Amnesty report indicts State Government over Nandigram carnage
Parvaiz Sultan | New Delhi 16 Jan 07 (http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=STATES&file_name=state5%2Etxt&counter_img=5)
As violence in Nandigram was likely to intensify in October 2007, the only remaining police posted at Nandigram were withdrawn without any reasons being given. This is the shocking revelation by human rights organisation Amnesty International in a report released on Tuesday after its delegation visited the area.
Quoting Satya Prakash Panda, District Superintendent of Police, the report says that the delegation was told that the order to withdraw the remaining police came from his superiors in Kolkata. And it took almost two weeks to deploy CRPF personnel after the State police force pull-out.
For 14 days, the people of Nandigram were left at the mercy of the CPI(M) and the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC). However, on November 13, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee alleged that it was the Union Government, which had caused the delay. The entire district witnessed armed confrontations between the CPI(M) and BUPC.
According to the report, during the bloodshed, women were more vulnerable. Several were threatened, raped, beaten up and harassed. "This is a serious issue. During such incidents women are targeted and sexually abused in our country. In West Bengal, those women were targeted who were either leaders or activists. "They told us that they were harassed as we were leader or our husbands were leaders. I have met several women who have given the names and details of perpetrators to the authorities but nothing happened," says Vrinda Grover, a lawyer, activist and member of the delegation of Amnesty International that visited Nandigram after the November violence.
"The threats have not ended till now, rapists are roaming freely, abusing women and they are also threatening more sexual assaults in the future. Violence in Nandigram was used as a weapon against women. A number of local residents informed the delegation that the offenders were operating with impunity, taunting the people, forcing them to shout in supports of CPI(M) or attend its meeting", she added.
Relatives or sympathisers of BUPC too lost their lives or were subjected to abuse and brutality, especially the women, the report discloses. "Accounts of both officials and villagers relating to violence against women agreed that victims were either relatives or sympathisers of BHPC and named the perpetrators as groups of armed supporters of the CPI(M)".
The report also urges the State Government to ensure that all incidents of human rights abuses since early 2007 are thoroughly investigated and the culprits, whether or not they are officials and regardless of their political affiliation, are brought promptly to justice. "Victims continued to suffer. People who have abused and attacked or took up the violence neither arrested nor booked. This highlights the great sense of insecurity. The State Government must establish an independent and impartial inquiry", said Mukul Sharma, Director, Amnesty International India.
__._,_.___
*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm
*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf
*****************************************
MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm
*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/
*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm
*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm
*****************************************
Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm
****************************************************
VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/
****************************************************
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___