Misleading and ill-conceived legal notice and arbitrary restriction by BSF

Kirity Roy, Secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), represents to the Chairman, National Human Rights Commission on misleading and ill conceived legal notice and arbitrary restriction by BSF:

***

Through this complaint, I want to attract your kind attention to another incident of BSF restriction upon the daily activities of the bordering village people. The Border Security Force personnel associated with Mahisgaon Border out Post, ‘E’ Company, 72 Battalion obstructed and restricted the movements of the local populace. Through promulgation of Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code issued by local administration as prayed by BSF; misconceived BSF termed as ‘Curfew’ and residents of those areas are under panic. People of the area are not allowed to enter the villages by using the IBBR road beside CPWD.
About 5000 people reside in the Paharpur, Mahishagaon, and Keshabpur villages. Out of the total population, 70 percent of the villagers belong to Muslim Other Backward Class and other 30 percent from Hindu Scheduled Caste (Dalit) backgrounds. The main occupation of the villagers is agriculture. The distance between the border fence and the International Border Pillar (IBP) is about 350 meters. There is no ration shop in the village. One primary school (Sarba Siksha Kendra) is located in the village. There is PWD (Keshabpur/Mahishagaon) road in the village.
Paharpur, Mahishagaon and Keshabpur village is a bordering village of the Indo-Bangladesh border situated under the jurisdiction of Choi Nagar Gram Panchyat and Hemtabad Block and Hemtabad Police Station in the district of North Dinajpur. Here most of the people are Muslims and farmers from the minority community. About 2000 bigha of agricultural land is there. Farmers and villagers of Paharpur, Mohisagaon and Keshabpur villages are always terrified of the activities of BSF personnel. They always place illegal and arbitrary restrictions upon the life and livelihood of the villagers.
These whimsical actions and arbitrary restriction imposed by the Border Security Force personnel posted at Paharpur, Mahishagaon and Keshabpur villages is not only challenging their life and livelihood but also violating the Article 21 and Article 19 of the Constitution of India and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The plight of the villagers and denial of their proper livelihood practices is against the Articles 7 and 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) as well as the goal number 8 and 16 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In all these international instruments, the Government of India is a party and has taken pledge to adhere with.
The villagers of the three villages jointly complained to the DM Uttar Dinajpur and BDO, Hemtabad Block, Hemtabad Uttar Dinajpur. They complained of --
1. the BSF has restricted their movements within 8 km of the border area
2. BSF has prohibited the villagers to transport food grains, cattle, petroleum products, or any other products, section 144 was issued by them, so common people like farmers, rickshaw pullers, toto drivers, laborers and workers are facing difficulties to continue their livelihood. It is difficult to bring essential goods and livelihood is hindered.
Following are the names and details of some of the victim villagers, whose movements were restricted by the BSF:–

Other victims who were restricted by BSF:

On 09.09.2022 the people of Paharpur village jointly submitted one letter complaining of the above stated situation to the Block Development Officer, Hemtabad Block and to the District Magistrate, North Dinajpur and prayed for taking proper action. But till date no action has been taken by the concerned district and block administration. The incident is a clear violation of Articles 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution and Goal No 16 of Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations General Assembly to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies. The incident is also against the Article 12 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The villagers of Paharpur, Mohisagaon and Keshabpur have rights guaranteed in Article 2 of ICCPR, which were not entertained.

Hence, I request your urgent intervention in this matter with the following demands: -

The border security force personnel should be posted at zero point and not inside villages.
The whole matter should be inquired by one neutral authority, appointed by the Commission.
Adequate measures should be directed to be taken by the authorities concerned to hear and consider the problems of the villagers in a fair, just and reasonable manner and to sort out a reasonable and legitimate solution to their problems.
The gates must be opened for 12 hours a day.
The BSF authorities must be directed to protect the interests of the people residing besides border fencing without imposing any unreasonable restrictions on them.
Wrong interpretation of legal notice must be removed.

The mass petition submitted by the victim villagers before the District Magistrate, North Dinajpur should properly be acknowledged and adequate steps should be directed to be taken on the said mass petition. CPWD must remove the illegal notice for the convenience of people to reach their farming lands without any difficulty. BSF must be directed to be posted at the actual border instead of the inner side of CPWD road or inside villages.

Comments

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Gujarat agate worker, who fought against bondage, died of silicosis, won compensation

Raju Parmar By Jagdish Patel* This is about an agate worker of Khambhat in Central Gujarat. Born in a Vankar family, Raju Parmar first visited our weekly OPD clinic in Shakarpur on March 4, 2009. Aged 45 then, he was assigned OPD No 199/03/2009. He was referred to the Cardiac Care Centre, Khambhat, to get chest X-ray free of charge. Accordingly, he got it done and submitted his report. At that time he was working in an agate crushing unit of one Kishan Bhil.

Budget for 2018-19: Ahmedabad authorities "regularly" under-spend allocation

By Mahender Jethmalani* The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC's) General Body (Municipal Board) recently passed the AMC’s annual budget estimates of Rs 6,990 crore for 2018-19. AMC’s revenue expenditure for the next financial year is Rs 3,500 crore and development budget (capital budget) is Rs 3,490 crore.

Licy Bharucha’s pilgrimage into the lives of India’s freedom fighters

By Moin Qazi* Book Review: “Oral History of Indian Freedom Movement”, by Dr Licy Bharucha; Pp240; Rs 300; Published by National Museum of Indian Freedom Movement The Congress has won political freedom, but it has yet to win economic freedom, social and moral freedom. These freedoms are harder than the political, if only because they are constructive, less exciting and not spectacular. — Mahatma Gandhi The opening quote of the book by Mahatma Gandhi sums up the true objective of India’s freedom struggle. It also in essence speaks for the multitudes of brave and courageous individuals who aspired to get themselves jailed for the cause of the country’s freedom. A jail term was a strong testimony and credential of patriotism for them. The book has been written by Dr Licy Bharucha, an academically trained political scientist and a scholar of peace studies and Gandhian studies, who was closely associated throughout her life with those who made the struggle for India’s independence the primar...

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit.

Covid response? How, gripped by fear and groupthink, scientists 'failed' children

By Bhaskaran Raman* “Today’s children are tomorrow’s future”, “Nurture children’s dreams”, “A child’s smile is sunlight”. These are some cliches, rendered rather uninspiring through repetition and obviousness. However, for nearly 2½ years, society forgot these cliches, children suffered as science failed and groupthink prevailed. Worse, all of this has been swept under the rug.

Search This Blog