Release Ajay TG Campaign getting momentum

Film Maker in Prison

Ajay TG has a right to make films.
Ajay TG has the right to show his films.

We have the right to see his films.

We strongly protest and condemn the arrest of independent documentary filmmaker
and freelance journalist Ajay TG by the Chattisgarh Police.

We demand his immediate release from prison and the dropping of all charges against him.

We reiterate that it is not possible to silence
the voice of dissent, the expressions of our conscience or even the reporting of facts
by intimidation, imprisonment and the politics of branding.

Filmmakers, artists and activists distributed hundreds of RELEASE AJAY TG pamphlets at the opening ceremony of the 10th Osian’s Cinefan - Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, in New Delhi on the 11th of July 2008.

Recipient of the Osian’s Lifetime Achievement Award, renowned filmmaker Mrinal Sen signed the petition condemning Ajay TG’s arrest.

Demanding Ajay TG’s release, Mrinal Sen said, “I am with you. I wish I was 30 years younger so I could have physically joined you all in this campaign.”

A Committee for the Release of Ajay TG has been formed with eminent personalities such as Habib Tanvir, Aruna Roy, Dr. Kamal Chenoy, Dr. Banwari Lal Sharma, Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Harsh Mander, Siddharth Vardharajan, Sudhir Pattnaik, Ranjan Palit and Amar Kanwar.

Also a new website http://www.releaseajaytg.in/ is launched by the campaign committee

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July 15, 2008 | Filed Under announcements | 1 Comment 

India: Serious concerns over fair trial : Amnesty International Australia

Amnesty International Australia
Published on 27/06/2008

Delay in the trial process of jailed and award-winning human rights defender Dr. Binayak Sen followed by arrest of T.G. Ajay, also a human rights defender who attended his trial heightens serious doubts about Dr. Sen getting a fair trial at a Raipur district court in India, Amnesty International said on 25 June 2008.

Detained since 14 May 2007 Dr. Sen is facing numerous charges including under the Chhattisgarh State Public Security Act, 2005 (CSPSA), which criminalises “unlawful activities” and being a member of banned “terrorist organizations”. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Dr. Sen is a pioneer in providing accessible health care for adivasis (indigenous communities) and mine workers in remote villages of Chhattisgarh. He is recipient of several awards in recognition of his work for more than two decades. As vice-president of India’s leading human rights organisation, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Dr. Sen had highlighted unlawful killings and other human rights abuses in the armed confrontations in Chhattisgarh between the security forces and the Salwa Judum, a private militia widely held to be supported by the state authorities, on the one hand, and armed guerrillas of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) on the other.

Amnesty International called for Dr. Sen’s release soon after his arrest unless he was charged with a recognisably criminal offence - India: Chattisgarh government detains human rights defender, refuses to arrest police officials suspected of involvement in unlawful killings of adivasis. There are sufficient reasons to believe that the charges against him appear to be politically motivated. There has been no investigation so far into the allegations of unlawful killings of adivasis by Salwa Judum and the state police in Santoshpur which he had highlighted prior to his arrest. The authorities held him for seven months without proper filing of charges; in the meantime, he was denied bail; and was kept in solitary confinement for three weeks in March-April 2008; many of the charges against him stem from laws that contravene international standards. His trial, which commenced on 30 April, is now adjourned to 1 July.

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June 28, 2008 | Filed Under Press Reports, statements | Leave a Comment 

Non-Resident Indians (NRI) fast to demand release of Dr Binayak Sen

American Chronicle
Bobby Ramakant
June 24, 2008

Many concerned Indians in the USA, UK, Canada, UK, Australia, Thailand and other countries are fasting from 16 - 25 June 2008 along with hundreds of activists in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, demanding the annulment of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) 2005, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967, amended in 2004, and the release of Dr Binayak Sen (medical doctor and recipient of the prestigious Jonathan Mann award for Health and Human Rights), Ajay TG (filmmaker) and others.

These draconian laws (CSPSA and UAPA) sanction the violation of due process by the state, and thus contravene internationally accepted norms of jurisprudence as well as democratic governance. As Mr.Kannabiran, National President of PUCL, India, argues in his letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the CSPSA and UAPA operate by criminalizing the very performance of civil liberties activities, and culpability is decided upon not by direct proof, but through guilt by association.
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June 25, 2008 | Filed Under Press Reports | Leave a Comment 

10-day fast for Binayak Sen in vain: Meri News

Chattisgarh’s BJP government demonstrated its indifference towards human rights activists in the state, who were protesting peacefully through fasting. They were expressing concern at the growing ruthless character of the state..

THE CHHATTISGARH government remains indifferent towards the 10-day group fast started by social activist, Dr Sandeep Pandey, at Raipur, the state capital, which has entered seventh day. The protest was started protesting against the black law in the state, under which activists like Dr Binayak Sen, Ajay TG and others were arrested a year ago.

While the morale of those fasting in protest, including Magsaysay Award winner Dr Sandeep Pandey, Prem Narain Verma, Ram Prakash and Faizal Khan was very high and optimistic, the BJP Government in the state demonstrated its total indifference towards democratic and peaceful method of those protesting against the arrests.
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June 25, 2008 | Filed Under Press Reports | Leave a Comment 

The statesman Cover Story: THE EVIL WITHIN

The Binayak Sen story is more than just about the violation of individual rights, says Shoma A Chatterji

THE Binayak Sen story is much more than one of a gross violation of human rights. It goes far beyond the international appeals to release him from the unlawful detention he has been subjected to for more than one year. Beginning 16 June, a 10-day fast has been organised at Raipur in Chhattisgarh to express solidarity with him and Ajay TG (a film-maker) — both members of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, and others detained under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (1967) amended in 2004 to include key sections of the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act, 2002. Pota was itself repealed in 2004 following widespread criticism of abuse and human rights violations. The CSPSA allows for arbitrary detention of persons suspected of belonging to an unlawful organisation or participating in its activities or giving protection to any member of such an organisation, and human rights
organisations have demanded its repeal.

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June 25, 2008 | Filed Under Press Reports | 1 Comment 

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