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INDIA: Army soldiers murdered five civilians by pushing them out of a train

January 26, 2005

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

26 January 2005
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UA-14-2005: INDIA: Army soldiers murdered five civilians by pushing them out of a train

INDIA: Murder; Impunity; Rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation in West Bengal, that five persons were killed and another seriously injured in Uttar Pradesh, when they were thrown from the Farakka Express Shikohabad by army jawans [soldiers] from Rajputana Rifles into the path of an oncoming train on 23 January 2005. It is alleged that the incident followed a quarrel between the two parties because the army jawans did not allow the six persons into a compartment claiming that it was only for military personnel. At Shikohabad Station, the army jawans threw six passengers out of the train. They fell on the parallel track and were crushed by the speeding Sampurna Kanti Express, which was passing by. Out of the six passengers, five were crushed to death while the other was badly injured.

AHRC is extremely distressed at this horrific incident and urges you to immediately intervene by writing to the Uttar Pradesh government to take action against the responsible army personnel. Please also urge it to compensate the families of the victims for their losses.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of victims:
1. Nemilal from Bhind, Madhya Pradesh
2. Sukhram, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh                                                  
3. Mahesh Chandra, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh
4. An unidentified man
5. An unidentified woman
(**All the five were killed by the incident)
6. An unidentified injured person
Place of incident: Near the Shikohabad Railway Station, Uttar Pradesh, India 
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Jogendra Singh
2. Pradeep Kumar
3. Rajendra Kumar
(** The three are army soldiers of the Rajputana rifles battalion)
4. Deepawal Biswas from the Border Security Force
Date of incident: 23 January 2005

Case details:

On 23 January 2005 at around 5:00am, some passengers entered the compartment of the Farakka Express on the Delhi-Kanpur route. The compartment was occupied by troops mostly from the Rajputana Rifles, an army battalion. An altercation broke out amongst the passengers and the army jawan [soldiers] who claimed that the compartment was reserved only for military personnel.

When the train halted at the Shikohabad railway station, Jogendra Singh, Pradeep Kumar and Rajendra Kumar of Rajputana Rifles along with another jawan of the Border Security Force allegedly threw six passengers out of the train onto the tracks of the oncoming Sampoorna Kranti Express. Five of the passengers were crushed to death while another was seriously injured and hospitalised. The Superintendent of Police, Ferozabad, Mr Ram Kumar, said that two of the victims' bodies, a man and a woman, are yet to be identified. Local people are fearful that the police will not investigate in this case properly as the perpetrators are army soldiers. There have been repeated similar incidents where people were beaten and killed by army personnel after being thrown from a train.

The AHRC notes with great concern that the army soldiers, the so-called upholders of law and protectors of the citizens, are involved with crimes of such nature and instead of aiding the people, in fact go against them. The AHRC requests the requisite authorities to intervene in this case and provide justice to the victims. Simultaneously, the Government of India should ratify the Convention against Torture (CAT) and should immediately implement domestic legislation to put an end to such brutal crimes committed by the security forces in India.


SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter to Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, asking him to immediately order a thorough and impartial investigation into this serious case and take proper action against all those involved in this crime. Please also send a copy of the letter to other relevant local authorities.

Sample letter:

Dear Mr. Yadav,

RE: Army jawans murderd five civilians by pushing them out of a train

Name of victims:
1. Nemilal from Bhind, Madhya Pradesh
2. Sukhram, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh                                                 
3. Mahesh Chandra, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh
4. An unidentified man
5. An unidentified woman
(**All the five were killed by the incident)
6. An unidentified injured person
Place of incident: Near the Shikohabad Railway Station, Uttar Pradesh, India 
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Jogendra Singh
2. Pradeep Kumar
3. Rajendra Kumar
(** The three are army soldiers of the Rajputana rifles battalion)
4. Deepawal Biswas from the Border Security Force
Date of incident: 23 January 2005

I am greatly grieved by the deaths of five innocent passengers travelling on the Farakka Express at the hands of army jawans [soldiers] attached to the Rajputana Rifles and the Border Security Force on 23 January 2005. One other passenger was seriously injured and is now receiving treatment in a hospital.

It is alleged that the incident followed a quarrel between the passengers and the army jawans, with the latter unvilling to share a compartment saying that it was reserved for military personnel only. When the train stopped at the Shikohabad railway station, the jawans threw six passengers onto the tracks and into the path of a speeding train resulting in the subsequent death of five and the grave injury to another.

I urge you to order an impartial and thorough investigation into this incident immediately and take legal action against those responsible for the incident. I also request you to instruct the army department to fully support the investigation and take immediate disciplinary action against the alleged perpetrators. Adequate compensation should be provided to the families of the victims and the perpetrators should be asked to pay the compensation amounts.

I further urge the Government of India to put realistic and independent investigating mechanisms in place to counter the crimes committed by the security forces so that the perpetrators are punished accordingly.  Again, I urge the Government of India to ratify the UN Convention against Torture (CAT) and implement domestic legislations to eliminate human rights violations by security forces.

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND A LETTER TO:

Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister's Secretariat
Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
Fax: +91 522 2230002 / 2239234

SEND COPIES TO:

1. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
President
Office of the President
Rashtrapati Bhawan
New Delhi, 110004
INDIA
Tel: +91 11 3016767 (Joint Secretary), 3014507 (Personal Secretary)
Fax: +91 11 3017290, 3014570
E-mail: presssecy@alpha.nic.in or Pressecy@Sansad.nic.in

2. 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: mailto:chairnhrc@nic.in

3. Mr Pranab Mukherjee
Defence Minister
Room No. 104
South Block,
New Delhi 110 011
INDIA
Tel: +91 11 23012286 /23019030
Fax: +91 11 23015403

4. Justice A P Mishra
Chairperson
Uttar Pradesh Human Rights Commission
6-A Kalidass Marg, Lucknow
27 Park Road, Allahabad
Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
Tel: +91 522 2726742
Fax: +91 522 2726743
Email: uphrc@sancharnet.in

5. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Att: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
c/o OHCHR-UNOG, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (general)


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission
Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-14-2005
Countries :
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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.