[Reader-list] Free Hebal Abel Koloy!

[Yengkhom Jilangamba]

An Urgent Appeal for Action 

 

 

Free Hebal Abel Koloy!

 

On October 26, 2006 at around 9.30am Mr. Hebal Abel
Koloy, Chairman of Borok People's Human Rights
Organisation – BPHRO – (an organisation fighting for
the rights of indigenous peoples of Tripura against
all forms of state terror), Tripura, India, was asked
by the police of Jirania police station of West
Tripura district, to accompany them to the Jirania
police station and later was taken to Manu police
station, Dhalai district. He accompanied them and was
detained there till 8 a.m. (27 October, 2006) without
any reasons. By 8.30 a.m. of October 27, 2006 he was
declared arrested. The Manu police registered a case
against him [Case no.37/06, U/S 396/353/307/IPC and 27
of the Arms Act and 120(B)] under the Indian Penal
Code. On October 27, 2006 Hebal Koloy was produced in
the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kailashar
and the Manu police station appealed to the court for
10 days remand in the police custody. However, the
court granted allowed custody for 3 days – i.e.
October 27-30, 2006. On October 30, 2006 he was
produced in the Court of the Chief Judicial
Magistrate, Kailashar and the court found no evidence
of charges brought against him by the police but in
spite of his being proved innocent was not given bail
and was sent to the Kailashar Jail, Kailashar district
for 3 more days. 

 

It is pertinent to mention here that Mr. Koloy is the
principal of Khumpui Academy which is run by the
Tripura Tribal Areas District Council. His official
residence was ransacked in search operations that were
carried out on October 28, 2006 from 3.00 -3.50 p.m.
but no incriminating documents were found there. On
October 29, 2006 a search operation was carried out
from 11.15 a.m. to 12 noon in the office premises of
the BPHRO, located in the Place Compound, Agartala,
Tripura and in the search operation nothing illegal
was recovered according to the police's own version.
They seized identity card forms (which are issued to
all the members of the BPHRO), donors' registrar book,
membership fee book and other organisational document.
They also took the computer CPU belonging to Mohan
Debbarma (General Secretary of BPHRO) which was being
used for the office of the organization as they do not
have any computer of their own. 

 

Hebal Koloy has been an active member of the human
rights fraternity in Northeast India . He has
presented cases of human rights violations against the
indigenous peoples of Tripura at the 22nd session of
the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 2003
and has also ceaselessly appealed for justice and
transparency in Northeast India. We are convinced that
his detention is meant to silence the voice of
oppressed indigenous people of Tripura and is part of
a larger campaign waged by the state to malign and
obstruct people's movements working for justice and
dignity of indigenous peoples. We are also convinced
that as long as he is police custody he is danger of
losing his life. Such events are not uncommon in
Northeast India's gloomy world of human rights
violations and complicity of the organs of the state
in these violations.

 

FREE HEBAL ABEL KOLOY

 

Yours truly,

Arup Jyoti Das

On behalf of

North East Peoples' Initiative (NEPI)

4, Dwaraka Path, Oil Pipe Line 

Hatigaon Road, Dispur

Guwahati-781006

Ph: 0361-2222019 (o), 098641-39312 (m)

E-mail: nepinitiatives at gmail.com


 




		
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