Convention on Draconian Laws
Delhi, July 26-27, 2008

New Delhi / July 25, 2008

Venue : Garhwal Bhavan, Opp Videocon Tower, New Delhi

In order to seek moral legitimacy for their existence in the present neo-liberal era, governments increasingly are resorting to sideline the constitutional provisions of civil liberties, right to association and freedom of expression in the name of global action against terrorism. The Indian government has joined the US in this global campaign. Man Mohan Singh has also said, on more than one occasion, that naxalism is a bigger threat than terrorism. The other side of the coin is that citizens get killed or face repression at the hands of police when the state machinery brands anybody a naxalite or a terrorist and violates all norms of human rights.

Binayak Sen, the General Secretary of Chattisgarh People's Union of Civil Liberties and national Vice President of the same body, an organization established by late Jayaprakash Narayan, and a doctor who used to run a non-governmental people's health care programme is presently the target of Chattisgarh government. Binayak had started exposing some of the misdeeds of the state machinery in persecuting people by invoking the fear of naxalism. He is presently languishing in jail in spite of national and international protests.

Before that Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani came out from the clutches of death after being described as a mastermind behind the attack on Parliament in 2001 by the Delhi police and given a death sentence by a POTA court, when he was acquitted by the High Court and the Supreme Court because of lack of any evidence.

In many democratic country there are "extraordinary laws" enacted to deal with "contingencies". These "extraordinary laws" are often meant to keep for "temporary measures" to deal with certain contingencies or "extraordinary situations". However these laws often tend to traverse through the trajectory that makes them permanent rather than temporary. This transformation from the "temporary" to "permanent" raises question on the place of "extraordinary law" in a democratic polity.

Moreover, "extraordinary law" that normalizes the deployment of the military in the internal or domestic affair of the state raise legal and political questions that have a critical bearing on the principles and practices of the military in democratic polity. One such martial Act is the infamous the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958.

Irom Chanu Sharmila is on a continuous fast since 2000 demanding repeal of AFSPA. The amended 1972 Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act which provides the armed forces down to the rank of a non-commissioned officer, the power to shoot and kill, to enter and search and arrest without warrant, any person against reasonable suspicion that exists that he has committed or is about to commit a cognizable offence.

The AFSPA has been used in north east to carry out extra judicial killings, extra judicial deprivation of liberty to people by illegal imposition of curfew, long periods of detention at army posts and camps and use of churches and school as detention or interrogation centers. Torture, with a view to extract confessions, includes beating with rifle butts, kicking with boots and hitting with blunt weapons, giving electric shocks, breaking limbs, depriving persons of food, drink and sleep, hanging persons upside down and beating on soles, burying persons alive, stripping, stuffing chilli powder in nose, eyes and private parts, hands and feet tied, and the whole body suspended over fire with a bamboo in between the hands and legs and threat to shoot, interrogation at gun point.

Most of these would be considered a serious offence under sections 330 and 331 of the IPC. Stories of rape and molestation of women are very common. Who can forget the stunning sight of about three dozen naked women protesting on the street outside the then Assam Rifles headquarters at Kangla Fort in Imphal carrying placards saying 'Indian Army rape us,'outraged by the rape, torture and murder of 32 year old unmarried Thangjam Manorama only three years back? The provisions of AFSPA make it extremely difficult for a person to seek any legal recourse for justice.

We wish to organize a 2 day national level convention on 26th -27th July, 2008 in Delhi to address the issue of draconian laws in India. The convention will discuss the draconian laws, listen to the testimonies of victims, hear what the Members of Parliament belonging to different political parties have to say about these draconian laws and plan a strategy to deal with them. You're cordially invited to attend this convention especially if you belong to an area which is under one of the draconian laws of the country and have been affected by it. Please inform one of the following if you would like to attend the convention.

The venue is Garhwal Bhavan, Opp Videocon Tower, Near Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Chowk, New Delhi-110001, Phone: 23540380, 23544296.

The programme will be sent in a couple of days.

Asha Parivar, INSAF, NAPM, NCDHR, FDI, SAHR, APDP (J&K), J&K RTI Movement, Manipur Forward Youth Front, Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee (Hyderabad), Reachout

For further information, please contact:

Faisal Khan - [email protected]
Shree Prakash - [email protected]
Kshetrimayum Onil - [email protected]