HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH – Weekly newspaper on web
In campaign with AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Editor : NAGARAJ.M.R. VOL.1
ISSUE.13 04/06/2005
EDITORIAL: FREEDOM OF THE PRESS Vs AUTOCRACY
Freedom is the inherent quality, natural trait of every human being
to carve out his own destiny. It is the resultant urge of everyone to
secure release from squalor, hunger, poverty and ignorance. Freedom -
urge to get oneself free from material wants/needs. This urge itself
makes human being inquisitive , persevere, plan, innovate, act &
achieve his goals . based on these in -born natural traits of a human
being - a level playing field is spread out for every one to secure
freedom from material wants. That level field is the DEMOCRACY. As
there is a boundary line to the field, there are certain limits -
social, cultural & statutory to the democracy, with in the
boundaries, there is a level playing field for growth to every one
i.e. freedom, guarding one-self & his fellows not to cross that limit
is " Responsibility/ Duties". As there are four corner stones to a
field, there are Legislative, Executive, Judiciary & the enlightened
citizens or press.
This in-born urge to freedom is therefore a natural birth right, a
human right. Democracy-the system of governance based on the natural
traits of human beings and ensuring their organic growth, is built
upon this very foundation. Thus The Constitution of India" has
rightly incorporated it in letter & spirit , in the very first page
as the pre-amble & the fundamental rights. The boundary line, the
limit is the " Fundamental Duties / Responsibilities". one of these
fundamental / human rights is " Freedom of Speech & expression (Right
to Information) " As per the constitution of India nobody the
President, Prime minister, Chief Minister, Speaker, Judges nor a
Journalist has special rights which makes him superior to a citizen
of India, under special, critical circumstances constitutional
functionaries are empowered with special privileges only to safeguard
the democratic set-up, to safe guard the unity & integrity of the
nation but not to make themselves superior & to subjugate his fellow
citizens into slavery.
Nowadays due to widespread criminalisation - unwanted elements have
entered into corridors of power - politics, bureaucracy & Judiciary.
From the seats of power they are running their criminal dens. Media /
press expresses the collective voice of the citizens and is the
source of information to the citizens. As more & more media reports
came out informing the people about the misdeeds / crimes of powers
that be and collectively expressed the anguish of the people,
criminals in power started feeling the heat, until the people were
ignorant about the crimes committed by powers that be until the
people were disunited / lacked collective voice, the criminals in
power were making windfall profits through their crimes. So the
information of their crimes must not reach the people - It is the key
to their riches . So some of these constitutional functionaries
physically assaulted media persons, got them beaten - up & even
murdered the dissenting media / human rights activists. The speakers
of the various state legislatures and of the parliament, started
censoring the diatribes of peoples representatives from the records
of proceedings of the house, live telecasts of the proceedings of the
house are fully censored. Most of the M.L.A.s M.Ps. are not even
aware of their duties. They don't even attend the house punctually.
Some of these members behaviour is against the dignity & decorum of
the house. All these misbehaviour of M.Ps & M.L.As were widely
reported in the media. So the criminals - the powers that be invoked
the special privileges under the normal circumstances itself and
choked , strangulated the throat of source of information /
expression - The Media / press.
Nowadays it is becoming frequent with Judges & the people's
representatives, to slap contempt proceedings "Against Journalists &
citizens" who demand information / accountability & against those who
speak - out against the crimes of Judges, MPs & M.L.As. Even if one
struggles through all hardships & tries to legally prosecute those
criminals, they escape legal prosecution / conviction through "Legal
Immunity Privileges". The recent cases are the "Roost resort case
involving Karnataka High Court Judges" where in the Karnataka high
Court slapped contempt proceedings against various news publications
and the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly speakers arrest warrant
against the journalists of The Hindu" & "Murusoli".
Now a time has come to clearly demarcate, define under what
circumstances these special privileges / Legal immunity privileges
accorded to the constitutional functionaries can be exercised. Also
certain sections of the constitution of India like the tenth schedule
the directive principles of the government, official's secret act
Reservation Policy, Article 370, various non-uniform civil codes
etc., which are at present non- justifiable are all together shaking
the very foundations of democracy. Thereby suppressing the natural
trait of human being to be free & destroying the level playing
field . Free- flow of information is the life-line of a functioning
democracy. Ensure , protect & preserve it.
JAI HIND VANDE MATARAM
Your's Sincerely,
NAGARAJ. M.R.
NARCO-ANALYSIS – RIGHT OR
WRONG?
The advances in science must be used by the police to find out the
truth, to solve the mysteries of the crimes. It is the better option
for both investigation / interrogation than the classical
interrogation method involving third degree torture, where in the
accused breaks -down & blurts out the truth, usually, in most of the
cases innocents unable to bear the torture confesses to the crimes
they have not at all committed. The scientific tools of interrogation
namely Narco-analysis . Brain mapping & polygraph Tests must be made
mandatory for interrogation. The perpetrators of third degree torture
i.e. Police Military personnel must be punished severelly. Not just
on innocents, even on proven criminals police have no rights to
torture. It is grossly inhuman & illegal.
At present, there is certain bias in the usage of scientific
interrogation tools:-
1) Generally everybody is afraid of police & their corrupt practices.
Even innocent persons are frightened of false fix-ups & third degree
torture by police. This fear shows up in their heightened anxiety
level, changes in their blood pressure, respiration, heart-beat etc.,
There are chances of misinterpreting this as the "Fear of a criminal
of being caught"
2) These scientific tools are in the hands of police only. Therefore
it is biased towards the police or prosecution in a case. Forensic
science labs where these scientific interrogations are conducted are
under the control of Police department . Fundamental objective of
police is to prove their case, the prosecutions stand point rather
than finding out the truth. Sometimes, the stand points of
prosecution police are influenced by caste, political & monetary
considerations. This bias reflects in the preparation of
the "Questionnaire by the Interrogator" The interrogator if he wants
to bring out a negative image of the accused before the court, he
prepares the questionnaire such that only negative issues come out as
the answers. If the accused has got political patronage & has paid
hefty bribe to the police questionnaire is prepared such as to bring
out a positive image, to highlight innocent image of the accused.
Leaving out all other related questions, which brings out truth, a
negative image of the accused. The police are the one who decide the
fate, destiny of the accused.
3) Every human being has two personalities with in his sub -
conscious mind one personality is evil, selfish & craves for all
material pleasures. The other personality is good , humane & sociable
one. Whenever an issue comes up before a human being , whenever a
human being sees, reads or hears a subject two opinions are
formulated about it by him. One by his evil, selfish ego the other by
his good, humane self .A perfect human being, a social being is one
who controls his mind, contains the evil influences of his selfish
self and follows the guidance of his good self. This readily
expresses itself through good humane social actions. A criminal is
one who does not have control over his mind and acts according to the
evil guidance of the selfish self.
There are chances of mis-interpretation during scientific
interrogation . If you expose only evil self you will get a negative
image or else if you expose only the good self you will get a
positive image of the accused. For a balanced view, you have to see
the both evil-self & good self of the accused together with his past
& present actions.
4) At present only it is the prosecution who can use these scientific
interrogation facilities, but not the defence.
In the fake stamp paper scam during Narco Analysis , king pin Mr.
Karim Lala Telgi blurted out the truth - gave out the names of his
VVIP accomplices, Police accomplices, his business details, so far so
good.
Hereby I do request you to order both the union government & all
state governments :-
1) To keep the forensic science laboratories under the control of
autonomous bodies like National Human Rights Commission.
2) To make the scientific facilities of interrogation available for
both the prosecution & the defence of course, for a fee.
3) To enact legislation to subject the corrupt investigating officer,
corrupt public prosecutor, corrupt presiding judge of the case, etc.,
to scientific interrogations, by both the defence & prosecution.
4) To factor in the allowances for the natural fear for police (for
their corrupt, ruthless, devil face)
5) To create an unbiased impartial atmosphere free of fear or favour
to conduct the scientific interrogation.
6) To enact guidelines for scientific interrogation for framing
questions to bring out both good & evil self in the sub conscious to
have a balanced view of the man under question together with his past
& present actions .
7) To make it mandatory for all cases including VVIPs .
In various cases scams, involving VVIPs cases drag on for years.
Public money is wasted through waste of deliberations of the house (
Parliament, Legislative Assembly), Waste through constitution of
Parliamentary committees , Judicial commissions, why not all those
VVIPs accused of involvement in scams subjected to tests like Narco
analysis, poly graph, Brain finger printing etc., So that L K Advani
& Murali Manohar Joshi will tell about Babri Masjid demolition, Sonia
gandhi family will tell about Bofors, George Fernandese about
Tehelka, P V Narasimha Rao about Jain Diary, Forgery case , Sukharam
about Telecom purchases, Lallo Prasad Yadav about fodder scam. The
scam tainted VVIP list goes on. Why not these VVIPs are subjected to
scientific interrogation with unbiased questionnaire?
AN APPEAL TO THE CHIEF MINISTER OF WEST BENGAL INDIA
Police torture schoolboy in India
Written by Staff Writer
Saturday, 21 May 2005
Police in India illegally detained and tortured a 16-year-old
schoolboy for four days in order to force his father to surrender,
two of human rights groups alleged today.
According to reports by Indian rights group MASUM and regional
watchdog Asian Human Rights Commission, the class IX student was
picked up after police in Galabari, West Bengal failed to arrest the
boy's father.
The police picked up the boy at midnight on May 12 after terrorizing
the family and held the boy in cell full of adults, and tortured him
for four days, they alleged.
His mother claims that the police threatened to kill the boy and dump
his body in the river unless the father surrendered to the police.
The boy's mother managed to obtain his release on May 16, and
psychiatrists confirm that he is suffering from torture induced
trauma.
Police harassment of families of persons allegedly wanted as suspects
is quite common in India.
Families are often badly abused and tortured to find out the
whereabouts of the absconding suspect.
According well-documented evidence, Indian police routinely torture
and abuse minors, even though India is a party to the Child Right
Convention.
Devendra Pratap Singh, the victim's advocate has said that a petition
will be moved before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Howrah court
against the Golabari officer-in-charge Chitta Ranjan Mondal for the
illegal detention of a minor boy.
AHRC and MASUM urged authorities to bring the alleged perpetrators to
justice, and pay adequate compensation for the traumatized boy.
Golabari police have refused to comment on the case.
Will you please look into the matter.
FEEDING THE
WORLD – FACTS Vs FICTION
Most hungry people live in countries that have food surpluses rather
than deficits. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO), we are already producing one and a half times the amount of
food needed to provide everyone in the world with an adequate and
nutritious diet, yet one in seven people is suffering from hunger.
Rather than growing food to meet the needs of local communities for a
healthy, diverse diet, industrial agriculture produces crops to sell
on world markets. While world crop production has trebled since the
1950s, more people go hungry now than 20 years ago. Small family
farmers are driven off their land and local people cannot afford to
buy what is grown. Too often, the result is a downward spiral of
environmental destruction, poverty and hunger.
Food security will not be achieved by technical fixes, like genetic
engineering (GE). People who need to eat need access to land on which
to grow food or money with which to buy food.
Technological 'solutions' like GE mask the real social, political,
economic and environmental problems responsible for hunger.
The case of Argentina, the number two producer of GE crops in the
world and the only developing country growing GE food crops on a
large commercial scale, shows that GE does not lead to an increase in
food security. Millions of tons of GE soya are exported every year
from Argentina for cattle feed, while millions of Argentineans go
hungry.
The real causes of hunger:
Poverty and lack of access to resources: Hunger and malnutrition are
a direct result of a lack of access to, or exclusion from, productive
resources, such as land, the forests, the seas, water, seeds,
technology and credit. Seventy-five percent of the world's hungry are
politically marginalised people who live in rural areas. An example
of the grossly unequal distribution of land that directly contributes
to hunger: in Latin America, 80 percent of agricultural land is in
the hands of 20 percent of the farmers; the other 20 percent of the
land is in the hands of the remaining 80 percent.
Unfair trade regimes: The current agricultural trade system puts the
South in an impossible situation. The Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) annual state subsidies of their
national agricultural sectors exceed Sub-Saharan Africa's entire
Gross Domestic Product. Subsidised exports, artificially low prices
and WTO legalised dumping by the rich countries characterise the
current unfair model of agricultural trade faced by poor countries.
Orientation of research towards industrial agriculture rather than
towards the needs of marginal farmers: Research often neglects the
development of agricultural techniques that reduce the inputs needed
and that are easy to control. Agricultural research at international
and national levels is highly orientated towards industrial
agriculture.
Edited, printed & published by nagaraj.m.r. at #EWS 190 HUDCO 3RD
STAGE HEBBAL MYSORE-570016 INDIA home page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naghrw e-mail : naghrw@yahoo.com
