Fwd: AID welcomes SC Judgement Disbanding SPOs in Chhattisgarh

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tathagata Sengupta <tsengupta@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 10:17 AM
Subject: AID welcomes SC Judgement Disbanding SPOs in Chhattisgarh
To: ReachIndia@lists.aidindia.org

Association for India's Development (AID)statement

 

AID welcomes SC Judgement Disbanding SPOs in Chhattisgarh

July 7, 2011

Association for India's Development (AID) welcomes the judgement given by the Supreme Court of India1 on the PIL filed by social anthropologist Nandini Sundar and others against the Chhattisgarh Government, declaring the appointment and arming of civilians as special police officers (SPO) as illegal and unconstitutional. AID has always stood2for the restoration of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights of adivasi communities and has condemned the violation of these rights regardless of the perpetrator. The judgment comes as an affirmation of our stand and a decisive step in the direction of peace and justice.

The Supreme Court has pointed to the deprivation of the adivasis and the expropriation of natural resources for the benefit of a few, to be the root causes of insurgency in areas like Dantewada. The judgement also reprimands the state for taking a militarized approach to the problem and for its victimization of defenders of human rights. We express our admiration for social workers like Himanshu Kumar, Binayak Sen, Kopa Kunjam, Sukhnath Oyame who have exposed the brutalization of society3 through the state's support of Salwa Judum and SPOs since 2005, at the cost of their personal freedom. Violence has displaced 300,000 people from 644 villages4 in these areas, who continue to live a life of destitution. AID supports the relief and rehabilitation of Koya refugees in Khammam, Andhra Pradesh.

We demand that the Central and State Governments implement the Supreme Court order by ceasing to use and fund SPOs, retrieving firearms issued to former SPOs and taking steps within constitutional permissibility to protect their lives, investigating all previously inappropriately or incompletely investigated instances of alleged criminal activities of Salwa Judum, filing appropriate FIRs and ensuring the due process of law. We also demand that the activists like Kopa Kunjam, Ramesh Agarwal, Sukhnath Oyame, and other political prisoners who have been imprisoned under false charges and draconian laws for championing similar causes be released immediately. 

We sincerely hope that this judgement marks the beginning of a process of peaceful and just reconciliation in Dantewada and other conflict-torn regions in India.  
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[1] SC order on Writ Petition No. 250 of 2007. Nandini Sundar & Ors Vs. State of Chhattisgarh
[2] Chhattisgarh: AID stands
[3] Where the State Makes War on its Own People: PUCL Report, April 2006
[4] Being Neutral is Our Biggest Crime: Human Rights Watch Report, July 2008

 

Contacts: Tathagata Sengupta: tsengupta [at] gmail.com 

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