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| PRESS STATEMENT - Withdraw false cases on human rights defenders |
3rd July 2008
PRESS STATEMENT
Withdraw false cases on human rights defenders
Stop victimisation of Leo Saldanha, Dr.Lakshmi Nilakantan, and
the activist-researchers of Environment Support Group
Deliberate harassment of human rights defenders Mr. Leo Saldanha, Dr.Lakshmi Nilakantan and the staff of Environment Support Group by certain officials of the Forest Department is highly condemnable. Mr.Saldanha is the founder Coordinator of Environment Support Group (ESG) and his wife Dr. Nilakantan till recently was a Mathematics teacher in The Valley School, Bangalore. ESG is a well-known NGO working for protection of environment and social justice with proven credibility and international reputation. Leo Saldhana has stood up against many socially and ecologically destructive projects for many years. Their contribution to the awareness building on environment and ecology, mobilizing people against environmentally hazardous projects and facilitating legal interventions against such rights violations are well documented.
Their story of agony begins on 16th February 2008 when they protested the needless destruction of paintings, sculptures and various artifacts at the Art Village in The Valley School by the Karnataka State Forest Department and the Police. Leo and Lakshmi 's children studied at The Valley School. As a routine, Leo went with his family on this day to drop his wife and children at the school and were surprised to find a large contingent of Forest and Police officials in the Art Village, armed with bulldozers and JCBs. Concerned by the large presence of police and forest personnel and heavy vehicles in this thickly wooded area full of artifacts created by children and renowned artists, they stopped to enquire with officials. They were informed that the Forest Department had come to recover forestland and the Art Village was an encroachment on forestland.
Dr.Satish Inamdar, Director of The Valley School and Mr.Jayaram, Principal of the school were present with many labourers and staff members attempting to retrieve many of the artifacts in the many mud and thatched roof shacks that made the Art Village. They informed Leo and Lakshmi that the previous day they had met with Mr.A.K.Verma, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests over the alleged encroachment of forestland by the school. In the discussion, Mr.Verma had assured the school authorities that none of the paintings and sculptures of the Art Village would be destroyed, only possession of the encroached forestland would be undertaken. The school immediately took action to retrieve the movables in the Art Village, but many paintings and sculptures were still to be retrieved. Of course it is not denied that a long pending dispute was there between the school and the Forest Department over the possession of the land where the Art Village exists. At the same time it is a known factor that the school never objected to the recovery of the forest land; only pleaded for protection of works of art created by children and renowned artists. Supporting this stand, Leo pleaded with the officials present not to destroy such art and culture that had been created over three decades. He also urged the forest officials not to bring the bulldozers through the thick vegetation as this would unnecessarily cause the destruction of trees and bamboo clumps. These appeals quite obviously did not go well with the forest and police personnel present.
It is a common practice that the police very often file mischievous cases against activists on charges of 'obstructing public officials from doing their duty'. But in this case the mischief didn't end there. Leo and Lakshmi, along with the school authorities, were charged of committing very serious crimes under the Karnataka Forest Act: key amongst which was of illegally felling and smuggling sandalwood, an offense punishable with a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
The forest officials claimed they were directly responsible for sandalwood that was allegedly recovered on 16th February 2008 from the campus of The Valley School. The officials even floated various types of allegations and rumours against them in both the print and electronic media. As the couple worked with their lawyers to secure anticipatory bail, the department officials hounded them, even as their three children were suffering from chicken pox.
The Hon'ble I Additional Sessions Judge, Bangalore Rural District granted them anticipatory bail in Crl. Misc Petition Nos. 225/2008 and 226/2008, and made some very important and critical observations:
"In the instant case, as already stated above, none of the petitioners are alleged to be either the holders or occupants of the land wherein the sandal pieces are alleged to have been seized and recovered. There are also no allegations to this effect either in the F.I.R. or in the case diary. There are no allegations that the petitioners are in the control or management of the land or buildings in which the said sandalwood pieces were found. There are no allegations that the sandalwood was kept in the precincts with the knowledge or connivance of the said petitioners. Merely because the sandalwood pieces were found in the unauthorized forest land, in the absence of any prima facie material to show that the said property was in the possession and control of the petitioners, it does not lead to the inference that the petitioners are instrumental in storing the said sandalwood. There are no allegations that any of the petitioners offered resistance to the forest officials or interfered with the discharge of the lawful duty of the forest officials in taking possession of the unauthorized land. There are no allegations attracting the offence under the Section 353 of IPC. The petitioners have produced relevant documents to show that the Valley School and all its lands are owned and managed by a Registered Society formerly known as Krishnamurthi Foundation India as per the Memorandum of Association, and Rule and regulations as amended from time to time. It is undisputed that the Valley School and all its precincts are held by the said Society. The memorandum of association clearly disclosed that the said Society is governed by the body of Management and the Rule specifically provide the representation thereof by the Secretary. Therefore, in the absence of any allegations that the petitioners were instrumental in storing or keeping the sandalwood pieces or encroaching the forest land, I am of the view that, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the petitioners are guilty of the various offences invoked against them."
A very strange coincidence was that within days of these baseless charges being made against Leo Saldanha and Lakshmi Nilakantan by the Forest Department, the Thalagattapura Police Station in Kanakapura Road, Bangalore (the same station with jurisdiction over The Valley School and the unit that collaborated in the Forest Dept. operations in the school) dropped the case against Mr. Ashok Kheny, Managing Director of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (builders of the controversial Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project). A case had been filed by Leo Saldanha and members of his ESG team charging Mr. Kheny and over 50 of his men of assaulting them and students accompanying them, as they were traveling to Mysore on the southern Peripheral Road of Bangalore in October 2007. Despite their best efforts, including approaching the Human Rights Cell of the Police, no investigation was undertaken. Not too surprisingly, the police officials found it opportune to drop charges against Mr.Kheny and his men as Leo and Lakshmi were occupied in securing anticipatory bail and taking care of their sick children.
Keeping all this in view, the undersigned organisations and the 244 individuals and organisations have endorsed an appeal on this case to Shri.B.S.Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka, demanding that:
The Karnataka State Forest Department should tender an unconditional apology to Leo, Lakshmi and ESG for cooking-up such false cases to harass and intimidate them.
It is also demanded that the charges made by the Forest Department against Lakshmi Nilakantan and Leo Saldhana must be dropped and strong action initiated against the officials who abused power to vilify them.
A detailed and independent enquiry must also be initiated into the operation to 'recover forest land' in The Valley School and the manner in which the operations were conducted in clear violation and contempt of the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India on undertaking such missions.
Another independent enquiry must be initiated into the wanton destruction of art and cultural products that children of The Valley School and leading artists from all over the world have contributed to over three decades. The Government must also take immediate steps to compensate such wanton destruction of art and cultural artifacts.
The case of physical attack on the ESG Team by the proponents of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project must be reopened and investigated thoroughly and action initiated against the concerned police officials who closed the investigation.
In this context it is pertinent to remind ourselves that India is party to the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. 'Article 12(2) states that the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually or in association with others, against violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.' India is a signatory to this Declaration and the Government of Karnataka is under obligation to prevent arbitrary actions on human rights defenders even from its own departments.
On behalf of:
People’s Union for Civil Liberties – Karnataka (PUCL-K)
The Other Media
New Socialist Alternative
Samarthan
Visual Search, Bangalore
South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM)
Anjanappa Complex, 35 Hennur Main Road, Lingarajapuram, Bangalore- 560084
Phone: 080-25473922 / 25804072-73, Fax: 080-25492856, Mobile: 9449816942
Email: msichrem@gmail.com, contact@sichrem.org, Web: www.sichrem.org
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