Dear Friends
We are forwarding updated information from the National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), Pune, regarding a case of torture and brutal beating to death of an Adivasi tribal, leading to his death in Police custody on 15 June 2003. Below are background details, followed by more explicit details and a sample letter.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Last month, Mr Khemala, a 35 year old Adivasi from the village of Gumdiya Khurd of Niwali Block, Budwani District, Madhya Pradesh, and a member of Adivasi Mukti Sanghatana, Sendhawa, was beaten to death in police custody.
Mr Khemala was allegedly accused of theft. Police picked him up from his home in the early hours of 14 June. He was handcuffed and brutally beaten up in front of others who had been rounded up and brought to the police station. Consequently, Mr Khemala started vomiting blood. His brother Sayba, who had already been taken into police custody on similar charges, was witness to what happened to Mr Khemala. When Sayba tried to give his injured brother some water to drink, the local Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) who was apparently present there, kicked him in the stomach. Sayba reported all this to members of the Adivasi Mukti Sanghatan.
Soon after this, Mr Khemala fell unconscious. The police then dragged him out where he had been locked up. They subsequently took him to the local hospital, and later to the Budwani Government Hospital. However, by the time the body reached the hospital, the attending doctors pronounced Mr Khemala already dead.
According to a communiqué sent out by the Adivasi Mukti Sanghatan, the Police then went to Mr Khemalas home and informed his wife that her husband was seriously ill and took her to the hospital. Thereafter, she was taken to the morgue in the Budwani Hospital and asked to identify Mr Khemalas body. It is alleged that the police then forcibly took her thumb impression on blank sheets of papers, and handed over Mr Khemalas body to his wife.
Meanwhile, the police released the other inmates in their custody, who had been witness to the brutal beating inflicted on Mr Khemala. The police ordered these persons to go far away and not to be seen in the vicinity for the next 3-4 months.
The suspicious circumstances surrounding Mr Khemalas death have infuriated all Adivasis living in the area. They came out in large numbers and sat in a protest dharna in front of the Collectorate and office of the Superintendent of Police.
It has been learnt that the police officials who were allegedly present during Mr Khemalas physical abuse have now absconded. The tribals are demanding the immediate arrest of these police officials.
A complaint to this effect has already been lodged with the National Human Rights Commission. Furthermore, the Adivasi Mukti Sanghatan has already filed a complaint with the local police station. It is a matter of a serious concern that the Madhya Pradesh government has yet to arrest the accused officials.
In the light of the grave circumstances presented above, we request that you to write to the Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh, NHRC and SC and ST Commission demanding a thorough inquiry into the matter and the immediate arrest of those who are guilty.
In Solidarity,
Dr. Gnana Prakasam
Ms. Vijaya Patnekar
(fpr For NCAS Team)
SEND LETTERS/FAXES/EMAIL TO:
Mr. Digvijay Singh
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
Vallabh Bhavan
Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh
India
Fax: +91 755 551 781 / 551521
e-mail: BM_1_cm@mpchiefminister.com or cs@vallabh.mp.nic.in
The Chairman, The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
Sardar Patel Bhavan
Sansad Marg
New Delhi 110001
Phone: 011-3348477/3340016 / 3361175
Fax : 011-3340016 /3366537
e-mail : jrlawnhrc@hub.nic.in
The Chairman
SC ST Commission
5th Floor, Loknayak Bhavan
Khan Market
New Delhi, 110003
Fax 011-4625378
e-mail: dir-admin@ncscst.nic.in
and request that they ask the State Government to:
1 order a Magisterial Inquiry into the custodial death. The inquiry should be completed expeditiously and the report be sent to the Commission.
2 grant immediate interim relief to the deceaseds family and other victims of the incident.
3 take action against those police officials who are found to be responsible for the incident.
4 withdraw all the fabricated cases against the victims.
5 send all reports concerning this issue, namely the post-mortem report, video graph on the post-mortem, magisterial inquiry report, and viscera report to the Commission, without any delay.
6 ensure the personal and proprietary safety and security of the tribal community.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Sir
SUBJECT: Request for a high-level inquiry into the custodial death of a tribal man, Mr Khemala, at the Niwal Police Station, District Badwani, Madhya Pradesh
I wish to bring to your attention that there are substantial reasons to believe that an Adivasi tribal man, Mr Khemala, was brutally beaten to death sometime between 14 and 16 June 2003, while he was detained in police custody in Village Gumdiya Khurd, Block Niwali, District Budwani, in Madhya Pradesh.
The police picked up Mr Khemala, from his home in the early hours of 14 June. His wife was present with him at the time. Thus there is an eyewitness to the event. Subsequently, Mr Khemalas brother, Sayba, who had already been picked up by the police earlier, claims that Mr Khemala was handcuffed and beaten up so badly that he began to vomit blood. By the morning of 16 June, Mr Khemala was dead and his body had been quietly dispatched to a hospital.
On the face of it, there is reason to believe that the death of Mr Khemala was a result of custodial violence and police excesses.
Given the facts of the situation, we would ask that:
1 the State Government order a Magisterial Inquiry of the custodial death and the inquiry should be completed expeditiously and the report be sent to the Commission.
2 the State Government grant immediate interim relief to the deceaseds family and other victims of the incident.
3 the State Government take action against the police officials those who responsible for the incident.
4 the State government withdraw all fabricated cases against the poor tribal victims.
5 the State Government send all relevant reports namely the post-mortem report video graph on the post-mortem, magisterial inquiry report and viscera report to the Commission without any delay.
6 Ensure the personal and proprietary safety and security of the tribal community.
7 In order to ensure that reporting on custodial deaths is accurate and timely; issue fresh instructions to comply the Commissions Recommendations that the post-mortem examination of custodial death be video-filmed and sent to the Commission so as to enable it to assess independently the cause of such death.
8 Call for an 'action taken' report from the Government in this regard and kindly issue the appropriate and necessary recommendations/directions as may be deemed fit and proper.
We earnestly request that immediate action be taken and steps taken to uphold justice and protect civil liberties.
We request that you take urgent action regarding the above incident and order a Magisterial Inquiry into the custodial death. This case is a gross violation of human rights, and has resulted in the death of one of the tribal poor.
A more detailed account of the event, based on information received by the National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS) from Adivasi Mukti Sanghatana, Sendhwa, Madhya Pradesh is provided below:
Thank you.
Yours faithfully
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FURTHER DETAILS:
At approximately 3:00 am on 14 June 2003, Khushwah and police constables Mansharam and Patidar went to the home of Mr Khemala, son of Radu, and asked him to accompany them to the police station. He was informed that his brother Sayba was also present at the police station.
When Mr Khemalas wife, Bazaribai, asked the police as to why and where her husband was being taken, the police told her to stop asking questions and threatened her with dire consequences. At the police station, Mr Khemala was handcuffed and put inside a lock up. His brother, Sayba, and about seven other tribals were already in police custody.
The next morning, Shashikant Shukla, the Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDOP) of district Budwani, along with constables Sudhir Das, Mansharam and Paatidar, accused Mr Khemala of theft and started beating him up.
So severe was the beating that Mr Khemala started to vomit blood. When his brother, Sayba, tried to give him some water to drink, the SP kicked him in the stomach. Soon thereafter, Mr Khemala fell unconscious, whereupon the police threw him out of the police station. Mr Khemala remained in an unconscious state for two hours. The policemen then took the tribal man to the local hospital. The doctors pronounced that he was in a critical state and referred him to Budwani Government Hospital. However, Mr Khemala died on the way to this district hospital.
On the morning of 16 June 2003, the police went to Mr Khemalas home and informed his wife that Mr Khemala was keeping unwell. She and her son were then taken to the post-mortem room in the hospital in Budwani and asked to identify Mr Khemalas dead body. The police forcibly took her thumb impressions on a few blank papers. The dead body was handed over to the family.
Following Mr Khemalas death, the tribal men who were also in police custody with him were immediately released and were ordered not be seen in the vicinity for the next 3-4 months.
This incident of police violence has apparently caused great anger in the community. The Adiwasi Mukti Saghatana has demanded that action be immediately taken against all the police officers who were involved in the incident. The Sanghatana has asked for a case of murder be filed against the concerned police officials, and that a high-level inquiry be initiated against them.
What happened in village Gumdiya _IKhurd is extremely disturbing. Many aspects of the incident need to be immediately looked into. It is important to know why Mr Khemala, who had no criminal record and who had apparently never even entered a police station, was taken into custody and allegedly brutally beaten to death by the police.
Sir, we earnestly request you to kindly take immediate action in the above reported matter.
Update on Custodial death of Adivasi at Sendhwa, Madhya Pradesh
Following the custodial death in custody of a tribal Mr Khemala that took place on 15 June, 2003 at Niwali police station of Badwani district, on 16 June 2003, about 600 people gathered at the Niwali police station asking for the arrest of the culprits. The District Collector, Superintendent of Police (S.P), Sub divisional Officer of Police SDO(P) Sendhwa, rushed to the site. Sensing the mood of the crowd, the district Collector immediately declared that there would be a magisterial enquiry. The SDO(P), Thana-in-charge, Head Constable and Constable who had a hand in the murder, were immediately placed under suspension. An FIR was also filed. The culprits should have been arrested immediately but police played mischief. The FIR was not written as per the version of the victims. Since there was an angry crowd, the activists of Sanghatan (AMS) were busy managing the demonstrators and his discrepancy was only identified at a later stage. The name of the SDO (P) as the main culprit, though written in the first page of the FIR, was not mentioned under the heading, 'detailed information'. The AMS raised this issue in print media. The District Police Administration said that this could be looked in to, at the time of investigation.
The investigation was done by Mr Dharmendra Choudhari, Additional, SP Jhabua, on 20 June and it was also videotaped. The AMS activists were present during the investigation at the insistence of the victims.
The police administration was trying to protect the SDOP involved in this case. Therefore, on 30 June, the AMS addressed a press conference at Indore to highlight the issue and pressurise the police administration to take speedy action. A delegation of victims and concerned citizens of Indore met IG, who gave his assurances that the culprits would be booked soon. He said that there was no chance of exonerating the SDOP even if his name was not written in the 'details' section of the FIR.
On 4 July, a meeting was organised among village Mukhiyas, Sarpanch, and other local leaders to mobilise public opinion and prepare plan of action. All the leading local newspapers gave publicity to this meeting. Since no arrest was made, even after two weeks, the AMS organised a Dharana on 7 July before Niwali Thana. The state highway from Khetia to Rajpur was blocked. On 8 July, the Additional SP had to appear before the people and assure them that the culprits would be arrested within 15 days. After the assurance, the AMS called off the road bock but decided to continue dharana till the arrests were made.
The mobilisation and press conference pressurised the police administration to file cases against the culprits under the prevention of the SC/ST Atrocities Act. In addition, reward money has been declared to capture the culprits. Steps are being taken to attach property of culprits and arrest their relatives till they are found.
More details:
An even more detailed account of the event, based on information received by the National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS), Pune from Adivasi Mukti Sanghatana, Sendhwa, Madhya Pradesh is provided below:
At approximately 3:00 am on 14 June 2003, Khushwah and police constables Mansharam and Patidar went to the home of Mr Khemala, son of Radu, and asked him to accompany them to the police station. He was informed that his brother Sayba was also present at the police station.
When Mr Khemalas wife, Bazaribai, asked the police as to why and where her husband was being taken, the police told her to stop asking questions and threatened her with dire consequences. At the police station, Mr Khemala was handcuffed and put inside a lock up. His brother, Sayba, and about seven other tribals were already in police custody.
The next morning, Shashikant Shukla, the Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDOP) of district Budwani, along with constables Sudhir Das, Mansharam and Paatidar, accused Mr Khemala of theft and started beating him up.
So severe was the beating that Mr Khemala started to vomit blood. When his brother, Sayba, tried to give him some water to drink, the SDOP kicked him in the stomach. Soon thereafter, Mr Khemala fell unconscious, whereupon the police threw him out of the police station. Mr Khemala remained in an unconscious state for two hours. The policemen then took the tribal man to the local hospital. The doctors pronounced that he was in a critical state and referred him to Budwani Government Hospital. However, Mr Khemala died on the way to this district hospital.
On the morning of 16 June 2003, the police went to Mr Khemalas home and informed his wife that Mr Khemala was keeping unwell. She and her son were then taken to the post-mortem room in the hospital in Budwani and asked to identify Mr Khemalas dead body. The police forcibly took her thumb impressions on a few blank papers. The dead body was handed over to the family.
Following Mr Khemalas death, the tribal men who were also in police custody with him were immediately released and were ordered not be seen in the vicinity for the next 3-4 months.
This incident of police violence has apparently caused great anger in the community. The Adiwasi Mukti Saghatana has demanded that action be immediately taken against all the police officers who were involved in the incident. The Sanghatana has asked for a case of murder be filed against the concerned police officials, and that a high-level inquiry be initiated against them.
What happened in village Gumdiya Khurd is extremely disturbing. Many aspects of the incident need to be immediately looked into. It is important to know why Mr Khemala, who had no criminal record and who had apparently never even entered a police station, was taken into custody and allegedly brutally beaten to death by the police.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Bijay Panda
Adivasi Mukti Sanghatan
Housing board colony
Sendhwa, Dist - Khargone
Phone No- 07281- 222184
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Thank you.
PAMELA APPS
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission
