We are republishing a joint statement
shared with us by the Forum Against Corporatization And Militarization
concerning ongoing state repression they are facing. The repeated
arrests, detentions, torture, and court cases used against these
activists is unconscionable and we condemn it as yet another example of
the Indian state’s fascist attacks on any form of dissent. We encourage
anyone who supports the right to dissent, activism, and struggle to
reach out to sign this statement in solidarity.
Recently, the Delhi police special cell
carried out a series of illegal abductions and torture of various
student, labour rights, editor of a political magazine and
anti-displacement activists in Delhi. Starting from 12th March, various
activists were abducted by the Delhi special cell personnel in civil
clothes, and taken to their office in the New Friends colony, where they
were subjected to various acts of physical, sexual, and psychological
torture and humiliation at the hands of the special cell police. The
targeted individuals include student activists Akshay, Dristy, Gaurav,
Ilakkiya, Kiran, Nazariya magazine editor Rudra, labour rights activists
Shiv Kumar and Manjeet, anti-displacement activists Baadal and Ehtmam.
Social activist Aman, who had come to Delhi to file a habeas corpus for
Manjeet, was also picked by the police in a clear attempt to obstruct
judicial processes.
Shiv Kumar was subjected to brutal
beating, and was hung upside down, and forced to give false testimonies
at gun point under threat of elimination. Rudra and Gaurav were forced
into obscene acts in custody, and subjected to multiple forms of
physical and sexual torture, humiliatition, and psychological torture.
Kiran, Akshay, Rudra and Manjeet were beaten using leather and rubber
straps and subjected to slurs and demeaning treatment and sexual
violence. Rudra was threatened with encounter and rape. Ehtmam was
brutally beaten and subjected to islamophobic slurs and psychological
torture. Ilakkiya, Baadal, and Dristy were subjected to physical and
psychological torture and patriarchal slurs. All of these activists,
except Rudra were released in the early hours of 15th march. Rudra was
released around the mid day of 15th march. All of them were forced to
sign blank papers and notices before being released from illegal
custody.
It is to be noted that among the abducted
activists, several of them have suffered similar physical, sexual, and
psychological torture at the hands of the special cell last year in
July. Baadal, Ehtmam, Gaurav and Rudra were abducted similarly and
tortured. They still have recurring flashbacks, panic attacks and
psychological problems from that time. Shiv Kumar has also been
subjected to third degree torture during the farmers’ protest in 2021 –
an ongoing case in the Chandigarh high court. He has been diagnosed with
PTSD due to the torture he suffered earlier, and has been under
treatment for the same. Akshay, Ilakkiya and Kiran had been
undemocratically jailed for a month for participating in the air
pollution protests at India gate last year November. They had been
brutally beaten by the police then too.
The special cell police claimed that the
illegal interrogations took place for a missing person case of Vallika
Varshri, former editor of Nazariya magazine, which is in fact a bogus
case. Vallika herself appeared before a Delhi court on 16th March and
testified that she, as an adult, had in fact left her home and cut off
contact with her family by herself and nobody had forced her to do so.
The reported abduction, illegal detention, and custodial physical,
sexual, and psychological tortures constitute grave violations of the
Indian constitution, the Protection of Human Rights Act, and India’s
obligations under international law. The DK Basu guidelines, laid out by
the Supreme Court of India in 1997, prohibits any illegal detention by
the police. It says that the police must have identification badges on
themselves, provide a signed arrest memo, allow the person to inform a
relative, allow the person to apply for legal counsel and medical
examinations must be conducted on the person every 48 hours. Article 7
and 9 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which the Indian
State has signed and ratified, prohibit torture and inhumane treatment,
and arbitrary detentions and arrests, respectively. The International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) article 7 also prohibits
any kind of torture. Even though the Indian state has signed but not
ratified the UN Convention Against Torture, it is still legally
obligated under the UDHR and ICCPR to stop any kind of custodial torture
which it has repeatedly committed.
The abducted activists are members of
Forum Against Corporatization And Militarization (FACAM) and its
constituent organisations. FACAM is a joint platform of various student
and youth organisations, workers’ organisations, teacher’s forums,
intellectuals, and individual democrats formed to oppose the Indian
government’s war on people waged in service of domestic and foreign
capital. FACAM had recently given the call to observe anti-imperialism
week from 23rd march to 31st march, commemorating the martyrdom
anniversary of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru on 23rd march. FACAM
had also announced a People’s Convention Against Imperialist Loot, which
will happen on 31st march. The Indian state, using its state-employed
goons, the police, has subjected these activists to torture as part of
its broader attempt to suppress any democratic voice against open
corporate looting. This reflects the deeply rotten nature of Indian
state apparatus that has shed all semblance of democratic conduct,
trashed all pretenses of the rule of law, all in line with the open
affirmation of its Brahminical Hindutva Fascist ideology, which under
the RSS-BJP has become the de-facto state ideology.
Exposing the Hindutva-corporate nexus and
its genocide and displacement of Adivasis to facilitate open and
unhindered looting of resources, is being treated as a crime and the
activists are being punished for it. Under Operation Kagaar, thousands
of people, including children, have been massacred amounting to a
genocide, displaced, and subjected to brutal violence to facilitate land
grabbing, mining, and extraction of resources by transnational
corporates. Intense militarization in the form of deploying CRPF, CoBRA,
DRGs, and police forces, along with technology imported from Israel
such as drone surveillance and aerial bombardment, have been used on the
Adivasi peasantry of resource rich regions. Maoist rebels have been
captured, tortured, and killed in fake encounters, violating both the
Constitution of India and international law. FACAM has been advocating
against this war on people. The repression on FACAM members is an attack
on the broader democratic dissent to the anti-people policies of the
Indian state. In fact, the attack on democratic rights and progressive
ideology has been the very essence of Surajkund scheme, which is a plan
for the consolidation of a Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist Indian state,
one that would serve the interests of the corporates better.
We, the undersigned organisations and
individuals, stand in unwavering solidarity with the affected activists.
We condemn in the strongest terms, the illegal abduction, brutal
torture and assault, sexual abuse, rape threats, and humiliation of the
11 activists belonging to various labour rights organisations, student
organisations, a political magazine and anti-displacement forum. We call
forth all international bodies, media, and progressive and democratic
individuals to condemn the same, and demand justice.
We demand the following:
- A swift, transparent, independent investigation on the illegal
abductions and torture. Those responsible must be held accountable.
- The unlawfully seized belongings including electronic devices of the
activists are returned to ensure protection from tampering of the same.
- The unlawful torture chambers of the Delhi Police Special Cell must
be disbanded with immediate effect and all torture equipments seized.
- An immediate end to the harrassment of activists across India. Their safety and well-being must be ensured as well.
Signed,
Forum Against Corporatization And Militarization
Jal-Jangal-Jameen USA
Joint Committee to Stop Repression in India, Britain
New Labor Organizing Committee
People’s Defense Committee
Revolutionary Student Union