annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Orissa
Though the State government of
Orissa and the People’s War Group (PWG)
expressed the desire to sit for dialogue, no
dialogue could be held at the end of 2004.
The talks suffered further setback when
the police arrested 18 Adivasis on 16
September 2004 near Govindapali Ghat in
Malkangiri district while they were
returning along with 70 others after
participating in a public rally in
Bhubaneswar. 3
The Advasis continued to live under
the threats of forced eviction and land
alienation. They suffered from acute
poverty, disease, malnutrition and
starvation deaths. Deprived of minor forest
produce, thousands of them have been
reportedly migrating to outside of Orissa.
Poverty severely impacts upon the
indigenous peoples’ access to justice.
Duga Munda of Patadiha village in
Sundergarh district had to spend 11 years
in jail as he was too poor to pay for his bail
bond of Rs 5000 until the Orissa High
Court ordered his release on 8 November
2004. 4 The Orissa government also failed
to release Justice P K Misra Commission
of Inquiry Report into the killing of three
Adivasis in police firing on 16 December
2000 at Kashipur. They were protesting
against the appropriation of their lands for
Utkal Alumina’s bauxite mine and
refinery, promoted by the Aditya Birla
Group and Canadian mining giant Alcan.
The report was reportedly submitted on 17
January 2003. 5
Impunity contributes to growing
atrocities against the Dalits by the upper
188
castes. Of the 4,084 cases of atrocities
against Scheduled Castes recorded in the
State during the period of 1 March 2000
and 1 May 2004, charge-sheets have been
submitted in only 2,518 of these cases.
While five persons have been convicted of
such charges during 2000, four have been
convicted in 2001 and one each in 2002
and 2003. 6
II. Atrocities by security forces
i. Arbitrary deprivation of the right to life
There have been consistent reports of
arbitrary deprivation of the right to life.
The National Human Rights Commission
registered 46 cases of custodial deaths in
Orissa in 1999-2000, 57 cases in 2000-
2001, 56 cases in 2001-2002 and 42 in
2002-2003. There were 7 deaths in police
custody in 2001-2002 against 2 cases of
death in police custody in 2000-2001. 7
On 31 December 2003, Narayan
Behera of Badajorda village died under
detention in the Bit House Investigation
Room of Bikrampur Police Station in
Telcher of Angul district. He was arrested in
connection with a murder case that took
place in Joroda Panchayat. He was
reportedly found hanging from a ceiling fan
in the Bit House. While police claimed that
he had committed suicide, the deceased’s
family and villagers, however, alleged that
Narayan was hanged after being tortured to
death. The Officer-in-Charge (OC) of
Bikrampur police station, Shobha Patnaik
and Assistant Sub-Inspector of the Bit
House, Dwari Muduli were suspended