Incarceration of undertrials associated with "illegal" TU activity in Jharkhand termed violation of international law

An MSS rally before it was banned

By Our Representative
In an unprecedented move, the Jharkhand government has put four persons, accused of being associated with "illegal" trade union activity, Ajay Hembrum, Mohan Murmu, Daya Chand Hembrum and Damodar Turi, all of them undertrials, under solitary confinement, allowing them to mingle with other prisoners only twice a day for two hours.
Arrested and put in Giridih Central Jail after the crackdown on the Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti (MSS), a registered trade union, banned on December 22, the relatives of these prisoners have complained that the cells in which these undertrials have been kept are unclean and without any basic facilities.
Worse, according to the relatives, they are prevented from giving basic items like mosquito repellents, food and clothes to the four inmates, with the number of persons who can visit and the frequency of visits having been "arbitrarily curtailed."
Bringing this to light, a civil rights organization, Persecuted Prisoners’ Solidarity Committee (PPSC), led by veteran human rights activist Stan Swamy and trade union leader and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj, have said that that Turi is not even a member of MSS.
In an email alert, PPSC has said, "These and other undertrial prisoners have been put in solitary confinement since March 23, 2018", adding, "In response, prisoners went on a hunger strike on March 27."
According to PPSC, following the hunger strike, "under pressure, since April 2 the jail administration allowed these prisoners to mingle with other prisoners only twice a day for two hours", calling the solitary confinement a "violation of the constitutional and statutory rights of prisoners as guaranteed by the law of the land."
According to PPSC, "It is unconstitutional and illegal to keep undertrial prisoners under solitary confinement in India. Solitary confinement is envisaged only for convicts (s.73, 74 IPC) and that too on compliance of strict statutory conditions." "Further", PPSC says, "it is only under an order of a Court that such confinement can be authorised (Sunil Batra v Delhi Administration, 1978 AIR 1675)", adding, "Internationally, solitary confinement is recognised as a form of torture."
Notably, India is a signatory to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1987.
MSS was declared an unlawful association under section 16 of the CLA Act, 1908, accused of being a “frontal organisation of the CPI (Maoist)." It has been working for the rights of doli mazdoor and other workers since 1989 in Giridih, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Ramgarh, Gaya, Kharsawan and Jhalda districts of Jharkhand.
Claiming to have membership of around 22,000 workers, MSS, says the PPSC email alert, has "exposed the fake encounter killing of one of their members Motilal Baske in June 2017, and has been protesting against the amendments to the land laws (Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908 and Santhal Pargana Act 1949) aimed at dispossessing Adivasis and Moolvasis of their land."
Says PPSC, "As part of the ongoing repression, the government has also banned another organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) in February leading to 3 FIRs, arrests of its members and sealing of their offices", adding, "PFI has been involved in exposing the role of administration and cow-vigilante groups in lynchings of Muslims and intimidation of their families."
Meanwhile, PPSC has demanded that the ban on MSS and PFI be revoked,cases against members of MSS and PFI be withdrawn, and persons incarcerated be released immediately.

Comments

India reaches 8th of 10 stage genocide: US Muslim advocacy group raises 'alert'

By Hena Zuberi* India has reached the 8th stage of genocide with the persecution of the Muslim community. Stating this, Professor Greg Stanton, who heads Genocide Watch, declared a Genocide Emergency Alert for India today at Justice For All online briefing.

Mayawati's 'success' depends on how BSP taps new crop of young Amdekarite leaders

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Whatever be the election results in Uttar Pradesh on March 10, it is extremely important to understand: that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and its leader Mayawati have the potential to rise like a Phoenix any time.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Anti-poor? 'Cumbersome' to link aadhaar, voter ID for people sans internet access

By Prashant Kumar Chaudhary, Ajit Kumar Jaiswal* At present, technology plays an increasingly crucial part in modelling human existence by offering a variety of solutions to many of the challenges individuals confront in the real world. As a result, every branch of research works to provides means to solve these difficulties precisely and efficiently. The Central government works along the same lines as well.

India's actual Covid death rate about 2500 per million, third highest in world: Study

By Rajiv Shah There is now well-researched proof, if it can be called that, indicating that the Government of India may have fudged data to show lower Covid death rate. A new paper, published in “Science”, has said that while officially the Government of India’s Covid-related death estimates as of January 1, 2022 – 345 per million population – are one-seventh of the US death rate, the actual analysis of crude death rate in India suggests, this may be a gross underestimation.

'Dargah site was a temple': Claim in Gujarat following post-Babri verdict demands in UP

By Rajiv Shah Will Gujarat also see demands to replace mosques and dargahs with Hindu temples? It would seem so, if a new fact-finding team conclusion is any indication. Apprehending the “danger” of communal conflagration, it has cited the claim on a 15th century dargah was originally a Hindu temple – allegedly quite on line with what has been happening in UP following the Supreme Court verdict on Babri Mosque.

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

Why Church in India today needs a Rutilio Grande, martyred for stance on social justice

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* For the people of El Salvador, January 22, 2022 will be more than just a red-letter day. Three of their sons, Jesuit Fr Rutilio Grande and his two lay associates 72-year-old Manuel Solorzano and 15-year-old Nelson Rutilio Lemus (and Italian Franciscan missionary Fr Cosme Spessotto who was also martyred) will be beatified in San Salvador.

Gender insensitive? Model Gujarat's cyclone relief package ignores 40,000 fisherwomen

CSJ volunteers talking to fisherwomen By Rajiv Shah A Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) note on the Gujarat government’s compensation package to the victims of the devastating Tauktae cyclone, which hit the coastal belt of Saurashtra's Amerli, Rajula, Una, and Gir-Somnath districts in May 2021, has said, the relief offered was so terribly inadequate that many of the fisherfolk were not able to fish for the rest of the year.

Haridwar call for genocide direct result of Modi 'tolerating' Islamophobic policies

By Our Representative A high-level briefing organised in Washington DC, in which as many as 17 human rights and interfaith organizations -- including Amnesty International USA, Genocide Watch and Hindus for Human Rights, apart from several persons in their individual capacity -- participated, has come down heavily on what they called "Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Islamophobic policies and tolerance of open incitement by Hindu extremists for a genocide of Muslims."

Counterview

Search This Blog