INDIA Justice for Murali (Com. Ajith) Campaign –

• Editorial Statement
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Updated: Justice for Murali (Com. Ajith) Campaign – Judith Butler, Spivak, Noam Chomsky demand proper medical care to Maoist prisoner Comrade Ajith (K.Muraleedharan)

September 8, 2016

Update: September 10

Prof. Judith Butler endorses call for medicare to Maoist prisoner

Globally renowned feminist thinker and philosopher Judith Butler, Professor, University of California, Berkeley, has supported the global campaign for providing proper medical care to ailing Maoist under trial prisoner K Murleedharan from Kerala, lodged in the Yerawada Central Prison near Pune for the past 15 months. Prof. Butler had endorsed the call in an e-mail message to Justice for Murali, a global collective, demanding medical care and bail for the 62-year old Muraleedharan, suffering from cardiac related ailments.

Globally renowned public intellectuals and social scientists such as Prof. Noam Chomsky, Prof. Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak and Prof. Partha Chatterjee have already endorsed the call.

Prof. G Haragopal of the Defense Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners and poet Varavara Rao called for granting bail for Mr. Muraleedharan on medical grounds immediately. “As a heart patient he requires timely treatment and medical assistance. The authorities are denying even these basic rights for him”, they said. Prof. GN Saibaba, Prof. C Sheshayya, President Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, Prof. G Lakshman President, Telengana Civil Liberties Committee are amongst the persons came forward to demand proper medical care and bail for Mr. Muraleedharan.

Justice for Murali (Com. Ajith)

Justice for Murali is a global collective that has emerged for ensuring proper medical care and treatment and bail for Muraleedharan.K (Murali Kannampilly), a radical political activist for the last four decades and a distinguished scholar of political economy, Dalit studies and author of ‘Land, Caste and Servitude’, a path-breaking analysis of agrarian relations in Kerala, languishing in the Yerawada Central Prison near Pune for the past 15 months as an under trial prisoner.

The health condition of the 62-year Murali, who has already undergone an open heart surgery, has been a matter of great concern for his friends, comrades, family members and well wishers ever since his arrest. As feared his health condition took a turn for worse forcing the jail authorities to admit him in the Sassoon Government Hospital in Pune on September 4, 2016. But the jail authorities got him discharged from the hospital on September 6, 2016 following his advocate filing a petition to ensure proper care to him at the hospital and permitting his son to attend to him there as there was no one to even take urine sample that the doctor had instructed to be tested, to the lab.

The jail authorities have taken such a step even as globally renowned intellectuals and social scientists such as Prof. Noam Chomsky, Prof Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak, Prof. Partha Chatterjee supported the call for proper medical care to Mr. Muraleedharan.

Justice for Murali has been formed to extend this campaign on a further wider scale to ensure proper medical care for the ailing prisoner as well as demanding his release from the prison. We seek the help and support of all persons believing in democracy, human rights and individual liberty to join the demand for proper medical care and release of Murali from prison. After his arrest on the charges of being a leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) he was produced to an open court only once in the past 15 months. Lodged in a high security prison the jail authorities have also prohibited access to books and other publications to him.

The action of jail authorities is against the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Indian constitution, the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention against Torture. We once again seek the support of all people believing in freedom, human rights and individual dignity to join the campaign for ensuring proper medical care and release of Mr. Muraleedharan from prison.

List prominent persons who have already joined campaign

1: Prof. Noam Chomsky: MIT
2: Prof. Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak: Columbia University
3: Prof. Judith Butler: University of California, Los Angeles
4: Prof. Partha Chatterjee: Columbia University
5: Prof. Anand Teltumbde: IIT Khargapur
6: Prof. Prabhat Patnaik: Emeritus Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University
7: Bernard D’Mello, Deputy Editor, Economic and Political Weekly
8: Dr. KT Rammohan: Former Dean School of Social Science, Mahatma Gandhi University
9: Dr. TT Sreekumar: Professor, MICA, School of Ideas, Ahmedabad
11: Dr. J. Devika : Assistant Professor, Centre For Development Studies, Thiruvananathapuram
12: Prof. AK Ramakrishnan: Professor, Centre for West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
13: K Satchidandan: poet writer
14: Meena Kandasamy: poet writer
15: Kanam Rajendran: State Secretary, Communist Party of India, Kerala
16: BRP Bhaskar: Eminent Journalist and Writer
17: K Venu : Writer and social commentator
18: MM Somasekharan: Writer and social commentator
19: Njamal Babu (TN Joy): Public Intellectual
21: PK Venugopal: Janakeeya Kala Sahitya Vedi
22: Prof. G Haragopal: Defense Committee, Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners
23: Varavara Rao, President, Revolutionary Democratic Front, Founder, Revolutionary Writers Association
24: Rajkishore, General Secretary, RDF
25: Prof. G N Saibaba, Deputy Secretary, RDF
26: Varalakshmi, Secretary, Virasam (Revolutionary Writers Association)
27: Prof C Sheshayya, President, APCLC
28: Prof. G Lakshman, President, Telengana Civil Liberties Committee.

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Previous Update: September 6

Prof. Noam Chomsky, globally renowned scholar and advocate of human rights, has called for proper medical treatment to ( Comrade Ajith) K. Muraleedharan, an under trial prisoner currently admitted in Sassoon Government Hospital in Pune, Maharashtra. In an E-mail message to the committee campaigning for proper medical care to the Maoist leader, the MIT scholar said he is “happy to sign the statement”.
Prof. Chomsky has also endorsed the call for a “fair, transparent and speedy trial of Muraleedharan or releasing him on bail”.

Prof. Anand Teltumbde of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Bernard D’Mello, deputy editor Economic and Political Weekly have also endorsed the call for appropriate medical care to the 62-year old Muraleedharan, ailing from cardiac related ailments.

Muraleedharan K, a radical political activist for the last four decades and a distinguished scholar of political economy, Dalit studies and the author of ‘Land, Caste and Servitude’, a path-breaking analysis of agrarian relations in Kerala has been admitted at Sassoon Hospital three days ago.

He was arrested by Anti-terrorist squad of the Maharashtra Police from Talegaon Dabhade near Pune on May 9, 2015. After extensive questioning that lasted for several days Muraleedharan, popularly known as Ajit, has been charged under the provisions of the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and lodged in the Yerwada Jail in Pune as an under trial prisoner. Excepting for once, he was not produced in any open court for the past 15 months.

Janakeeya Manshyavakasa Prasthanam (JMP), a human rights organisation, has launched a global campaign calling for proper medical treatment to the ailing prisoner.

The health condition of the 62-year old Muraleedharan, a heart patient who had already undergone a bypass surgery, has been a matter of deep concern for friends, relatives and well wishers, the JMP statement said.

“We call upon all persons believing in democracy, human rights and individual liberty to join the campaign for ensuring proper medical care and attention to Mr. Muraleedharan. We also call upon the authorities to ensure a fair, transparent and speedy trial of Mr. Muraleedharan or release him on bail”, it added.

1: Prof. Noam Chomsky
2: Prof. Anand Teltumbde, IIT Khargapur
3: Bernrd D’Mello, Deputy Editor, Economic and Political Weekly
4: Meena Kandasamy: Writer
5: Kanam Rajendran: State Secretary, Communist Party of India, Kerala
6: BRP Bhaskar: Eminent Journalist and Writer
7: K Venu : Writer and social commentator
8: MM Somasekharan: Writer and social commentator
9: Njamal Babu (TN Joy): Public Intellectual
10: Dr. KT Rammohan: Former Dean School of Social Science, GM University, Kottayam
11: Dr. TT Sreekumar: Professor, MICA, School of Ideas, Ahmedabad
12: Dr. J. Devika : Assistant Professor, Centre For Development Studies Thiruvananathapuram
14: Prof. AK Ramakrishnan: Professor, Centre for West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
15: PK Venugopal: Janakeeya Kala Sahitya Vedi
16: Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
17: Partha Chatterjee