Skip to main content

Hiramani Munda has been convicted with life imprisonment with fabricated charges

By Harsh Thakor* 
Hiramani Munda (Asha Di), a tribal rights leader, has been convicted with life imprisonment in the NIA and ATS Special Court, Lucknow, under different sections of UAPA and sections 120B, 121, 121A of IPC. There is a strong view that Asha Di has been fabricated with charges of sedition. Aged 53, she integrated herself with the democratic and left movement from her very youth.
Asha Di has with unflinching resilience fought for rights of women in rural and tribal areas of Bihar and Jharkhand since 1980s. In spite of originating from a humble tribal background, she relentlessly set about the task of grasping advanced theories and practices to transform the society.
She brought to the book some serious cases of atrocities on woman, and leaving no stone unturned, mobilised people against the feudal patriarchal hierarchy. Her work literally caused tremors in the camp of the administration.
Her movements garnered or evoked tremendous popularity, but provoked vengeance of the state, as a result of which she was branded a Maoist and imprisoned for around five years in 2010. Still this could not quell her relentless spirit and dedication to uphold the basic rights of Jal-Jangal-Jameen.
After imprisonment and deterioration of her health during the jailed period, once again she decided to integrate herself with the democratic movement in regions of North Bihar, exposing the offensive of the government, and invested every ounce of her energy to boost the next generation to join people’s movement. This invited further wrath and the vindictive nature of the state, leading to conviction of life imprisonment for her early this month.
Such charges illustrate how the fangs of opposition to dissent are sharpening by every day, allegedly penetrating the very heart of the judicial system, with dangers to tear the fabric of the Constitution.
The friends and family of Asha Di have appealed to all democratic and progressive organizations and individuals to stand in solidarity with them and provide assistance to her legal battle. There is need for all democrats to demand unconditional release of Asha Di and other political prisoners who are waging a battle for freedom and democracy.
---
*Freelance journalist who has covered mass movements around India

Comments

TRENDING

Modi govt distancing from Adanis? MoEFCC 'defers' 1500 MW project in Western Ghats

By Rajiv Shah  Is the Narendra Modi government, in its third but  what would appear to be a weaker avatar, seeking to show that it would keep a distance, albeit temporarily, from its most favorite business house, the Adanis? It would seem so if the latest move of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) latest to "defer" the Adani Energy’s application for 1500 MW Warasgaon-Warangi Pump Storage Project is any indication.

India’s climate tech ecosystem in dire need of both early, growth-stage funding: Report

By Our Representative India’s climate tech ecosystem, which boasts over 800 startups, is in dire need of both early and growth-stage funding to leverage its full potential, according to a report by Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (Ventures) and MUFG Bank , Japan. Despite a robust initial funding landscape, with approximately two-thirds of climate tech startups receiving seed capital, growth-stage investments remain critically lacking. 

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Bayer's business model: 'Monopoly control over chemicals, seeds'

By Bharat Dogra*  The Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has rendered a great public service by very recently publishing a report titled ‘Bayer’s Toxic Trails’ which reveals how the German agrochemical giant Bayer has been lobbying hard to promote glyphosate and GMOs, or trying to “capture public policy to pursue its private interests.” This report, written by Joao Camargo and Hans Van Scharen, follows Bayer’s toxic trail as “it maintains monopolistic control of the seed and pesticides markets, fights off regulatory challenges to its toxic products, tries to limit legal liability, and exercises political influence.” 

105,000 sign protest petition, allege NestlĆ©’s 'double standard' over added sugar in baby food

By Kritischer Konsum*    105,000 people have signed a petition calling on NestlĆ© to stop adding sugar to its baby food products marketed in lower-income countries. It was handed over today at the multinational’s headquarters in Vevey, where the NGOs Public Eye, IBFAN and EKO dumped the symbolic equivalent of 10 million sugar cubes, representing the added sugar consumed each day by babies fed with Cerelac cereals. In Switzerland, such products are sold with no added sugar. The leading baby food corporation must put an end to this harmful double standard.

UNEP report on how climate crisis is impacting displacement, global conflicts, declining health

By Shankar Sharma*  A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), titled "A Global Foresight Report on Planetary Health and Human Wellbeing," warrants urgent attention from our country’s developmental perspective. The findings, detailed in the report, should be a source of significant concern not only globally but especially for our nation, which has a vast population and limited natural resources. 

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.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Militants, with ten times number of arms compared to those in J&K, 'roaming freely' in Manipur

By Sandeep Pandey*  The violence which shows no sign of abating in the ongoing Meitei-Kuki conflict in Manipur is a matter of concern. The alienation of the two communities and hatred generated for each other is unprecedented. The Meiteis cannot leave Manipur by road because the next district North on the way to Kohima in Nagaland is Kangpokpi, a Kuki dominated area where the young Kuki men and women are guarding the district borders and would not let any Meitei pass through the national highway.