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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 West Bengal
The year 2004 started with the arrest
of a member of Association for Protection
of Democratic Rights (APDR). Satyajit
Banerjee, a police officer whose actions as
the Officer-in-Charge of Karaya police
station were described as “a blot on the
police force” and his behaviour as
“barbaric” by West Bengal State Human
Rights Commission, was recommended to
the President of India for the Indian Police
Medal. 1 Although compensation was
recommended in a few cases, most human
rights violations went unpunished. Access
to justice has been obstructed through
technicalities at courts, doctoring of post
mortem reports and intimidation and
harassment of the victims, their relatives
and human rights defenders.
Hunger and starvation deaths in
Amlasole, West Midnapore that captured
the news headlines in June and July 2004
were sought to be brushed aside by the
proletariat government. Long years of
neglect resulted in deep social discontent
which in turn has become the breeding
grounds of the Naxalites - the Maoists
Communist Centre (MCC) and Peoples
War Group (PWG). In the beginning of the
year approximately 350 Border Security
Personnel deployed in the Maoists’
heartland of Purulia, West Midnapore and
Bankura were reportedly withdrawn in
September 2004 for deployment in
Manipur. 2 The Maoists offered conditional
talks 3 while the Left Front government
reiterated that no talks would be held till
they give up the path of violence. In July
2004, the state government launched a
258
special operation against the Naxalites. On
23 September 2004, State Home Secretary
claimed that 30 Naxalites had been
arrested during the special operations. The
State government also set up 27 camps of
the security forces along the border with
Jharkhand to counter the Naxalites. The
Central government had sanctioned funds
for raising two battalions of the India
Reserve Battalion (IRB) Force with Rs 13
crore for each battalion to assist antimilitancy
operations. One battalion is
almost ready for deployment. 4 As an
indication to the shape of atrocities to
come, on 14 and 15 November 2004, West
Bengal Police arrested six of these IRB
trainees for violence against the civilians
at Bidhan Nagar Government Housing
area in Durgapur on the night of 13
November 2004. 5
The State government continued its
crackdown on the Kamtapur Liberation
Organisation (KLO) which reportedly
recruited its first batch of armed cadres in
December 2002 to espouse the cause of the
Rajbangshi tribal community in North
Bengal. According to Chief Minister
Buddhadev Bhattacharjee out of 166 KLO
activists identified by the government, all
except 35 had not been arrested. 6 Human
rights organisations in the past reported
that most suspected members of the armed
opposition groups are charged with the
most severe provisions of the Indian Penal
Code such as sections 121, 121A, 122, 123
and 124A pertaining to ‘waging war
against the state’, ‘gathering arms to wage
war against the state’, ‘conspiring with