[Reader-list] Orissa:CDRO Statement on arrests of Mohanty and Mandal

[asit das]

Orissa - CDRO Statement on the arrests of Samgram Mohanty and Kailash
Mandal<http://sanhati.com/articles/5888/>

*December 6, 2012*

CDRO strongly condemns and refutes the official versions touted by the
Odisha police regarding the recent arrests of Sangram Mohanty and Kailash
Mandal from Berhampur town on 5th December 2012. Both have been shown as
Maoists and the police claim to have recovered arms, literature and other
items from their possession.

The facts are otherwise. Sangram Mohanty, a thirty year old engineer turned
businessman was busy in a motor repairing garage on 5th December in
Berhampur town. When returning home in the morning, he was intercepted by
plain clothed policemen in a Bolero jeep and hustled into the vehicle. This
was corroborated by a local butcher who was a witness to the interception.
Mohanty was first taken to the Reserve Police Barrack near Berhampur town
and then, in another vehicle, transported to Mohana PS in Gajpati district,
not far from the area where the recent fake encounter had taken place. His
advocate was refused permission to meet him and late at night he was
produced with his face covered before a first class judicial magistrate at
R Udaigiri. After production, he was taken to judicial custody where he has
started his hunger strike protesting his arrest. Although the magistrate
reprimanded the police for covering Mohanty’s face, his bail petition was
rejected as the magistrate claimed that it went beyond his purview.

It is necessary to add that Sangram Mohanty is the son of Dandapani
Mohanty, convenor of Jan Adhikar Manch who has twice acted as interlocutor
for securing the release from the Maoists, the collector of Malkangiri in
2011 and two Italian tourists abducted in 2012. He has been legally
fighting for 657 persons lodged in 19 districts who have been arrested as
Maoists by the police. He and his family have been repeatedly threatened
and intimidated by the police over the last two years. His house was
ransacked and raided by the police in 2010 and false cases were foisted
under UAPA in February 2012. Most recently, he and his family have been
receiving threats after his public condemnation of the fake encounter.
Sangram Mohanty’s arrest is clearly a way of intimidating Mr Mohanty and
his family.

In another instance, Kailash Mandal, a tribal and cultivator was picked up
by the police on 2nd December in the evening from the bus stop at Berhampur
town where Mandal had come for business. Mandal’s father contacted
Dandapani Mohanty the following day and the latter sent SMSes to all
officials in Odisha in connection with Mandal’s disappearance.
Coincidentally, Mandal too was produced with Mohanty on the night of
5th/6th at R. Udaigiri.

CDRO demands:

* Immediate and unconditional release of Sangram Mohanty and Kailash Mandal.
* Action against the police for keeping Mandal in illegal detention for
over three days, for arresting Mohanty and Mandal without procedure, for
producing them with their faces covered, and for refusing permission to
Mohanty’s lawyer from meeting him.
* Immediate end of harassment to Dandapani Mohanty and his family from the
state forces.

*Asish Gupta & Kranthi Chaitanya
Co-ordinator, CDRO*