The areas earmarked for seizure of mineral resource rich land
have been converted into "secuirity hamlets" for internal colonization
taking away the property rights of the Adivasis and other small farmers
including seizure of water resources by major companies . The
Constitution of India , laws against seizure of tribal lands , democracy
does not extend to these areas which have seceded from the ' Rule
of Law'.Who is to defend the property rights of the Adivasis and
small farmers , when enormous financial accumulation is to be made
by land seizures ???????In such circumstances democracy in the
affected regions has withered away and any investigating team from
'outside' will be brutally resisted by those who have set out to colonize
these regions .
We talk of the defence of property rights , is this to be restricted
to those who steal resources and lands from others and obtain
heavy financial subsidies from the States, even as basic necessities
such as health care, employment generating activities , education,
nutrition all languish ??????? Why should the banks and finance
ministry not be directed to publish the financial subsidies and loans
given to all sectors , corporate , individuals and others under the
Right to Information Act and the nature of the non performing
assets of banks .
Your report should be widely circulated in all forums as to actual
conditions , where even highly educated people received this kind
of treatment when all that they did was to go to give a report which
in any case would not improve conditions in the immediate future
as these areas are targeted for take over by special forces at the
instance of several private interests.
We live in a period where either whole countries are taken over
for their resources including Oil and the drug trade and even within
a country the resources of people are plundered and pillaged , this
does not include what is happening to the diversions of the national
budget to which every citizen contributes and Indirect taxes contribute
far more than direct taxation , with the higher slabs paying
proportionately
a lesser amount .
We need an analysis as to the money trail of our finances.
What did Mahatma Gandhi do when he found a whole country taken over
by the East India Company among other companies and revenues
being repatriated abroad even as the Indian peasant and worker
died prematurely in hovels????????
Niloufer Bhagwat
----- Original Message -----
From: "Harsh Kapoor" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 10:18 PM
Subject: [humanrights-movement:2165] Fact Finding Team Headed
toNarayanpatna,Orissa Attacked
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Nityanand Jayaraman <[email protected]>
>
> Today an all women fact finding team comprising of activist friends
> like Madhumitta Dutta, Shweta Narayan (from our Collective in Besant
> Nagar) and 6 other women were attacked on their way to Narayanpatna,
> Orissa, where a democratic tribal movement led by the Chasi Mulia
> Adivasi Sangh is being brutally supressed by the police at the behest
> of local liquor mafia, landlords and mining companies. This team had
> gone to Narayanpatna to bring out the real state of affairs,
> particularly regarding the spate of rapes and molestations of women by
> the Orissa Police, CRPF and the dreaded Cobra battalions. The local
> media has actively tried to hide the truth, branding the peaceful
> Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh as a maoist outfit.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> From the Press conference: Update at 9 December, 2009. 2.45 p.m.
>
> The 9 women fact-finding team just concluded a press conference at
> Parvathipuram, Vijayanagaram District, Andhra Pradesh. Here's the
> narrative of the day's happenings as told by Shweta Narayan and
> Madhumita Dutta to Nityanand Jayaraman over phone:
>
> At 10 a.m., the All India Women's Fact Finding Team consisting of 9
> women reached Narayanpatna Police Station and requested to meet the
> Station In-charge.
>
> 1. Sudha Bhardwaj, Advocate, Chhattisgarh
> 2. Mamata Dash, Delhi
> 3. Madhumita Dutta, Chennai
> 4. Shweta Narayan, Chennai
> 5. Rumita Kundu, Bhubaneswar
> 6. Pramila, Bhubaneswar
> 7. Kusum Karnik, Bhubaneswar
> 8. Ramani, New Democracy, Orissa
> 9. Durga, Chhattisgarh
>
> We were told that the policeman was busy, and were asked to come in
> the evening. The person questioning us asked us for names and mobile
> phone numbers and names of organisations. We gave all of that. We
> noticed quite a number of uniformed policemen, and many people in
> plainclothes. None of the people in uniform (we assume they were
> policemen) had any name tags. We asked one of them who the people in
> plainclothes were, and were told that they were all policemen. We
> asked the man how many police were there in this area, and he said
> more than 2000 police. One striking thing is that none of the many
> people gathered there were adivasi.
>
> About 20 adivasi men were huddled, squatting inside the police station
> premises. We asked the police man near us who they were, and were told
> that the adivasis were former activists of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi
> Sangh, who had come to surrender. This has been happening for a few
> days now, and many newspapers are reporting this.
>
> By this time, the crowd of so-called plainclothes police were getting
> restless. We heard people commenting saying: "Ab aa rahen hain. Jab
> hamarey gaon jal rahe the, tho kahaan the?" (When our farms were being
> burnt, where were you? Now they show up.)
>
> Madhumita felt the situation was looking troublesome, and suggested we
> leave. As we were stepping out of the police station, our driver was
> cordoned off and was being questioned in a very hostile manner and
> being threatened. We heard someone saying that he is a regular to
> these parts, and they enquired as to his antecedents.
>
> We somehow managed to extricate the driver. One of the policemen in
> plainclothes, who we saw inside the police station premises, was
> taking photographs, and he said "Maaro Inko." (Beat these people up).
> That is when more than 200 people surged ahead. The driver was being
> slapped repeatedly. Madhu and 75-year old Kusum Karnik tried to
> intervene and that is when one man went for Madhu's throat. Kusum was
> hurt too.
>
> Rumita Kundu was verbally abused inside the police station. One man
> crudely said that all these women had come to sleep with the men
> there. Mamta Dash was hit on her back, and abused. One man attempted
> to strangle madhu. When she moved to save herself, her jaw was
> injured. All this happened inside the police station premises.
>
> The driver was the one that was being assaulted most, and we did all
> we could to extricate him and board our vehicle. By this time, the
> vehicle was being broken. The rear windscreen was broken. With great
> difficulty, we fled the area driving towards Bandhugaon. We were
> followed by the plainclothesmen who claimed to be police on bikes.
> Somewhere between Bandhugaon Police Station and the village itself, we
> were stopped by two men in plainclothes. They said they were police,
> and they demanded to see the driver's license. As he was enquiring,
> about 20 people gathered there. But nothing untoward happened here. We
> were scared nevertheless.
>
> From there, we proceeded to Kottulpetta. Even before we got to this
> village, news seemed to have reached them about our visit. A road
> blockade had been organised, with a bullock cart blocking the road.
> There were no oxen. The people there, again all non-tribals, pulled
> out the driver and started assaulting him. They tried to pull down
> another male colleague of ours, Mr. Poru Chandra Sahu. and tried to
> beat them up. We intervened, and that's when Kusum didi, the 75-year
> old activist, was hurt on her head. We were there for more than 15
> minutes. More violence. More damage to the vehicle. More slaps for the
> driver. Our friends outside had been notified almost as soon as
> problems began, and phone calls must have been pouring into the
> Collector and SP's office.
>
> By this time, two bikes carrying one of the plainclothes "policemen"
> who had taken our names in Narayanpatna, and another plainclothes guy
> who was tall and burly, reached there and asked the youth to disperse.
>
> We reached Bondapalli, the border village within Andhra Pradesh.
> Almost in no time, a jeep load of Andhra Pradesh police along with
> plainclothes youth (young boys) armed with rifles and bullets arrived
> on the scene. They demanded to know who we were. We were treated more
> like criminals than victims, and our vehicle was searched. Only after
> Madhu spoke to the SP of Vijayanagar, and the DGP were we allowed to
> go. The police who stopped us immediately changed the tune, and
> offered to help us with medical assistance etc.
>
> Our experience with armed youth and police has left us clearly
> terrified, and convinced that the situation created by the police in
> Narayanpatna and this part of Orissa is extremely vitiated. We have
> the following concerns and demands which we conveyed to the media at a
> press conference in Parvathipuram, Vijayanagarm District, Andhra
> Pradesh.
>
> Concerns:
> 1. The scenario of terror that we witnessed, and were subject to shows
> the kind of tense situation prevailing in the Narayanpatna area post
> November 20, 2009's police firings in Narayanpatna.
> 2. There is no access for people to get in and out of the villages in
> Narayanpatna, with all routes blocked by armed goons.
> 3. There is no way to get information about what is happening inside,
> and no means of verifying the very disturbing accounts we are getting
> about abuses, molestations and violence against adivasi people.
> 4. The number of plainclothesmen who claimed they were police, and the
> comfort with which people outside the Narayanpatna police station were
> interacting with the police, and reacting to one policeman's
> instruction to beat us up, suggests that there may be some truth to
> reports that there is a Salwa Judum style Shanthi Samiti in this area
> as well. This may either be sponsored or working in close complicity
> with the police and state.
> 4. If the Fact Finding team of prominent women has been treated with
> such violence, it is clear that there is absolutely no room for
> dissent inside the villages.
> 5. All the people who attacked us were non-tribals.
>
> Demands:
> 1. The officers at the Police Station should be suspended to create an
> impartial stituation and enable the carrying out of investigations
> into the firing of 20 November, 2009, and the subsequent reports of
> atrocities against tribal people.
> 2. The SP Koraput should be suspended.
> 3. The Government should constitute a high-level independent
> investigation team and not depend on the police, who are clearly
> biased, and are using the language of terror and violence to suppress
> dissent.
>
> --
>
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "humanrights movement" group.
> To post to this group, send email to
> [email protected].
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> [email protected].
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
>
>
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"humanrights movement" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
