India: Dalit HRD arrested, his valuable seized for reporting different caste-based punishment of policemen
Event- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- May 26, 2020
- Event Description
Raju Baitha is a Dalit HRD residing in Motihari, East Champaran district of Bihar. He has been active in defending the human rights of Dalits in Bihar for long and is the district coordinator of the NCDHR, a national organisation to protect and promote the human rights of Dalits. Mr. Baitha, in one of his Facebook posts on May 20, 2020, questioned East Champaran�s Superintendent of Police(SP), Mr. Naveen Chandra Jha, about caste determining the punishment for policemen for similar charges against them. His Facebook post said, �just see the mockery of justice. Two cops from the higher caste were only sent to the police lines while another cop from the Dalit community was placed under suspension for the same charge.� Mr Baitha asked the SP for an answer and said that his action was biased and flouted the Constitutional norms. According to the sources, the SP called Mr. Baitha multiple times on WhatsApp and threatened him regarding his Facebook post. The SP also asked whether Mr. Baithawas the DGP to question the charges and that �he will put him in jail within 4 days�. Mr. Baitha recorded the WhatsApp conversation and it was picked up by the local media. On May 26, 2020, at about 6.00 am, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Chhitouni police station Mr. Mukesh Chand Kumar went to Mr. Baitha�s residence with four constables and arrested him without any arrest warrant. He was taken to the Chhitouni police stationand his two mobile phones and Rs 25000 were seized by the police without a seizurememo. An FIR (No. 49/2020) was registered against him by the Motihari police dated January 29, 2020, under IPC sections 143/188/353/149/342/506/427/341 and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, for alleged damage to public property and blocking public roads. The said protest was held on January 29, 2020,under the banner of Bahujan Kranti Morcha against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). After his arrest on May 26, Mr. Baitha was not taken to a police station, but driven around in a police car, till the police got an official warrant signed by the magistrate. He was then taken into judicial custody. On May 28, 2020,Mr. Baithawas grantedbailinCase No.49/2020. However,before he could be released, he was re-arrested in two more FIRs Case no.50/2020 of Chhitouni police station dated January 29, 2020, by a shopkeeper who alleged damage to his shop during the proteston January 29. Another FIR was registered at Mufassil police station�s Case no.153/2020 dated April 5, 2020, filedby a person from the SC community. Mr. Baitha was released on bail only on June 15, 2020. It is obvious that Mr. Baitha has been victimised and harassed by the police, and subjected to harassment which included restrictions on his movement and liberty,for questioning certain actions of the SP through his Facebook post. HRDA believes the police on the directions of the East Champaran SP has misused provisions of law to target a Dalit HRD. This is not only a clear violation of his rights as a citizen of Indian under Article 19(A)but also an act of atrocity under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act (PoAA).
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Minority Rights
- Online
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 26.65918059001644
Longitude: 84.9090564814197
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 26 May 2020, Raju Baitha, Dalit human rights defender, was arrested by the police, his valuable seized for reporting different caste-based punishment of policemen in Motihari, India.