Dear Friends/Comrades,
The terrible atrocities against the local villagers in
Nandigram is unabatedly going on. We need to act
urgently and strongly, if the life and dignity of the
self asserting villagers who are demanding justice and
sovereignty over their livelihood resources are to be
saved.
Yesterday, the Forum for Artists, Cultural Activists
and Intellectuals of West Bengal and numerous other
activists staged a huge dharna before the West Begal
Election Commission, demanding free polls and
condemning violence. We all must also act immediately.
Please see the news below and respond urgently.
1. Arvind Kejriwal, Activist
2. Amit Bhaduri, Economist
3. Dr. Manoranjan Mohanty, Delhi University
4. Medha Patkar, National Alliance of People's
Movements
5. AshokChaudhary, National Forum of Forest People and
Forest Workers
6. Gautam Bandhopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha
7. Vijayan M J, Delhi Solidarity Group
The Telegraph
Calcutta, India
Tuesday , May 6 , 2008
NAKED RUN FOR LIFE IN NANDIGRAM - WOMAN SAYS SHE WAS
STRIPPED, CHASED AND BEATEN IN FRONT OF COPS
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Nandigram, May 5: A woman ran naked half a kilometre
in Nandigram after she was stripped and thrashed by
alleged CPM supporters for refusing to campaign for
the party, eyewitnesses said today.
So inconsolable was the 28-year-old woman that she
refused a sari proffered by a police party, following
which she was again beaten up in front of the
law-enforcers by the political mob, the witnesses
added.
The CPM denied such an incident had taken place, and
the police said no one was beaten in their presence.
Wild charges do fly when elections are round the
corner — the panchayat polls begin on May 11 — but the
woman and several people who The Telegraph spoke to
provided graphic details and a doctor said her body
was covered with bruises.
According to the witnesses, around 8am on Monday,
about 50 CPM supporters came to Keyakhali village,
which houses many people who back the Bhoomi Uchchhed
Pratirodh Committee that was at the forefront of the
campaign against land acquisition in Nandigram.
The group entered the house of Debashish Jana, 35, a
farm labourer, and forced him and his eight-year-old
son Sanjoy to join a CPM procession. The woman —
Jana's wife —protested, following which the intruders
pounced on her and ripped off her sari, blouse and
petticoat. Then they rained blows on her.
"I was stripped. My only fault was protesting against
the manner in which my husband and son were forced to
join the procession," said the woman, now in Nandigram
block hospital. Her husband and son could not be
traced after they were dragged to the procession.
While being beaten, the woman rushed out of the house
naked and started running towards Brindabanchowk,
around 500 metres away. The intruders then chased her
in a throwback to last year's outrage in Guwahati
where an adivasi girl was stripped and assaulted. The
witnesses said the pursuers kept hurling bombs to keep
the villagers at bay. As the woman approached
Brindabanchowk, a police patrol halted in front of
her, Shankar Das, a 30-year-old farmer, said.
"The policemen asked for a sari from a house and gave
it to the woman. But she was angry and cried
inconsolably, refusing to accept the sari. By this
time, the CPM workers had caught up with her. In front
of the policemen, she was slapped and beaten with
lathis," Shankar said. Ashutosh Das, 38, a neighbour
who had followed the woman, was assaulted. Eventually,
some women supporters of the CPM intervened. "The
women came out from houses belonging to CPM supporters
and asked the party workers to leave. I had by then
hidden behind a bush. They took me to a house and gave
me some clothes," the woman said.
The women then told the police to take the victim to
hospital. "The police took me and Ashutosh Das into
the jeep. But they ordered us to get down at Tekhali
bridge (about 3km away). From there we took a trekker
to the hospital," the woman added. The doctor on duty,
Susmita Pal, said: "The woman has injuries all over
her body. We are treating her." The block medical
officer of Nandigram, Subhabrata Maity, added: "The
bruises and swellings indicate she was beaten."
Paritosh Das, 30, a helper in a bus; Motehar Ali, 25,
a farm labourer from adjoining Jambari who was passing
through Keyakhali; and Meghnad Mondal, 35, a farm
labourer from Brindabanchowk, corroborated the woman's
account.
The police confirmed that a complaint of stripping had
been "received". "We have received a complaint that a
woman was stripped and beaten up. We are investigating
the matter," the superintendent of police, S.S. Panda,
said.
But he denied any police patrol was at Brindabanchowk
when the alleged attack took place.
An East Midnapore district secretariat member of the
CPM, Ashok Guria, said such an incident did not occur.
"The Trinamul Congress had earlier brought charges of
rape against CPM workers but nothing has been proved.
Now they have started a new trick. The woman might
have had a fall."
CPM state secretariat member Benoy Konar, too, denied
party activists' involvement.
CAN YOU BE A MUTE WITNESS TO THIS?
ABOUT 3000 PEOPLE ARE ALREADY IN REFUGEE CAMPS.
ATROCITIES CONTINUE IN NANDIGRAM...
It is essential that we all also write letters to the
under-mentioned, demanding for democratic and violence
free polls and protection of the life and well-being
of the people of Nandigram.
PLEASE WRITE TO
PRIME MINISTER – FAX: 011- 23018657,
manmohan@sansad.nic.in
SONIA GANDHI – FAX: 011- 23018651,
soniagandhi@sansad.nic.in
NHRC – FAX: 011- 23384863, covdnhrc@nic.in ,
ionhrc@nic.in
SHIVRAJ PATIL – FAX - 011 – 23794833, 23093750,
23092763, svpatil@sansad.nic.in
ELECTION COMMISSIONER, WEST BENGAL, - FAX- 033-22404727
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