Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by People’s Watch about the abuse by the police against Mr. D. Thambirajan and Mr. Ramasamy, members of the Citizens for Human Rights Movement (CHRM), for their involvement in the exposing of corrupt practices by the local Panchayat President in implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), in Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu.
According to the information received, on July 16, 2009, at about 6.00 p.m., in the Vanniyar area of Kilavadinatham village, a group of 10 men led by Mr. Kili Anbahazhagan, S/o. Iniyan, a relative of Mr. M. Kumar, S/o. Mayavan, the Panchayat President of Kilavadinatham, advanced menacingly towards Messrs. Thambirajan and Ramasamy. Mr. Thambirajan then ran into a house and escaped through the backdoor.
Mr. Ramasamy also tried to escape but got caught by the mob, which hit him with a one and half feet long iron pipe and two feet long bamboo canes, saying that he was responsible for the dismissal of Mr. Kumar from the Panchayat President’s post (See background information). He was injured on the shoulder, wrist, right leg and head (bleeding injury) in this assault. By this time, Mr. Ramasamy’s son Rajesh and two other relatives - Mr. Subramani and Mr. Ponnusamy - reached the spot and tried to rescue him from the mob but they too got assaulted very badly. Mr. Thambirajan‘s motorbike was very badly damaged by the mob.
Later, another relative of theirs took them to the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) at about 9.00 p.m. As the DSP was not there, they were asked to go to the hospital for treatment first. But Special Sub Inspector of Police Mr. Gnanasekaran of Buvanagiri Police Station asked Mr. Ramasamy alone to go to the hospital to receive treatment and instructed the others to come to Buvanagiri police station to lodge a complaint. Mr. Ramasamy was admitted as an in-patient at the hospital. At the police station, instead of receiving the complaint from Messrs. Rajesh, Ponnusamy and Subramani, a false case was filed against them by Mr. Gnanasekaran and Sub Inspector of Police Ms. Maheswari. The First Information Report (FIR) has been filed in Crime Number 359/2009 under Sections 147 (“punishment for rioting”), 148 (“rioting, armed with deadly weapon”), 341 (“punishment for wrongful restraint”), 294 (“obscene acts and songs”), 324 (“voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means”) and 506-2 (“punishment for criminal intimidation”) read with Section 379 (“punishment for theft”) of the Indian Penal Code in Buvanagiri police station.
Mr. Ramasamy and Mr. Thambirajan were also added as accused in the case. On hearing of all these developments, Mr. Thambirajan refrained from returning home. At 1.00 a.m. Sub Inspector Ms. Uma Maheswari and two police constables of Buvanagiri police station went to his house and threatened his wife asking for his whereabouts.
On July 17, 2009, Messrs. Subramani, Rajesh and Ponnusamy were remanded to 15 days’ judicial custody.
As of issuing this urgent appeal, they remained detained in Parangipettai prison, Cuddalore district, while Messrs. Ramasamy and Thambirajan remained free. Mr. Ramasamy is currently hospitalised because of the serious injuries he sustained. In addition, the date for the court hearing had not been scheduled yet.
Background information
Mr. D. Thambirajan is a teacher of human rights education in the Adi Dravida Welfare Middle School in Varakoor. He also provides counselling in human rights issues. In that framework, he assisted CHRM organiser Mr. D. Ramasamy in applying for particulars of the implementation of the NREGS in the area using the Right to Information Act on finding that Mr. M. Kumar, S/o. Mayavan, the Panchayat President of Kilavadinatham was swindling lakhs of rupees from the NREGS funds. In the information that he received, it had been mentioned that many persons from the area had benefited from the scheme. The list of beneficiaries also contained names of deceased and persons who were in judicial custody. Thereafter they sent a complaint based on particulars of corruption of Mr. Kumar, the Panchayat President in implementing NREGS to all Government Officials at the Taluk, District and State level.
Since the authorities failed to take any action on this complaint, in the year 2008, Mr. D. Ramasamy and other members of CHRM staged a series of protest demonstrations in front of the office of the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO). There were no actions on Mr. Kumar after this too.
Then, in 2009, after Mr. Seetharaman was posted in Cuddalore as the District Collector, he conducted an investigation on corruption in implementation of NREGS in the district. This confirmed the acts of corruption committed by Mr. Kumar and subsequently on July 3, 2009 he was dismissed from the post of Panchayat President of Kilavadinatham village, who then assumed that he lost the Panchayat President’s post only because of Messrs. Thambirajan and Ramasamy.
Actions requested:
Please write to the authorities of India, urging them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Messrs. Thambirajan, Ramasamy, Subramani, Rajesh and Ponnusamy;
ii. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned events in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal sanctions provided by the law;
iii. Put an end to acts of harassment - including at the police and judicial level - against Messrs. Thambirajan and Ramasamy as well as against all human rights defenders in India so that they are able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances;
iv. Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with its Article 1, which provides that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, as well as with Article 12.2 (“the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”);
v. More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by India.
Addresses
· Shri Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister’s Office, Room number 152, South Block, New Delhi, Fax: + 91 11 2301 6857
· Shri Shivraj Patil, Union Minister of Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, 104-107 North Block, New Delhi 110 001 India, Fax: +91 11 2309 2979.
· Justice K. G. Balkrishnan, Chief Justice of India, Supreme Court, Tilak Marg, New Delhi -1, Fax: +91 11 233 83792, Email: supremecourt@nic.in
· Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission of India, Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi 110 001, Tel: +91 11 230 74448, Fax: +91 11 2334 0016, Email: chairnhrc@nic.in
· Mr. T. Theethan, IAS, The Joint Secretary, National Commission for SC, 5th Floor, ‘B’ Wing, Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi 110103, India. Email: jointsecretary-ncsc@nic.in
· The Home Secretary, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, India, Email: homesec@tn.gov.in
· Thiru P. Seetharaman IAS, District Collector, Collectorate, Cuddalore - 607 001, Fax: 04142-230555. E-Mail: collrcud@tn.nic.in
Director General of Police, Post Box No.601, Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai, Chennai-600 004. Fax No: 28447703
· State Human Rights Commission, Thiruvarangam, 143, P.S. Kumarasamy Raja Salai, (Greenways Road), Chennai 600 028, Tamilnadu, Phone : 91-44-2495 1484, Fax : 91-44-2495 1484
· Mr. Pradip Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Cuddalore, Tel - Off: 04142-284330, Tel - Res: 04142-295161, Mobile: 94438-79888
· Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative to the United Nations (Geneva), Rue du Valais 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. Tel: +41 22 906 86 86, Fax: +41 22 906 86 96, Email: mission.india@ties.itu.int
· Embassy of India in Brussels, 217 Chaussée de Vleurgat, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, Fax: +32 (0)2 6489638 or +32 (0)2 6451869
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of India in your respective countries.
***
Geneva-Paris, July 23, 2009
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
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