UPDATE (India): Delay in forwarding court records adds to a ten year wait for justice 

Dear friends,

It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that the Lower Court Records required to prosecute police officers allegedly responsible for the forced disappearance of Bhikari Paswan in 1993, have been held at the Calcutta High Court for some 72 days now.?The Calcutta High Court granted leave for the prosecution of the alleged perpetrators of this crime on 28 July 2004.?

According to our partner organisation in West Bengal, Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), the records which were previously provided to the High Court, have yet to be forwarded to the Alipur Trial Court, where the matter is due to be heard.?In response to this delay, MASUM organised a demonstration in front of the court and submitted a memorandum to the VIth Additional District Judges Court and the Sessions Judges Court on September 20, requesting for a speedy trial and for the cancellation of bail for the four accused. Notwithstanding MASUM’s efforts, the records remain at the High Court, despite the distance from the High Court to the Trial Court being no greater than 5 kilometres.?The delay in forwarding these records is adding to the already significantly prolonged duration of this trial.  ?

AHRC is gravely concerned by this and many other cases throughout India that are wilfully neglected or obstructed while witnesses and material evidence are lost or withheld. The practices contributing to this state of affairs amount to a gross violation of human rights, yet they are treated as if a matter of mere administrative or bureaucratic inefficiency, rather than one of ineptitude and corruption.?The Indian judicial system need not be reminded of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.?As a signatory to this law, and with special reference to Article 14, everyone shall be entitled to ‘trial without undue delay.’?The 72 day delay in forwarding Bhikari’s court records to the Trial Court, and the general procedural delays throughout the entire case, are clear violations of this law.

Your urgent action is needed to pressure the High Court to forward the relevant records concerning Bhikari’s case to the Alipur Trial Court.?In doing so, this will ensure that those responsible for his disappearance are prosecuted and punished and that compensation and assistance is given to the victim’s family.

BRIEF REMINDER:

Bhikari Paswan, a jute mill worker, was taken away by Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Harman Preet Singh and three of his men in the early hours of 31 October 1993 – reportedly to Telinipara police outpost, where they tortured him to death. Bhikari was never seen again, nor was his body found.

As far back as 1995 senior police investigators concluded that ASP Singh and his subordinates took Bhikari from his house that night in October; there was no question about the complicity of state agents. The questions that remained related only to what happened afterwards. However, the Indian judicial system responded to the urgent needs of the case by entangling it in technicalities, one hearing after another, before delivering it to the doorstep of the state’s high court. It lay there for years, through disinterest and the machinations of the perpetrators, who have since been promoted to positions of authority, rather than being suspended and properly investigated.

The efforts of human rights advocates and Bhikari’s family allowed the case to finally see the light of day in October 2003, when a special bench was called to consider it “immediately”. Nine months later, on 28 July 2004, the bench has held that government permission is not required to prosecute Harman Preet Singh, now a Deputy Inspector General, as kidnapping was not among his official duties as a police officer. Thus it has taken the Indian judiciary ten years to decide a matter that any informed person would have resolved in a few minutes. Tragically, Bhikari’s father Lakhichand Paswan, a chief witness in the case, died the following day after struggling to obtain justice for so long. He had been in a coma since shortly before the court gave its decision.

If you want to see entire contents of our previous urgent appeal regarding this case, please visit: UA-103-2004: Father dies after ten years of waiting for justice for his son?lt;/font>

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a fax, letter or email to the following addresses expressing your serious concern in this matter.

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