Random musings and observations about the state of human rights and human rights laws, democracy, justice, secularism, peace and, off course, the life and all its paraphernalia with particular reference to Barak valley.
Barak Human Rights Protection Committee (BHRPC) is pleased to forward the following
Urgent Appeal issued by Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regarding risk of life
of Mr. Ramananda Taorem is a lawyer practicing in Imphal, Manipur, who is in severe
condition following torture in custody. So far no proper investigation has been conducted and
no complaint has been registered. It is believed that the victim's injuries may be fatal. You are
urged to send appeals to the concerned authorities and disseminate it widely.
Waliullah Ahmed Laskar
Information Division, BHRPC
Rongpur Part Part-IV, Silchar-9,
Assam, India
Email: bhrpc.net@gmail.com
Wali.laskar@gmail.com
Guwahati, 26 February, 2010
BHRPC URL of the document: http://groups.google.co.in/group/bhrpc/web/INDIA--A
%20lawyer%27s%20life%20is%20at%20risk%20after%20custodial%20torture.pdf?hl=en
Her name is Nupa Bibi and she is aged about 12 years. She lost her parents, home and relatives how she can’t tell. She was employed by a ‘doctor’ as a domestic worker. She was abused, ill-treated and frequently beaten by both ‘the lord and lady’ of the house so much so that she could no longer bear it and tried to run away even she has nowhere to go. She was found traumatised and wandering in front of the ticket counter of Capital Travels (Pvt.) Ltd. in Silchar, Assam on 28 January, 2010. What will happen to her? Another victim of trafficking? Another of the thousands mentally ill living in the streets of Indian towns and cities? Or whatever you may guess.
Barak Human Rights Protection Committee (BHRPC) expressed its deep concern over her situation in a statement and informed that at about 3.30 pm on 28 January, 2010 officials of Silchar Municipality Corporation contacted BHRPC informing that a girl child frightened very much and unable to tell her address properly was rescued. She was intending to board bus for Guwahati to go home in Kokrajhar. Members of BHRPC visited her at the Municipality Office and tried to talk to her. She was indeed frightened. The BHRPC team came to know from her that her father’s name is late Hamid Ali. She could not tell the name of village but told that she was from Kokrajhar, a district in lower Assam, and she was working as a domestic help in the house of a doctor working in the Silchar Medical College and Hospital, Silchar for about one month. The doctor and his wife (who is also a doctor) had ill- treated her and even sometimes beaten her up, she alleged. But could not tell their names. When this conversation was going on Mr. Arun Singh, sub inspector of police with a constable came from Silchar Police Station and taken her into custody. Answering to the questions of BHRPC members he told that they would examine her by a doctor and would try to identify the person/s accused by the child of ill-treatment and cruel conduct and that is necessary for lodging an FIR. There is nothing to worry about it. When contacted, the O/C assured BHRPC that the child would not be returned to the persons accused by her and he would try to trace her home address and send her safely.
The statement said, at about 7pm another team from BHRPC visited the police station to know about arrangement for the accommodation of the child for the night and progress of the investigation. The OC informed that the child would remain in police custody and sleep in the police station. As to the FIR he informed that it was not registered. He even tried to ‘dwell on the inefficacy of laws criminalising child labour in such cases’.
BHRPC claimed that it offered psychological counselling by its experts and accommodation in a family environment for the traumatised girl with full responsibility in view of the fact that there is no such home maintained by Government any where in Barak valley for children who are in need of care and protection (CNCP) as is contemplated in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. But the OC rejected this offer. ‘He insisted that the law does not allow him to do so, in spite of the fact that even the Indian parliament does not trust the police with women and children as is evident from the proviso to section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, which says “no male person under the age of fifteen and woman shall be required (by police) to attend at any place other than the place in which such male person or woman resides”.’
BHRPC alleged that ‘the police also acted against the law by not registering an FIR on such clumsy pretext that the victim complainant is a minor. Employment of children of less than 14 year old as domestic help is a cognisable offence under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and there is no bar based on the age of the person giving information in section 154 of the CrPC, which makes registration of FIR mandatory if information about commission of a cognisable offence is given to an officer-in-charge of a police station.
There is also constitutional prohibition on employment of children aged below 14 years in any hazardous works in Article 24 and work as domestic servants is notified as hazardous. Violation of this article is violation of a fundamental right. In the instant case another important fundamental right of the victim, namely the right to education is also violated. The governments in India has constitutional obligation to provide free and compulsory education to the children below 14 under Article 21A.
It is also to be noted that India has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the present case a plethora of rights enshrined in the CRC were violated, particularly the Article 15 and 32 which respectively guaranteed the right to the free and primary education and “the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development”.’
BHRPC urged the authorities to ensure: ‘1. Return of the victim to her family members with sound physical and mental health as soon as possible. And if a reasonable time is needed to trace her address BHRPC once again offers accommodation for her in a family environment for that period of time with full responsibility. 2. Provision of education and future well being of the child. 3. Registration of FIR regarding the accusation of employment of child labour, assault and battery and other ill-treatment on the victim as alleged; prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the case and a speedy trial.’
India needs to Reform its Law Enforcement System, Justice Delivery System and India also needs to be held accountable for these type of human rights violations and travesty of justice and that can be possible to a lesser extent if India ratifies Optional Protocol to ICCPR, CAT and the Statutes of International Criminal Court
The President of India, The Chief Justice of India, The Prime Minister of India, The Home Minister of India, The Law Minister of India, The U.P.A. Chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi
We the people of India had hoped after Jessica Lal�s case that such a travesty of justice will never happen again. Yet it has happened and with a vehemence which takes our breath away. Ruchika was not Jessica though both were innocent victims. Ruchika was a child and Jessica was an adult. She was doing her job and Ruchika was just playing tennis. The killer was not a drunken arrogant young man but middle aged Inspector General of Police and he was not drunk with liquor though blind with lust and power. Jessica�s killer ran away trying to hide himself, here is a man who followed the child for nearly four years till she committed suicide. SPS Rathore, the animal, the barbarian and the scheming crook, cooked up seven cases, against Ruchika brother, stoned the house, hounded the little child, influenced the school, and did everything vile deed to drive Ruchika to death. This much we know, what we do not know, is what kind of other men were governing our country who do not do their plain duty, which led to this tragedy. Let us name them and shame them and heap curses on them and if possible bring them to book. The first man is the area SHO (Station House Officer) of the police station whose plain duty was to register the crime as FIR and investigate it. He failed. The then DGP RR Singh, who comes on TV screens and meekly says I, was under political pressure. No one has yet asked him, is it your duty to yield under pressure. A DGP needs no permission from the Home Secretary or Minister or Chief Minister to register the crime and commence the investigation. He never did his duty. Unworthy of the post he was holding. Same goes for the Home Secretary and the SP In charge of Panchkula. The Minister�s burden and that of the Chief Minister comes much later but they also need to answer why they applied pressure though it does not exonerate the officials whose first duty under the law is to with stand all pressure and do what is required to be done. For registration of an FIR no once permission is needed. It is as simple as that. Next is the role of the school Principal, whose first duty was to counsel the child, protect the child and not to concoct a ground for rustication at the behest of an animal, a barbarian and a crook. Lastly the role of the policemen who concocted the false cases and tortured the brother of Ruchika and stoned her house and used to follow her. Who is that man who had telephoned the father of Ruchika even on the day of the judgment? We must unmask all these animals. Even the CBI Investigation Officer cannot escape from the stark truth that he did not framed the charge sheet correctly and did not include the charge of abetment to suicide. He made it simply outraging the modesty of women knowing very well that she is no more and circumstances are too big to be ignored. We must appreciate the Judicial Magistrate First Class of Ambala who charged the animal, the barbarian and the crook with abetment to suicide but alas for every good judge in the sub-ordinate judiciary, you have a fool or a dishonest or an approachable High Court judge. Let us find out in which category former High Court judge RC Kathuria fits in, who allowed the petition of the animal, the barbarian and the crook, and quashed the charge of abetment to suicide. Let us also find out the name of the Hon�ble Supreme Court judges who dismissed the appeal against the foolish decision of the High Court and thus allowed the animal to escape the just punishment. It is an old saying that let heavens fall but justice must be done. Now is the moment to invoke the heaven, break the rules, bend the procedure and catch these crooks lurking in the system from the police station to the Supreme Court and to blacken their faces and do everything else to hound them, to sham them and to punish them. We the people of India demand that all the above said or anyone who has played a role in miscarriage of justice in Ruchika�s case be punished along with SPS Rathore and be brought to justice. Yours Truly, People of India.
An all-party delegation from Silchar would visit Delhi next month to place its demand before the Union Home Ministry for changing the nomenclature of Silchar railway station as “Bhasha Shahid Station.” This was decided in a meeting held at the Silchar Book Fair recently.
It is to be noted that responding to public demand, the State Government as well as Railway Ministry agreed to change the name of the railway station in respect to the 11 language martyrs who sacrificed their lives on May 19, 1961 at the Silchar Railway Station. But, the Union Ministry later rejected the demand stating that policy guidelines regarding the change of nomenclature of village, city, towns, railway station etc. on grounds of local patriotism or linguistic was not possible.
My Comments:
To honour the Language Martyrs is something that is we all owe to those great souls. And It is also very good thing to get united across party line in order to do something purportedly to honour the martyrs. But questions come as to the manner of honouring them.
It is understood that they wanted to honour them by chaging the name of the Railway Station where they were martyred and by naming after them. But, perhaps, one has to see first whether the railway station in question is still worth the name of a railway station. It is a station which has no connection with rest of world through rail lines that are present day standard lines/tracks in India, I mean, broad gauge lines. Silchar Rail Way Station has not link with other station through a broad gauge line. So, the Station itself is hardly a name of railway station. It would be appropriate in order to honour the martyrs to demand the immediate completion of works on broad gauge line connecting Silchar to Lumding. Because, for lack of proper rail communication people of Barak Valley, for whose sake the martyrs tendered the supreme sacrifice, are suffering from all conceivable hardships ranging from such hike in the prices of essential commodities that can't be found in any other parts of the country, lack of educational facilities, lack of industrialization to frequent accidents in the national high way along the jagged hills of Meghalaya claiming hundreds of lives often.
And we should honour the martyr by fighting to bring to book those who killed them without provocation and get their families rehabilitated. It is necessary to end the regime of impunity and which in turn is inevitable if we want to prevent the repetition of such inhuman atrocities upon those who fight for justice peacefully.
We laso should honour the language and the people who speak it by fighting for their all rights guaranteed under the constitution and international human rights standards.
We can build memorial structures at the very spot where they were shot at.
In fine, what we should do is to first make the Railway Station a true Railway station having links with other stations by up to date rail tracks. We need to renew fight for justice for the martyrs.
Delegation to visit Delhi on changing nomenclature issue
SILCHAR, Dec 28: An all-party delegation from Silchar would visit Delhi next month to place its demand before the Union Home Ministry for changing the nomenclature of Silchar railway station as “Bhasha Shahid Station.” This was decided in a meeting held at the Silchar Book Fair recently.
It is to be noted that responding to public demand, the State Government as well as Railway Ministry agreed to change the name of the railway station in respect to the 11 language martyrs who sacrificed their lives on May 19, 1961 at the Silchar Railway Station. But, the Union Ministry later rejected the demand stating that policy guidelines regarding the change of nomenclature of village, city, towns, railway station etc. on grounds of local patriotism or linguistic was not possible.
The Home Ministry’s decision evoked severe criticism from the people in Barak Valley and various organizations staged demonstration and brought out protest rallies against it. Silchar MP Kabindra Purkayastha had already raised the matter in the Lok Sabha while former Union Minister Sontosh Mohan Dev had sought the intervention of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram after being assured by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi that the State Government had no objection in changing the nomenclature of the railway station.
The meeting was convened by district Trinamool Congress president Paritosh Paul Choudhury who played a vital role in the 1961 language movement. District Congress president Karnendu Bhattacharjee, AIUDF leaders Arun Dey, Nabadwip Das, Aamra Bangali leader Sadhan Purkayastha and Dr NI Laskar of NCP also attended the meeting. Though none from the BJP was present in the meeting, the district president extended his support to the decision taken in the meeting. THE SENTINEL
