See names of signatories below; please send your endorsement to asit1917 at gmail dot com
We strongly condemn the attack on and illegal abduction by the Odisha police of Umakanta Biswal, a famer belonging to Dhinkia village of Odisha, and an active member of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), that has been engaged over the last six years in resisting the forcible acquisition of their land by the Odisha government for handing over to the South Korean multinational corporation POSCO. This incident, which occurred on 2nd March 2012, is the latest in the series of atrocities inflicted by the Odisha government and by hired goons associated with the government and the POSCO company, on the people of these villages. Umakanta Biswal, who was engaged in agricultural activity in his paddy field at the time of his abduction, was pursued by a group of armed plainclothes policemen on a motorbike, and shot at when he tried to escape. He has reportedly been kept in Paradip prison, and has not been produced in front of a magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest, as is required under law. We have cause to fear that he is being tortured in police custody, and are gravely concerned about his safety. This highly irregular, and illegal, form of detention of a citizen, amounting to a kidnapping by the police, is emblematic of the situation in which the villagers of the POSCO-affected area are living for the last six years, just because they have tried to protect their lives and livelihoods from being devastated by corporate greed. Numerous villagers have multiple false cases lodged against them by the police, and people are in danger of being abducted and detained by the police while being engaged in day to day activities such as farming. There have also been incidents where a villager taking his sick child to hospital has been arrested by the police. This continuing victimization and violation of basic human rights of a whole community of people is intolerable, and goes against all tenets of constitutionality and humanity. We condemn this brutal and illegal action by the Odisha government and demand that Umakanta Biswal be immediately produced in court and released. We request the National Human Rights Commission to take cognizance of this illegal detention and violation of rights of a citizen, which is symptomatic of the violation of rights of the entire community of villagers in the area of the proposed POSCO project.
Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity Samittee, New Delhi
Prafulla Samantara NAPM and Lok Shakti Abhiyan
Prof. Ajit Jha Samajwadi Jan Parishad
Partho Sarathi Roy SANHATI Collective
Kiran Shaheen Media Action Group, Delhi
Aarti Chokshi Secretary PUCL, Karnataka
Students for Resistance Delhi University and JNU
Amit Chakrabarty Research Scholar, JNU
Mamta Das NFFPFW and POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity, Delhi
Subrat Kumar Sahoo POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity Samittee, New Delhi
Kamayani Bali Mahabal Lowyer Activist, Mumbai
Asit Das POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity Samittee, New Delhi
Nayan Jyoti Krantikari Naujawan Sabha
Shankar Gopal Krishnan Campaign for Survival and Dignity
Mayur Chetia Research Scholar JNU
Arya Thomas Krantikari Naujawan Sabha
P.K. Sunderam Research Scholar JNU
Bhanumati Gochhait POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity, Delhi
Ranjeet Thakur Journalist, Uttarakhand
Rajni Kant Mudgal Socialist Front
Rita Kumari Pravasi Nagarik Manch
Pushpa Achanta Women against Sexual Violence State Repression Karnataka
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 
If the objective is to get justice for Mr. Umakanta Biswal, then why not take the matter to a court of law? If the objective is to arouse public awareness about the excesses of the State Government why not involve activists from Orissa? What kind of this leftist ideology is to issue ineffective statements, by people who have least involvement, while the individuals wronged by the government rot in Jail? Does it not explain why the arm chair leftists sitting in their Capitalistic Comfort in cities have failed miserably to exert even a little impact on the events of the country? Rather than deleting pertinent questions, Kafila needs to debate the approaches of romanticize leftism with those of real leftism that would have a profound impact.
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I endores.
Mahtab Alam, Coalition for Protection of Human Rights Defenders (CPHRD)
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Dated: 03 March 12
The Coalition for Protection of Human Rights’ Defenders (CPHRD) strongly condemns the police firing on Umakant Biswal, a young anti-POSCO movement activist and farmer from Dhinkia village district of Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha
According to the information received by us from activist friends in Dhinkia, on 2nd of March 2012, while Mr. Bisawal was working on his farm near the village, the Police came on motor cycle in civil dress to arrest him, after recognizing them he tried to run away but was shot in leg and subsequently arrested. We are also told that, Mr. Bisawal has been tortured in custody.
We are shocked to know about the attack, arrest and custodial torture of Mr. Bisawal. It is a serious case of violation of the Supreme Court guidelines to be followed at the time of arrest, defined in the case of D K Basu vs. State of West Bengal. We demand immediate suspension of police officials involved the firing case and also immediate release of Mr. Bisawal.
In solidarity,
Mahtab Alam, Manisha Sethi, Harsh Dobhal and Kavita Srivastava
On Behalf of working committee of CPHRD
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