[Reader-list] Shameful Torture of 23 Muslims Prisoners on March 26-27 In Sabarmati Jail, Ahamedabad: A Report by Human Rights Activists
Shuddhabrata Sengupta
shuddha at sarai.net
Mon Apr 20 03:55:31 IST 2009
Dear All,
The allegations of torture on the detenues in Sabarmati Jail are a
serious matter, and I personally feel that they need investigation. I
would also like to state here, that I am totally against the
detention of Varun Gandhi, which was done under the National Security
Act. I find Varun Gandhi's statements reprehensible, they just show
the disgusting level of pettiness and prejudice to which he and his
party are prepared to stoop in order to score points in an election
campaign and I think they should be combatted politically. If at all
necessary charges could have been brought against him, since he is
seeking election, through the relevant sections of the Representation
of the People Act and some parts of the Indian Penal Code.
But the National Security Act is a preventive detention law, and I
think in principle, all instances of preventive detention should be
opposed as they are against democratic norms, This only ends up
gifting Varun Gandhi with a halo we don;t need to see him with.
regards
Shuddha
On 18-Apr-09, at 3:43 PM, Kshmendra Kaul 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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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net
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