INDIA: Family forced into abject poverty because of police and army actions
HUNGER ALERT HUNGER ALERT HUNGER ALERT HUNGER ALERT HUNGER ALERT
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM
22 December 2004
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HA-07-2004: INDIA: Family forced into abject poverty because of police and army actions
INDIA:
Poverty and hunger caused by anti-communist operations, forcible
confiscation of property, discrimination on the basis of descent
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Dear friends,
The
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received further information
from the Social Development Foundation, Delhi, India, about the
desperate conditions faced by a family that has been forced into hunger
and abject poverty due to persecution by authorities conducting
operations against communist militants. The authorities have hounded
the family of five, headed by Dashrath and Shyama Devi, because a sixth
member is allegedly one of the militants. They have now had their
meagre possessions confiscated, supposedly under a judicial order, and
are living on the streets with nothing. The confiscated items included
the family's food stocks.
The family consists of tribal
people, or Adivasis, living in Sonebhadra district of eastern Uttar
Pradesh. There are reports that many other Adivsasi families in the
region are facing similar calamities for a number of reasons. One is
the strong discrimination they face from the majority population, and
their vulnerable position before local authorities. Another is that
many have allegedly been forced into militant activities because of
decades of persecution and inconclusive land disputes with the state
government forest department. The families of those who allegedly
become involved with such activities are easy targets for police and
military harassment.
The AHRC urges you to write to the
authorities in Uttar Pradesh and bring to their notice the plight of
Dashrath's family and many others like them, in order that they cease
persecuting the families of alleged militants, restore to them their
possessions and otherwise compensates them for their losses. Please
also urge them to uphold the right to food under any circumstances in
conducting state security operations.
Urgent Appeals Desk -- Hunger Alert
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:
Location: Madhupur village, Sonebhadra district, eastern Uttar-Pradesh
Persons affected: One
family of five: 1. Dasrath (father, 60); 2. Shyama Devi (mother,
approximately 47); 3. Anil (son, 14); 4. Manju (daughter, 13); 5. Rinky
(daughter, 6)
Reason for hunger: Forced confiscation of property by police and personnel of Provincial Armed Constabulary Battalion 34
Dasrath,
Shyama Devi and their three children had their few meagre possessions
confiscated by the authorities during a house raid on 2 December 2004
over allegations that their other son, Sanjay Kol, is a communist
militant. The order to confiscate the possessions was supposedly given
by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mirzapur. Police and personnel of the
Provincial Armed Constabulary Battalion 34 carried out the raid. The
confiscated items were already barely enough for the family to survive,
consisting of little more than a cot, cooking pans, buckets, 40kgs of
paddy, 2kgs of flour, and a blanket. The family is now living on the
streets with nothing, and is facing starvation as a result.
The
authorities have frequently persecuted the family as a way to try to
get at the son. Dasrath was himself arrested twice in 2002 and once in
2003. Due to continuous harassment, the family moved from their
Jhariyava village under Naugarh police station to Madhupur village, to
try to escape the constant problems. At their new place, they worked as
labourers in the fields. However, their attempt to escape from the
constant threats by the authorities appears to have been unsuccessful,
as the family has now been brutally forced onto the streets with no way
to survive.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
In some rural
areas of Uttar Pradesh armed communist militants are still active due
largely to the continued gross inequalities of wealth and land
distribution and extreme poverty that large numbers of people
experience in the state. The Adivasi peoples face multiple forms of
persecution and marginalisation, and are therefore also perceived by
the authorities as more likely to have connections with the militant
groups. In particular, the Adivasis have special rights under national
laws to land and forest areas; however, the state and local authorities
deny these using various pretexts and ruses, or simply stalling land
settlement claims in never-ending circles of bureaucracy. The AHRC has
earlier this year described in detail the plight of another group of
Adivasis in the same district, which captures these issues (HA-01-2004 and HU-01-2004).
In
dealing with the militants, the police and military units resort to
gross human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and
torture, illegal arrest, and the types of attacks on vulnerable
relatives of alleged militants as experienced by Sanjay Kol's family.
They act without regard to the circumstances of the families or their
basic human dignity, and without thought to proper methods of
investigation. These types of practices are employed by law-enforcement
authorities throughout India, as numerous Urgent Appeals released by
the AHRC indicate (see most recently UA-171-2004, UA-172-2004).
However, the rural tribal and low-caste groups affected in areas like
Sonebhadra are among the most vulnerable to these abuses, and those
least likely to be able to do anything in response.
There are
also very few attempts to analyse the reasons for the continued
militancy and connect it to the state policies, mismanagement,
corruption and gross abuses of human rights that cause popular
dissatisfaction.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and demand that he intervene in this case. A sample letter follows.
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Dear Mr Yadav
Re: Family in Sonebhadra district facing starvation due to actions of security forces
I
am deeply disturbed to hear that a family of five, including three
children, has been forced onto the streets in Sonebadhra district and
is facing starvation due to the actions of state security officers.
According
to the information that I have received, the family, consisting of
Dasrath (father, 60), Shyama Devi (mother, approximately 47), Anil
(son, 14), Manju (daughter, 13), Rinky (daughter, 6), had their few
possessions -including food- confiscated on 2 December 2004 at Madhupur
village. The order to confiscate the possessions was supposedly given
by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mirzapur, because the other son of
the family, one Sanjay Kol, is alleged to be a communist militant.
Police and personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary 34 Battalion
carried out the order. The confiscated items were already barely enough
for the family to survive, consisting of little more than a cot,
cooking pans, buckets, 40kgs of paddy, 2kgs of flour, and a blanket.
The family is now living on the streets with nothing, and is facing
starvation as a result.
I am informed that the family had
already been repeatedly persecuted and had moved from their Jhariyava
village under Naugarh police station to Madhupur village, to try to
escape the constant problems. However, their attempt to escape from the
constant threats by the authorities appears to have been unsuccessful,
as the family has now been brutally forced onto the streets with no way
to survive.
I understand that there are many other cases of
persecution of Adivasis in Sonebhadra district and surrounding regions
similar to this case. I urge you to ensure that the authorities in your
state do not use the vulnerable families of alleged militants as tools
to capture the accused persons, which amounts to a gross violation of
fundamental human rights and all international norms. Above all else I
urge you to ensure that under any circumstances the most basic human
right to food not be affected by any actions undertaken by state
personnel, as it has been in this case.
In particular, I also
ask you to consider that the reasons that militancy has persisted in
some areas of your state is due largely to the continued gross
inequalities of wealth and land distribution, and denial of land and
forest rights to Adivasis as provided under national laws. These
conditions, combined with the gross abuses of human rights perpetrated
by security forces dealing with militants -as demonstrated in this
case- are the causes of widespread dissatisfaction that allow the
militancy to persist.
I call upon you to take immediate steps
to address the situation of the family of Dasrath and Shyama Devi by
restoring to them their confiscated possessions, otherwise compensating
them for their losses, and ordering that their persecution by the local
authorities be ceased at once. I also call upon you to take the
necessary steps to ensure that other families of alleged militants do
not face similar maltreatment. Finally, I would like to remind you that
your government has obligations under international and national law to
respect, protect and fulfil the right to food. I trust that you will
endeavour to ensure that in all undertakings agencies of your
government will uphold this right, and will take all necessary steps to
this end, including putting in place guidelines and monitoring
mechanisms.
Yours sincerely
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister's Secretariat
Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
Fax: + 91-522-2230002/2239234
Email: cmup@up.nic.in
PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:
1. Mr Alok Kumar
District Magistrate
Sonebhadra
Collecotrate
Robertsganj
Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
2. Justice A. S. Anand
National Human Rights Commission
Sardar Patel Bhaven, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi 110 001
INDIA
Tel: + 91 11 23346244
Fax: + 91 11 23366537
E-mail: ionhrc@hub.nic.in or chairnhrc@nic.in
3. Justice Ramesh Chandra Lahoti
Chief Justice of India
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi 110001
INDIA
Fax: +91 11 2 3383792/3381508
4. Justice A P Mishra
Chairperson
Uttar Pradesh Human Rights Commission
6-A Kalidass Marg
Lucknow
27 Park Road
Allahabad
Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
Tel: + 91 532-2726742
Fax: + 91 532-2726743
Email: uphrc@sancharnet.in
5. Mr. Jean Ziegler
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
c/o Mr. Carlos Villan Duran
Room 4-066
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais Wilson
Rue des Paquis 52, Geneva
Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 9179010
Email: sect.hchr@unog.ch
6. Professor Arjun K Sengupta
Independent Expert on human rights and extreme poverty
c/o Mr Renaud Detalle
Room 4-040
OHCHR-UNOG
Palais Wilson
Rue des Paquis 52
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Tel: +41-22-917 9831
Fax: +41-22-917 9010
Email: rdetalle@ohchr.org
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme -- Hunger Alert
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
