India: Mr. Stan Swamy & 20 other W/HRDs are being falsely implicated under charges of sedition by the Jharkhand police at Khunti Police Station
Event- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Jul 29, 2018
- Event Description
The Human Rights Defenders: Mr. Stan Swamy is trained in sociology and is a social analyst. He is the founder member of Vistapan Virodhi Janvikash Andolan (VVJA) and has spent decades defending the civil rights of the marginalized sections of the society. Presently, he is also engaged on the issues of displacement faced by the indigenous adivasi and dalit people of Jharkhand. Background: Tribals make up 26% of Jharkhand's population. Huge stone plaques, known locally as Pathalgadi, came up at the entry points of tribal hamlets. The plaques measures 15 ft by 4 ft, are painted in green and has messages carved on them. Messages include excerpts from the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, 1996 (PESA) as well as warnings to outsiders, prohibiting them from entering the village. It is a movement of the tribal people that will gradually engulf all the 32,620 villages Incident detail: It is being alleged that the Mr. Swamy and others concerned in this appeal through their Facebook account are posting messages to instigate the tribal population to come up with the practice of using Pathalgadi to stop the entry of outsiders including government officials into their hamlets. In furtherance of this false perception, Jharkhand Police has lodged a false FIR against VVJA founder member Mr. Stan Swamy and 20 others at Khunti police station, Jharkhand. As per the source, Jharkhand police has lodged a false FIR u/s 121,121A & 124(A) IPC against Mr. Stan Swamy and 20 others at Khunti police station, Jharkhand. Mr. Stan Swamy & others came to know about this only through media. It is pertinent to mention that ever since the process of Patghalgadi has started in the state of Jharkhand, at Khunti police station alone Jharkhand police has registered around 25 similar cases of sedition against 1,500 innocent tribals.
- Impact of Event
- 21
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- Online
- HRD
- Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 20.593683999999993
Longitude: 78.96288
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 29 July 2018, Mr. Stan Swamy & 20 other W/HRDs were falsely implicated under charges of sedition by the Jharkhand police at Khunti Police Station