INDIA: Judicial Magistrate takes up the witch-hunt against Ms. Madhuri Krishnaswamy, a human rights defender in Madhya Pradesh state

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Badwani, Madhya Pradesh state regarding the continuing witch-hunt against human rights defender Ms. Madhuri Krishnaswamy of the Jagrut Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS). Having braved an externment notice, followed by attacks from the locally elected Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and then a vilification campaign by the district magistrate himself, Madhuri is arrested and sent to judicial custody in a 5-year-old case now, which the local police have no interest to pursue.

It is reported that, Madhuri, after receiving a summons from the Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Barwani, presided by Mr. D.P. Singh Sewach, appeared in court on 16 May 2013. The summons was related to First Information Report (FIR) 93/2008 originally registered at Sialwad Police Station in Badwani District. The police registered this case, accusing Madhuri for causing interference to a government servant from discharging his job, and other charges, for Madhuri and the JADS organised a protest before the Menimata Public Health Centre (PHC), when a compounder and nurse, both serving at the PHC at the time, forced a woman out of the labour room from the PHC, since the woman’s family could not pay Rs. 100 as bribe to the nurse and the compounder at the time of admission. The woman, on the same day delivered on the public road.

The state government had initially suspended the compounder from service and later reinstated him to service. It is reported that the police registered a case against Madhuri and others after the public protest, but the police had filed a closure report in court, admitting that the allegations in the FIR are not true and hence are not to be pursued. However, the compounder, who was suspended from service has reportedly objected to the closure and has kept the case alive. The judicial magistrate, instead of taking a judicious action upon the matter, instead issued a summons to Madhuri in the case and all the other accused, and since Madhuri appeared in court, remanded her to judicial custody. The magistrate did in fact suggest Madhuri to apply for a bail, which Madhuri rightly refused, since, the case upon which the summons was issued is fabricated even according to the police, and it is the duty of the court, if not the police to ensure that justice, is done.

This case iterates how careless and callous is India’s justice system and how nonsensical magistrates allow the justice apparatus to be misused. The irony of the case is that government machinery as well as judicial time is wasted, sending a whistle-blower to judicial custody, based on a false complaint of a corrupt government servant, who was once suspended from service for demanding bribe, and forcing a woman to deliver on the public road.

The cruelty of the entire incident is evident from the fact that even the husband of the woman who was forced to deliver her child on the public road, and was absent from the place is also one of the accused, who stands the risk of being send to judicial custody, if he also rightfully refuses to apply for bail, on the same ground that Madhuri has adopted, for being falsely accused of an offense they have not committed. The case highlights how even judicial officers, acting without a moral high ground or judiciously, could add into the perennial problems India’s justice apparatus faces today.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Madhuri attended the court on 16 May 2013, (Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Badwani) presided over by Mr. D.P. Singh Sewach, upon receipt of summons from the court. The summons relates to FIR 93/2008 of Sialwad Police Station in Badwani District, Madhya Pradesh. The Magistrate suggested Madhuri to seek bail, which Madhuri refused to apply, since Madhuri is convinced that the case against her is fabricated and has no merits. The state police also has filed a closure report in the court, which the court refused to accept on a technical ground, and sent Madhuri in judicial remand until 30 May 2013. The following details of the case, including its background, illuminates how a judicial officer, having no regard to the rights of individuals or self-respect could derail the entire justice process.

FIR No 93 of 2008 of Sialwad Police Station in Badwani District, registered for offenses punishable under Sections 147, 148, 332, 353 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 relates to the following incident:

Ms. Baniya Bai is a member of the Scheduled Tribe. Baniya is a resident of Sukhpuri village, in Badwani district. Baniya’s father-in-law took her to the Menimata Public Health Centre (PHC) for delivery on 11 November 2008. Baniya at the time was in an advanced stage of labour. They made the 15 km journey from their village to the PHC in a bullock cart because no other transport was available. After admitting Baniya the compounder at the PHC, Mr. V.K. Chauhan, and nurse, Ms. Nirmala, left the PHC and went home.

On the next day morning, the compounder and the nurse forced Baniya to leave the hospital. This is because Baniya and her father-in-law could not pay the bribe (Rs. 100) demanded by the compounder and the nurse. By the time Baniya’s father-in-law managed to get the money, the nurse and the compounder had discharged Baniya by force from the hospital. Despite attempts to re-admit Baniya to the PHC, the compounder flatly refused saying that Baniya would have to go to Badwani District Hospital or Silawad Hospital, since she has already been discharged from the hospital. When Baniya’s relatives requested the compounder and the nurse at the PHC to arrange for Baniya’s safe travel to another hospital, the family was asked to make their own arrangements. Forced out from the PHC, Baniya literally had to crawl out of the labour room at the PHC, and she lay down on the public road in front of the PHC, since it was impossible for her to move.

Meanwhile Baniya’s mother-in-law, Suvali Bai, went looking for a Dai (women in rural India who help women in labour) in the nearby marketplace and found Ms. Jambai Nana, who had come to the market. Hearing Baniya’s situation, Jambai agreed to assist her, and at around 12pm, helped Baniya deliver on the public road outside the PHC. The father-in-law kept his dhoti (loincloth) to provide cover for Baniya during delivery. Following this incident, a crowd gathered outside the PHC.

Madhuri was passing by the PHC at the time and inquired what was happening and came to know about the horrendous act, committed by the compounder as well as the nurse at the PHC. Agitated, Madhuri contacted the Silawad Child Health Centre, the Silawad Police Station as well as health officials from Badwani. Being informed about the incident, senior officials from the health department ordered a vehicle to be sent immediately to the Menimata PHC. After being denied emergency obstetric care and being forced to deliver in public view, Baniya and her child were taken to the Silawad Hospital for admission. The compounder was suspended after repeated demands for action from JADS, but was soon reinstated.

Aggrieved about this horrendous act, for which the compounder and the nurse was responsible, and compounded by the fact that this was not the first incident where the PHC has denied assistance to poor villages, most importantly from the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribe communities, the JADS organized a protest in front of the PHC on the day on which Baniya was forced to deliver her baby on the road. Though the protest resulted in the compounder being suspended from service, the police at their ease, registered a case against (1) Gurla; (2) Bachiya; (1 and 2 are on bail from the Sessions’ Court); (3) Kamal; (4) Iddiya (Baniya’s husband) and (5) Madhuri.

The JADS took up this matter before the state government as well as the state police department. Finally, after inquiry, the state police decided that the complaint against all the five accused are false, and hence dropped the investigation and filed a closure report at the Judicial Magistrate Court, Badwani, now presided over by Mr. D.P. Singh Sewach. It is in this case, the compounder has filed an objection against the closure of the case by the police, against which the court has issued a summons to Madhuri to appear before the court. It is in this proceeding that the court has sent Madhuri to judicial remand, refusing to accept the closure report filed by the police in the case.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the authorities mentioned below demanding a judicial inquiry in this case. The AHRC is writing separately to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders as well as UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples calling for an intervention in the case.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER