Dear Friends,
We all need to lodge our protests against this. Enough is enough. November 29, 2003, it was Amitie' volunteers harassed by Chandannagar Police Station for discussing HIV/AIDS issues. March 2005 MANAS Bangla staff harassed by Barrackpore police Station when they went to lodge complaint against harassment by local goons. Next month a Swikriti member was harassed by Garulia Police Station when he went to lodge a complaint. And now we have this. Seems laws are different for us. But we can't allow this to continue. Let us raise our voices unitedly against such atrocities.
Anis
OISHIK SIRCAR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
OISHIK SIRCAR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 06:10:40 -0800
From: OISHIK SIRCAR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Amitie Chandan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Shilpa Phadke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
arvind narrain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Aniruddha Maitra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Rustom Bharucha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Bindumadhav Khire <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
sumit baudh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Vinay Chandran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, CFLR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Pawan Dhall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, jia das <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"Nag, Esha" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Mike Flannery <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
Shohini Ghosh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
Manu Gopalan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
anand grover <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
lawyerscollective <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Bikram Jeet Batra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Madhuresh Kumar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
kamayani <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, masum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
NCAS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Priti Darooka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Rukmini Sen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Usha Ramanathan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], Mira Sadgopal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED], "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: "Aarse F*** Your Rights!!!" Atrocities and Abuse against 6 queer/ kothi activists/ individuals within Police Station In Kolkata for going to lodge complaint against assault
*************AN APPEAL FOR
JUSTICE*********************
"Aarse F*** Your Rights!!!" Atrocities and Abuse
against 6 queer/ kothi/ non-heterosexual activists/
individuals within Police Station In Kolkata for going
to lodge complaint against assault
Queer Development & HIV/AIDS Workers face worst
harassment at hands of law keepers for protesting
breach of law and complaining
Dear ALL,
Imagine being threatened and intimidated for going to
lodge a complaint for crime done against you!!!To top
it, you receive hurling abuses - the situation arises
perhaps because you are queer. Moreover youur
belongings are snatched away from you, you are
threatened with being beaten up by 'lathi', the
choicest of expletives used bearing reference to your
anatomy for being seen as crossing the gender
line....your shirt torn to shreds....your neck twisted
and scratched.....
Today a group of six queer activists/ health workers/
and non-heterosexual individuals were hauled up,
physically manhandled and abused, threatened and
intimidated, their belongings taken away, their
clothes ripped and torn from their bodies.All this
within a police station!!!! The Lake Police Station,
to be precise. Our fault? Deciding to go to the police
station for three of the 6 who experienced this
incredulous behaviour from the police, earlier in the
evening, faced physical violence and harassment at the
hands of two identified youths. The 3 kothi
individuals/ activists were putting up HIV/AIDS
posters in the Rabindra Sarobar (Lake) area, when the
incident took place.
When these 3 contacted the others, who were busy with
the preparatory work for opening The Pratyay Gender
Trust's CENTRE FOR SEXUALITIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS, they
joined, since previous experiences while lodging
complaints for similar crimes were either ignired,
disregarded or no action taken. In fact the idea
behind joining the three who faced the violence at the
hands of the unknown hoodlums was ensuring that a
proper complaint is lodged at the station.
Interestingly, the original three had to almost beg
and plead with the on-spot police personnel, to take
the men in question to the police station. The police
were perhaps too keen to 'settle' the matter on the
spot - in fact repeatedly these individuals were told
to 'drop the case'.
Our worst nightmare turne true, the moment we stepped
inside the Police Station. Outright hostility and
refusal to even consider our version of the story, we
seemed to provide all the amusement the cops needed at
the end of a perhaps eventful day. When the
officer-in-charge arrived at the station, not only
were we denied a chance to voice our concern, but were
treated as if we were the criminals in question. A
convenient version was soon heard to be doing the
rounds within the police staion, falsely implicating
us: One amongst the original three had accosted these
two 'innocent' youth, trying to allure them!!!!!!
We were then and there threatened with imemdiate
arrest!!!
Upon protesting, The Officer-in-Charge - Mr. Sukumar
Chakrabarti, who ordered the arrest, without bothering
to offer any explanation - either to the degrading
manner in which he spoke or to the reason behind why
WE who had suffered a wrong, should be the ones to be
arrested, threatened us and forwarded physically as if
to assault us. His abuses notwithstanding ,when few of
us voiced our protest at the manner i which the entire
affair was being dealt and to the treatment being
offfered to us - he really turned extremely
aggressive.
Seeing some of us who had mobile phones trying to
contact for help,the cops wasted no time in pushing
all of us into the Police Station Lock-up. 15-20
policemen teamed up and started pushing, shoving and
jostling us, physically, by force. Reason was thrown
out of the window, and when we tried to resist this
complete unwarranted move, we received the worst
physical excesses and highhandedness. Our shirts and
dresses were torn - necks and arms twisted. Mobile
phones and bags forcibly taken away - presumably as a
measure to block any efforts at being able to contact
for help.
The next three hours were harrowing - cooped up in the
small room of the Police Station, every attempt at
reasoning and rational dialogue failed. A statement
was taken from the 2 men accused which only indicted
us in the crime.
The incredulous and harrowing experience for us ended
nearly five hours since the events unfolded. Forcing
us to write a letter, stating that 'we promise never
again to commit anything of the nature of violence
that we did'!!!!!! Needless to say, this letter was
not written by us.
WE ARE SHOCKED, HUMILIATED AND TRAUMATISED AT THE HIGH
HANDEDNESS OF TODAY'S INCIDENT. EVEN AS I AM NARRATING
IT, THE SEVERITY OF THE VIOLENCE - AT THE HANDS OF
THOSE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE TO PROTECT AND POLICE
CITIZEN'S RIGHTS ALARM US.
WE CONDEMN THIS ACT OF ATROCITY. WE ARE WRITING TO
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS, AND REQUEST YOU TO
FORWARD THIS TO AS AMNY PEOPLE AS YOU KNOW.
WE WANT DIRECT ACTION AGAINST THOSE INVOLVED. WE ARE
ALSO APPEALING TO THE NATIONAL AND WEST BENGAL HUMAN
RIGHTS COMMISSION. WE WANT TO END THIS DEGRADATION AND
LACK OF CONCERN TO QUEER/ NON-HETEROSEXUAL/ GENDER
NON-CONFORMING PEOPLE'S BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND
DIGNITY.
Anindya Hajra Anirban Nath Dhiman Roy Indranil
Ghosh Sanjoy Santosh
December 5, 2005
___________________________________________________________
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OISHIK SIRCAR, LL.B.
Human Rights Lawyer & Researcher
Mobile: 9850444365
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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