List
of incidents when Chhattisgarh police has tried to harass me, because of my
human rights work and litigation in the Supreme Court.
1.
2005: During Salwa Judum, a
human rights team of which I was a member was aggressively surrounded in the
camps, not allowed to visit villages freely, stopped at checkpoints.
2.
2006: Independent Citizen
Initiative members were detained in Bhairamgarh police station, mob nearly
lynched RG, rumours spread that we had offered 1 lakh to the villagers to help
us cross the river to join the Maoists; we escaped only because a local NGO
director spoke to the SJ leaders. The Judum took away my camera – it was
returned several months later by the Collector, with no apology.
3.
2007: After we filed a case in
the Supreme Court, police photo-shopped an image of me with my arms around
Maoist women cadres and showed it to visiting journalists and others to show
how I was partisan and representing the Maoists. When I protested in writing,
the SP Rahul Sharma replied saying it was one “Ms Jeet.” Nothing has ever been
heard of this Ms. Jeet before or after and when I asked to see the photo, it
“could not be found”.
4.
July 2009: Four of us,
including two other profs, were detained in Mirtur CRPF camp and police station
till 1 am on the SP’s orders despite giving prior information to the Collector that
we were visiting the area. The Judum and SPOs took away JP’s mobile phone and
charger. It has never been returned.
5.
December 2009: A DU colleague
and I were asked to leave a Dantewada hotel late at night on the police’s
instructions; denied any lodging in Dantewada and Sukma, surrounded by SPOs at
night, and followed by SPOs in un-numbered vehicles till we left the district.
We had to advance our ticket.
6.
July 2010: SRP Kalluri put out
a statement, reported widely in the media saying that Arundhati Roy, Medha
Patkar and I, among others, were linked to the attack on Congressman Avdhesh
Gautam’s house, masterminded by Lingaram Kodopi.
7.
October 2010: We were asked by
the ASG and Chhattisgarh’s lawyers in the Supreme Court to visit Bastar. Taking
their assurance at face value, a journalist friend and I visited. We were
picked up from a village which I have been visiting for decades (on the basis
of tapped phone conversations) by an SDOP accompanied by 50 armed SPOs. They
refused to let us out of their sight for a week, even following us to the
airport to make sure we left. (We used the opportunity to visit Salwa Judum
camps).
8.
2011-15: I have been stopped at
every CRPF camp, checked, sometimes made to wait for hours, even while on my
way to attend a wedding. The only reason I was not harassed even more during
this period was because I usually went on visits to do with the CBI enquiry
ordered by the SC on attacks on village Tadmetla and others. However, during this period the CBI team
itself was physically attacked by SPOs, and police personnel in February 2012,
and threatened in November 2015.
9.
2013: Media stories were circulated
that I was in regular touch with Maoists in Raoghat and was leading
demonstrations of the Raoghat Rail Sangharsh Samiti at their behest (even as I
was teaching classes in Delhi).
10. 2014: Media stories put about that I had coached villagers what to
say before the TP Sharma Commission (investigating the attacks on Tadmetla and
Swami Agnivesh), and that I was in direct touch with the Naxalites. Lawyer’s
notice for defamation sent to the newspapers.
11. April 2016: My effigy was burnt by the Mahila Ekta Manch, after we
filed a fresh application in the SC.
May 2016: Completely false
charges made up that ‘JNU profs’ had instigated villagers to join Maoists,
threatening to burn their homes if they did not support Maoists. Police staged
demonstration of alleged villagers in front of thana demanding that an FIR be
registered against us. Media vilification campaign carried through Zee news, Chhattisgarh
whatsapp groups, media, and Collector Amit Kataria’s facebook page. All the
persons who accompanied us and whom we met have been cross-questioned and
intimidated, including the driver of the hired car.
12. For the last ten years, my
phones have been tapped, my emails read and so on. Vilification in the court is
a constant feature – that we are fronts for the Maoists etc.
2016 is the first time that
I have used a pseudonym (Richa Keshav) – and that too, only verbally to one
policeman who claimed to be making a friendly enquiry in order to avoid being stopped. I have always told the
villagers who I am and why I am there, including in this instance. And yet,
this name change is the story that the media choses to highlight, not the years
of persecution. Apart from a few brave Chhattisgarh reporters, the national
media has also not chosen to report it as part of a recent pattern in which
journalists, lawyers, and activists have been arrested, landlords intimidated
into denying housing, and a variety of other vigilante attacks have taken place
at the behest of the police, especially IG SRP Kalluri.
My public stand on the
state-Maoist conflict is also well known, where I have consistently criticized
Maoist violence. This is what makes this current charge even more ridiculous –
that we would threaten villagers that their houses would be burnt if they did
not support the Maoists.
I am deeply grateful to
all the friends and colleagues who have accompanied me on these trips, and
suffered police intimidation. I have not named them here for obvious reasons.
This photo is of October 2010 - I had gone to the market to buy toffees, and was followed by two SPOs
