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INDIA: Forced eviction in West Bengal by the local police

August 20, 2007

URGENT APPEAL URGENT APPEAL URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

20 August 2007

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UA-257-2007: INDIA: Forced eviction in West Bengal by the local police

INDIA: Impunity; police violence; illegal eviction; breakdown of rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a local human rights organisation based in West Bengal, India regarding the illegal destruction of nearly 100 houses at the Rajabazar Canal – Canal East Road area by the local police stationed at the Narkeldanga Police Station in Kolkata. It is alleged that the houses, mostly tents and shanties, were forcefully pulled down and burned by the police to evict the residents.

CASE DETAILS:

On August 2, 2007 at about 2pm the police officers from Narkeldanga police station led by an officer in uniform appeared at Rajabazar Canal – Canal East Road. The place is occupied by about 100 houses by very poor people in the locality. The residents are mostly Muslims and their houses are no more than plastic tents and shanties.

The police officers were armed with sticks and Kukris [a local knife]. Soon the officers started cutting down the ropes which held the plastic sheets that formed the roof for the houses. As the sheets fell down destroying the shanties, they were burned. The residents were not allowed to gather their belongings and neither were there any warning or notice served upon the occupants prior to the destruction of their shanties. Those who protested were kept at bay by being charged using the sticks the officers had. Several residents lost their belongings in the fire.

Several persons were injured in the incident. The assault and destruction by the police was sudden that even babies sleeping in the tents were saved just in the nick of the time. Praveen Kumar, a two-month-old baby boy was sleeping with his sister inside his house when his house was set on fire. Seeing the incident, a neighbor Mr. Halim Shiek tried to rescue the baby from the tent. The police prevented him from entering the house. But later he managed to ward off the resistance and save the baby.

It is alleged that this is not the first time the houses were destroyed by the police in the Rajabazar Canal – Canal East Road area. A similar incident happened in the month of June this year in which also the residents lost their belongings.

In the current incident several persons lost their records. For example Suraj and Sultana, two minors, lost their birth certificate in the fire. The police in addition to using force also used filthy language, particularly against the women to keep the people away.

Ms. Sahbina Khatoon, a student, was shouted at by the police officers using filthy language. Mr. Alauddin Sheik, a driver was carrying water when the police spotted him. The police charged upon him abusing him and alleging that he is carrying illicit liquor. Alauddin was dragged around by being held by his hair. His wife managed to save him from further assault. The police action lasted till 5pm.

On August 4, 2007 some 40 persons who lost their belongings in the police action along with the representatives of a local organisation called the Calcutta Samaritan went to the police station to submit a memorandum and to protest against the police brutality. But the officers refused to accept the complaint. The memorandum was signed by about 38 persons. When contacted later by MASUM, the duty officer at Narkeldanga Police Station, Mr. Sadhu Charan Singha, informed MASUM that the eviction was carried out under the instructions of the Deputy Commissioner of Police and that being a subordinate officer he did not have any authority to speak on the incident.

The Officer-in-Charge of Narkeldanga Police Station, in a letter issued to the Director of Calcutta Samaritans have reiterated that the eviction was an initiative of the local police in addressing crime and law and order in the locality. The letter reflects the officer’s limited understanding about rights, constitutional guarantees and fundamental freedom. The letter also justifies the police action.

The police have no authority to evict persons from any site, particularly from houses without an order from appropriate authorities. This could be the government, court or other quasi judicial authorities. In the current case there are no such issues involved. The police launched their attack upon the poor people staying in the shanties merely because they were certain that these people being poor will never have a possibility to complain.

It is true that several persons living in and around Kolkata city lives in unauthorized spaces and government property. This is because the inadequacy of affordable public housing to the poor who make a living out of the lowest paying jobs the city offer. Many of them, being Muslims are arbitrarily declared as Bangladeshi immigrants. Such a categorization takes away opposition against atrocious acts committed against these communities. West Bengal has in the past seen several evictions of which the AHRC has reported some. All these evictions were targeted against the poor sections of the society. For further information please see Bellilious Park evictions.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter to authorities in West Bengal asking them to intervene in this case. The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing calling for an intervention in this case.

To support this appeal, please click:

Sample letter:

Dear __________,

INDIA: Forced eviction in West Bengal by the local police

Victims: Residents of about 100 houses in Rajabazar Canal – Canal East Road
Alleged perpetrators: Police officers stationed at Narkeldanga Police Station
Place of incident: Rajabazar Canal – Canal East Road
Date of incident: August 2, 2007

I am writing to you to express concern about the case of illegal eviction reported from Rajabazar Canal area of Kolkata. I am informed that the police officers stationed at Narkeldanga Police Station on August 2, 2007 evicted some 100 houses from Rajabazar Canal – Canal East Road. I am informed that the residents, belonging to the poorest section of the community lost their entire belonging in the process. I am also informed that the police officers threatened and intimidated the residents in the process.

I am informed that the police officers used force to keep the residents at bay during the operation. I am further informed that the police officers acted on their own evicting the people since there were no court orders or any other directives from the government to evict the residents from the locality. It is alleged that the police to evict the residents had set fire to the belongings of the residents, a process in which several of the residents lost valuable documents and other belongings.

I am concerned about this case and therefore urge you to intervene to make sure that if the eviction is found illegal actions be initiated against the police officers responsible for the incident.

I am also concerned about the increasing intolerance of the local police to the minority community in West Bengal, particularly the Muslims and the poor in the state. I therefore urge you to also make sure that the local police under no circumstances do not disturb the dwellings of the poor and the marginalized in West Bengal without going through appropriate due process steps ensuring fairness. I also urge you to take appropriate actions so that the residents from Rajabazar Canal – Canal East Road area who lost their belongings receive compensation for their loss.

Sincerely

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PLEASE SEND LETTERS TO:

1. The Minister-in-charge
Municipal Affairs and Urban Development
Government of West Bengal
Writers' Buildings, Kolkata - 700001
West Bengal
INDIA
Tel: +91 33 22145497
Fax: +91 33 22143853

2. The Chief Secretary
Government of West Bengal
Writers' Buildings, Kolkata - 700001
West Bengal
INDIA
Fax: +91 33 22144328

3. Home Secretary
Government of West Bengal
Writers' Buildings, Kolkata - 700001
West Bengal
INDIA
Fax: +91 33 22143001
Email: sechome@wb.gov.in

4. Director General & Inspector General of Police
Government of West Bengal
Writers Buildings
Kolkata-1
West Bengal
INDIA
Fax: +91 33 2214 4498 / 2214 5486

5. The Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of India
Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg
New Delhi -110001
INDIA
Fax: +91 11 2334 0016
Email: chairnhrc@nic.in


Thank you.

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


Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-257-2007
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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."

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