PUCL, Chhattisgarh letter of complaint to NHRC about harassment by police of Mr. Sukul Prasad Barse who hosted a meeting with PUCL members and others on 19th December, 2016:
Tags: Bastar, Dantewada, Adivasi rights, Human rights violations, Police harassment, Fake encounters, Sexual violence
Related Issue: Freedom of Speech and Expression, Right to Assemble Peacefully, Right to Life and Personal Liberty, Protection Against Arbitrary Arrest and Detention
Note: On 19th December, 2016, a day after the National Convention ended, a team of about 25 PUCL members and others visited Bastar to meet with victims of state excesses, in vllage Matenar of Dantewada. Over 150 villagers from three districts including victims of police and para military force excesses, especially women who were sexually assaulted, shared their experiences with PUCL members and others. A day following the meeting, the police force visited the village harassing the local villagers who had met the team and threatening to arrest them. The following letter was written to the NHRC to bring to their attention the grave human rights situation prevailing in Bastar area, where victims could not talk openly about the violence inflicted on them.
At the time of going to print, PUCL members had also been called to the local Police Station and had their photographs taken by the police officials. Very surprisingly, within a short time the pictures of the people who had attended the meeting was circulated over Whatsapp administered by a former Salwa Judum leader by name, Farukh Ali, who calls himself as Bastar Sangharsh Samiti. The message alleged that all these people were JNU students and was meant to deliver a warning to the young rights defenders about what awaited them if they dared to visit Bastar to meet with victims. It is obvious that the group has the patronage of the State Police who freely shared the pictures with the said Farukh Ali. It is a chilling reminder about the grave threat to rights defenders working in Chhattisgarh, once of the worst conflict affected areas in India. It is also a sign of the difficult and challenging circumstances in which PUCL members of Chhattisgarh unit are also functioning in their work to defend the human rights of local villagers caught in the spiral of violence between the state and non-state players.
To,
Mr Srinivasa Kamath,
National Focal Point – Human Rights Defenders and Joint Registrar
National Human Rights Commission,Manav Adhikar Bhawan,Block C, GPO Complex, INA, Delhi,
Subject: Urgent appeal to stop harassment and intimidation of Mr Sukul Prasad Barse, a local adivasi leader from Matenar, Dantewada by police officials of Bastar Range for hosting a conference on adivasi rights organised by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties.
Sir,
This is to bring to your attention an urgent situation of intense harassment and intimidation of a human right defender and a local adivasi social activist by police officials in Dantewada district of Bastar Range. Yesterday, i.e on 19th December 2016, a one day conference was organised on Adivasi rights by People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in village Matenaar of Dantewada district. Villagers from various districts came to speak at the event. The event, i.e venue and other arrangements were made and organised locally by Mr. Sukul Prasad Barse, an approximately 70 year old well respected local adivasi social activist from Maatenar. News coverage of the event is attached with this mail. Around 100 villagers from 3 districts, i.e Dantewada, Sukma and Bijapur, comprising of family members of various adivasis who have been killed in fake encounters, victims of sexual violence and other human rights abuses by the police and security forces spoke at the conference.
Since today morning, police officials from Kotwali thana, Dantewada have been continuously going to Mr. Sukul Prasad’s house and harassing and intimidating him for organising this event even though a prior information was given to the local authorities. Mr. Sukul Prasad Barse is an elderly adivasi social activist who works closely with Soni Sori and has been continuously raising issues of human rights violations by the police forces.
This act of harassing a respected elderly adivasi leader on part of the police officials is in line with the previous acts of harassment by the police towards anyone and everyone who have been raising or helping local adivasis to raise issues of excesses and human rights violations like fake encounters, gang rapes, etc by the police and security forces. There have been concerted efforts to stop entry of human rights activists and journalists in the Bastar division area so that the excesses by the police and security forces go unquestioned. Just last month the National Human Rights Commission took cognizance of action against Professor Nandini Sundar and others, and other such acts of hostility and intimidation towards researchers and activists by the Chhattisgarh Police.
As you are aware, PUCL is India’s oldest and largest human rights organisation. This conference was organized with the intention to hear and understand the plight of local adivasis and to give them a platform to express their grievances.
It is shocking that in a democratic country like ours, Mr. Barse is being harassed for hosting and helping in organising a peaceful event in his own village. We request you to intervene at the earliest and stop further harassment of Mr. Sukul Prasad in order to instill some sense of security and safety amongst the residents of Bastar division and also to maintain a space for dissent without any fear of harassment.
Sincerely,
Sudha Bharadwaj, Advocate, General Secretary, PUCL (Chhattisgarh)
Copies to-
- Mr. A. N. Upadhyay, DGP, Chhattisgarh
- Mr. D. M. Awasthi, Special DGP (Anti Naxal Operations), Chhattisgarh