In case the whereabouts of some workers who have been taken
away to unknown destinations are not known , habeaus corpus
petitions be immediately moved to have them produced and
to ascertain their conditions and place of detention.
Niloufer Bhagwat
----- Original Message -----
From: Kamayani
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 11:54 PM
Subject: [humanrights-movement:4330] Fwd: Press Release: 25 Workers
injuredinLathicharge, leader of Gorakhpur Workers Movement Arrested -
Takentoundisclosed location. 75 other workers arrested
PRESS-RELEASE
Workers lathi charged in Gorakhpur, 25 workers badly injured, 73 workers
arrested along with their leader Tapish whose whereabouts are still unknown
The administration is blatantly supporting the factory owners – has not shown
any inclination to dialogue, administration adamant on suppressing the movement
and disbanding the striking activists
An independent team of journalists and social workers reaches Gorakhpur to
carry out an investigation
Gorakhpur, 20 May. The Workers' Satyagraha which started in Gorakhpur from
May 16 was dealt with lathi charge today by a heavy police force in the
presence of the DIG. Police arrested 73 workers and one of their leaders Tapish
Maindola but there is still no official word about their arrest. Tapish has
been arrested on the basis of a concocted FIR lodged by factory owner Ashok
Jalan in relation to the incident of firing by his hired goons in which 19
workers were injured. Serious charges under different sections of IPC have been
pressed on him including attempt to murder, rioteering etc. The administration
is unabashedly siding with the factory owners. The workers had submitted a
complaint to the police naming the factory owner Ashok Jalan, history-sheeter
Pradeep Singh and others as responsible for the incident of firing but the
police have taken no action on their complaint instead they have arrested
workers' leader Tapish Maindola on the false FIR of the factory owner Ashok
Jalan. Ashok Jalan had stated that Tapish and other workers themselves were
involved in the firing on the workers, however, news reports from media clearly
say that the firing was done from inside the factory, and it was a well planned
attack. The workers' union has expressed concern for the life of their leader
Tapish.
In the meanwhile 50 workers who had gone to protest against the arrest of
workers at the DM office were heavily lathi charged and 25 workers sustained
injuries.
In the afternoon today about 500 workers taking part in a peaceful
demonstration for their legal rights were detained near Gorakhnath Temple here.
All 500 workers had tied themselves with a long rope and they sat at the same
spot in protest where a heavy police force in the leadership of the DIG had
stopped them. According to latest updates, the police resorted to lathi charge
and dispersed the workers arresting 73 of them. But the police did not
officially record the arrest of 30 of them and their leader Tapsih. Despite
this about 250 workers are still sitting on a dharna at the townhall near
Gandhi statue.
It is noteworthy that Tapish was arrested from some other place as he was not
a part of the procession. He has been taken to some undisclosed location and
the workers fear for his life and safety. It should be known that some police
and administrative officials had been continuously warning the workers' leaders
of 'dire consequences'. They had been particularly targeting Tapish, Pramod
Kumar and Prashant and branding them as 'moists-terrorists'. Even two years ago
these leaders had been dealt brutal physical attack by the administration and
it is said that the police were planning to kill them in false encounters.
However they had to retreat after severe condemnation from all over the country
gained momentum and the officers came under huge public pressure. But the
administration seems hell-bent on suppressing this movement this time. Under
such circumstances there is clear danger to the life and security of Tapish.
The hunger strike was initiated since the morning of 16th May on the demands
of the arrest of the accused of the firing incident on 3rd May, action against
the guilty officers, judicial enquiry of firing and repression, compensation to
the injured workers and ending the lock out in the two factories of V.N. Dyers
and reinstatement of all the 18 dismissed workers. Suheela Devi, mother of a
worker, three workers - Bindweshwar Rai, Susheel Srivastava and Mahesh Pathak
and women activist Shweta are sitting on hunger strike and among them the
condition of Susheela, Shweta and Mahesh Pathak has worsened. On the night of
18 May the administration forcibly took away Mahesh Pathak and admitted him to
the district hospital but he continued his fast even there and on the morning
of 19thMay he again came back and joined the hunger strike.
Hundreds of workers of the area also have been present day and night on the
spot. Meanwhile the administration is acting in favour of the factory owners
and is hell bent on ending the hunger strike and dharna and is not paying any
attention to the demands of workers. Two rounds of unsuccessful talks were held
on the first day in which the owners were adamant on not taking back the
dismissed workers. After that the administration did not make any attempt for
dialogue. Even last night, police force in the leadership of the top officials
of police and administration was prepared to remove the workers from the spot.
Sensing this, huge number of workers sitting on dharna tied each other through
big ropes. When police saw that the workers could not be removed from the spot
without the use of heavy force, it withdrew.
The administration and owners had to relent in face of the massive public
pressure and resolute struggle of the workers after the 3 May firing and brutal
police repression of workers in Gorakhpur, and the workers achieved a partial
victory. All the 18 workers of Ankur Udyog who were dismissed after they went
to participate in the May Day rally in Delhi were taken back and the factory
started from May 11. But the owners of VN Dyers Ltd. are adamant on their
demands. Even the administration was making no attempt to call the owners for
talks. They wanted to break the movement by tiring out the workers. But the
workers are ready to fight it out.
The workers staged a bicycle rally in the Gorakhpur city today to gather
popular support in favour of the workers’ agitation. Even the workers of GIDA
industrial area staged a demonstration in their area in support of the
agitation. The workers of various factories of Bargadwa are planning to stage a
huge demonstration.
Meanwhile an investigation team of journalists and social activists reached
Gorakhpur to investigate the incident of firing on workers, their repression
and the accusations of violation of labour laws. The members of the
investigation team also went to the spot and talked to the workers.
The strong condemnation of the continued repressive attitude of
administration towards the workers agitation going on for more than two weeks
and its neglect by Uttar Pradesh government is building momentum once again.
Citizen's Front in Support of Gorakhpur Worker's Movement
Contacts: 9936650658 (Katyayani), 9910462009 (Satyam), 8447011935 (Sandeep)
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
--
Adv Kamayani Bali Mahabal
+919820749204
skype-lawyercumactivist
The UID project is going to do almost exactly the same thing which the
predecessors of Hitler did, else how is it that Germany always had the lists of
Jewish names even prior to the arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these lists
with the help of IBM which was in the 'census' business that included racial
census that entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying them. At the
United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an exhibit of an IBM
Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible for organising the
census of 1933 that first identified the Jews.
http://saynotoaadhaar.blogspot.com/
http://aadhararticles.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_162987527061902&ap=1
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