PETITION FOR RELEASE OF AJAY TG, INDEPENDENT FILM MAKER
We the undersigned strongly condemn the arrest of Ajay TG, independent film maker, and social activist by the Chattisgarh police in Bhilai on 4 May 2008 and call for his immediate release.
Though no specific charges have been made known so far, the fact that he is detained under the Chattisgarh State Public Security Act – a law meant for containing ‘terrorists’- it is obvious that the allegations are likely to be drastic.
We have strong grounds to believe that Ajay is being victimised for his human rights work as an active member of the PUCL, against which the Chattisgarh government is carrying out a systematic campaign of vilification and victimisation. He is the second member of the PUCL to be arrested so far, the first being Dr Binayak Sen, well known humanitarian and General Secretary of PUCL’s Chattisgarh unit on 14 May 2007.
Apart from being a human rights activist Ajay TG is a well-known researcher and independent filmmaker. He has done research assistance work for Professor Jonathan Parry, a world-renowned social anthropologist at London School of Economics and Political Science and also participated in numerous studies conducted by universities in the United States.
As a filmmaker Ajay TG has worked on numerous projects as director, cameraman, editor and is also an accomplished graphic artist. Some of his films that have been screened at festivals abroad include ‘Living Memory’, screened at ‘A season of South Asian Documentaries and Films’, Cambridge, UK; ‘Safar’ screened at Sheffield International Film Festival, Sheffield, UK and ‘The Last Shelter’ screened at Royal Anthropological institute Film Festival, London, UK.
Since September 2005 Ajay has been voluntarily running Drksakshi, an organisation designed to provide a dignified educational environment for young girls in an urban slum in Bhilai. He is currently also State Convener for Campaign Against Child Labour and Treasurer of the All India Youth Federation, Chhattisgarh.
- Anand Patwardhan Film Maker
- K.P.Sasi Film Maker
- Satya Sivaraman Journalist
- Sarat Chandran Film Maker
- P.Baburaj Film Maker
- Anivar Aravind Freelance Journalist, Free Software Developer
- Sunil Shanbag Theatre Director
- Nandini Ramnath Journalist
- Amrit Gangar Film critic
- Meghnath Filmmaker
- Paromita Vohra Filmmaker
- Vanaja C Journalist
- Shankar Borua Filmmaker
- Balmurli Natrajan Anthropologist
- Simantini Dhuru Filmmaker
- Shohini Ghosh Filmmaker
- Sudeep K S Filmmaker
- Shriprakash Filmmaker
- Saba Dewan Film maker
- Rahul Roy Filmmaker
- Ajitpal Singh Filmmaker
- Sapna Shahani TV Producer
- Giulia Battaglia Researcher, MIDS, Chennai
- Amar Kanwar Filmmaker
- Sanjiv Shah Filmmaker
- Lynne Henry Media practitioner/dance educator
- Sanjay Shah Filmmaker
- Aditya Seth Filmmaker
- TN Uma Devi Filmmaker
- Nirmala Nair Filmmaker
- Utpal Borpujari Journalist,
- Lawrence Liang Alternative Law Forum
- Anjali Monteiro, Professor, Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, TISS, Mumbai
- K.P. Jayasankar, Chair, Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, TISS, Mumbai
- Shikha Jhingan Filmmaker
- Mrinnal Talukkdar Filmmaker
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Free Binayak Sen Film Festival at Jantar Mantar
Press Note
9 May 2008
To mark the first anniversary of the arrest of Dr Binayak Sen, on 14 May 2008 and to call for his immediate release a series of Free Binayak Sen Film Festivals are being organised by concerned citizens and groups around the country. Dr Sen was arrested on false charges of ‘assisting’ the Maoist insurgency in Chattisgarh.
The first such Free Binayak Sen Film Festival will be held at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on 10 May from 7-12 PM. Other similar festivals are being held in the month of May in Bangalore, Chennai, Shimoga, Nagercoil, Gorakhpur and Imphal.
The package of 10 videos, presented in this Festival, highlight the issues of human rights and public health and deal with themes ranging from nutrition, greed of drug companies, environmental pollution and state violation of human rights.
For further information contact:
- Wilfred D’Costa/INSAF willyindia at gmail.com Ph: 011-26517814
- Satya Sivaraman satyasagar at gmail.com Ph: 9818514952
- K.P.Sasi, Bangalore kpsasi36 at gmail.com Ph: 09945282056
- Sarat Chandran, Eranakulam sarat at thirdeyefilms.com Ph: 09446426433
- V.Srinivasan, Chennai srini59 at gmail.com Ph: 09840081114
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FREE BINAYAK SEN MEDICAL CAMP AT KOVALAM, TAMIL NADU
MAY 4th
The Committee for the Release of Dr. Binayak Sen, Chennai in partnership with the The Chennai Metropolitan Construction workers and Unorganized workers union, Kovalam held a medical camp at Kottai Colony in Kovalam village about 45 Kms from Chennai. It was decided that this series of camps would be planned monthly for at least a year.
The medicines were purchased at concessional rates with support from the Tamil Nadu Medical Representatives Association. Three doctors Dr. Aravindan, Dr. Gurumurthy and Dr. Rakhal Gaitonde saw patients and manned the pharmacy. All medicines and consultations were done free.
The camp was preceded by a short inaugural session where the traditional leaders of the village were present, after a welcome by Comrade Srinivasan, Dr. Rakhal spoke about Dr. Binayak Sen, his arrest and the inspiration behind holding this camp in solidarity with him. Dr. Rakhal stressed that this was not merely a camp to dole out medicines but was infact an opportunity for the people to share their problems, violations of rights that are going on on a day to day basis, come to know of your rights and entitlements and plan action for getting the same. The example of the National Rural Health Mission gaurantees at the village level was given. Dr. Rakhal mentioned the various entitlements as per the NRHM – the community was surprised as no one was aware of any of these. There was then reporting of the irregularities in the maternal benefit scheme of the Tamil Nadu government. The people also raised issues regarding the redefining of the poverty line in various government orders in an attempt to fix eligibility criteria. There was even a proposal to hold a large public enquiry on the issue.
After the inaugural session nearly 55 patients consulted the doctors. While most were common ailments the doctors were struck by the number of alcohol related problems that they came across. The doctors had time to speak to the patients as well as the members of the union who have promised to follow up the various patients who need follow up.
The community appreciated the effort and said that they would all mobilise a much larger number of people the next month.
Related posts
US Day of Protest for Dr. Binayak Sen: May 13, 2008.
You can make a difference.
lease sign a petition to help free Dr. Sen or put a web banner for publicity on your website or blog for highlighting this issue.
You can get a local group in your city to hold a Free Binayak Sen Film Festival to raise awareness about the various issues associated with this campaign.
Aid Boston urging organizations across North America to observe one year of Dr. Binayak Sen’s unjust detention and endorse our appeal.
US Day of Protest for Dr. Binayak Sen: May 13, 2008.
You can attend a local event in your city for the one year anniversary of the unjust detension of Dr. Binayak Sen.
Baltimore/JHU: Talk on Dr. Binayak Sen followed by signature campaign. May 13th, 2008 (1:30 to 2:30 pm) School of Public Health [Contact Email : Manjunath - mshankar at jhsph.edu or 952-201-8679]
Boston: Vigil @ Harvard Square on May 13, 2008 (7pm) [Event Poster - JPG; PDF] [Contact Email: freebsen at gmail.com]
Houston/Dallas: Stay Tuned.
New York: Protest in front of Indian Consulate on May 13, 2008 (12:30pm). [Event Poster - PDF] [Contact Emails: Ashwini: akr7 at columbia.edu or Murli: mnatrajan at yahoo.com]
Pittsburgh: Candlelight Vigil @ Church of the Redeemer, 5700 Forbes Avenue on May 13, 2008 (7:30pm) [Event Poster - PDF] [Contact Email: maryganguli at yahoo.com or sparun at gmail.com]
San Francisco: March to the Indian Counsulate on May 13, 2008 (10am) [Event Poster - HTML]
Washington DC: Protest Walk from Indian Embassy to Indian Consulate on May 13, 2008 (4pm) . [Contact: Somu @ 703-728-8987]
Visit AidBoston Website for updates on USA events
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PUCL CONDEMNS ARREST OF AJAY TG, MEDIA PERSON & HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST IN CHHATTISGARH
Press Release:
Raipur, 7th May 2008:
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) strongly condemns the arrest of Ajay TG, widely recognized film maker, journalist and human rights activist by the Chhattisgarh police in Raipur on 4 May 2008 and calls for his immediate release.
The fact that Mr. Ajay T G has been detained under the Anti-democratic draconian law i.e. The Chhattisgarh State Public Security Act – 2005, it is obvious that the State Police is following its repressive policy to brand human rights activists/organizations as “terrorists” involved in “unlawful activities”. As per their admission to the press, the State Police has no evidence against Ajay TG except what it claims to be a letter purportedly written by him to a Maoist leader.
PUCL has strong grounds to believe that Ajay is being victimized for his human rights work as an active member of our organization and against which the Chhattisgarh government is carrying out a systematic campaign of vilification and victimization. There is a deliberate attempt by the State Government to spread falsehoods against human rights organizations, and “branding” PUCL.
PUCL believes that the framing in false case of Ajay T G, a member of the State Executive Committee of Chhattisgarh Unit of PUCL, is also linked with the failure of the prosecution to establish any fact during the Trial in Dr. Binayak Sen’s case, held from 30th April to May 3, 2008.
It may be re-called that Dr. Binayak Sen, General Secretary, Chhattisgarh PUCL & Vice-President of National PUCL has been illegally detained since May 14, 2007 for his alleged support to the Communist Party of India (Maoists). However, those witnessing the Trial proceedings in the Court of Sri B S Saluja, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Raipur, are of the unanimous opinion that none of the six witnesses produced by the prosecution could establish an iota of evidence in the case. On the contrary, one witness was declared ‘hostile’ by the prosecution, and three of them openly declared that they had made no statement to the police to this effect. They also did not identify any of the three accused present in the Court, including Dr. Binayak Sen.
Ajay T G is the second member of the PUCL-Chhattisgarh to be arrested so far, the first being Dr Binayak Sen, well known humanitarian doctor, having recently won the prestigious Dr. Jonathan Mann Award for 2007 for Global Health & Human Rights.
It may be recalled that prior to his arrest Ajay TG was un-necessarily and deliberately dragged into a controversy by the police at Raipur on 30 April, the first day of Dr Sen’s trial when they discovered a Swiss pen-knife like, tool kit, in his bag. He was unaware that he was carrying it and innocently had brought it into the court room. The police then presented him as a “fraud media person”, although Mr. Ajay T G apologized in writing to the concerned Court for this “human error”, and gave the facts of the case. The hon’ble Court accepted the apology, and no action was taken against him.
Several news papers that evening and next morning carried sensational reports of him and the Swiss knife, ridiculously stating that the PUCL State Executive Member had come with a “modern, deadly and dangerous weapon”. It is clear that Ajay’s detention is a measure of desperation on the part of the Chhattisgarh authorities, who are running out of excuses to harass and suppress human rights activists. .
As a film maker Ajay TG has worked on numerous projects as director, cameraman, and editor and is also an accomplished graphic artist. Some of his films that have been screened at festivals abroad include ‘Living Memory’, screened at A Season of South Asian Documentaries and Films, Cambridge, UK; ‘Safar’ screened at Sheffield International Film Festival, Sheffield, UK and ‘The Last Shelter’ screened at Royal Anthropological institute Film Festival, London, UK. Since 1994 Ajay T G has also assisted Professor Jonathan Parry — a world renowned social anthropologist at London School of Economics and Political Science– in his research on industrialization in Bhilai.
Since September 2005 Ajay has been Director of Drksakshi , a voluntary organization providing a dignified educational environment for young girls from extremely impoverished families in an urban slum in Bhilai. He is currently also State Convener for Campaign Against Child Labour and Treasurer of the All India Youth Federation, Chhattisgarh.
PUCL appeals to all human rights and democratic organizations/individuals to strongly condemn this repressive act of the Chhattisgarh Government, and express solidarity and support in defending the well recognized Media person & human rights activist.
Rajendra K Sail
President
Mobile: 098268-04519
PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES– CHHATTISGARH
Post Box No. 87, Main Post Office,
Raipur – 492001: Chhattisgarh: India
E-mail: pucl.cg@gmail.com
