PATIALA: After humiliating former Justice Ajit Singh Bains, President of the Punjab Human Rights Organization, the Punjab police has allegedly started ad ministering the same dose to the activists of the Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR), Punjab, which is working on the human rights front since 1978 in Ube suite.

For the past few weeks, police Officials are allegedly shadowing the frontline leadership of the AFDR and harassing them one way or other, In some cases, even the family members of the certain activists of the AFDR have been humiliated.

On Sept.25, two armed police constables misbehaved with Prof. K.C.Singhal, a seminar member of the AFDR, at his residence. Ina written statement, the leaders of the AFDR here alleged that the constables manhandled Professor Singhal and used foul language while arguing with him, the constables told Professor Singhal to accompany them to the police station but did not show him the warrant when he asked for it.

According to the AFDR activists, the police slanted keeping a watch on their activities a few days before the Vienna Human Rights Conference which was organized by the Human Rights Commission of the UNO about two months ago.

The organizer of the conference had officially visited the leaders of the AFDR seeking their participation in the conference at which the Union Government was being represented by the Finance Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh, and a few representatives of nongovernmental organizations, including Surinder Singla, a member of the Raiya Sabha, and Gurcharan Singh, a member of the Punjab Lok Sabha.

The activists told newsmen here that on the eve of the conference, the police and CID began enquiring from them whether any representative of the AFDR would participate in the conference or not, The AFDR leadership made it clear to them that as they had no funds for travelling to Vienna, they would not attend the conference, However, the AFDR had sent a document to the conference entitled “Punjab situation and democratic rights.”

Apart from giving a detailed account of the Punjab problem, the thrust in the document was that earlier both the police and the militants were a threat to society and the civil liberties of the people, but now as militancy had been almost wiped out in the state, the people were facing police excesses. In the light of this situation, the police needed to be contained,

In a statement the activists said all members of the AFDR were government employees and at tended their duties at their places of posting. But the police was bent on believing that they were working as an underground organization and was treating them like criminals.

The AFDR leaders said that their annual conference would be held at Amritsar from October 13. and a seminar on human rights at Punjabi University, Patiala, on Oct4 in which Justice Krishna lyer would be the main speaker.

The reports published by the AFDR so far regarding human rights included, the Sarai Nagar report in which certain Nihangs were killed by the police in the late 70s; those who were the guilty regarding the Delhi riots of 1984; the Bhopal gas tragedy; Operation Blue star and a report on the nation regarding Punjab.

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 1, 1993