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

Sat Apr 18 18:37:42 IST 2009

Dear Venugopalan

Thanks for the acknowledgement and gracious clarification.

Gujarat is not the only State where the "human rights of religious minorities and weaker
sections are not honoured". But Gujarat certainly has been focussed upon due to various happenings we are all familiar with. It is only to be expected and there is nothing "Anti-National" about that.

One hopes that any such incident in any State (whether in measures less than or more than in Gujarat) is highlighted and the guilty are punished. It would be a ridiculous argument that one should not talk about Gujarat unless one talks about every other State simultaneously. This cannot be a Zero-Sum game. 

More than anyone else, those who subscribe to Hindutvaism should be most disturbed by any such happenings in Gujarat. Instead of Modi's rule in Gujarat setting an inspirational example of "Hindutva based governance", it has been furnishing enough examples of horrific mis-governance that confirm the worst fears about Hindutvaism for anyone who loves India and is truly a nationalist.

A criminal commits a crime of a certain magnitude and so is called a criminal and is penalised in accordance with the magnitude of the crime committed. 

My personal belief is when those in whom the people have vested Power and Authority commit crimes that are an abuse of the Power and Authority vested in them, the magnitude of their crime should be judged as being exponentially more serious and should receive exponentially larger penalties. Such crimes are the "Greater Evil".

Kshmendra

--- On Sat, 4/18/09, Venugopalan K M <kmvenuannur at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Venugopalan K M <kmvenuannur at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Shameful Torture of 23 Muslims Prisoners on March 26-27 In Sabarmati Jail, Ahamedabad: A Report by Human Rights Activists
To: "sarai-list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Saturday, April 18, 2009, 5:51 PM

Dear Rakesh , Kshmendra and others in the list,
I am much obliged to you for pointing out the factual errors there in
my post. I apologize for the error in the subject line that refers  to
the number of prisoners tortured as 23, whereas actually it is 22 as
shown in the text.
Secondly, I wish to acknowledge that I ought not have failed to note
the difference between 'all' and 'most'.
(Those were not intentional, and happened in some hurry to share my
concern with readers here )

The object of the post was highlighting the fact that the jail
authorities in the Sabarnati jail illtreated the prisoners, mostly
Muslims and they were defying at least many of those jail norms
associated with respect to the statutory obligation of the state vis a
vis its prisoners.
Let me quote from the preliminary findings of the citizen's report, as
I think it must fit well in the context of many debates taking place
here, particularly so because many of us here had  been debating about
the importance of Rule of Law despite our divergent political
persuations:
" Regrettably, the incident reinforces the image of
Gujarat as a state where the human rights of religious minorities and weaker
sections are not honoured"
Yes, thus I too am concerned about this reinforced image,which is
unfortunately sought to be denied repeatedly  by at least some people
here, dismissing it  as the  result of expressions of 'pseudo
secularism' or anti-national propaganda !  I wish I could help it.
Thanks,
Venu.

On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 3:43 PM, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Dear Venugopalan
>
> Any mistreatment of prisoners in a jail is reprehensible.
>
> However, do you think it was proper of you to give the Subject Line that
you
> have given for this report?
>
> The report expresses concern at the government (mis)handling of the
beating
> up of 22 (not 23) jail inmates. It describes them as "most of them
Muslim"
>
> "Most of them Muslim" and not "All of them Muslim" as
is rather
> unfortunately suggested by your Subject Line which gives quite a different
> sense.
>
>
> Kshmendra
>
> --- On Fri, 4/17/09, Venugopalan K M <kmvenuannur at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Venugopalan K M <kmvenuannur at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Reader-list] Shameful Torture of 23 Muslims Prisoners on March
> 26-27 In Sabarmati Jail, Ahamedabad: A Report by Human Rights Activists
> To: "sarai-list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Date: Friday, April 17, 2009, 3:17 PM
>
> 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/
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