Report on the issue of Terror by Chandigarh Police in Kurukshetra Hostel, Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh

On 26 May 2012, was the day when exams were over in PEC Chandigarh, and a farewell party was just finished at 10 o’clock in the night. Some minor dispute between two groups of students happened near about 9:30 pm. It is must to be mentioned that college authorities didn’t intervene in the matter to solve the issue rather they called police. At 11 pm Police (4 Policemen namely Ramesh Kumar – Constable, belt number 1122; Gurditt Singh (ASI); Kuldip (Constable); Rattan Kumar (Constable)all are posted in sector 11 police station, Chandigarh) came in Kurukshetra Hostel, PEC Chandigarh when the dispute was over. Some students were standing in HOSTEL PARK and Police used abusing language with the students and asked students to go to their rooms. When students told them that it was hot today, that’s why we were in the park. After this, Police used abusing language, ASI Gurditt Singh ordered Constable Ramesh Kumar to detain Students for Society President Amandeep Singh(Final year Student of PEC). Immediately constable Ramesh Kumar grabbed Aman’s collar to drag, when he asked as to how can they arrest without any reason. Constable Ramesh Kumar slapped Amandeep Singh number of times and dragged him. Students told ASI Gurditt Singh that they will not get scared of his threats and will complaint against him and especially Constable Ramesh Kumar’s behavior to SSP of Chandigarh, hearing this constable Ramesh Kumar threw punches on Amandeep’s face and he had nose bleeding heavily, and Constable Ramesh was brave enough to give us his belt number and challenged students to do whatever they can! On seeing this other college students residing in hostel came out of the rooms and questioned policemen of how can they start beating anyone. Consequently they started hitting other boys with sticks as well

In all these events, another member of SFS Pankaj Kumar(Final year PEC Student) intervened to stop constable Ramesh Kumar while he was beating Amandeep Singh. So in fit of rage Constable Ramesh Kumar threw Pankaj Kumar on the ground and kicked him and another constable Rattan Kumar hit him with stick due to which he retained injuries. There were many students who came on the spot also made a small video of this brutal event. On seeing that video had been recorded policemen stopped their assault on students for a while and threatened students with dire consequences of involving them in false cases. Also two more students were assaulted by Police. Students helped injured persons Amandeep Singh and Pankaj Kumar to bring them to PGI Emergency. When a complaint was registered on police complaint no. 100 same persons against whom victims had to file complaint came shamelessly to register their complaint. They forced and pressurized victims to mould their statements and later on ASI Gurditt Singh even threatened to involve students in false cases. On Monday(28/05/2012), complaint was filed to SSP Chandigarh and Police Complaint Authority Chandigarh.

SFS members who have always been fighting for campus democracy, student’s issue, workers issue and against any kind of oppression either by PEC administration or UT administration were attacked systematically. This attack is not just a physical assault; rather it is dictatorial attack on campus democracy and basic rights of students. The act depicts the ridiculous misbehave of powers by police and exposes the real character of Indian ‘Democracy’. The prestige of the so called Indian Democracy was raped under the dark sky.

SFS condemns the State Police, UT administration and PEC authorities for such shameful act of assault on the students. SFS demands that the policemen involved should be sacked because no definition can explain these men in uniform to be PUBLIC SERVANTS....they are wolves in 'khakhi'. The involved policemen should be terminated from service. Interference of police in the democratic cultured Educational institutions must be banned. SFS also appeals students and all progressive sections of society to stand up against this barbaric act of Chandigarh Police. If concerning authorities will not come into action, SFS will hold the banner against injustice.

Students for Society

Chandigarh

Ad-Hoc Committee

The cartoon controversy: A severe blow to democracy

The country has just witnessed a Shakespearan tragedy when both Houses of Parliament self-patted themselves and resolved to keep the dignity of Parliament at the highest. The members were, however, forgetful of the shameful furore in Parliament on May 11 over the reproduction of a cartoon in 1949 by Shankar depicting the delay in finalising the Constitution (which was done on November 26, 1949) and which has been included in the NCERT textbooks on political science of Class XI — the cartoon was alleged to have insulted Nehru and Dr Ambedkar.

The more worrying aspect was the almost craven response of the HRD Minister that he was directing the NCERT to stop the distribution of these textbooks and to review the same. He even gratuitously said that the government would review all the cartoons and this year the present textbooks would not be distributed. How sad? The sneezing irrelevant remark of a legislator is enough to give them shivers down the spine and to agree to delete the cartoons, ignoring the fact that these had been selected by two of our respected social scientists. Such is the panic of caste-based politics that apparently even sober legislators of all parties jumped in to support the suppression of the cartoon oblivious to the fact that both Nehru and Ambedkar took this cartoon as an expression of a right of free speech guaranteed to Indian citizens. It may help the legislators to know that Nehru had inaugurated Shankar's Weekly much earlier in 1948 and encouraged the cartoonist by openly telling him, "Do not spare me, Shankar". And Shankar went about the work but never did Pt Nehru or Parliament took any objection.

It was a surprisingly puerile and deliberately provocative suggestion by a lone member of Parliament (picked up immediately by all the parties, panic-ridden as they are by election phobia) that the cartoon should be treated as a castist slur on Ambedkar. How ironic that these self-proclaimed admirers of Ambedkar want to pigeon-hole him as a Dalit leader while in reality Dr Ambedkar's contribution to Constitution-making has been universally recognised and, in fact, was openly praised and complimented when President Rajendra Prasad, speaking during the closing address in the Constituent Assembly, said, "We could never make a decision which was or could be so right as when we put him on drafting committee and made him a Chairman. He has added lustre to the work which he has done."

The response of Dr Ambedkar was equally gracious when he said, "I feel so overwhelmed that I cannot find adequate words to express my gratitude to them. I am grateful to the Constituent Assembly reposing in me so much trust and confidence and have chosen me as their instrument and given me this opportunity of serving to country." How can then small self-appointed Dalit leaders dare to say that the contribution of Dr Ambedkar was not fully recognised during his lifetime. 

Let me remind everyone that Dr Lohia, himself one of the tallest leaders of India, had openly stated that he considered Dr Ambedkar as the next biggest leader after Mahatma Gandhi that modern India had produced.

It pains one to say that while the country is so proud of its Fundamental Rights, including the Right of Speech and Press, the discussion in Parliament should have revolved on how to suppress the freedom of the Press by deleting the cartoon and also interfering with the freedom of the students to know about the trends and currents at the time the Constitution was being framed. This action of Parliament is antithetical to the strongly held view of Pt Nehru who said, "You do not change anything, you merely suppress the public manifestation of certain things thereby causing the idea and thought underlying them to spread further." 

The argument of the parliamentarians that these cartoons will spread a wrong notion of the politicians is a self-serving congratulatory observation and is an insult to the independent and wise-thinking of teachers and students themselves. Have we not already had in our country the unfortunate results of yielding to the threats of goons in banning the globally recognised paintings of Hussain who unfortunately, even after his death, could not have his paintings shown at an exhibition arranged by a government-appointed body on the unacceptable excuse that the organisers could not save the paintings from being damaged at the instance of some unruly elements. 

The intolerance against certain opinions is spoiling the free atmosphere at the universities as was demonstrated when Delhi University banned the teaching of three Ramayanas, a very researched and documented version by a well-known historian. The present discussion, if it leads to the deletion of these passages from the textbooks, would strike at one of our proudest Fundamental Right of Freedom of Speech, a constituent of democracy. It is well to remind everyone what John Stuart Mill in his essay on liberty said, "The need for allowing even erroneous opinions to be expressed on the ground that the correct ones become more firmly established by what may be called the dialectical process of a struggle with wrong ones which expose errors.” 

The Supreme Court has also emphasised that "intellectual advances made by our civilisation would have been impossible without freedom of speech and expression. The court has drawn its strength from the well-known expression of democratic faith expressed by the great French philosopher, Voltaire, "I do not agree with a word you say but I will defend to death your right to say it." The court has reminded that "Champions of human freedom of thought and expression through ages have relied that intellectual paralysis creeps over society which denies, in however subtle form, due freedom of thought and expression to its members.

Dr Ambedkar was conscious of the danger to the dignity of an individual in our political system and gave the warning thus, "There is nothing wrong in being grateful to great men who have rendered life-long services to the country. But there are limits to gratefulness….. no nation can be grateful at the cost of liberty. This caution is far more necessary in the case of India than in the case of any other country. For in India Bhakti or what may be called path of devotion or hero worship plays a part in its politics unlike any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship".

The writer is a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court...Justice Rajindar Sachar (retd)

DALITS AND THE LAND QUESTION : BATHANI TOLA CARNAGE

"We heard their howls of agony, but simply could not find the courage to come out."

-Naimuddin Ansari (prime witness)

Living in the so called world's "largest democracy”, when incidents such as the Bathani Tola carnage surface, these strip away the mask of the democracy and social justice off the state. Perhaps this is not rare, we can count on incidents such as Chundur massacre, Neerukkonda massacre, Laxmanpur Bathe, Cuddalore, Melavalavu, Muthanga, Kherlanji, Mirchpur and many many more.

Recently Patna high court acquitted 23 persons, convicted of the carnage, citing "defective evidence". Things went on like this, on a july afternoon in 1996 Ranvir Sena carried out the brutal killings of dalits in Bathani Tola( Bhojpur, Bihar) claiming the lives of 21 people including women, children and infants. The FIR was filed against 33 persons the next day. The Ara sessions court convicted 23 of them sentencing 3 persons to death and life imprisonment to other 20. But as case moved to Patna High court , these butchers are free. Perhaps the judiciary has really gone blind.

Persons like Brahmeshwar Singh( chief of the Sena) who were engaged in other cases of such attacks now roam freely and sense of insecurity prevails in the dalit community of the area.

The "honest" chief minister Nitish Kumar has kept his silence. And in the words of Mr. Kishan Choudhary( survival of the carnage and prime witness)," the govt. has sold out to the rich and influential..".

The Bathani people have lost confidence in the govt. and judiciary and now look upon people’s organisations for next course of action. The so called "civil society" is also not responding to this.

QUESTION OF CASTE AND CASTE BASED VIOLENCE:

“This condition obtains even where there is no slavery in the legal sense. It is found where as in caste system, some persons are forced to carry on the prescribed callings which are not their choice”- Ambedkar

From many centuries, this system of exploitation has existed in our society. It was maintained throughout pre-medieval Hindu kingdoms and not only preserved consciously but systematically perpetuated in Sultanate and Mughal Period and again upheld by the Britishers. The reason for this clever preservation throughout medieval ages is that caste is nothing but consequence of exploitative master-servant relation in agrarian economy.

Considering the causes why it has been preserved, it seems to be the best method to deprive the majority of population, of the property rights and extract maximum surplus out of cheap labour which is a barbaric feudal tendency. To maintain their dominance, the upper class uses this system to the fullest and manifests the discrimination through various forms such as denial of basic rights of freedom, untouchability, segregation from society, no right to own property and so on. They are forced to live in misery and made to believe that they are made for this only, through the concepts of religion, karma theory etc.

As majority of the dalit section is landless and rarely has any means of production/subsistence, they have to depend on the rich landlords to survive, who exploit them according to their own will.

There are many examples to site that whenever the dalit section has demanded its rights and even minimum wages for living, how badly they have been treated- sometimes in the form of social boycotts and sometimes violent killings. Due to the people uprisings the landlord class direly resorted to violent means. There are many armed groups which have been formed by the landlord class to take care of such things and to carry out these types of anti-social activities. Ranvir Sena is one of such caste armies. It is an upper class landlord militia of Bhumihars and Rajputs mainly based in Bihar, recognized as a terrorist group by govt. of India and have accomplished many mass killings frequently like in 1995-Bihar elections, July 1996-Bathani Tola, March 1997-Habispur, December 1997-Laxmanpur Bathe, January 1999-Shankarbhiga, February 1999-Narayanpur and many more…

Even Police Administration has helped the sena in their actions like in April 1997 at Ekwari village, policemen opened the doors of houses of dalits so that sena men could enter and kill them.

The Ranvir Sena is funded and maintained by the rich landlords and politicians. The Bhumihars forms majority of sena. The Bhumihars are powerful caste which not only owns land but also control politics of the area. In 1998 Lok Sabha elections, Chandra Dev Verma (Janta Dal) put to legalise the Sena on his election campaign.

The Sena men and sympathisers proudly accept their deeds and shamelessly justify their actions saying, “The land is ours. The crops belong to us. Labourers didn’t want to work…….So they had it coming.” They openly say that they kill children so that they can’t rise for revenge in future and women so that they couldn’t give birth to rebels. In this way fear in incorporated in the minds of people and they don’t dare to stand. The democracy has been vulgarised and basic human rights to freedom and survive have been taken away by these organised goons and as they have political influence they are rarely brought to justice.

Judiciary: a watch in the pocket of upper class

Even the lower judiciary seems to be tilted towards the interests the upper class. If we see the cases of the Godhra genocide, the 1984 genocide and massacre of common masses in Punjab in late 80s and now the recent acquittal of the convicts of the Bathani Tola carnage, the persons responsible are roaming freely and have acquired high positions in legislation and administration. And if we see the cases of Tribal cultural activist Jiten Marandi and Human Rights activist Binayak Sen, which supported the cause of the oppressed classes, the action of the courts were quick and anti-social.

Sitting here in the university we may sometimes feel that the caste system now is an old story, and today who works hard can get a better life. But as we enter professional lives, the caste system starts showing its colour. We are not unaware of the fact that whenever there is a case of inter-caste marriages, how the couple is dealt with.  The caste system is too much deep-rooted in our society and manifests itself even in higher educational institutes. Students sometimes like to keep their identity secret otherwise they are treated differently even in classrooms. This bad treatment sometimes leads to suicides. “Since 2007, 18 dalit students in top institutes like IIT and AIIMS have killed themselves.”- Insight Foundation

In order to tackle this problem, we should understand the material reality and sought solution not in human psychology but in material facts of production. The irregular distribution of land and resources is prevailing in our society, which leads to social inequality and other problems. Caste is enduring itself in order only to maintain the generation old unequal property rights and inhuman relations of master and servant in the process of production in an agrarian economy.

·         So there is a strong need for radical land reforms to shatter away the base of this institution of caste. The communities and forces which are ensuring its survival must be seriously challenged.

·         Uncompromising ideological and cultural struggle has to be waged against the most inhuman, unscientific traditions and customs ensuring the survival of caste system. Besides moral and fiscal support must be given to those communities and classes which are suffering the atrocities for being of “low” caste.

 APPEAL

We appeal the masses and progressive sections of the society to come forward to fight against such inhuman practices and raise ideological and cultural struggle against the unscientific, inhuman traditions ensuring the survival of the caste system. We demand justice for the victims of the Bathani Tola carnage.  Security must be provided to the dalits of that area. Culprits should be punished. The govt. should take action against Ranvir Sena and other such private militias which are anti-democratic and anti-people.

Contact: 9463154024                               Find us at facebook:  www.facebook.com/studentsforsociety                                             

Email: sfs@studentsforsociety.co.in                                                   www.studentsforsociety.co.in