People's Union for Civil Liberties

Cultural policing in Karnataka

Everyday acts of living in a multi-religious society are currently being rigorously policed and ordered by vigilante Hindu groups. The aim of cultural policing is to produce a form of social apartheid where the various communities become self-enclosed structures with inter-community social interaction being actively discouraged

-- A report by PUCL Karnataka, June 2009 (pdf) Click

Binayak Sen free on bail

-- By Kavita Srivastava, June 2, 2009

Binayak Sen and our society -- By Pushkar Raj, General Secretary, PUCL. Click

PUCL appeal for May 14, 2009

Demanding the release of Dr. Binayak Sen and for restoration of democratic rights in Chhattisgarh

-- -- By Pushkar Raj , PUCL, General Secretary | Download appeal in hindi (pdf)

PUCL calls for UN military intervention and war crimes trials of Sri Lankan leaders

-- By K.G. Kannabiran, President, PUCL 8 May, 2009.

Chhattisgarh police interfering with medical assistance for Binayak Sen
"We now have clear proof that the police in Chhattisgarh are actively interfering with Binayak’s need for health care."

-- By Illina Sen, 22 April 2009

From Kandhamal to Karavali: The ugly face of Sangh Parivar

A report prepared jointly by a number of rights organisations including PUCL on the large scale violence against Christians in Orissa and Karnataka during August-September 2008. The violence was committed by Sangh Parivar organisations, mainly the Bajrang Dal. Their political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) happens to be in power in both the States, and that has ensured that the police watched benignly as the arson and murder took place in public. Click.

PUCL Condemns the arrest of Lenin Kumar; it throttles freedom of expression

Shahbaz Ahmed wrongly charged in connection with serial bomb blasts in Jaipur

- A PUCL/PUHR report, October 2008

" We think that Shahbaz Ahmed is innocent and has been picked up by police merely because he was a one time member of SIMI and his name probably cropped up in interrogation of one of the accused picked up earlier than him. Or may be police got hold of some membership list of SIMI from the years when he was a member. Shahbaz's life has changed after his marriage and it is unlikely that a person would be involved in bomb blasts in May when a child is born to his wife in April by a major operation. He seems to have been mostly busy trying to establish his business to ensure a decent earning to raise his family."

The sinister ways of Chhattisgarh police

The trial of PUCL vice-president and human rights activist, Dr. Binyak Sen.
Chhattisgarh police fabricate evidence and resort to intimidation.

"The entire court room was stunned by this act of the Chhattisgarh police who dared to tamper with sealed evidence in a case like that of Binayak Sen which was under everybody's glare. The court room that day had the presence of Dr. Abhay Shukla, a member of the NHRC core group who had been sent on a reconnaissance visit to examine whether Dr. Sen's trial needed monitoring. It left no room of doubt as to how the police must be regularly doctoring evidence in cases of the poor and fixing them."

-- By Kavita Srivastava,
Secretary, National PUCL & (General Secretary), PUCL Rajasthan

Comments from a trial observer

-- By Dr. Abhay Shukla Member, National Human Rights Commission.

"The police is unable to present any specific incriminating evidence against Binayak, and now in their desperation to indict him seem to be concocting and planting false evidence."

A call for trial observers

-- by Rajendra Sail, Chhattisgarh PUCL

"Arresting Film Maker May Have Been a Mistake"
Vishwa Ranjan, DGP Chhattisgarh under fire for human rights record. Click here

The Jaipur terror scapegoat:
The poor Bengali muslim migrant

Crackdown on the Bengalis started on the 19th May. Several hundreds had been rounded up and more than 115 people have been sent to Judicial Custody under sec 109 of the Cr. PC. This has led serious violation of the human rights of the Muslim migrants in the city especially those of Bengali origin.

A report by Kavita Srivastava, PUCL Rajesthan, 24 May 2008

Who is responsible for rebuilding lives of Innocent victims and families? New report from PUCL Rajesthan, 30 August 2008. Click

‘Encounter culture’ and accountability of police

Recent times have seen a rise in encounter killings in the country. According to National Human Rights Commission all over the country (barring Jammu and Kashmir) 83 people died in encounters with police in 2002- 03 while in 2003-04 there were 100 deaths. The number reached 122 by 2004-5. Uttar Pradesh maintained an upward trend with 41, 48 and 66 deaths respectively in three years followed by Andhra Pradesh that had 41 deaths during this period. Even a peaceful state like Uttrakhand reported 12 encounter deaths in these three years.

-- By Pushkar Raj and Shobha Sharma, December 2007

Binayak Sen arrest: PUCL expresses concern at delaying tactices

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Chhattisgarh Unit has expressed concern at the deliberate attempts by the State to delay the proceedings in the Court in the matter of Dr. Binayak Sen.

Today’s Order by the Judge in Raipur ordering the Police to hand over a copy of the DVD of the CPU seized from the house of Dr. Ilina Sen (Dr. Sen’s wife) goes on to establish the “delaying tactics” being adopted by the State Police to frustrate and harass Dr. Binayak Sen. Similarly, the manner in which Dr. Binayak Sen was not brought to the Trial Court during the past four hearings on the pretext that the Jail Authorities had provided for Video-conferencing is a blatant violation of the fundamental rights of the accused. 2 November 2007

State repression in M.P. is politically motivated

officials were resorting to undemocratic and illegal means to detain even the elected representatives like the Janpad Panchyat and Gram Panchayat office-bearers in order to forcefully stop them from making a representation to the Chief Minister and High Officials against the corrupt and undemocratic functioning of these officials. 5 October 2007

Policing morality in Channapatna

The series of disturbing events in Channapatna commenced with the arrest on 2 June 2007 of four women under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 and the consequent media exposure and trial of these women. When a public protest was held to condemn the police complicity in converting what should have been a routine judicial process into a sensational trial by media, the protest was wilfully disrupted with the protesters being beaten up in the very presence of the police by anti–social elements. These events constituted a disturbing pattern of state moralism and authoritarianism wherein all democratic means of expressing a political opinion were sought to be satisfled.

A report by PUCL Karnataka, October 2007

Death in custody of Hafiz Kamaluddin and subsequent atrocities by police in Delhi

A PUCL report by Dr. Pushkar Raj, secretary national PUCL Sh. Mahipal Singh, general secretary PUCL- Delhi and and Sh. Bhupender Rawat, Covennor, Jan Sangharsh Vahini. | Click

 

Site last updated 5 June 2009