PUCL Press Statement on Attack on All India Women’s Fact Finding Team
Tags: freedom of expression, police brutality, human rights violations, Orissa police firing, PUCL statement, women’s rights, law enforcement accountability, constitutional rights
Related Issue: freedom of expression, right to assemble, right to life, right to justice, right to information, accountability of law enforcement, protection from violence, constitutional obligation of the state
PUCL strongly condemns the attack on the All India Women’s Fact Finding Team on 9th December that was visiting Narayana patna block in Koraput district of Orissa for a fact finding study on police firing on 20th November 2009. The team had informed the District collector in advance about their visit. PUCL is shocked to note that women’s group was badly treated by the police and remained a mute spectator to the violence unleashed on them at the behest of the policemen in the police station premise by the local goons. It is an act of blatant lawlessness and calls for severe action against the police station in charge. Surely these kinds of incidents do not happen without support from higher ups and it points to the fact that the district is in the grip of `terror agents’ of the administration who are out to suppress the truth by intimidation and violent means. It is absolutely unacceptable that police resort to firing at the drop of the hat on the protesting people, kill them and then jail scores of them. It is equally reprehensible that state instead of initiating an impartial and credible inquiry into the incident should resort to terrorizing responsible citizens’ group who visit the place. PUCL demands that the government of Orissa should take strict action against the officer in charge of the area and fix the accountability for prevailing reign of fear, intimidation and suppression in the area as per its constitutional obligations.
Pushkar Raj, General Secretary