[Reader-list] PUDR statement on possible arrest/detention of Aparna Marandi and other anti mining activists in Jharkhand

[asit das]

 PUDR statement on possible arrest/detention of Aparna Marandi and other
anti mining activists in
Jharkhand<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/pudr-statement-on-possible-arrestdetention-of-aparna-marandi-and-other-anti-mining-activists-in-jharkhand/>

*December 9, 2012*

Peoples Union for Democratic <http://www.democrats.org/> Rights expresses
grave concern over disappearance and a possible arrest/detention of Aparna
Marandi, Baby Turi and Sushil Ekka along with two minors Alok Chand Marandi
(4 years) and Satish from Hatia Railway Station in
Ranchi<http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=23.35,85.33&spn=1.0,1.0&q=23.35,85.33%20%28Ranchi%29&t=h>,
Jharkhand on evening of 8.12.2012 . All of them had come to this station to
board Tapaswani Express in their route to
Hydrabad<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad%2C_India>for
participating in a public convention.

It is to be noted that Aparna Marandi , Alok Chand Marandi and Satish are
related to a leading cultural activist of Jharkhand Jiten
Marandi<http://sanhati.com/excerpted/4332/> as
spouse, son and nephew. Both Jiten and Aparna have been relentlessly
campaigning against mining interests, ‘devlopment’ led displacement as well
as larger climate of repression in Jharkahand villages accompanying
the operation
Green Hunt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Green_Hunt>. Jiten
Marandi was earlier framed along with three others, by the Jharkhand police
in false cases of Maoist <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maoism> related
violence in which 19 people were killed and the lower court had awarded him
and others with death sentence. The
Jharkand<http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=23.35,85.33&spn=1.0,1.0&q=23.35,85.33%20%28Jharkhand%29&t=h>High
Court however found the charges against them unsubstantiated and had
acquitted them in December 2011.

Baby Turi on the other hand is an elected representative and is Mukhiya of
Jitpur panchyat in Dhanbad District <http://dhanbad.nic.in/> of the state.
Sushila Ekka is a social activist
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activism>and hails from Badka village in
Hazaribagh
District<http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=24.0,85.25&spn=1.0,1.0&q=24.0,85.25%20%28Hazaribagh%20district%29&t=h>
.

PUDR strongly condemns this deplorable step of the Jharkhand Police and
demands that the whereabouts of these five people be immediately made
public. Securing the life and liberty of its citizen is utmost function of
the government. We therefore hold Jharkhand government complicit in this
mysterious disappearance and grave transgression of fundamental rights of
citizens.

PUDR sees this incidence of disappearance as a chain of events that links
to continuous process of repression in the state of Jharkhand, in light
operation Green Hunt that has forsaken the constitutional governance in the
state.

*Paramjeet Singh, Preeti Chauhan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauhan>
Secretaries*