Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Soni Sori



Soni Sori’s travails did not begin only with her arrest by the Delhi Crime Branch on 4 October 2011. As an educated woman from a politically active tribal family (her father was a sarpanch for 15 years, her uncle, a Communist Party of India Member of Legislative Assembly; her elder brother, a Congressman, and her nephew, a journalist) in a Maoist stronghold, when she along with her nephew, Lingaram Kodopi, who had studied journalism in Delhi, began voicing the concerns of her people, this automatically brought them into the radar of both the Maoists and the police and also into conflict with some powerful local people. The police tried to co-opt them as informers but when they paid no heed, it began to harass them.

On 30 August 2009, the police took Lingaram away and kept him in a police station toilet for 40 days. He was released on 10 October only after a habeas corpus petition was filed in the Chhattisgarh High Court. In 2011, the police intrigued and picked up Lingaram and one B K Lala, a contractor of the Essar group, from their houses on 9 September but claimed that they were caught red-handed exchanging money in the marketplace. Soni, who had tried to know the whereabouts of Lingaram, was declared absconding. Both were charged for acting as conduits for extortion money being paid by the Essar group to the Maoists. Despite the fact that the entire episode was exposed as a silly concoction by the Chhattisgarh police (see Tehelka, 15 October 2011), the police has persisted with the charge, unleashing inhuman atrocities and still holding Soni in jail even after her acquittal in six out of eight cases.

After her arrest on 4 October 2011 and when she was in police custody, Soni was brutally tortured. She described this torture in her letters, how she was pulled out of her cell at the Dantewada police station at midnight on 8/9 October and taken to superintendent of police, Ankit Garg’s room, where she was stripped, sexually assaulted, and two stones were put in her vagina and one in her rectum. Upon a SC order, NRS Medical College, Kolkata examined her and its report confirmed that two stones had been found to have been inserted in her vagina and one in her anus, which were the primary cause of the abdominal pain from which she was suffering. Nonetheless, the SC declined her plea to keep her in any jail outside Chhattisgarh, gave the state government 45 days to respond and virtually sent her back to her torturers.

In her letters she has specifically levelled accusations against Garg, saying: “He has taken my all. I have been tortured in ways I can’t describe here.” Her husband, running a restaurant at their native place, was already arrested as a Maoist, tortured so badly that he turned paralytic and eventually succumbed to his injuries. Soni was not allowed interim bail to attend his funeral and make arrangements for her three daughters aged five, eight and 13. Her case evoked international outrage and people like Noam Chomsky and Jean Dreze protested against the “brutal treatment meted out” to her to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but without avail. Soni Sori languishes in jail watching her world getting ruined bit by bit and her tormentor Ankit Jain getting a police medal for gallantry from the President of India.





Thursday, October 24, 2013

Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya

 

Naushad Kasimji

A less-known murder where it was alleged that police was behind the conspiracy.


Naushad Kasimji -
Mangalore based lawyer
The Hindu article here
DK Police blog post here 

Shahid Azmi

SHAHID AZMI
1977 – 2010
The Home Ministry, Intelligence Bureau, RAW
 and police all stand to gain from Azmi’s killing
Courtesy

Shahid Azmi (1977 – 11 February 2010) was a noted lawyer and human rights activist, known for defending those accused in cases of terrorism, including some of accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, such as Faheem Ansari, who was later acquitted for lack of evidence.

11th February 2010. Taximan Colony, Kurla, Mumbai. It was just another day for Rehana Azmi. Her son, Shahid Azmi, a Mumbai-based lawyer, had just returned from work. Rehana started preparing tea for him. His mobile rang. It was a call from his staff, Inder. He asked Shahid to come over as some clients had come to meet him. Shahid asked him to tell them to come the next morning as it was already late. “Bhai, wo kah rahe hain urgent matter hai (It’s an urgent matter, please come over),” came the reply. Given Shahid’s commitment towards his clients, no matter who they were, he went to meet them in his office. Before leaving, his mother called out to him, “Beta, chai tou peeta ja” (Have tea and go). “Ammi, abhi aata hoon (I will be right back, Mom),” came his reply. “Par, Shahid kabhi nahi lauta” (But he never returned), said Rehana, with moist eyes when I met her a few years back. But she was quick to mention, “Par hum zaroor milenge jannat mein”. (We will certainly meet in heaven).


Shahid didn’t come back because that evening, he was shot dead by some unidentified gunmen who came posing as clients in need. He was just 32 back then. Though born and brought up in Mumbai, his teenage years were singed by the fires of communal violence which stalked Bombay in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

For his first job as lawyer, he joined noted defence lawyer Majeed Memon as a junior at Rs 2,000 a month. Later, he started his own practice that made a lasting difference. In a short period of just 7 years of his career as a lawyer, he gained both fame and notoriety for his commitment for Justice. The most remarkable thing about him was that he still chose to engage with the system, a system that criminalised and brutalized him.

What is even more heartening is that across the country, there are hundreds of youth, especially Muslims—both men and women, who have taken inspiration from Shahid and are now either studying or practicing law. In fact, there are half a dozen of them in Taximan Colony itself.

Strange, as much as it may sound, but the fact of the matter remains that a person who was in love with justice— who lived and died for justice, his family members are still waiting for justice.

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Listen him talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYR3xJw2Nh0
A biographical Hindi film based on his life titled, Shahid (2013) starring Rajkummar Rao, was directed by Hansal Mehta and produced by Anurag Kashyap. A must watch.
Excerpted by MOI from a contribution by Mahtab Alam, who is a civil rights activist and writer. His twitter handle is @MahtabNama
Photo courtesy: Tehelka
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Shankar Guha Niyogi

First post goes to Shankar Guha Niyogi:

Shankar Guha Niyogi






The Oppressors and the oppressed

They are the crusaders, fighting for the people of India, trying to create a better place for us, they are not fighting at the borders, but doing a far better and noble job where they are fighting with internal threats for the people of India, they are against the Oppressors, they are fearless, they don't care about oppressor's network or their reach, they are alone in their path, they are not paid for it, Govt. of India doesn't have any money for these crusaders (although it has budget for Sardar Patel Statue, Mars operations and so many other such activities), they are killed and die everyday, but their blood is not wasted, they died for a better cause and God is watching all of these .... the oppressors and the oppressed ....