It is with anguish and concern that we report to you about the increasing violations of human and democratic rights of the Adivasis in Madhya Pradesh. On Jan. 17, 91 at Jashpur Nagar, members of the ruling party (BJP) in the State and non-Adivasi communal elements of the area in connivance with the police let loose a reign of terror in the area to prevent the tribal community from exercising its democratic rights and freedom of expression in holding a rally. Scores of people including women and children apart from tribal men were indiscriminately beaten up with grevious injuries by the local non-Adivasi RSS members and the police. Many men and women were illegally detained and confined in the police custody. All those who were responsible for the terror and brutalities have been left free.
Background: The All-Jharkhand Students Union, Jashpur Nagar, was to hold a public meeting there on Jan. 17. Members from Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal were to attend the rally along with those from MP. On Jan. 16, the ASP was informed about the rally by the AJSU. The Nayab Tehsildar refused to grant permission if the rallyists carried their traditional weapons.
Some pamphlets about the rally reached the RSS. They asked the organizers to cancel it and abused the women of the organization and also threatened them with physical assault. These students had met the Nayab Tehsildar before the AJSU members met him and had persuaded him not to grant permission for the rally. Meanwhile two of the AJSU members, Dularchand Minz and Vijay Ekka, who were standing in front of the PMT Girl’s Hostel were forcibly taken to the police station by the RSS students and locked up.
The rally was cancelled. However, the information about the abrupt cancellation could not be sent out. On the Jan.17 morning, some AJSU members from Ranchi, Sudarshan Bhagat, Prof. Vinod Bhagat and Monto Oraon, reached Gholeng in their van (BR 14A 2244) and two local members, Swati Rita Tirkey and Elvina Minz, joined them. They set forth for the PMT Boys Hostel in Jashpur Nagar.
On their way back from the hostel they were stopped and surrounded by a group of students armed with hockey sticks and other weapons. Naresh Gupta, Rajesh Thakur, Satyendra Singh, Hemant Vaish and Santosh Gupta, all upper caste boys, were leading the violent group. The AJSU members were dragged out of the van. A few lecturers who happened to pass along also supported the attacking students. The van was pushed into the college campus. Anjela Khess, an AJSU member, who came to their rescue, was threatened with violence. RSS students beat up the AJSU members from Bihar. The van was damaged and all the glasses were broken. The ignition key was taken away and the tyres were deflated. Prof. Vinod Bhagat suffered severe head injuries due to the stones and rocks flung at the van.
RSS elements then entered the hostel and started beating up the Adivasi students there. Most of the inmates shut themselves in, but the goons broke open the doors and about 15 Adivasi students including John Kujur, the warden, were seriously injured. The police reached the spot after all this was over and arrested the driver of the van, Monto Oraon, Sudarshan Bhagat and Prof. Vinod Bhagat, Swati Rita Tirkey, and Elvina Minz. The police also rounded up the other already brutalized and took them to the police station. None of those responsible for causing the violence were arrested. All this happened between 10- 11 A.M. on the 17.1.91. Members from Bihar were locked up at the police station and 13 others were arrested after interrogation on the same day. Some of these (13) had been picked up while they were walking about in Gholeng, some while they were eating in a restaurant and some from a cycle repairing shop. Dularchand and Anil Minz were kept in the lock-up for more than 48 hrs. Swati Rita Tirkey and Elvin Minz were released at 11.00 P.M. (at night), after a long and sustained Interrogation, on personal bonds. Meanwhile, the RSS students organized a “bandh” in Jashpur Nagar in the afternoon with the active collaboration of the local police. These students then went riding around the town in a police vehicle.
Till Jan 24, Anil Minz. Dularchand Minz, Sudharshan Bhagat, Prof. Vinod Bhagat and Monto Oraon had not been released. Those who were released earlier on bail were summoned by the court on Jan. 22, due to the absence of the Sub-Divisional Officer the date of hearing has been postponed.
