Vijay Singh
Sat, 12 Oct 2002 06:54:50 -0700
ASSOCIATION FOR PROTECTION OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS 18, Madan Boral Lane,Calcutta, 700 012 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 237 6459
APDR Activists arrested at Khargapur Rly.Stn. Dist Midnapore On 3rd October, 02 at about 5-30 PM a four member APDR fact-finding team consisting of APDR Central Secretariate member Sitangshu Sekhar Chakrabarty, Soma Mukhopadhyaya, member South Calcutta Branch, Seema and Samir, members Behala Branch was arrested from Khargapur Rly. Station. The team was returning from Jhargram Sub-Divisional Court where they went to meet the relatives of arrested villagers of remote Midnaore villages for collecting facts regarding the arrests and to enquire about the conditions of the prisoners most of whom were severely tortured in custody. As it was a case date of some cases registered against the persons now under custody, it was convenient to meet the relatives of the victims from far flung remote areas After a whole day's fact finding, they were waiting briefly at Kharagpur for the connecting return train to Howrah when a large contingent of police surrounded them. Inspite of clearly establishing their identitities and purpose of the visit, the police took them to the Kharagpur Town PS without making any memo of arrest and without assigning any reason. In the PS and as well as at the station police interrogated them persistently. Replying to a querry from APDR central office the Duty Officer of the PS D.K.Mitra Majumder stated that the APDR team was detained on an instruction from ASP Sri Niwas. The ASP also interrogated the team. The team was later released on P.R.Bond. APDR strongly protests these illegal arrests. Police and intelligence personnel present in large numbers in the Jhargram Court Compound maintained a close tab on the APDR team and they knew fully well the identity of the team and purpose of the visit. Inspite of this, they preferred to detain the team so as to thwart the attempts of APDR and others to expose the nature of state repression on political dissent and poor villagers in remote areas and to deprive the victims and their families of legal redress. APDR cosiders it as a violation of right to freedom of movement and UN resolution on the rights of human rights defenders of which the Govt. of India is a signatory. A meeting was held at the Hazra junction, Calcutta on 8.10.02 to protest against the arrests and police highhandedness. In the meeting APDR reaffirmed its resolve to continue its fight against state repression on political dissent, attack on freedom of expression and freedom of association and against human rights violations in association with all democratic forces. APDR will continue to spearhead the movement for unconditional release of all political prisoners, ending custodial violence and fake-encounters and for punishment of police officials responsible for torture in custody. Please voice your concern to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (Fax: 91 33 214 5480) and circulate this message among all concerned. In solidarity, Tapas Chakraborty General secretary APDR 9.10.02 _______________________________________________ Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list