[Reader-list] Fwd: [sanhati] [ReachIndia] PR: Police Intimidation of Witnesses, Journalists, Students Ahead of Public Hearing in Chhattisgarh

[Amit Basole]

*Association for India’s Development (AID) <http://www.aidindia.org/>*
*6th Jan, 2010, Hyderabad*

______________________________________________________________________________________

*PRESS RELEASE** *

*Police Intimidation of Adivasi witnesses, Journalists, Students and Social
Workers Ahead of Public Hearing (Jan Sunwai) in Dantewada, Chattisgarh *

One day before the *Jan Sunwai *(public hearing) planned for  6th and
7thJan to bring out Adivasis’ concerns in Dantewada, Chattisgarh, the
police
has unleashed a campaign to intimidate and silence key Adivasi witnesses as
well as visiting journalists, students and activists.


 Even as eminent Gandhian Himanshu Kumar of Vanavasi Chetana Ashram (VCA)
broke his fast on the 10th day, the Ashram was surrounded by armed police
and Special Police Officers (SPOs). Journalists Satyen Bordoloi and Priyanka
 Borpujari from Mumbai,  Suresh Deepala, law student and AID volunteer from
Hyderabad, and Nishtha, a visiting student from Tata Institute of Social
Sciences were forcibly prevented from leaving, placing them under virtual
house arrest for a few hours. They were assaulted and their cameras taken
away. After public pressure forced the administration to let them free, they
were then detained again at the police station on false charges of
assaulting journalists. They have been released now and are back at VCA.


About 25 to 30 Adivasi villagers who had come to VCA for the *Jan
Sunwai*have been taken away by the police to an unknown location on 5
th January. Even as eminent social activists, journalists and concerned
citizens, including Medha Patkar and Sandeep Pandey, are reaching Dantewada
on 6th January for the *Jan Sunwai*, the administration has adopted
increasingly repressive and violent tactics to prevent or scuttle the *Jan
Sunwai *and cover up the excesses going on for the past two years.


Sodi Sambo, a 28 year old Adivasi woman from village Gompad was shot in her
leg on 1st Oct, 2009 by the security forces. She is an important witness in
the 1st Oct incident in which 9 Adivasis, including an 8-year old girl, were
killed by the security forces. She is one of the petitioners of Writ
Petition (Criminal) No. 103 of 2009 in the Supreme Court. She was stopped by
the police on 3rd Jan, 2010, as she was on her way to Delhi in very ill
health for the treatment of her wounded leg and malaria. She is being held
in isolation in the Jagdalpur Hospital where neither journalists nor social
workers can meet her. Further, the hospital cannot offer the treatment she
needs.


Intimidation and harassment of VCA volunteers has been going on for over a
year in spite of the fact that Himanshu Kumar and VCA have consistently
opposed Maoist violence. Volunteer Kopa Kunjam was arrested on false charges
on 10th Dec, 2009 along with a lawyer from Human Rights Law Network.
Although the lawyer has been released, Kopa continues to be in custody
where, according to him, he was tortured by being hung upside down and
beaten severely. He has been threatened several times to not work with VCA.
At the behest of the police and the administration, the landlord of Himanshu
asked him to vacate his house despite having signed an agreement for a year.
Nandini Sundar, a Professor of Anthropology in Delhi, was refused a room in
all the hotels in Dantewada and her car driver threatened, eventually
compelling her to abandon her visit.


We demand that the rights of civilians in the region be restored, the media
have free access to the region and report on the goings on, and the civil
society be allowed in the region for the *Jan Sunwai*. We urgently request
NHRC, various human rights group and the Home Minister P Chidambaram and
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister to ensure the safety of  Sodi Sambo, Kopa
Kunjam, Himanshu Kumar, the Adivasis of Dantewada, and all the visiting
journalists, students, social workers and human rights activists. We demand
an end to the abuse of power by the state in Chhattsigarh and by the
Operation Green Hunt through out India and demand that the Centre and State
be held accountable for every life that has been lost so far.



*Contacts:*

Kirankumar Vissa, AID-Hyderabad +91-9701705743, kiranvissa at gmail.com
Tathagata Sengupta, AID-Kolkata, +91-9903462567, tsengupta at gmail.com
Somnath Mukherji, AID-Boston, +001-732-423-6662, mukherji.somnath at gmail.com


_,_
-- 
Amit Basole
Department of Economics
Thompson Hall
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: 413-665-2463
http://www.people.umass.edu/abasole/
blog: http://thenoondaysun.blogspot.com/