रोबेस्पिया: मृत्यदंड के बारे में

(यह 22 जून 1791 को महान क्रांतिकारी रोबस्पेरे द्वारा फ़्रांस की संविधान सभा में दिये गए भाषण का हिंदी अनुवाद है. पाठक देख सकते हैं कि मृत्युदंड का विरोध किस तरह आज से ही नहीं बल्कि फ्रांस की क्रांति के समय से ही समाज के जनवादीकरण से जुडा हुआ है. और यह भाषण आज भी किस तरह प्रासंगिक बना हुआ है.)

एथेंस में जब खबर पहुंची कि अर्गोस नगर के नागरिकों को मृत्युदंड दिया गया है तो वहां के लोग भाग कर देवालयों में गए और उन्होंने देवताओं को आह्वान किया कि वे एथेंस के लोगों को ऐसे भयानक और क्रूर विचारों से बचाएं. मेरा आह्वान देवताओं से नहीं कानून निर्माताओं से है, उनसे जो देवत्व के शाश्वत नियमों के संचालक और भाष्यकार हैं, कि ऐसे खूनी कानूनों को फ़्रांस की संहिता से मिटा दे जो न्यायिक हत्याओं को निर्देशित करते हैं और जिनको उनकी नैतिकता और नया संविधान ख़ारिज करते हैं. मैं उनके समक्ष साबित करना चाहता हूँ : 1. कि मृत्युदंड सारतः अन्याय है. और 2. कि यह दण्डो में से सबसे दमनकारी नहीं है और यह अपराधों को रोकने से ज्यादा उन्हें संगुणित करता है.

नागरिक समाज के दायरे से बाहर यदि एक कटु शत्रु मेरा जीवन ख़त्म करने की कोशिश करता है, या बीसियों बार धकेलने पर भी मेरे द्वारा उगाई गई फसल को नष्ट करने वापस आ जाता है. तो क्योंकि मेरे पास विरोध के लिए केवल मेरी व्यक्तिगत शक्ति का ही सहारा है इसलिए मुझे उसे अनिवार्यतः नष्ट करना होगा या उसे ख़त्म कर देना होगा और प्राकृतिक रक्षण का नियम मुझे औचित्य और स्वीकृति प्रदान करता है. लेकिन समाज में, जब सभी की शक्ति केवल किसी एक व्यक्ति के खिलाफ लामबंद है तो न्याय का कौन सा सिद्धांत उसकी हत्या की स्वीकृति दे सकता है? कौन सी अनिवार्यता इसे दोषमुक्त कर सकती है? एक विजेता जो अपने बंदी शत्रु की हत्या करता है बर्बर कहलाता है! एक प्रौढ़ जो किसी बालक को शक्तिहीन कर उसे दंड देने की सामर्थ्य रखता है यदि उसकी हत्या कर दे तो राक्षस समझा जाता है! एक अभियुक्त जिसे समाज द्वारा सजा दी गई है एक पराजित और शक्तिहीन शत्रु के सिवा कुछ भी नहीं है और वह एक प्रौढ़ के सामने बालक से भी ज्यादा असहाय है.

अतः, सत्य और न्याय की नज़र में मौत के ये नज़ारे जिन्हें यह अनुष्ठानपूर्वक आदेशित करता है, कायराना कत्लों के सिवा कुछ भी नहीं है, ये केवल कुछ व्यक्तियों के बजाय समूचे राष्ट्र के द्वारा कानूनी तरीको से किये गये गंभीर अपराध है. कानून चाहे कैसे भी निर्मम और वैभवशाली क्यों न हों, हैरान मत होइए, ये चंद उत्पीड़कों के कारनामों से ज्यादा कुछ नहीं हैं. ये ऐसी काराएं हैं जिनसे मानव जाति को अधोपतित किया जाता है. ये ऐसी भुजाएं हैं जिनसे उसे पराधीन किया जाता है,
ये कानून खून से लिखे गए हैं. किसी भी रोमन नागरिक को मौत की सजा देना वर्जित था. यह जनता द्वारा बनाया गया कानून था. लेकिन विजयी स्काईला ने कहा : वे सभी जिन्होंने मेरे विरुद्ध अस्त्र उठाये मृत्यु के भागी हैं. ओक्टावियन और अपराध में उसके सहभागियों ने इस नए कानून की पुष्टि की.

तिबेरियस की अधीनता में ब्रूटस की प्रशंसा करना मृत्युयोग्य अपराध था. कालिगुला ने उन सबको मृत्युदंड दिया जिन्होंने भी सम्राट के चित्र के समक्ष नग्न होने की धृष्टता की. एक बार जब आतताई शासकों द्वारा राजद्रोह के अपराध – जो अवज्ञापूर्ण या नायकोचित कृत्य हुआ करते थे – का आविष्कार कर लिया गया तो फिर कौन बिना स्वयं को राजद्रोह का भागी बनाए यह सोचने की हिम्मत कर सकता था कि इनकी सजा मृत्युदंड से थोड़ी कम होनी चाहिए?

अज्ञानता और निरंकुशता के राक्षसी मिलन से पैदा हुए उन्माद ने जब दैवीय राजद्रोह के अपराध का आविष्कार कर लिया, जब इसने अपने मतिभ्रम में स्वयं ईश्वर का प्रतिशोध लेने का बीड़ा उठा लिया, तब क्या यह जरुरी नहीं हो गया था कि यह उन्हें रक्त अर्पित करे, और स्वयं को ईश्वर का ही रूप मानने वाले, उसे दरिन्दे की श्रेणी में पहुंचा दें?

पुरातन बर्बर कायदे के समर्थक कहते है कि मृत्युदंड अनिवार्य है, बिना इसके अपराध पर लगाम लगाना संभव नहीं है. यह आपसे किसने कहा? क्या आपने उन सभी अंकुशों का आकलन कर लिया है जिनके द्वारा दंडविधान मनुष्य की संवेदना पर काम करता है? अफ़सोस, मृत्यु से पहले मनुष्य कितना शारीरिक और नैतिक कष्ट सहन कर सकता है?

जीने की इच्छा उस आत्मसम्मान के सामने नतमस्तक हो जाती है, जो ह्रदय पर शासन करने वाले आवेगों में सबसे प्रबल होता है. एक सामजिक मनुष्य के लिए सबसे खतरनाक सजा अपमानित होना है, सार्वजनिक निंदा का पात्र बन जाना है. यदि कानून निर्माता नागरिक को इतनी सारी नाजुक जगहों पर चोट पहुंचा सकता है तो उसे मृत्युदंड के इस्तेमाल करने की हद तक क्यों गिर जाना चाहिए? दंड दोषी को यातना देने के लिए नहीं होता है, वरन वह उसके भय से अपराध को रोकने के लिए दिया जाता है.

जो कानून निर्माता मृत्यु और उत्पीड़नकारी सजाओं को अन्य तरीकों के ऊपर वरीयता देता है वह जनभावनाओं को आहत करता है और शासितों के बीच अपनी नैतिक साख को कमजोर करता है. एक ऐंसे ढोंगी गुरु की तरह जो बार बार की क्रूर सजाओं से अपने शिष्य की आत्मा को जड़ और अपमानित बना देता है. वह कुछ ज्यादा ही जोर से दबाकर सरकार की स्प्रिंगों को ढीला और कमजोर कर देता है.

जो कानून निर्माता म्रत्युदंड का विधान स्थापित करता है वह इस उपयोगी सिद्धांत का निषेध करता है कि किसी अपराध को दबाने का सबसे सही तरीका उन आवेगों की प्रकृति के अनुसार दंड तय करना है जोकि उसको पैदा करते हैं. मृत्युदंड का विधान इन सभी विचारों को धूमिल कर देता है यह सभी अन्तःसम्बन्धों को विघटित कर देता है और इस प्रकार दंडात्मक कानून के उद्देश्य का ही खुलेआम निषेध करता है.

आप कहते हैं कि मृत्युदंड अनिवार्य है. यदि यह सत्य है तो क्यों बहुत सारे लोगों को इसकी जरुरत नहीं पड़ी. विधि के किस विधान के तहत ऐसे लोग ही सबसे बुद्धिमान, सबसे खुश और सबसे स्वतंत्र थे? यदि मृत्युदंड ही बड़े अपराधों को रोकने के लिए सबसे उचित है तो ऐसे अपराध वहां सबसे कम होने चाहिए जहाँ इसे अपनाया और प्रयोग किया गया. किन्तु तथ्य एकदम विपरीत हैं. जापान को देखिये: वहां से ज्यादा मृत्युदंड और यातनाएं और कहीं नहीं दी जाती परन्तु वहां से अधिक संख्या में और वहां से अधिक जघन्य अपराध और कहीं नहीं होते. कोई कह सकता है कि जापानी लोग भीषणता में उन बर्बर कानूनों को चुनौती देना चाहते हैं जो उन्हें आहत और परेशान करते हैं. क्या यूनानी गणतन्त्रों -जहाँ सजाएँ नरम थी और जहां मृत्युदंड या तो बहुत कम थे या थे ही नहीं- में खूनी कानूनों द्वारा शासित देशों से ज्यादा अपराध और कम अच्छाइयां थी? क्या आपको लगता है की रोम में पोर्सियाई ज़माने में जब इसके वैभवशाली दिन थे, जब सारे कड़े कानूनों को हटा दिया गया था, स्काईला जो अपने अत्याचारों के लिए कुख्यात था, के जमाने की तुलना में ज्यादा अपराध होते थे, जब सभी कठोर कानूनों को वापस ले आया गया था? क्या रूस के निरंकुश शासक ने जब से मृत्युदंड को ख़त्म कर दिया है वहां किसी प्रकार का संकट आ खड़ा हुआ है? ऐसा लगता है कि इस तरह की मानवता और दार्शनिकता का प्रदर्शन करके वह लाखों लोगों को अपनी निरंकुश सत्ता के अधीन रखने के जुर्म से दोषमुक्त होना चाहते हैं.

न्याय और विवेक की बात सुनिए. ये आपको चिल्ला कर कह रहे हैं कि मानवीय निर्णय कभी भी इतने निश्चित नहीं होते कि वे कुछ मनुष्यों द्वारा जो कि गलतियाँ कर सकते हैं, किसी अन्य व्यक्ति की मृत्यु के बारे में तय करने के औचित्य का प्रतिपादन कर सकें. यदि आप सबसे सम्पूर्ण न्यायिक फैसले की भी कल्पना कर लें, यदि आप सबसे ज्यादा ज्ञानी और ईमानदार जजों की भी व्यवस्था कर लें तब भी गलतियों की संभावना बची रहती है. आप इन गलतियों को सुधारने के औजारों से स्वयं को क्यों वंचित कर देना चाहते हैं? स्वयं को किसी उत्पीडित निर्दोष की मदद करने में अक्षम क्यों बना देना चाहते हैं? क्या किसी अदृश्य छाया के लिए, किसी अचेतन राख के लिए आपके बाँझ पाश्चाताप का, आपकी भ्रामक भूलसुधार का कोई अर्थ है? वे आपके दंड विधान की बर्बर तत्परता के त्रासद साक्ष्य हैं. अपराध को पाश्चाताप और अच्छे कार्यों के द्वारा सुधार सकने की संभावना को किसी व्यक्ति से छीन लेना, अच्छाई की तरफ उसके लौट आने के सारे रास्ते निर्ममता से बंद कर देना, उसके पतन को शीघ्रता से कब्र तक पहुंचा देना जो अब भी उसके अपराध से दागदार है, मेरी नज़र में क्रूरता का सबसे भयावह परिष्करण है.

एक कानून निर्माता का सबसे पहला कर्तव्य उन सार्वजनिक नैतिक मूल्यों की स्थापना करना और उन्हें बचाए रखना है, जो सभी आज़ादियों और सभी सामाजिक खुशियों के मूल स्रोत हैं. किसी विशिष्ट उद्देश्य को पाने के प्रयास में यदि वह सामान्य और आवश्यक उद्देश्यों को भूल जाता है तो वह सबसे भौंडी और भयानक गलती करता है. अतः राजा को लोगों के सामने न्याय और विवेक का सबसे आदर्श उदहारण पेश करना चाहिए. यदि इस को परिभाषित करने वाली शक्तिशाली, संयत, और उदार सख्ती की जगह क्रोध और प्रतिशोध से काम लेते हैं, यदि वे बिना वजह के खून बहाते हैं, जिसको बचाया जा सकता था और जिसे बहाने का उन्हें कोई अधिकार नहीं. और वे लोगों के सामने निर्मम दृश्य, और यातना से विकृत लाशों को प्रस्तुत करते हैं तो यह नागरिकों के जेहन में न्याय और अन्याय के विचार को बदल देता है. वे समाज में ऐसे तीखे दुराग्रहों के बीज बो देते हैं जो उतरोतर बढ़ते जाते हैं. मनुष्य, मनुष्य होने की गरिमा खो देता है जब उसके जीवन को इतनी आसानी से जोखिम में डाला जा सकता है. हत्या का विचार तब इतना डरावना नहीं रह जाता जब कानून खुद ही इसे एक मिसाल और तमाशे की तरह पेश करता है. अपराध की भयावहता तब कम हो जाती है जब उसे एक और अपराध के जरिये दण्डित किया जाता है. किसी दंड की प्रभावपूर्णता को उसकी कठोरता की मात्रा से मत आंकिये: ये दोनों एक दूसरे के एकदम उलटी बाते हैं. हर कोई उदार कानूनों की सहायता करता है. हर कोई कठोर कानूनों के खिलाफ षड्यंत्र करता है.

यह देखा गया है की स्वतंत्र देशों में अपराध कम हैं और दंडात्मक कानून ज्यादा उदार हैं. कुल मिलाकर, स्वतंत्र देश वे हैं जहाँ व्यक्ति के अधिकारों का सम्मान किया जाता है और इसके फलस्वरूप जहाँ के कानून न्यायपूर्ण हैं. जहाँ अतिशय कष्ट देकर मानवता का उल्लंघन किया जाता है यह इस बात का प्रमाण है कि वहां मनुष्यता की गरिमा को अभी पहचाना नहीं गया है, यह इस बात का प्रमाण है कि वहां कानून निर्माता स्वामी है जो दासों को चलाता है और अपनी मर्जी के मुताबिक जब चाहे उन्हें सजाएं देता है. अतः मेरा निष्कर्ष है कि मृत्युदंड को समाप्त कर देना चाहिए.

(अनुवाद: कुलदीप प्रकाश)

PUDR statement on the arrest of Lingaram Kodopi

People’s Union for Democratic Rights

11 September 2011

PRESS RELEASE

 

People’s Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi (PUDR) condemns in the strongest terms the arrest of Lingaram Kodopi on 9 September 2011 by the Chhattisgarh police from his village Sameli in Dantewada district. The police team continues to be present in the village since then and there is fear that the police intends to arrest his aunt Soni Sori too. This arrest comes immediately on the heels of the Chhattisgarh government’s attempt to undermine the Supreme Court order disbanding the practice of exploiting SPOs to fight the Maoists.

 

Lingaram Kodopi was picked up by the Chhattisgarh police from his village in September 2009 and kept in illegal detention for 40 days. During this period he was tortured to force him to become an SPO. A habeas corpus petition was filed by his brother Masaram Kodopi in the High Court. It was due to the court’s intervention that Lingaram was released and allowed to return to his village.

 

Since then Lingaram has been in Delhi much of the time and has also enrolled in a journalism course at the International Media Institute of India at Noida. In April 2010 he had appeared before the Indian Peoples Tribunal at Delhi on the atrocities being conducted by the Salwa Judum and the security forces as part of the Operation Green Hunt.

 

On 11 July 2010, the Senior Superintendent of Police of Dantewada district held a press conference to alleging that Lingaram was the prime suspect for the attack on the house of Congress worker and civil contractor Avdesh Singh Gautam. The police also made ridiculous claims that Lingaram was the Chattisgarh Incharge of the CPI Maoist and was tipped to succeed as the Central Spokesperson of the CPI Maoist party.

 

Lingaram held a press conference at Delhi on 13 July 2010 with Advocate Prashant Bhushan and the then peace negotiator Swami Agnivesh and publicly stated how he was tortured and was now being victimised by the Chhattisgarh police.

 

The arrest of Lingaram on 9 September is an attempt by the Chhattisgarh police to declare their total contempt for the Constitution of India and the established law of the land.

 

PUDR demands an immediate and unconditional release of Lingaram Kodopi and the withdrawal of police and security forces from his village.

 

 

 

Paramjeet Singh

Harish Dhawan

Secretaries

Invitation for Public Meeting Against Military Bases in Central and Eastern India

The Indian state’s war on the people in the name of Operation Green Hunt (OGH) is about to complete two years. These two years have left a bloody trail of state brutalities. Soon after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) started its second term in 2009, it was hell bent in repressing the people’s movements for their land, water, forests, and mountains. Thus it declared war against the people in the name of OGH. In the leadership of the central government, the state governments of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and other states unleashed the same war on the people. The adivasi population of central and eastern India has been subjected to extreme forms of state repression and brutalities since the beginning of OGH in the leadership of the Army. More than 2 lakh police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in the above-mentioned states. People in their hundreds have been killed in Chhattisgarh alone in the last two years. There the OGH was carried out by the paramilitary forces consisting of the CRPF, COBRA, Grey Hound, BSF, ITBP, C-60, CISF etc. along with the SPOs. These forces perpetrated mass murder of adivasis in various villages. Adivasis have been forced to flee to Andhra. There too, the illegal vigilante gangs of Chhattisgarh government – the Salwa Judum – have been oppressing the adivasis in various ways. Hardly any civil society bodies, democratic organizations or media are allowed to visit these areas to probe into these instances of atrocities perpetrated by the state. If someone tried to go to these places then the government-backed lumpens of Salwa Judum and Maa Danteshwari Swabhiman Manch have either harassed them or beaten them up in order to restrict them for entering these areas.

In Odisha, the CRPF has been widely utilized in the last two years to repress the people’s movements which are trying to reclaim people’s lands from the illegal appropriation of the landlords and the contractors. Within the last two months the armed forces of the government killed around 20 people related to peoples’ movements in fake encounters. All the dead were part of struggles against forced displacement in various places of Kashipur, Sundergarh, Gandhamadan, Niyamagiri, Kalinga Nagar etc. In the Adivasi areas of north and western Odisha, the people are forced to stay under the perpetual looming terror perpetrated by the state. In Jharkhand too, thousands of deployed forces are repressing the people. There too a number of people have been killed in fake encounters. In Kharasamba and Latehar alone almost 30 cases of harassment and repression by the police and paramilitary forces have been registered. In these incidents the police forces have slapped false cases on the people, they have been tortured with illegal third degree methods, their houses have been set on fire, their forests have been burnt, encroached in social affairs like marriages, and so on. They have even arrested women for the ‘crime’ of wearing salwar kameez. Serious cases have been slapped on persons without any basis who have stood by people’s movements. In addition, the government is using various mercenary gangs like the TPC, JPC, JLT etc. to finish off militant struggles of the masses, particularly targeting their leadership.

The repression ushered in by CPI (M), the ruling party of West Bengal, on the people of Jangal Mahal is known to all. In Lalgarh area more than 50 armed training camps of CPI (M) are being run illegally with the full consent of the state government. There are more than 1600 Harmad goons in these camps who ruthlessly repress the villagers and play the same role as the SPOs of Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh. In West Bengal the Joint Armed Forces, the Harmads and the Gana Pratirodh Committee (GPC) have so far brutally killed more than a hundred people. The leaders of People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA), like Lalmohan Tudu, Umakant Mahato, Sidhu Soren have been killed by the CRPF in fake encounters. Hundreds of people have been arrested and jailed under draconian charges. They had put the entire area under section 144 and heavily scuttled the democratic rights of the people in the area. In order to malign the movement the police staged the Jnaneshwari Train ‘accident’ which resulted into the deaths of hundreds of people. In Bihar, as soon as the Nitish Kumar government was elected for the second term, it intensified its repression on militant people’s movement. Following the notorious Andhra model the Bihar government is doing covert operations to exterminate the leadership of revolutionary and democratic movements.

PRESS RELEASE ON FACT FINDING REPORT OF THE CHINTALNAR MASSACRE

PRESS RELEASE ON THE FACT FINDING REPORT OF THE CHINTALNAR MASSACRE, 11 TO 16 MARCH 2011, CHHATTISGARH

A 13 member fact finding team visited the Chintalnar Area of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh to probe into the incidents of atrocities perpetrated by the Salwa Judum and the state forces on the adivasis living in this area between 11th and 16th of March 2011.

The incidents was propagated by the police as an ‘encounter’ between the CRPF and Maoists in which according to the police 36 Maoists have been killed while 3 SPOs got killed and 9 other SPOs were injured. The police had celebrated this incident in the media to prove their dominance over the Maoists in this region. However, media persons and fact finding teams were restricted to go inside on the pretext that it is ‘war zone’ and the so-called war between the state and the Maoists are still going on hence it is risky for any outsider to go inside.

The fact finding team which comprised of various civil and democratic rights activists and other individuals, went inside this area on the 26^th and 27^th of

March 2011. We spoke extensively to the villagers and the victims of the incident. We were shocked to find that once again the police version propagated by the state is completely hoax and far from reality.

RDF Statement on Libya

Rise!                         Resist!                    Liberate!

REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRATIC FRONT (RDF)

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Contact: revolutionarydemocracy@gmail.com                                         phone: 0091-9910455993

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Press Statement

22 March 2011

Imperialists, Hands off Libya!

Humanitarian Intervention is a euphemism for Military Invasion!

The United Nations Security Council on 17th March approved a resolution for the United States and other major imperialist powers to conduct direct military intervention in Libya. It however has maintained the old pretence of this being a “humanitarian” mission to protect civilian lives. The resolution, backed by the US, France, Britain and Lebanon, nullified the earlier proposals for a no-fly zone, and authorized the use of military force including “all necessary measures … to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack.” These “areas” include Benghazi, the city with a population of one million which has been the stronghold of the revolt that began against the Gaddafi dictatorship a month ago. Both British and French rulers had already started air strikes and have confirmed more intensified attack in the coming days on Libya. The American military officials too had warned that even the imposition of a no-fly zone will require the prior destruction of the Libyan air bases. This implies direct bombardment which inevitably will lead into massive civilian killing. Already, there are reportedly two civilian hospitals and a medical clinic that have been bombarded by the ongoing air raids. The US had also made it clear that it is going to use cruise missiles, manned and unmanned drone aircrafts. As per the media reports, so far, the US has already fired 124 Tomahawk missiles on strategic air defense systems across Libya and the Pentagon official did not rule out any additional missile strikes against the Libyan regime in coming days.

A BRIEF REPORT ON THE RECENT ‘ENCOUNTER KILLINGS’ IN ORISSA

– JNU Forum Against War on People

Beginning with the last week of December 2010, there has been a series of ‘encounters’, in which over twenty five people, allegedly Maoists, have been killed in Orissa.  Except a few, the victims were Adivasis, 10 of them women including one minor girl.  During the same period the Maoists too have killed three people in three separate incidents.  In another gruesome act a woman and her four-year-old son were killed. In this case, the police blamed the Maoists and the Maoists blamed the police for the act.

It needs to be noted that some of the areas, where these ‘encounters’ took place, have also been the scene of resistance struggles against mining and displacement.  In two of these areas – Kashipur and Kalinganagar – police had earlier resorted to firing upon the struggling adivasis in 2000 and 2006 respectively in which 17 people (3 in Kashipur and 14 in Kalingnagar) were killed and many more injured.

This following note is based on media reports.  Only in case of one incident i.e., the Paikmal ‘encounter’, a PUCL fact-finding has been done and a separate report will be published soon on this.

The first ‘encounter’ of the series, in which two alleged ‘maoists’ were killed, took place on 27 December in the Gandhamardan hills of Bargarh district.  A PUCL fact-finding into this incident has been done and based on the findings we have reasons to believe that it was a ‘fake encounter’.

The second encounter of the series took place on 29 December in Telkoi area of Keonjhar district.  The local media reported killing of two Maoists but showed the body of only one woman. The media also reported that 10 Maoists were injured in this firing.

The third encounter took place on 1 January in a forest area near Tamka in Jajpur district.  Five people including four women and one minor girl were killed.  Of the five, only the minor girl was said to have been identified by a villager.  She belonged to Baligotha – the village which comes under proposed TATA steel plant is Kalinganagar area and which has been the scene of police firing in 2006 when 14 Adivasis and one police constable were killed. There was also police repression in the same village and the neighbouring Chandia village in May 2010 and one person was killed and many were injured in police firing.  Other four people killed were said to be from the local area but none of the family members, including that of the minor girl, came to claim any of the bodies.

The fourth round of encounter took place on 9 January 2011 in the Kashipur area of Rayagada district in which nine people including five women were killed. All the women killed were Adivasis and about 20 years old. As noted above, in this area the local community relentlessly fought for many years against an alumina company and had lost three lives in police firing.  The area is also known for recurrence of cholera and starvation.  Only a few months ago, over a hundred people had died in Kashipur and  adjacent Blocks due to cholera.

The fifth in the series took place on 12 January 2011 and two men were killed.  Both were adivasis and one of them belonged to Baligotha village of Kalinganagar area.

The sixth and seventh encounters took place in Sundargarh district on 8^th and 11^th February respectively.  While one Maoist was killed on the 8^th, three Maoists were killed on the 9^th.  One person who was seriously injured in the firing of 8^th, reportedly died later.

Apart from the killings, there are reports about the ‘surrenders’ and arrests of Maoists and many of them are women including minor girls.  The issue of ‘surrendered women/girls’ is a cause of concern.  The sad case of Kandri Lohar is an example.

Kandri Lohar was a young tribal woman, who had joined the Maoists at one time and then ‘surrendered’ before the police in 2006.  The police had promised her that she would be rehabilitated after her surrender.  Although Kandri Lohar surrendered in 2006, she was appointed as a home guard only in 2009.  Apparently, the police also arranged and solemnized her marriage with a man named Sankar Barua but he died last year.

Kandri Lohar and four-year-old son were found murdered on 12 February 2011.  The newspapers reported, quoting police sources, that the two were murdered by the Maoists as they suspected Kandri Lohar was helping police.  A day after, a section of the media reported that a senior maoist leader, Samarjit, had denied any involvement of Maoists in the killings of Kandri and her son.  The Maoist leader accused the police for the killing saying that although the police had employed  Kandri Lohari as a home guard she was not in their good book.

It needs to be noted that Kandri and her son were killed in the night of 11 February.  In the afternoon of 11^th itself, the Rourkela police had killed 3 Maoists in an ‘encounter’.  And on the next day of Kandri’s murder, the police arrested three Maoists, including one Aditya Baruah, who is said to be a central committee member of the CPI (Maoist).  It has been reported that one of the Maoists killed on the 11^th was in touch with Kandri and perhaps police was using her to track the movements of the Maoists.  One newspaper reported that Kandri Lohar was apparently tortured before being killed. But no further information is available on this aspect.

Whoever might be behind the killing, the fate of Kandri Lohar and her son is a pointer to the dangerous risks the ‘surrenderd’ women face.

List of people killed in the recent encounters

Date of encounter	Place	No. of people killed	Name of Victims	Male/  Female	Social group	Remarks
27.12.10	Borasambar forest area in Paikmal Block	2	1.Madhab Singh Thakur  2. Ramesh Sahu	Male
29.12.10		2		Female	Adivasis
1.1.11	Tomka area in Jajpur district	5	Bobby, Savitri, Sujata, Jonga  Dhiren	4 female including one minor girl and 1 male	Adivasis	None of the bodies has been claimed by family members. Police claimed one body had been identified by villagers.
9.1.11	Kashipur	9		5 female  4 male	Adivasis + others	Four bodies  unclaimed
12.1.11	Keonjhar	2		Both male	Adivasis
8.2.11	Sundargarh	2	1.Sameer Xalxo  2. Ahama Kerketta	Both Male	Adivasi
11.2.11	Sundargarh	3	1.Md. Muslim  2. Nepal Bhumij 3.Susant Mahato	Male
Total		25

A Perspective On The Student Movement In The United Kingdom By A UK Maoist

– Joseph Ball
(Some months before when the great students movement in UK was going on, we requested author Joseph Ball to write about this historical movement. unfortunately mail written by Joseph was deliverd in our spam folder. we are posting this article late but it is still very relevent because we are witnessing a great renewal of the mass movements around the world specially involving students and youths. these movements are presenting great hope and chellenges among all the revolutionary students of the world. we hope readers will forgive us for the delay in posting. –Editor)

The current student protest movement is the most militant mass protest movement that has occurred in Britain since the anti-Poll Tax campaign, twenty years ago. Students are occupying their colleges and school students are walking out of lessons to join the protests. Young people have confronted state power and attacked symbols of wealth and inequality. This movement is a response to two UK government attacks on youth in Britain. The first is a proposal to raise tuition fees for British students to a maximum of £9000 a year. Students will have to take out a loan to pay these fees, which they will pay back by instalments after graduation. This measure was announced in October by the ruling Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. The second is the government policy to abolish the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) for new applicants from January 2011. The EMA gives children from lower income families up to £60 a fortnight if they stay at school after 16 (the age at which children can legally leave school). The movement is therefore composed of both school students and university students, with efforts being made to attract the solidarity of trade unionists.

On 10th November students who broke away from a march organised by the National Union Of Students stormed the headquarters of the Conservative Party. Weekly protests in central London have occurred since then, along with protests in other cities and college occupations. A massive protest took place in central London on December 9th when Parliament voted to pass the legislation introducing the higher tuition fees. Most students protested outside Parliament, while others targeted shops in London’s West End owned by capitalists who are allowed to avoid taxes by the UK government. One group in the West End ran into Prince Charles and his wife and blocked their car shouting slogans.

Fact-finding Report On Tamaka and Basangmali Encounter in Odisha

BASANGAMALI (KASHIPUR) ENCOUNTER: GENOCIDE BY THE STATE IN THE CORPORATE INTEREST

The so- called encounter in Basangamali Hills in Kashipur block of Raygada Dist. on 9th January 2011 was a clear-cut genocide by the state to serve the corporate interest. To terrorise local adivasis and dalits and suppress their ongoing movements against the large scale displacement by Vedant and Utkal Alumina Company, the so-called encounter was organized by the state in the name of operation Green Hunt against the downtrodden people and their organizers, who are supporting the peoples’ cause, peoples’ rights over their livelihood and natural resources as supported by Indian constitution. This is the view shared by the fact finding team organized by Odisha Janabadi Lekhak Sangh,Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee and Banvashi Surkhshya Parishad, Kandhmal.

Binayak Sen’s statement at the conclusion of the trial.

- Binayak Sen

I am a trained medical doctor with a specialization in child health. I completed my MBBS from the Christian Medical College, Vellore in 1972, and completed studies leading to the award of the degree of MD (Paediatrics) of the Madras University, from the same institution in 1976. After this, I joined the faculty of the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and worked there for two years, before leaving to join a field based health programme at the Friends Rural Centre, Rasulia in Hoshangabad, MP. During the two years I worked there, I worked intensively in the diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis and understood many of the social and economic causes of disease. I was also strongly influenced by the work of Marjorie Sykes, the biographer of Mahatma Gandhi, who lived at the Rasulia centre at that time.

I came to Chhattisgarh in 1981 and worked upto 1987 at Dalli Rajhara (district Durg), where, along with the late Shri Shankar Guha Niyogi and the workers of the Chhattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh, I helped to establish the Shaheed Hospital, that continues to practice low cost and rational medicine for the adivasis and working people of the surrounding areas upto the present. After leaving Dalli Rajhara, I worked to develop a health programme among the Adivasi population in and around village Bagrumnala, which today is in Dhamtari district. This work depended on a large group of village based health workers who were trained and guided by me. When the new state of Chhattisgarh was formed, I was appointed a member of the advisory group on Health Care Sector reforms, and helped to develop the Mitanin programme, which in turn, became the role model for the ASHA of the National Rural Health Mission. A copy of the Order of the Department of Health and Family Welfare of the Govt. of Chhattisgarh regarding my nomination to the advisory group mentioned above is attached. (Annexure 1.)

CONDEMN UNEQUIVOCALLY THE MURDER OF JUSTICE IN THE BINAYAK SEN CASE!

COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS

185/3, FOURTH FLOOR, ZAKIR NAGAR, NEW DELHI-25

24/12/10

PRESS RELEASE

CONDEMN UNEQUIVOCALLY THE MURDER OF JUSTICE BY THE SESSIONS COURT IN RAIPUR IN THE BINAYAK SEN CASE!

LET US UNITEDLY FIGHT TO REPEAL ALL FASCIST DRACONIAN LAWS INCLUDING UAPA AND THE CHHATTISGARH SPECIAL PUBLIC SECURITY ACT!

The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) condemns unequivocally the murder of justice in the case of Dr. Binayak Sen, a people’s doctor and one of the first civil libertarians to expose the state sponsored Salwa Judum that was undertaken by the BJP government on the tribal people in Chhattisgarh and ably supported by the Congress which is the opposition party in the state. In fact Dr. Sen while also exposing one of the worst cases in post-47 India of malnutrition and total neglect of the everyday life of the tribal people in the region showed the world the shocking story that was slowly unfolding—a slow genocide of the people in this region. And along with this slow genocide was the barbaric onslaught of the state sponsored Salwa Judum. Yes it was the voice of conviction of Dr. Binayak Sen against this murder, rape and loot of the tribal people that arouse the conscience of the people of the subcontinent as well as all democratic and freedom loving people of the world. To condemn such a person to life imprisonment u/s of 120(B), 124(A) of the IPC and 1,2,3,5, Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and Sec 39 (2) of the UAPA (2004 amended) without even an iota of evidence brings once again forth the real face of Indian democracy with the judiciary reflecting the abysmal nadir to which the system has convoluted iself to.

All supposed pillars of democracy of the Indian state are increasingly proving to be hollow for the common people fighting for their livelihoods and those who raise the issues of the most exploited, and oppressed being the target of ire of a state that is day by day churning out more and more anti-people policies and supplementing it with a penal system teethed with the worst draconian laws. The case of Dr. Binayak Sen is a reminder to every democratic and freedom loving people of the subcontinent to once again raise their voice unitedly against such a penal state that is assuming fascist proportions. Notwithstanding the fact that about 22 noble prize winners from all over the world had sought his immediate freedom and lauded the exemplary work Dr. Sen had in the medical sciences, in popularising it among the poorest of the poor, and in providing the best of treatment to the impoverished adivasis in Central India, what the state could give him in return was life imprisonment for a case that hardly has any evidence!

This is the same state that has given blanket protection for all the scamsters and looters, be it the politician, bureaucrat, coporate honchos, and last but not the least judges right from the sessions court to the highest seat of justice in India.

And naturally what can a doctor who is stubborn enough to go to the most impoverished regions of ‘Shining India’ and work among the poorest of the poor for their betterment, let alone survival expect from a system which was always living in a world of denial about the existence of such a world! And his only crime—that he had dared the criminal negligence of a state which had blood in its hands of a slow, but cold and calculated genocide of a people through systematically denying any opportunity to live a life of dignity!

It is high time that all democratic and freedom loving people should join hands to raise their voice against the mockery of justice and once again fight to put an end to all such draconian laws of colonial vinatage. Today it is Dr. Binayak Sen. Tomorrow it can be anyone of us.

In Solidarity,

Gurusharan Singh

President

Amit Bhattacharyya

Secretary General

SAR Geelani

Working President

Rona Wilson

Secretary, Public Relations