PUCL Statement condemning the assault on Swami Agnivesh and the state sponsored mob-rule in Chhattsigarh
Delhi,
26th March, 2011
People's Union for Civil Liberties unambiguously condemns the 26th March (Friday morning) attack on Swami Agnivesh and two Art of Living teachers, Ajay Singh and Rishi Milind, near Dornapal village in Dantewada in Chattisgarh, who were on a peace and fact-finding mission.
Swami Agnivesh and his companions reached Sukma town, in Dantewada district late on 25th March 2011. In the early hours of 26th March they left for Chintagupha village enroute to Tadmetla, Morpalli and Timapuram villages which had been attacked by Koya commandoes and the infamous COBRA forces of the Chhattisgarh police force on the 11th and 16th of March, burning down 300 houses, killing five people and raping three women in separate incidents.
Swami Agnivesh and his companions were manhandled and abused by a crowd comprising of three hundred women and men from the Dornapal Salwa Judum camp and also from the Erabore village relief camp. The tyres of Swami Agnivesh's car were deflated, their laptops snatched, the supplies he was carrying for the victims of these villages was taken away. Although Swamiji tried his best to dialogue with the people who were causing obstruction yet they refused to talk. The laptops were handed over later to Swamiji and he returned to Sukma in the morning itself.
Demanding Arrests and a CBI enquiry into the attack on the Tribals
According to the PUCL the attack on Swami Agnivesh is a part of the Chhattisgarh Government's design to prevent any information of its operation Green Hunt against the Tribals of that region from coming out into the open. This is a clear example of the impunity that exists for the police and paramilitary forces in that area. We demand filing of criminal cases and the arrests of the police personnel and SPOs who led and carried out the attack against the villagers on 11th and 16th March 2011. We also demand similarly the arrests of persons who attacked Swamiji today.
We also demand a CBI enquiry into the incident of 11th and16th March and the announcement and reaching of a complete rehabilitation package for the affected people on the same guidelines as ordered by the SC in this regard.
Attack on Commissioner, District Collector and SDM condemned.
The PUCL also condemns the incident of two days earlier where the laudable effort of Bastar Commissioner Sh. Srinivasulu and District Collector of Dantewada R. Prasanna who were trying to visit and reach relief to the three affected villages was obstructed at Pollampalli by the residents of the Salwa Judum camp before Chinatagupha on March 24th. The SPOs also refused to clear the passage saying that they would only take instructions from the DIG, S.R.P. Kalluri. According to eyewitnesses the officers got their own security men to clear the obstruction and then moved on with the supplies. However, on reaching Chintagupha they were instructed by their superiors in Raipur not to go ahead. Not compromising on his duty towards the people the Collector got the supplies escorted by the SDM, Sh. SP Vaid, to the three villages where four lac Rupees were also distributed to the resident of Tadmetla along with ration and other essentials. On his way back the SDM was also manhandled and abused at Polampalli by the same group of people and also given life threats asking why he had tried to reach relief.
State Sponsored mob-rule in Dantewada
The PUCL is of the understanding that this is not the first time that journalists and activists and researchers have been attacked and prevented from entering that area. Since 2009, when the operation Green Hunt took off, the Chhattisgarh Government through the Salwa Judum, SPOs and victims of Maoist violence has continuously tried to deny access of people, activists, journalists into the area under garb of "a spontaneous reaction" of the people towards the visitors, thus openly sponsoring mob rule. On 15th December, 2009 when women's groups from all over the country tried to go to Dantewada to examine the Samsetti rape case and meet the victim, they were prevented from going and harassed so severely by the Salwa Judum mob and SPOs that they had to abandon their trip and return.
From the 29th of December 2009 to the 1st of January 2010, Professors Nandini Sundar and Ujjwal Singh were forced to vacate their hotel in Dantewada, were stopped outside Sukma for over two hours, refused rooms in Sukma hotels and had to face the humiliation by SPOs bursting into their rooms in a college hostel and followed wherever they went. Similarly on 6th January, 2010 when a team of over 35 people from all over the country led by Medha Patkar tried to participate in a public hearing on atrocities on the Tribals by police forces, not only were the Tribals arrested and taken away but the team of people were also harassed by the throwing of eggs and tomatoes on the streets of Dantewada. In April 2010 a team led by Prof Yashpal along with more than forty intellectuals faced the same harassment in Dantewada.
It is well known that the journalists are not allowed to go into areas to report, they have faced risks from all sides and have tried to keep a flow of information but there are several such instances, the latest being the obstruction of reporters of the Times of India and the The Hindu on 20th-21st March when they tried to go to the same area to study the attack on the Tribals and they were prevented and had to take the dirt roads and reach the villages.
Prabhakar Sinha (President)
Mahi Pal Singh (National Secretary)
Kavita Srivastava (National Secretary)
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PUCL National Office:
270-A, Ground Floor, Patpar Ganj, Mayur Vihar-I, Delhi-110091
Ph. 011-22750014, 09810656100
www.pucl.org
II.
Agitated crowd attack Swami Agnivesh in Chhattisgarh
Joseph John,JOSEPH JOHN
Posted: Mar 26, 2011 at 1025 hrs ISTSwami Agnivesh, accompanied by Acharya Rishi and other representatives of Art of Living, had left the rest house at Sukma early in the morning on their way to Chintalnar to meet the people whose houses where burnt by the security forces and to provide relief material to them. Unknown people, suspected to be SPOs belonging to the Koya Commandos, followed the three member delegation and the media personnel accompanying Swamy in vehicles without number plates throughout the nearly 40 Kms stretch up to Dornapal.
A large number of people, including women, were present at Dornapal crossing, blocking the road that leads to Chintalnar. As Swamy Agnivesh's vehicle stopped, few people gathered around his vehicle and shouted "Are we all animals? Don't we have anyhuman rights? See these women. They are widows of Errabore, where the Maoists had set ablaze a relief camp killing more than 33 people few years ago".
Even as few people were shouting at Swamy Agnivesh and others, few women forcibly opened the vehicle's door and pulled him out and pushed him around while a group of youths searched his vehicle and took away bags and other valuables. These youths also snatched camera, mobile phones and bags from a couple of media personnel and pushed them accusing the media of playing into the hands of rights activists and directly and indirectly supporting the Maoists. The youth, apparently SPOs, were alert to ensure that no photographs are taken.
"Where were you when 76 security personnel were massacred by the Maoists at Tadmetla in April last year? Where were you when the Naxalites set the relief camp on firefew years and burnt 33 people, including children, alive few years ago?", the agitated crowed threw questions at Swamy Agnivesh, Art of Living Gurus and at the media personnel accompanying them.
Agnivesh's reply that he and others had always condemned all acts of violence provoked the agitators, including women, who hurled abuses at them raising slogans " Pakdi wale vapas jao". The people also deflated the tyres of the vehicles, saying that they would not allow them to proceed to Chintalnar. However, someone in the crowd was heard asking the youth the return the belongings, including those of media personnel, before they could return.
Later, the mob took Swamy Agnivesh and others to their vehicle and forced them to leave. A group of tribal women and others got on to other vehicles and followed his vehicle for about 20 Kms so as to ensure that the team did not return to Dornapal. The people also snatched blankets and other materials which were meant to the distributed to the people of three villages whose houses were burnt down in the second week of this month.
After Swami Agnivesh and others left, the villages blocked National Highway 30—which connects Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh—to prevent movement of people towards Chintalnar.
As everyone was returning to block headquarters Sukma, this correspondent got a call on cell phone and the female voice on the other side identified herself as Comrade Niti, commander of CPI (Maoist) East Batar Divisional Committee. She read out a statement condemning the burning of houses by the security forces and communicated CPI (Maoist) decision to call a bandh in April against the "police brutalities". She said there would be an "economic blockade" next month but schools, hospitals and colleges and other essential services would be exempted.
Comrade Niti and her team had abducted five policemen few months ago and later they were released after Swami Agnivesh, Rights activist Gautam Navlaka mediated for their release from captivity.
Apart from Dornapal, hundreds of people, who are staying in the relief camps at Errabore and Pollampalli, had gathered on the way from Dornapal to Chintalnar to prevent Swamy Agnivesh and media personnel from reaching Tadmetla. Most of the relief camps—which were set up by thegovernment after the Salwa Judum movement— are being guarded by the Special Police Officers (SPOs), the local youth recruited on honorarium basis, to assist the security forces.
"Every action seemed that someone had taught them to do so. I am going back to Sukma and wait to talk to Chief Minister Raman Singh. Suspicious people are following us in vehicles without number plates. What does it mean? ", Swami Agnivesh told the Indian Express while returning from Dornapal.
The situation in this entire tribal region is tense for more than a week—resembling a police Raj-- as the security personnel, mostly SPOs belonging to the Koya Commando are carrying out searches of vehicles to prevent outsiders from visiting Tadmetla, Morpalli and Timmapuram villages. Media personnel from Andhra Pradesh as well as Chhattisgarh were not allowed to proceed to these villages, citing one reason or the other and drivers are being threatened not to take any passengers to the area.
Even the local government staff is scared of the SPOs said a group of government staff, who went to these villages yesterday to supply relief material and food to the affected tribals, were threatened by the SPOs not the visit this area again. "SPOs have become reckless. Somehow we managed to return to Dornapal", a government who accompanied the team said.
The latest incident of burning of houses has resulted in escalation of tension in the area with the local, supported by the police and the SPOs, on one side and the Maoists and their supporters on the other side.
Peace Is Doable
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