Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM concerning another case of illegal arrest, detention and police brutality against Mr Golam Kibria 
from Murshidabad district, West Bengal, India. This is yet another in a seemingly infinite number of cases wherein law enforcement agencies due to ingrained malpractices and callous attitudes have committed criminal acts against helpless individuals under their jurisdiction. AHRC requests that you please write in because every letter is crucial to pointing India’s authorities in the right direction toward institutional reform. Please write in today to demand that authorities take actions against such rogue groups and actors that justice may truly be served in India. Please write in to protect those who possess the same inherent dignity and rights as you do, and who deserve, as you do, not simply to live, but to live with dignity, security and hope.
CASE NARRATIVE:
An inquiry undertaken by MASUM reveals the following facts.
The victim of illegal arrest, detention and torture is 30-year-old Mr Golam Kibria from the Murshidabad district, who endured physical assault and injury from police officers from Jalangi Police Station led by Mr Manas Maity, the Officer-in-Charge of Jalangi Police Station and the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Domkal, Murshidabad.
The police encircled the house of Mr Samsul Huda (Golam Kibria’s father and a retired school teacher) at 1.30am on 4 May 2012 and began to strike the front door repeatedly, demanding entry. The police then forcibly entered the house and violently laid hands on Mr Golam Kibria, whose hands were tied with a rope and held above his head while the police brutally beat him. The victim was then taken to Jalangi Police Station. Please see a graphic picture of injuries at the back side of the body of Golam Kibria here.
Reports were soon heard that the police had completely removed his clothes and assaulted him again in his naked condition while in their custody. The severely injured victim was released from Jalangi Police Station on 5 May 2012 without any explanation as to his arrest the previous day or for the barbarism that was visited upon him during his unlawful detention.
Medical reports demonstrate the gravity of the assault upon Mr Golam Kibria, who is still being treated. The victim is himself still in shock and greatly traumatised by this unwarranted violence against his person. The victim’s family members and some other locals witnessed the incident, but they are unable to seek justice because the police they have to report the case to would be the very same group of men who had themselves tortured the victim. Although these heinous criminal acts against Mr Golam Kibria are in themselves despicable, the criminality of the entire law enforcement agency is equally undeniable and even more troubling. The law has failed to provide back-up avenues through which the individual who was not in the first instance protected, could seek justice and compensation, and through which the perpetrators could be punished.
Something is terribly wrong with the justice system in India. When individuals and entire communities live in fear of their own safety because of the arbitrariness and senselessness of violence; when agencies that were designed specifically to protect and uphold rule of law are themselves perpetrators of these acts; when police personnel, logically the moral exemplars for the societies they administer, are able to behave with complete impunity and are not subjected to intense scrutiny from the centre – it is a broken, dysfunctional system, a failure of humanism, a mockery of ideals.
Without intervention by the central government, the people of Murshidabad and all over India face, for the foreseeable future, continued abuse of their freedoms and physical person and no likelihood for justice to be served to those acting with complete impunity.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Life, liberty and security of person – these are a human being’s inalienable rights. These rights should be protected by rule of law. These are the declarations and conventions states make in the international arena, scarred by common memories of genocide, torture, war crimes. These represent attempts by members of a common humanity expressing a common hope and expecting a common future.
In India today, disregard and contempt for these rights result daily in barbarous acts which continue to outrage the conscience of mankind. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948 and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) are virtually unknown amongst the masses that constitute over a sixth of all humans on the planet. Mr Golam Kibria finds himself amongst an ocean of many oppressed, abused and neglected. The provincial authorities have threatened his family and home, wrongfully arrested and detained him, and viciously injured him without any ground. The central authorities have not been quick or willing to help him seek justice against these base acts and agents. Civil society is afraid of the vindictiveness with which a challenged law enforcement agency might act to threaten their lives, their liberty and their security of person also, should they speak out on behalf of the victim.
The constitution of India states that the right to life and personal liberty is a fundamental freedom (Article 21). The Constitution does not permit arbitrary arrest and detention in Article 22, which also proceeds to lay out the grounds upon which lawful arrest is made – the person detained should be informed on the grounds of his arrest and permitted to consult or be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice, for instance. The person must also be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours. Mr Golam Kibria was instead deprived of his liberty, tortured and then released on, it seems, the whim of police personnel who had no cause to believe he had committed any act that warranted detention.
Even if Mr Golam Kibria had committed a crime, proper procedure as laid out in the Criminal Procedures Code (CrPC), 1973 for the arrest had not been complied with. Chapter V of the CrPC clearly states the conditions that do not require a warrant for an arrest, yet complaints had not been made against Mr Golam Kibria, nor had he given cause for the police to suspect he had been involved in a cognizable offence. At 1.30am he was at home with his family, not obstructing police executing their duty nor breaking into someone’s house. He was not a deserter from any of the Armed Forces, or committed any act outside India which was punishable as an offence in India. Section 58 also clearly states that police are to report to the District Magistrate any apprehension of persons made, but this was also not done.
The Indian state ratified the ICCPR in 1979. Yet its reservations on Article 9 reflect and perpetuate a suffocating culture of judicial impunity and unaccountability among law enforcement agencies. This is surprising given the seeming similarities between most clauses in Article 9 and various articles in the CrPC and the Indian Constitution. It is clear that the ICCPR reaffirms the notion of a person’s fundamental rights to life and liberty, as well as against arbitrary arrest or detention. If a person is deprived of his liberty, it should be on such grounds and in accordance with such procedures as established by law. He should be promptly brought before a judge (in the CrPC, magistrate) within a reasonable (in the CrPC, 24 hours) time or else released. The person is entitled to take proceedings before a court. What has been argued is that the Indian state’s reservation is primarily concerning the fifth clause in Article 9: victims of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation. Is the state unwilling or unable, or both?
Regardless, such reservations pose serious obstacles to the service of justice. It does not punish bullying behaviour by those appointed to positions of power and backed by the Indian state. This mars even the semblance of fairness and rule of law in the country. India should move quickly to pass legislation permitting the removal of such a reservation.
Article 10 in the ICCPR, to which India has not expressed reservations, emphatically declares that all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. When the police personnel bruised and broke Mr Golam Kibria they were not expressing respect for his inherent dignity. Their base and brutal acts were bestial, completely unworthy of the legal and moral authority that is supposed to distinguish them.
Other efforts to quickly accede to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (CAT) will also move India in a positive direction toward ultimately reforming and improving its policing practices and other related judicial procedures. Such will not only vastly improve the lives of its citizens and increase their confidence in the central government, but enhance the credibility and legitimacy of the state locally and internationally.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the authorities mentioned below demanding an investigation into this case. Mr Golam Kibria must be compensated for the physical injuries and humiliation endured under the police personnel from Jalangi Police Station. The victim, his family and the larger community must be assured such senseless acts of violence and impunity will not occur again in the future, or if they do, they will be capably met by proper checks and balances within the justice system.
The AHRC is also writing a separate letter to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Arrest and Detention and the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment calling for further intervention in this case.
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To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
INDIA: Please investigate violence committed against Mr Golam Kibria by police personnel stationed at Jalangi Police Station acting under the supervision and direction of the Officer-in-Charge of Jalangi Police Station, Mr Manas Maity, and the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Domkal, Murshidabad
Name of victim: Mr Golam Kibria, 30-year-old, living in Murshidabad district, West Bengal
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr Manas Maity, Officer-in-Charge of Jalangi Police Station, Murshidabad, West Bengal
2. Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Domkal, Murshidabad
3. Police officers acting under the direction and supervision of (1) and (2)
Date of incident: 4 May 2012, from 1.30am
Place of incident: At the residence of Mr Samsul Huda (Mr Golam Kibria's father) and at Jalangi Police Station in Murshidabad district, West Bengal
I am writing to express concern regarding yet another case of illegal arrest, detention and custodial violence by police personnel from Jalangi Police Station at 1.30am on 4 May 2012. The details of the case are as follows:
The victim of illegal arrest, detention and torture is 30-year-old Mr Golam Kibria from the Murshidabad district, who endured physical assault and injury from police officers from Jalangi Police Station led by Mr Manas Maity, the Officer-in-Charge of Jalangi Police Station and the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Domkal, Murshidabad.
The police encircled the house of Mr Samsul Huda (Golam Kibria's father and a retired school teacher) at 1.30am on 4 May 2012 and began to strike the front door repeatedly, demanding entry. The police then forcibly entered the house and violently laid hands on Mr Golam Kibria, whose hands were tied with a rope and held above his head while the police brutally beat him. The victim was then taken to Jalangi Police Station.
Reports were soon heard that the police had completely removed his clothes and assaulted him again in his naked condition while in their custody. The severely injured victim was released from Jalangi Police Station on 5 May 2012 without any explanation as to his arrest the previous day or for the barbarism that was visited upon him during his unlawful detention.
Medical reports demonstrate the gravity of the assault upon Mr Golam Kibria, who is still being treated. The victim is himself still in shock and greatly traumatised by this unwarranted violence against his person. The victim's family members and some other locals witnessed the incident, but they are unable to seek justice because the police they have to report the case to would be the very same group of men who had themselves tortured the victim. Although these heinous criminal acts against Mr Golam Kibria are in themselves despicable, the criminality of the entire law enforcement agency is equally undeniable and even more troubling. The law has failed to provide back-up avenues through which the individual who was not in the first instance protected, could seek justice and compensation, and through which the perpetrators could be punished.
Something is terribly wrong with the justice system in India. When individuals and entire communities live in fear of their own safety because of the arbitrariness and senselessness of violence; when agencies that were designed specifically to protect and uphold rule of law are themselves perpetrators of these acts; when police personnel, logically the moral exemplars for the societies they administer, are able to behave with complete impunity and are not subjected to intense scrutiny from the centre – it is a broken, dysfunctional system, a failure of humanism, a mockery of ideals.
In India today, disregard and contempt for these rights result daily in barbarous acts which outrage the conscience of mankind. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948 and the 1966 ICCPR are virtually unknown amongst the masses that constitute over a sixth of all humans on the planet. Mr Golam Kibria finds himself amongst an ocean of many oppressed, abused and neglected. The provincial authorities have threatened his family and home, wrongfully arrested and detained him, and viciously injured him without any ground. The central authorities have not been quick or willing to help him seek justice against these base acts and agents. Civil society is afraid of the vindictiveness with which a challenged law enforcement agency might act to threaten their lives, their liberty and their security of person also, should they speak out on behalf of the victim.
The constitution of India states that the right to life and personal liberty is a fundamental freedom (Article 21). The Constitution does not permit arbitrary arrest and detention in Article 22, which also proceeds to lay out the grounds upon which lawful arrest is made – the person detained should be informed on the grounds of his arrest and permitted to consult or be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice, for instance. The person must also be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours. Mr Golam Kibria was instead deprived of his liberty, tortured and then released on, it seems, the whim of police personnel who had no cause to believe he had committed any act that warranted detention.
Even if Mr Golam Kibria had committed a crime, proper procedure as laid out in the Criminal Procedures Code (CrPC), 1973 for the arrest had not been complied with. Chapter V of the CrPC clearly states the conditions that do not require a warrant for an arrest, yet complaints had not been made against Mr Golam Kibria, nor had he given cause for the police to suspect he had been involved in a cognizable offence. At 1.30am he was at home with his family, not obstructing police executing their duty nor breaking into someone's house. He was not a deserter from any of the Armed Forces, or committed any act outside India which was punishable as an offence in India. Section 58 also clearly states that police are to report to the District Magistrate any apprehension of persons made, but this was also not done. It further seems unlikely that Mr Golam Kibria would have been released if the police had genuinely suspected him of a crime or had evidence to prove he committed one.
The Indian state ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1979. Yet its reservations on Article 9 reflect and perpetuate a suffocating culture of judicial impunity and unaccountability among law enforcement agencies. This is surprising given the seeming similarities between most clauses in Article 9 and various articles in the CrPC and the Indian Constitution. It is clear that the ICCPR reaffirms the notion of a person's fundamental rights to life and liberty, as well as against arbitrary arrest or detention. If a person is deprived of his liberty, it should be on such grounds and in accordance with such procedures as established by law. He should be promptly brought before a judge (in the CrPC, magistrate) within a reasonable (in the CrPC, 24 hours) time or else released.
The person is entitled to take proceedings before a court. What has been argued is that the Indian state's reservation is primarily concerning the fifth clause in Article 9: that victims of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation. Is the state unwilling or unable?
Regardless, such reservations pose serious obstacles to the service of justice. It does not punish bullying behaviour by those appointed to positions of power and backed by the Indian state. This mars even the semblance of fairness and rule of law in the country. India should move quickly to pass legislation permitting the removal of such a reservation.
Article 10 in the ICCPR, to which India has not expressed reservations, emphatically declares that all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. When the police personnel bruised and broke Mr Golam Kibria they were not expressing respect for his inherent dignity. Their base and brutal acts were bestial, completely unworthy of the legal and moral authority that is supposed to distinguish them.
Life, liberty and security of person – these are a human being's inalienable rights. These rights should be protected by rule of law. Disregard and contempt for these rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind. These are the declarations and conventions states make in the international arena, scarred by common memories of genocide, torture, war crimes. These represent attempts by members of a common humanity expressing a common hope and expecting a common future.
Other efforts to quickly accede to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (CAT) will also move India in a positive direction toward ultimately reforming and improving its policing practices and other related judicial procedures. Such will not only vastly improve the lives of its citizens and increase their confidence in the central government, but enhance the credibility and legitimacy of the state locally and internationally.
Without intervention by the central government, the people of Murshidabad and all over India face, for the foreseeable future, continued abuse of their freedoms and physical person and no likelihood for justice to be served to those acting with complete impunity.
I therefore demand that:
1.The statements of the victim, Mr Golam Kibria, as well as all family members, neighbours or members of the community who might have witnessed the victim's arrest, detention and physical condition before and after the detention, are immediately recorded by a judicial magistrate and a criminal case brought against the police perpetrators for subjecting the victim to severe torture;
2. The whole case, specifically the incident of torture by the police, is investigated by an independent agency;
3. Strong punitive action is taken against the police for their misconduct and malpractices;
4. Mr Golam Kibria is paid adequate compensation by the government for physical and psychological hurt resulting from his beatings and humiliation under the police at Jalangi Police Station;
5. Mr Golam Kibria, his family and any witnesses who may have helped be provided full protection against retaliatory threats to their physical safety and their lives, given their perilous situation of residing within the jurisdiction of the police they are trying to prosecute;
6. Central authorities take steps to circumscribe such acts of violence and impunity but instituting safeguards (such as external observers or auditors appointed by the centre) at the provincial level to monitor and enforce adherence to the CrPC and other procedures stipulated by the state government;
7. Central authorities take steps toward revising their stance toward Article 9 of the ICCPR and toward acceding to the CAT in order to become even more credible in the commitment to international norms and shared ideals;
8. The Indian state, particularly the central government, undertakes to protect the life, liberty, dignity and personal security of every single person residing in the Indian state under all circumstances through all means possible.
Yours sincerely,
-------------------------
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Director General & Inspector General of Police
Government of West Bengal
Writers Buildings, Kolkata-1
West Bengal
INDIA
Fax: +91 33 2214 4498 / 2214 5486
Email: dgp_westbengal@gmail.com
2. Chief Secretary
Government of West Bengal
Writers' Building, Kolkata, West Bengal
INDIA
Fax: + 91 33 2214 4328
Email: chiefsec@wb.gov.in
3. Additional Chief Secretary (Home)
Government of West Bengal
Writers' Building, Kolkata, West Bengal
INDIA
Email: sechome@wb.gov.in
4. Ms. Mamata Banerjee
Chief Minister
Government of West Bengal
Writers' Building, Kolkata, West Bengal
INDIA
Fax: + 91 33 22144328
Email: cm_wb@nic.in
5. Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission
Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg
New Delhi 110001
INDIA
Fax: + 91 11 2338 4863
E-mail: chairnhrc@nic.in
6. Superintendent of Police
Murshidabad
BMP Police Office
Berhampore 742101, Murshidabad District
West Bengal State
INDIA
Thank you
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
