Human Rights Defenders & Deputy

May 4, 2018 Ref No:- HRDA/North/UP/2/5/2018 To Mr. Srinivasa Kammath National Focal Point - Human Rights Defenders & Deputy Registrar National Human Rights Commission Manav Adhikar Bhawan, Block-C, GPO Complex, INA, New Delhi – 110 023 Email: [email protected] Dear Sir, Sub: HRD Alert - India - Urgent Appeal for Action – Uttar Pradesh: Continued incarceration and harassment of dalit rights activist Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan under National Security Act in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh – Regarding Greetings from Human Rights Defenders Alert - India! HRD Alert - India is a Forum of Human Rights Defenders for Human Rights Defenders. It endeavours to initiate actions on behalf of Human Rights Defenders under threat or with security concerns. We are writing to express our grave concern regarding the continued incarceration and harassment of Dalit rights activist Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan under the National Security Act. He is lodged in Saharanpur district jail in Uttar Pradesh since November 2017 without fair trial. Source of Information on the Incident: Media reports Communication with HRDs in Uttar Pradesh The Human Rights Defender: Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan is a Dalit rights activist. He along with Mr. Vinay Pratap Singh formed the ‘Bhim Army’, named after Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. The Bhim Army was founded on July 21, 2015. It is an Ambedkarite organisation of Dalit volunteers, challenging caste oppression. It also runs 350 free schools for Dalits in western region of Uttar Pradesh with the vision of providing education to Dalit community. Over the recent years, Bhim Army has intervened in instances of caste atrocities and challenged the caste hierarchy.

Perpetrator: Government of Uttar Pradesh Date of Incident: June 2017 onwards Place of Incident: Saharanpur , Uttar Pradesh Background: Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan had fixed a board in his native village which read as, “The Great Chamar of Dhadkauli welcomes you’. Members of Thakur community smeared black ink to which the Dalit community opposed and asserted their right to put up a board. In May 2017, members of Dalit and Thakur communities clashed in Saharanpur. The Thakurs objected to a statue of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar saying that his finger was pointing towards a road used by Thakur women. A few weeks later the Thakurs took out procession on the same route to celebrate the birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap, an icon of Rajput community, which was objected by the Dalits and asked if they had permission from the administration. The altercation escalated from verbal exchange to violent clashes. Two Dalit men were killed and many houses belonging to Dalits were torched. The district administration through the local media had deliberately falsely accused the Bhim Army of being ‘Naxalites’, ‘terrorists’ etc. Several activists and senior leaders of the organisation were forced to go underground including Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan. Incident Details: On June 8, 2017, Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan was arrested and 23 cases were filed against him. He was not present anywhere near the place of occurrence of the clashes and despite that he is falsely accused of rioting, armed with deadly weapons, unlawful assembly, attempt to murder, assaulting public servants, trespassing and breach of peace.

Five months later, in November 2017, the Allahabad High Court had granted him bail in all the cases as the police could not provide evidence of his specific role in the incidents of violence or of possessing weapons of any kind. There were reports in the media that the High Court commented that charges against Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan appear to have been politically motivated. Within hours of the High Court order, the Uttar Pradesh government invoked the draconian National Security Act (NSA) against Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan and took him under administrative detention till February 2018 as per the order of a nonjudicial advisory board established under NSA. NSA allows the state to arbitrarily detain anyone without bail for upto a year. NSA like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), violates all known norms of civil rights and liberties. NSA is used by the Indian authorities to suppress any form of democratic dissent. It is cynically invoked against activists of trade unions, farmers organisations, students and against those opposing government policies as it allows the detention of dissenters, on the basis of vague and flimsy grounds for voicing legitimate political and democratic demands. Of the 40 prominent activists and leaders of Bhim Army who were arrested and tortured in jail, all of them have been granted bail, except Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan who continues to languish in Saharanpur Jail. His health also deteriorated due to lack of adequate medical attention and his condition became critical. It was only after campaigns and public pressure, he was sent to Meerut for medical treatment. On January 27, 2018, the detention under NSA was extended by another 3 months and the current term of detention expires in May 2018. Appeal: HRDA believes that the UP government has imposed NSA on Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan in an attempt to crush Dalit movement in western region of the state and a reprisal against those who demand equality, justice and freedom from caste atrocities. Indian Constitution guarantees every Indian citizen the right to express, dissent, protest and assemble. Thus, what has been meted out to the members of Bhim Army and Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan in particular are grave human rights violations arising from the indiscriminate and arbitrary use of draconian laws. This

continued detention without any free trial is completely contrary to established national and international laws and standards. We, therefore urge you to immediately take necessary steps and: Orders an immediate, thorough, transparent, effective and impartial enquiry into the above-mentioned events of arrest of the members of Bhim Army and arrest of Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan under the NSA; Following the independent enquiry, ensure strict actions, including legal actions against the Uttar Pradesh state administration for the indiscriminate and arbitrary use of NSA against Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan; Ensure

that

Mr.

Chandrashekhar

Azad

Ravan

is

immediately

and

unconditionally released and NSA charges against him and all other false charges are dropped; As per the powers granted under the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, undertake a review of NSA and recommend that it is repealed; Guarantee in all circumstances at the cost of the state, the physical and psychological integrity of the members of Bhim Army including Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan who are still under risk of further attacks from the perpetrators, and; Ensure provision of reparation, compensation, apology to each of the members of Bhim Army who are human right defenders and to Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan for the physical and psychological sufferings they underwent because of the manhandling and brutal assault, arrest and detention and provide a reassurance of not engaging in such acts against HRDs in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Looking forward to your immediate action in this regard. Yours sincerely,

Henri Tiphagne National Working Secretary

Copies to: Mr. Michel Forst Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, C/o Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Palais Wilson United Nations Office at Geneva CH 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Mr. David Kaye Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland Fax: +41 22 917 9006 Email: [email protected] Mr. Clement Nyaletsossi Voule Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland Fax: + 41 22 917 9006 Email: [email protected] Prof. Fernand de Varennes Special Rapporteur on minority issues Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland Fax: + 41 22 917 9006 [email protected] Ms. E. Tendavi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance, Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland Fax: + 41 22 917 9006 Email: [email protected]

Ms. Christine Chung Human Rights Officer- Asia Pacific Section Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Email: [email protected] Front Line - The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Second Floor Grattan House Temple Road, Blackrock Co. Dublin, Ireland Email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) 8 rue du Vieux Billard - 1211 Geneva 8 – Switzerland Email: [email protected] Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) 66/2, Pan Road, Silom Bang Rak, Bangkok, 10500 Thailand. Email: [email protected] OMCT International Secretariat PO Box 21 8, rue du Vieux-Billard 1211 Geneva 8 Switzerland E-mail: [email protected] Human Rights Watch 350, Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor, New York, USA Email: [email protected] [email protected] Amnesty International India Ground Floor, # 235, 13th cross, Indira Nagar II Stage, Bangalore, Karnataka, India - 560 038. Email: [email protected]

CIVICUS: World Alliance for World Participation Johannesburg, South Africa Email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] The Norwegian Human Rights Fund (NHRF) P.O. Box 6890 St. Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo, Norway Email: [email protected]