Members of fact finding team to Bastar arrested; PUCL demands immediate release

Special Correspondent

NewsBits.in

Bhopal/Raipur: Seven members of a fact finding team inclusive of lawyers, journalists and students were arrested by Chhattisgarh police even before they could venture to start their fact finding into alleged atrocities on locals in Maoist-infested areas on Monday.

The activists have been booked the Chhattisgarh Public Security Act, considered as repressive.

NGO People’s Union of Civil Liberty (PUCL) has alleged that the seven member team from Telangana was illegally detained by Telangana police for several hours before being handed over to the Chhattisgarh police who told the local Sukma Court that the activists had been arrested in its state.

The Chhattisgarh police have however claimed that old currency notes and some Maoist-related ‘important’ documents were recovered from the activists.

The PUCL has condemned this action as illegal, malicious and unprovoked and has demanded immediate release of the activists and dropping of all charges against them.

The organization, in a media statement, has also urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to intervene in the matter to ascertain facts on the arrest.

The arrested activists include Balla Ravindranath, Andhra Pradesh High Court lawyer, Chikkudu Prabhaker, lawyer, Durga Prasad, journalist from Hyderabad, Duddu Prabhaker and Ramananda Lakshmay, civil rights activists and Rajendra Prasad and Nazeer, students.

The Chhattisgarh security forces and police have been under constant glare and face allegations of atrocities on local including killing of villagers on pretext of them being Maoists.

The Chhattisgarh High Court recently ordered exhuming of body of a 13-year-old boy for a repeat postmortem. The boy had allegedly been stabbed to death by the security forces.

The fact finding team was planning to look into this and other incidents of alleged atrocities.

The PUCL has said that the action of arresting of the activists is violation of the their fundamental right of freedom of movement, speech and expression and fundamental duty to protect the fundamental rights of the tribal and other local people of Bastar area ‘who are victims of severely repressive state police’.

The media statement by PUCL national president Ravi Kiran Jain and national general secretary V Suresh have demanded criminal proceedings against the police team of both states, if they are found to have abused the law.

(Photo courtesy: Deccanchronicle.com)