Save Soni Sori
Prosecute the culpable Chhattisgarh police for her torture
An international coalition of more than 80
individuals and more than 25 organisations in India, the United States
and Canada have issued a joint statement condemning the custodial
torture of Soni Sori and have called for her release and demanded the
prosecution of Chhattisgarh police officials responsible for her
torture.
W e
strongly condemn the custodial torture of Soni Sori and demand immediate
prosecution of the culpable officials. The recently received medical
report of Soni Sori, a Chhattisgarh schoolteacher, has revealed that two
large stones were planted deep inside her vagina and another stone
inside her rectum. On October 20, 2011 the Supreme Court had ordered the
government of Chhattisgarh to send Sori to NRS Medical College in the
neighbouring state of West Bengal for an independent medical
examination, based on credible reports of her torture and sexual abuse
by the Chhattisgarh police. Evidence of spinal injuries has also been
found in the medical reports. These findings conclusively point to the
fact that Sori was tortured while she was in the custody of the
Chhattisgarh police.
The facts in the medical report are also consistent
with a new letter from Soni Sori, now filed with the Supreme Court,
where she has described the torture she endured under the direct
supervision of the superintendent of police (SP), Ankit Garg. She also
communicated gruesome details of her prison torture to a relative and a
friend who visited her in jail, who then conveyed the information to
people in New Delhi assisting her with the case. The medical report,
then, corroborates Sori’s allegations of intense sexual abuse and
torture by the Chhattisgarh police.
In accordance with the 113th report of the Law
Commission of India that suggested modifications to the Indian Evidence
Act 1872, any injury sustained by a person in police custody can be
presumed to be caused by the police unless proven otherwise. As
evidenced by independent medical examination reports and Sori’s letters,
the case meets the criteria for the presumption that specifically SP
Ankit Garg and the police force under his command are responsible for
her injuries.
We therefore demand that:
-- All politically motivated charges against Soni
Sori be dropped and that she be released immediately.
-- An independent investigation be launched against
those who tortured Soni Sori and implicated her on false charges; and
that the police officials involved in torture, particularly SP Ankit
Garg, be suspended immediately, pending this inquiry.
--Harassment and intimidation of Soni Sori’s
relatives cease immediately.
Background on Soni Sori
Soni Sori is the aunt of Lingaram Kodopi, a young
journalist who was arrested on September 9, 2011, on charges of
collecting money for the Maoists. Her three young children, aged six, 10
and 12 years, are now in the care of her brother Ramdev, since her
husband has been imprisoned in Chhattisgarh on false charges. Sori fled
the state fearing for her life and reached New Delhi seeking legal
assistance. She was arrested on October 4, 2011 by the Delhi police
acting under the directions of the Chhattisgarh police.
The police allege that Sori is involved as a conduit
for money transfer to the Maoists from the Essar group, a charge openly
denied by Essar. She has also been falsely charged in several other
cases of aiding the Maoists. An examination of publicly available
materials demonstrates that the charges against both Sori and Kodopi are
false and politically motivated. Amnesty International has declared both
Soni Sori and Lingaram Kodopi prisoners of conscience and has demanded
that the charges against them be dropped and that they be freed
unconditionally.
In response to petitions filed in courts in Delhi, a
judge ordered the Chhattisgarh police on October 7, 2011 to take all
measures to ensure Soni Sori’s safety in transit. Produced before a
court in Dantewada the next day, a Saturday, a judge granted the police
custody of Sori but ordered that she be medically examined prior to
taking custody of her and before being produced before the court the
following Monday (October 10). However, the police failed to produce
Sori before the court on October 10, claiming she had suffered serious
injuries due to falling down in the prison bathroom and had to be
admitted to hospital.
A video captured by a reporter in the hospital showed
her writhing in severe pain on a hospital bed. A medical examination
conducted by doctors in the hospital showed “contusions” on her head and
“tenderness in her lumbar region”, likely to have been caused by “a hard
and blunt object”, but observed that there were no visual signs of “bony
fractures”. The medical report also noted black marks on both her middle
fingers. We suspect these marks were caused by the administration of
electric shocks by the police.
The Chhattisgarh police took her to hospitals in
Jagdalpur and Raipur later in the week. Remarkably, the medical reports
from these hospitals failed to confirm even the observations reported by
the doctors in Dantewada. It was in response to this sequence of events
that activists and lawyers filed a petition in the Supreme Court of
India demanding an independent medical examination, outside the control
of the Chhattisgarh police. The government of Chhattisgarh denied that
Sori had been tortured but the Supreme Court granted the petition on
grounds that “the injuries sustained by [Soni Sori] do not prima facie
appear to be as simple as has been made out… by the Chhattisgarh
police”.
The intimidation of her family continues as we await
the Supreme Court decision; on November 15, 2011 around 25 policemen
arrived at Sori’s father’s house, in search of her brother Ramdev, the
sole caretaker of her children. Sori had earlier told relatives that the
police had threatened to arrest Ramdev should she disclose that she had
been tortured. Sori is also being forced to allege that human rights
activists are involved in violent activities as “urban Naxalites”.
Lingaram Kodopi is also facing strong pressure to sign statements
containing false confessions.
The Chhattisgarh police have a long record of
committing human rights abuses and atrocities outside and inside
prisons, well documented by human rights organisations in India,
including People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and People’s Union
for Democratic Rights (PUDR), as well as Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch. The Indian Supreme Court, an institution for which we have
the utmost respect, has also strongly condemned the abuses committed by
the police and the vigilante forces organised, armed and funded by the
state and national governments. However, the government of Chhattisgarh,
with the support of the government of India, has repeatedly failed to
honour the orders of the Supreme Court of India.
December 5, 2011
(The complete statement is available at:
http://otherindia.org/dev/images/documents/sonisori/sonisori05122011.pdf)
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As long as Soni Sori resides there, our
development is impossible
– By Himanshu Kumar
We want
development
More
cars, more shopping malls,
more
commodities,
And for
that, we need industry,
And for
industry, we need minerals,
and for
minerals, we need the land of Bastar,
and as
long as Soni Sori resides there,
our
development is impossible
So, we
nabbed Soni Sori,
took her
to the police station,
denuded
her
tortured
her with electric shocks.
Soni
squirmed with extreme pain,
her eyes
bulged out,
her whole
body stiffened
She
wanted to scream,
but even
her mouth was without mercy,
ejecting
foam, but no sound,
and then
she reformed,
Soni was
now prepared to not come in the way of India’s development
My
country’s brave police,
our
police,
our
government,
our
development,
and since
we are civilised, urbane and urban citizens of India,
we will
never make the ugly mistake of talking about an uncivilised
Adivasi
like Soni Sori
We ask
everyone to swear by their daughters
and let
no one talk to us about Soni Sori
After
all, this country’s development is a serious matter
After
Soni Sori is dead,
we will
wax eloquent about grave matters.
Our essay
on “How to end Naxalism in Bastar”
will
argue forcefully about how
the
government can end Naxalism
through
development
But don’t
you worry, we are not that hard-hearted
Our
thoughtful essay will also contain a few lines
on how to
improve police conduct.
(Himanshu
Kumar is a grass-roots organiser and human rights activist.)
Courtesy:
www.otherindia.org
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