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Release political prisoners
without delay
Document
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The preparatory
committee for the release of political prisoners adopted the
following resolutions at the inaugural conference held in Delhi
last week. Extracts from the resolutions are reproduced here |
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Release of Political prisoners and their rights:
The
Preparatory Committee towards forming the Committee for the Release
of Political Prisoners demands that all social and political
activists arrested, incarcerated in the prisons, and who have been
working for the betterment of the greater common good, for a society
where people will not be discriminated or oppressed or mistreated or
exploited, have put the interest of the society, the general toiling
masses above their personal interest should be declared as political
prisoners.
Though the state
may have differences with the aims, aspirations and methods of
struggle of those arrested, we believe that they must enjoy the
special status and rights of political prisoners. These rights may
not have been accorded to them through the Indian constitution but
history has always recognized such people as a group and society at
large has often campaigned for their rights and release.
We condemn the
method of illegal detention of the prisoner, so that the state can
without impunity hold the prisoner hostage as part of its designs to
terrorize the people who are dissenting against the policies of the
state. Moreover, illegal detention is an easy way for the state to
resort to killing the detained and later declaring a story of
'encounter'. Further the state also denies the right of the prisoner
to a lawyer of his/her choice. In many states the lawyers who take
up the case of the political prisoner are threatened by the police
and even they are also charged with cases of abetting terrorism. We
demand the state to refrain from threatening and harassing those who
come forward to provide bail for the political prisoners. In a
democracy any one arrested, be it a criminal or otherwise is deemed
to be innocent until proved guilty and therefore must have a right
to a lawyer. Even so-called terrorists must have legal counsels.
 While
maintaining the unconditional release of political prisoners, we
also demand that when they are held in the prison, they be granted
their rights to be together, right to information in the form of
books, periodicals and literature, to nutritious food and health
facilities.
We unequivocally
denounce torture and humiliation on any prisoner as a means to break
their will. We condemn the sexual violence that is being used on
women by the state as a tool to break the morale of the women
political prisoners. Narco analysis is being used as an instrument
of torture, of late, on prisoners including political prisoners. We
condemn such barbaric practices of forcing someone to give evidence
against him / her. We demand that such unscientific and inhuman
practices be stopped immediately. Torture should be stopped. The
International Covenant on Torture and the safe guards that it
provides is also applicable to
India
and she cannot afford to shy away from upholding it.
Abolish Death
Penalty: We the people
assembled here towards convening a Committee for the Release of
Political Prisoners strongly oppose the Indian state’s continuing
policy of death penalty ostensibly as a deterrent to prevent crime.
When the world community has repealed the law conferring death
penalty calling it barbaric and archaic an instrument in redeeming
the human in the human being, India, which is espousing the values
of neo-liberalism and would want to be part of the international
community, is a signatory to the International Covenant on Human
Rights. And yet in the last one year there has been a spate of
verdicts given by the court which upheld the right of the state to
take ones’ life as a measure to restore ‘order’ in the society.
 For India, which
claims to be a civilized society, the state’s right to take away the
life of the individual so as to ensure an order, which is based on
exploitation, domination, oppression and mistreatment cannot bring a
society free from all forms of violence and exploitation. Already
more than 230 countries of the world community have put an end to
capital punishment. But in India death penalty is synonymous with a
‘strong state’. It is often equated to the national security and
integrity of the country, the only way to deal with all kinds of
‘internal’ and ‘external’ ‘threats’ as has been claimed by
government after government at the center.
But experience
has shown that death penalty has become a tool of political vendetta
indulged in by the powers that be and has hardly contributed in
improving the law and order or preventing the social evils from
repeating. It is high time that this barbaric punitive instrument
should be repealed once and for all from our penal code. We demand
the state to immediately repeal capital punishment as it does not
address any social, political malady.
War against
Terror a hoax: The Preparatory
Committee towards forming the Committee for the Release of Political
Prisoners condemns in the strongest words the so called war against
terror by the UPA government—an alibi to crush all forms of protests
against the anti-people policies facilitated through the process of
liberalization, privatization and globalization. It is through these
policies that the ruling class in
India
is striving to be the able trusted junior partner of
US
imperialism in South Asia. Under the garb of the war against terror,
the government is using all possible legislations to crush the
genuine protests of the vast sections of the masses. Each state
within India is given the authority to enact their own internal
security legislations. All punitive measures are used to reign in
the rising people’s discontent with the pro-market policies of the
government that have made a few pockets rich while the vast majority
of people remain impoverished driven to subhuman existence.
Under the garb
of the so-called war against terror, the state has resorted to
vigilante gangs like the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh, the Sulpha in
Assam, the death squads of Punjab, the Ikwan-ul-Muslimin in Jammu &
Kashmir, the Green Tigers, Narsa Cobras in Andhra Pradesh, the
Nagrik Suraksha Dal in Jharkhand and the Harmad in West Bengal. We
strongly condemn these fascist designs of the state to violently
suppress all forms of people's dissent by arming private state
sponsored lumpen gangs and so-called other counter-insurgency groups
in Jammu
and Kashmir
and other regions. Mass rape of women has been a tactic resorted to
by the state against all forms of political dissent. It is the same
private gangs with the active support of the police and the
paramilitary—such as the IRB, the CRPF, the BSF, the Rashtriya
Rifles, Assam Rifles etc. that has resorted to rape as a state
policy to deal with political movements fighting for their right to
self-determination, minority rights, against displacement, against
all forms of inhuman exploitation.
Today anyone who
dare say against the development policy of the state or organise
people to protest uncompromisingly against such policies of loot and
plunder are dubbed terrorists or as the threat to internal security.
We condemn in the strongest words the tendency of the state to deal
all questions of socio-political and economic significance as a law
and order problem.
Imprisonment of
the activists of such peoples’ movements and clamping down on such
movements in the interest of national security has seen the worst
forms of atrocities in the subcontinent that would bring back the
memories of the struggles of the anti-colonial days. We demand the
government to scrap all anti-people laws that have given blanket
powers to the executive of the state.
It is only in
this way that the interests of the people can be best represented.
And it is only this way that a safe, self-reliant and secure
subcontinent can be made possible.
Improve
Prison Conditions: We the people
who are assembled here from various parts of the subcontinent are
concerned about the prison conditions. Prisons have virtually become
the seats of torture and humiliation of the worst kinds.
 Prisoners from
the Muslim community or Kashmiri Muslim prisoners, the Kamtapuris,
the people of Manipur, the Assamese, Tamil nationalists, the
Maoists, Nagas, Bodos, the people of Punjab etc. have been facing
the worst kinds of humiliation and torture in the prisons. Apart
from the fact that the prison conditions have been highly communal
against the minorities and Kashmiri Muslims there has hardly been
any attempt to improve the general conditions of prisons. Members of
religious minorities are not allowed to practice their religion
inside prisons. Along with these are the prisoners arrested as
Maoists and those arrested from various nationality movements face
the worst kinds of torture. India resorts some of the worst forms
of torture methods.
The state
further creates separate wards to isolate these prisoners so as to
break their political will. It never recognizes these prisoners as
political prisoners. They are denied their basic rights in the
prison. Their rights to books, to associate within the prison, are
all brutally denied. The jail manual is never followed when it comes
to the food given to the prisoners. Overcrowding in the prison has
become a normal feature in the prisons in the sub continent so much
so that prisoners sit through the night without having any space to
lie down.
During winters
they are not given proper winter wear. The overall conditions within
the prison are the worst when it comes to hygiene. We strongly
condemn this communal and authoritarian attitude of the state to
deal with political dissent. The way a state runs its prison and
prison conditions is also a reflection of its commitment for human
values and human civilization.
Lift the Ban on
SIMI: SIMI is a
student organization in India, working independently among the
students in the various campuses of India. It found its principles
in the Quran, the life and teaching of Prophet Mohammad. The members
of this organisation are guided by strong moral principles and
values.
The BJP
government banned SIMI. That was a tribute to show their commitment
to America after and its proclaimed “war against terrorism”. After
the ban thousands of SIMI activists had been put in prison. Most of
them were studying in medical and engineering colleges; others also
had good academic qualifications in graduation and post-graduation.
Thousands were expelled from their workplace with the allegation
that they were SIMI activists or were funding SIMI or had previous
connections with SIMI. And that continues even today. People
arrested on other charges by organization are involved in illegal
activities.
The fist ban
came into force on September 27th 2001. Subsequently the
ban had been renewed after the tenure of every ban period. So far
the ban had been renewed four times. No concrete reasons have been
proved so far against SIMI for justifying the ban. But even then the
ban continues. No student organisation of the country had to fight
as much as SIMI had to in the various courts of the country
including the apex court, in the last few years. Altogether four
tribunals were constituted, one each within every period of the ban.
The findings of the first tribunal are still pending in the Supreme
Court. And the appeal of the second tribunal order has been
challenged in the Delhi High Court. The third appeal about the third
tribunal has also been pending in the Supreme Court. Because of
these pending cases the Supreme Court judges, in the third appeal,
referred the entire matter to be heard by a larger bench. However,
that too is pending in the Supreme Court.
The democracy in
India
had completely failed to tender proper justice to this banned
organisation. Unending legal processes have denied the organisation
of its valid and fundamental rights. We call up on the Government
·
to
stop further banning of Students’ Islamic organisations.
·
to
decide upon the pending appeals filed in the Supreme Court against
the decisions of the tribunals immediately.
·
to
assure fundamental rights to the organisation through meaningful
remedies assured in the Indian constitution.
Right to Read,
Sell, Buy and Keep all Forms if Political Literature: At present bail
to 11 youth and students was rejected for possessing some books. In
Chandrapur,
Maharashtra
a concerted effort has been going on to arrest and detain publishers
as well as readers of political literature. Sunita from Daanish
publishers, Delhi was arrested in October 2006 along with Veera
Sathidar from her book stall at Chandrapur. Though she is only a
publisher, she was alleged to have Maoist links and many false cases
were foisted on them.
Recently a young
publisher from
Kolhapur along
with 3 others was arrested because they were publishing/ selling
progressive literature. After that 10 members of Deshbhakti Yuva
Manch, Arun Bhelke and others were arrested under unlawful from
their homes for possessing Naxalite literature and. Activities
Prevention Act. Their bail was rejected.
This house not
only demands their unconditional release but we also uphold the
right to freedom of expression and right to write, publish, read,
sell or purchase any type of literature.
Stop torture through unscientific tests like, Narco Analysis,
Polygraph and similar third degree methods:
Of
late the state is increasingly resorting to Narco Analysis,
Poligraph, Brain Mapping and similar unscientific tests on the
accused persons including political prisoners/ accused as a part of
investigations. This is nothing but using third degree method apart
from abuse of science. It is also not out of place to mention that
many countries around the world have stopped using such methods as
they are inhuman. Therefore we demand such third degree methods
should not be used in future.
Release
Prisoners of War:
The Committee
for the Release of Political Prisoners takes note of the Prime
Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh’s statement made in April, 2006 that
Maoists constitute the greatest threat to internal security of
India.
The Committee
for the Release of Political Prisoners takes note of the fact that
civil war situation prevails in our country where Maoists have been
fighting against the present Indian state for social-economic
transformation and also where people of some nationalities have been
fighting for the realization of the right of self-determination.
This Committee resolves that persons arrested on both sides – the
movements and the state security forces -- should be treated
properly as human beings and be regarded as ‘prisoners of war’ in
accordance with the Geneva Convention to which India is a
signatory.
Abolish special
camp for Political Prisoners in Tamil Nadu:
The conference
on political Prisoners resolves to demand the Tamil Nadu Government
should abolish immediately the Chinglepet special camp for Srilankan
refugees, a shadow prison, and all the inmates should be sent to the
ordinary camps for refugees.
We demand Tamil
Nadu Government to stop all kinds of discrimination in granting
general amnesty premature release, remission and parole facilities.
We demand Tamil
Nadu Government not to impose TADA on prisoners arrested after its
lapse. The TADA cases imposed on the five farmers of
Madurai district
in August 2007 should be withdrawn immediately.
Release
Political prisoners in
Gujarat under
the Notorious case DCB-6:
It is resolved
that all the political prisoners in Gujarat especially those
arrested for allegedly torching a train compartment in Godhra be
released and prisoners under the case DCB-6 should also be released
and people who were displaced in the post-Godhra genocide be allowed
to return to their homes and lands.
Lift ban against
ban under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act:
All the parties,
organizations listed in the schedule of Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act banned should be lifted
Lift the ban on
People’s organizations in Orissa:
The ban imposed
on seven mass organizations including `Damana Pratirodha Manch’
should be lifted by Government of Orissa.
Release
unconditionally Sitinga A. Magli and Moninga Kondha of Orissa:
Two young
adivasis Sitinga A. Magli and Moninga Kondha (Tribals) who have
been convicted for life on wrong identification have been
languishing in prison for the last 5 years (appeal pending in High
Court) should be released unconditionally.
9
April
2008
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