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INDIA: Failure to stop the murder of wife by abusive husband and in-laws in Kharda District, West Bengal

March 17, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

17 March 2006
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UA-095-2006: INDIA: Failure to stop the murder of wife by abusive husband and in-laws in Kharda District, West Bengal

INDIA: Murder; police corruption; police inaction; collapse of rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner, Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (Masum), of the death of Mousami Raha, who died due to burns to 90% of her body caused by her husband and his family. The victim’s father, Bimal Chandra Das, has requested the post-mortem report from the hospital and local police station, and written complaints to several bodies but the police have taken no action.

At the time of her death, Mrs. Raha had been married to Akash Raha for one year, after a love marriage in Kolkata. Mrs. Raha began to suffer from the cruelty of Mr. Raha and his family soon after marriage. Their cruelty intensified when Mrs. Raha’s father refused to give his retirement benefits to Mr. Raha for the latter’s business. Mrs. Raha also informed a relative, Mr. Malancha Ghosh, that Mr. Raha had stolen Rs. 300,000 (USD 6,753) in jewellery during a visit by the couple to Mr. Ghosh’s residence. This resulted in threats and beatings to Mrs. Raha by her husband’s family.

On 13 December 2002, at 2:25a.m., Mr. Raha and his brother, Barun, went to Mr. Chandra Das’ house and informed him that Mrs. Raha’s body had accidentally caught fire from a mosquito coil. Mr. Chandra rushed to Mr. Raha’s house to find her lying on a bed with burns to 90% of her body. Noticeably, she had no burns to her hair or face, she had no clothes on her body and Mr. Raha was burnt on his left hand and on parts of the left side of his body. Mosquito coils are also known not to burn with a flame after their initial lighting.

Mrs. Raha was admitted to Balaram Seba Mandir Hospital, Kharda, at 11:30a.m. She was later transferred to R.G. Kar Hospital at Kolkata, where she died after five days in agony. She was only 27. Mrs. Raha was also seven months pregnant – the child did not survive.

Mr. Chandra Das has requested the post-mortem report from the hospital and the Kharda Police but he has been refused this continuously to this date. Mr. Chandra Das has also written to the Governor and Chief Minister of West Bengal, as well as the West Bengal Human Rights Commission and Office of the West Bengal Commission for Women. All of these organisations have received his letters and assured him of a proper investigation, however no action has been taken and Mr. Chandra Das is yet to receive justice for the murder of his daughter. This can be attributed to the corruption within the Kharda Police Station, which has awarded favourable treatment to the Raha family due to existing friendships between the family and members of the local police.

Incidences of wife-burning for reasons relating to dowry or cruelty are very common, and often unreported in India, despite the prohibition of cruelty to women by husbands or husband’s relatives under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. The actions of Mr. Raha and his relatives, which led to the painful death of Mrs. Raha and her unborn child, is yet another case of such cruelty which has not been brought to justice.

MASUM has questioned Mr. S. Roy, the officer-in-charge at the Kharda Police Station, regarding the death of Mrs. Raha but no records were found at the police station relating to her death; the police station did not bother to lodge a case and no magisterial inquiry has been held. Under section 174 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of India, a police officer who receives information that a person has died under suspicious circumstances should notify the nearest Executive Magistrate to hold an inquest, investigate the death and prepare a report describing the injuries on the body and manner in which the injuries were inflicted. The police of Kharda Police Station have taken no action whatsoever to fulfill their obligations under the Indian statute.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter to the relevant authorities seeking for an immediate and effective investigation into the death of Mousumi Raha and her unborn child, and calling for the perpetrators to be prosecuted. The AHRC also calls for a strong stance to be taken by police in regards to the investigation, prosecution of cases involving the death of wives due to severe burns, and for the treatment of such cases by police to be monitored by independent bodies.

Suggested letter:

Dear ______________,

INDIA: Failure to stop the murder of wife by abusive husband and in-laws

Names of victims:
1. Mousumi Raha, daughter of Bimal Chandra Das, aged 27 years, of 159 Natun Pally, Kharda District; Police Station - Kharda District, 24 Parganas (North), West Bengal, India.
2. The unborn child of Mousumi Raha, 7-month-old foetus.
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Akash Raha, alias Pawan, Husband
2. Gourhari Raha, Father-in-law
3. Other members of the Raha family
Date and time of incident:  13 December 2002, at around 2:25am
Place of incident: House of Akash Raha, Natun Pally; Police Station: Kharda District, 24 Parganas (North), West Bengal, India.

I am appalled to hear of the murders of Mousumi Raha and her unborn child in 2002 by burning and the complete lack of action taken by the police of Kharda Police Station to investigate their deaths.

Prior to her death Mrs. Raha had been repeatedly beaten and treated cruelly by her husband and his family. Mr. Raha had asked Mrs. Raha’s father, Mr. Bimal Chandra Das, for money on previous occasions and had also stolen jewellery to the value of Rs.300,000 from one of her relatives, Mr. Malancha Ghosh. Mr. Chandra Das’ refusal to furnish Mr. Raha with any money had angered Mr. Raha and his family, causing violent reprisals being directed towards Mrs. Raha.

On 13 December 2002, at 11:30a.m, Mrs. Raha, was admitted to Balaram Seba Mandir Hospital, Kharda. She was later transferred to R.G. Kar Hospital at Kolkata, where she died after five days in agony. Mrs. Raha had suffered burns to 90% of her body due to the actions of Mr. Akash Raha, her husband of one year, and his family members. She was only 27. Mrs. Raha was also 7 months pregnant – the child did not survive.

Mr. Chandra Das has requested the post-mortem report of Mrs. Raha, however the hospital authorities and Kharda Police Station have both denied his requests. Recent inquiries by a local organisation have found that the Kharda Police Station have in fact no records at all pertaining to the death of Mrs. Raha and her unborn child.

Under section 174 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of India, a police officer who receives information that a person has died under suspicious circumstances should notify the nearest Executive Magistrate, investigate the death and prepare a report describing the injuries on the body and manner in which the injuries were inflicted. Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code also prohibits the cruel treatment of women by their husbands or husband’s family. The police of Kharda Police Station have taken no action whatsoever to fulfill their obligations under the Indian statute.

I am deeply concerned by the lack of police action and have reason to believe that this is due to corruption and friendships between police officers and the Raha family.

In consideration of the above, I urge you to use your authority to ensure that a thorough and immediate investigation into the death of Mousumi Raha and her unborn child is performed, that the perpetrators are held accountable for their actions, and that there is no favourable treatment awarded by the police to any parties under investigation.

I also urge you to use your authority to promote a stronger approach by police in conducting immediate and independent investigations into all instances of female deaths caused by fire.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
Chief Minister and Minister in Charge of Home (Police) Department
Government of West Bengal
Writers' Buildings, Kolkata - 700001
West Bengal
INDIA
Tel: +91 33 2214 5555 (O) / 2280 0631 (R)
Fax: +91 33 2214 5480
Email: cm@wb.gov.in

2. Mr. Subhash Awasthi
Director General of Police
Government of West Bengal
Writers Buildings
Kolkata-1
West Bengal
INDIA
Fax: +91 33 2214 4498 / 2214 5486
Email: padgp@wbpolice.gov.in 

3. Mr. P.R. Ray
Home Secretary
Government of West Bengal
Writers' Buildings
Kolkata - 700001
West Bengal
INDIA
Tel: +91 33 2214 5656
Fax: +91 33 2214 3001
Email: sechome@wb.gov.in

4. Justice Shyamal Kumar Sen
Chairperson
West Bengal Human Rights Commission
Bhabani Bhavan, Alipore
Kolkata – 700027
West Bengal
INDIA
Tel: +91 33 4797259 / 5558866
Fax: +91 33 4799633
Email: wbhrc@cal3.vsnl.net.in

5. Shri Justice A. S. Anand
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of India
Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg
New Delhi-110001
INDIA
Tel: +91 11 23074448
Fax: +91 11 2334 0016
E-mail: chairnhrc@nic.in

6. Ms. Yakin Erturk
Special Rapporteur on Violence against women
OHCHR – UNOG
Palais Wilson,
 8 – 14 Avenue de la paix,
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: 41 22 917 9022

Thank you.

Urgent Appeal Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-095-2006
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.