October 19, 2010
Indian government should ensure torture law meets international standards
Amnesty International has urged the Indian government to help end the routine torture of those held by police and prison authorities by ensuring the new Prevention of Torture Bill in India, 2010 meets international standards before adopting it.
The Bill, which is expected to be considered by the Select Committee of the Upper House (Rayja Sabha) of the Indian Parliament on 17 October, will address many forms of torture routinely employed by Indian police and prison officials. The Bill was passed by the Lower house (Lok Sabha) on 6 May 2010.
“If India is serious about its aspiration to be a regional and global power, it needs to address the issue of torture and ensure that the human rights of those it arrests and detains are protected,” said Madhu Malhotra, Amnesty International‘s Asia-Pacific Deputy Programme Director.
Amnesty International said the Bill must be amended to bring it in line with international standards, including limiting torture to practices causing physical suffering, keeping a six-month deadline for making complaints about torture and not annulling current provisions which allow law enforcement officials and security forces virtual immunity against prosecution for perpetrating torture and recommends solutions.
Torture in state detention is endemic in India, involving a range of practices including shackling, beatings and the administration of electric shocks. Disadvantaged and maginalized groups including women, Dalits, Adivasis and suspected members of armed opposition groups are those most commonly abused.
According to official reports, 127 people died in police custody in India in 2008-09, although the figure could be higher since several states failed to report such deaths.
Torture is also reportedly widespread in prisons. The National Human Rights Commission registered 1,596 complaints of torture of prisoners in 2008-09. The number of deaths due to torture is not routinely reported.
The vast majority of cases of torture inflicted on detained people in India are unlawful and punishable under current Indian law, however prosecutions are extremely rare.
Law enforcement personnel enjoy virtual immunity from prosecution for torture and other human rights abuses, and prosecutions remain sporadic and rare.
In “disturbed areas”, such as Jammu and Kashmir and the north-eastern states where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is in effect, Armed Forces personnel enjoy additional immunity protection and there is virtually no accountability for violations.
In 1996, the Indian Supreme Court issued specific guidelines to authorities safeguarding detainee’s rights in all cases of arrest or detention, however they are seldom enforced. There is also a lack of effective systems to independently monitor the conduct of the
authorities with regards to torture and other forms of mistreatment.
The Prevention of Torture Bill in India, 2010 is meant to bring India closer in line with the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. India signed the Convention in 1997 but has yet to ratify it.
“The Indian government should adopt this Bill to help address key issues, but more needs to be done to ensure India is able to meet international conventions against torture,” said Madhu Malhotra.
“The Indian government further needs to ratify the UN Convention Against Torture ensuring people are no longer mistreated while they are detained.”
October 7, 2010
You are here Somu
The other day, two years back, I was buying some kababs in Kondhwa, and heard someone calling my name and as I turned to see the face of the voice, it was Somu. He asked me if it was I, and he said he met me 8 years back in a train towards North East, where we both happened to share the same compartment. We were students then, and youthfulness of me resulted in some minor bandobast with cops, which I was apparently trying to remember as Somu was describing at that moment. I was wondering the cerebral capacity of this guy, who could remember everything so vividly……… eight years back! Beat that.
From there, we kept in touch pretty regularly. I loved his pride when he mentions his Bullet, the one that is 1987 make. By that time he was married, and I met both of them at their house in Fatima Nagar.
“Just drop in man, whenever you are in this area.”
His embracing and open nature too was a reason that there were Addas in his place. That too often with music and yummy food, like a pop-Majlis, and everybody present participated. Joyous. And eventually his ever-helping nature and his presence in phonebook made me feel like accepted in a different town, where we all long for the small pockets of brotherhood. His house was always full. With people and love.
Then the circle of friends grew, we introduced each other our other set of friends and family. People gelled and we formed a certain sensibility. Though we were in different professions we got synchronized in the systematic manner of curious spirits. We grew. He advanced in his endeavors, and whenever we met, we cherished how far we got ahead.
We kept on talking, exchanged resources, and nurtured a bond that is HERE. I am grateful to him, for the many occasions that he stood by me, may be most of us, and helped us get things done. He got me this place, from where I am writing NOW.
Last Friday we were in his place with a couple of other friends- we kept on talking and listening to music (mostly ‘Black Friday’ soundtrack) as they packed. Next night they had the train from Mumbai. Somu was in his expected black shirt and track pants. We took snaps and we deleted. We ate pizzas from nearby Dominos. Poked. Laughed. Then we left. At 4 am, early Saturday morning.
“Bhalo kore jaash.”
“Yes man, you too.”
And we got glued here in this endless time and space. We all are here. Nobody is going anywhere.
Panchabhoot-the five elements. The countless atoms. We just dissolve, the spirit remains. You are here Somu, we love you.
Salute, Friend. Dekha Hobe.
September 27, 2010
Myanmar: Political prisoners must be freed
On the third anniversary of the violent crackdown on the “Saffron Revolution”, Amnesty International calls on the Myanmar government to immediately and unconditionally free all political prisoners arrested for their peaceful activism.
The Myanmar authorities continue to imprison over 2,200 political prisoners—more than double the number held before the August 2007 protests against sharp fuel and commodity price rises.
“While the international community, including Myanmar’s ASEAN neighbours, has been calling for free, fair and inclusive elections there, the plight of thousands of political prisoners has been overlooked,” said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher.
Amnesty International believes the vast majority of those held are prisoners of conscience who are being punished merely for peacefully exercising their rights to free expression, assembly and association.
The Myanmar government will hold its first elections in 20 years on 7 November 2010 against a backdrop of political repression and systematic violence. Under Electoral Laws enacted in March 2010, no political prisoner can take part in the elections or hold membership in any political party.
International attention in recent months has focused on the power-play between the military and the government’s proxy parties on the one hand; and the armed ethnic minority groups, the National League for Democracy, and a small number of new opposition parties on the other.
“The long-standing problem of political imprisonment in Myanmar remains very much at the heart of the political impasse in the country”, said Benjamin Zawacki. “These prisoners constitute a significant part of the political opposition”.
In the largest show of public discontent against the military government in Myanmar since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, tens of thousands of protesters—led by Buddhist monks— took to the streets in August and September 2007, demanding economic and political reforms.
The peaceful country-wide demonstrations were violently put down by the authorities in late September 2007. At least 31 (and possibly more than a hundred) people were killed—with many more injured and at least 74 disappeared—and thousands detained.
The brutal crackdown provoked international condemnation, including an unprecedented expression of revulsion and demands for change from the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Yet even as Myanmar prepares for its first elections in two decades, as part of what it calls a “Roadmap to Democracy”, it continues to repress political opposition.
“It beggars belief that the government can attempt to burnish its democratic credentials by holding elections, while it also holds more than 2,200 political prisoners behind bars and out of sight of the campaigns and polls”, said Benjamin Zawacki . “The international community should point out to Myanmar that these practices cannot be reconciled under any genuine Roadmap to Democracy”.
Political prisoners in Myanmar are held in deplorable conditions.
Many of those who took part in the Saffron Revolution, such as labour rights campaigner Su Su Nway, monk leader and activist U Gambira, and 88 Generation Student group members Min Ko Naing, Htay Kywe, Mie Mie, Ko Mya Aye and Zaw Htet Ko Ko, are in poor health. In the past two years, at least 238 political prisoners have been moved to extremely remote prisons, restricting their access to relatives, lawyers and medical care. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment are rife. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied access to prisons in Myanmar since late 2005.
“On this third anniversary of the Saffron Revolution, Amnesty International calls on world leaders to demand that the Myanmar government free all political prisoners at once, and ensure human rights protection throughout the elections period and beyond”, said Benjamin Zawacki.
August 30, 2010
Bordoisila in Chattisgarh
http://www.sentinelassam.com/sunday/melange_feature_2.php?sec=31&subsec=0&id=551&dtP=2010-08-29&ppr=2#551
June 7, 2010
About Indie Flicks
June 4, 2010
Ritha Devi
There are only a few people who live life passionately. Globally famed danseuse Ritha Devi, Roxoraaj Lakhminath Bezbaruah’s granddaughter is one of them, living a life of her dreams. She now stays in Pune, teaching and demonstrating elements of Indian Classical dance.
Ritha Devi recollects her holidays with Roxoraaj in Orissa’s Sambhalpur forest, the way he held her hand, charming her with anecdotes while walking on the banks of Mahanadi River. Her mother was married to Noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s cousin. Ritha Devi spent her child hood in Gujarat, as her father was Senior Councilor of the then Baroda State of pre-independent India.
She grew up seeing the great dancers in Baroda King’s Darbar. She recalls, “Seeing the great Uday Shankar dance, I fell in love with dance instantly and the day I watched the goddess-like Rukmini Devi, I decided to be a dancer”.
But her desire was to become a dancer was looked down upon within the patriarchal design. Dance was associated with women of easy virtues. Besides that, her family’s reputation was another hindrance. She fought against all these conventions and started learning.
Her family moved back to Shillong after her father’s retirement. By that time, she was a confident young lady, having graduated in English and Sanskrit. As luck would have it, in Shillong she came into contact with Manipuri Dance connoisseur Howbam Aathomba Singh. Her interest for learning the intricacies of Indian classical dance impressed him, and he took her as his disciple. By that time, her family stopped supporting her financially for her dance classes. But her indomitable spirit could never be tamed. She started giving dance lessons in Pine Mount School, Shillong to pay for her guru’s fees.
Though her first love is dance, she was married off and her husband’s family too did not endorse her passion for dancing. By that time, she was relatively popular in the dance circles and she began performing all over the country. In 1958, sitar maestro Pundit Ravi Shankar spotted her and connected her to some event organizers in Europe. Ritha Devi confessed that was the turning point of her life, it seemed that the whole world was waiting for her.
After performing in Europe, Ritha Devi toured the Soviet Union thrice followed by a long stay in the US. She was invited to teach Indian dance at New York University in 1972, and stayed for ten years. She was also awarded three fellowships from prestigious American cultural bodies for undertaking choreography, and her works have been preserved in the archives of the National Endowment for the Arts there.
While she was performing in Assam in 1965, Jatin Goswami and Lakheshwar Saikia were so intrigued that they offered her to teach Xotriya Dance. By that time, she had mastered each of the other seven forms of Indian Classical dance. She remembers plenty of chance incidences in Assam. Once she was performing in Digboi and the air siren blew during the show (1962, Chinese Aggression) and the audience fled, but she was so entranced in her performance that she kept dancing. And how she toured the entirety of Assam, covering places till Tinsukia and starting from Shillong, which took her almost three months. She remembers that traveling from Tezpur to Kolkata, in that era, used to take two and a half days!
Currently, Ritha Devi is the resource person for the lecture demonstrations of the essence of rich Indian classical dance in SPICMACAY. Along with that, she regularly attends dance festivals, edits dance journals and teaches dance. Her forte being Odissi dance, like the contemporary legends Indrani Rehman and Yamini Krishnamurthy, Ritha Devi possesses a true passion for the art form. She laments that appreciation is eroding for classical dance form, and modern attitudes are more geared towards instant gratification, against the rigorous practice required for classical dance. But she is hopeful for the future of Classical dance. She believes that it will stay alive in small pockets. She is trying to replenish and revive this tradition in her own ways, through her lecture demonstrations and her dance classes to a number of Indian and foreign students.
She belittles the phenomena of new mushrooming western dance classes here in India, which teach the featherheaded versions of the original dance forms, mostly by uninformed trainers. This scenario is almost like one of the story of her granddad Roxoraaj Bezbaruah, “Bhokendra Barua”, – which tells how Bhukundi went to Kolkata to study. Seeing the splendor of Kolkata society, he changed his name to Bhokendra and added a title, then sent letters to his parents appealing to them to change their age-old traditions and bid them to progress with the times. Unlike Bhukundi, Roxoraaj’s granddaughter Ritha Devi holds strong to tradition and tries her best to propagate the advancement of Indian Classical dance.
