[Reader-list] Fwd: FW: circulate this widely

[Nagraj Adve]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sanober keshwaar <ksanober at gmail.com>
Date: 6 February 2014 23:01




 IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PRISON HUNGER STRIKERS

 YOU ARE NOT ALONE!




 Since January 26, 2014, close to 500 prisoners in the jails of Jharkhand,
Nagpur and Odisha have been on hunger strike to highlight gaps in India's
criminal justice system. They are demanding the basic right to bail, for
speedy trials and to be produced physically in court for trials. On Monday,
169 prisoners in Maharashtra's Nagpur Central Jail awaiting trial completed
the fifth day of their indefinite hunger strike. More than 200 fellow
inmates joined them in a rotating chain strike.
In Jharkhand's Hazaribagh Jail, a hunger strike involving more than 100
prisoners also entered its fifth day. They demand the review of the
sentences of all convicts who have completed 14 years of life imprisonment.
Since January 30, the protest has triggered a wave of similar protests
across 26 prisons in the state. Most of the prisoners come under the
category of under trial prisoners, who constitute one third of the total
prisoners in India. In the context of an emerging discussion on
undemocratic laws and fabricated cases, the hunger strikes of the under
trials and political prisoners in various parts of the country demands
highest attention from the students community. The draconian acts like
UAPA, TADA, POTA etc. have provisions like secret trials, trial in absence,
and are pro prosecution and anti-accused. The last amendment of UAPA made a
provision where the remand period was increased from 90 days to 180 days.
The most dangerous aspects of these acts is that these can determine an
association and the Police can do so. So, an innocent group of students
sitting and having tea on a tapri can also be termed as 'an association'
and falsely accused without any concrete evidence. These acts also make
provisions wherein if civil society groups or other groups raise funds for
any cause in India or outside then they could be suspected (and not
actually) to be used for terror activities and hence the individual or
organization can be targeted.
The plight of the under trial prisoners kept in prison for years hardly
ever come out open. While they are kept behind the bars using various
undemocratic and draconian laws by the state, they are further deprived of
their constitutional right to bail, physical attendance in courts and fair
and speedy trials. Six months before, Hem Mishra, a student of JNU was
arrested and framed with false charges under UAPA. The arrest of Hem shows
the trickery of Indian state to silence a generation of

politically active students.

 The political prisoners  are the people who raised their voice to
safeguard the constitutional and democratic rights of the most marginalized
sections of our country .As the 'informed' and 'educated' political class,
we students have the  responsibility to stand with them in their struggle
for justice.

 We, Students of Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai join with the
progressive democratic sections of the society in demanding the immediate
and unconditional release of all other political prisoners along with
immediate bail of all other under trials.

 Students of Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai




-- 
Thanks
Sincerely.



Ajmal khan
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Deonar, Mumbai.
400088.



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