Political prisoners in Andhra Pradesh jails observed a day's fast on November 15, 2008. Following is a press note on the subject issued by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners:
We, on behalf of Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP)
express our support and solidarity, to the Political Prisoners who are on hunger strike for a day. These Political Prisoners are languishing in jails all over the state and they are demanding the State to accept their just and legal demands.
The Political Prisoners throughout the Andhra Pradesh state have been fighting for the just demands for more than a decade. But the state government is silent on many of their long standing demands. The CRPP strongly condemns the undemocratic attitude of the Government and appeal to all democrats and rights organizations, various people’s organizations and all opposition parties, in the state, to support the struggle of the prisoners. It should be noted that the relentless struggle of the Political Prisoners in the jails of Andhra Pradesh in the 90s had made possible the achievement of many rights. But the state government is—slowly but steadily—nullifying those rights day by day. For example, the state government has issued a G.O facilitating the release of certain class of prisoners like lifers. An advocate had filed a SLP in the Supreme Court against the G.O. The state government had been silent on the SLP till date. As a result many prisoners are languishing in jails even though they come under the purview of the said GO. Similarly, non-lifers also are in thousands. According to the rules in force, many of them should be released if the state government grants them remission of sentence.
According to the rules followed, there must be an advisory board in each jail, but the state government has not yet constituted them. Of late, for want of proper medical assistance prisoners are dying in hundreds in prisons all over Andhra Pradesh. Some prisoners are even committing suicide. There are quite a good number of prisoners in our jails who are 60 or above in age. In addition to these, many prisoners are incarcerated by the arbitrary sentence imposed by jail authorities, without any enquiry or trial what so ever. In this background, the Political Prisoners in the prisons of A.P. have resorted to protest by sitting on hunger strike for a day.
Today, on the 15th November 2008, Political Prisoners in the jails of Andhra Pradesh have taken a decision to observe hunger strike and protest against the anti-people policy of the State. In many cases, there is no nominal enquiry even. The political prisoners are expressing their protest against all these criminal irregularities and negligence like insufficient supply of ration, non-observance of rules in the jail manual. When a prisoner is convicted in more then one case, all the sentences should run concurrently. But this rule grossly violated so as to ensure that the prisoner will never see the light of the day throughout his/her life. Similarly, if a Political Prisoner is accused in cases in two or three states, the P.T. warrants received from those courts are not even informed to the prisoners nor their counsel.
We at the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners once again appeal to all the Democrats, Rights organizations, people’s organizations and all the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh to stand with the just struggle of the Political Prisoners in the state. CRPP demands:
1. Release the political prisoners unconditionally.
2. Restore right to life with human dignity of prisoners
3. Fulfill the demands of Political Prisoners
4. Political parties should clear their stand on political prisoners, on the state of human rights and these issues must be in their election manifestoes.
Lateef Mohd khan V.V.Bala Krishna BSA.Satya narayana
Secretary CRPP Secretary .CRPP Advocate and E.C member
B.Ravindra Nath Advocate
E.C.member of CRPP
Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners,
2-2-121/3/E, Nallakunta, Hyderabad-500044
Contact Numbers:- 09441163893. 09848798708. 09391051586
Showing posts with label Political Prisoners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Political Prisoners. Show all posts
17 November, 2008
09 April, 2008
Jharkhand activist Jiten Marandi arrested
Jiten Marandi, a leading cultural activist of Jharkhand and Secretary of the New Delhi-based Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), was arrested at Ranchi on Saturday.
The CRPP, in a statement, demanded that he be released immediately and unconditionally.
The following is the text of the statement, issued on Sunday:
The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners condemns the arrest and detention of Jiten Marandi at Ratu road, Ranchi, yesterday (05/04/08) around 4.45 pm by the Intelligence Bureau. As per the limited information from the civil rights circles in Ranchi and other places, he was initially kept in the Sukhdev Nagar police station throughout the night and has been tortured by the police. Of late the Intelligence Bureau has admitted having arrested him while refusing to disclose where he has been confined.
The arrest was done without any proper warrant and till now he has been confined in police custody. The Intelligence Bureau has so far refused to frame charges against him. The Superintendent of Police has been maintaining that he is being questioned. This gives the police ample room to resort to any form of torture. It is the fundamental right of the detained to take the help of a lawyer, to be in touch with his kith and kin so as to ensure that he is being defended properly in the court. By delaying his production in the court the police and the Intelligence agencies are criminally preventing him from exercising his right to use the natural principles of justice as is ensured by the Constitution of this country.
In the meantime the police have been diligently feeding the media with stories so as to prejudice his natural right to be presumed innocent before conclusively being proved guilty on any proper charges filed against him. Neither there is any case pending on him nor has the police declared his arrest and framed charges. But the media is already agog with stories of his alleged involvement in the murder of the former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi's son in the Chilkari incident. We condemn strongly such incriminating tendencies of the media, ably promoted by the police so as to implicate Jiten Marandi even before he is booked under any proper charges which should be duly contested in the court. This is not an isolated incident. We see a definite pattern of impunity in reporting of the media in all such instances by becoming a handy tool in the hands of the police and the intelligence agencies. It goes against the right of the detainee to be presumed innocent till proven guilty as is guaranteed by Article 14 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India is also a signatory.
Jiten Marandi is a leading cultural activist of Jharkhand who has been steadfast in raising songs of protest against all forms of exploitation of the poorest of people in one of richest of States in India in terms of its mineral and forest wealth. He is also one of the Secretaries of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, the inaugural conference of which had just got over on March 31 and April 1, 2008 in New Delhi.
Jiten Marandi's songs have given vent to the anger of those people who have been at the receiving end of the policies of loot and plunder that is being promoted by the Indian state in Jharkhand through several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed with multinational corporations and Indian big capital. He is an intellectual who has fearlessly expressed his political opinion, as is evident from his recent writings on the Naxalite movement in India in the Hindi newspaper Prabhat Khabar.
The Committee asserts that Jiten Marandi has every right as is due for any citizen in a democratic country to express his/her political opinion without fear or favour.
We strongly condemn the authoritarian attitude of the state to stifle and browbeat any form of political opinion or dissent. WE DEMAND HIS UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE.
In protest and in solidarity with the detained,
Gurusharan Singh, President
Prof. Amit Bhattacharyya, Secretary General
SAR Geelani, Vice-President
Rona Wilson, Secretary, Public Relations
The CRPP, in a statement, demanded that he be released immediately and unconditionally.
The following is the text of the statement, issued on Sunday:
The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners condemns the arrest and detention of Jiten Marandi at Ratu road, Ranchi, yesterday (05/04/08) around 4.45 pm by the Intelligence Bureau. As per the limited information from the civil rights circles in Ranchi and other places, he was initially kept in the Sukhdev Nagar police station throughout the night and has been tortured by the police. Of late the Intelligence Bureau has admitted having arrested him while refusing to disclose where he has been confined.
The arrest was done without any proper warrant and till now he has been confined in police custody. The Intelligence Bureau has so far refused to frame charges against him. The Superintendent of Police has been maintaining that he is being questioned. This gives the police ample room to resort to any form of torture. It is the fundamental right of the detained to take the help of a lawyer, to be in touch with his kith and kin so as to ensure that he is being defended properly in the court. By delaying his production in the court the police and the Intelligence agencies are criminally preventing him from exercising his right to use the natural principles of justice as is ensured by the Constitution of this country.
In the meantime the police have been diligently feeding the media with stories so as to prejudice his natural right to be presumed innocent before conclusively being proved guilty on any proper charges filed against him. Neither there is any case pending on him nor has the police declared his arrest and framed charges. But the media is already agog with stories of his alleged involvement in the murder of the former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi's son in the Chilkari incident. We condemn strongly such incriminating tendencies of the media, ably promoted by the police so as to implicate Jiten Marandi even before he is booked under any proper charges which should be duly contested in the court. This is not an isolated incident. We see a definite pattern of impunity in reporting of the media in all such instances by becoming a handy tool in the hands of the police and the intelligence agencies. It goes against the right of the detainee to be presumed innocent till proven guilty as is guaranteed by Article 14 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India is also a signatory.
Jiten Marandi is a leading cultural activist of Jharkhand who has been steadfast in raising songs of protest against all forms of exploitation of the poorest of people in one of richest of States in India in terms of its mineral and forest wealth. He is also one of the Secretaries of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, the inaugural conference of which had just got over on March 31 and April 1, 2008 in New Delhi.
Jiten Marandi's songs have given vent to the anger of those people who have been at the receiving end of the policies of loot and plunder that is being promoted by the Indian state in Jharkhand through several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed with multinational corporations and Indian big capital. He is an intellectual who has fearlessly expressed his political opinion, as is evident from his recent writings on the Naxalite movement in India in the Hindi newspaper Prabhat Khabar.
The Committee asserts that Jiten Marandi has every right as is due for any citizen in a democratic country to express his/her political opinion without fear or favour.
We strongly condemn the authoritarian attitude of the state to stifle and browbeat any form of political opinion or dissent. WE DEMAND HIS UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE.
In protest and in solidarity with the detained,
Gurusharan Singh, President
Prof. Amit Bhattacharyya, Secretary General
SAR Geelani, Vice-President
Rona Wilson, Secretary, Public Relations
04 March, 2008
Conference to press for rights of political prisoners
A conference is proposed to be held in New Delhi on March 31 and April 1, 2008 to discuss the rights of political prisoners and initiate a process to work towards recognizing them.
Preparations for the conference are being made by a Convenors' Committee comprising Surendra Mohan, A Marx, SAR Geelani, GN Saibaba, Rona Wilson and Amit Bhattacharya (Coordinator).
The following is a communication from Bhattacharya explaining the circumstances leading to the convening of the conference:
Time and again, there is an unprecedented urgency when the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh talks about development or governance. Manmohan Singh has made it clear that the development model being pushed by the government—euphemistically called as the 'second generation reforms'—can only solve the problems of the vast sections of the people. For an India, which is ostensibly marching ahead in the 21st century towards prosperity, he has spelt out the main dangers that she faces in three ways.
Firstly, voices of dissent in the form of struggles—against loss of homes, hearths and the very cultural survival of the people due to the policies of development through globalization, privatization and liberalization of the economy—are anti-development and against the national interest, as per the learned prime minister. Any opposition to the present model of development is deemed anti-national. Secondly, the subcontinent in general and India in particular cannot be secure without being part of the so called 'war against terror' under the aegis of US imperialism. Thirdly, the prime minister who never shies away from an opportunity to wax eloquently on Voltaire has pointed out that the Maoists are the "single largest threat to internal security" in the region. He does not mince his words when he exhorts to 'cripple the Maoists' and totally weed them out from the political geography of the subcontinent.
Through these three postulates Manmohan Singh and his government have effectively become part of the doctrine of Bush—either you are with us or against us.
It won't be an exaggeration to say that every question or issue of social, political and economic significance has been reduced into a 'law and order' problem. Effectively the military, paramilitary and police the run the everyday administration in many regions with blanket powers bestowed on them by the political leadership.
The World Bank-sponsored development panacea which Manmohan Singh is aggressively implementing have created islands of prosperity while leaving the vast sea of humanity deprived of their right to lead a dignified existence free of all forms oppression and exploitation. This has naturally given birth to widespread discontent reflected in the numerous protests of the masses. The people have no other way to express their opinion. The prisons all over have become seats of torture, custodial death, of 'disciplining' political dissent of vast sections of the people. More and more prisons are being constructed while the present ones are flooded with inmates beyond their capacity. The prisons have the worst conditions. Jail manual is hardly followed. In addition to the already existing draconian laws like AFSPA, Disturbed Areas Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention (Amendment) Act, different states in India have enacted its own internal security laws that have given the military, paramilitary and police sweeping powers to apprehend anyone under the slightest of suspicions or even without it.
Thus the Muslims who protest against religious and social discrimination, lack of representation or dignity become the terrorist or the enemy within, who are destabilizing the country. Thousands of them are behind bars, branded as terrorists or as having links with terrorists. The prison conditions are highly communal. Muslims face some of the worst forms of humiliation and mistreatment apart from the inhuman torture. In many cases, they are arrested under some pretext and charged under yet some other flimsy grounds.
The Kashmiris, Nagas, Kamtapuris, people of Manipur, Assam, the Bodos and other communities who are demanding their right to self-determination have been dubbed as terrorists 'waging war' against the sovereignty and integrity of the Indian nation. These people are put behind bars. Many remain in the prison without even proper charge sheets for years. There are several cases of inmates belonging to a certain community, political group, nationality or region who have served their term in prison are not being released, instead, framed in other cases and lodged back in the prison.
Along with this are the arrests of thousands of Maoists from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and other places. It is in the same regions that the people—the tribals, dalits, landless agricultural labourer, slum dwellers, small peasant, middle peasant and even the rich peasant—are fighting against the violent displacement from their lives and livelihoods; against a conscious intervention of the state that would reduce them to sub humans. These people who are fighting against displacement from their land and forests, against the loot and plunder of their valuable resources are also being put behind bars. Many of them face even charges of sedition! Worse, those who come forward to defend the democratic rights of the detained and the imprisoned are also arrested and incarcerated in prisons.
It is high time that all who cherish the principles and values of a democratic society—where the right to express ones' political opinion without fear or favour, to lead a dignified existence without being mistreated, deprived oppressed or exploited is fundamental—should raise their voice in defence of the people who are incarcerated. All these people are put behind bars due to their conviction that a better society for the greater common good is still possible in this dog eat dog world. Not only were they convinced about the need for a better world but were deeply involved in making it a possibility. One might disagree with their ideology. Yet some might have reservations about the means they resort to for the betterment of a world of miseries and wretchedness. Those who are in power might strongly disagree with their socio-political aspirations. These people, who are defied the light of the day, condemned to live a life that is lifeless within the dark walls of the prison by the powers that be, belong to a wide spectrum of political beliefs through which they dream and aspire for a better tomorrow for one and all. Yet, the fact remains that they are all working for a social cause, fighting for supreme values that would ultimately restore the human being to his/her humane self. It is this vital aspect that the authoritarian state turns a blind eye to and for which we have to stand up.
Yes, political prisoners are prisoners. They are the measure of the possibilities of our society not to say its limitations. How they are treated is the measure of our humanity. The moment we categorize them as 'foreign', as' evil', as the most 'potent threat to the nation', is the moment when we lose our possibilities, our humanity. Our limitations then take precedence. It becomes the norm.
Political prisoners are those whom the state does not want to live in a society due to their political beliefs; not because of any 'deviance' attributed to them. They should be given their rights as political prisoners irrespective of the fact that their political conviction may or may not defy the legitimacy of the status quo that the state promotes.
We invite you to the Conference to be convened on the 31th March and 1st April 2008 at the LTG Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, Mandi House, New Delhi, to discuss and initiate a process to work towards recognizing the rights of political prisoners; to fight for their right to fair trial leading to their release in the context of complete breakdown of the legal apparatus of a society; increasingly incapable of dealing with organized people's mobilization against all forms of evils that have pitted the human being against itself; a malady that the state is fundamentally answerable to.
In Solidarity,
Amit Bhattacharya
Coordinator,
Convenors' Committee of the Conference Preparatory Committee.
Address:
The Conference on Political Prisoners,
185/3, Fourth Floor,
Zakir Nagar, New Delhi-110025
Ph: 09836318354 09810081228 09871498354
E mail: thearrested1@gmail.com
Preparations for the conference are being made by a Convenors' Committee comprising Surendra Mohan, A Marx, SAR Geelani, GN Saibaba, Rona Wilson and Amit Bhattacharya (Coordinator).
The following is a communication from Bhattacharya explaining the circumstances leading to the convening of the conference:
Time and again, there is an unprecedented urgency when the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh talks about development or governance. Manmohan Singh has made it clear that the development model being pushed by the government—euphemistically called as the 'second generation reforms'—can only solve the problems of the vast sections of the people. For an India, which is ostensibly marching ahead in the 21st century towards prosperity, he has spelt out the main dangers that she faces in three ways.
Firstly, voices of dissent in the form of struggles—against loss of homes, hearths and the very cultural survival of the people due to the policies of development through globalization, privatization and liberalization of the economy—are anti-development and against the national interest, as per the learned prime minister. Any opposition to the present model of development is deemed anti-national. Secondly, the subcontinent in general and India in particular cannot be secure without being part of the so called 'war against terror' under the aegis of US imperialism. Thirdly, the prime minister who never shies away from an opportunity to wax eloquently on Voltaire has pointed out that the Maoists are the "single largest threat to internal security" in the region. He does not mince his words when he exhorts to 'cripple the Maoists' and totally weed them out from the political geography of the subcontinent.
Through these three postulates Manmohan Singh and his government have effectively become part of the doctrine of Bush—either you are with us or against us.
It won't be an exaggeration to say that every question or issue of social, political and economic significance has been reduced into a 'law and order' problem. Effectively the military, paramilitary and police the run the everyday administration in many regions with blanket powers bestowed on them by the political leadership.
The World Bank-sponsored development panacea which Manmohan Singh is aggressively implementing have created islands of prosperity while leaving the vast sea of humanity deprived of their right to lead a dignified existence free of all forms oppression and exploitation. This has naturally given birth to widespread discontent reflected in the numerous protests of the masses. The people have no other way to express their opinion. The prisons all over have become seats of torture, custodial death, of 'disciplining' political dissent of vast sections of the people. More and more prisons are being constructed while the present ones are flooded with inmates beyond their capacity. The prisons have the worst conditions. Jail manual is hardly followed. In addition to the already existing draconian laws like AFSPA, Disturbed Areas Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention (Amendment) Act, different states in India have enacted its own internal security laws that have given the military, paramilitary and police sweeping powers to apprehend anyone under the slightest of suspicions or even without it.
Thus the Muslims who protest against religious and social discrimination, lack of representation or dignity become the terrorist or the enemy within, who are destabilizing the country. Thousands of them are behind bars, branded as terrorists or as having links with terrorists. The prison conditions are highly communal. Muslims face some of the worst forms of humiliation and mistreatment apart from the inhuman torture. In many cases, they are arrested under some pretext and charged under yet some other flimsy grounds.
The Kashmiris, Nagas, Kamtapuris, people of Manipur, Assam, the Bodos and other communities who are demanding their right to self-determination have been dubbed as terrorists 'waging war' against the sovereignty and integrity of the Indian nation. These people are put behind bars. Many remain in the prison without even proper charge sheets for years. There are several cases of inmates belonging to a certain community, political group, nationality or region who have served their term in prison are not being released, instead, framed in other cases and lodged back in the prison.
Along with this are the arrests of thousands of Maoists from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and other places. It is in the same regions that the people—the tribals, dalits, landless agricultural labourer, slum dwellers, small peasant, middle peasant and even the rich peasant—are fighting against the violent displacement from their lives and livelihoods; against a conscious intervention of the state that would reduce them to sub humans. These people who are fighting against displacement from their land and forests, against the loot and plunder of their valuable resources are also being put behind bars. Many of them face even charges of sedition! Worse, those who come forward to defend the democratic rights of the detained and the imprisoned are also arrested and incarcerated in prisons.
It is high time that all who cherish the principles and values of a democratic society—where the right to express ones' political opinion without fear or favour, to lead a dignified existence without being mistreated, deprived oppressed or exploited is fundamental—should raise their voice in defence of the people who are incarcerated. All these people are put behind bars due to their conviction that a better society for the greater common good is still possible in this dog eat dog world. Not only were they convinced about the need for a better world but were deeply involved in making it a possibility. One might disagree with their ideology. Yet some might have reservations about the means they resort to for the betterment of a world of miseries and wretchedness. Those who are in power might strongly disagree with their socio-political aspirations. These people, who are defied the light of the day, condemned to live a life that is lifeless within the dark walls of the prison by the powers that be, belong to a wide spectrum of political beliefs through which they dream and aspire for a better tomorrow for one and all. Yet, the fact remains that they are all working for a social cause, fighting for supreme values that would ultimately restore the human being to his/her humane self. It is this vital aspect that the authoritarian state turns a blind eye to and for which we have to stand up.
Yes, political prisoners are prisoners. They are the measure of the possibilities of our society not to say its limitations. How they are treated is the measure of our humanity. The moment we categorize them as 'foreign', as' evil', as the most 'potent threat to the nation', is the moment when we lose our possibilities, our humanity. Our limitations then take precedence. It becomes the norm.
Political prisoners are those whom the state does not want to live in a society due to their political beliefs; not because of any 'deviance' attributed to them. They should be given their rights as political prisoners irrespective of the fact that their political conviction may or may not defy the legitimacy of the status quo that the state promotes.
We invite you to the Conference to be convened on the 31th March and 1st April 2008 at the LTG Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, Mandi House, New Delhi, to discuss and initiate a process to work towards recognizing the rights of political prisoners; to fight for their right to fair trial leading to their release in the context of complete breakdown of the legal apparatus of a society; increasingly incapable of dealing with organized people's mobilization against all forms of evils that have pitted the human being against itself; a malady that the state is fundamentally answerable to.
In Solidarity,
Amit Bhattacharya
Coordinator,
Convenors' Committee of the Conference Preparatory Committee.
Address:
The Conference on Political Prisoners,
185/3, Fourth Floor,
Zakir Nagar, New Delhi-110025
Ph: 09836318354 09810081228 09871498354
E mail: thearrested1@gmail.com
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