Free Binayak Sen

Chhattisgarh anti-terror law to go if Congress returns: Ajit Jogi (Interview)

IANS, July 1st, 2008

By Sujeet Kumar

Raipur, July 1 (IANS) Chhattisgarh’s controversial anti-terror law will be repealed if the Congress is voted to power in the November assembly elections, former chief minister Ajit Jogi says. “Repeal of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) will be the top priority of the Congress government (if it is formed after the polls),” Jogi told IANS in an interview here.

Mineral-rich Chhattisgarh’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government enacted the CSPSA, which has been likened to the defunct Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) that was repealed by the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon after it assumed office in 2004.

“There is no need for CSPSA as existing laws are more than enough to deal with any given situation,” said the Congress leader, who has been confined to a wheelchair since a horrific car crash in April 2004.

This is the first time any Congress heavyweight in Chhattisgarh has commented on the fate of the CSPSA, which human right groups describe as a “black law”.

Over 40 people have been arrested under the act since it came into force in 2005 and have been charged with Maoist links. The most prominent among those held is physician Binayak Sen, vice president of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

Sen was held May 14, 2007, in Bilaspur town and is now facing treason and other charges in a court here after the Chhattisgarh High Court and the Supreme Court rejected his bail plea.

Sen has been lodged at the Raipur Central Jail here since his arrest.

“Sen is a renowned physician, he has devoted his life to serving downtrodden communities in the (state’s) interiors,” Jogi, a bureaucrat-turned-politician, maintained.

“Sen is very poplar in the state. His arrest is a glaring example of the misuse of the CSPSA. It is surprising that he has been described as anti-national,” Jogi added.

“Not only will a Congress government scrap but will also plead in favour of Sen in court,” he said.

Speaking about the Congress’ prospects in the assembly polls, Jogi said: “I daily meet 400-500 people from a cross-section of society. It seems to me that the people have made up their minds to throw out the BJP government.

“There is a general impression among the people that the BJP government has taken corruption levels to a new high,” Jogi added.

Asked who the chief minister would be if the Congress won the polls, Jogi replied: “Right now, we are not looking at this issue.

“There is internal democracy in the Congress. The choice of the elected legislators and the party high command’s blessings will decide the issue,” he added.

A member of the Congress Working Committee, Jogi became Chhattisgarh’s first chief minister when it was carved out of Madhya Pradesh Nov 1, 2000. The Congress, however, suffered a stunning defeat in the state’s maiden assembly polls in Nov 2003.

Jogi maintained there would be no political witch hunt if the Congress returned to power.

“The new Congress government will not launch a witch hunt or any kind of political vendetta against the (present) chief minister and the ministers but will surely examine whether any laws have been violated,” Jogi contended.

Bullet can’t be tackled with bullet: Sandeep Pandey(Interview)

Thaindian News, June 27th, 2008

By Sujeet Kumar

Raipur, June 27 (IANS) Slamming the government-backed Salwa Judum civil militia movement against Maoists in Chhattisgarh, social activist and Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey says “the bullet can never be tackled with the bullet”. “Violence is not the reply to violence. The Maoist problem was a product of the decades-old government neglect of the basic needs of forested people. The only way to overcome the insurgency is to ensure all-round development in trouble-torn areas,” Pandey told IANS in an interview here.

Pandey, who lives in Lucknow, observed a 10-day fast here along with three other social activists from June 16 against the detention of Binayak Sen, a physician-cum-rights activist since last year.

Pandey, known for his work in the education sector, said: “India’s Maoist movement is a product of poverty, backwardness and neglect of the forested masses by the government. Any socio-economic-political problem should be handled with care and development, this is the best way to get over the problem.

“But surprisingly, the Chhattisgarh government created the Salwa Judum in June 2005 which is largely handled by armed anti-social elements.”

Pandey said: “The government has to address people’s core issues by reaching the benefit of the Public Distribution Scheme (PDS), the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and a host of development schemes, freed from corruption, to their (Maoist affected people’s) land and ensuring that tribals have the right over the natural resources that belong to them traditionally.”

“Under no circumstances should they be moved from their original villages into any kind of camps. Meeting their basic needs in camps but denying them self-dignity will also not solve the problem.”

The Salwa Judum has uprooted about 50,000 people in Bastar’s Dantewada and Bijapur districts, mostly poor tribals, who are living in 23 government-run relief camps under severe hardship.

About Binayak Sen’s detention, Pandey said: “He (Sen) has been victimised because he questioned the Salwa Judum and the false encounters of innocent tribals.”

Sen has been held by Chhattisgarh police since May 14, 2007, in a Bilaspur jail for his alleged Maoist links under the stringent Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005.

When told that Sen’s bail application had been rejected by a lower court, the Chhattisgarh High Court and also the Supreme Court, Pandey said: “Police have no proof against Sen; they have falsely implicated him.

“It was not too far back when we saw how Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani was falsely implicated in the parliament attack case, even given the death sentence by a POTA special court. But ultimately he was acquitted by the high court and the Supreme Court because of lack of evidence.”

Pandey questioned the Chhattisgarh government’s move of recruiting poor local tribal youths as special police officers (SPOs) to team up with the police force to dismantle Maoist terror infrastructure in the vast mineral rich Bastar region in the state’s south.

The government has so far appointed about 4,500 SPOs on a monthly honorary amount of Rs.1,500 in Bastar, the nerve centre of Maoist terrorism in India. As a result, the SPOs have been prime targets of the insurgents in recent years.

“Development schemes are still not reaching the common people of Bastar and the government machinery is mainly responsible,” Pandey said.

“Violence is not natural to human beings. People resort to violence and guns only in extreme circumstances and the Maoist movement too is by and large the same. Once the development problems of people are addressed in a sustainable way, such that people feel empowered, the violence will subside naturally.”

(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)

Wife of imprisoned Dr. seeks support of world community

newindiaengland.com, 25 June 2008

By JULIE MASIS

The wife of doctor Binayak Sen, who has been held in an Indian prison for more than a year, told about 40 people at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that her husband still needs the support of the international community.

Ilina Sen spoke at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on June 3 explaining the situation in Chhattisgarh, a state in central India, and the circumstances leading to her husband’s arrest.

The government of Chhattisgarh tricked villagers into giving away their lands to international companies that are building mines to extract bauxite and diamonds in the region, Mrs. Sen said.

The villagers were then forcibly relocated to camps that have no water or sanitation, where women sometimes had to resort to selling their bodies because no other work was available, she said.

“In village after village people refused to give consent to land acquisition and in village after village consent was manufactured,” Mrs. Sen said. “In one village, [the government] tore out pages that said ‘no’ and replaced them with new pages that said ‘yes.’ People were forced at gunpoint to put their thumbprints.”

Dr. Sen, a pediatrician who had helped Indian laborers build their own hospital where no one would be denied healthcare, was arrested in May of 2007 and accused of smuggling his letters to Maoist leaders to help them continue their revolt against the government, Sen said.

Dr. Sen has previously spoken out against the private militia that the Chhattisgarh government supplied with arms and money and wrote a report entitled “When the State Makes War on Its Own People.”

Mrs. Sen traveled to America this spring to receive the Jonathan Mann award on behalf of her husband. The award for health and human rights is given in honor of the first director general of the World Health Organization, who died in an airplane crush.

Mrs. Sen said she was touched by the 700 people in Washington, D.C. who attended the award ceremony, but she did not accept the money that came with the recognition.

“I asked them to hold on to that until we decide where this money can best be used,” she said, estimating that it was several thousand dollars. “Since the award is for health and human rights we’d like to use that mandate in India,” she said.

About 40 people attended Ilina Sen’s lecture at MIT, including Dr. Sen’s former classmates from the Christian Medical College in India and alumni from the school who are currently employed at Boston-area hospitals – as well as members of local organizations “Secular and Democratic South Asia,” “Association for India’s Development” and “South Asians Stepping in Solidarity.”

A group of protesters called for Dr. Sen’s release in Harvard Square on May 13 — the one-year anniversary of his imprisonment.

NRIs Fast to Demand Release of Dr Binayak Sen

News Blaze, 24 June 2008

By Bobby Ramakant

Many concerned Indians in the USA, UK, Canada, UK, Australia, Thailand and other countries are fasting from 16 - 25 June 2008 along with hundreds of activists in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, demanding the annulment of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) 2005, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967, amended in 2004, and the release of Dr Binayak Sen (medical doctor and recipient of the prestigious Jonathan Mann award for Health and Human Rights), Ajay TG (filmmaker) and others.

These draconian laws (CSPSA and UAPA) sanction the violation of due process by the state, and thus contravene internationally accepted norms of jurisprudence as well as democratic governance. As Mr.Kannabiran, National President of PUCL, India, argues in his letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the CSPSA and UAPA operate by criminalizing the very performance of civil liberties activities, and culpability is decided upon not by direct proof, but through guilt by association.

Rashim Singh, a PhD student at University of Houston, USA, a volunteer and an Executive Board member of Association for India’s Development (AID) is on the 8th day of her 10-day fast, which started on 16 June 2008.

Speaking on the incarceration of Dr Binayak Sen, Rashim Singh says, “A man who for 30 years has dedicated his life to the service of the poor cannot be branded as a threat to the country”. On being asked what made her undertake the 10 day fast, she said, “If Gandhiji could have successfully used satyagraha to make the British listen to us, then we expect our own government in Chhattisgarh and Delhi to listen to the voices of thousands of Indian citizens from all over the world demanding the abrogation of the draconian laws. If every voice raised against the government atrocities is curbed, then what is the use of a democracy?”

AID Houston volunteers Anand Chandolu and Shekhar Gosavi who are fasting along with Rashim said: “We must do more to raise awareness about this cause. We pray for the people in India and USA, from various groups such as Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha, Asha Parivar, National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM), AID and others that are fasting for the release of Dr Binayak Sen”

Those fasting in Raipur where Dr Sen is imprisoned include Dr Sandeep Pandey (Magsaysay Awardee (2008) and convener of NAPM), Prem Narain Verma (Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha), Prem Prakash, Faizal Khan (Asha Parivar) and several other activists from various organizations in India.

Ms Shalini Gera, an activist from ‘Friends of South Asia’, points out that the “evidence” presented by the state about Dr.Sen’s “Maoist connections” actually refers to Dr Sen’s meetings with Narayan Sanyal, (a jailed 70-year-old Maoist leader) that took place with the permission of the jail authorities, and under their close supervision, when Dr. Sen, as the vice-president of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), visited Sanyal in the Raipur Central Jail to provide medical and legal assistance.

As the State Secretary of PUCL of Chhattisgarh, and the national Vice President, Dr.Sen has been amongst the most vocal opponents of “Salwa Judum”, a private militia movement armed by the Chhattisgarh Government to combat Maoist insurgency. Dr.Sen earned the ire of the government for opposing Salwa Judum which has contributed to a spiralling increase in violence and displacement of thousands of tribals. The permanent state of war created by Salwa Judum has led to large-scale and apparently voluntary displacement of indigenous communities, thus freeing up for corporate and industrial use, land and natural resources that have historically belonged to local communities.

According to Mr. Somnath Mukherji, an AID activist, “these protests are not only about the violation of the human rights of Dr Sen- they are also about the ongoing assault on the human rights of the people of Chhattisgarh whose lives and lands are being mortgaged to a vision of development that is antithetical to them”.

Bobby Ramakant is a World Health Organization (WHO)’s Awardee 2008 and can be contacted at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com

GROUP FAST ENTERS 6th Day

PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES–CHHATTISGARH
Post Box No. 87, Main Post Office, Raipur – 492001: Chhattisgarh: India
E-mail: pucl.cg@gmail.com

GROUP FAST ENTERS 6th Day AGAINST THE BLACK LAWS & FOR RELEASE OF Dr. BINAYAK SEN, AJAY TG & Ors

“State Government Demonstrates TOTAL INDIFFERENCE & APATHY TOWARDS DEMOCRATIC & PECEFUL PROTEST”
- Dr. Sandeep Pandey (Activist on Fast for 10 Days)

DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION DUMPING GARBAGE NEAR THE VENUE OF GROUP FASTING

21st June, 2008: Raipur (Chhattisgarh)

The Group Fast against the Black Law (in Chhattisgarh) and for the release of Dr. Binayak Sen, Ajay T G and others entered its 6th day with 47 members of Ekta Parishad (Kanker) led by Mr. Ratneshwar Nath joining in the 24-hours dharna/chain fasting, 9 members of Baiga Mahapanchayat (Lormi) led by Ms. Rashmi Diwedi, while 9 members from Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (Jamul) led by Adv Sudha Bhardwaj completed their 24-hours fasting today. Others who joined in support and solidarity were Dr. Anurag Bhargava of Jan Swastha Abhiyaan (Ganiyari, Bilaspur), Dr. Ilina Sen, Ms. Chandrika and Ms. Nazma (Roopantar), Arundhati, Sirish Agraal, Jontahan, Anurag Tiwari (Asha Parivaar, Lucknow), besides regular volunteers from Chhattisgarh Bal Shramik Sangathan, Asha Parivaar & PUCL.
From Ekta Parishad, those who spoke at the occasion were Ratneshwar Nath, Shivrani ji, Dashrath Markaam, Aagantu Ram, Sunder Markam, Bishu Pardi. Others who spoke expressing solidarity with the cause were Dr. Anurag Bhargava of Jan Swastha Abhiyaan, Adv Gautam Bandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha. Mukti songs were sung by Chandrika of Roopantar, and Kumud Nandgave, Ramesh Dewangan of Chhattisgarh Bal Shramik Sangathan.

While the morale of those fasting for the past six days (Dr. Sandeep Pandey, Com Prem Narain Verma, Ram Prakash & Faizal Khan) was very high and hopeful, the BJP Government in the State demonstrated its total indifference and apathy towards democratic & peaceful method of protesting through Fasting. Expressing concern at the growing ruthless character of the State, Dr. Sandeep Pandey (Magsaysay Award Winner) said that the failure of the state to listen to the voices of peaceful protest and respond to the people’s cries are the major reasons for resorting to extra-parliamentary means by the victims of injustice and violence.

Dr. Sandeep Pandey also referred to an article entitled “Gandhi! Tum Nikal Bhago Chadm Gandhivadiyon ke beech se” (Gandhi! You must escape from the midst of pseudo-Gandhians!) by Sri Vishwaranjan, Director General of Police of Chhattisgarh appearing in the Hari Bhoomi daily published from Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh. In this article, the DGP has poked fun at the Group Fasting and those participating in it.

He has also categorized Dr. Sandeep Pandey (a known Gandhian Social Worker given the prestigious Magsaysay Award who has led a very courageous people’s struggle by peasants and women in Uttar Pradesh against Coca Cola, one of the Multinational Giants), Adv Kanak Tiwari (Senior Advocate, a Gandhian intellectual), and Himanshu (a Gandhian Social Worker of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram working among Tribals in Dantewara for the past three decades) as Pseudo-Gandhians. And, of course, he also drags into his “categorization as pseudo-Gandhians” all those who are opposed to “Salwa Judum” (a state sponsored militant movement arming citizens to combat naxalism), which is presently being investigated by the NHRC at the direction of the Supreme Court of India in a Writ Petition filed by Prof. Nandini Sunder & Others, who were part of Independent Citizens Initiative Team to study the uprooting and displacement of about 70,000 tribals from their land and villages due to Salwa Judum.

The timing of this article’s publication authored by the DGP of the State itself reflects the BJP Government’s attitude of targeting and branding all those voices of dissent that do no toe the official line, be they human rights defenders, progressive intellectuals, Gandhian workers, doctors, journalists, lawyers and social activists and organisations committed to preserving and promoting the fundamental rights of the citizens. According to the PUCL, while it should be left to all those targeted by the DGP to respond individually to the vilification campaign against them, it is not lost on all those who have been following the BJP Government’s attempt at “targeting” and “branding” of the human rights defenders and rights-based organisations with an ulterior motive to silence their voices of dissent and democracy.

In a statement issued today, PUCL has also strongly condemned the District Administration’s insensitivity in locating the fasting and protesting groups and individuals in Burha Talab at Raipur, which is also the dumping ground for garbage and dust collected from the capital city by contractors and civil administration. In spite of repeated requests, the Raipur Municipal Corporation has failed to clear the vicinity from such foul-smelling garbage that is the breeding ground for mosquitoes and more likely cause for epidemics like cholera and gastroenteritis. The PUCL and other participating organisations are deciding to make this an issue, and get the ground cleared for all times. According to the PUCL, the scant regard for the democratic and peaceful protest demonstrates BJP Government’s authoritarian tendencies.

The PUCL has also expressed concern that the District Administration has not yet conducted any medical check-up on the fasting individuals. It has also not provided any protection to the protestors although written information has been provided to the District Administration about the Group Fasting.

Rajendra K Sail
President
Mobile: 094242-01288