SACW | 15 April 2005

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire  | 15 April,  2005

[1]  Symphony: waters of Beas bring people of 
India Pakistan together...(Sandeep Pandey)
[2]  Pakistan: Toba Tek Singh  - Letter to the Editor Dawn (Tahira Mazhar Ali)
[3]  Kashmir: Cartooning conflict (Basharat Peer)
[4]  India: Goan festival of communal amity under secular stress (Shiv Kumar)
[5]  India: "Public funds for saffron agenda"  (Anita Joshua)
[6]  India: High Court seeks explanation from 
Stephen's on sexual harassment Ordinance
[7] India: Letter to To: The Commissioner of 
Police, Greater Mumbai (Anand Patwardhan)
[8] Publication Announcement: The Public Interest 
Litigation Hoax - Truth Before The Nation
[9] Call For Signatures - On Line Petition in 
support of International Day of Non-Violence
[10] Upcoming Events:
(i) Public Discussion: Flashback Gujarat 2002 - 
The Indian State and Mass Crimes (New Delhi, 
April 16)
(ii) Right to Work Convoy - Rozgar Adhikar Yatra 
being launched (New Delhi, 13 May, 2005)
(iii) Sandarbh's Annual Day  - 'Urban Development 
and the Rights of the Poor' (Bombay, April 18)


--------------

[1]

SYMPHONY: WATERS OF BEAS BRING PEOPLE OF INDIA PAKISTAN TOGETHER . . .
Sandeep Pandey

9 people from Pakistan who were granted special permission yesterday
by Pak Interior Ministry to cross over Wagah border into India to
join the historic people's initiative India Pakistan peace march,
entered India and proceeded towards the peace march which was in
Beas today. It was a coincidence but certainly extremely poignant
that when the peace march was near the river bank of river Beas,
people from Pakistan moved to join this march and there was a
spontaneous decision to step down into the river Beas and hug each
other there
 symbolic of the belief that the waters will wash away
their hearts and leave pristine love and compassion for each other
all around.
	It was definitely an unforgettable moment in the peace march
when people of both nations took a pledge and resolved not to
believe in artificial manmade boundaries to divide water, land or
human beings. It was also symbolic of the union of human beings and
nature - drenched with waters of Beas and love, the marchers stole a
moment away to interact with each other and share held-up stories
and experiences amongst each other -
	Peace March is certainly gaining momentum day-by-day since
it began on March 23, 2005. Today it was the 23rd day of the peace
march and a special day indeed with friends from Pakistan joining in
too.

Tomorrow it shall reach Amritsar and then head towards Wagah border
on April 18, 2005. The time for another test is near: will Indian
government allow them to walk over the Wagah border as a reciprocal
and friendship gesture? Will they get visas (so far they haven't
been awarded visas) from Pakistani government? Will the people of
both nations be allowed to take ahead the friendship gesture across
Pakistan?

There are many questions of course. Seeing the response of people of
India and Pakistan, the answer is resounding affirmative Yes.
Response of governments of both nations, is certainly yet-to-be-
seen, and keeps us guessing. With the recent peace gestures at
governmental levels, aspirations are indeed soaring new heights


Sandeep Pandey            Karamat Ali
NAPM Convener              PILER
India    		     Pakistan

______


[2]

Dawn - Letters to the Editor April 10, 2005

TOBA TEK SINGH

On March 23 I attended the kisan conference in 
Toba Tek Singh. The last time I had visited Toba, 
made famous by the moving story by Manto, was in 
the 1970s, when Maulana Bhashani was the chief 
guest at a kisan conference.
I was quite pleased to see the improvement in the 
roads and infrastructure. Toba looked like a 
small town now, and definitely seemed more 
prosperous than was the case some 30 years ago.
The "azaan" from the mosques was delivered in a 
more respectful manner than in Lahore, and 
residents, it seemed, were not subjected to the 
sounds of the mullah coughing over the 
loudspeaker or to numerous announcements, as 
happens in Lahore.
The conference started at 10am and people started 
arriving in droves. Soon after, hundreds of 
trolleys arrived with red flags and workers and 
peasants shouting "Jera wavaa ohahi khawa", and 
"socialism awaay hi awaay".
These were the same slogans as were heard at the 
1970 conference. Sadly, it seemed that in so many 
years the life of the ordinary people had not 
improved. When workers shout this slogan of 
socialism "awaay hi awaay", to them it is not 
Marxism or Leninism or any other ideology. To 
them this slogan means simply their right to 
equality, justice and equal opportunities to live 
comfortably after more than 50 years of freedom.
When we hear our prime minister speak so 
eloquently on issues of development, it is 
heart-warming, but what sort of development does 
he mean? Do six-storey buildings mean 
development? Does making life difficult for the 
masses in the name of development mean 
development? Whose development does our prime 
minister speak of? Our working people who provide 
us with food and other comforts seldom get enough 
to eat themselves. Can this be called prosperity 
or development?
The 500 women who were attending the conference 
were very clear in what they desired. They wanted 
shelter, a future for their children, and 
protection from any custom which demands the 
killing of women in the name of honour. They 
wanted too that the government pass laws to 
ensure protection from the violence used against 
them by their own men. They wanted political 
parties to give them an assurance that when in 
power they would seriously take this matter up 
and see that necessary laws are passed and 
implemented.
For the shelterless, I have a suggestion. When 
the government allows people to build seven or 
eight-storey buildings, and when people are 
allowed to build huge house worth many crores, 
why can't they ask the wealthy individuals 
spending money on such lavish structures to build 
a fixed number of two-room houses for those who 
need them in villages as a condition? The names 
of such persons can be prominently displayed and 
published in capital letters. Is it possible to 
do that or does it interfere with our sort of 
development plans? Those in government should 
think about it and do something that would 
constitute real development for the people.
The gap between the rich and the poor in the 
country is becoming wider by the day. When the 
rich spend millions on decorations, without their 
conscience pricking them, the half-starved people 
can only look on in bewilderment.
It is quite disturbing to see food being flown in 
from Dubai and may be Paris or bridal dresses 
costing millions being displayed, giant prawns 
flown from God knows where and other items 
brought in from Singapore or wherever. This is 
the 'new development' which has invaded our 
country.
In this scenario, political parties should start 
gaining the trust of the people and abandon 
methods of politics seen in the past. It was in 
their time that the increase in organized crime, 
criminalization of politics and the dangerous 
link between the police, bureaucracy and corrupt 
politicians arose.
They must assure the people that they will 
establish a government which honestly wants and 
works for the betterment of the country and 
improves the lives of the majority of the people. 
Let the people flourish and let laughter be heard 
across the country.
TAHIRA MAZHAR ALI
Lahore


_______


[3]

Tehleka - April 09 , 2005

CARTOONING CONFLICT

A tribe of very young cartoonists is finding its 
own comic idiom to portray Kashmir's troubled 
reality

Basharat Peer

Malik Sajad
  From medieval times, Kashmiris have turned to 
humour and satire to deal with oppressive rulers 
and, later, callous politicians, bureaucrats, 
soldiers and militants. They gave vent to their 
feelings through the local folk theatre, Baandeh 
Paether, in which a jester praised the villain's 
tyrannical ways to make him look ridiculous.

The conflict in Kashmir took its toll. It saw the 
jesters and the Kashmiri sense of humour drown in 
an ocean of despair. Humour now lived in a 
four-inch box on the front page of a leading Urdu 
newspaper, Srinagar Times. Its brilliant 
cartoonist, Bashir Ahmad Bashir brought a smile 
to the lips while the news pages detailed deaths, 
arrests and killings. By the mid-nineties 
journalism was a career in Kashmir; newspaper 
publication rose.

Today, most newspapers published in Srinagar have 
a cartoonist. That is not unusual. The age of the 
cartoonists is. They are boys in their early 20s 
- like Zahid Hussein, who was a 12-year-old in 
1990 when the armed militancy started. Coming 
from a family of papier mache artists, he grew up 
with brushes and colours. As a child he watched 
Mickey and Donald and copied TV images. At 
school, he bartered drawings for chocolates and 
pocket money, making "portraits to drawings of 
the digestive system for my schoolmates."

The war in his adolescence changed everything. He 
began drawing bunkers, armoured cars, militants 
and soldiers, and scenes of crackdowns. But there 
were no artistic dreams. He went on to study 
chemistry, physics and mathematics at Islamia 
College, Srinagar. When his first year exam was 
cancelled after an encounter outside the 
examination centre, he thought, "I will lose a 
year." Then a friend told him about admissions at 
the Srinagar College of Music and Fine Arts. He 
had found his way.

By 2001, Hussein was majoring in sculpture, and 
his sketches had matured. Then his teacher and 
famous Kashmiri painter, Masood Hussain, 
suggested cartooning. "I did not have much 
political sense but found work at a local daily. 
Soon after that I moved to a newly established 
newspaper Kashmir Images," says Hussein, who has 
been the staff cartoonist there for three years 
now. His cartoons are boxes full of black humour.

Initially, the young artist's editors, colleagues 
and friends found him too cynical. "They thought 
my cartoons were full of bitterness and grief," 
he sighs. A thousand cartoons later, he is 
confident of his artistic responses to the 
conflict in Kashmir. "I am doing the right thing. 
It is only natural to convey the despair when you 
see it all around you," he says.

The boys are growing up. Boys like Malik Sajad, a 
17-year-old who just passed the 12th standard 
board examinations from SP. School in Srinagar. 
He does not stroll on the banks of Dal Lake with 
a pretty girl, or loiter with classmates at the 
city centre, Lal Chowk. He walks into the 
newsroom of the Valley's largest selling daily, 
Greater Kashmir, everyday. He talks to editors, 
pores over news reports. With a pencil he 
scribbles on sheets before walking back home on 
bunkered roads. In the morning, news hungry 
Kashmiris devour the newspaper's headlines and 
stop to register the cartoon Inside Outside, 
mocking the grimmest realities of society and 
politics in Kashmir. Few know his age. "Thank 
you," he says in his boyish voice, if you 
compliment him on his creations.

Two-and-a-half years ago, when Sajad walked into 
the newsroom of Greater Kashmir, he was a Class X 
student. But the newspaper was welcoming. And 
Sajad's lived experience gave him the confidence 
to take up the job. "Kashmir is what I have 
lived, what I know. So there was no problem," he 
says. He felt cartooning was the best way to grow 
as a socially relevant artist because "as a 
newspaper cartoonist you have to come up with 
something new everyday."

Sajad's brother, the main bread earner of the 
family, is a coppersmith. He is not familiar with 
any books on his art. "I used to see Sudhir 
Tailang's cartoons apart from others in the Delhi 
newspapers. In Kashmir we had Bashir's cartoons." 
The problem was improving his craft. But he found 
a mentor through the Internet: The New Yorker. "I 
try to learn from them and better myself," he 
says. There are many more youngsters like Hussein 
and Sajad in the newsrooms of vernacular papers 
in Srinagar, trying to get it right, trying to 
get it witty, and trying to make it acerbic. Some 
day Kashmir might find its own Steinberg, its own 
Marjane Satrapi. For the boys have grown up.



______


[4]

[Published under the title "Faith accompli" in The Tribune on April 3, 2005 ]

Goan festival of communal amity under secular stress

Shiv Kumar

Just 30-minutes away from the famed Calangute 
beach, a small hamlet in Siolim, Goa is bravely 
struggling to maintain a centuries old tradition 
that enjoins Hindus and Catholic Christians to 
jointly salute the formless village deity.

On the first Monday after Christmas, Hindu and 
Christian residents of the waddo or hamlet of 
Dando congregate on an open plot of land to keep 
a night-long vigil and appease the formless deity 
who is believed to protect the village. The zagor 
or wake begins with prayers that are unmistakably 
Christian though the sing-song chants are said to 
have been drawn from the abhangs of Sant Tukaram, 
Maharashtra's poet-saint. And the wizened priest 
leading the congregation is a Hindu villager from 
the toddy-tapper caste who does this just once a 
year.

"I am the fifth generation purohit to carry on 
the tradition," says Vitthal Devraj Shirodkar. 
Sprightly and sharp despite his 83 years, 
Shirodkar emphasizes the non-Brahminical 
traditions of the post-harvest festival. "It is a 
salute to khazaneshwar or the god of the khazan 
after a good harvest. People offer oil, candles 
and even cigarettes and feni in thanksgiving," 
says Shirodkar, affectionately called Daaji by 
the villagers. The khazan style of agriculture 
unique to this region enables paddy cultivation, 
pisciculture and salt manufacture on the same 
land by regulating the ingress of seawater.

Shirodkar's annual ritual is preceded by 40 days 
of abstinence when he stays away from even 
non-vegetarian food and prepares for the zagor 
with prayers and rehearsals with the villagers. 
The proceedings begin with a procession from the 
house of his neighbors, the Fernandes' with a 
coconut ritually offered to the deity. The 
procession halts at wayside crosses and Hindu 
shrines including the St. Ann's Chapel. 
"Traditionally three hymns are sung by Hindus and 
Christians at the chapel before the procession 
moves on," says Santan D'Souza, one of the 
hereditary participants at the Zagor. Then Hindus 
make offerings of oil while Catholics offer 
candles at the chapel.

The prayers before the Zagorio, as the formless 
deity is called, has Shirodkar offering 
salutations to the unity of the Father, Son and 
the Holy Ghost. The ritual five hymns by 
Shirodkar are followed by traditional dances and 
folk theatre enacted by villagers, hereditary 
participants whose roles are inherited through 
generations. The principal characters like the 
firangi-raja (white lord), mali (gardener), malin 
(gardener's wife), mahar (untouchable), etc 
represent Goan society as it evolved through the 
years. The all night vigil is also helped by the 
Konkani tiatr, or theatre, where skits on 
political and social satire are performed.

According to Dr. Alito Sequiera, head of Goa 
University's Sociology Department, the tradition 
of zagor faced stiff opposition from the 
erstwhile Portuguese rulers and the Church. 
"Zagors were banned from the mid-17th century 
till the 1930s," says Dr Sequeira. However the 
ban was generally ineffective and Hindus and 
Catholics performed distinctive zagors across the 
state, says Dr Sequiera.

In her book, Feasts, Festivals and Observances of 
Goa (L & L Publications, 2004) Maria de Lourdes 
Bravo da Costa Rodrigues, traces the Siolim zagor 
to 1865 when the Hindus and Catholics lobbied 
with the then Portuguese rulers to get the ban 
lifted. "The Catholics who were banned from 
participating in the prayers got the Hindus to 
pray on their behalf," explains   Shirodkar about 
his singing praises to the Christian trinity.

Till the singer Remo Fernandes discovered it in 
the 1980s, the zagor remained just another little 
tradition that dots the Indian spiritual 
landscape. "It used to be so localized that few 
outside Siolim knew about it," recollects the 
singer. The zagor hit big time after Remo wrote 
about it and gave performances for almost a 
decade. He quit attending after the zagor 
threatened to become another party. "It got 
bigger and famous and I was no longer comfortable 
with it," says the singer.

With the Siolim zagor now on the tourist map, the 
hereditary participants at the zagor have money 
in their hands. "Money is causing problems for 
everyone," says Shirodkar. A few years ago, the 
residents of Dando got into a scrap with 
neighboring villagers who wanted to take the 
place of the traditional performers. "There was 
trouble and police had to be called in," says 
Shirodkar.

Communalism is also raising its head. 
Differences among the villagers cropped up after 
Shirodkar's family built a small shrine akin to a 
temple on the zagor rounds. Though no idol has 
been installed, some Catholics are showing signs 
of discomfort. "After some people complained, our 
parish priest told us not to dance with the 
Hindus," says Santan D'Souza. The Shirodkar 
family however maintains that the funds generated 
during zagor are used to improve amenities in the 
village. "Earlier people had to spend out of 
their own pockets, now we have the funds to 
provide facilities," says Kanhaiya Shirodkar, the 
old man's son and a local pharmacist. According 
to him the committee managing the funds have 
representatives from both Hindus and Christians.

Villagers insist that most of the 28 Catholic 
families in Dando showed up for the last zagor 
despite the Church's injunctions. "Only a few who 
joined sects like the Believers didn't turn up," 
says Fernandes. Growing prosperity poses a bigger 
danger though. "With the spread of education 
entire Catholic families are migrating out 
thereby altering the colour of the zagor", 
bemoans Kanhaiya Shirodkar.

Though the villagers of Dando resolve to maintain 
the zagor's character, observers like Dr Sequiera 
warn of shared spaces transforming into purely 
Hindu shrines. "It would only be too tempting to 
adopt Brahminical practices to attract more 
people and money," he notes.

(Part of a series on `Communal Polarization and 
Threat to Shared Traditions in India' supported 
by the National Foundation for India)


______


[5]

The Hindu - April 14, 2005

"PUBLIC FUNDS FOR SAFFRON AGENDA"

Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI: A Human Resource Development Ministry 
inquiry has found that Government funds 
sanctioned for the development of tribals in at 
least two States were being "misused for 
furthering" the Sangh Parivar's agenda.

In its report submitted recently, the inquiry 
committee recommended the immediate freeze of 
grants to the Friends of Tribal Society (FTS), 
which has links with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, 
as it was "embezzling these funds, using the 
grants for creating disharmony amongst religious 
groups, and creating a political cadre."

According to Avdhash Kaushal, who headed the 
committee, the funds sanctioned by not only by 
the HRD Ministry but also by the Ministries of 
Rural Development, Tribal Welfare, Science and 
Technology and Women and Child Development were 
"diverted to generate hatred towards the 
minorities and condition the minds of children."

As a case in point, the report cited the use of 
`Jai Shri Ram' as a response to roll call in the 
classroom and the use of the names of Hindu Gods 
to teach the English alphabet.

The committee has with it a "small booklet of 
English teaching called the English Primer (For 
Class-II) in which `A' stands for Arjun, `B' for 
Brahma ... `H' for Hanuman ... `O' for Om ... `T' 
for temple... - complete with pictures."

______


[6]

COURT ISSUES NOTICE TO DELHI UNIVERSITY, ST STEPHENS COLLEGE

New Delhi, Apr 13:
http://www.webindia123.com/news/states.asp?state=ES14%2CDelhi&count=4&action=fullstory&n_date=ES14%2CDelhi4%2F14%2F20054

Delhi High Court today issued notices to the University of Delhi, St
Stephens College and its principal Anil Wilson on the petition of a
lecturer and others for not constituting a College Complaint Committee
(CCC) on sexual harassment.

Justice Gita Mittal served notices to the University through its
Registrar, St Stephens College and Dr Wilson, the principal of the
college.

''Despite the University Authorities taking steps to create and
maintain an academic and work environment free of sexual harassment
for students, academic and non-teaching staff of the University, the
Executive Council of St Stephens college did not constitute the CCC,''
said the petition filed by Counsel Manish Bishnoi on behalf of Ms
Nandita Narain, the Head of the department of Mathematics, Karen
Gabriel and Keshav Dutt.

While pronouncing the judgement in the ''Vishaka vs State of
Rajasthan'' in 1997, the Supreme Court had directed that whether or
not such conduct (sexual harassment) constitutes an offence under law
or a breach of the service rules, an appropriate complaint mechanism
should be created in the employer's organisation for redress of the
complaint made by the victim and therefore provided for constitution
of complains committee.'' The University of Delhi in an ordinance had
directed for the constitution of CCC, University Units Complaints
Committee (UUCC), Central Pool Complaints Committee (CPCC) abd the
Apex Complaints Committee (ACC) in all colleges of the university.

The Forum against Sexual Harassnment (FASH) also brought to the notice
of the Vice-Chancellor of the University about the non-formation of
the CCC in the St Stephens College.

The teachers of the college gave a representation to the Principal to
reconsider the decision of the governing body of the college on
September 27, 2004 for not constituting the CCC.

The Principal had given a letter to Ms Narain saying that the
institution was governed by a body representing the minority
community.

Dr Wilson said the institution has christian character and minority
character, so it did not require such a body, the petition alleged.

The petition has sought direction from the court to the University for
taking appropriate action against the college for not taking steps in
accordance with the apex court order.


o o o o o o

HC SEEKS EXPLANATION FROM STEPHEN'S ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT ORD

Press Trust of India
New Delhi, April 13, 2005|22:09 IST
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1319062,000600010001.htm


The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought explanation from prestigious
St Stephen's college on an allegation that it has given a go-by to an
ordinance passed by the Delhi University providing for prohibition and
punishment for sexual harassment of women.

Issuing notices to the college, its principal Anil Wilson and
University of Delhi, Justice Gita Mital posted the matter for hearing
on May 17.

The petition filed by two teachers and a non-teaching staff of the
college has sought court's direction for the university to take
appropriate action against the St Stephen's college for not
implementing the Ordinance XV (D) framed by university on the issue of
sexual harassment.

Senior advocate Jayant Bhushan and Manish K Bishnoi, appearing for the
petitioners, submitted that the ordinance was framed to effectively
deal with the issue of sexual harassment in university pursuant to the
guidelines provided by the Supreme Court in Vishaka's case in 1997.

However, after initiating steps to implement ordinance and the process
of constituting College Complaints Committee was started, the
principal abruptly stopped the process on the ground that university
ordinances dealing with administrative issues were not applicable to
the minority college which require approval by the governing body,
they alleged.

"The principal has desperately tried to link this issue with
'Christian character' and 'Minority character' of the institution,"
the petitioners said quoting a reply from principal to the
representation given to him by the teachers and staff of the college
to reconsider the decision of the governing body and seeking
implementation of the Ordinance.

The counsel submitted that the Ordinance provides that the CCC will
consist of two elected/nominated teachers representatives, two from
non-teaching representatives, three students representatives to be
elected from Gender Sensitizing Committee.

Apart from these seven members, two persons with known contribution to
women's issues are to be co-opted by the Committee from outside the
college as the per the guidelines of the apex court in Vishaka's case.

The petitioner alleged that more than a year has lapsed since the
University Ordinance was framed but Delhi University did not take
effective steps for its proper implementation in the college.

With a view to safeguard and protect the fundamental rights of the
working women, the apex court in Vishaka case in 1997 has laid down
binding guidelines and norms for due observance at workplaces and
other institutions until a legislation is enacted for the purpose.

______


[7]

To: The Commissioner of Police, Greater Mumbai

From: Anand Patwardhan, resident Mumbai.

Subject: First Information Report
8th April 2005

I state that I, Anand Patwardhan, am a resident of Mumbai and a
documentary filmmaker for the last 30 years, 
having made 14 documentary films on
socio-political issues.

On 6th April 2005, I accompanied a peaceful march of slum-dwellers of
Mumbai, who under the leadership of Medha Patkar and others, were
protesting against the recent spate of demolitions carried out by civic
authorities. My interest was to document this event on video.

The march which consisted of around 8000 people including a large number
of women and young children, began from August Kranti Maidan at about 12 PM
and reached the outskirts of Azad Maidan by about 2 PM. That it was
entirely peaceful is amply documented in the two Mini DV video cassettes
that I recorded during the march which I am prepared to give into evidence
if called upon to do so.

When the march reached Azad Maidan, I was at the back of the demonstration
but made my way to the front. At this point the leadership was asking the
marchers to sit down peacefully on the road outside Azad Maidan. Police
personnel had themselves formed a cordon in front of the marchers. The
police warned the marchers that it was illegal to occupy the road but
Medha Patkar argued that as the Azad Maidan was already full of people
demonstrating other causes that day, they would sit where they were.
Sanjay M.G, another leader, told the police that the issue could be settled
amicably and the police should allow a microphone so that the situation
could be properly explained to the large group of marchers. The police
after initially agreeing to the request for a microphone, changed their
minds.

Throughout this exchange, as throughout the entire march, there was
absolutely no violence on the part of the marchers. While the negotiations
between the police and the marchers was going on, I noticed a police
officer pointing directly at my camera and conferring with his fellow
police officers while continuing to point towards me. I did not understand
the reason for being given such special attention but these gestures of
the police are documented in the video I shot.

A few minutes later without any warning, the police surged in to grab me.
My shirt tore. Instinctively I stumbled back into the crowd while
continuing to film. Meanwhile the police began to assault Medha Patkar and
others. I was able to film a few seconds of this before the police came
directly for me through the crowd. As they grabbed me, my shirt ripped, my
camera fell to the ground, its external microphone broke away, my glasses
also fell, and I was dragged into a police van.

Within minutes other marchers were dragged into the same van. Amongst them
was Medha Patkar who was crying out in pain from the blows she had
received. I could see that a lathi charge was in progress outside. Another
bleeding marcher was then thrown followed by over a dozen more. Although
the police were brutal in their methods, I did not see a single instance
of any demonstrator retaliating physically in any way. The violence was
entirely from the side of the police.

About 20 of us were then driven to Ramabai Ambedkar police station. We
were kept here for a few hours. During this time a large crowd of journalists
and lawyers who wanted to meet us gathered at the gate outside the police
station, but although no charges had yet been framed against us, we were
prevented from meeting these people. When I tried to go out into the
compound from where the people outside could see me, I was prevented by
the police from doing so.

Later we were all driven to Nair Hospital where we were medically examined
one by one. This process took about an hour. Some of us who had mobile
phones were in contact with lawyers and members of the press who informed
us that they had arrived at Nair Hospital but were not being allowed to
see us.

Surrounded by police, we were kept in a secluded wing of the Nair Hospital
for several hours even after all the medical examinations were complete.
Finally at about 9.30 PM we were driven to Azad Maidan police station. We
were not told of any formal charges against us throughout this period.
Finally at night, almost 8 hours after our "arrest" we were allowed to
meet
with our lawyers for the first time at Azad Maidan police station. Our
lawyer then represented us at the night magistrate's court and secured our
release on personal bond.

We were finally released from the Azad Maidan police station after
midnight. As we were leaving I asked Inspector Kadam whom I recognized as
the man who had pointed at me before the lathi charge began, whether the
police had gathered the belongings of the demonstrators who had been lathi
charged. I wanted to recover my glasses and my camera parts that had
broken off in the scuffle. Others in our group had also lost their belongings.
Kadam said to me with a straight face that there had been no lathi charge!
I repeated my question and he repeated his answer, adding that he knew the
law.

I suffered no serious physical injury but was severely traumatized by this
unprovoked brutality. While I escaped serious injury, other demonstrators
including women and young children suffered from broken limbs and worse.
It is clear that I was deliberately targeted because the police did not want
me to record the extent of their brutal attack on slum-dwellers and
activists. My camera was damaged and I lost a valuable part of the camera
on the street. I will know the exact extent of the loss after I get my
repair and replacement bills. The pair of glasses I lost is worth around
Rs.7000.

This letter should be treated as a First Information Report (FIR) and lead
to proper investigation and due compensation.

Sincerely

Anand Patwardhan

Note: The Police commissioner refused to register this FIR and 160 other
such FIRs filed by injured demonstrators. We are planning to seek redress
by filing a writ petition in the Bombay High Court.


______


[8]

[PUBLICATIONS ANNOUNCEMENT]

April, 2005

                      PRESS-RELEASE

  The PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION WATCH GROUP 
released at a Press-conference today a Report 
entitled:

THE PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION HOAX
Truth Before The Nation

A CITIZEN'S REPORT ON HOW PIL FAILS TO PROVIDE

JUSTICE TO THOSE WHO NEED IT MOST

  The 64-paged Report - the first of its kind in 
India- was prepared by Ms. Shobha Aggarwal, 
Advocate. Over 600 PIL cases adjudged by the 
Supreme Court (during 1980-1999) were studied; 
the report documents about 100 references.

The Report analyzes how the law of natural 
justice (no one be condemned unheard) was 
violated; how the due process was not followed; 
how notice was not served to those who were 
eventually to be affected by the outcome of these 
cases; how the judgements were null and void 
because the procedure adopted by the judges was 
unconstitutional; how there was a rush to 
judgement.

As a consequence, of several PIL judgements, the 
interests of the economically weaker class have 
suffered, even though PIL in India derives its 
legitimacy as an instrument to provide justice to 
the underprivileged and the downtrodden. To 
illustrate, leprosy patients had filed a writ 
petition in the Supreme Court in 1985. After 20 
years of legal struggle and innumerable court 
orders a suitable legislation for their treatment 
and rehabilitation (as ordered in 1985) is yet to 
see the light of the day. Again, the bias against 
the professional blood donors was so strong that 
they were not even allowed to intervene in a PIL 
which took away their livelihood and consequently 
created a scarcity of blood supply in the 
country. Moreover in the case of closure of Delhi 
industries SC thought nothing of taking away the 
livelihood of around one million workers and 
displacing them from Delhi where they were rooted 
for two generations. This judgement not only 
violates the fundamental rights of the workers 
but also the statutory provisions regarding the 
closures and retrenchment of workers under 
chapter V of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

PETITION TO PARLIAMENT

This fore-noon a petition (Annexure 1 in the 
Report) was submitted at the office of the 
Speaker, Lok Sabha along with a copy of the 
Report. The PIL Watch Group appealed to the 
speaker to ensure that the judiciary did not 
violate the principles of natural justice and all 
judgements hitherto passed by the courts where 
natural justice principles were not followed be 
set aside with retrospective affect by an Act of 
the Parliament.

PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION WATCH GROUP

For copies write to: ashobha at vsnl.com

______


[9] [CALL FOR SIGNATURES]

Sign the On Line Petition in support of the idea 
of "Ahimsa Day", International Day of 
Non-Violence, on every January 30th
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/idnv0123/

______


[10]     [UPCOMING EVENTS: ]

(i)

Citizen For Justice and Peace

FLASHBACK GUJARAT 2002 - THE INDIAN STATE AND MASS CRIMES
Victims Voices Three Years Later
Police Reform
Witness Protection
Compensation
Role of the Public Prosecutor

Witnesses will share their experiences of the long, legal struggle
Legal Experts will speak on issues of the State's 
accountability towards the Rule of Law-- Issues 
of Police Reform, Witness Protection, 
Compensation and the Role of the Public Prosecutor
We invite you to attend and lend your voice to the struggle for justice

Speakers: Mrs Ahsan Jaffri, wife of the late Shri 
Ahsan Jaffri, Rupabehn Modi, Syed Khan, Firoz 
Pathan, Nanumiya Malek, Rehana Vohra, and other 
victims of the Naroda Gaon and Naroda Pattiya 
carnages, Gulberg, Sardarpura and Ode massacres.
Legal Voices:  Shri Shanti Bhushan, Ms Kamini 
Jaiswal, Ms Nitya Ramakrishnan, Shri Mihir Desai, 
Shri Suhel Tirmizi and Ms Teesta Setalvad will 
speak.
Date: Saturday April 16, 2005
Time: 2.30 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Venue: Speaker's Hall, Constitution Club, New Delhi
Organisers:

The Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai, 
SAHMAT, New Delhi, Human Rights Law Network, New 
Delhi

Nirant, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai - 400049 Phone: 2660 3927 /2660 2288
e-mail: cjp02in at yahoo.com


(ii)

ANNOUNCEMENT
(Rozgar Adhikar Yatra, May-June 2005)

A country-wide "rozgar adhikar yatra" (right to 
work convoy) will be launched from Delhi on 13 
May 2005.  The main objective of this yatra is to 
consolidate the campaign for a full-fledged 
Employment Guarantee Act (EGA).

The yatra is a follow-up to the "display of 
banners" of 21 December 2005, when thousands of 
banners from all over the country, bearing about 
10 lakh signatures demanding a full-fledged EGA, 
were displayed in Parliament Street (New Delhi). 
The banners will travel with the yatra and be 
displayed in various places on the way.

The yatra will go through ten states (Haryana, 
Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, 
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and 
Uttar Pradesh) before returning to Delhi at the 
end of June.  Public meetings, cultural 
activities, training workshops, press 
conferences, etc., will be taking place on the 
way.

All organizations committed to the right to work 
are invited to take part in these activities. 
They are also welcome to the next preparatory 
meeting, to be held on 21 April (10 am to 2 pm) 
at the office of the National Federation of 
Indian Women in New Delhi (1002 Ansal Bhawan, 
Kasturba Gandhi Marg, tel 2331 9541).

For further information, please send a line to 
<mailto:rozgar at gmail.com>rozgar at gmail.com, 
contact "People's Action for Employment 
Guarantee" (9811553633 [Annie], 9810810365 
[Subhash] or 9811087811 [Navjyoti]), or check the 
Employment Guarantee section at 
www.righttofoodindia.org.  The proposed itinerary 
of the yatra is also available on this website.


(iii)


Friends,

We invite you with great pleasure to attend the 
annual day programme of 'Sandarbh' on 18th April 
2005.The theme chosen this year is Urban 
Development and the Rights of the Poor.

Comrade Prakash Reddy from Bombay will address 
the meeting. We also plan to screen Anand 
Patwardhan's film 'Bombay, Hamara Shahar', which 
will be followed by a brief presentation on the 
development of Indore town and the slum dwellers 
here.

The programme has been arranged at Shakuntal 
Garden, A.B. road (Near Press Complex) at 6 p.m. 
in the evening. Please do come and also extend 
the invitation to interested friends.

Sandarbh Collective
Contact Numbers: Jaya Mehta:0731-2561663, 
Satyanarayan:98260-91605, Vineet 
Tiwari:98931-92740, Rakesh Diwan:98260-66153, 
Kalpana Mehta:0731-2561296, Saroj & 
Chinmay:0731-2413824, M. V. Kumar 
(Chennai):044-24918198, Anand Shintre 
(Mumbai)0-9819747580

The Theme Chosen :
Starting from December 8, 2004, Bombay Municipal 
Corporation has demolished 84000 dwellings and 
uprooted more than 300000 people. The mainstream 
media has hardly taken any notice. Such 
initiatives to clean  and beautify our metros are 
repeatedly undertaken by the local administration 
and the so called educated elite. This one is on 
a larger scale but it doesn't make news.
In the last two decades many towns have witnessed 
an alarming rise in the slum population. As much 
as 40 to 60 percent of the town’s population is 
squeezed in crowded and filthy surroundings. The 
living conditions are appallingly inhuman. At the 
same time most of them are uprooted again and 
again because their habitation is often an 
encroachment on someone else's land. Among the 
elite there are some who are kinder. They ask for 
town planning and beautification with a human 
face i.e. remove them from the center but offer 
proper rehabilitation sites at the periphery..
In our opinion the solution is not available in 
terms of appropriate town-planning. It needs to 
be located in transforming the production and 
employment structure, both in rural and urban 
areas. The rights of the poor need to be 
protected not just in the physical space of the 
towns but also in the employment and production 
structures. Only when people are meaningfully 
integrated in the production process, is it 
possible to provide them respectable living 
conditions. This has to be the basic premise of a 
civilized development paradigm.

Prakash Reddy:
Prakash Reddy has been for a long time involved 
in the struggle against urban development and 
beautification which leaves no space for the 
poor. Currently he is the president of a broad 
alignment of such struggles “Jhopadi Bachao 
Parishad’ ( Slum Protection Council) in Mumbai. 
After finishing Chemical Engineering from Mumbai 
IIT, Comrade Reddy chose to devote his life to 
political struggles aimed at making this world a 
better place. He has been Maharashtra President 
of AISF and Vice-President of AIYF. Currently he 
is the Gen. Secretary of Lal Bavta Mazdoor Union 
(Red Flag Workers’ Union) and the secretary of 
the Mumbai Unit of Communist Party of India (CPI).

The Film:
Whose city is this, whose country and whose 
world? These are the questions raised by Anand 
Patwardhan in his film-Bombay: Hamara Shahar 
(Bombay : Our City). This film gives an account 
of the life of human beings living in the slums 
in inhuman situations; people, who make high rise 
buildings but don’t have any worth-while shelter 
for themselves; people who clean the town in 
various ways but are compelled to live with dirt, 
dust and hunger. This film puts a huge question 
mark on the whole development paradigm.The film 
made in 1986 won many international rewards as 
the best non-feature film of the year Ironically, 
Doordarshan refused to telecast it. Anand fought 
a court case for the same and won it. Eventually 
Doordarshan was forced to telecast it at prime 
time...

Sandarbh:
Sandarbh is an informal group of like minded 
friends in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. We have been 
engaged in various activities aimed at opposing 
the communal and imperialist agenda. We organize 
study circles, public meetings, workshops and 
cultural events to spell out our political stand 
on relevant national and international issues. We 
have written a few booklets, compiled 
poster-exhibitions and slide-shows and produced a 
documentary on the issues of globalisation, 
fascism and communalism.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

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