Something About The Law

Few of you must have read the Tehelka Article about under-age tribals arrested and languishing in the Jails of Koraput, Orissa. In case you haven’t, the article may be viewed here.

Below is an appeal by two people, Devashish and Faiza (a  friend of mine) who visited the area and now seek to start a campaign along with the Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (AIPL) of sending lawyers/ law students to help secure some redress for the people in such areas. Those interested may contact Dev( www.nakedindianfakir.com ), Faiza (faiza.ahmad.khan@gmail.com) or myself ( adityaswarup@gmail.com ) .

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Re : mobilizing legal support for the adivasi situation in Orissa

In the adivasi village of Jangrivalsa, Koraput, Orissa, were mothers and fathers of some 15 year olds who had been picked up by the police during one of their unannounced combing operations. Those children were tossed in Koraput Jail under charges of :

1. unlawful assembly,
2. carrying weapons (specifically bows, arrows and sticks, all of which are basic tribal forest foraging gear) and
3. conspiring against the state, amongst other charges. One of the FIRs even went so far as to scratch out the ‘etc’ after ‘bow and arrows’ and hurriedly squeeze in a ‘guns’ as an afterthought.

What had led to this was an event some days previously when a large group of adivasis, led by their Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha leader had gone to the neighbourhood CRPF camp and thereafter to the police thana WITHOUT their lathis, bows and arrows, merely to ask them why the combing operations had continued DESPITE the police guaranteeing that they would stop. They were brushed off at both places, following which the police actually OPENED FIRE on them from BEHIND as they left, killing a few, including the Sangha leader, on the spot.

When we – Faiza and Dev – entered the picture, merely as observers to the scenario, we learnt that the teenagers picked up by the police were lodged in the main jail and not in the home for juvenile justice as they should have been, from where it might have been easier to get them out on bail. We met the head of the Koraput Bar Association, Mr. Nihar Ranjan Patnayak, who along with Sharanya Nayak, one of the Action Aid leaders, and Sudhakar Patnayak, a veteran journalist in the area, were trying to find a way to prove that the boys were indeed underage, since none of them had any documentation to prove so.

Under the guidance of the people’s lawyer from Vishakhapatnam, Mr. Bala Krishna, we joined the fact finding team and went to the village Jangrivalsa to try and convince the parents of the arrested boys to acquire their school leaving certificates from the government primary school that the boys had been to as children. Every transfer certificate bears the child’s age, and that, as both Mr. Patnayak and Mr. Balakrishna attested, would be proof enough in any court of law that the boys were indeed under-age.

Repeated visits to the village and days of gentle phone-call persuasion followed. The villagers, having been betrayed by every ‘outsider’ – the police, the CRPF, the collector, seemed unwilling to trust us implicitly. Finally they decided to, and we got one 19 year old adivasi man to mobilize the parents of the under-trial boys to come with us to the government school. We managed to procure two such transfer certificates. Enough to kick start the proceedings. But we were not prepared for what was to follow. The same 19 year old was picked up by the police on MURDER CHARGES the following day, beaten beyond recognition, and then let off with a warning the very NEXT DAY! The villagers issued US strict warnings to never come near their village again, suspecting us of being POLICE INFORMERS. The authorities had once again achieved what they always hope to do… isolate the adivasis from every source of external help so that they can be easily bullied into submission. We know that sounds like a presumptuous over-simplification, but it’s nearly impossible to see it as anything else.

That then was the scenario we – Faiza and Dev – were first hand witness to. The reason we’re writing this is to bring up the following observations…

1. firstly to give some grass-roots perspective on the odds true justice is up against… in all of SOUTH ORISSA, covering over a dozen DISTRICTS, each district comprised of numerous TEHSILS, every tehsil comprised of hundreds of VILLAGES, and each village being home to AT LEAST 50 adivasis, one would imagine there would be at least ONE people’s lawyer per tehsil to be fighting for their rights when the authorities throw them in jail on (mostly) false charges 30-40 at a time. But there are, in all of south Orissa, perhaps just a handful of such lawyers. So woefully inadequate for the task at hand, that they had to call upon Mr. Balakrishna from Andhra Pradesh for a couple of days, who too, in his own home state seems to be fighting a losing battle, being done in by the sheer number of cases. In the time that he fights perhaps FIVE such cases, the state manufactures perhaps another THOUSAND. We admit we’re using these numbers loosely here, but a quick conversation with any of the aforementioned will prove that these loose figures too are an understatement.
2. we did sit in on brainstorming sessions, and despite being fairly ignorant of Indian law, we could, through mere common sense, add a fair amount of value to the ideation process… reading past judgements, and throwing up possible defense arguments. And we realized that people like Mr. Patnayak and Mr. Balakrishna, if given a consistent supply of just hands and feet – young law interns perhaps, who could collect evidence, research past judgements etc – could up their productivity manifold, which could translate into a speedier response to the state’s bully-ish ways.
3. on the other hand we do understand that for any legal help in people’s matters consistency of such help is of prime importance, that the follow-up (being present for such a case EVERY time it is up for hearing) is what might ensure any success. And for any lawyer (intern or practicing) from the cities such consistency might be problematic, we thought then that the setting up of LAWYERS’ GROUPS – perhaps one such for every civil-strife-torn region – could help, whereby a group of lawyers could follow the SAME one case on a rotation basis.

These are humble – bordering on ignorant – suggestions, from two filmmakers who have never had a first hand run-in with the law of the land like we did on this trip. But we think some gaps need to – and CAN – be filled. We just threw up these ideas to start a discussion, a vital, speedy argument, that might throw up a vital, necessary solution. So that we, the civil society, can react to them, the state, at the state’s speed and in the same over-awing numbers. So that some day soon when the two sides seem equally powerful, we can sort such issues of human rights violation through SINCERE DIALOGUE, and not have to resort to guns for guns.

Lastly, we understand that the rhetoric used here gives the impression that we’re in the midst of some sort of war. Dangerous insinuation that, yes. But sadly, it’s not too far from the truth. If you need any kind of elucidation – facts to back that claim up – please do revert to us at the following contacts.

Thank you

Yours expectantly,

Devashish Makhija                                         Faiza Ahmad Khan

+91 98209 95045                                         +91 98206 83281

www.nakedindianfakir.com faiza.ahmad.khan@gmail.com

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