Posts Tagged ‘petition
Investigate the Hindutva Terror Network!
Sign the Petition ->http://www.petitiononline.com/megha00/petition.html
To: Home Minister, Government of India
The recent confessions of the ‘terror Guru’ Swami Aseemanand before the metropolitan magistrate in Tees Hazari court have officially confirmed the existence of a network of terror affiliated to the RSS and its sister organisations.
Civil rights groups have long argued that the security agencies deliberately ignored leads that pointed to the hand of Hindutva groups in planning and executing acts of terror. The agencies, showing their abject bias, instead chose to pursue the beaten track of investigating Islamic terrorist organizations such as HUJI, Let and IM—despite clear evidence pointing in the opposite direction.
All important leads and clues were ignored or frittered away till the late Hemant Karkare’s prejudice-free investigations conclusively brought into the public domain the nefarious designs of Abhinav Bharat and its motley group comprising former ABVP activist (Sadhvi) Pragya Singh, serving army officer Col. Purohit, and RSS activists Sunil Joshi, Indresh and Swami Aseemanand. On the one hand the Hindutva trail was covered up; on the other many innocent Muslims were rounded up, illegally detained, arrested, tortured and chargesheeted for crimes they had never committed.
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press release by petitioners on salwa judum
COURT SAYS PARAMILITARY APPROACH IS A PROBLEM NOT THE SOLUTION
ALL SIDES AGREE ON NEED FOR HIGH LEVEL MONITORING COMMITTEE – DIFFER ON ITS COMPOSITION
PRESS RELEASE ON HEARING OF SALWA JUDUM MATTER
7th January 2011
The Salwa Judum matter was heard in Court 9 of the Supreme Court today by Justice Sudershan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar. This time all the main parties to the court were present – the last few times, the Solicitor General had asked for adjournments. The petitioners were represented by Senior Counsel, Mr. Ashok Desai (who is arguing the case pro-bono), the Centre by the Solicitor General, Mr. Gopal Subramanium and the State of Chhattisgarh by Mr. Harish Salve and Mr. Manish Singhvi.
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Petition Against Military Offensive in Central India
Sign the below Petition issued by AID
Dear Mr. Chidambaram, Hon’ble Home Minister of India
cc. Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India
cc. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi
We the undersigned are alarmed at the Government’s adoption of a military solution to the conflict in the tribal belts of central India. Operation Green Hunt will exact a toll in terms of innocent human lives and a long-lasting hatred in the hearts and minds of those who survive. We strongly believe that what is being called the war against Maoists will result in a war against adivasis, even if that is not the intention, because military operations will directly impact all the adivasis in the geographical area.
We stand against violence of all forms, structural and physical, from all sides, whether it is from Maoists, the State, corporate powers or independent citizens and groups, or dispossession, loss of livelihoods and endemic malnutrition. Instead of a paradigm of meaningful and participatory development, India’s recent decades of growth has exacerbated disparities in society. Surely, your government realizes that such uneven development will only intensify the cycle of violence without any promise of real or lasting benefits for the poorest. There is ample evidence around the world, and in history to suggest that uneven development and state sponsored violence leads to a breakdown of democracy – to failed States and “puppet governments.” In Chhattisgarh too, the State- backed Salwa Judum has only added fuel to the ongoing conflict.
We strongly urge you to hold talks with civil society groups that work very closely with the people to understand ground realities better. These groups can provide valuable advice for long lasting peace and justice in the region and should not be dismissed or penalized as “Maoist sympathizers”.
Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA), a Gandhian organization has been working in southern Chhattisgarh for the last two decades on issues of health, education and empowerment of the adivasis. Led by Mr. Himanshu Kumar, VCA has courageously worked for the rehabilitation of villagers made refugees on their own lands by the atrocities of Salwa Judum and by the cyclical violence resulting from it. We urge you to hold talks with Mr. Himanshu Kumar to understand and adopt this alternate paradigm of development.
In the interest of innocent tribal families living in the forests who will surely come in harm’s way through the planned Operation Green Hunt, we demand that:
1. The government retract military operations in Central India with immediate effect.
2. Hold meaningful conversations with adivasi representatives and development workers such as Mr. Himanshu Kumar.
3. Disband Salwa Judum with immediate effect and end covert militarization through arming of civilians as Special Police Officers.
4. Support rehabilitation of refugees and ensure responsible governance so people can return to their homes, pursue their livelihoods and democratically participate in the development process.
5. Initiate action against government functionaries who have perpetrated or promoted extrajudicial violence.
Order of hearing. Disappointment about treatment
We Earlier Covered Updates on Binayak’s Special Leave Petition on supreme Court . But Order of hearing is very disappointing. The argument between the police authorities and Binayak will now resume in Raipur. The police will insist that this SC clearly doesn’t want Binayak to be sent to Vellore, Binayak’s lawyers will interpret the order to mean he can go to Vellore if he goes at PERSONAL expense. Read Ilina Sen’s Letter about “conspiracy of Chhattisgarh Administration to Block Binayak’s Treatment in CMC Vellore ” to know why. Also see Letter by Medicos to Chief Justice of India
ITEM NO. 57 COURT NO.9 SECTION II
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl)… 2009
CRLMP.NO(s). 6149
(From the judgement and order dated 02/12/2008 in MCRC No. 1421/2008 of The
HIGH COURT OF CHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR)
BINAYAK SEN Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
STATE OF CHHATTISGARH Respondent(s)
WITH CRL.M.P.6149/2009 (C/Delay in filing SLP and office report)
Date: 04/05/2009 This Petition was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE D.K. JAIN
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE B. SUDERSHAN REDDY
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Ram Jeth Malani, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Sandeep Kapur, Adv.
Mr. Mehul Milind Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Shivek Trehan, Adv.
Mr. Raini Karanjawala, Adv.
Mrs Manik Karanjawala,Adv.
For Respondent(s)
UPON hearing counsel the Court made the following
ORDER
Delay condoned.
Issue notice returnable by two weeks.
Dasti service, in addition, is permitted.
Liberty to mention for listing before the Vacation Bench.
We further direct that as an when required, the petitioner
shall be provided best medical treatment available in the State at the
State’s expense.
[ Charanjeet Kaur ] [ Vijay Dhawan ]
Court Master Court Master
PUCL Challenges CSPSA in Chhattisgarh High Court
PUCL had first filed a PIL challenging Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 in the Supreme Court, but the SC had said that since it is a state law, it should be challenged in the high court. At long last, the CSPSA is now being challenged in the CG high court.
Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, Apr 28 : The Chhattisgarh High Court has accepted a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging constitutionality of the much-debated Special Public Security Act (SPSA) 2005 for consideration.
A joint bench of Justices Dheerendra Mishra and Rangnath Chandrakar has issued a show cause notice to the Centre and the state government and asked reply within four weeks while hearing the PIL of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) General Secretary Pushkar Raj and PUCL President Rajendra Sayal yesterday.
Petitioners’ counsel Sudha Bharadwaj said in the petition that the state government has passed and implemented the SPSA on March 2005 and the law constituted under the Act is illegal and anti-people.
It was said in the petition that in this Act the definition of illegal activities and legal organisation is ambiguous. It includes every kind of democratic protest and orgsanisation.
It is the deprivation of fundamental and democratic rights provided by the Constitution hence it should be cancelled, said in the petition.
— UNI
Set Binayak Sen free now
The Hindu
Opinion – News Analysis
Siddharth Varadarajan
Alongside the arming of private militias, the jailing of a human rights defender for two years on trumped up charges is proof that there is no rule of law in Chhattisgarh.
Every criminal case is unique but there is something truly peculiar about the fate of Dr. Binayak Sen. While politicians, film stars, gangsters and businessmen accused or convicted of heinous offences like manslaughter, rioting and possession of firearms seem to have no trouble getting bail, the gentle doctor is considered such a dangerous criminal that he has been held in jail for two years on a far less serious charge.
Arraigned under Chhattisgarh’s draconian Public Security Act, Dr. Sen, who is also the national vice-president of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, has repeatedly been denied bail by the trial court and High Court. Regrettably, the Supreme Court too rejected his special leave petition for bail in December 2007. Binayak’s trial is now underway.
As per the original chargesheet, 83 witnesses were meant to depose against him. Of these, six were declared hostile by the state and 16 were dropped while the remaining 61 testified in court. However, none has corroborated the prosecution case that Dr. Sen delivered a letter from Maoist leader Narayan Sanyal, whom he used to visit in Raipur jail in his capacity as doctor and civil libertarian, to some wider Naxalite network.
Be that as it may, are there valid grounds for refusing Binayak bail? No. For one, he is not a flight risk, a fact he demonstrated at the outset by turning himself in when he heard during a visit to Kolkata that the Chhattisgarh authorities were looking for him. The second reason bail is sometimes denied is the fear that an under-trial might use his liberty to influence witnesses. But there are no more witnesses left for Dr. Sen to suborn. Of course, sensing the collapse of its flimsy case, the police say they will produce more witnesses.
But it is evident that this is just a tactic to punish the victim through process since the evidence on the basis of which the original arrest was made was clearly insufficient to sustain a conviction.
Sign in the the e-petition by Free Binayaksen UK campaign
RELEASE Dr. BINAYAK SEN NOW CAMPAIGN (UK) launched an e petition demanding the freedom of Dr. Binayak Sen.
Petition Text
To: Honourable P Chidambaram,
Home Minister,
Ministry of Home Affairs,
Government of Indiacc. The High Commissioner,
India House, London, UKDear Shri Chidambaram,
Re. Dr Binayak Sen
We are gravely concerned about the continuing imprisonment of Dr Binayak Sen, an internationally renowned medical doctor and human rights activist, in Raipur jail in the state of Chhattisgarh since May 14, 2007. Dr. Sen is the national Vice President of People’s Union for Civil Liberties, one of the oldest civil liberties organizations in India and has been working in Chhattisgarh on issues of basic livelihood, health services and social justice. In 2008 his work in Chhattisgarh was recognized through the award of the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. It is appalling that the trial began a full 12 months after his arrest. We are dismayed that he has been repeatedly denied bail.
Amnesty International has called the charges against him ‘trumped up’ and it is clear to all observers that till date, the prosecution has failed to provide even a shred of credible evidence against him. Twenty-two Nobel Laureates signed an open letter to the Government of India requesting his immediate release and expressed ‘grave concern’ on the contravention of his fundamental human rights. We are further concerned at recent reports regarding his declining health. Dr. Binayak Sen has been suffering from chest pain and the delay in providing him medical care of his choice poses a grave threat to his life.
We, the undersigned, believe that the current plight of Dr. Binayak Sen is linked to his outspoken criticism of the Chhattisgarh state’s support for Salwa Judum, an armed vigilante group that has massacred local people and forced thousands to flee their homes. We fear that he is being victimized through a shameful miscarriage of justice under the guise of national security. His arrest and prosecution are a major blot on India’s international reputation and standing. We therefore urge you to do all in your power to ensure that
1) Dr. Binyak Sen is immediately allowed access to medical care of his choice at the Christian Medical College in Vellore;
2) Dr. Binayak Sen is released without delay as the repeated denial of bail to him is a violation of his constitutional right to personal liberty as a citizen of India
3) the legal proceedings against Dr. Sen are brought to a swift and just conclusion.
WARNING: The process of signing will take you to a donations page. The donation requested is for i petitions and NOT for the Campaign. You DO NOT need to donate to register your siganture. However, if you wish to, please contact releasebinayaksennow@googlemail.com
Though it is launched by the Uk group, it is obviously open to all supporters all over the world to sign.
Justice Krishna Iyer’s plea to Manmohan Singh on behalf of Binayak Sen
Instead of recognising their social contributions, the Indian state, by wrongly branding Dr. Sen and many other human rights defenders like him as ‘terrorists’, is making a complete mockery of not just democratic norms and fair governance but its entire anti-terrorist strategy and operations.
The text of a letter written by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, former Supreme Court Judge, to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, dated April 17, 2009:
I would like to bring to your attention a case of grave injustice which is a cause of much shame to Indian democracy: that of Dr. Binayak Sen, the well known paediatrician and defender of human rights.
This good doctor has been incarcerated in a Raipur jail for nearly two years now under the Chhattisgarh State Public Security Act, 2005. Among the charges against Dr. Sen, who is renowned worldwide for his public health work among the rural poor, are “treason and waging war against the state.”
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A Search for An Awakened Soul – Justice & the Indian Middle Class
by Gian Inder Singh
One of the most meaningless phrases uttered in India at a frequency that is almost stupefying is that “the law will take its own course.” It is only matched by the astonishing number of times another meaningless sound byte is delivered: “I have immense respect for the judiciary and the judicial system.” Men who utter such words include Narendra Modi after Gujarat massacre, L K Advani after Babri demolition, Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh after CBI cases into their shady deals, Lalu Prasad Yadav after fodder scandal, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar as they keep dodging the law in court after court even 25 years after leading bloody mobs to kill, maim, burn Sikhs alive in the national capital.
The higher the court, the more pure their faith in the judicial system. So, the Supreme Court becomes the repository of all objectivity, justice and purest of motives. No wonder that men like Maninderjit Singh Bitta also hail their faith in the judicial system when utter miscarriage of justice is done in Prof Devinderpal Singh Bhullar case. One after the other gross violations of human rights happen right under the nose of India’s Supreme Court, but the pretensions of India’s ruling elite and the brahamanical Indian establishment about the faith in the judicial system remains ever so high.
The reason is simple. Any decision to recognize the warts is likely to lead to a serious engagement with the issue, and any serious engagement will bring out the hollowness of the sham that the Indian establishment has collectively come to put on when it comes to the ability and the inclination of the courts deliver justice.
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Sacrificing Human Rights And Environmental Rights At The Altar Of “Development”
by Prashant Bhushan
[Text of the Talk Given by Prasant Bhushan on 13th March at George Washington University on the Supreme Court's recent attitude towards Human Rights and Environmental rights where he dealt with Binayak's case]
Anyone familiar with India would be aware of the remarkable paradoxes of the country characterized by obscene wealth in the hands of a few “billionaires” among whom are 4 of the ten richest men in the world, existing side by side with appalling poverty where more than 78% of the population lives on less than Rs. 20 (45 cents) per day. The paradox of a “Shining India” comprising of the largest force of IT and financial services professionals in a country aspiring to make India an economic “superpower”, living alongside the largest slum population in the world who live without electricity, running water and sanitation, amidst unimaginable filth. More than 100,000 farmers have committed suicides in the country in the last 10 years. It ranks lower than many countries of Sub Saharan Africa in the Human Development Index.
In 1991, India adopted the World Bank-IMF model of “Structural Adjustment”, popularly known as the LPG programme, characterized by Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation. Since then, the rate of GDP growth increased substantially from 3-4% to reach 9% in 2007-8. During this period the number of dollar millionaires increased manifold as did the average income of the top 10% of the population. The number of persons living in acute poverty during the same period however continued to grow. The Arjun Sengupta report shows that 78% of the Indian population (836 Million) now lives on less than Rs. 20 (45 Cents) per day.i The average availability of nutrition to people also declined during the same period, most clearly indicating that this spurt in growth, far from being inclusive, was achieved at the expense of the poor and marginalized sections of society. According to one of India’s leading economists, Utsa Patnaik, “Expenditure data from the National Sample Survey Organisation’s 61st Round (2004-05) show that rural and urban per capita cloth consumption, real food expenditure, and calorie intake have all declined from their already low levels since 1993-94. This country remains a Republic of Hunger with a larger proportion of ordinary people being relentlessly pushed down to worse nutritional status. As the tables show, the proportion of rural population unable to access 2,400 calories daily climbed from 75 per cent in 1993-94 to a record high of 87 per cent by 2004-05.The corresponding percentages for urban India, where the nutrition norm is lower at 2,100 calories, are 57% and 64.5%” ii
That was not surprising, since a lot of this “growth” was achieved by acquiring the traditional lands of poor farmers, particularly tribals, for Mining Companies, Real estate companies and “Special Economic Zones”, promoted by Private Companies etc. As the rich/poor divide increased during this period, we have seen the growth in the strength of Left wing Maoist insurgencies which have come to control a significant part of the country.
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Binayaksen.net is one of many efforts by well wishers and supporters of Dr Binayak Sen to bring the injustice being done to him by the government of Chhattisgarh to the attention of people around the world. 
