Vikalp@Prithvi to screen the work of arrested filmmaker…

MTG editorial

Two and a half months have passed. Ajay TG, journalist, filmmaker and human rights activist remains behind bars in a Chhattisgarh prison. His crime? He made a film about and attended the trial of Dr. Binayak Sen. Dr. Binayak’s crime? He worked for decades as a doctor amongst adivasis in an area where no doctor dared to tread. Their joint crime? Both Binayak and Ajay worked with the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and questioned the state-sponsored “Salwa Judum” under which vigilantes in Chhattisgarh are trained and armed to fight Naxalites and end up terrorizing the entire local populace.

Dr. Binayak has already been held as a suspected “Naxalite” without bail and without evidence for two years. His case is now internationally known after 22 Nobel laureates wrote a letter to the PM and President of India asking for his unconditional release. Dr. Binayak has deservedly won several national and international awards from the medical fraternity. Amnesty has spoken up for him. Yet there is no response from Chhattisgarh or from the Government of India and the gross injustice continues. The Supreme Court rejected his bail application without ascribing a single reason to defend
their denial.

Ajay’s case is in some ways even more heartrending if only because he is less well known. A 35 year old from a modest Kerala family, Ajay settled in Chhattisgarh, worked with the youth wing of CPI and with the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties and later learned to make films with “Jan Darshan” a voluntary video training group. Since then Ajay has made several valuable human rights and development films including one on the arrest of Dr. Binayak Sen. Read more

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July 27, 2008 | Filed Under Film Festival, announcements | Leave a Comment 

Committee for Ajay’s Release is formed

New Campaign website for the release of Ajay TG is launched. visit http://ajaytg.net

Dear Friends,

If it were not so deliberate then the case of Ajay TG could be called an absurd twist of fate. Nevertheless the fact is that on the 5th of May 2008 Ajay TG, an independent documentary filmmaker and freelance journalist was sent to jail on allegations of associating with an unlawful organisation and sedition against the Indian nation. There are activists and friends of Ajay who have been working hard towards supporting his family and his case. Joining in with these efforts a Committee for the Release of Ajay TG has also been formed, details of which are attached with this letter. Please contact to get a high resolution pdf file of a Pamphlet (with overview of case and Ajay’s background) and of the Posters if you wish to print and circulate.

Read more

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July 10, 2008 | Filed Under announcements | Leave a Comment 

Jalpaiguri Free Binayak Film Shows

From: prabir chatterjee

On 15th June around 32 people attended a six hour long series of films on topics that Binayak is involved with (around 15 to 20 together at a any given time). The films were from INSAF and from a friend. There was a short NDTV clip of his arrest as well as the film “Development Flows” by Biju Toppo and Meghnath.

Binayak is seen in this film examining the X-ray of a villager displaced by a development project in Chattisgarh. The film had won a prize for Environmental Films in India about two years ago. Have seen it many times, but not registered the fact that he was shown.

A film on Rational drugs (In the Name of Medicine with many of the older AIDAN and MFC members) and “Kora Rajee” on the crisis in tea gardens (relevant in Jalpaiguri and related to malnutrition and illness) were also shown as well that refers to migration of tribals (Garee Lohardaga Mail, which is about a small train that was phased out).

Read more

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June 22, 2008 | Filed Under Film Festival | Leave a Comment 

Fight For Rights, Face State Fury: Tehelka Report

CURRENT AFFAIRS
the rights debate

Tehelka

First, Binayak Sen. Now, filmmaker-activist Ajay TG is arrested under draconian laws for opposing the Salva Judum

SHOBHITA NAITHANI
New Delhi

IT’S APRIL 2004. Human rights activist and general secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Chhattisgarh unit Dr Binayak Sen, sociology professor Nandini Sundar, freelance journalist and filmmaker Ajay Thachhappully Gangadharan (TG) and a local man are in Bastar, Chhattisgarh’s tribal district. They are observing how the Lok Sabha elections are being conducted, the impact of the Maoist ban and the overall situation. There is a visible military presence; helicopters are doing the rounds and personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are patrolling. As the group of four stop to film an empty polling booth, young Maoists surround them. The group is asked to wait till the headman gives them the go-ahead to film. The headman doesn’t turn up; the Maoists ask them to leave the camera behind. In a 2006 article in the newspaper, DNA, Sundar writes: “A month or so later, the filmmaker got his camera back with an offer of money in case it was spoilt and a letter of apology from a Maoist spokesperson.”

Four years later. On May 6, 2008, Ajay TG’s wife Shobha puts a set of clothes, soap, toothpaste, comb and a packet of biscuits into her bag with her 20-month-old son Aman by her side. At about 10.30am, the 32-year-old speeds off with her brother-in-law on his bike to meet her husband lodged in Kendriya Jail six km away from her house in Durg, on the outskirts of Raipur. In the three years since it came into force, Ajay is the 43rd person to be arrested under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA), 2005. Read more

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May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Press Reports | Leave a Comment 

Free Binayak Sen Film Festival in JNU

Release Dr Sen and Ajai TG without any delay

Cinemela Collectives
presents
Free Binayak Sen Film Festival
May 14, 2008/10am onwards
SAA auditorium, JNU, New Delhi

and many other teachers, activists and friends of Dr Sen will speak on the man, his contributions and the situation which led to his arrest.

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May 14, 2008 | Filed Under Film Festival, Global day of protest, Protests | Leave a Comment 

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