[GreenYouth] 74-yr-old Faizuddin beaten to death in his home by raiding police
*74-yr-old Faizuddin beaten to death in his home by raiding police* Submitted by mumtaz on 13 July 2009 - 10:32pm. - Crime/Terrorism http://www.twocircles.net/news/crime-terrorism - India News http://www.twocircles.net/news/india-news - Indian Muslim http://www.twocircles.net/news/indian-muslim By Waliullah Ahmed Laskar Guwahati: In a brutal show of police power, the Assam Police mercilessly beat up Faizuddin Ahmed, an elderly respectable person of village Latakhat under Dhula police station in Darrang district of Assam, during a raid at his home on 11 July 2009. Ahmed succumbed to the assault and died on the spot. As done by other co-accused, the 74-year-old man did not go into hiding when a police team barged into his house at about 10 pm purportedly in search of three persons including him accused in a case. The family members of the deceased state that when they insisted that he should avoid the police and answer the charge against him in the court he maintained that there was no need to go into hiding as he was innocent. The case against him and two other persons was false and filed maliciously because he tried to intervene in a dispute involving his co-villagers to settle it amicably, say some local people. One of the parties to the dispute was not happy with him and they filed a false case against him. It is this case in connection with which the police raided his house. According to the sources, the raiding police team demanded ten thousand rupees from him because he made them to visit his house in the night as there is a case against him. If there was no case they would not have to toil so much. It is he who is responsible for accusations against him and he had to pay for it, the policemen allegedly said. The elderly person pleaded his innocence repeatedly and told them that if they insist he could only pay them rupees two thousand. At this offer the men in uniform got infuriated and started to beat him, sources claim. The aged fragile body could not withstand the brutal assaults and succumbed at the spot. According to the reports, the local people assembled at Faizuddin's house and gheraoed the police team, immediately after the incident. They demanded exemplary punishment against the guilty police officers. A case has been registered against the raiding police personnel in Dhula police station bearing No. 157/2009 and the Superintendent of Police for Darrang district Imdadul Hussain ordered to arrest the Sub-Inspector who led the erring team. The people are shocked at the incident and demanding prompt trial and exemplary punishment for the ‘killer officers.’ http://www.twocircles.net/2009jul13/74_yr_old_faizuddin_beaten_death_his_home_raiding_police.html -- W A Laskar Freelance Reporter and Human Rights Activist with Barak Human Rights Protection Committee, http://bhrpc.net.googlepages.com 15, Panjabari Road, Darandha, Six Mile, Guwahati-781037, Assam, India Cell: +919401134314 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[GreenYouth] Pip was right
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/13/philosophy-justice-enlightenment-social-contract --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[GreenYouth] Campaign as regards Delhi High Court Judgement on Section 377
I endorse. Sukla Sen Life Fellow, Indian Academy of Social Sciences, Allahabad http://www.facebook.com/note.php?createdsuggestnote_id=232112560436 Please write to niveditamenon2...@yahoo.co.uk to be a part of the campaign. Sukla Friends, I am writing to you, academics from all over India, to share my disquiet about the backlash from religious leaders against the recent Delhi High Court judgement reading down Section 377 to exclude consensual sex among adults in private. And now that the issue is in Supreme Court the government has started making noises about we need to take into account what society feels etc. But we are society too, and these religious leaders dont really represent anybody (who does Baba Ramdev represent, people who watch TV?). (It is another matter that the government does not feel the need to take into account what society feels before passing the SEZ Act, e.g.) It struck me that if we, as academics, could issue a brief statement welcoming the High Court judgement and its validation of the Constitution, we would demonstrate that Indian society speaks in many voices, including ours. It is crucial that we make our opinion visible immediately since the appeal has gone to the Supreme Court. I have drafted a brief statement (below) that I request you to read and endorse if you feel you can, along with your affiliation. I assure you it will make an impact. If you would like to tweak/revise the statement in any way, do send your suggestions. But please remember the statement has to be brief, so we cant make *all* our views clear here, and do respond within a couple of days - by Tuesday evening (14th). The statement already has a few signatures, and the list is growing. Thanks, Nivedita Statement --- We, teachers from universities all over India, researchers and academics, welcome the Delhi High Court judgement reading down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to decriminalize consensual sex among adults in private. The judgement held that “Section 377 IPC, insofar as it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private, is violative of Articles 21, 14 and 15 of the Constitution.” In other words, the court believes that continuing to criminalize citizens on the grounds of their sexual preference violates the Fundamental Rights to life and personal liberty, to equality, and the right not to be discriminated against on non-relevant grounds. Sexual preference and identification is only one part of people’s identities. We believe that a modern democracy must respect diversity regardless of whether consensus exists in society on the desirability of each such practice, provided such practices respect the personhood of others. There need not be consensus in society, for instance, on vegetarianism as desirable, provided that vegetarians have full opportunities to follow their dietary preference. Similarly, if “religious leaders” believe that homosexuality is not sanctioned by the scriptures, they have the right to propagate their views, provided that these views are not taken as having the final sanction on the issue for society as a whole. Our community has had a hitherto silent engagement with the pain, harassment, fear and discrimination that comes with being non-heterosexual/queer. We know students, colleagues, friends and family members who are queer, or may be queer ourselves. We state emphatically that Section 377 as it exists is anti-democratic, and reiterate our support for the Delhi High Court judgement. 1. Nivedita Menon, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University 2. Ranjani Mazumdar, Associate Professor of Cinema Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University 3. Shahana Bhattacharya Assistant Professor, Department of History, Kirori Mal College, Delhi University 4. Aditya Nigam, Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi 5. Mohinder Singh Fellow, IIAS, Shimla and Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Ramjas College, Delhi University 6. Parth Shil, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Hindu College, Delhi University 7. Pratiksha Baxi, Assistant Professor, Centre for Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University 8. Janaki Srinivasan,Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Panjab University 9. PK Datta, Professor, Department of Political Science, Delhi University 10. Mohan Rao, Professor, Centre of Social Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University 11. Satish Deshpande, Professor, Dept of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB
[GreenYouth] Fwd: JNUSU Statement on Acquittal of Prof. Sabharwal's Killers
-- Forwarded message -- From: Sandeep Singh sandeep.jn...@gmail.com * JNUSU Condemns Acquittal of Prof. Sabharwal's Killers Judiciary used Lyngdoh Committee to penalise JNUSU's model elections, but allowed ABVP goons to get away with murder - Sandeep Singuh, JNUSU President * JNUSU condemns the Nagpur Court's acquittal of the six ABVP leaders accused in the lynching of Prof. Sabharwal in Ujjain. The assault on Prof. Sabharwal was captured on film by TV channels and seen by the whole country. Yet the killers have been acquitted for 'lack of evidence.' The killers' patrons in the BJP Govt of Madhya Pradesh has ensured that the MP police brought no evidence to the court, and turned all witnesses hostile. Even at the time of the murder the key eyewitness had said on TV that he was receiving threats. In a Press Statement issued today, JNUSU President Sandeep Singh said, In the wake of national anger against Prof. Sabharwal's murder, the Supreme Court had set up the Lyngdoh Committee to prepare guidelines for students' union elections. Last year, the Supreme Court used the Lyngdoh recommendations to impose a stay on JNUSU elections claiming that JNUSU rules and regulations were in violation of the Lyngdoh Committee's own recommendations. It is well known that JNUSU elections are in fact a model for the entire country, being completely peaceful, democratic and conducted by students themselves. Yet the Supreme Court took 'suo motu' notice of JNUSU elections and stayed it. But while the judiciary has penalised JNUSU's model elections process, it has only given us a terrible miscarriage of justice in the Sabharwal murder case, by acquitting the killers in spite of the evidence available on film. Will the Supreme Court, which took 'suo motu' notice of JNUSU elections, take similar notice of the miscarriage of justice in the Sabharwal murder case? Will the Supreme Court recognise that the JNUSU elections are in fact a model - completely devoid of money power and mucle power - and restore JNU students' democratic rights? We students of JNUSU certainly hope so. Sandeep President, JNUSU Mob. No. 9868033425 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[GreenYouth] 'For us, Ambedkar is father of the nation'
-- Forwarded message -- From: Madhu Chandra fin...@gmail.com 'For us, Ambedkar is father of the nation' Pronoti Datta, TNN 12 July 2009, 02:55am IST http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/For-us-Ambedkar-is-father-of-the-nation-/articleshow/4767615.cms In India there are probably as many holy cows as there are gods in the Hinduhttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/For-us-Ambedkar-is-father-of-the-nation-/articleshow/4767615.cms#pantheon. Say a critical word against them and you're likely to be besieged by protesting hordes. At the top the totem pole are the Prophet, Shivaji, Bal Thackeray and B R Ambedkar. Given his famous aversion to hero worship, the Dalit leader would have gagged at being so memorialised. One wonders what his reaction would be if he toured Uttar Pradesh where statues of Mayawati's holy trinity-Kanshi Ram, Ambedkar and herself-grace public parks or took a stroll through Mumbai, which is scattered with statues and busts of him. Ambedkar was well aware of the dangers of idolatry. In 1949, he warned the Constituent Assembly that hero worship is a straight path to decline and ultimately to dictatorship. But his cautionary advice seems to have been cast to the winds. Politicians erecting shrines of personal political heroes in every park and chowk is widely censured. However, in the case of Ambedkar, most academics and scholars of caste defend the desire of the ordinary Dalit to idolise him. According to writer-professor Kancha Ilaiah, the Ambedkar statue is the only way for illiterate Dalits to know the statesman. Their father of the nation is Ambedkar,'' he said. For Dalits, that one of their own acquired a foreign education and later became one of the architects of the Constitution was simply fantastic. To create a statue was a claim that he could be counted among leaders such as Nehru and Gandhi,'' observed Gyan Prakash, who teaches historyhttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/For-us-Ambedkar-is-father-of-the-nation-/articleshow/4767615.cms#at Princeton University. Ilaiah, who teaches politics at Osmania University, went so far as to reason that if statues of Rajiv Gandhi have been erected across the country at the expense of the state, how can one blame Mayawati for spending over Rs 2000 crores on commemorating Dalit icons? For sociologist Meera Kosambi, statuary is a colonial inheritance that serves little purpose. However she said, If statues are to be erected, then (Ambedkar) is to, my mind, somebody really worth commemorating.'' Kosambi pointed out that the desire to honour Ambedkar must be understood in the context of his contribution to the mobilisation of Dalits and giving them a pride in themselves''. It's difficult for members of upper castes to fathom this level of devotion as they have never faced the sort of degradation Dalits have, she said. The depth of emotion invested in Ambedkar memorials explains the history of violence attached to them. Residents of Ghatkopar's Ramabai Nagar rioted in 1997 when they found that a statue of Ambedkar had been garlanded with slippers. In 2006, angry mobs burnt the Deccan Queen when an Ambedkar monument was desecrated in Kanpur. Only last week, a couple were in danger of being mobbed when they, allegedly, damaged a photograph of Ambedkar in Buddha Vihar, a Buddhist trust in Thane. While Kosambi asserted that she doesn't condone violence, she said that one can almost see Dalit retaliation as a sign of self-asssertion. They retaliate because of the confidencehttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/For-us-Ambedkar-is-father-of-the-nation-/articleshow/4767615.cms#Ambedkar has given them,'' she explained. They were expected to be sub-human. Now they are as human as everybody else.'' Ambedkar's messianic aura began to take shape during his lifetime itself. S Anand, who runs Navayana, a publishing house that specialises in caste-related literature, said that the statesman was embarrassed when his fiftieth anniversary was marked by celebrations that lasted nine days in Mumbai in 1942. Yet, one can't expect Dalits to be faithful to Ambedkar's wishes of not building a cult around him. One should understand why there's such love,'' Anand pointed out. If you deny people material opportunities, they will start clinging to icons.'' Perhaps the obsession with stone comes from the fact that India is a highly religious society which worships idols and gurus. According to Ilaiah, the Hinduhttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/For-us-Ambedkar-is-father-of-the-nation-/articleshow/4767615.cms#practice of idol worship has rubbed off on Dalits. Anand prefers to view Ambedkar worship as not an expression of religiosity'' but as secularisation of the public sphere. I would any day prefer Dalits idolising Ambedkar than ending up queuing to have darshan of Hindu gods like Tirupati Balaji-icons that hold the Dalits in undisguised contempt. Mayawati erecting statues for herself is, of
[GreenYouth] Fwd: Fwd. On rape testimonies
-- Forwarded message -- From: Sukla Sen sukla@gmail.com Date: Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 10:41 AM Subject: Re: Fwd. On rape testimonies To: free-binayak...@googlegroups.com Dear Sandy, Has this Sajee Gopal completely lost his head? It is reply to what? His petition included - by all accounts, maliciously fabricated - allegations of brutal rapes by armed forces in Lalgarh. So the point was made that such unsubstantiated outrageous allegations undermines the credibilityof otherwise utterly valid condemnation of state brutalities. Now s/he comes back with an account of rapes in Dantewada by the SPOs. These SPOs are, by the way, civilians - not member of armed forces - recruited from the local community itself. (The rape victims mostly know their attackers.) This is of course not to mean that Indian, or any other, armed forces do not indulge in such heinous crimes. The records of the Pakistani armed forces in 71, in what is now Bangladesh, is perhaps the goriest illustration. Credible charges against Indian armed forces are regularly levelled in Kashmir and the North East. But this Sajee Gopal could not even pick up any of these in defence of the charge, which very much looks an utter fabrication. Sukla On 7/15/09, sandy bajeli redris...@gmail.com wrote: friends, Sajee Gopal, who along with others floated the online petition Please sign this petition and extend your support to the people, replies to Sukla ji's critique of their petition. (, These armed forces have ... engaged in brutal rapes? Is it necessary to make unsubstantiated scandalous charges in order to condemn police atrocities in Lalgarh? This evidently demolishes the credibility of the petitioners and raises serious doubts about the motives.Has any known human rights organisation has levelled this charge as yet? On which date(s) the rape(s) took place? In which village(s)? How these came to be known? Any police complaint filed? The court approached in case of refusal of the police to file FIR? Complaint lodged with the SHRC/NHRC? sukla sen) - Hide quoted text - Sandy, I would like respond to our questions in regard to Lalgarh petition. In need time to collect the data on crimes perpatrated by armed forces. In the mean time please read the details accounts of victims. http://tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=testimonies.asp THE FOLLOWING is the account of my rape that I gave the questioners from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC): I was raped along with probably 10 other girls. At the time, we were all residents of the Salwa Judum camp, next to the police station. Our rapists were SPOs who lived at the police station. Some lived even inside our camp. The distance between the police station and the camp was about 10-15 metres. One night, some SPOs came to our houses in the camp at dinnertime and asked us girls to come out with them. They had guns. We didn’t go. The men were in full uniform at that time. Later, at about 10pm, when we had just gone to sleep after dinner, a number of SPOs entered the camp again and woke us up at our houses. Now they were wearing only half pants and vests, which is the regular SPO gear at nights. “Come with us,” they said. “We have to question you.” I was home sleeping with my father, mother and sister. Outside, I saw they had collected the other girls, too. My father came out of the hut and asked them, “Where are you taking her at night?” My mother said: “Why are you taking these girls? We will follow you.” The SPOs said, “Don’t worry. We won’t do anything to the girls. But if you follow us, we will kill you.” The SPOs then took us to the forests just outside the camp. Some marched ahead and some behind us. The girls cowered in the middle. It was a dark night and we walked some distance. All the girls started crying. We all thought they were going to kill us Sajee gopal --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
