[Reader-list] Shameful Torture of 23 Muslims Prisoners on March 26-27 In Sabarmati Jail, Ahamedabad: A Report by Human Rights Activists

[Venugopalan K M]

Dear Sir/Madam,
Prelimanary Report of INDEPENDENT COMMITTEE ON INCIDENTS OF 26-27th MARCH
2009 IN SABARMATI JAIL,
 AHMEDABAD.


*INDEPENDENT COMMITTEE ON INCIDENTS OF 26-27th MARCH 2009 IN SABARMATI JAIL,
AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT*


CAMP: People’s Union for Civil Liberties c/o Gandhi peace Foundation,
Himavan, Paldi Char Rasta, Ahmadabad 380006


*PRESS NOTE*


*AHMEDABAD, April 16, 2009*


* *


* *


An Independent committee of senior national human rights activists has
expressed its deep concern at the government handling of the beating up of
22 inmates of the Sabarmati Jail on 25 March 2009, and has called for a full
enquiry, preferably a judicial one by a judge of the High Court, into gross
violations of the Jail manual and human rights norms established by the
Courts and the NHRC. Regrettably, the incident reinforces the image of
Gujarat as a state where the human rights of religious minorities and weaker
sections are not honoured.


Inmates, most of them Muslim, who were on a  hunger strike, were denied
medical attention after a brutal attack on them by jail staff, which left at
least three of them unconscious for so long as to start rumours in the city
that they had died. They were subsequently denied access to counsel, their
relatives were refused permission to meet them for three days, and then the
Sabarmati Police station failed to register an FIR as sought by relatives
and counsel of the victims.


The independent committee consisted of Dr. John Dayal, Member, National
Integration Council, Govt. of India, Adv. K. Kesavan, Joint Secretary, CPCL,
Tamil Nadu, Dr. J. S. Bandukwala, President, PUCL, Gujarat, Dr. S. Q. R.
Ilyas, Editor, Afkar-e-Milli, New Delhi, Mr. Gopal Menon, Film Maker,
Bangalore, Mr. Mahtab Alam,Coordinator, Association for the Protection of
Civil Rights (APCR), New Delhi, Ms. Harini Krishna, Film Maker, Mumbai, and
Ms. Ruchi Shroff, Civil Rights Activist, Mumbai, Mr. Gautam Thakar,
Secretary, Secretary, PUCL, Gujarat was in  Ahmadabad from 15th to
16thApril 09.


At a public hearing, the Committee heard statements from mothers, wives and
sisters of the jail inmates who gave detailed narrative of the events in the
jail as they had heard from the inmates when they were finally allowed to
meet them. The women presented blood stained clothes of the inmates. Counsel
gave the committee copies of the PIL filed in the Gujarat High Court, the
medical report filed by two lawyers who had met the inmates in jail, as also
correspondence with the jail and police authorities seeking justice and
medical care for the injured.


The committee made several efforts to approach the authorities. The
committee in fact went to the Sabarmati jail and met Superintendent
Chandrashekhar who refused permission to visit the concerned ward and meet
the inmates. Inspector general of police Mr. Keshav Kumar, despite a written
request followed up by repeated visits to his office and a telephone
conversation with him would not find time for the committee. The visit to
the Sabarmati Police station was an eye-opener where ACP Vaghela, SHO Joshi
and Inspector Parmar all but justified the violence against the  inmates
saying they were criminals accused in Bomb blasts, and had indulged in
violence in the Jail. The three officers admitted an FIR had been registered
at the behest of the Jail authorities. They denied they had even received
complaints from the families of the victims in this case.


The investigating committee does not comment on the cases in which these 22
persons are in jail, or even on several other events that have taken place
in the Sabarmati jail in recent weeks which go to show that all is not right
with its administration. But it is clear from the testimony of the relatives
of the victims and the admission of the police officers that the chain of
events has been triggered off with the coming of the new Jail Superintendent
who stopped long standing practices of taking ill and injured inmates to the
civil hospital, provision of highly specialized medicine and curtailed other
rights. It was in response to this that the prisoners went on a highly
publicized hunger strike.


The committee will submit a detailed report in a couple of weeks. But it is
important to record its preliminary findings and recommendations.


*Initial observation of the team *


* *


   1. *Beating of the Jail inmates are admitted in an affidavit filed by
   Jail authority.*
   2. *Draconian jail manual laid down by the British is followed till date,
   even though parts of it are contradictory to our Constitution.*
   3. *Advocates and relatives of the inmates were not allowed to meet for a
   long time, which is a serious violation of Prisoners’ Rights.*
   4. *No FIR of the relatives has been registered till date.*
   5. *Inspire of 22 prisoners suffering injuries, some of them being
   fractures, they were treated within the jail as our patients correctly, they
   should have been admitted to civil hospital. *


* *


*We demand that-*


* *


   1. *National Human Rights Commission should intervene on the issue and
   report to the Supreme Court.*
   2. *Proper medical help should be given by the civil hospital. *
   3. *PUCL Gujarat and Human Rights groups should be allowed to meet and
   gather first hand information.  *


* *


* *


Sd/-


Dr John Dayal- 09811021072


Prof J S Badukwala


Dr SQR Ilyas


Mr. Gautam Thakar, Secretary, PUCL, Gujarat-09825382556


Released to the media for publication.


regards,
Mahtab


MD. MAHTAB ALAM
mdmahtaba... at gmail.com
Phone:+ 91-9811209345


-- 
MD. MAHTAB ALAM
mdmahtaba... at gmail.com
Phone:+ 91-9811209345


    Press Note ahmedabad 16 april 09.doc
41K View Download




-- 
http://venukm.blogspot.com/