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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 West Bengal
since it was an old case he did not
remember the names. Then the police
arrested Ajit Bhar immediately on grounds
of having some connection with the
Naxalites and charged him under sections
120B/121/122/123 of the Indian Penal
Code. He was arrested as a co-accused in
crime No. 66 of 2003, for allegedly
committing various offences against the
state. 41
At about 4:30 pm on 21 August 2004,
some human rights defenders of the APDR
had assembled for a peaceful streetmeeting
against state-repression at the
Jangipara Bus stand in Hoogly. A group of
50 to 60 people carrying red flags with
emblems of a sickle and star, reportedly
led by local leaders of the Communist
Party of India (Marxists), approached and
attacked the human rights activists during
the meeting. The attackers kicked the
human rights defenders, used lathis (long
bamboo sticks) to beat them, and verbally
abused and threatened them. When
members of the ADPR went to the nearby
Jangipara Police Station (located 50
meters away) to seek assistance, the
attackers also went to the police station,
set up a blockade preventing the human
rights defenders from leaving the station
and continued to threaten them verbally.
Police did not stop the attack despite their
close proximity and did not assist the
victims at the police station. After several
hours, the attackers dispersed and only
then did the police provide an escort
vehicle to the victims. Some members of
the ADPR sustained serious injuries but a
268
local doctor, who was called to treat them,
was too afraid to help them. Later they
were treated at a local hospital. Those
injured include Sujato Bhadra, Amitadyuti
Kumar, Sanjib Acharya, Bapi Dasgupta,
Shankar Nandy, Sukumar Tiwari, Tushar
Chakraborty, Bapi Das Gupta, Pradip
Banerjee, Amal Roy, Gautam Munshi and
other local activists. 42
V. Impunity
Consistent follow up by victims, their
relatives and human rights defenders made
progress for establishment of
accountability in a few cases.
In February 2004, the Central Bureau
of Investigation reportedly filed chargesheets
in the court of the Siliguri subdivisional
judicial magistrate against two
police officers, Prodyut Kumar Das and
Ramchandra Singh in the custodial death
case of one Pinter Yadav, a resident of
Phatapukur village located on the outskirts
of Siliguri in May 1999. There were in
charge of Siliguri police station and
Pradhanagar police outpost respectively.
The CBI investigations reportedly found
them guilty of beating Pinter Yadav to
death inside the Pradhanagar police lockup.
On 5 May 1999, Pinter Yadav and his
cousin Manjit Gowala had gone to Siliguri
to see a film. They were arrested by two
plainclothes policemen on suspicion of
being thieves and taken to the Pradhanagar
police outpost and confined in the lock-up.
Prodyut Kumar Das and Ramchandra
Singh allegedly brutally thrashed them.
Pinter Yadav was brutally tortured and left