Activists from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and other parts of the country, under the banner of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), have written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) against arrest of the fact-finding team of Telangana Democratic Front by the Chhattisgarh police.
NAPM team in Delhi met the Joint Registrar of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and delivered the petition urging the Commission to immediately take cognizance of the matter, as it was integrally connected to various other human rights violations in Chhattisgarh.
Signatories to the petition include Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Prafulla Samantara, Sunilam, Binayak Sen, and Sandeep Pandey from the Human Rights Forum, and other organisations from Telangana and A.P.
The petition demanded that all charges against all seven members of the fact-finding team be dropped, and the team be allowed to move freely in Bastar. It also demanded initiation of criminal prosecution against the police officers concerned for abuse of due process of law, reportedly misleading the Sukma Court and arbitrarily arresting the fact-finding team.
The letter also requested the NHRC to immediately summon IGP of Bastar S.R.P. Kalluri, and Superintendent of Police R.N. Dash before the commission in person for a detailed explanation of all charges of human rights violations, and take action thereof.
The commission has also been urged to send a high-level team of independent activists, lawyers, academicians, and journalists to visit various areas of Bastar region and obtain first hand information of the instances of human rights abuse.
Direct filing of FIRs in all cases of cognizable offences and human rights violations was sought, a press release informed on Friday.
