INDIA: Human rights defenders and victims of human rights violations arrested by West Bengal Police during a protest meeting 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the arrest of various human rights defenders working in West Bengal along with victims of human rights violations on 9 December 2005, the next day being the Universal Human Rights Day.

The human rights defenders and victims were silently protesting in front of the Writer’s Building (the state government secretariat) against government inaction and gross human rights violations such as custodial torture, faulty investigation procedures and delays in the justice system, eviction of poor from certain areas, state neglect and denial of malnutrition and starvation cases, many of which have resulted in deaths. The twenty-two arrested people were thrown into police vans and taken to the Lalbazar central lock up where the arrestees demanded that the police produce a memo of arrest. They were however soon released after each of them signed a personal release bond.

The AHRC condemns this police action. The state is rife with incidents of gross violations and related systemic problems mostly dealt with inefficiently by the state administration and the law enforcement authorities. We only wish that the authorities would display such fervor in addressing these issues, instead of attacking those very people who focus on them. We also wish that they were more in touch with the victim’s problems and supportive of the work of human rights defenders and non-governmental organisations rather than discrediting them. It is also to be noted that arresting persons without an arrest memo and without informing the arrestees of the reasons for it is a breach of law by itself and action should be taken against the police personnel responsible for this.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the victims:
1. Mr. Kirity Roy, Secretary, Masum
2. Mr. Abhijit Datta, Advocate, Assistant Secretary, Masum
3. Mr. Pradip Mukherjee, Office Assistant, Masum
4. Mr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Titagarh
5. Mr. Gopen Sharma, Jalangi
6. Mr. Faizuddin Biswas, victim of hunger, Jalangi, Murshidabad
7. Mr. Pintu Biswas, (physically handicapped) victim of hunger, Jalangi,  Murshidabad
8. Ms. Shyamali Haldar, victim of hunger, Jalangi, Murshidabad (lost her 18 month son due to starvation)
9. Mr. Nirmal Karmakar, Secretary of Deganga unit of APDR
10. Mr. Phanigopal Battacharjee, Secretary of Indo Japan Steels Workers Union & Working President of Sramajibi Hospital, Belur
11. Achintya Chatterjee, worker of IJSL
12. Nripen Chandra Kangsabanik, worker of IJSL
13. Swapan Roy, worker of IJSL
14. Swapan Paul, worker of IJSL
15. Bhola Patra, worker of IJSL
16. Narayan Debnath, worker of IJSL
17. Gour Hari Pradhan, worker of IJSL
18. Ms. Lakhsami Sahoo, mother of Mousumi Ari, a victim of improper investigation procedures
19. Ms. Matangani Sahoo, aunt of Mousumi Ari
20. Mr. Sukumar Sahoo, father of Mousumi Ari
21. Mr. Subodh Sahoo uncle of Mousumi Ari
22. Mr. Dipankar Mitra of Actionaid International, Kolkata chapter
Date and time of incident:  9 December 2005, at around 3 p.m
Place of incident: In front of the Writers building, Kolkata
Alleged perpetrators: Kolkata Police

Case details:

On 9 December 2005, various human rights activists from West Bengal along with victims of hunger and starvation from Jalangi, Murshidabad District decided to hold a silent protest meeting to voice their dissent over government inactions and rights violations. There concerns were focused specifically on custodial torture, faulty investigation procedures and delays in the justice system, eviction of the poor from certain areas, state neglect and denial of malnutrition and starvation cases, which have led to many deaths.

The protest marked the Universal Human Rights Day and the protesters decided that they would all carry posters and light candles, but there would be no shouting of any slogans.

However, during the course of this meeting, at about 3 pm, the Kolkata police, including some police officers of the Hasings police station arrested the silent protesters without any memo of arrest and threw them into police vans. The twenty-two arrestees were then taken to the Lalbazar central lock up, which is the head quarters of the Kolkata police. Here, the protesters once again demanded that they be shown the memo of arrest but the police told them that since they would be releasing them there was no need for a memo.

The protesters were then released after each of them signed a personal release bond. In the bond, the case number was not mentioned.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the various authorities listed below expressing your concerns over the police action in this case wherein they arrested innocent people without any arrest memo and gave them no reasons for doing so.

 

 

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