeting one required to report at their worker told me that he never used to drink alcohol but due to work ten- sion he has now taken up drinking. He comes from rohtak and has to office in time. report early in the morning and in a month he is assigned duty for ap- proximately ten days. He has nothing to do on the other days. They have contested with management and the Delhi government several times but have only received false assurances in return. I wanted to bring this to |108 your attention and would lke your support in deal- ing with it.
109| SPEAKER 3
he manager of the Ashoka Hall never allows p c tewari workers to form a union, and whoever attempts Social Activist and to form a union is either transferred or fired. It Trade Union Leader, took almost two years for us to form a union. Uttarakhand but eventually Vikas singh the leader of the trade union was transferred.t Thus, whoever fights for the rights of people is -at tacked on all levels, be it social, economical or political. When I was fighting for peoples’ rights, the land mafia and the water mafia were against me. They tried to attack me through pamphlets and posters; they even tried to publish articles in the newspaper to defame me. Those newspapers were publishing fabricated stories about me for two years. It became very difficult to make my family understand what it was that I was actually doing.. It is really important to fight these attacks. There is another issue I would like to discuss very briefly here. In our area, the problem of wild animals destroying the crops is rampant. Farm- ers are really suffering because of this. The government is not doing much to solve these issues. our area is an underdeveloped area despite the fact that the government has made tall claims to address the issue of We are trying to organise unemployment in this area. There are huge discrepancies and corruption people and ascertain found in MNrEgA work. to fight against the menace of wild animals, political pressure on the women in Dwarahat were organized in huge numbers. They formed an labour department. There organization called Mahila Ekta parishad. Initially, the local police was are some labour issues we against them and claimed that these women have a link with the Maoists are trying to address in in this area. The police tried to file criminal cases against them but when this area. We had organ- the local public united against the police and supported the women or- ized a seven day demon- ganization, the police were forced to withdraw the cases. so it is essential stration to fight for labour to protect the human rights defenders. rights. We demanded that The labour department is extremely dysfunctional in our state. We are the government of Utta- trying to organize people and ascertain political pressure on the labour rakhand must ensure the department. There are some labour issues we are trying to address in this proper functioning of the area. We had organized a seven day demonstration to fight for labour labour department. rights. We demanded that the government of Uttarakhand must ensure the proper functioning of the labour department. As you all know, we do not have any heavy industries in Uttarakhand. The state is yet to explore industrialization, but there are possibilities that like other states, the rul-
|110 ing establishment in Uttarakhand is also going to ap- team of the investigating agency went and found out pease larger corporate groups, which in my view is a that the local activist who had complained against great threat to the environment. But so far, the state the person from Delhi for illegal encroachment also has not witnessed any prominent labour movement has a small patch of encroached land with him and to fight for labour rights. Whoever is fighting to de- that was his only source of livelihood, but if a person fend human rights, fighting to protect the environ- is encroaching a huge patch of government land for ment, the natural resources like jal, jungle, jameen a profitable business, that is a matter of concern. of this area, are definitely threatened by the govern- Now, let me tell you a very interesting aspect of how ment. trade union movement and workers’ struggle yield I would also like to discuss another issue, though it a fruitful result in terms of formation of a new state. is a bit different from what we are discussing here. The movement for the formation of the new state of There is a government officer from Delhi, who has Uttarakhand was led by the workers’ union. Let me huge land in our area and has started a luxury resort put the characteristics of movements and struggles business called ‘pleasant valley’. Apart from the land honestly. Most of the struggles and movements that he already had, he also tried to occupy the adjacent we are leading today are only on economic issues. land. We got to know about it and started protesting We need to give the movement a political shape. against him. We went for a fact finding, did a thor- Mere fighting to achieve economic goals is not suffi- ough investigation and found out that he had en- cient. We have to have a political vision to make the croached upon several acres of land illegally. When movement successful. Then only way we can have we protested against this encroachment, this person a consolidated struggle to fight against the human along with officials from the local administrative rights violators. Therefore, we need to have a proper agencies tried to attack the activists and booked and strategy and there is a need to raise the issues be- implicated the activists in several false cases, one yond the fight over economic issues to the next level even under the SC/ST (PoA), 1989. We tried to for more strategic change. find out the truth but nothing had happened.S oon a
111| SPEAKER 4
am from the Maruti suzuki Mazdoor Union. I am here amarenDra to discuss the problems and issues faced by workers in sHarma the car factory of Maruti suzuki. We have very peculiar Maruti problems and issues. The workers in the Marutisuzuki Suzuki Union company, work like robots. Every day we have to assemble Inear about 40-45 cars, we have a small break of seven minutes in between our shifts. In this small break, we have to go to the toilet and have our tea or snacks. What I am trying to say here is that we really have a very exploitative sys- tem. The situation in the productivity performance and reward system (pprs) is such that if you take holidays for even 5-6 days, half of your salary is deducted. recently, we had our worker union elections after 11 years. We had a strike to solve the issues of workers on 3rd June 2011. The monthly pay for all of us was deducted. We have already given our feedback on these issues to the management. on 4th June, the manage- The management threat- ment came out with a bond. The bond was about supporting the old ened us by saying that if workers’ union. The management threatened us by saying that if we do we do not sign the bond not sign the bond we will be thrown out. We were forced to sign the we will be thrown out. bond, but most of us resisted that move of the management. However, We were forced to sign the management did not stop here and to the ordeal of all the workers, the bond, but most of us they started using several tactics to harass us. We had an agitation for about 13 days. Eleven of our colleagues were suspended. We continuous- resisted that move of the ly agitated against the management decision and somehow managed to management. However, revoke the suspension of our colleagues and the management was forced the management did not to retain those workers. stop here and to the ordeal of all the work- on 29th August the management sealed the entire factory and opened a ers, they started using small gate for the workers to enter. on that day the management forced us to sign a document of good conduct. It is important to mention here several tactics to harass that, during the time of economic recession in the whole world, the us. We had an agitation workers at the Maruti suzuki factory worked over time for about two for about 13 days. Eleven extra hours every day to increase production. After that some workers of our colleagues were protested against this and the management very tactically forced a strike suspended. on all the workers saying the work has suffered because of the worker agitation. After the strike was over, again the management found another way to harass the workers. For example, the workers were shifted to dif- ferent areas of work. The painting department was shifted to the weld- |112 ing department and so on. In this way our capacity We still have the most exploitative processes and and efficiency was also affected. We were agitating workplace where there are virtually no labour rights against this and the agitation continued for 32 days. and we continue our struggle. In the bike plant some Around 1200 workers were laid off after the strike so anti-social elements supported by the management again we protested against the management to em- even fired at the agitating workers but somehow ploy these 1200 workers and we succeeded in doing even in this difficult situation we continue to fight that. Unfortunately, even though Maruti Suzuki suc- against injustice. ceeded in getting the SC I awards for 11 consecutive years, the hard labour of the workers is not recog- nized.
113| 1| |114 DAY 2 Novemver 20, 2011
115| |116 sessioN 1
AssAults oN rti Activists
117| |118 SPEAKER 1
n the last one and a half years or two, rti has started ShaileSh Gandhi making significant inroad into the power equations. i Chief Information suppose it was expected to be so when we have a very Commissioner poor security system in the country and a system that is unable to guarantee security to individual citizens. let us be veryi truthful and admit that in this country we are not wor- ried if one person gets beaten up somewhere or killed or tak- en to jail and kept there for years. We have lost our sensitivity. let me share some statistics which have always horrified me. About 30% of people in indian jails are convicts and 70% are usually under trial. With the given conviction rate of about 15%, out of the 70% only 15% are convicts. it means, that 30% are convicts and 10% are likely to be convicted and 60% of the people in prisons are probably there for only one fault, that is the fault of being poor. We got used to it and so let us stop pretending we are horrified when some set of people get attacked or treated with gross injustice. We are horrified when anotherrti activist I would like to share gets hurt because we belong to the same group, the same class of people something that we as and therefore his/her predicament concerns me. commissioners are trying so we are basically operating within the same caste system. Are we really to do and in which I bothered about any citizen, any human being who are facing any kind believe there will be legal of injustice? The answer is no. We have really lost our sensitivity. oth- possibility. If somebody erwise, we would have revolted a long time ago and said that this is not is attacked or murdered acceptable. We are defending our kind. earlier, the caste system would and we believe that the defend their own work, here we are doing something almost similar. We attack is because of an are also evolving in a kind of caste and we are saying that if you are an RTI query or series of rti activist then you are of my kind. Theni need to find ways of defend- RTI queries, it is possible ing you because you are my kind. i think ultimately real security will only that someone close to the come when we can guarantee, even if in a small manner, the rights of all human beings wherever they are. Having said that, coming back to particular activist would rti itself, let me share the problems i face as a commissioner (cic). have had access to the Whenever somebody says he has been assaulted or even threatened, the RTI application made by normal position one takes is to write to the police and ask them to do a him/her. risk assessment and for the provision of security as appropriate. But it is not uncommon for a small percentage of people to come and very eas- ily claim that they are being threatened and that they need action to be taken in this regard. sometimes one gets a sense that the other person 119| is perhaps lying. The reason I am using this strong mission would also simultaneously give an order to word is because it is a lie. Therefore, it becomes dif- the police authority instructing them to put up the ficult to differentiate, in fact, amongst the activists progress of the investigations on the website every who were being murdered, a lot of other people say month. The police, of course, cannot be forced to do that some of these murders probably have nothing anything, but at least the progress of the investiga- to do with RTI. True, that the person did use RTI tions can be put up suo motto. If these two things but whether the killing was because of it or some are followed then there is a possibility for the situa- other enmity, is not very clear. I think we need to tion to improve. In fact, I am trying to get some con- be conscious of these vagarancies because if a strat- tact information on Shehla Masood and will be glad egy is evolved, does it mean that a person who has to share with anyone who is interested in the draft filed an RTI application is entitled to a higher level of the complaint which I have made. Given the le- of security and a higher level of support than anyone gal basis on which the commission or any commis- else who gets murdered. Also, not every activist, so sion could pass an order on these things, this could to speak, is really fighting for the rights of the peo- be one defense mechanism for ensuring reduction ple or for a genuine cause. There are people who are in crime. I am not saying that it would happen to- doing wrong things and therefore should such an morrow but if these mechanisms are implemented a organisation and such people be supported and so number of times, such attacks will gradually reduce. on. These baffling questions need to be considered Also, during my tenure I observed that the govern- in detail before reaching a conclusion. ment had designed the PDS scheme in such a way I would like to share something that we as commis- that only corrupt people would come forward and sioners are trying to do and in which I believe there show interest in taking PDS shop licenses. For ex- will be legal possibility. If somebody is attacked or ample if anybody gets a PDS shop then he will earn murdered and we believe that the attack is because only six thousand rupees as commission monthly. of an RTI query or series of RTI queries, it is pos- But he will have to take a room in Delhi and also sible that someone close to the particular activist hire one person as an assistant. So, the expenditure would have had access to the RTI application made on these two would be close to Rs 4000 and the by him/her. It is expected that the purpose of the person who is running this shop would get only Rs attacks or murder would be to ensure that the infor- 2000, so it can be assumed that he would be a BPL. mation does not come out. So therefore, the propo- The problem, therefore, lies in the way the PDS is sition is that someone files a complaint to the com- designed such that only corrupt people will take in- mission saying the RTI applications are pending. terest in it and no honest person would come for- The commission would, or the central commission ward for the minimal monthly income that the PDS would, pass a resolution to this effect and I think a generates. Thus, the PDS has gone into the hands of lot of the state commissions can also do that, they the corrupt and the criminal. It is essential that the would issue an order to the public authorities where root cause of the problem in the design of the PDS the RTI applications are pending, asking that all scheme be located or else we will be engaged in this the information be put up on the websites of pub- fight for hundred years and more but it will still be lic authorities within 15 to 20 days. If we are able of no avail. It is a disturbing discovery that the high- to do this then there is a possibility that attacks to er officials are not only aware of this serious flaw but suppress RTI would not take place or atleast re- that they take the corruption for granted. The state duce in number. If somebody says that one is ask- of affairs of many government schemes and provi- ing for an inconvenient information and the person sions is the same and it needs to be addressed as the is attacked, then the information will go out into first step towards improvement. public domain on websites by an order of the com- mission. The second proposition is that the com-
|120 SPEAKER 2
will refrain from saying anything about the attacks Vijay Kumbhar whether related to the ones on rti activists or on hu- RTI activist man rights activists. i think both are essentially the same. so far, thirteen rti activists have been murdered. The big question is, what happens after the murder? What is ithe level of investigation? When satish shetty was murdered we had a demonstration in Pune. in three months we met the DiG at his office and were given the assurance that the inves- tigation is moving in the right direction. At that moment we assumed that the culprit will be caught within a few months. When we were coming back from the DiG’s office and inter- acting with the media, one of the officials came and asked me, what kind of information did satish have before he was mur- dered. After whichi understood that the police are unable to do anything in this case because they don’t have primary evi- The RTI activists are dence of this case. Why is it this happening? There are three more prone to attacks things. There is a nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and because they possess the beneficiary of rti, all three are well connected to each authentic information other and they want to stop such investigations and to some and on the basis of this extent they have been successful. The rti activists are more information they can eas- prone to attacks because they possess authentic information ily expose the real culprit. and on the basis of this information they can easily expose Due to this threat many activists are seeking police the real culprit. Due to this threat many activists are seeking protection, including police protection, including myself at a point in time. speak- myself at a point in time. ing from my personal experience, if one is in police protection Speaking from my per- that means he/she is virtually in prison. sonal experience, if one is i feel that as an rti activist we are not sharing our information to each in police protection that other. But any information is like a bomb which can explode at any time. means he/she is virtually We must share our information with each other so that pressure can come in prison. down. People blame us saying that rti activists are giving information to the Press but our real purpose is to give information to the people so that they can know what is going on. Many people are demanding to make new laws to protect rti activists, human rights activists, law-
121| yers etc. But in my opinion this is not a very wise been talking about human rights. Be it Chhattisgarh idea because we cannot make a law for every sub- or Maharashtra, we need to formulate a strategy to ject. Our existing laws are good enough and need to understand the issues of human rights. Secondly, be implemented properly. For example in the RTI the government is trying to make an amendment in Act, there is a clause in Section 4, using which we the RTI Act claiming that the Act has been misused. can get all the information under this Act and can There are so many laws which are being misused bring out the information in the public domain. We in the country why amend only one? I am not sure need to make an effort in this direction. I t is unlikely whether RTI as a tool is being misused or not, but that the attacks on activists will come down despite if the government goes for a protection mechanism the organization of various meetings and consulta- to avoid misuse of the Act then the very essence of tions. There are so many issues which we have to the RTI Act will die. This is the main cause of my deal with, so many mafia- oil mafia, sand mafia, land concern and we should raise our voices against this mafia and so on. We need to prepare ourselves to move. fight against this. Since the last two days, we have
|122 SPEAKER 3
am an rti activist working with Parivartan since the SantoSh Koli last ten years. i personally have faced several attacks in RTI activist the course of my work in the right to information field. once we were working in sundernagar in Delhi where the beneficiaries had red and yellow cards (BPl & Antodaya icards) but were not getting ration from the PDs shop. When we filed an rti in this case, we found lots of discrepancies in the public distribution system during the auditing. We raised our voice against this and tried to expose the mafia and ad- ministrative authority involved in this case. But we recieved resistance from many quarters to stop our work. We were even threatened on many occasions since many powerful people were involved in the case. They had a very strong in- formation network so we were followed everywhere. i started working on the food distribution scam and i got all the informa- I was pressurized to stop tion through rti. since there were only a few people who were filing rti my work. I was attacked on these issues it became very easy for the PDs mafia to track me down. when I did not budge since i was staying in the same locality where i was investigating the lo- under pressure. They cal PDs and i personally knew the local MlA and many other people, to attacked me nine times carry out the investigation was very difficult. i was pressurized to stop my and on two occasions, work. i was attacked when i did not budge under pressure. They attacked they tried to kill me. me nine times and on two occasions, they tried to kill me. interestingly Interestingly they always they always informed me before the attacks. once they tried to slit my informed me before the throat and in another attack they tried to injure my face. it was traumatic to my family to the extent that they asked me to stop my work. Finally a attacks. Once they tried resident of the area met the Assistant commissioner to solve the issue to slit my throat and in amicably and told him that nobody will be purchasing any ration from another attack they tried the PDs shops even if the ration is returned to the Fci godown. The to injure my face. It was people said that they are not going to tolerate such incidents again. The traumatic to my family to cM recieved information about it and called a meeting and during the the extent that they asked meeting called for a social audit of the PDs system of that area. However me to stop my work. i was attacked even after the intervention of the chief Minister. eleven rti activists have been murdered like this so far. living in Delhi we often get media coverage on these issues. But for people who are working in villages, where there is no media access, it is difficult for activists to act
123| swiftly and let the public know of such violations. I ticular incident the doctor removed the oxygen pipe believe it is just a matter of time, since my experi- of a patient who was complaining about something ence tells me that nothing is impossible if you de- and slapped him so hard that he died on the spot cide upon it. All of us can learn from the struggles of and the doctor pretended as if the patient died dur- people like Binayak Sen. ing the course of treatment. Another woman from Moradabad informed us that the doctors were ask- In another case, we all know that 25% of the seats in ing for one lakh rupees for a knee replacement sur- private schools are reserved for children from mar- gery. I registered a complaint with the senior doctor ginalized communities. Similarly, 25% of the beds and when the concerned doctor heard about the in hospitals are to be kept for patients from mar- complaint he refused to do the treatment. We filed ginalized communities. When we tried to contact an RTI to seek immediate action and moved to the principals of some of the private schools in Delhi court seeking justice and consequently she got treat- regarding this we were not even allowed to enter the ed for free. My question is that if one person can get school premises. Both teachers and the principals of free treatment then why not others? It is a continu- these schools have shown no concern for the guide- ous struggle with the CIC to seek justice. When we lines and refuse to take the children from the slums were fighting with TG B, we attempted to meet the on the premise that it will have a negative impact on CIC to request him to appoint sensible officials in the environment of the schools as most of the slum issues like PDS, education and health. We sat in a children use foul language. So the attitude of the dharna in front of his office. The police callled, we teaching community reflects that one is entitled to were arrested and an FIR was registered against us. good and quality education only if one has money. The case is still running in the court. It is disappointing to watch the government spend crores of money on these sectors to no avail. We I also want to share my experience in Delhi. When are fighting for equality and equal opportunity for the cash for ration programme was started by the everyone. If private schools can provide good edu- government we did a survey and called a meeting cation, why not government schools? If private hos- of the people in our area. Being a World Bank move, pitals are providing all kinds of facilities and medi- we protested against this policy of the government. cines, why not the government hospitals? When We were shocked to discover in the course of 4-5 we raise these questions, we face attacks. When we meetings that even the local MLA and many others fight for the admission of underprivileged children, were not aware about this scheme of the Delhi gov- we face lathi charge by the police. When we file ernment. We had invited at least 15 NGOs to join us RTI to seek information on the admission process in our campaign and named the campaign ‘Ration the education mafia harass us. It is, therefore, a con- Vyavastha Sudhar Abhiyan’. We were called to the tinuous struggle for all of us. We face the wrath of CM office where they asked for a feedback from the the education mafia when we fight for educational NGOs on the PDS. During the meeting the Chief rights of the underprivileged children. Using the Minister pointed at me and said, “Miss Parivartan, we RTI, we have succeeded in opening the doors of ed- are watching you since the last ten years, tell me, what ucation for poor children and approximately 500 to have you done except provoking people? We have 600 children are being taught in private schools and many complaints against you and we can arrest you are doing very well. Even various school administra- at any moment if you don’t mend your ways.” When tions have accepted that. we came out of the meeting, I faced the wrath of my NGO colleagues. What I am trying to say, through Another point I would like to highlight is the case this story, is that at times we have such experiences of GTB hospital, which is near my residence. Peo- even amongst other social activists and the people we ple from across the country come here for treat- are working with. We have to come together and stay ment but the hospital authority is not following any united to fight for ourselves. Let us think about how guidelines in this hospital. There is a lack of basic we can work together. facility like gas and essential life saving equipments; the behaviour of the doctors is so cruel that in a par-
|124 sessioN 2 situAtioN oF DeFeNDers iN tHe NortH-eAst
125| |126 SPEAKER 1
he democratic and political space available in babloo Northeast india is very limited. if we look back, loitonGbam the way in which the political and social proc- Human Rights Alert, esses lead to the creation of a democratic space Manipur is slightly different in the Northeast states from the way the maint stream civil liberty and democratic rights movement came about. We have always been talking about partition of india and Pakistan on independence day but much ear- lier there was a partition in the eastern side when india and Burma were split in the 1930s, and then in the 1940s came the india and Pakistan partition which again sliced out a con- siderable portion of Bangladesh and which has since kept the Northeastern states in complete isolation. The political climate at the time of independence was not very good. There was already an armed conflict on the issue of right to self deter- mination in the mid 50’s in response to which, the law (AFsPA) which everybody has been hearing about and regarding which irom sharmila is fasting, the AFsPA, was enacted. it was very strongly opposed by many parliamentarians in 1958 saying that this is in fact an emergency law and the indian state being a democracy should not put all its military might in this area without declaring a state of emergency. The use of this law In the 1990’s efforts were was basically a license for the military to go and destroy people’s houses, made to look beyond eth- search anybody’s house without a warrant or even kill people on mere nicity or ethnic lines and suspicion without any legal recourse whatsoever unless and until there is sanction from the central government. so there is complete denial of focus on a regional level democratic rights in the Northeast from day one. to organize human rights bodies but soon most in the 1950’s we see a complete erosion of democratic space in the Naga of such organisations Hills, this spread in the 60’s to the losai Hills of Mizoram, which is the were branded as frontal only place where the indian Air Force actually air bombed the civilian organisation of armed population in Aizwal and many others villages and till date, the Mizo stu- dent groups are demanding a public apology from the government of groups. india which has never arrived. under this armed conflict situation where the state had virtually declared war on its own people, the democratic space that the people were trying
127| to claim interestingly came from a retired army man. challenging the constitutionality of the AFSPA was His name is Brigadier Shilo. Coming from Mizoram, registered in the Supreme Court on 10th October he served in the British Indian army and continued 1980 by the human rights forum in Manipur. Simi- to serve in the Indian army. When he was retiring larly with the public interest litigation, lok adalats and trying to build his house in Shilong, an IAS were coming up in the 80’s along with some human officer informed him, “Your home town is finished rights organisations but soon it was realized that the and it is burning”. He was shocked and when he lower courts were unable to deliver the necessary de- went to Mizoram, he saw the Indian army literally mands and safeguard the human rights of the people burning away villages. He was deeply hurt by this. At in northeast. So in the 1990s, another kind of hu- that time, he wrote very strong letters to Mrs Indira man rights organisation took shape which is based Gandhi saying that, “My blood is of the Indian army on the masses like Manav Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti and I served it for my whole life but my bones are in Assam and the Committee on Human Rights. For Mizo. How can my blood and bones fight the way the first time there were efforts to build alliances it is happening here?” So in the early seventies, long amongst northeast human rights organisations and before we had PUDR and PUCL in other parts of they called themselves the northeast Coordination the country, Brigadier Shilo formed a small group Committee on Human Rights. Realizing the need at of citizens in a house in Aizwal and they constituted the time, although small scale, it was still an ethnic what is called the Human Rights Committee, which response and also ethnic demands for right to self- is perhaps the first human right organization in the determination and state repression being made. In whole country. This man went to villages and tried the 1990’s efforts were made to look beyond ethnic- to persuade the Indian army to stop assaulting the ity or ethnic lines and focus on a regional level to people of their own country. Soon, the situation organize human rights bodies but soon most of such came under control. During the post emergency pe- organisations were branded as frontal organisation riod, there was a kind of upsurge of reckoning the of armed groups. The issue of the nexus between need for democratic rights in the rest of the country human rights groups and the armed movement was and the students in JNU and Delhi University, stu- raised in the Parliament and the home ministry list- dents coming from the North East came out with ed a number of human rights organisations as hav- the idea of forming human rights organizations. In ing links with the underground movement such that the late seventies the Naga Peoples Movement for it marked the end of the human rights movement in Human Rights, which is one of the most power- the late 90’s. The year 2000 came with an extraordi- ful and first human rights organisation that came nary number of demands to repeal the AFSPA in the about in the country, was formed in the mess (din- form of Irom Sharamila, who is herself a product of ing space) of JNU. Similarly, around the same time a much larger movement. But we still need to make the Human Rights Forum of Manipur was formed efforts to systematically document the human rights at the tea stall behind the Gwyer Hall in the Delhi situation in the Northeast states and try to use the University and they moved for the first time when mechanisms and institutions that are available and public litigation was opened in SC. There was a con- that are increasingly coming out, such as RTI and tradiction, of course, because in the dining hall and others. the conference hall of Delhi university and JNU, Isolation is a crucial issue when it comes to the there were fiery democratic speeches that were of- people of the Northeast which the Human Rights ten heard in the post emergency periods but back at groups often find difficult to handle. It is important home they had to stay in playgrounds and the army for us to locate and understand this context and the moved about as masked men and once they were fact that geopolitics also play an important role in identified they were finished. So this contradic- the democratic space that is available to the people tion led many students to start a democratic rights of the Northeast states. and human rights group and thus the first petition
|128 SPEAKER 2
peaking with regard to Assamese Media there has naVa thaKuria been a very different kind of uprising in Assam in Journalist from Assam 1979 in the form of AAsu movement, a student’s movement against some illegal migrants from Bang- ladesh. it was a big revolution. We were only in class six or sseven then. We witnessed how two young men Prafulla Ku- mar Mahanta and Prabhut Kant, became ram and laxman like figures in the Assamese society. The media was extremely supportive of the cause and the people of Assam truly be- lieved that the illegal Bangladeshi migrants will leave the state. People believed in the idea of Golden Assam. That is the year the united liberation Front of Assam was born. This group grew to its full strength around the mid 1980’s and till then the AAsu had mesmerized the people of Assam, be it In the 1990’s a jour- the Barags, the Dalits, the Barogs or any other community. nalist called Kamala everyone was strictly against the illegal immigration from Saikia was killed by Bangladesh. We believe that, to date, there are about 20 lakh the militants and I had people still living in Assam as economic migrants from the written an article on this neighbouring country. issue. In a meeting at the Press Club a number of Due to the strong activism against this migration we suddenly found that journalists were debating the armed force, what we called the crPF, presented itself in our villages. whether there should be We had to spend nights outside home since the crPF came and picked a protest in this regard up young men and raped and abused women in the villages. From 1979 to 1985 the Assam accord with the Assam government by Asom Gana or not. Being a young Parishad prevailed but then the ulFA became strong again and in 1990 journalist I said that we the situation turned horrible when the state started the Bajrang opera- should protest the killings tion against ulFA making Assam a turmoil state where people could be by ULFA and also the killed at anytime. By the nineties a large number of people were killed by fact that they are not militants. This is one of the major issues that i would like to highlight. ready to sanction those From 1979 to 1990 ulFA killed a lot of people, journalists and social ac- killings. tivists because they wanted to make their voice heard by the media. The media was a target because they would send the press release that they wanted to publish and they strictly mention that it should be published verbatim, without any editing whatsoever. A lot of people in the media
129| are affiliated to these militant groups and support headway into the Assamese population. Some Adi- such publishing’s and that is where the conflict rises vasi groups who are basically from Chhattisgarh and within the media group. In the 1990’s a journalist Jharkhand were brought by the British government called Kamala Saikia was killed by the militants and for tea plantation in Assam. They believe that the I had written an article on this issue. In a meeting at Maoist activists are the ones working against some the Press Club a number of journalists were debat- big dams. So, they want to target Akhil Gogoi and ing whether there should be a protest in this regard ensure that he is arrested and put behind bars. They or not. Being a young journalist I said that we should are doing this only to crush the movement. protest the killings by ULFA and also the fact that In Assam, we have lots of militant groups, the Boro, they are not ready to sanction those killings. Since NTRP, KLM, KPT, NSN, AYAM etc. who are ac- some of us did not agree, we divided at that time and tive in areas like Haflong and Dimasang. Being me- came up with the midway or silent procession that dia persons, we are truly ally with the human rights marked the beginning of protests against the mili- defenders. Yesterday, I heard about how the Raipur tancy in Assam. For the past twenty years there has Press Club issued statements on behalf of the gov- been no trace of the killers of Kamla Saikia. In 1997 ernment. It will never happen in Guwahati Press Parag Kumar, an acclaimed human rights activist Club. The government, in actuality, is really afraid died. He was gunned down by militants and we be- of the Guwahati Press Club. We have never taken lieve that the government got him killed because he money from the government. We have not taken a has written very anti-New Delhi articles. He wanted single rupee from the Assam government or the As- Assam to be almost independent and NE to be in- sam Chief Minister. We run a small house, but are dependent and he believed that we should not be really active. Even Ministers do not dare to come to a part of the government of India and the Indian the Press Club to have a meeting. Once there was Colonial rule. Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, another Journal- some conflict regarding journalists being assaulted ist was jailed and tortured. Lasir Babloo of Manav in the Secretariat; so we had a long protest in the Adhikar Surakshya Samiti, a whistleblower against Guwahati Press Club. We called the Ministers and human rights violations was also targeted. In Assam, four Ministers came to resolve the issue. We do not there is confusion that the human rights activists have a bar in the Guwahati Press Club, unlike other speak on behalf of the militant groups only and not press clubs in the country. We are a very poor club, on behalf of the armed forces because lots of Assa- but we are very Independent. Akhil Gogoi had lots mese boys were killed in Maoist attacks in the recent of press conferences in the Press Club. Someone past. But now it has come through the local media, once asked why do you allow him to have press local journalists, local civil society groups and it has conference in the press club? Then I said everyone been accepted that we must fight against both the is allowed, you are also allowed to have press con- state and non-state actors who are creating havoc in ferences in the club. One Minister, whose corrupt the human rights situation in Assam. ways were brought to light by Akhil Gogoi said I will Assam is divided into many small communities. The come to your club and set the record straight. We Boro, Rawa, Missing, the Barag valley dominated said please do but he never came. by Bengalis, western Assam dominated by Muslim We are really raising our voice against all human population, the Ahom community in eastern Assam rights violations through our pen and through our etc. As a result we have Mongolian–non Mongolian, meetings. I go to many places in the state for meet- Aryan–non Aryan, Hindu–Muslim and Brahmin– ings where I talk to the local journalists who are non Brahmin conflicts. Also, a part of Assam was often subjected to arrest, torture and even killings under AFSPA in 1958. We raised our voice against by the state. Twenty journalists have been killed AFSPA in tune with sister Sharmila. There was a in Assam in the past 20 years, a very high number huge movement organized by Akhil Gogoi, the RTI compared to any other Indian state. It is a big issue. activist against big dams. But recently, the Govern- We have very young journalists killed by the mili- ment of India and the Government of Assam have tant groups, the Boro militants in Assam. Then the made some statements that the Maoists have made timber mafia killed one journalist, Prabhat Gola in
|130 2006, from nearby the Kajiranga area. That way, we have discussion portals and also can have the kind have victims of circumstances; because we have to of dissemination of information that can make a real write reports, we have to write articles against all difference. Sometimes the media has its own set of these kinds of mafia, the goons, anti-social elements, problems; the problem of TRPs and of dependence. militant groups and even the government forces. So, they may go for particular stories only. Many activists are very critical about the media. It We all are, after all media persons. In the next five is true that of late the mainstream media is loosing years, we will live in a world of journalists who have their soul. But regional media in Assam, unlike any their own thoughts, beliefs and imagination. We other state, is really talking about people’s plight and should take advantage of alternative media. The their problems both in Assamese and in the Eng- mainstream journalists must do their duty accord- lish language. The stories of pathos, told by women ing to their norms, ethics and their limitations. But from Chhattisgarh and Kashmir, are very common alternative journalists can do a bigger job. I believe in Assam. In fact, in Assam and the North-East as there is quite a difference between a professional a whole, we have experienced such horrible situa- journalist on a salary based job and a journalist as tions in the last 30 years that the mainland Indian a missionary and in the next five years, a journal- cannot even think of. We have faced criticism like ist outside of the so called media offices would be that of paid news, corporatization of media, corrup- much better, more efficient and would be more vis- tion amongst high profile journalists etc. but at the ible in our country. same time Internet and alternative media is coming up as a bigger option. It can be used to take help and
131| SPEAKER 3
come from Nagaland and i represent the Naga Moth- roSemary ers’ Association which is actually an apex body of tribal dzuVichu Naga women and women organizations that fight for Advisor to the women rights as well as fight for human rights. The Naga Mothers’ Naga Peoples Movement for Human rights, the NPMHr, Association iwas born in the mid 70’s and is one of the most organized human rights organizations in the region. Nagaland has faced around six decades of a movement of self-determination which carries on today. it has experienced the first forms of AFsPA and has had experiences with the NsA. it has also had experiences with the Disturbed Area Act which is still present and has been extended again, in spite of the cease-fire. When we talk about attacks, the list is very long, be it against women or student activists. Killings in open daylight without any consequen- tial action despite all the efforts of the human rights organizations are daily news in the region and especially in Nagaland. When we talk of the situation of the defenders, it mostly begins with harassments, threats, telephone calls, visits by army personnel, raiding houses in the middle of the night etc. i had a terrible experience when i was the convener of The human rights defend- NPMH. My house was surrounded by around 30-40 army personnel ers in a place like Naga- wearing Naga shawls. They banged on my gate and asked me to open my door. since they were speaking in Hindi i pretended not to understand land are caught between the language. They pushed a captain in front of me who spoke impec- the voices protesting cable english. i live with my 3 children and i refused to open the door against the state and the untill female police were called since it was almost midnight. They had a actions of the movement gun aimed at me. i only had a small boy helping me in the house. We had for self determination to open the door and at that moment he started towards my bedroom. and the militant- under- i threatened to report to Brigadier Nair of the Assam rifle, the Direc- ground groups, which are tor General. Fortunately, as a human rights activist, we are in constant many. There have also interaction with Brigadier Nair. They had to leave in face of the threat. been numerous attacks on The surprising thing is the kind of guise they came in; wearing traditional the Nagaland media. shawls in the middle of the night. The next morning, we had a meet- ing with Brigadier Nair and after that there were no more visits. But i think that is just one example to show that you are profiled and identi- fied. At that time i was already working as a university professor. The incident showed that it did not matter where you work; you are not safe |132 when you are working for the rights of the people was the first time women had stepped up and ques- and questioning atrocities that are committed by tioned the state as well as the Naga tribe leaders. the armed forces and army personnel. The human The Naga women were going against the custom- rights defenders in a place like Nagaland are caught ary practices of the tribe, which is not being given between the voices protesting against the state and a space in decision making bodies like the village the actions of the movement for self determination councils. In most Indian villages, there is Panchyati and the militant- underground groups, which are Raj. In Nagaland, we have village councils which is many. There have also been numerous attacks on the an all male body. The judgment was passed on 21st Nagaland media. The editor of the only local daily October after five hearings, with the help of HRLN, newspaper we had was gunned down in the middle and the government is now the first to implement of the day in the early 80’s and his killer has not been women reservation and at the same time, they have found to date. We have had numerous attacks in the to finish this before 20th January 2012. This is in- last few years on young journalists, most of them deed a big victory for the women but the after effect were shot and maimed but with no follow up from of the judgment is very interesting. On one side, we the government in spite of pressure from all of us. have the state government literally looking at us as upcoming rebels, probably in contact with militants Nagaland also has a genocidal history minus the gas and on the other side we have the apex Tribal or- chamber and it is something many of my friends ganization which was male dominated and cannot from the mainland are not aware of. And I can un- easily accept the role of women in public organiza- derstand the stories of the Kashmiris, or even the tions. Therefore, as a first step, this organizaton has Sikhs, because we have gone through the same kind suspended one of the biggest women’s organisations of experience. Nagaland probably has one of the in Nagaland which is called the Vatsumandog con- highest number of war widows. Therefore, when sisting of highly educated Naga women. They have we talk of rights and defending them, especially suspended this organization from the whole tribe from the gender perspective today, the tragedy be- for daring to go against the custom, that is, for going comes greater. We are not only talking about fight- to the court and seeking a space in decision making. ing against the state or seeking our rights from the So when we talk about violations of one’s rights and state we are also talking about the situation where the kind of effects that it has on one, the women’s Tribal women are protesting and fighting for a space issue in Nagaland becomes doubly serious. and for their rights within the Tribal communities. Therefore, on one side you have the state govern- Secondly, I want to talk about the attacks on ment, harassing you, profiling you, giving you all academia. The North-East has 8 central universi- kinds of threats and on the other side you have ties, all governed by Delhi, the Vice Chancellors are Tribal leaders of your own community who defame chosen at the whims and fancies of the politicians. you, go to the extent of character assassination just And the tragedy is that most of them come with no because you are raising voices for women. idea of what the Northeast is all about, they come along with racist prejudices. Official notices under I want to share a recent incident. Nagaland is perhaps the central service rules which have nothing to do one of the few states in the country that has not im- with our university are often applied here. We don’t plemented the provisions of 33% reservation in the fall under the purview of central service conduct municipalities and town councils. Although the Act rules. Because of our active association with move- was passed and adopted by the State Assembly, the ments like Naga People’s movement and also being government did not hold any elections and did not active within the teaching community, by fighting implement the Act in the last five years. This year, and talking about corruption within the university, under the leadership of the Naga Mother’s Associa- we have managed to bring about a CBI inquiry and tion and the coming together of 15 Tribal women two fact-finding committees into the universities, organizations in Nagaland we contacted Colin, from the UGC and the MHRD and the end result came to Delhi, got Colin’s support and brought Col- was two suspensions. In a period of three years, my in to file a writ petition in the Guwahati HighC ourt, secretary and I have had two suspensions and 5 Kohima. The government was shocked because this
133| months of not even a subsistence allowance being was not ready to meet us. When I informed the CBI given. When I came to Delhi, I was surprised to see director that we have been invited to the Rashtra- the same things happening in Delhi University, a pati Bhawan and will complain if he keeps evading university we look up to. us, we were invited to the private residence of the director that very evening. While RTI is very effec- I also want to share something on the RTI because tive in these cases we also have the CVC. We have it is an important topic and many times the success also filed anR TI on CVC inaction since it is the end of our movements depends on the RTI. We filed an for people like us who fight against corruption. It RTI with the President of India and I remember the passes the same petition you have been running for first time I went to Rashtrapati Bhawan and stood years to the ministry of HRD and then back to itself. there at the registry. The clerk at the window said My question is if your RTI is against the top brass of that RTI can never be filed in the Rashtrapati Bha- police, what do you do in such a situation? We had wan. I had to argue with the clerk and tell him that I filed an IRF under the SC/ST prevention of Atroci- had come all the way from Nagaland. Finally an of- ties Act because of the kind of harassment we faced ficer came and filed the petition and the response by the VC on racism, on derogatory statements, and with the RTI was immediate. We had tried for elev- all kinds of defamation as teachers. The appalling en months to get an appointment with the VC re- part is that the Police officer who came to my house garding corruption issues at the university and here asked for a copy of the SC/ST (PoA) Act saying that I filed the RTI at 10am in the morning and was in- he didn’t have one. It went on for months and noth- vited by the Rashtrapati to visit the Rashtrapati Bha- ing happened. So, in some cases, these things may wan at 4pm. Amazing things can happen with RTI. work. But for some people who live really far away We filed an RTI against the CBI officers who came from where the central government really governs to our university for investigation, who came to Na- and proclaims these kinds of policies there is a long galand and visited all the tourist spots. They did not battle ahead. do any investigation and went back to Delhi. We filed a petition against theC BI and the CBI director
|134 SPEAKER 4
e have been hearing and discussing the atroc- irom SinGhajit ities and killings of human rights defenders. Brother of But i am not a human rights defender neither Irom Sharmila Chanu a writer nor a lawyer. i am working as an ag- ricultural officer since 15 years. i have come to Delhi from ManipurW with a message from my youngest sister. Her mes- sage is her struggle. i would like to start with how her fast began and the reason behind it. in october 2000, there was a pre-independent inquiry commission in Manipur that was led by retd. Justice suresh from Bombay and that was organized by Mr. colin Gonsalves and Mr. Babloo. in the commission, sharmila also attended as an individual activist. During that commis- sion she saw the victims of AFsPA. We cannot imagine women raped by the indian Army in front of their father-in-law. she met those victims personally. exactly seven days after the completion of the commission on Nov 2, 2000, there was a cold blooded massacre, 10 innocent people were killed by the Assam rifles including a child who was a National children’s Bravery award winner. After hearing about it,s harmila de- cided that the only way to repeal this draconian Act from the surface of the nation is the way of non-violence. she decided to continue her fast till the end of her life unless and until her demands were fulfilled and the AFsPA was repealed. she started her fast on 5th Nov, 2000. i have also been working with Mr. Babloo, but since i am a simple farmer, not an activist, i don’t know about human rights but i have taken the Sharmila is also a human responsibility of taking care of my sister. since she is in custody she is rights defender but she is not allowed to read the newspaper. our state government did not even in custody. She wants to provide a transistor (radio) for her and even our family members need to defend her brothers and take permission from the Home Department to meet her. it used to take sisters of the nation. She 15-20 days earlier but now the process is even longer. Now it takes more was born in our family than one and a half months. in 2009 our foundation organized a five day as the youngest sister and festival for Justice and Peace. in that festival Ma Mahasweta also came she became a sister to the and participated. Many other intellectuals came there. Henry also came entire nation. there. But our cM did not give permission for us to meet her. This time, from srinagar to imphal, ‘save sharmila’ campaign was organized from 16-27 october. i was also in that team. The team thought, we will reach imphal and we will see sharmila and we will hand over some flowers,
135| some gifts to her. We had already applied for the per- rights of meeting people freely. Even our mother mission. But when we reached Imphal on 27th, our needs to wait for 45 days if she wants to meet her. CM denied our application. Members from 12 dif- Any suggestion, any group can come to help us? ferent states who had gathered there were shocked Let us unite and raise our voice to the parliament in with this experience. The biggest festival of Manipur this winter session because Sharmila is being slowly was on 28th October this year. On this day all sisters killed by our state government. Our central govern- are called by brothers and the sisters give blessings ment never tried to listen to the voice of Sharmila. to the brothers. On that special day all the relatives Anna Hazare’s fast was discussed in length in parlia- kept fast and returned on 29th. ment. The media channels broadcasted Anna from morning to night. His demands were discussed and Sharmila is also a human rights defender but she is paid heed to by intellectual circles and NGOs. So in custody. She wants to defend her brothers and sis- far, 11 years have passed and the state and central ters of the nation. She was born in our family as the government has not paid heed to Sharmila’s fast. The youngest sister and she became a sister to the entire mainstream media has always neglected the voice of nation. She has sacrificed her life for the safety of all the north east regions. It is one of the most symbolic but inside custody she is lonely and she faces many examples of racial discrimination. At this juncture problems like meeting people or even reading a we need to unite against AFSPA, as it is improper newspaper. If, say, I want to hand over this pamphlet to implement it in any part of our nation. Not on to Sharmila, I need the permission of the jailor. At the surface of Manipur, not on the surface of Jammu this national consultation of human rights defend- Kashmir. That is why my last request is to unite and ers many doctors, lawyers and many intellectuals are raise a voice to the parliament for repealing this dra- here. My humble request to all of you is to consider conian Act from the surface of our nation. that lonely custody room and how Sharmila will get
|136 sessioN 3 role oF lAWYers
137| |138 SPEAKER 1
e have been learning about the assault taking maharuKh place on the lawyers in Punjab and how it has adenwalla happened in different parts of the country. Human rights lawyer, Here, we have people who have been fighting Mumbai against the assault which has been taking place. Mr. Amarnath PandeyW who is a lawyer and has been working in chhattisgarh and we have a assault happening on him at such a stage that he had to move from there, and he had to go running around and collect for anticipatory bail. And there is advocate shreeji Bhavsar from HrlN who has had a series of attacks from Delhi police. But as we know that how in the difficult situation of chhattisgarh what Mr. Amarnath Pandey has gone through. People have filed false cases against him. They are taking the case to the court and fighting in a manner by which he is being targeted for doing You call it a security that. And there is shamim Modi, she is an activist who has been work- ing in Madhya Pradesh. she has been working with adivasis, working on threat, you call it for those their issues, trying to get their land back and even she was brutally at- who fight against the tacked, so much so that she was not able to work on the field for the in- state as anti-nationals jury she underwent. That is what we want to say that lawyers and activists and target them, scare at a particular level are working on the grass root. i mean being a part of them, not that you have the struggle who allow the struggle to continue with the fight. They are anything personal against playing a very important role in the administration of justice. us but put tear into us so so, now they are being targeted. Mr. Prashant Bhushan really needs no that those lawyers stop introduction because everybody knows about the role he’s been play- litigating, stop defending ing in fighting corruption that most of us have seen in vis-à-vis the Jan these people, whom they lokpal Bill. But i feel that the greatest fight against corruption was also have been defending. Just vis-à-vis the judiciary. And for a lawyer to stand up in public meetings to put fear into their minds speak about judiciary, to speak about the role of judiciary perpetuating but people who are here corruption is something only a brave lawyer can do. is not threatened by this so, this whole thing of administration of justice the state has decided fear and they continued that there are certain sections of the society for whom justice is not nec- with their work. essary. You call it a security threat, you call it for those who fight against the state as anti-nationals and target them, scare them, not that you have anything personal against us but put tear into us so that those lawyers stop litigating, stop defending these people, whom they have been de-
139| fending. Just put fear into their minds but people in Bombay known as Shahid Azmi in Bombay who who are here is not threatened by this fear and they was assassinated at the age of 32. He used to fight for continued with their work. the justice of the Muslims who were falsely implicat- ed always. In any terrorist activity the only investi- Also, I had an opportunity to go in the female bar- gation that happens is to go behind young Muslims racks of the Ambikapur Jail (Chhatisgarh). I saw and we say that it is an issue of security so we don’t a large number of female saying they were called interfere. But this young lawyer Shahid Azmi used Maoists and Naxalities and they were arrested un- to go to court and fight and say that I want justice der the Unlawful Activities Act. They were here for for these young muslim boys who have been labeled 6 years. I said that the bail rules are strict under the as terrorists and have been falsely implicated. In Act, but still why you didn’t apply. One of them said 2010 when he was working in his office, 3 people that there are 26 cases on me? How would I pay came saying that we are your clients and took out lawyers to go running around for all the cases? An- a gun and shot him at point blank range and when other one said that I have 13 cases on me. When my the case came out it was said that since he fights for lawyers finished on these 13 cases, they put another the anti-nationals this was a patriotic killing. Later new 11 cases against me. So, it is quite obvious thing three people were caught. In the media, Tehelka has that these cases were prior to arrest. So, till now, why raised the question that who benefits from the death weren’t the cases charged. And as she has received of Shahid Azmi? Is it the Bharat Nepali! Shahid acquittal on all the previous cases so the main mo- Azmi had in very concerted manner had followed tive is that she has to be kept inside for as long as up the case and was able to show that these Muslims possible. Then on those 11 cases the trial was com- were falsely implicated. Even in the 26/11 case, two pleted and she received acquittal on Sept, 2011. But boys were picked up (Indian boys). He was able to as her mother and sister came to take her from the show through this entire case that these boys were jail and she came out, men in plain clothes came not responsible and so they were acquitted. The to her and picked her up and took her somewhere. Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights of One day later she was presented to the DM again which Shahid Azmi was a member, and we are also with 2 cases on her. The lawyers had seen that this members wrote a letter to the High Court saying might happen and the entire abduction was video that please look into this killing. The reply was that recorded. This shows that these people are being as the accused have been caught, we don’t need to falsely implicated because if a person receives 24 do an inquiry. acquittals that speak for itself. The legal fraternity will have to see that now this will be happening in Now this young activist Ms. Shamim Modi working other states too. So, we need to see that how we can in Madhya Pradesh for the tribals, is the one who is control it. fighting against the wroth of the state now. So now one sees that it’s not only the security angle, but And as Mr. Prashant Bhushan has said that judges it goes all the way. You fight for minorities, slum- think themselves to be a family, that they protect dwellers; you are beaten up, killed. But we know each one, so how they will make each one account- that there are ultimately some cases for which we able. But the sad part is that the judiciary doesn’t have to approach the court. When individuals are consider lawyers as their family. When lawyers get arrested we have to go to courts for bail. attacked, they do nothing. I have to say one thing on the podium that there was a very young lawyer
|140 SPEAKER 2
uman rights are being violated and violence is amarnath being faced by everyone, everywhere in india. it Pandey is a sad and painful affair. Discussing this issue Lawyer and is a source of great comfort as the difficultiesi social activist from faced during the previous work that i had undertook caused a Chhattisgarh Hgreat deal of depression and anxiety. The struggle with police led to great difficulties. in 1998, the first fake encounter was done by Police inspector s.K. Pandey in the sarguja district situated in the northern part of chhattisgarh. ti was reported that while they were taking an accused from one place to an- other the Naxalites attacked them. Firing took place where the sP was injured. This was fake news as the sP had no bul- lets wounds and the accused was killed and his last rites were performed immediately. i started collecting evidence with the help of a fellow journalist friend, Mr rakesh singh who is not alive today. The fellow who died in the encounter was a rickshaw puller, killed in sarguja district as the first encoun- There is another big ter. When we started working on that case, it was the year problem in our country. 1998, the Naxal movement had started. If you kill a Muslim and say that he was from The sP then called me and told me that the case against my brother Lashkar, nobody will was being reopened and converted into 302. That particular case was ba- care. The community sically about a friend of my brother called Anil rai who had drowned instantly agrees with that in a pond when a couple of friends including my brother were taking a bath in. Within an hour the friends went to his house and then to the statement and even sym- police station. After the dead body was taken out, the police conducted pathizes with the mur- a dictum test. since it took two days for the body to be taken out, it had derers. If you make an decomposed and nothing could be firmly deduced. The second dictum adivasi wear a Naxalite test was conducted in Bhopal and the report was that the death was due uniform and kill him, the to drowning. public would go ahead i asked the sP not to compromise the Naxalite encounter investigation and appreciate the police. by distracting the police with this case since the report of the drown- ing was self-evidential. But the police changed the dictum report and a different base and water combo was sent to Bhopal which showed nega- tive dictum report and subsequently a case was filed against my brother
141| under section 302 of the CrPC. On 1st September thing. The police officers and government officials 2010 my brother was sentenced to life imprison- are now convicting the lawyers who fight for human ment. rights and against fake encounters. People are facing difficulties like this in the Chhat- Talking about legal rules consider the situation of tisgarh High Court. Hearings are delayed and jus- Bastar. The then SP of Bastar who is now a DIG, tice is denied. The HC is not rendering justice. The had gone to Dantewada and shot a person in front hopes from the new state are being quashed. My of his wife. When she came to me regarding this I brother has been in jail for one year. We tried to ar- complained to SHRC, CGHC, the Home Minister gue his bail petition but Justice TP Sharma said that and the Prime Minister via several applications. So we had manipulated the dictum report even when they picked up a woman named Leda and filed an the information was obtained through RTI. As such, affidavit using her name at SHRC against me saying bail was denied. that Amarnath Pandey is a Naxalite and had asked me to make this complaint promising a compensa- There is another big problem in our country. If you tion money of at least 2 lakhs. They kept Leda in kill a Muslim and say that he was from Lashkar, police custody for 6-7 months. On 14th Jan Leda nobody will care. The community instantly agrees ran away from her house arrest as the police officials with that statement and even sympathizes with the were drunk from an adivasi festival, and came to murderers. If you make an adivasi wear a Naxalite Ambikapur. She came to me and said that she was uniform and kill him, the public would go ahead and raped by Kaluri and other police officers. She was appreciate the police. In 2004-2005, this increased scared to go back to her village and was staying near many fold in Sarguja. People were picked up from my house. They picked upL eda from near my home. their home. The DGP Late Mr O.P. Rathore had Mr. Saurav Dangi was the advocate representing started the scheme of out-of-term promotion for Leda. My petition from Leda’s side was pending. police officers. The acts of bravery that we see in The Police came to ask for OCN from Saurav Dangi most cases are for that of out-of-turn promotion. and he told me about it and also mentioned that In one incident an encounter was carried on for the Leda does not want anything from me now. After entire night and in the morning only two bodies of this the judge ordered to withdraw the written pe- a Naxalite couple were shown to have been killed. tition. A certified copy of withdrawal was given to This is a common scenario inC hhattisgarh that even NHRC and the NHRC also closed the case of Leda. though there are 40 people killed in an encounter, There was no investigation anywhere and whenI en- only the Naxalites that are gunned down are shown. quired about what happened in NHRC I was told The police, it is assumed, have snipers who are ca- that all the complaints were burnt by NHRC after 5 pable of shooting precisely even from a distance. months so no information can be given. The clothes of the dead are also burnt. But what is recorded in the video footage is the opposite. It is Situation for the lawyers of the High Court and the very difficult to work in Sarguja and I already have Supreme Court have different lines and the lawyers 13 cases lodged against me. I have filed for anticipa- of District Court have many false cases like this tory bail. In one case, some Maoists took my name against them and the survival has become really dif- as their lawyer and said that they had come to kill ficult. Physical as well as mental health is a strong is- a certain person who was a witness against me in sue for us given to this disturbed form of life. I want some other case. I argued my case in the court and to bring out this aspect of the lawyer in front of eve- tried to prove my absolute ignorance about any such ryone as it is seldom discussed.
|142 SPEAKER 3
e have been discussing about the country and PraShant especially some states, like chhattisgarh, Ne bhuShan states, Kashmir, Gujarat and to some extent Senior advocate, Maharashtra, where the violation of human Supreme Court rights is taking place. This violation especially takes place againstW Muslims whereby they are charged with false cases of terror attacks which continue for a number of years and in chhattisgarh where the tribals are implicated as Maoists and not only the tribals but also the lawyers who are fighting for them are equally harassed by the state. A very important issue that has come out is the creation of false cases. Throughout the country we see that the police put false cases against peo- ple, arrest and torture them and falsely implicate them. such cases keep on going for years. This is a blatant violation of human rights. We had raised this issue 12 years ago when Justice venkatchalaya was the head of NHrc. We demanded that the NHrc examine these cases where the human rights defenders, and the tribals in some cases, are falsely impli- We should have a na- cated; but the NHrc said they cannot do anything once these cases are there in the court since it is not in the jurisdiction of NHrc to take over tional network to defend court cases. to determine the solution for this problem is the big issue. the human rights lawyers, such cases show the failure of the judiciary. especially if the person is a for which, HRLN is Muslim or a tribal, or a defender of these people they are over-looked by taking a good initiative, the judiciary. We see the failure at several levels in many cases. The media such that whenever there doesn’t take this up or show these issues to the masses and the judiciary is an attack on a lawyer or the NHrc also would not bring these issues to light. i have some sug- fighting for human rights gestions which might help this problem. Firstly, to bring this up and talk like what is happening about this issue is very important, especially in chhattisgarh which has in Chhattisgarh or even become a black hole. No independent journalist can work there. The me- in SC, then lawyers from dia doesn’t highlight this. some journalists do not raise these issues due other parts of the country to fear and mostly due to the apathy in main stream media. The cases in chhattisgarh needs to be especially highlighted in thei nternational Peo- can be brought to assist ple’s tribunal, where there is a repeated assault on the human rights of his/her defence. lawyers, tribals, journalists etc and the way in which many tribals were implicated in false cases, people are languishing in jails, so it is our re- sponsibility to take this up at a national and international level. The jails are overcrowded with four times the actual capacity. so, this is my opin-
143| ion and people like Dr. Binayak Sen can help in this laya, despite being an honest Chief Justice, did not regard because a huge international coalition was give permission thinking that the judiciary will be made for his case. So we can have an International defamed. Now, the government is not including People’s Tribunal which is necessary especially in the judiciary in Lokpal because an appeal has been the case of Chhattisgarh. made by the judiciary to keep it out of Lokpal. The government says that they will cover the judiciary in Secondly, the issue of the failure of the judiciary a separate bill known as Judicial Standards and Ac- that we see at various places, where no cognizance countability Bill, which is totally useless. Not even is taken needs to be highlighted. If they mention one percent of the bill makes the judiciary account- terrorist investigation or Maoists somewhere then able. First of all the question of the corruption of the everything else is over looked by the judiciary. To- judiciary has not even been raised. The bill provides day, our judiciary is answerable to no one. Whether no authority to investigate any judge accused of cor- the judge does anything, whether he performs his ruption. The only thing that has been said is that if duty, whether, together with the SP, s/he convicts there is a complaint of misconduct, then it should the people implicating them in false cases, whether first go to the over-sight committee which is domi- he takes bribe or doesn’t perform any constitutional nated by the sitting judges and the Attorney Gen- duty, nobody can do anything as a Judge is not an- eral, which means there are two problems. One, it is swerable to anyone. We should understand the dif- not independent of the government and two there ference between Lokpal, NHRC and the judiciary. is a conflict of interest as it is dominated by sitting The judiciary is not accountable to anyone in the judges. Lokpal however is an institution which is current situation. The NHRC is answerable, but the free of both the government as well as the judiciary. selection of NHRC is random. Making the judici- The judges say that the judiciary cannot be account- ary answerable is extremely necessary. We said that, able to anybody as they have self accountability. It Lokpal is a completely independent body. It is inde- means only the judiciary can decide if its brother or pendent from the government and it is independent friend is corrupt or not. In a case in Gujarat, a case from the judiciary too. Today if there is an allega- of torture came before them along with sufficient tion of corruption against a HC or SC judge then proof that people were beaten up in prison and that the investigation is done by the police and the CBI their bones were broken. However, when the matter but with the permission of the Chief Justice of India. was brought before the court nothing was done as Therefore, the police are under the government and judges are aware that they can do anything without SC said that because police is under the government any repercussions. Until the judiciary is made ac- therefore you have to take the permission of CJI to countable to an organization, independent of the protect the independence of the Indian judiciary. government, nothing can be done. Lokpal is one But the result is that there is no investigation carried model. Another model that we presented was to out against any judge because the Chief Justice does elect a person like a retired SC judge. The election not give the permission, sometimes due to the so can be done by the judges of the SC who after be- called brotherly attitude or to protect the reputation ing elected should be completely independent. A of the Judiciary. And when this issue was put in front constitutionally independent authority should be of the Joint Drafting committee and Chidambaram made. The second person should be selected by the was asked whether the judiciary should come un- chief justices of HCs, the third person should be se- der Lokpal for the investigation of corruption, he lected by the union cabinet. Fourth person should opposed it. When Chidambaram himself was the be selected by leader of opposition of Lok Sabha, commerce minister there was a very corrupt judge Leader of opposition of Rajya Sabha, Speaker of in Kolkata, Mr. Ajit Sengupta. When the permission Lok Sabha and Vice President. The fifth person was sought from Justice Venkatchalaya regarding an should be selected by the Lokpal if formed or by investigation it was refused. The day Sengupta re- CEC, Comptroller and Auditor General, Chair- tired, he was arrested by the CBI. But while he was a man of NHRC and people like these. So, there are Judge, no permission was ever given despite know- many models. But the judiciary is adamant of hav- ing that he was corrupt. But still Justice Venkatcha- ing no accountability apart from self accountability.
|144 Government is also keeping them unaccountable. made for the NHRC then there is very little chance The entire situation is therefore stuck. The time has of improvement. Secondly, NHRC has no authority come, when the people who are suffering from hu- that it can order or punish someone. Similarly the man rights violations, the real stake holders i.e. the press council has also not been given any author- public, take up a stand like Lokpal and voice their ity or any power like a recommendatory body. The opinion. The judiciary will have to be accountable process of making false cases against people, by the and you have to make an organisation which makes police should be made a very serious crime under the judiciary accountable. IPC. Also an independent body or NHRC should be given that task of free and fair investigation and The NHRC also needs improvement. The NHRC power of investigation. It should be compulsory that has two problems. The first problem is that the mem- the investigation should be on priority and should bers are selected by the government. The leader of be fast tracked and the trial should also be fast opposition is there in the selection committee. But tracked and the punishment should be up to life im- the leader of opposition also wants the kind of per- prisonment. The police should not investigate false son who is weak and doesn’t have a backbone or he cases where the offence is not a serious one. should be corrupt, like KG Balakrishna. So, we see that after Justice Verma, all the selections of NHRC Also, India should ratify the treaty of the Interna- were either spineless or completely corrupt or both. tional Criminal Court, where people like Modi People have stopped going to NHRC in case of need should be tried. We should talk of cases like Chhat- and therefore it needs to be seriously improved. We tisgarh at an international level. We should have a have suggested Lokpal in which there is a very broad national network to defend the human rights law- based Independent selection committee. Where yers, for which, HRLN is taking a good initiative, there would be 11 people and only one person from such that whenever there is an attack on a lawyer the government, the PM and one another politician fighting for human rights like what is happening in i.e. the leader of the opposition and nine other in- Chhattisgarh or even inS C, then lawyers from other dependent constitutional authorities who are inde- parts of the country can be brought to assist his/her pendent of the government and also Independent defence. from the political class. Unless such selections are
145| SPEAKER 4
o begin with we need to start thinking about Shamim modi how we are fighting at a time when we have Lawyer and one group who is dying due to starvation and social activist from another which is disposing its surplus. We are Madhya Pradesh sitting between these two groups and talking about hu- mant rights. We have often heard of false implications. The police file false cases against one unders ection 181 etc. Prashant Bhushan is fighting over a hundred and fifty such cases in sc. There are cases against me for loot, dacoity and kidnapping etc.other than rape, every other case possible has been filed against me. When we filed a slP in the supreme court and the advocate said that i do not look like someone who will loot people, the opposition brought up ‘cases’ according to which i had beaten up police constables. The judiciary refuses to interfere with criminal matters, which means that the police officer in a police station is bigger than the judges of the high court and the sc. so, if the police file a case against you with 100 witnesses, you probably will not live long enough to see the end of it. if a tribal is implicated then he will have to walk for 40 km and leave his work for 3 days. He will also have to find a lawyer and give him rs. 50-100 which is an amount that is a big enough punishment for him. And after the enquiry if it is found that the accused is not guilty then the case is removed but the person who files the case has If the activists feel that no punishment. it is then commonly practised that cases like loot, false implication is the dacoity and such are charged without any notion of consequence. worst form of torture they either the accused are convicted or they are acquitted. either way face then we have to make there are no repercussions on the manipulating party. We need to a legal body that can help put a strong case against them. This provision is there in sc/st Act. the activists. When an ac- today activists are stubbed in their very first step by not lodging tivist is attacked, it is not Fir’s. You go on strikes or protests when a Fir is not filed. When i to scare the activist but was in Jail, Phoolwati Bai gave an affidavit saying that shamim Modi the people around him. is my friend and she has not kidnapped me. in another case we have done dacoity together. so, she cannot come to court as she would be arrested. The district judge said that shamim Modi is so influential that from jail she influenced her and my bail got rejected. When we sought bail on the grounds that shamim Modi should be granted |146 bail because she is a woman, for more than one hour the background and have helped us a lot. This is not it was debated whether Shamim Modi is a woman shown in the media. The SP and the collector were or not. The bail was not given saying that Shamim asked to give in writing that I am a Naxalite but they Modi doesn’t come in the category of a woman. did not. Cases are alleged on us from Betul, Harda, After staying 23 days in Jail where I wrote two peti- Itarsi District i.e. from anywhere and everywhere. tions, Justice Patnayak intervened and I was granted One can keep on running but warrants are bound bail. I was tortured in jail on the premise on whether to come out from somewhere or the other. Then I was allowed to have a pen or not. When that is not you go on cancelling that warrant and that takes up enough you are taken to the hospital for a pregnancy your time. Villagers get disturbed in this work. We test. The common perception amongst people out- activists have left everything to do this work, but side and inside jail is that prisoners are not human the person who has kids and a family gets tired af- beings. You are made to undergo medical examina- ter a while as he has a scarcity of everything. In this tions in the open and if you resist they abuse and meeting we have talked about many things except torture you even further. And if anything comes out tribal activists; an activist who stays in the villages in the media then you are tortured for that too. and fights. We will have to understand what support the assaulted and jailed person needs. Once the adi- If the activists feel that false implication is the worst vasis were on a strike, we, as activists, do everything, form of torture they face then we have to make a le- the union work, fighting criminal mafias, contesting gal body that can help the activists. When an activ- elections, exposing ministers etc. We filed cases in ist is attacked, it is not to scare the activist but the courts, against some industrialists too. In turn one people around him. They know that no matter how makes enemies on all four sides. So when I was ar- you torture them they will not get scared. But the rested, a warrant against my husband was taken out. people around them who watch will get scared and As a result there was no one to stand with the adivasi back out. Therefore, these attacks are successful be- people and fight. People in adivasi areas are not that cause if your support structure is scarce then your educated. At such time you need somebody to con- work is shunned forever. We need to make a lawyers tinue the movement. There should be a structure in group that can immediately aid the activists. For ex- place so that we can display our strength in the af- ample if an Adivasi is tortured and no FIR is filed fected areas. Our home was broken into and a case and then he is arrested in the middle of the road, the was filed against us. The person who did that is still common public looks at the pictures in the news- roaming free. So we should have a group who would papers but nobody questions anything. Earlier we investigate and take out a counter report exposing used to call NS Kale, a senior lawyer and seek his the truth. We need a group that would do the fact advice. Now we call Prashant Bhushan. Some senior finding, take out the report and release it to main- advocates have really helped us and because of that tain pressure on these people. we are moving forward. The people who help you are the ones targeted by your enemies and, there- As somebody said, very correctly, our scars have fore, the State insists on finding out our alliances. the power to remind us that the past was real so we So we have to show our strength. We should have all have such memories with which we can take the a group of lawyers to fight for us who are sensitive fight forward. And in this kind of national consulta- and good. After identifying these people who are tion it’s very important to discuss strategies that will ready to help, a strategy should be made. We should take our fight forward. call officials who help us in such meetings. There are many government officials who have stayed in
147| |148 sessioN 4
Politics oF HAte AND DiscussioN oN coMMuNAlisM AND situAtioN iN GuJArat
149| |150 SPEAKER 1
eople think that Ahmedabad city is safe for women. mallika But the city stands third in rank as the most dan- Sarabhai gerous city for crimes against women. My friends Actress and social activist in BJP say that still it is not as unsafe as Delhi. But from Gujarat 30 years ago, when we were in college we used to ride on a twoP wheeler and go to a tea stall at 3am in the morning wear- ing jewelry and our parents never even asked us about where we went. From there we have come to this Ahmedabad. if we start comparing Gujarat to chhattisgarh it gives a wrong per- ception and we are falling into Mr Modi’s mayajal. if Gujarat is being praised today it is based on the false promise that GDP is what the growth of human life is all about. in reality, there is an environment of fear. in the 2002 genocides i was not present in the state as i was performing in Kolkata. our institution is situated near sabarmati river in front of which there is a 100 year old Muslim slum. only 3 people were there in office then and they were texting me that “the entire slum is on fire.” i came back on 4th March, met many friends and saw a huge number We will somehow toler- of video clippings and thought that something needs to be done. i had ate hatred and everybody never been to court or fought a case. i was an activist but not through who lives in Gujrat will legal means. i along with two friends decided we should immediately file a Pil. so on 1st April we filed the first Pil in the supreme court. learn tricks to fight it. only a few months back, through sanjeev Bhatt’s testimony for the This wall of silence and Nanawati commission i found out how Narendra Modi had taken out this wall of cowardice secret service money to bribe my lawyers and attempt to derail my Pil. is something that is so As soon as i filed the ilP , the harassment against me, my institution and difficult to face that it is my children started. in April we decided that people should gather to- almost suffocating. People gether and think of long range strategies against the politics of hatred. think that I am only pass- We sent out emails inviting anyone who wanted to come to the Gandhi ing time through activism. Ashram for this meeting. on 7th April around 300 people, from chhat- But all of us know that tisgarh, chennai and even the Muslims who had not come out of the our lives are at stake. ghettos since the last two months gathered at the Gandhi Ashram.in the room next to us there was a meeting by Gandhians run by Narayan Bhai Desai. At 11:30am a colleague texted me saying that Medha Patekar is in town and is asking if she should come. i requested that please ask
151| her not to come as the entire issue would then shift dancer and that I had to go for dance performances. to Narmada Bachao and it would be politicized in a The whole idea was to kill a non-profit organiza- wrong way. Anti-Medha feeling exists amongst peo- tion by stopping its funding. We use legal acts to ple and this was much bigger than that. I sent the do human rights work in our institution. We work message unequivocally. At 1 o’clock just before we in Jharkhand, MP and other states. Just to stop the broke for lunch Medha Ji arrived. I said Medha ji money flow, if any corporate sets foot in our organi- we are breaking for lunch in 5 minutes and I request zation then in 15 minutes a call goes to them from you to leave. We broke for lunch and within half an the CM’s office saying that if you want to do busi- hour, when we came back, there were 300 gundas ness in Gujarat then don’t talk to Mallika Sarabhai. already there and Chiman Bhai Patel’s wife had sent I have been charged with many cases. The cook of her own goons because Medha Patekar was there. my institution’s cafeteria said that I had stolen two There were journalists too. The Aaj Tak journalist saucepans and an FIR was taken. Apparently today, Divant Upadhyay, misreported that Mallika Sarab- cases of rape and murder are not considered but the hai had invited Medha Patkar. Within minutes peo- cases of utensils are! I would now have to go to the ple were beating us up. Medha Ji’s head was taken by Police Station seeking permission to go out of town the Mayor of Ahmedabad and banged into a wall. for my performances. The court opened at 10:30am Somebody grabbed hold of me as I tried to stop him and the flights left by 9:00am. The whole idea was to and two blows were weilded on my head by a stick. not let me go even if the court gave me permission One of the people from my institution took me to at 11:30am. Nobody in Gandhinagar would take a the river and we rode a scooter by the sand to our call from me. Nobody in any police station would office which was 10 minutes away only to find that actually listen to us. In my institution 25-30 wom- there were 300 saffron clad people throwing bombs en come every month seeking help with domestic at the institution. All this happened only because violence cases. Even today, if I go with them to the a news channel misreported the event. I called PC police station, nobody cares. Similarly, if I call them Pandey but he refused to take my calls. I called the there is nobody to answer the phone. Aaj Tak Channel in New Delhi but by that time it Another thing that I want to share is that in the city was too late and all the channels were reporting it, where my parents have practically created each and rather misreporting it. It was horrible because it is every organization the people there are such cow- one thing to put yourself in danger but it is a com- ards and so bad that during the period that these pletely different thing to put others in danger. I had cases were going on against me, whether they met to go underground and in a few months a case of hu- me at the airport, station or even on the road, they man trafficking was implicated on me.I t was the day did not even look me in the eye and say hello. If this before Diwali when the courts were closed that an happens with Mallika Sarabhai, then what would arrest warrant was released against me. A press per- happen to the other thousands living in villages? son called me and asked me to get out of the state. Nobody would answer phone calls, not even a single It was like the sound of music. I had to hide under friend had the courage, not even a single head of an the carpet of a boot of a car. I am too recognized to institution who talked of liberal values and who had go anywhere. All the borders had been sealed. We a ‘good’ education, not a single one of them would finally got out and went to Udaipur. We changed pick up a phone call from me. They were afraid that cars and then went to Jaipur and for the next 18 days their awards would be lost, their funding would be while my phone was being traced, I was on the move lost and their professorship would go away. That is trying to escape arrest warrants because they had in- what all of us have to face and I think that we need formed the police across the country. to acknowledge that this is something we face. We I returned home on 1st Nov when the court opened will somehow tolerate hatred and everybody who and an order was issued that I was not permitted to lives in Gujrat will learn tricks to fight it. This wall leave the city. My passport was taken and if I had to of silence and this wall of cowardice is something leave the city I had to get interim permission from that is so difficult to face that it is almost suffocating. the police. They knew perfectly well that I was a People think that I am only passing time through ac-
|152 tivism. But all of us know that our lives are at stake. ers that used to be reported instantly. So, this is the Nobody wants to become a full-time activist. We kind of gestapo network we live with in Gujarat to- want a country where there would be no need for day. Every phone is tapped not only ours. And we activism. That we don’t feel the need to fight, such live with that, we joke about it, because there is no should be our country. But where we do have to other option. But Gujarat today is not a jungle state, fight, we put many things on the line and fight. I re- it is a very clever Gestapo state. It’s not like Chhattis- member, I didn’t allow my child to cross a road on garh, where it is like the wild west. This is an incred- his own because the entire environment was under ibly well thought out, well strategized, well funded RSS. When my Muslim friends used to come over, method of killing a state. So, if anybody tells you dif- it used to be instantly reported. If I had muslim driv- ferently do not believe it.
153| SPEAKER 2
SanjeeV bhatt Open Session with Former IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt
mallika Sarabhai: You have been in Gujarat police for 20 years – was it always spineless? Sanjeev: i have seen this transition take place in Gujarat. it is a politics of hatred and intolerance. This intolerance started developing sometime in the early 90s. You mentioned Medha Patkar and the fact that you were a bit defensive about Medha Patkar as it would attract negative feelings. That is the background to Gujarat. Medha Patkar was exposing a very just cause, though very remote to us. she is a very dear friend and two of her colleagues Mr. Thakkar and Mr. Dharmadhikari were with me at iit, Bombay. so i had an excellent working relationship with her. But the chief Minister Mr. Patel was not happy with the way i attended the situa- tion. He wanted strong arms tactics and i refused saying if she is not con- travening the law of the land i will deal with it in my own way. They were Talk of a communal riot only activists not criminals. even after their arrest was made there was in Gujarat, if a particu- no substantial case against them according to the law and i released them lar community is under immediately. The cM, however, was very perturbed. He wondered how threat who is the first in a young sP can do this on his own? i was summoned to Gandhinagar line of defenders? The and the Acs Home Mr. Balkrishnan was present there along with some police, the enforcing agen- politician sitting in a Kurta Payjama. This was in 93.i went in uniform cies. There are situations and the cM said that you don’t even listen to the cM. i said sir i haven’t where police acts neu- joined the police force to listen to you. He was taken aback. He asked me trally and very effectively. whether i should be sent to england, Paris or New York next? i didn’t But that is not to the like the tone in which he spoke, so i spoke back in the same tone. i said, liking of the people who you send me to hell, but i will do work my way. And, i turned around and walked out. That was intolerance. i and my wife were prepared to recieve have designed communal the transfer order after this incident. The very next day, i was relocated as violence to their desired the DcP of surat city which is one of the most sought after and lucrative outcomes. Thus the police posts in the state. The cM who did not want to tolerate me at Narmada, becomes a target. understood that i can be used at a place, which is communally sensitive. surat had just come out of a serious communal riot. so, there was a mid- dle ground where you could act in Gujarat at that time. There was some space. That space is closing now. it has come down to no space at all. Now
|154 you have reached the stage where you are either with to attack Babri for the first time. Mulayam Singh them or against them. They have stretched this logic acted with great firmness. Lives were lost, but law a little further. The party in power in Gujarat right prevailed. Mulayam Singh was made Mullah Mu- now claims to be a nationalist party. So anyone who layam overnight. 30th Oct was Bharat Bandh. Jam- is not with them is not only against them, but they nagar had no history of communal violence but the are also anti-nationals. People like Mallika Sarabhai VHP had to carry out a capacity demonstration. So and me are considered anti-nationalists in Gujarat. in a place called Jaur Jodhpur they burnt a mosque Medha Patkar is an anti-nationalist because she is and 15 muslims houses and misbehaved with mus- anti-Gujarat. She is anti-nationalist because she is lim women. I was asked by my control room to rush with some people who want their voices heard. This there though it was not my area. We got curfew intolerance has been increasing since early 90s and implemented there and 133 activists of VHP were now it fine tuned into a reality which has to be expe- arrested. Twenty five had sustained serious injuries rienced and believed. Gujarat is indeed very vicious; while being arrested. Injuries like fracture were sus- it is not Chhattishgarh, it is not the wild west. It is tained during lathi charge or while trying to escape intolerance and hatred fine tuned to perfection and or jump from the places they could not. Seven had they want to make example of people like Sarabhai serious burn injuries while committing arsons. So, who have been struggling for a long time not just to 32-33 of them were sent to primary health centre damage them or us, but to ensure that no one should and the man (VHP activist) who died unfortunately dare to raise their head in Gujarat. Gujarat is the was not amongst those. All of them were presented testing field for such politics and if it succeeds there, in front of the magistrate the next day and no one they would like to replicate it all across the country. complained of any police atrocity. They were then sent to judicial custody where they were kept for a Manoj: Some people feel that you are a misfit amidst week. When someone enters a jail they are physical- Human Right Defenders. Its not only because you are ly examined and any mark on the body is enquired if a police officer it is also because SC rejected your ap- its a police injury. If you say yes and if they feel that plication and you are facing custodial death allegations. something is being concealed, they would send you Seemingly, you don’t belong here. What made you come to the jail doctor and then to the hospital for treat- here despite that? ment. This man was examined and no injury was Sanjeev: I am glad that this was brought up. This found. On the 3rd day he complained of backache is not a custodial death. Due to historical reasons, and difficulty in movement. So, he was sent to the the police has been placed in adversarial roles. This city hospital where he was treated as an outpatient is colonial legacy. The police regime post independ- and given some pain killer. He came back. After sev- ence is perpetuated to promote vested interests. en days all were bailed out. He went back to his home When we talk about defenders, police is the first in Jam Jodhpur and sfter 3-4 days developed some form of defense. As far as human rights are con- problem and consulted a local doctor there. The lo- cerned, that is what I think. Talk of a communal riot cal doctor says that there is some problem with his in Gujarat, if a particular community is under threat kidney that needs further examination and sends who is the first in line of defenders? The police, the him to a place called Rajkot – which is the hub of enforcing agencies. There are situations where po- Saurashtra. There he is admitted to Gondia hospital lice acts neutrally and very effectively. But that is and treated by a nephrologists and on the 5th day of not to the liking of the people who have designed his treatment, that is the 12th day of his release from communal violence to their desired outcomes. Thus judicial custody, he dies at the hospital while under- the police becomes a target. Coming to a particular going treatment for a kidney ailment. No complaint, incident of 1990s when I had just started my career. no act, no medical legal aliment till them. So after I was an additional SP in Jodhpur. L.K. Advani took his death his dead body was handed to his brother out his yatra on 24th Oct, 1990 and was stopped in who was taking him back to Jam Jodhpur. On the Bihar by Lalu Yadav. A very brave act. On 25th there way they stopped at Jamnagar where they were met was violence across the country more so in Gujarat. by few Vishwa Hindu Parishad Activists and who October 30, 1990, the goons of RSS and BJP tried told him that if you get a post mortem done on his
155| body you will get a compensation. This incident Anant Asthana: I have had the occasions to meet po- happened on 30th Oct and I was transferred on 3rd lice officers and talk to them about injustices prevalent because Jam Jodhpur was the constituency of Chi- in the system and realized that they feel guilty and carry man Bhai Patel. So, when he arrested these people, that guilt all the time. Either they are not strong enough the CM told me to release all of them and not ap- or do not have an occasion to stand up. You, yourself, ply any provisions of law. As a young additional SP took eight years to speak up. I also understand the inter- I refused to do that. On the same evening 87 mus- nal struggle you must have gone through, during all this lims were arrested and the same provisions of law time. Will you please talk about it? were applied and it was simply unfair. I wanted to Sanjeev: There was no internal struggle at any mo- act impartially. Only then could I control commu- ment at all. Not in 2002, not in 2009, not today. I nal rights. So, on the 3rd day I was transferred out, was very clear then and am very clear now. In 2002, because on the first day theC M had to seek a vote of I was in Intelligence Bureau when the riots took confidence. He had assured them that the boy will place. It was my third year at IB. I was the oldest be transferred out so he got the vote of confidence. serving officer there and when things happened on After 15 days of my transfer the person died and an 27th and the instructions of the CM came out I was FIR was filed saying that my brother was arrested on so sure that things are going to get very wrong. That so and so date. That became the FIR and that was is when I started documenting things. I continued initiated by CID. Then during some on-going riots in the IB till September 2002. We documented eve- at Bharuch, the DG that he will have to arrest me rything which was to be documented. We sent out because of the allegations which were being made advisories that had to be sent out as intelligence and gave me anticipatory bail. I immediately went to officer as there your role in different. As an intelli- Ahmedabad, to the residence of Jusitce N J Pandya. gence officer it is an advisory role, where you collect He granted me bail instantly. That was my first meet- and pass the intelligence and you create and send ing with him and I want to note that we have such reports to the central agencies, the NHRC etc. By people in the judiciary also. 17th September, midnight, me and my then boss Mr After that the CID crime branch asked for sanc- Shrikumar were transferred out and we received the tion to charge sheet. The BJP government refused orders saying that you do not even need to come to it saying that the offices had acted in good faith. So, the IB office, your things would be sent to you. They a closure report was submitted to the Judicial Mag- were afraid that we would come and take out more istrate who deffered under some tremendous pres- information. sure and said that I don’t accept the closure repot In 2002, when I had put in 13 years of service. I was and committed the case. The state of Gujarat, on the brought up in a very secular family and went to a 8th day, immediately moved an application before set of very secular schools. I never thought of cast, the sessions court, saying that the offices had acted breed or community. I was all India rank 35 in civil in good faith and the order needs to be revised. All services, I would have opted for any service. I opted these years, the revision application was pending. for police because that was the only choice and I It was argued 3 times and every time the judge was joined it with passion. I take pride in every decision about to pass an order he was transferred. In 2011, I took till date and in 2002 you see that everything the government felt that the case needs be with- in life that you stood for, being turned on your head. drawn because they wanted some kind of prosecu- I ralized that the state was not only abdicating its tion. This is the case of custodial death. This is the duty but was complacent in destruction of life and case where I and the sub-ordinate officers acted as property. This is when I withdrew myself from the defenders of human rights of a particular group of IPS fraternity of Gujarat. I did not want to belong to a particular section of people. I would say that even that band of castrated bandits. I had to wait for my the police can be the defenders of human rights and time. I sent out feelers to friends, to get me called people like us in the police who take an impartial in front of the commission of enquiry since I knew stand and are hounded for obvious reasons also so much but that did not work out for some reason. need to be protected. In 2011, when I eventually got to bring out certain
|156 aspects of the SIT’s functioning, I filed an affidavit at that goes against the very basic structure and the the Supreme Court and it became public on a par- reason for existence of a force. They taught inac- ticular day. On the same day, I received a call from tion to a force and then the inaction got rewarded. Mr. Mukul Sinha. That is when we connected and That is the most dangerous thing to my mind. So, decided to take issues ahead in the commission and the force is not communal but the officers by and I present myself in front of them. Its not a question large are. By now I think very few people are left, of I being silent rather I was waiting for my time. Be- who would not toe the line of the government. they ing an Intelligence Officer, I could not have spoken are not communal officers; they are officers who are out unless put under a binding legal obligation. afraid to take a stand. Tomorrow if there is a change of the government, the very same set of officers will In 2009, the SIT summoned me for the first time, change colour from saffron to green; anything other when perhaps Mr. Prashant Bhushan went through than khaki That is I think the question of having the the SIT report. In 2009, I had told the SIT that if inner strength and courage to stand up and there you want to know the things which I am privy to as is the consequence of what you believe in. Again, an Intelligence Officer, then you will have to record when all of us join the police force, most of us come my statement under the CrPC and put me under a with ideals and passion. But then as we grow in serv- binding obligation, whereby the complaint of Mrs. ice, we try to justify a lot of things that should not be Zakia Zaffri should be treated as aFIR. That was justified and get stuck in a loop. observed by him and brought to the notice of the court. Then the court thought it fit and directed Prashant Bhushan: But we had this People’s Tri- the SIT to do that. So, again in 2011, they started bunal on terror Investigation in Hyderabad in 2008 recording my statement under some other offences, in which one of the recurrent themes emerging from not that complaint, but some other related offence, the testimonies which were given there was that when but they took my statements under the code of pe- the police arrests these people falsely, these Muslims, nal procedure. That is why the delay, but I came out for those terror offences, they often torture them and with all the facts which I had, which I thought, I while torturing them and beating them up, they utter should be conveying to that SIT in that format then abuses which are clearly indicative of a communal bias in 2009. It took me seven years. or a communal mindset. That is why I was willing to understand, because from Gujarat also, the same kind The question that needs to be asked is whyI was not of stories, even in the incident where 50-60 people were called all these years? This is something, which all of beaten up in the jail, same kind of thing emerges. So, us, even the activists, should address. that is why I find it a little surprising that you are saying Prashant Bhushan: In your assessment, what per- that there is no communal mindset among the police in centage of the police in Gujarat has become communal- Gujarat. I find it a bit surprising. That is why I wanted ized in their thinking and what percentage behave like your honest opinion. this out of fear of reprisal? What is your assessment? Sanjeev: I will just clarify and add to what I said. Sanjeev: This is a very pertinent question. I, as an The police in Gujarat, like in any other state, come officer who have served in Gujarat, and I, who be- from the same social milieu. So, they do carry some long to Guajarat, don’t believe that the police force biases in their minds, they carry certain prejudices in Gujarat is communal. I firmly believe that any against certain community. But that would not be force, anywhere is good. What is good, bad or indif- sufficient to brand them as a communal force. They ferent is the police leadership. The force is good; this have biases like each one of us, we could have people force can be transformed. But we need to provide in our own families who would be communal. Many them good leadership. What happened in 2002 was people have biases against Muslims. I think this is a that we taught the police inaction, that was some- backlog from few centuries, from past experiences, thing unprecedented, there have been times when from folklores in Gujarat and then again partition. we allow them to overact, we even instigate them to Sindh being the adjoining province to Gujarat. Lots overact, but over action can be condoned, control- of people have migrated from Sindh to Gujarat dur- led. But once you teach any uniform force inaction ing partition and they brought lots of tales from
157| there. So, there is an atmosphere where there is a ing the communal riots, who were the benefactor latent hatred for the Muslims which is reflected else- of each and every riot, which eventually brought where also. So, the force, can be called biased to that them to power, that we don’t have any communal extent. But even that bias is not much; it will not im- riot since 1993. 2002 was a completely different or- pact their functioning, if it is led properly. Because, chestration which followed a very unfortunate inci- I have led the same force on so many occasions and dent of Godhra. But that way an orchestrated thing if they see the officer leading from the front enacting was not a communal riot as such. Because, we know impartially, the force will do much more than you. how riots takes place. We have dealt with riots. We have studied the exact process by which the riots are Navkiran: Firstly, I would like to say that what Mr. created, are perpetuated. This was something differ- Sanjeev Bhatt has done, is a wonderful job and he has ent. As long as there are parties who gain from the shown his guts. And we hardly find such officers in the politics of hatred and division, this is bound to con- police cadres and it’s quite strange that he is there. We tinue. So, people need to realize as to what each of are asking too much from him. Whatever he has done is these parties stand for and start choosing between more than enough. Secondly, we are saying that the state the lesser devils till we reach a stage, when we have a is communal towards the dalits, towards the Muslims? party which reflect our thoughts and ideals.S o, all of But, as a minority we know that the state is communal us have to be very active in politics. In a democracy, towards all the minorities. The whole nation watched we have to be very active participants in politics and what happened to the Sikhs. There is still a bias towards be very vigilant; so that is the price you have to pay the Sikhs. Even though the Prime Minister is a Sikh, in a democracy. we do not consider him to be strong enough to protect our religious rights. So, all the minorities are still feeling Gayatri Singh: There are two questions, one is that even after 64 years of Independence of India, they are there are few officers who also are upright and honest as not protected in this country. All Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, you are, but are hesitant to come forward, what would Christians, all the minorities feel the same. Secondly, if you suggest, could be done to encourage them to come the state is not communal, why is that whenever a mi- forward? Second question is what sort of help you ex- nority is killed by the ruling party, that the concerned pect from an organization like ours, which would help ruling party gets maximum number of votes in the com- you in the struggle you are engaging in? ing election? These questions need to be considered. Sanjeev: What I feel is there are so many officers Sanjeev: As far as the communalization in Gujarat, who would like to follow the rules as well as the dic- as Mallikaji has said that the state is becoming high- tates of their conscious. But at times, may be they ly communal. I would tend to disagree a little there. feel that if they take a stand, they may not get the The people of Gujarat have a communal mindset desired support from colleagues or if they are side- to the extent that they can be easily exploited or lined or singled out, they may not be able to take the swayed. I won’t brand them as communal as such. pressure. So, if, yes, friends like you stand by them We are talking about the divisive politics of hatred. and if they are provided the kind of legal help and If there are to be electoral gains from the politics assistance which they would require eventually be- of hatred, be it the hatred against Sikhs, the hatred cause when the state start hounding them, they will against Muslims, then I am sure no political party need to be supported. would like to overlook an electoral gain. That is what Colin Gonsalves: Did you get any support from your happened in Gujarat. In Gujarat, you see, there has officers? Did you get any support from the police offic- not been a single communal riot since 1993. It is not ers? that Gujarat is free of riots. Only after 2002, since the BJP come to power in Gujarat, there has not been a Sanjeev: I am told when I was in jail that the IPS single large scale communal riot. So, this is the ques- Association of Gujarat met and they passed a reso- tion that people of Gujarat should ask themselves lution. Then three of my batch mates were asked to that is Gujarat free of communal riots because of the come and meet my wife. That is when they came present government or is it free of communal riots and expressed solidarity. So, I am very happy that despite that or is it the people who were engineer- the IPS Association met in Gujarat and passed a res-
|158 olution, but it is also this other side of the coin that the situation was developing and there was no intel- my own batch mates had to be empowered and told ligent failure at all. We knew exactly how it would go by the IPS Association that yes, you are empowered if it was allowed to go in a particular fashion and it by the Association, please go and meet his wife. I did. So there was no question of intelligence failure would have done that on my own. Had it happened from 27th evening onwards. Now I am coming to with any of my batch mates or any other officer, I your question what you asked me is a very sensitive would have gone on my own. I don’t need a protec- thing, I have deposed about this before the Nana- tion that I am going only because the Association vati commission, to an extent, and I could not reveal had told me to go or not otherwise. So, that is an- more there, because at that time, the writ petition other side of the coin. Mrs Jaffari S( LP 1088) was pending before the Su- preme Court, and one of the affidavit was filled in Participant: In 2002 riot, many of the fact finding re- that petition and in that petition there was a refer- ports indicated that it was a planned attack. Many of ence to the writ petition filed by Dr. Malika Srab- the Muslim community, members of the business com- hai. So now that the SLP has been disposed of, the munity were attacked during this short span of time. commission has called me on 24th of this month At that time, you were there in the Intelligence Bureau. (November) and commission has also called Dr. Many people suggested that it was the failure of the IB Mallika Sarabhai as well, Mr. R. Vishnu Kumar has that the government could not get any indication of already been examined because that’s what I said what is going to happen. What do you think? that this is what I can tell you. I told yes, the writ Manoj: If I have to repeat my earlier question, was it petition was undermined at the instruction of Mr. part of your legal duty to be party to Modi’s barabaric Narendra Modi, that funds from the Secret service act as in Mallika’s case. were used, that’s what I told the commission. I told that if you want further details, I can’t speak now, Sanjeev: To understand Gujarat riot of 2002 you but you speak with Mr. R Vishnu Kumar because have to differentiate the incidents of 27th February, he knows all the details about the proceedings that 2002 that happened in Godhra and the incidents took place and eventually Mr. R. Vishnu Kumar was that followed. On 27th February 2002, we had no called by the commission and in his final affidavit intelligence, no information even about the returns where he has given all the details, what has tran- of the karsevaks. There was no information from spired, within his knowledge and that is already in the Uttar Pradesh Police that this first batch of kar- the record of the commission. TheC ommission has sevaks were returning. This was the very first batch called me again on 24th of this month and may be of karsevaks which was to come back. We had been asked to depose. sending information, we had been sharing informa- tion with the Intelligence Bureau at the center, with Manoj: This is an example of a police officer receiving the UP police and all along the routes about all the unlawful instruction from his political master and as an batches of Karsevaks which were being dispatched up-right officer; you are expected to resist it, not to be from Gujarat. So, this was the very first batch which part to it. was returning. So, it was expected of the agencies Sanjeev Bhatt: This was not the question of car- there to inform us, in turn, that this is the first batch rying of unlawful instructions of the politician, but which was returning. But we were not informed. No this was a mechanism by which secret service funds one was aware about it. So, as far as the 27th Feb- were diverted for a particular use and the ostensible ruary incident goes, everyone was caught unaware reason, which was given to us, were something dif- and that is exactly why when I also studied the in- ferent. Money has to be withdrawn and it was to be cident, thereafter, I concluded for myself and also handed over back to the CM, and from there mid shared the reports with the investigating agencies as way to particular person and the channel which I well as the SIT that there was no sort of imagination. know what happen subsequently. Because, we were You can call that an intelligence failure as far as the talking about CM of Gujarat who was still finding information pertaining to the return of Karsevaks his feet. This is Narendra Modi edition 2002, when goes. 27th onwards we were very clear about how he was just about, by an accident, became the chief
159| minister of Gujarat. He had to get himself elected in him the action in coordination in Gujarat riot was a by-election. He just gripped through in by elec- very different. Now he realizes by overly concern for tion. He was finding his feet in administratively yet. that reason and he used those funds for undermin- He didn’t know whom to trust and whom not to ing that reputation. The details of press bill come trust and bouncer happen, Godhra happened on out eventfully. But there are no concept of interest 27the Feb, so any other CM, even he felt that this of conflict of professional conduct anywhere. But is the end do not for him. So he was very concerned we are told about particular purpose because what that how to ensure that petition is yet the expecta- we are told to particular manner. The fund of the se- tion is frustrating because had the SC comedown cret service is for the particular purpose. It was given strongly in the month of April 2002. The court asks to them. It was used for different purpose.
|160 sessioN 5
AssAults oN Activists
161| |162 SPEAKER 1
was born and brought up in india as a tibetan refugee. tenzin tSundue i am a bit nervous to represent the tibetan voice and Free Tibet activist tell you about the tibetan struggle. i will summarize very briefly what is happening tot ibetans and to ac- tivists there. i live in Dharamshala (HP). till now we have beeni discussing the northern part of the country, now i want to focus on the Himalayan region especially Dharmshala and the indo-tibetan border. The whole idea of Dharamshala was started in 1960. When i talk about Dharamshala i mean the political Dharamshala, which has now become a big tourist centre. This is the place where the tibetan freedom struggle is based today and where Dalai lama and the exiled tibetan government are located in india. some of you might not be aware about the tibetan issue. The Dalai lama and the tibetans have been living in india since 1959. We have setup a government in exile. one lakh twenty thousand of us are living in india, about twenty thousand in Nepal and ten thousand in Bhutan and various other parts all over the world. But our main struggle is going on in tibet while we are working as their representatives from outside and raising their issues and mobilizing public support for the tibetan cause all over the world. This has been the scenario for the past fifty three years, Today the Tibetan strug- i was born and brought up in india and adopted the movement when the gle is almost united on the elder generation were slowly retiring from it. i have been active in the ti- betan movement since the past 18 years. We are facing a lot of challenges inside. People like us who and difficulties in the tibetan movement but we are ready for any kind of were born in India have challenge and personally i have always looked at these challenges as op- had the freedom of being portunities where i can learn to be more successful and more effective. educated and recreate the struggle. We are grateful in the year 2002 in Dharamshala, i was on my way to Mecleodganj to India and its people to around 10 at night. it was dark and suddenly a small car stopped in front of me. six men stepped out of the car and without saying a word started help us revive the hope of beating me up. i did not understand why they were beating me and i was being free eventually. unable to recognize these men due to the darkness. i started bleeding from the left eye. When i tried to confront them one of them threat- ened me to give up the work i was doing for the community. i realized it was my activism that was not going down well for some people and
163| they were trying to silence me. They were trying to is not so far away when China will explode in a fate use violence and threats to discourage other activ- similar to that of the ‘Jasmine revolution’ of Middle ists and create communal tension between Indians East. and Tibetans. Nepal is an extension of Chinese imperialism. Ne- The Indian Government cowed down under pres- pal, as a government, has completely gone under sure from China and is already considering either Chinese influence and today 20,000 Tibetans are putting me in jail or detaining me in Dharmshala. living in Nepal and they are being persecuted. If a When the Chinese Prime Minister visited India in Tibetan celebration is taking place anywhere in Ne- 2002 I protested against it by unfolding the banner pal the police break it down and take immediate ac- of Free Tibet on the fourteenth floor of the Oberoi tion against the Tibetans residing there. There was Hotel in Bombay while the PM was there. I was ar- a time in 1959-60 when the Tibetan struggle had rested for it. I repeated the same at the IIS build- almost died. Today the Tibetan struggle is almost ing in Bangalore when the Chinese PM was giving united on the inside. People like us who were born a speech on the ground floor of the building. They in India have had the freedom of being educated and started shooting that on live television. I know if recreate the struggle. We are grateful to India and its I call the media to address our problem no media people to help us revive the hope of being free even- group will come forward and therefore I had to grab tually. People have been talking about autonomy but their attention like this. our true goal has been independence because only an independent country can guarantee the survival I was eventually arrested. When the Prime Minister of its people, religion and culture. If Tibet continues of China visited again in 2006 they made a request to be under Chinese occupation then India will have to the Indian government to detain me beforehand. to suffer too because of 42000 km of border that is They detained me in Dharmshala for 14 days under with China. If Tibet becomes an independent coun- 24 hour police surveillance. try we would recreate the kind of pre 1959 relation- Now I want to go a little beyond because this is not ship with India where the Himalayan border was the just about me and my activism. Today the Tibetan border of brotherhood. freedom struggle is suffering because the Indian In 1959 when the Dalai Lama came to India there government is only looking at the issue from the were only 60 army men posted on the border but Chinese perspective. India and most other coun- today the Himalayas have become the most milita- tries of the world are not concerned about the Chi- rized zone in the whole world. Both India and China nese population and the Chinese people’s problems are militarizing themselves and glacier melting is but are only interested in the Chinese Market and also occurring due to the arms race in both coun- money. Since the Chinese media is under state con- tries which is not in anybody’s interest. Unless there trol they do not cover anything about the struggle are genuine changes in what is happening in China of Chinese people and international media is not and being done by them the future hope of peace in interested in this issue. Everyday nearly 100 mining Asia is very bleak. That is why I always emphasize labourers are dying and nobody is saying anything that this is not a sole struggle for the Tibetan people against this kind of inhumanity. The ‘made in china’ but in the interests of India as well. Both Indian and products are so cheap because the labour is getting Tibetan people need to work together for the in- nothing and national resources are being funded dependence of Tibet. The people of the Himalayas through occupying countries like Tibet, Manchu- whether in Lahaul-Spiti, Laddakh, Kinnaur, Garhw- ria Magnolia and east Afghanistan. The Chinese al, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and in the North-East, government is doing the same thing that the British will benefit so much once the Himalayas are free. were doing in India before independence. The day
|164 SPEAKER 2
aryana was formed in 1961 and to date ma- rajat kalSan jority of the chief Ministers have been Jats as Advocate from Hisar, they come from influential Jat communities. Haryana The perception of these communities towards Dalit communities is very disgraceful and suppressive. They Hcarry out atrocities on the Dalit community without any fear and the government just watches it. The state government is so insensitive towards Dalit issues that if any incident oc- curs between these two communities or if any human rights defender try to raise their voice against these atrocities then the state government takes a stand in favour of the Jat com- munities because of their affinities. state favoritism to these communities is such that till last year, not even a single Fir was registered under sc/st Atrocities Act 1989. The social tensions within the Haryani society on caste lines are clear. The influential people have been trying to let untouchability prevail in the society to date. The Dalits cannot ride horses in their marriages, cannot sit at the same level with the Jats and The Bar association of they cannot take water from the same well. Haryana, being run by the Jat community, has Here i want to share a horrible incident that took place in Mirchpur often engaged itself in of Hissar district. The Mirchpur incident occurred on 21st April 2010 such activities of threats when 1500 people from Jat communities surrounded the Dalit Basti and and favoritism. In one set fire to 20 houses and plundered another 50 houses. Afterwards they such incident my father set the whole village on fire and in this incident two people, an old father and his physically challenged daughter were burned alive. At the time who is an advocate in when the incident was taking place at Mirchpur one Police inspector of Hansi Court with 45 that local area was also present there. instead of pacifying the people and years of legal practice was trying to prevent this incident he openly supported the culprits. He be- brutally attacked by the longed to the same Jat community and was eventually convicted in this members of the Bar As- case and jailed for more than 18 months. When this took place all the sociation. Dalit communities condemned the incident and pressurized the govern- ment to register an Fir against the culprit. The Jat Panchayat or the Khap Panchayat as it is known actively tried to subdue the incident. eventually an Fir was lodged but no arrests were made due to the pressure of Jat
165| communities. We are very thankful to HRLN (Hu- the dominant community. Since I am from Haryana man Rights Law Network) since, with their help, we the Jats initially tried to offer me money and a lu- filed the PIL in Supreme Court. TheS C ordered that crative position in the legal department. I was often the state government arrest all the culprits within 48 pressurized to compromise the case. hours otherwise the BSF will intervene. When the The Bar association of Haryana, being run by the Jat trial started in the session court of Hissar there was community, has often engaged itself in such activi- not a single advocate ready to take the case and say ties of threats and favoritism. In one such incident anything in the defence of the Dalit communities. my father who is an advocate in Hansi Court with When the proceedings finally started at the Hissar 45 years of legal practice was brutally attacked by court our witnesses were surrounded by the oppo- the members of the Bar Association. My father had site party and as we went to their rescue about 20 undergone brain surgery. When we were trying to people suddenly pounced upon us and threatened take my father to the hospital, me and my brother us. The situation grew very violent within moments who is also a lawyer were also attacked by the presi- and we requested the judge inside the court premise dent of the Hansi Bar Association. I took my father to consider the threats and the fact that deposing be- to the Hisar District Hospital and the senior doctor fore the court in these circumstances seems impos- of Hisar hospital told me that he got a call from the sible. The judge, however, declined postponing the deputy commissioner of Hisar asking him not to ad- proceeding. The next day in court all the public pros- mit my father. My father was admitted to the hospi- ecutors of the 14 courts of Hissar district, including tal anyhow and while he was recuperating there, me, the District Attorney were present and were lobby- my brother, and two of my lawyer colleagues and ing with the accused side. The atmosphere during some of my relatives were falsely implicated in a case the proceeding had become extremely hostile and of attempting to murder and an IRF was filed against the judge also threatened to file a writ against us. us. My relatives told me that all the senior people of We then shifted the case to the Supreme Court and the Bar and senior officials from the Jat community asked the trial court to file a report on the allegation stood against us. My office was ransacked in Hansi of harassment on the lawyers’ from the victims’ side; and I was again implicated in false cases. We applied the trial court filed a report saying that the allega- for interim bail then and my bail application is still tion was true and subsequently the case was trans- pending in the Chandigarh High Court. There is a ferred to the special court for scheduled castes in magistrate level inquiry against me as per a Supreme Rohini, Delhi. Three lawyers were representing the Court order. My phone is still tapped. We face sever- victims’ side from HRLN, namely, Anubha Rastogi al difficulties like this and this is all that I would like and Shreeji and me. The other side was represented to share. Hopefully we will be able to come together by members of the Bar Association who are from and tackle these issues.
|166 SPEAKER 3
would talk about the attacks both on an ideological lev- SandeeP SinGh el and on a physical level on academics and student ac- Student leader tivists. Normally in alternative student politics, attacks on student activists were not taken into cognizance and were always kept aside. An attack on student activists, in generali in academics, has a methodological structure of or- ganized politics behind it, i.e. politics of education reforms, precisely the politics of privatization and liberalization of the education sector in our country. ten days ago the executive council at the lucknow university passed a decision that there will be 12% fee hike in every academic year. About 100 students protested on 10th November 2011 against the fee hike in front of the vc office and submitted a memorandum. The authorities had also promised various welfare schemes where sc/st and oBc stu- dents were to be exempted from paying fees but these schemes have not been implemented. lucknow university is exactly like a Police camp. When this protest finished, the police attacked the student activists and When I asked a question a student leader sudhanshu Bajpai was seriously injured. A few days be- to Kapil Sibbal in a press fore this, a similar incident took place in Allahabad university. Whatever conference in Ranchi academic tradition is left in uttar Pradesh, Allahabad university is the where he was speaking epicenter of that. For many years now, student union elections are not on behalf of a nationwide happening there. The university has been famous for its glorious tradi- campaign on governments tion of campus politics. some students gathered and formed an alliance view on corruption and and joint platform to protest against this in front of the vc office. on the Janlokpal, I was heckled fourth day of the protest, when some students were on a hunger strike, by goons and my friends there was a brutal lathi charge by the police and 5 students were kept in were brutally beaten up. jail for many days. The new government in Kolkata has come up with an We filed an FIR. But a education ordinance which says that it is going to replace the existing de- cision making bodies like the university court, academic council, execu- counter FIR was filed tive council by a mentor group. This has already happened in Presidency against us accusing us of college. it is a calculated move to stop the representation of students, intentionally going there staffs and teachers in the academic council and executive council. Yester- to attack Sibal. day, when the student group who is running a united campaign against this, went to vidya sagar college to distribute some pamphlets, some students of the ruling establishment with the help of the administration and security staff took those students forcibly inside the student union
167| room and brutally thrashed them . I would also like ment against indulging in such political activity. to mention something about Jammu and Kashmir. The students of AMU are continuously fighting for The J&K government recently came out with a new democratic space. AMU is a residential place. Peo- employment policy, a kind of stipend mode accord- ple started staying outside because of the draconian ing to which in the first year of employment, the regime in the campus. AMU has a provision of is- employee will get 50% of their basic salary; in the suing non-residential certificates as a punishment in second year, they will get 70% of their basic salary the campus. In the last one and a half year, around and after five years, they will get their entitlements 1100 students were given non-residential certifi- as permanent workers. A seminar was organized cates and were evicted from the campus. Today, in in the Jammu University Campus protesting this AMU, there are almost no political, cultural, intel- move. Prof. Anil Sadgopal was a guest speaker in lectual activities organised by the students. This is this seminar. There was a procession organized in the prevalent situation in most of the campuses, be the campus just after the seminar and the procession it in north India or south India. Whatever is happen- was attacked by police and the ruling party goons. ing in Lucknow University or in any of the campuses in the country is a form of attack on democratic sen- I would like to talk about a few more examples of sibility. When I asked a question to Kapil Sibbal in such incidents. In BHU last year, the registrar came a press conference in Ranchi where he was speaking out with a circular claiming that it came from the on behalf of a nationwide campaign on governments UGC saying that no student or teacher can criticize view on corruption and Janlokpal, I was heckled by the policies of the government. The BHU campus goons and my friends were brutally beaten up. We today is just like a jail. Since the student union elec- filed an FIR. But a counter FIR was filed against us tion in BHU campus was stopped in 1997, there is accusing us of intentionally going there to attack no sense of campus democracy. Gates of the girls’ Sibal. hostels are locked around 6’o clock in the evening. There is a department called proctorial board about We are discussing the attacks on human rights de- which the students studying in campuses like DU fenders only in terms of physical attacks but it is es- or JNU might not have heard of. They have heavy sential to discuss the kind of police attacks, attacks vehicles at their disposal, 400-500 trained staff and of the regime on an ideological and policy level. staff retired from army or police forces. They roam In the 90s there were unions in Allahabad Univer- around the campus and issue show cause notices sity, in BHU, AMU, Jamia and everywhere in the and lodge complaints against students for activities country. There is an active link in all this with the like sitting in a park. It is rampant over the campus. liberalization regime and the basic content is that If we talk about some of the prominent campuses of exclusion. The exclusion is not entirely possible like Jamia Milia Islamia or AMU the situation over without a systemic attack.I still remember there was there is also deplorable. a World Bank policy in 90s which said that because of popular movements, we failed to implement the Although the VC at Jamia claims of the high edu- agenda of privatization. These policies are actually cation and quality standard of the institute, the meant for exclusion of a large section of population campus is no different from BHU. There are restric- in terms of education and health. They cannot be tions on any kind of activities of the students. The implemented if they do not destroy the democratic campus, once famous for its cultural activities like space in the society and in the campuses. In 2000 theater has its open air theater fenced with a barbed there was a task force of the World Bank named wire. No theatre groups can participate in Jamia. Promises and Perils of Higher Education in Devel- Under the new regime, more than 300 students have oping Countries. I want to share with you some part been given show cause notice. One of the student of the report. It said, ‘political activism means that activists, from Rajasthan, was trying to address the the students are spending a large proportion of their class in his department on some case. The squad of time on politics rather than education. There are sit- the Proctor office raided the class along with 20 po- uations where the level of political activism can rise licemen and gave him a warning, evicted him from to the point where high quality education becomes the hostel and gave show cause notice in the depart-
|168 impossible. In situations where academic pursuits day regarding conducts and facilities leaving little have been taken hostage, activism may need to be space for democratic proceedings. It is an attempt to restrained. In the last decade if you take a critical institutionalize the privatization agenda and make view of the campuses of north India, you notice that them normative. Kapil Sibbal is proposing a new there is no campus politics and campus democracy. Bill, named the National Education Tribunal Bill. All agendas are enforced. Our policy makers and The crux of this Bill is that no student, teacher or their policy orientation is as such that they want staff can go to the court without the approval of the the education sector to be influenced by the mar- National Education Tribunal. The Bill is approved ket forces and the World Bank. They don’t want any by the cabinet committee or the group of Minis- form of popular resistance from the students and ters and most probably will be passed in the com- from the campuses. In order to erode such political ing winter session of Parliament. There are a dozen resistance and possibilities, there is a continuous such Bills – the Foreign Educational Institution Bill, and vicious attack on student activists and student Universities for Innovation Bill etc. The existing unions. universities apparently cannot change the education system. Thus the attack on student activists is not Lastly, coming to the private educational institu- only at a physical level which is a very small part of tions and their commercialization and contractuali- the entire picture. We need to think about the major sation, a big section of the students in the country source and cause of these attacks. My suggestion is are merely contractual students. They sign con- that can we think about a kind of Independent Peo- tracts and bonds while taking admission in places ple’s Tribunal in the coming month where we can like Meerut, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida where discuss the new Bills, the new moves where our laws medical, dental and engineering colleges are mush- of the land are being rewritten in order to facilitate rooming overnight. These Institutes have a horren- the corporate interests in the education sector. dous condition in terms of privatized education. Students are asked to sign affidavits on the very first
169| |170 Defending the Defenders Strategies
lenin raGhuVanShi (PVchr) since last two days, we are listening to the discussion. We should try to talk at this podium on the basis of our experience. in the whole world, people believe in global thinking and local action. People like us believe in local action. We have seen that when people talk about global thinking and national thinking, those working at the grass root, for example, the issues of the human rights defenders working for the Mushahar community and of the human rights defenders working for the last person on this earth, their local thinking were never discussed. This is indeed a huge crisis. There is a silence prevailing over this issue. There is a culture of silence. Because of that, it’s difficult for human rights defenders to work here. This is the reason why people like us who initi- ate consolidated movements, there is too much pressure from the local people and they were being successful at that. We are always there in minority as we never give importance to local perspective, local activities and local work. Be it osama Bin laden or Bush, they always gave importance to local thinking. We need to understand the real truth behind it. it is very important to understand this to start an initiative. so, diversity is important to start an initiative for ex- ample, it is important to understand the local thinking of people of Kashmir that of Northeast and in the districts of rajasthan. secondly, if we want to make this initiative successful, we should give impor- tance to local thinking. For example, when Binayak sen was arrested, there was a culture of silence prevailing in chhattisgarh and the most important point is that we failed to provide a support system to local social activist. some of our activists and people like us tried to work, we are still working on dalit rights, and it’s a continuous struggle. We provided them support. At first, there was silence, a culture of silence. But gradually there was dynamics and solidarity amongst the activist at the grass root level. These dalit activists have enough experience, there age old experience of discrimination, you know dalits were being discriminated from last many hundred years, so they have learnt how to live life in adverse circumstances. it is important here to understand how they live their lives and this has a great impact on our work. When we go to the vil- lage and try to unite people, some people tried to oppose them. We try to cre- ate platforms for local thinking in debate and discussion. Their abilities to un- derstand the issues are very powerful, some of them follow the ideas of Bhagat singh. But we try to understand the heroism of the people. We also try to get the real man out of them and paved the way for real story of pain and emotion in some different way. We organised some honour ceremony for the human rights defenders fighting for the rights of Muslim communities. We provided psychological support to women activists. We also approached the Mushahar communities. We said we are your speaker and you are the real leader. We said unlike the people from the government, we are not master, you are our master. 171| The impact of this feelings is when Mayawati organised a conference against us, most of the dalits stood by us. It was not a support from NGOs. It was local support. After that, we used information technology to defend the defender. There was support from all over the world. We try to fight till the last activist gets legal support. Some people might try to say that it’s Lenin’s debate but we try to tell stories of human rights defenders and their struggle at the local level. In these meetings we got peoples’ solidarity. We enquired and got details about these cases. Some people filed RTIs, the activists who have expertise in RTI. Some people filed complaints and tried to take up the cases. We tried to organise meetings to get local support. Some people came and joined us. We succeeded in creating a dynamics; as a result, the victims now fight for themselves. We also tried to get some legal support for them. We have started organising them and got some international support too. Today, people come and talk to them. If you are not going to support the local human rights defenders, if we are not able to break that, then supporting the human rights activists in Lucknow only is not going to solve the problem. The local system is already broken. So, we have to support the local activists. In Manipur, we have to support Sharmila. We are successful in getting support for activists in Manipur, in North-east, and somehow we are successful in doing that. We should think about how much International support we can get for the activists. Think about this, in one meeting, we got more than 46-47 cases in UP. How many cases are there, who are the people who have expertise on these issues, who will do what, we have to understand all these dynamics and we need to develop some mecha- nism to do our work.
Suhas Chakma (ACHR) I just want to speak on the paper. This is a very tactical session in the sense that there is need for some kind of broad alliance. “How do defenders can defend themselves?” So, this is a clear message which we have spoken since yester- day till the last session. I think there are three issues which I want to flag and then I will come back to the text. I think there are root causes of human rights violations which we have to discuss. Sometime, I was wondering why we are discussing these issues, when we are meeting here for the human rights viola- tions. Second, human rights violations beyond the root cause violence, which is a symptom. In the talk, the people who are talking to address the symptom as well as the root cause of violations. What we are here for basically? For the people, people who are defending violations of human rights which are symp- toms of root causes of human rights. So, what we are here for basically is for the defense of human rights defenders. What I would say that in many meetings, networks are created and collapsed. Unless we are very specific about what we want to achieve, unless we have clear ideas and a clear mandate, it has to be the role of each and every individual. Before that I am going to make a point, I want to say that there is something for the human rights community to learn the lesson from the media community. Recently, Justice Katju said that there is a need for regulation of the electronic media. I think he has very valid points and we have seen the way the entire media reacted to that proposal. But I think
|172 when we come to human rights defenders, obviously we are not able to garner the same unity and especially when there is no difference whatsoever, of the basic fundamental principles on which we all are working. What we are trying to do basically is to create that space, that platform for all the activists from the country to come across and share their views. That is what the platform is all about. We have to act swiftly, from the perspective of defending the hu- man rights defenders so in a manner, we do not infringe or we do not create any kind of turf war with the kind of things the people are doing. If you ask me, I would say emergency response, contacts, solidarity for the human rights activists, we need them. Because we are not able to create them, that have to be linked with the media, and also create eminent peoples’ response group and action alert mechanism. But again, we have to understand this action alert is not for the victims of violence of human rights alone because each and every- body are being inflicted with it. What we are trying to do here is action alert at large, with specific context of the human rights defenders. Again, legally if you say, victim’s complaints against the police, it becomes too broad. I think legal aid, medical aid, counseling, and documentation all this are acceptable in the context of defending the human rights defenders. So long as we restrict ourselves to with that, there is possibility of being successful for being able to create a platform where we would be able to work together. There are number of issues like special focus on the conflict areas, jail visit, involve law colleges, law students etc. In my view, these are areas where individual organisations are already working on, possibly they have funding, and possibly they will come together. They have specific projects. I will give you one specific example. We are in a process of writing on the government of India’s report to the Human Rights Council on the Universal Periodic Review. There is the working group of Human Rights in India and UN. But at the same time, in the five pages docu- ment, it is not possible, for the working group, to reflect on the 100 organisa- tions working in this country. So, the people will come back with their own recommendations and reports. So, we have to keep that in mind that, we do not in any way, step on other’s activities. So, I would say that we could restrict ourselves and focus on human rights de- fenders. Finally, I would like to say that we have discussed for the last two days about the stated and obvious object. We also have situations where human rights defenders are prosecuting each other, for whatever reason, whoever is wrong, whoever is right, I don’t want to talk about it. I have my own experi- ence; People here have prosecuted each other for whatever reason. The second reason is there is turf war; there is lack of mutual trust among the activists, because the very basis on which we start the foundational cooperation is in a way at some point of time, gets broken easily. We may not discuss this in public forum, but whenever we want to create a mechanism, we have to remember that in the fraternity of human rights defenders, there are big differences which actually prevents the formation of collective opinion and that is reflected more pronouncedly than anywhere else, as in the case of team Anna, with respect to Swami Agnivesh versus team Anna, but I wouldn’t say beyond that. But I have said that these are issues we have to address and should take cog- nizance of. We just cannot only focus on the state. There are number of issues, where, human rights defenders’ actions are actually undermining the activities
173| in actions and endangering all human rights defenders. I would like to give one example, when government of India came out with an order that if you are organising an International conference, you have to take the permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs. We never take permission, we do the meet- ings. Then they come and pick up the people, throw them out of the country, deny them their Visas. You also know, I want to mention that Peoples’ Union of Civil Liberty (PUCL) went to the Supreme Court, not enough consultation was held and the Supreme Court actually upheld the validity of the executive order. So, it became law. If you ask me, I would say that there is no crime for you to organise a meeting. We are a democratic country, we don’t need permission to organise a meeting, why we have to go for permission? So, I think, we have to consult each other on broader issues. Whether this kind of executive orders, the FCRA issues or any other law which concerns the NGOs and because the NGOs do not consult, it becomes a problem. So, one of the key responses has to be, to the law framed by the government of India; if it infringes the rights of the NGOs, then how the NGOs collectively respond to it rather than hurrying it out.
Anil Choudhary (PEACE) I first apologize for not being part of the discussion yesterday. Because I thought, that the printed material is today’s discussion, so I went back. For the first time, I heard about the concept of human rights defenders, about twelve years back or so and that was a time when Amnesty International has done some projects with this name. And we have organised four regional workshops and one national workshop on this issue. And if we can lay our hands on the reports of the workshops even today, the whole thing was worked out in much more detail, but nothing happened. The requirement was expressed that this is high time to come together; we need some enthusiasm to be set, when defenders are attacked, we can act to- gether. My question to Colin is who is going to bell the cat? When I reflect on these things, then the Amnesty International had taken the responsibilities till holding workshops, writing reports etc, after that, they are not ready to bell the cat. Similarly, whoever organises national level meetings, those organisers are not prepared to take responsibility of whatever will come in the way. So, that is why we should think before closing this seminar, whether Human Rights Law Network which, by its nomenclature seems to be mandated for doing these things, is ready to take the responsibility or not? This is my first question. Moreover, if you say yes what should you do? Just very briefly and quickly, I was going through the activities part, the aspirations here are hinting at seven types of functions that need to be performed, one related to documentation and research, and the other related to solidarity action, which should include protest, fact findings, sending fact finding teams, holding IPTs, legal supports which includes 24 x 7 helpline for local activists and for local lawyers. Because, if you are listening carefully since yesterday; this is a very big requirement at the local level. You wouldn’t get lawyers, if you get lawyers, you don’t have support, and consultation and advise with your senior kind of a thing etc. So, this is the third function which required to be performed from a central place.
|174 Colin said first to start fact finding, second helpline. I would say first is docu- mentation, research, second is solidarity action which has three components - Protest, fact finding and holding IPTs. Third is Legal aid & support, this supports includes running a helpline for local lawyers and activists. Fourth is awareness through campaign and public education about the issues, on which, we are working on (human rights). Fifth function is outreaching to the legal fraternity because sometimes you also hear that lawyers available to stand on such issues are decreasing. So how will it increase unless we focus on this function and which may include regular visits, holding events in law schools and law faculty and in the district level bar associations etc. It is a function in itself. It is not to be taken for grant- ed and some proactive actions need to be taken and other things which have come up yesterday and today is this whole issue about rehabilitation and social support to the victims like human rights defenders when they are attacked or when they are jailed, when they are turned from defenders into victims, then their reaction, rehabilitation and social support is very important. And seventh, while I was listening to Prashant Bhushan in the morning, I felt that these are very important components in the policy of influencing and lob- bying, like you are saying that in false cases, there should be punitive provi- sions for the people who are responsible for initiating false cases. So, who will do that? So, there has to be a group which function in this area, prepare the document and does the lobbying so that those kinds of clauses are amended or like reforming human rights commission. Who will do it? So, seven types of functions emerge from here. Now I will end by saying that we have lost a lot of time, we shouldn’t loose more time and someone like Colin and his institu- tion should take the responsibilities of ‘belling the cat’ and we should look for- ward and put in a massive committee at the national level, not very small.I can read out what kind of people should be there in the committee. First thing is we should get hold of, minimum ten prominent people, whether they are able to travel or not. If their names hold value and credibility like Justice Krishna Aiyar, Justice Sachar, all these disappearing generation we should put in the committee. And minimum ten we should find out. All the Judges whoever go in solidarity with the IPTs, Justice Sawant etc., those type of ten prominent people should be part of the committee. Three to five representatives from each state, so that if we will make more states in the part of the things, more numbers we will get then. Then, about five to ten senior Supreme Court lawyers like Prashant Bhush- an, Colin, Sanjay Parikh etc. So, you have those types of inputs. Then five or ten members from the law school or university faculty, representatives from Artists, writers, poets, actors, representatives from media, and network from peoples’ struggles, NGOs and support like that. We have 200 persons com- mittee formed like this. There should be a target. Then, this committee can have seven sub- committees based on discussion and everything. So, we can have this big committee meeting once in a year and sub-committee meetings more frequently. But what is more important here will be that this whole thing should be supported institutionally, by some infrastructural backing and some full time support staff. Some full time researcher should be the in-charge of
175| this committee.I f we visualize our target like this and then start moving step by step towards this target. But precondition for that is, again I am repeating and I will stop there that is HRLN has to agree to take this responsibility, only then it will be possible.
Kavita srivastav (PUCL) I am just going to endorse what some of the points that Anil and other speak- ers have put across. Whether we call it a network or a platform, I am basically responding to this kind of framework that Anil had given. Since you are here, you should get clear idea or at least you should see other version of thoughts. If you take an idea to come to the final points, here at least forty fifty endorse their ideas. We should be clear in thinking as to what we are demanding. Now I really think that within this, the title ‘human rights defenders’ (HRD) is limit- ing. The title human rights defender is limiting because we are basically talking about all the people. It should be, either we call it solidarity in action network of activist and human rights defenders or network of activism of human rights defenders to show the solidarity or you may call it whatever you like the term you can. You can call it HRD. But if you want HRD terms in it, because some- times its useful to have a term, because in any case of the kind of violation that we heard of in this last two days, we cannot fight with just this country. We have to take them on the platform from the outside here. The voice has to go right from local to global level. And if HRD (Human Rights Defenders) is a termi- nology which helps us in some platform, it is okay. But definitely, for activists, something has to come. We don’t have network or a platform. And, there should be solidarity in action. Solidarity is so important a term for us, because there is a kind of isolation when I think there is so much heard in the meeting of last two days. While there are a lot of other things are coming, but just isolation, how each one felt and that kind of solidarity in action be- cause we want this should change. We want to display our power. I am repeat- ing again and again because we do not want to be disempowered. We want to show that we are powerful and for alternative power, we want to generate what- ever network you call it, and this is just a kind of hint towards that. Now if you go by the seven categories, the way Anil has trying to put this whole thing in seven categories, I agree with him regarding the whole eminent persons sector. But I want to say when we name something as action alert, contacting Interna- tional Institutions now suppose, we take this little thing or contacting human rights defenders, we are contacting Human Rights Commission, contacting group solidarity or whatever to the action alert group, we all have lots of action, not just sending an email or something like that. I work, almost every week I send something to the Human Rights Commission and I have not given up so far. I keep sending because I think that makes them work. But it is not easy. We see merely an action alert is not an easy task because suppose somebody say yes, what next? Is the person available for your documentation? Further, we are always loaded with some kind of work and I tell you a few cases, like NHRC, in fact, the file is lying on my table.I am unable do it on time, I am so scared that I am in loss of time because if I send it to you, and you are serious,
|176 you are the secretariat, I send it to you. I get back to you, what about the re- sponse? So, it is not easy for anyone to do the task, it is not easy. S/he is busy in his work; s/he may not be contacting you. So, really I think when you do net- working, especially this kind of work, authenticity of information is important. Because the other side, whom you put hold of it might counter it. You know we are traditional human rights activists, and we do our work through fact find- ing. So if we are unable to fact finding ourselves, we call the local activists to do so and those kinds of things, it’s very difficult. If you look at three things, we can begin with is contacting human rights organisations, international Institu- tions and groups in India. I think the value will be authentic, I mean at the start we will response to it, and then we will take to the logical conclusion. So, I would go back to my learning and I feel the best way to begin such things that you keep on learning, network will be formed, the platform will happen, you begin you secretariat and in secretariat, you start with networking. I think many of the cases which came to us at the last moment; we begin with some of that. I think if we have to start the secretariat first, my suggestions very con- cretely at this point are that we are working for the secretariat. When the right to food secretariat came up, 15 national networks came to- gether. And now as we take on new networks, the group decides. We survived because of the secretariat and that was the competence in the secretariat. We got the students mostly from University, who are so committed, work eighteen hours, do action like this and that. We work together and then we formed an advisory group kind of a thing and of course we work for them. The advisory group is that of five to six people because the whole groups would not be here. I used to go to Jaipur, somebody will go to somewhere else. So, advisory group has to be local and some one who can write or respond to an email. So there has to be an advisory group and I am willing to play whatever role you ask, which of course, also be by putting PUCL institutionally in the sense that it is backed by PUCL fully, not by the PUCL Rajasthan. We have two, three people from PUCL. I am just an individual member of PUCL. I think this support, relief and rehabilitation part, I don’t think this can be done centrally. This is not a task that we can do centrally but the idea can be under- stood by the funding, support etc. but it has to be done locally. For that, may be a national support we need, but the task to be done locally. So, I have also written on my note that someway, you got to think about building in a state, a local network kind of a thing. It is very good idea like rehabilitation, relief and reparation but you can’t do that now. It is a menace, it is too much of a burden and I mean the secretariat can only flag the issue, it is not convenient. We do a lot of the work; I come from a women movement. Now both will take your time and you know that. We are not running an alternative kind of a thing, but we can ensure, we can take up issues, we can contact the people. This should be a plan and idea but it can not be the centre of our activities. This is the com- ment I want to make. Yesterday, we are talking a lot about the documentation part but I don’t not want to go into details. But regarding human rights commission or other com- mission. It is not the reform of these commissions, but to make them account- able. All of us can start one campaign; we want to put this on a network. So,
177| let’s make these institutions that came out from our public money more ac- countable. And all those which don’t exist, then what can we do? For example, in Rajasthan, there are seven commissions, but Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot refuses to appoint any officials in these commissions. The groups working there can support us to make them accountable. So making them accountable and initiate amendment through laws, there are this whole set of laws which we can get rid off. For example, if we want to take the case of NHRC, we should put that in the priority list for reform and so on. But we need amendment in so many laws which need amendments not only in protection of human rights act. If you keep having all you special laws, all your draconian laws, what can you do by rectifying them? They can do some seditious thing, they can harbor something, they can arrest someone under suspicion etc. Reforming NHRC is not just a solution. May be, we can come together. For example, let’s start with sedition. PUCL has initiated a campaign with lots of other organisations on repealing sedition, we can begin with sedition. We can all come together; it can be our campaign activity. I really want to come back and want to end with that one thing that can we have that as our priority of the secretariat to really take up the conflict areas I think I learnt a lot by the Punjab presence here and I am very thankful to Colin to connect us. We have been into Northeast and thanks a lot to our friends like Babloo, who is sitting here, we saw certain things, we learnt a lot but something about Punjab, when all of us experienced while growing up. We have visited there and we should learn a lot from the human rights workers, how in Pun- jab, they are contesting cases, how they are getting rid of all the cases, there are some understanding. I think we have to form sub-groups in conflict areas because, in the rights to choice cases where some of us are engaged in, or those kinds of cases which is equally serious, it gets left out.S o, the subgroups within this group working in conflict areas could be our priority for all. I don’t know, but there has to be some sort of dialogue between states for example I would really say that we can learn from the Chhattisgarh and Punjab experience. We can learn from the legal works of each other. So, special focus should in the conflict area and like visit to jails there and meeting the defenders there. In Gujarat, all the defenders like Shabnam, Mukul and many others who are now in jail so we have to visit these jails and find out what they are doing in jail and their work must be highlighted. In Binayak’s case, we manage somehow and now he is out of the jail and many others also, but what about those we don’t know. So I think this meeting will be really a honest attempt to do lit- tle bit in the conflict area, one of my friends sitting here said that in the cases of the forced disappearances and fake encounters, nothing comes from India, other than Kashmir, a little bit, nothing come from India, we faces every day in Chhattisgarh, on the International platform. Then why aren’t we putting to- gether something and sending it to the International platform. If we can make a report about all these encounters and all these eliminations that will be a good thing. We fought them in our courts, we raised them here, but we have not taken up these issues in an International platform. So these are some of the some important points I wanted to make. When we are starting this initiative, 50-60 organisations probably came on board and everybody comes to the coordination. Then we form this small ad-
|178 visory group of 7-8 people and set up a secretariat. The secretariat can be based in HRLN, it can be based in anybody’s office, in Shabnam’s office or in PUCL office. The secretariat can be housed in a joint space, like the Khalra centre, which is a neutral space and inspired. The name itself is such an inspiration.S o, either we have it like that then it’s workable. Because at this point of time no one organization can manage everything. So, most of the organizations present here should endorse the idea and taking from there, we set up a working com- mittee that is eight ten of us, who are going to deliver, like Anil is very good in coordination, and we can take it forward from there.
Satnam Singh I am just following on, because we are having similar discussions and learning from each others’ experiences and I can give you my perspective as a lawyer practicing in UK and about the perception of India. I think we touch upon this issue yesterday. This conversations and issues were not being brought out at the international arena and as we can follow it right from our conver- sation that the UN working groups working on forced disappearances, rou- tinely publishes how many cases come before, forced disappearance cases and rape accused killing and we learnt the hard way, what I mean by, is the Sikh communities when 25000 case of forced disappearance happened. The Sikhs only learn how to use the mechanism and I think it was in the mid 90s to the early 2000 and even in that stage, it was only a couple of hundred cases we brought before UN working groups. Now there are number of cases in Chhattisgarh and others areas, in the conflict area of Punjab and it is so important these cases are documented in a way the UN working group understands because the one benefit you have of that there is an annual re- port and the Indian government is required to give an explanation to the UN working group about the current status of those cases. The one benefit that you have, of those kind of mechanism is that, the government here can’t de- lay the cases for years and months, and things can’t be pending. They have to give response in these cases on an annual basis. Now, during the discus- sion that we had in UN with the representatives of the UN working group, they have consistently asked India on access to place like Kashmir, to Punjab and I think, the most pressing at the moment is what is going on in Kashmir and in the maoist affected areas. If there are sufficient number of cases that are coming from India, the UN Working Group would say to the Indian govern- ment that they want to do a fact finding study and they won’t just accept from the government, their version of things, that they would go to the conflict ar- eas, try to speak to them and with the groups who are working there and then will do their investigations. Justice is now being globalised and there are so many examples. But the irony is that Libya has signed out of the International Criminal Court and Prashant Bhushan this morning made a very important point about why there should be momentum within India to sign out of the International Criminal Court. Because somebody like Gaddafi, a dictator, we know what he was about, signed up to the International Criminal Court and he had most to lose by doing that. So, what happened after the invasion of Libya, on the uprising that happened
179| there? The Libyan people were saying that this person is a tyrant; bring him before the International Criminal Court. Lot of these problems you have, in my own perception, without getting the sanction. You need witnesses. This is how we suffered in a mass, whether it is genocide or in a crime against humanity. You don’t need anybody’s permission. There has to be a prima facie case and simple, credible evidence. So, I think, one of the steps, that positively needs to be taken forward that I see from the perspective of being a Sikh, as a human rights lawyer, learning from the difficulties that we had, for not being able to achieve justice properly from the Punjab cases, in the 1984 Delhi cases. This needs to be our goal now. Genocides and riots are not only in India, but there needs to such a focus, there needs to be such grounds of opinion within India that, if you cannot deliver justice here, leave it to the International Criminal Court. But the common ar- gument which binds here is that whether there is an attack on our sovereignty or not. Other countries are signed up to this charter. The only country, that has something to fake, country like Israel, who because of their human rights violations and genocide against people of Palestine, will never sign up to the In- ternational Criminal Court. I think, Pakistan has also signed up with the Inter- national Criminal Court. There was a movement in South-east Asia for these countries now to become members of a globalised system of Justice, where, if justice can not be delivered, it can be enforced there. I know, our focus is hu- man rights defenders. There are also some committees, some working groups, as specifically for the Human Rights Defenders. Now we can say here that this group potentially represents the aspirations of a billion people. Within each conflict zones and in each area, there are probably hundred and thousand of cases of human rights defenders, these needs to be documented and sent to the working groups. When they realize that there are hundreds of cases, if not thousands of cases, again, is the number, that prompts action, in places like UN and internationally. These things need to be brought out. Suddenly, after Binayak Sen’s case, anybody who had never even heard about the conflicts in Chhattisgarh, all the perception in the west was that there was a prominent human rights activist who has been forcefully imprisoned and suffered from these things. The next question for those of the concerned like minded individuals or whether its EU or other Institutions, why he is being im- prisoned in the first place, whether there is a conflict going on inC hhattisgarh, and whether its soldiers, Salwa Judum or SPOs etc. These conflicts, these is- sues need to be brought out in the International Arena. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, not even the expertise. But, if there are people, who are willing some to do some documentation work, I think, it will be Delhi centric and I think, HRLN can be involved in this. You have the people you can have some training on how to fill in the UN Performa. They are not very complicated. In fact, some of the work that I have seen here is more than detailed in terms of what is required for the cases to be done. But there needs to be mechanism, a fluttering way, of things coming to a core, whether it is based in Delhi, ideally it should be based in Delhi. But on an annual basis, these cases can be presented. The beauty of this is the UN working group publishes its reports online. So, you can see the work that is being done, you can count the cases whether you have responded back to or not.
|180 Paramjeet Kaur Dear friends, we have discussed here most of the issues and we have a thought to work on the rights of defend the human rights defenders. We have to give them moral support we should not emphasis more on the name of the organi- sation. Am sure we are going to face difficulties when we start the work. So, let the governments do its work and we will do our work. Whoever may be there in the government, state sponsored violence is bound to happen, and we have seen that in last so many years. I am happy that, in spite of all these, we are together. In this consultation, lots of issues came up during the discus- sions, issues of the states, issues of students, issues of individuals and I think, this is really a great thing. Because, whatever work we were doing, we need a platform to continue our work. For this whole endeavour, the entire credit goes to Colin to organize this meeting. We are going to establish a set up, and we will continue working and during the course of work, it will be clear how and in which way we can take our work further. I am really happy to initiate this center. We will work collectively now; there will be documentation of our work. Whatever we have decided here, I am now going to announce that. The work done by Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra is an example for the human rights defenders. Whatever work was done in Punjab, the work done by Sardar Jas- want Singh Khalra is really a great contribution. I am now going to announce, with consent from the organizers and Colin, the Center will be dedicated to the name and work of Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra. The whole world knew about the work done by Khalra Sab. Now, we are going to work in Delhi, the national capital. We can now wok on the violence happening in Punjab and in other states, and we can take our work to the International level. I would like to congratulate all of you. I never considered myself as an innocent person, because when I have taken the work so far done by Sardar Jaswant Sigh Khalra, I am working for the innocent victims, I am not doing the work for myself. We are human rights defenders. We should let the global world know, what is happening in India. The structure we have now is very important andI would like to thank all of you for recognizing the work of my husband. We are taking aspirations for his work. Again, we would like to evaluate our work at least for once in a year, we should look at our output, key reasons for our failure etc. the people who are gathered here today are experts in their own field, and we just need coordination of our work. That’s allI have to say.
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183| |184 185| |186 Khalra Centre for Human Rights Defenders
During the two-day (19-20 November 2011) national consultation on the state of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in India, it was felt that there is an urgent and pressing need to establish an exclusive centre to deal with the ever growing attack on defenders across the country. In view of the urgency, two organisations namely Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) and World Sikh Organisation (WSO) with support and collaboration of several other human rights organisations and activists, announced the establishment of the Khalra Centre for Human Rights Defenders in India. Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra was a pioneering human rights activist who played a very crucial and exemplary role in exposing the disappearances and illegal cremations of thousands of Sikhs by the Punjab Police during and after 1984. He painstakingly documented all the facts and made his findings public in Canada in 1995 during a visit organized by WSO. Upon his return to India in September 1995, Khalra was abducted by the Police that illegally held him in custody for 40 days and then murdered him in cold blood. His widow Paramjeet Kaur and WSO have been working tirelessly to realize the dreams and ideals for which Mr Khalra laid his life. The Khalra Centre for Human Rights Defenders has been established as a tribute to his work and legacy. In Paramjeet Kaur’s words, “the idea is also to try our best to stop what has happened to Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra and other HRDs.” The centre is working as a focal point towards protection of Human Rights Defenders in India. The centre provides support to people engaged in upholding human rights, directly or indirectly. While the primary focus of the Khalra Centre is to provide legal aid to human rights defenders under attack, it is also trying to engage with a variety of activities ranging from emergency re- sponse, extending solidarity, issuing action alerts, contacting Human Rights Commissions, legal awareness, documentation, medical help, formulating public opinion and developing other forms of responses. Towards this end, the centre is closely working and coordinating with various hu- man rights groups, public health organizations, activists, journalist and lawyers across the country. The process of identification of HRDs under various categories and documenting their profile has already begun. We are in the process of creating a comprehensive database which would include all necessary details on human rights defenders working in sensitive areas on crucial issues, and who are either under attack or face potential threat. The center is also trying to build a nationwide network of Human Rights Defenders from all states. In this regard, the centre with the help of var- ious local and regional oganisations is going to organise consultations and preliminary meetings to discuss the modalities at local and regional levels. The Khalra centre will also publish reports on the state of Human Rights Defenders in India.. Ongoing and Proposed Activities in coordination with other organisations • Emergency support — issuing solidarity statement — issuing Action alerts — contacting the Human Rights Commissions — contacting international institutions — contacting Human Rights groups/activists — Providing safe houses in case of emergency or fear of attack
187| • Legal aid — Helping Victims to file complaints against the police — Punishment/ Prosecution for false cases — compensation for loss of dignity, years lost in litigation, effect on families • Medical aid — rehab centre for the victims of torture/recovery place for burn out — counseling • Documentation of all attacks on defenders — Profiling of victims — Profiling of perpetrators — Jail visits in conflict areas • Training of activists and para legals • Campaign — For amendments in the Human Rights Act — For Release of HRDs • Publication — Manual for Human Rights Defenders — State of HRDs Report • Networking (of) — Human Rights and other social organisations — Hospitals for Medical Aid — lawyers for Legal Aid — Journalist for Media Coverage — People’s Movements for Mass Mobilization and Pressure — Formation of Eminent people’s response group • Advocacy on and with — creation of a Media team — Amendments in the Human Rights Act — Members of Parliament, police and the administration sympathetic to peoples’ movements — reform of the Human Rights Commissions and other commissions
Contact Details: Khalra Centre for Human Rights Defenders 576 (Basement), Masjid Road, Jangpura New Delhi- 110014
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