----- Forwarded Message ----- *From:* ACPP-Hotline Asia <hotl...@acpp.org> *To:* ACPP-Hotline Asia <hotl...@acpp.org> *Sent:* Thursday, 13 October 2011 4:32 PM *Subject:* Special Urgent Appeal (3) - INDIA
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*HOTLINE **ASIA** **
**URGENT APPEALS**
**SUA111010 (3)*
*Stop the Mockery of Justice and Free Arun Fereira! – INDIA**
*10 October 2011
*SUMMARY**
*Arun Thomas Ferreira, an alleged Maoist sympathizer from Mumbai, was
re-arrested upon his release on 27 September. Family and friends who had
gathered outside Nagpur jail to welcome him was shocked when they saw him
emerge handcuffed, gagged and covered with a cloth, and guarded by armed
police in plain clothes who brought him to a vehicle that sped away with
him.
Arun had been ordered released after he was acquitted from all the 8 cases
slapped against him by the police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention
Act (UAPA); he had been in Nagpur jail for 4 years and 4 months since his
arrest in May 2007.
It has been two weeks now since this re-arrest but so far nothing has been
heard on the protest petition he filed immediately after (28 September). He
was only granted his request to be brought back to Nagpur jail.
*ACTION REQUESTED **
*Please write polite letters to show your concern about the situation and *urge
the Maharashtra state government* to ensure that the rule of law prevails
and to free Arun Ferreira.
Please send letters to:
*1. Shri Prithviraj Chavan**
* Chief Minister of Maharashtra
‘Varsha’ Malabar Hill, Bhausaheb Hiray Marg,
Malabar Hill, Mumbai - 400 006, INDIA
Fax 91-22-23631446
*2. Chairperson **
* National Human Rights Commission
Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg,
New Delhi-110001, INDIA
Fax: 91-11-2338-4863 / Email: chairn...@nic.in
*…and send copies to:* Diplomatic Representatives of India in your
countries.
*Sample Letter **
**Please avoid typing ‘cc ACPP’ at any part of your letter but send copies
to us separately for monitoring purpose. *
I write to express my shock at the re-arrest of Mr. Arun Ferreira on 27
September, just as he was walking out to freedom after being acquitted in
all the eight cases that were brought against him and caused his arrest in
May 2007. I believe he was “abducted” by plainclothes policemen in the
presence of his family, armed guards and police and brought to another
police station where he was charged with a case similar to one of the cases
he was already cleared of.
The re-arrest of Mr. Arun Ferreira is a denial of his human rights. The
re-arrest is also not consistent with known procedure and violates the
directions of the court which had ordered him released.
Please free Mr. Arun Ferreira. If there is indeed another charge against
him, then let there be a speedy trial and don’t let him languish in jail
again. Let the rule of law prevail. Honor your duties and uphold India’s
democracy and human rights commitment.
****Thank You for Your Continued Support! ****
* *
*Background*
Arun Ferreira, male, 37 years, Indian, former resident of Bandra (a suburb
of Mumbai) has been an activist since his college days, defending the rights
of tribals, slum dwellers and poor farmers. He closely worked on the issue
of ‘Right to Housing’ with the organization ‘Nivara Hakk Suraksha
Samitti’ and Human Rights organization ‘Committee for the Protection of
Human Rights’ in Mumbai. Arun was arrested on 7th May, 2007 by the State
Police from Deeksha Bhoomi, Nagpur. Soon after his arrest, he was brutally
tortured and subjected to two rounds of forensic tests (brain mapping,
narco-analysis and lie detector) over a period of two months at the Mumbai
and Bangalore Forensic Laboratories. These tests have recently been
declared unconstitutional and unjust by the Supreme Court of India. He
acquired an acquittal in his arrest case at Nagpur, but he was subsequently
charged with seven concurrent cases.
Among the 8 cases filed against Arun, one was in 2008 when he was implicated
in the case of 11 students from Chandrapur who were arrested for Maoist
links even though though he was already in jail at that time. During the
case hearings, the absence of so called ‘witnesses’, transfer of judges,
non production of the accused on court dates, and a general lethargy in the
judicial system suggested a deliberate attempt to delay the release of
Arun.
On September 23, 2011, Arun was acquitted of all the cases put up against
him. On September 27, Arun Ferreira was finally released, but just when he
walked outside the jail gate, handcuffed, gagged, covered with a cloth and
guarded by armed police, he was allegedly abducted by some unidentified
persons in civil clothes. According to Ferreira’s lawyers, Adv. Surendra
Gadling and others, the whole incident happened in the presence of
Ferreira’s mother and brother who had come to receive him. The unknown
persons forcibly pulled Ferreira from the jail gate, held him by his neck
and dragged him to an unnumbered Tata Sumo where he was forcibly pushed
inside and driven to an undisclosed destination.
When Ferreira’s counsel Gadling and others asked the police officials –
Rajput, Shri Chouhan, Shri Gabne and Deputy Jailor Shri Yogesh Patil about
what was going on they were allegedly assaulted. In their complaint to the
Dhantoli Police Station, Adv. Gadling stated that the police threatened to
arrest them as well, “on an allegation that we are interfering with the
functioning of their official duties.” Arun was taken to Wadsa-Deisaganj and
told that he was being arrested with reference to a case in 2008.
Arun Ferreira submitted a protest petition a day after his re-arrest, in
which he argues that the re-arrest is illegal. First, there was no warrant,
and the arresting policemen were in plainclothes. Secondly, he cites the
case of Moh. Ahemad Yasin Mansuri vs. State of Maharashtra which declares
the re-arrest of a person out on bail without informing the court that
granted bail as illegal. Thirdly, Arun’s petition protests the charge that
he is the absconding accused in a chargesheet filed in 2008. How could he
be an absconding accused when he was already in jail? Arun argues it is
not according to the procedure established by law. He likewise requested a
copy of the chargesheet filed against him, and that his right to a speedy
trial be safeguarded.
* *
* *
*Sources: *
*Localsources, **www.sanhati.com* <http://www.sanhati.com/>*,**
www.mumbaimirror.com*
<http://www.mumbaimirror.com/>*,**www.dnaindia.com*<http://www.dnaindia.com/>
*,**www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com*<http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/>
*, **www.hindustantimes.com* <http://www.hindustantimes.com/>
* *
**********************
Arun was granted his request that he be sent back to Nagpur jail where he
has spent the last 4 years and 4 months, but there is no word yet on his
petition and how his case can be moved forward. There is no way of knowing
if he has been subjected again to torture or not.
As human rights activists in India only know too well, they are consistently
targeted for their work and popularity. It is said the State /police fear a
public backlash to their unjust and inevitably corrupt public policies.
Arun’s is not an isolated case. His arrest has been preceded and followed
by further arrests of activists in Maharashtra. But his re-arrest does not
only highlight a disregard for human rights; it simply mocks the justice
system in a country that supposedly upholds democracy. Let us point this
out to the authorities in Maharashtra and get Arun Ferreira freed!
*Justice.Peace.Solidarity*
[image: Terence]
*Terence A.G. P. Osorio*
*Coordinator*
Thank You for Your Continued Support!
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--
Adv Kamayani Bali Mahabal
+919820749204
skype-lawyercumactivist
*
*
*The UID project i**s going to do almost exactly the same thing which the
predecessors of Hitler did, else how is it that Germany always had the lists
of Jewish names even prior to the arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these
lists with the help of IBM which was in the 'census' business that included
racial census that entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying
them. At the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an
exhibit of an IBM Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible
for organising the census of 1933 that first identified the Jews.*
*
*
*http://saynotoaadhaar.blogspot.com/*
*http://aadhararticles.blogspot.com/*
*http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_162987527061902&ap=1*<
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_162987527061902&ap=1>
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