This statement come from the RIGHT TO FOOD CAMPAIGN

October 3rd, 2011

Arbitrary Raid on Kavita Srivastava’s house: Latest act of harassment of human rights workers

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the arbitrary raid this morning (3 October), in Jaipur, on the house of Kavita Srivastava, General Secretary of PUCL and convenor of the Right to Food Campaign’s steering group. This is yet another instance of harassment of human rights workers under the cover of fighting Naxalism. Kavita Srivastava is the convenor of the Steering Committee of the Right to Food Campaign and PUCL is the petitioner in the Supreme Court case on the Right to Food which has recently challenged the Government on the issue of the poverty line.

Around 6.30 am a large contingent of armed Special Task Force Police, led by Deputy SP Rajendra Singh Shekhwat, descended on Kavita’s house claiming to be looking for a “khatarnak Naxalite”. In Kavita’s absence, the police harassed her 82-year old father and two domestic helpers. The raid was apparently conducted at the behest of the Chhattisgarh police, with the help of a “warrant” that merely carried Kavita’s address and the word “abhiyukt” (accused).

Kavita Srivastava has been a tireless defender of human rights for many years and has already been harassed earlier for her fearless opposition to the criminal activities of the Chhattisgarh government (arbitrary detentions, encounter killings, false cases, and such) under the garb of fighting Naxalism.

This is a wholly reprehensible act of targeting of human rights activists as well as a totally unacceptable attack on civil liberties in general. We condemn it and demand an unconditional apology from the Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh police on this reprehensible action. We would like to remind the Government that such undemocratic and arbitrary actions will not silence human rights defenders and instead amplify their voices against injustice and state repression.

Members of the Steering Group, Right to Food Campaign

Anjali Bharadwaj (Satark Nagrik Sangathan)
Annie Raja (National Federation for Indian Women)
Anuradha Talwar, Gautam Modi and Madhuri Krishnaswamy (New Trade Union Initiative)
Arun Gupta and Radha Holla (Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India)
Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey (Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Rajasthan)
Arundhati Dhuru and Ulka Mahajan (National Alliance of People’s Movements)
Asha Mishra and Vinod Raina (Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti)
Ashok Bharti (National Conference of Dalit Organizations)
Binayak Sen (People’s Union for Civil Liberties)
Colin Gonsalves (Human Rights Law Network)
Jean Drèze and V.B Rawat (Former Support group to the Campaign)
Lali Dhakar, Sarawasti Singh, Shilpa Dey and Radha Raghwal (National Forum for Single Women’s Rights)
Mira Shiva and Vandana Prasad (Jan Swasthya Abhiyan)
Paul Divakar and Asha Kotwal (National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights)
Prahlad Ray and Anand Malakar (Rashtriya Viklang Manch)
Subhash Bhatnagar (National Campaign Committee for Unorganized Sector workers)

Supported by

Veena Shatrugna, M Kodandram and Rama Melkote (Andhra Pradesh)
Saito Basumaatary and Sunil Kaul (Assam)
Rupesh (Bihar)
Gangabhai and Samir Garg (Chhattisgarh)
Sejal Dand and Sumitra Thakkar (Gujarat)
Abhay Kumar and Clifton (Karnataka)
Balram, Gurjeet Singh and James Herenj (Jharkhand)
Sachin Jain (Madhya Pradesh)
Mukta Srivastava and Suresh Sawant (Maharashtra)
Tarun Bharatiya (Meghalaya)
Chingmak Chang (Nagaland)
Bidyut Mohanty, Raj Kishore Mishra, Vidhya Das, Manas Ranjan (Orissa)
Ashok Khandelwal, Bhanwar Singh and Vijay Lakshmi (Rajasthan)
V Suresh (Tamil Nadu)
Bindu Singh (Uttar Pradesh)
Akhila Shivdas, Biraj Patnaik, Dipa Sinha, Harsh Mander, Reetika Khera and Ritu Priya, (Delhi)

See also: Kavita Srivastava: ‘Chhattisgarh Police Raided My House Today in Collusion with Jaipur Police’