Anti-Republic Day agitation in Jamui and Nawada
CPI (Maoist) raises black flags and issues posters. “Our freedom is false, the people are hungry.”
http://www.patrika.com/news/miscellenous-india/naxalite-hoisted-black-flag-shouts-anti-slogans-to-show-protest-1165732/
Maoists hoist black flag and torch vehicles to boycott Republic Day in Odisha
Rayagada/ Bolangir: The Maoists threatening people to boycott Republic Day celebrations, on Tuesday hoisted black flags in several places in Bolangir district and torched vehicle engaged in road construction work at Rayagada district. The ultras unfurled black flags on school premises in Chaulabngi in Khaphrakhol block in Bolangir district leaving mao posters and pamphlets appealing public to boycott the Republic Day, said sources. Meanwhile, Maoists torched a JCB machine and a tractor engaged in road construction work at Dalianuji village under Muniguda Police Station in Rayagada district late Monday night. Continue reading
Denial of dignity and rights
The health of 68-year-old political prisoner Kobad Ghandy, six years into his incarceration, is deteriorating rapidly, even as proceedings in the cases slapped against him, barring one, are yet to begin. Ghandy is suffering from a host of health problems that include irritable bowel syndrome, dizziness, nausea, a severe kidney problem for which he has been receiving treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on and off, a serious heart condition, and an abnormal dropping of pulse rate for which he has been advised to have a pacemaker fitted. Continue reading
The brutal attack carried out by the police on protesting students and youths in Kerala. The protest was called to demand immediate resignation of the Chief Minister
Bijapur. 18th January, 2016.
Reports from Nendra and Pedda Jojer in Bijapur, and Kunna in Sukma reveal a new and brutal wave of systematic violence being carried out by security forces in South Chhattisgarh. On the one hand Chhattisgarh police proudly announces the launch of new operations and tactics, boasting of better coordination among forces and improvement in training. On the other, we have the bold but lesser heard voices of people who inhabit the lands to which the police is “laying siege” – revealing the bitter truth of the war the State continues to wage on its people.
The Coordination of Democratic Rights Organization (CDRO), a nation-wide platform of rights organizations, together with Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) and CPDR (Tamil Nadu) conducted a fact-finding in these areas between the 15th and 17th of January. Here are some of our findings. Continue reading
Jharkhand: 7 including 5 cops killed, 6 others injured in Maoist ambush
Seven people including five policemen were killed and six others injured when Maoists ambushed a police party near Kasiyar village in Jharkhand’s Palamu district on Wednesday evening. The police party was returning to Hussainabad after conducting long range patrolling in Kala Pahar region, considered a Maoist hotbed, when at around 5:30pm an improvised explosive device (IED) was triggered near Kasiyar village in Chhatterpur police station area.
The dead included four constables, one havildar, one police driver and a security guard. The inspector general (Operations), MS Bhatia, said that the injured have been taken to Daltonganj from where they’ll be taken to Ranchi. Hussainabad police station officer-in-charge Rajesh Prasad Rajak, who was leading the party, had a miraculous escape as the IED exploded seconds after his vehicle had crossed the spot, but the security personnel following him in another vehicle were not as lucky. CRPF inspector general RK Mishra had earlier confirmed the death of two police personnel. Continue reading
View From The Right: Red terror
The cover story in the Organiser, “Trouncing the red terror”, highlights the need to tackle the “most serious internal security challenge” in the country. It notes that “every now and then” reports about the “waning Naxal might” emerge, but we also “find them gaining ground in some other part of the country with a different name”. “What are the reasons that, despite setbacks, they continue to challenge the state,” it asks, and adds “the biggest reason is that we never dissected the ideological plank and character of this category of communists”, who “keep on changing goalposts”. It notes that they “effectively use propaganda” and “exploit all possible constitutional means to challenge the Constitution”. Continue reading
Unusual calm prevailed at Bhanjipet village in Narasampet mandal where the funeral of slain naxalite Puttapaka Kumaraswamy alias Veeranna was held here on Thursday. Revolutionary poet Varavara Rao, leaders of various human rights groups and peoples’ organizations attended the funeral. Kumaraswamy was killed in an exchange of fire with police in Odisha on January 24 and his body was brought to the village on Wednesday night. Continue reading
Statement by Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle, IIT-M
Suicide (as stated by media but it is not so) of Dalit Research Scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad University Campus has strangulated the entire democratic voices of this country. It once again exposed the repressive role of Brahminical State apparatus and Hindutva fascism against oppressed masses and working classes! The scholar was a member of Ambedkar Student Association (ASA), where his group exposed the pre-planned role of RSS in Muzaffarnagar riot through screening the documentary titled ‘Muzaffarnagar baqqi hai’. Continue reading
A coalition of press freedom and human rights groups is calling for the release of two Indian journalists who have been detained for several months. Somaru Nag, who worked for the newspaper Patrika, was arrested on 16 July 2015 and accused of being a Maoist sympathiser who collaborated with villagers to sabotage road-building equipment. Nag, who covered rural issues such as access to water and electricity, faces charges of banditry, arson and criminal conspiracy.
Santosh Yadav, a freelance journalist who reported on allegations of human rights abuses by the police against tribal communities, was arrested on 29 September 29 2015. He is accused of rioting, criminal conspiracy, and attempted murder. Police also allege that he associated with a terrorist organisation and of “supporting and aiding terrorist groups”. Both men are represented by the same lawyer, Isha Khandelwal, who says they are innocent of all charges.
Both men were detained in Chhattisgarh, one of the fastest-developing states in India and a major source of electricity and steel for the country. The region has been the scene of attacks by Naxalite-Maoist insurgents of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The coalition, headed by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), argues that journalists working in the state find themselves caught between the Maoists and government forces.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/jan/20/press-freedom-groups-call-for-release-of-indian-journalists