India: Chhattisgarh should drop charges against Prisoners of Conscience Soni Sodi and Lingaram Kodopi and unconditionally release them
Amnesty International urges authorities in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh to drop the false and politically motivated charges against Adivasi (Indigenous community) activists Soni Sodi and Lingaram Kodopi, who are Prisoners of Conscience, and immediately and unconditionally release them.
Soni Sodi, a 35-year-old school-teacher was arrested on 4 October in Delhi. Her 25-year-old nephew, Lingaram Kodopi, was arrested on 9 September in his native Sameli village in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. The Chhattisgarh police have charged Soni Sodi and Lingaram Kodopi with aiding Maoist armed groups; one of the charges against them is that they had acted as couriers and transferred funds amounting to 1.5 million Indian Rupees (US$300,000) from a mining corporate firm, Essar, to the Maoists. Amnesty International believes that Soni Sodi and Lingaram Kodopi are prisoners of conscience as they have been arrested solely for criticizing human rights violations by the police and security forces in Chhattisgarh. The charges against them are false and politically motivated.
In October 2009, Lingaram Kodopi resisted an attempt by the state police to forcibly recruit him as a Special Police Officer to fight the Maoists. He was arbitrarily detained for 40 days in a police station and released only after a habeas corpus petition was filed in the courts. In April 2010, at a public hearing in Delhi he detailed violations committed by the security forces against Adivasis in Chhattisgarh, following which the state police announced that he was the prime suspect in a Maoist attack on a local Congress party leader’s residence.
Lingaram Kodopi also highlighted the killing of three Adivasis by the Central Reserve Police Force and the state police during a confrontation in three villages – Tadmetla, Timapuram and Morpalli. During the attack, two persons went missing and at least five women were sexually assaulted. Lingaram Kodopi was eventually arrested in September on false charges of aiding the Maoists.
Soni Sodi, who was trained by a Gandhian peace organization, Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, has been critical of the violations committed by the security forces. At the same time, both Soni Sodi and Lingaram Kodopi have also been outspoken critics of the Maoist pursuit of armed violence. While Soni Sodi’s husband is in prison on the charge of aiding Maoists, her father was shot in the leg by the Maoists in June 2011.
Having opposed Lingaram Kodopi’s arrest, Soni Sodi no longer felt safe in Chhattisgarh, left her three young children in the care of her relatives and trekked through the forests to the nearest town and managed, after a week, to reach Delhi to seek legal assistance. But she was arrested by the Chhattisgarh police and Delhi Crime Branch police from a bus stand.
On 7 October, a Delhi court rejected Soni Sodi’s appeal against the state police move to transfer her to Chhattisgarh. Following this, she, accompanied by women police personnel, was in transit custody for two days when she was intensively questioned. On 10 October, the state police admitted her to a hospital in Dantewada with physical injuries after she reportedly fainted at a police station where she was questioned. Soni Sodi has alleged that she had faced mental torture at the hands of the police and that she would disclose later the details about the injuries she had sustained. Following this, a magistrate remanded her to judicial custody until 17 October. She was then sent to a hospital in neighboring Jagdalpur and, after treatment, is to be lodged in prison.
The Chhattisgarh police, during an intensive search for Soni Sodi last week, also raided the Jaipur residence of Kavita Srivatsava, national secretary of the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), one of India’s foremost human rights organizations, and harassed members of her family questioning them about the whereabouts of Soni Sodi.
Kavita Srivatsava, who visited Chhattisgarh in March this year to secure the release of five security personnel taken hostage by the Maoists, informed Amnesty International that the state police force was trying to harass and intimidate her for being critical of its human rights violations.
Amnesty International calls upon the Chhattisgarh authorities to:
· Drop all politically-motivated charges against Soni Sodi and Lingaram Kodopi and immediately and unconditionally release them;
· Ensure a prompt, impartial, independent and effective investigation into the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Soni Sodi. Those police officials suspected of involvement including persons with command responsibility should be prosecuted, in proceedings which meet international standards of fairness. Also, she must be awarded full reparations;
· Immediately halt the harassment of Kavita Srivatsava and the crackdown on those defending human rights in Chhattisgarh and take all necessary measures to guarantee that human rights defenders are able to carry out their legitimate and peaceful human rights activities without fear of harassment and intimidation.
Background
More than 3,000 people, including Adivasis, Maoist insurgents, security forces and members of a state-sponsored civil militia, known as Salwa Judum, have been killed during the last six years of insurgency in Chhattisgarh and at least 35,000 Adivasis continue to remain displaced in the wake of the Maoist insurgency and the anti-Maoist operations. All the armed forces operating in the area, including the security forces, civil militias as well as the Maoists, have violated human rights laws.
A number of social and political activists and human rights defenders in Chhattisgarh have been imprisoned for highlighting the human rights situation. Among them are Dr Binayak Sen of the PUCL, and Kartam Joga, an Adivasi leader of the Communist Party of India, both declared as Prisoners of Conscience by Amnesty International. Dr Sen spent more than two years in prison and was released on bail by India’s Supreme Court in April 2011 after he was convicted of sedition and sentenced to life by a lower court. Kartam Joga is still in prison.
In July 2011, India’s Supreme Court, acting on two petitions filed by Kartam Joga and others, ordered the state authorities to disband all anti-Maoist civil militias, following which the authorities issued an ordinance to ensure that all civil militiamen are absorbed into the state police as Special Police Officers.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Help protect children in Jammu and Kashmir
When teenage boys turn 16 in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in India they suddenly face a new threat. If they get arrested, they are treated as adults while according to international law only those above 18 should be.
Raheel Khursheed, who recently joined an Amnesty International Twitter campaign to demand the release of a teenager said, “The government has to decide whether the approach of talking to these young people should be humane or whether they want to go down as a government that uses legal brutality.”
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice Act (JKJJA) teenage boys above 16 are adults and the government routinely locks them up in adult prisons in harsh conditions. There is a real need for reform in the area of juvenile justice and this has been recognised by the J&K Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah himself.
By signing this petition you can ensure that Omar Abdullah keeps his word. We will deliver your signatures to him ahead of the monsoon session of the J&K Assembly in September.
Join Amnesty International's campaign to make the adult age 18 so that the JKJJA becomes compatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Take Action: http://www.amnesty.org/en/protect-children-jammu-kashmir
Friday, March 4, 2011
Libya - Stop the horror!!
Libya has witnessed horrific levels of violence in the last few days. Hundreds of innocent people have died, among them protesters who were peacefully demanding basic political and human rights reform.
Across the Middle East and North Africa region, people have taken to the streets in their thousands to demand change. In far too many cases, they have been met with bullets, shotguns, grenade launchers, riot guns, electro-shock batons, armoured vehicles and police trucks.
A number of states from around the world have supplied arms to these countries. Wouldn’t it help to have a treaty that would stop arms from getting into the hands of those who will use them to commit human rights violations?
You can do something to make this happen.
At the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty negotiations in March, Amnesty International will call on governments to push for a treaty that is strong enough to prevent the horrors now taking place in Libya from taking place in other countries in the future.
Help us show world governments that thousands of people like you support this. Stop arms from getting into the wrong hands.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/middle-east-and-north-africa-stop-supply-arms-used-protest-killings
Across the Middle East and North Africa region, people have taken to the streets in their thousands to demand change. In far too many cases, they have been met with bullets, shotguns, grenade launchers, riot guns, electro-shock batons, armoured vehicles and police trucks.
A number of states from around the world have supplied arms to these countries. Wouldn’t it help to have a treaty that would stop arms from getting into the hands of those who will use them to commit human rights violations?
You can do something to make this happen.
At the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty negotiations in March, Amnesty International will call on governments to push for a treaty that is strong enough to prevent the horrors now taking place in Libya from taking place in other countries in the future.
Help us show world governments that thousands of people like you support this. Stop arms from getting into the wrong hands.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/middle-east-and-north-africa-stop-supply-arms-used-protest-killings
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Demand Dr.Binayak Sen's Release.
Introduction: Dr. Binayak Sen is a paediatrician from Kolkata. He has lived in the central-Indian state of Chhattisgarh since 1991 where he founded an NGO that provides medical care to 20 adivasi villages through a network of community health workers. He has also set up a hospital funded and run by mineworkers and works at his own rural health clinic. He is also the vice-president of one of India's leading human rights organisations - the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
In Chhattisgarh a violent armed conflict between the banned group, Communist Party of India (Maoist), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a militia group Salwa Judum, which is allegedly supported by the state government, have led to widespread human rights violations and abuses against members of local communities. Dr Sen has been a vocal critic of the conflict, drawing attention to these abuses and calling for the protection of the rights of local communities.
Here are 10 things to know about Dr. Binayak Sen’s case:
1)Dr.Binayak Sen has lived in Chhattisgarh since 1991 where he has been heavily involved in running rural community health projects.
2)Dr. Sen was arrested in May 2007 shortly after he publicly criticised the Chhattisgarh police for killing local adivasis & not armed Maoists as the police claimed.
3)He had also publicly criticized the Chhattisgarh authorities for enacting state security legislation which put excessive restrictions on human rights.
4)The lower courts repeatedly refused Dr. Sen bail until May 2009 when the Supreme Court finally ordered his release.
5)Then again on 24 Dec.2010 Dr. Sen was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of sedition and conspiracy after an unfair trial.
6)Dr Sen has been convicted of sedition (Sec. 121A of the IPC) and conspiracy (Section 124A) and under various sections of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 (CSPSA), and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA). His trial commenced on 30 April 2008.
7)On 5 Jan. 2011 Dr. Sen challenged his conviction and life sentence by filing an appeal in the Bilaspur High Court.
8)The vaguely worded provisions of the security legislation used to charge Dr Sen – the CSPSA which is only in force in the state of Chhattisgarh and the UAPA – are so broad that they may be abused to restrict and criminalize the peaceful exercise of rights and freedoms.
9)The shockingly severe life sentence handed down to Dr Sen will set a dangerous precedent, leaving open the possibility that state level authorities will seek to impose harsher sentences against outspoken human rights defenders across India.
10)Demand Dr. Binayak Sen’s immediate release and tell the Indian government to drop all charges against him. Write to the Home Minister P. Chidambaram or the Chhattisgarh CM Dr. Raman Singh through our website. Click here for more - http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=398
In Chhattisgarh a violent armed conflict between the banned group, Communist Party of India (Maoist), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a militia group Salwa Judum, which is allegedly supported by the state government, have led to widespread human rights violations and abuses against members of local communities. Dr Sen has been a vocal critic of the conflict, drawing attention to these abuses and calling for the protection of the rights of local communities.
Here are 10 things to know about Dr. Binayak Sen’s case:
1)Dr.Binayak Sen has lived in Chhattisgarh since 1991 where he has been heavily involved in running rural community health projects.
2)Dr. Sen was arrested in May 2007 shortly after he publicly criticised the Chhattisgarh police for killing local adivasis & not armed Maoists as the police claimed.
3)He had also publicly criticized the Chhattisgarh authorities for enacting state security legislation which put excessive restrictions on human rights.
4)The lower courts repeatedly refused Dr. Sen bail until May 2009 when the Supreme Court finally ordered his release.
5)Then again on 24 Dec.2010 Dr. Sen was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of sedition and conspiracy after an unfair trial.
6)Dr Sen has been convicted of sedition (Sec. 121A of the IPC) and conspiracy (Section 124A) and under various sections of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 (CSPSA), and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA). His trial commenced on 30 April 2008.
7)On 5 Jan. 2011 Dr. Sen challenged his conviction and life sentence by filing an appeal in the Bilaspur High Court.
8)The vaguely worded provisions of the security legislation used to charge Dr Sen – the CSPSA which is only in force in the state of Chhattisgarh and the UAPA – are so broad that they may be abused to restrict and criminalize the peaceful exercise of rights and freedoms.
9)The shockingly severe life sentence handed down to Dr Sen will set a dangerous precedent, leaving open the possibility that state level authorities will seek to impose harsher sentences against outspoken human rights defenders across India.
10)Demand Dr. Binayak Sen’s immediate release and tell the Indian government to drop all charges against him. Write to the Home Minister P. Chidambaram or the Chhattisgarh CM Dr. Raman Singh through our website. Click here for more - http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=398
Friday, November 19, 2010
URGENT ATTENTION NEEDED
Amnesty International has urged authorities in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to release a 14-year-old child who has been detained without charge or trial for seven months, for allegedly taking part in anti-government protests.
The boy is being held in prison and is abused by the authorities and therefore urgent action is needed.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh, a child aged 14, has been detained without charge or trial by the Jammu and Kashmir authorities in India since 21 April 2010.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh was initially held at Udhampur Jail and is now held at Kot Bhalwal Jail at Jammu. Both are regular prisons without any special facilities for detaining children.
The police claim that Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh is 19 years old. His family members told Amnesty International that Mushtaq was born in 1996 and is therefore only 14 years old. Prison records are reported to also confirm that Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh is indeed a child.
To my fellow bloggers, kindly post this onto your blogs and help AI in securing the release of the boy, by writing to the below mentioned addresses -
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in English or your own language:
Demanding that the state authorities immediately end the detention without charge or trial of Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh;
Urging that if charged with a recognizable criminal offence, Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh be treated in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and held and tried in special facilities for children;
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 28 DECEMBER 2010 TO:
Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir
Omar Abdullah
Civil Secretariat
Government of Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu – 180 001
Fax: +91 191 2546466
Salutation: Dear Chief Minister
And copies to:
Minister of Home Affairs
P Chidambaram
North Block, Central Secretariat
New Delhi – 110 001
Fax: + 91 11 23094221
Email: hm@nic.in
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
You may also visit the Amnesty International website, to know more about it.
Here's the link -
http://amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/indian-authorities-must-release-14-year-old-held-kashmir-without-charge-2010-11-18
Thanks.
The boy is being held in prison and is abused by the authorities and therefore urgent action is needed.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh, a child aged 14, has been detained without charge or trial by the Jammu and Kashmir authorities in India since 21 April 2010.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh was initially held at Udhampur Jail and is now held at Kot Bhalwal Jail at Jammu. Both are regular prisons without any special facilities for detaining children.
The police claim that Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh is 19 years old. His family members told Amnesty International that Mushtaq was born in 1996 and is therefore only 14 years old. Prison records are reported to also confirm that Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh is indeed a child.
To my fellow bloggers, kindly post this onto your blogs and help AI in securing the release of the boy, by writing to the below mentioned addresses -
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in English or your own language:
Demanding that the state authorities immediately end the detention without charge or trial of Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh;
Urging that if charged with a recognizable criminal offence, Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh be treated in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and held and tried in special facilities for children;
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 28 DECEMBER 2010 TO:
Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir
Omar Abdullah
Civil Secretariat
Government of Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu – 180 001
Fax: +91 191 2546466
Salutation: Dear Chief Minister
And copies to:
Minister of Home Affairs
P Chidambaram
North Block, Central Secretariat
New Delhi – 110 001
Fax: + 91 11 23094221
Email: hm@nic.in
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
You may also visit the Amnesty International website, to know more about it.
Here's the link -
http://amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/indian-authorities-must-release-14-year-old-held-kashmir-without-charge-2010-11-18
Thanks.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
URGENT ACTION NEEDED
URGENT ACTION
CHILD HELD WITHOUT CHARGE OR TRIAL IN INDIA
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh, a child aged 14, has been detained without charge or trial by the Jammu and Kashmir authorities in India since 21 April 2010. Following meetings with the state authorities, Amnesty International believes that a burst of public campaigning at this stage could lead to his release.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh was arrested on 9 April 2010. He is alleged to have been part of a large mob which pelted police and security forces with stones during ongoing protests against the state in Srinagar, the capital of the northern Jammu and Kashmir state. He was released on bail after eight days in custody but was again detained without charge or trial on 21 April.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh’s family was not informed that he was detained but came to know of it by chance when a local resident saw him in a police vehicle, being taken to a jail in another town.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh was initially held at Udhampur Jail and is now held at Kot Bhalwal Jail at Jammu. Both are regular prisons without any special facilities for detaining children. Prison conditions in Jammu are harsh and the provision of health care is limited.
The police claim that Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh is 19 years old. His family members told Amnesty International that Mushtaq was born in 1996 and is therefore only 14 years old. Prison records are reported to also confirm that Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh is indeed a child.
His case was raised by Amnesty International in meetings with the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and the State Human Rights Commission. Despite their assurances that they would look into the case, Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh continues to remain in detention.
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in English or your own language:
Demanding that the state authorities immediately end the detention without charge or trial of Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh;
Urging that if charged with a recognizable criminal offence, Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh be treated in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and held and tried in special facilities for children;
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 28 DECEMBER 2010 TO:
Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir
Omar Abdullah
Civil Secretariat
Government of Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu – 180 001
Fax: +91 191 2546466
Salutation: Dear Chief Minister
And copies to:
Minister of Home Affairs
P Chidambaram
North Block, Central Secretariat
New Delhi – 110 001
Fax: + 91 11 23094221
Email: hm@nic.in
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh is detained under the J&K Public Safety Act – a law that allows the state authorities to detain persons for up to two years without any judicial review of the allegations against them. Repeat detentions are also commonly ordered.
At least 322 people are reported to have been detained without trial under the provisions of the Public Safety Act in J&K in 2010 alone. A number of them, reportedly including some more children, have been detained on similar grounds of stone pelting and rioting during various protests against the Indian government throughout the summer of 2010.
CHILD HELD WITHOUT CHARGE OR TRIAL IN INDIA
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh, a child aged 14, has been detained without charge or trial by the Jammu and Kashmir authorities in India since 21 April 2010. Following meetings with the state authorities, Amnesty International believes that a burst of public campaigning at this stage could lead to his release.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh was arrested on 9 April 2010. He is alleged to have been part of a large mob which pelted police and security forces with stones during ongoing protests against the state in Srinagar, the capital of the northern Jammu and Kashmir state. He was released on bail after eight days in custody but was again detained without charge or trial on 21 April.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh’s family was not informed that he was detained but came to know of it by chance when a local resident saw him in a police vehicle, being taken to a jail in another town.
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh was initially held at Udhampur Jail and is now held at Kot Bhalwal Jail at Jammu. Both are regular prisons without any special facilities for detaining children. Prison conditions in Jammu are harsh and the provision of health care is limited.
The police claim that Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh is 19 years old. His family members told Amnesty International that Mushtaq was born in 1996 and is therefore only 14 years old. Prison records are reported to also confirm that Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh is indeed a child.
His case was raised by Amnesty International in meetings with the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and the State Human Rights Commission. Despite their assurances that they would look into the case, Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh continues to remain in detention.
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in English or your own language:
Demanding that the state authorities immediately end the detention without charge or trial of Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh;
Urging that if charged with a recognizable criminal offence, Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh be treated in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and held and tried in special facilities for children;
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 28 DECEMBER 2010 TO:
Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir
Omar Abdullah
Civil Secretariat
Government of Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu – 180 001
Fax: +91 191 2546466
Salutation: Dear Chief Minister
And copies to:
Minister of Home Affairs
P Chidambaram
North Block, Central Secretariat
New Delhi – 110 001
Fax: + 91 11 23094221
Email: hm@nic.in
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh is detained under the J&K Public Safety Act – a law that allows the state authorities to detain persons for up to two years without any judicial review of the allegations against them. Repeat detentions are also commonly ordered.
At least 322 people are reported to have been detained without trial under the provisions of the Public Safety Act in J&K in 2010 alone. A number of them, reportedly including some more children, have been detained on similar grounds of stone pelting and rioting during various protests against the Indian government throughout the summer of 2010.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)