SACW | May 2-4, 2007 | Sri Lanka: Shrinking Democratic space / Keeping religion at bay in Pakistan / Indian Army and Kashmir ; Caste ; Dirty Harry Killings ; Criminal Justice and Pseudo-science

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire  | May 2-4, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2399 - Year 9

[1]  Sri Lanka: Warning Signs that Democratic 
Space is Threatened (National Peace Council)
[2]  Bangladesh: Freedom from fear (Zafar Sobhan)
[3]  Pakistan: Keep religion at bay   - letters
     - Conversion of [Karachi's] Nisar Shaheed 
Park into Lal Masjid (Naeem Sadiq)
     - No to Ninja Nuisance - A Letter to the Editor (Isa Daudpota)
[4]  Indian Army and the Peace Process in Kashmir (Ram Puniyani)
[5]  India: Learning To Speak Caste (Satish Deshpande)
[6]  India: Predator State (Editorial, Hindustan Times)
[7]  India: We need to talk about narcoanalysis (Sriram Lakshman)
[8]  India:  In the wake of Nandigram A call by 
concerned citizens for A People's Convention

____



[1]

National Peace Council
of Sri Lanka
12/14 Purana Vihara Road
Colombo 6
Tel: 2818344, 2854127, 2819064
Tel/Fax:2819064
  E Mail: npc at sltnet.lk
Internet: www.peace-srilanka.org


04.05.07

Media Release

WARNING SIGNS THAT DEMOCRATIC SPACE IS THREATENED

The deterioration in the security situation has 
had a catastrophic impact on substantial sections 
of the civilian population, especially those 
living in the north and east. In this context the 
government has recently decided to vest powers of 
the police with the military.President Mahinda 
Rajapaksa has issued a gazette notification that 
the armed forces are expected to perform the 
functions of the police.  The National Peace 
Council is extremely concerned with this latest 
development.  We are apprehensive that this 
government decision will send wrong signals and 
lead to an aggravation of the hardships faced by 
the civilian population.

The new regulations come at a time when there are 
reports of violations of human rights by both 
police and military personnel. According to 
preliminary findings announced by a civic group, 
PAFFREL, which is working together with the Human 
Rights Commission and the Police, about 30 police 
and military personnel are among 452 persons 
arrested in connection with human rights abuses, 
including abduction, disappearances and murders. 
The National Peace Council believes that these 
findings reiterate the importance of restoring 
the integrity of law and order processes in the 
country. 

One positive initiative by the government that we 
welcome has been the order of the Defence 
Secretary to the security forces that they should 
strictly follow guidelines that respect human 
rights in making arrests and detentions. 
However, the vesting of police functions in the 
armed forces can negate this positive order. The 
police function is a civilian one, and the 
military is not trained in police methods of 
dealing with disturbances to law and order. This 
decision can also send wrong signals to the 
security forces, and to local and international 
society regarding the direction of the government.

There is an urgent need for the government to 
demonstrate clear political will in regard to law 
and order processes if it is to retain the 
confidence of the civilian population that it is 
not taking the country on a journey to anarchy 
and to the breakdown of democratic governance. 
This past week has seen the assassination of yet 
another journalist in Jaffna, belonging to the 
Uthayan newspaper and threats to stop work that 
are being levelled against NGOs in the name of 
the TMVP (Karuna group), which TMVP spokespersons 
deny making. It is incumbent on the government to 
take these complaints seriously and to take 
measures to apprehend the culprits so that faith 
in the democratic institutions of the country may 
be on the path to restoration.


Executive Director
On behalf of the Governing Council

_____


[2]

The Daily Star
May 04, 2007
  	 
FREEDOM FROM FEAR
by Zafar Sobhan

What was the worst thing about pre-January 11 
Bangla-desh? Different people will have different 
answers to this question: some would point to the 
unbridled corruption that reached its tentacles 
into every corner of the country's affairs, some 
would say that it was the culture of complete 
lack of transparency and accountability.

Some others might suggest the absence of any kind 
of rule of law which meant that the powerful 
could do whatever they wanted with virtual 
impunity. Then again, some might point to the 
lack of opportunities or the government's 
inability to (or unwillingness) to focus on the 
concerns of the poor.

I would suggest that the worst aspect of 
pre-January 11 Bangladesh -- and a failing that 
encompasses many of the above complaints (many of 
which are inter-connected) -- can be classified 
under the rubric of lack of human security.

Human security, which can also be understood as 
freedom from fear, has two components. The first 
is a simple law and order equation: Can the 
government of the day ensure my safety and 
security from non-state actors?

However, far more salient is the second component 
of human security: Can the government of the day 
ensure my safety and security from the state (or 
its representatives) itself? In the context of 
Bangladesh, this is an especially relevant 
question, as the bulk of the insecurity that 
everyday men and women have had to suffer through 
the years has come at the hands of 
representatives of the state.

In other words, it is not so much non-state 
actors but state actors that we need protection 
from -- i.e. from the police, from Rab, and even 
when it is non-state actors (e.g. common 
criminals or mastans) the bulk of the threat 
comes from those who are politically connected, 
which again implicates state actors. Similarly, 
the nexus between criminals and the police and 
the courts is again a function of the individual 
being persecuted by the state's actions and 
inactions.

To me, human security is the bare minimum. The 
absolute minimum I expect from any government is 
that it keeps me safe and protects my security. 
Specifically, I would expect that it keep me safe 
from its own clutches. This, to me, is the 
over-riding responsibility of a government. If it 
cannot keep me safe from non-state actors, then, 
at the very least, I should not have to worry 
about my safety at the hands of state actors.

Nor do I think that this is an elite/urban 
concern. Indeed, I would argue that this concern 
is heightened the further down the social and 
economic ladder you go. The less money and status 
you have, the more vulnerable you are, both to 
common or garden crooks and also to persecution 
at the hands of the authorities. You are more 
likely to have to pay tolls and extortions, to 
have to worry about physical and sexual assault, 
and will have even less ability to access the 
courts and police stations to seek redress for 
your grievances.

Human security is the corner-stone of existence. 
If we can be secure in our person and effects, 
then the rest will follow. If we are not secure 
in our person and properties, then everything 
else is evanescent and ephemeral, everything we 
have can be taken away from us at a moment's 
notice.

So, when I look at the current government, this 
is the question I ask: Are we now more secure 
then we were before January 11? And in judging 
what comes after the current dispensation, the 
question that I would ask is the same: Will we be 
more secure than we were before January 11?

What kind of security should we expect and demand 
from our government? The security that we will 
not be killed in cross-fire. The security that we 
will not be subjected to any extra-judicial 
punishment. The security that we will not be 
subject to arbitrary arrest. The security that we 
will not have to worry about being disappeared. 
These kinds of abuses were routine prior to 
January 11, and to the extent that they are still 
happening and that they may still continue in the 
future, are serious cause for concern.

Freedom from fear is the most important of 
freedoms.If you don't have that, you don't have 
anything. No freedom of the press -- who would 
dare criticize the government in such a climate? 
No accountability -- how can one begin to 
petition for redress if such petitioning earns 
one a one-way ticket to the slammer? No peace of 
mind -- how can we enjoy anything if we are 
constantly looking over our shoulders or weighing 
every word, wondering whether this will lead to a 
phone call or a late night visit from the 
authorities?.

So, whatever we do and whatever else is going on, 
I would suggest that the most important task 
before the interim government is to remove this 
uncertainty and fear from the air. If that were 
done, then the benefits -- to the country, to the 
individual, and to the government -- would be 
incalculable.

At a very basic level, creating a climate of 
security, free from fear, is simply the right 
thing to do, and the benefits are self-evident. 
Life without security is no life. But, beyond 
that, the pragmatic benefits for the country 
would be immense.

Think of the creative energy that would be 
unleashed if the people of Bangladesh were able 
to feel fully secure in their persons and 
properties. Think of the knock-on effect to the 
economy if people didn't have to fear 
repercussions for whistle-blowing or uncovering 
corruption.

So let's judge this current interim government by 
how successfully it is able to create this 
atmosphere -- and let us look at any future 
government according to the same lights. If they 
succeed in ensuring our security and freeing us 
from fear, then I will think that maybe, at long 
last, we are getting somewhere as a nation. But 
if they do not, and all we can look forward to 
are more years of looking over our shoulders, 
then it isn't entirely apparent to me how this 
would be different from where we were on January 
10.

Zafar Sobhan is Assistant Editor, The Daily Star.

_____



[3]  [TWO LETTERS FROM PAKISTAN]

From: Beena Issues [ groups.yahoo.com/group/beena-issues/ ]
2 May 2007

[i]  From Naeem Sadiq in Karachi: "You may send this letter directly to
DHA, at the given address, obtaining signatures from those who agree."

To Administrator,
Defence Hofficers Housing Authority
2-B, East Street, Phase 1, DHA, Karachi.

CONVERSION OF NISAR SHAHEED PARK INTO LAL MASJID.

True to the Mulla-military cooperative tradition, 
the DHA has gone out of its way to squeeze 
mosques at places where they have no business to 
be. Nisar Shaheed was one very good park, till 
the DHA management installed a mosque within its 
four walls. It was originally a small prayer 
area, which gradually (just like the Islamabad 
Lal Masjid), expanded into a larger place , got 
cemented, and provided with 'wuzu' areas and loud 
speakers. The mosque was not a part of the 
original design of the park and was made 
illegally to appease one section of people.

Those who go the Park to spend some relaxed and 
quiet time find it increasingly difficult to do 
so any more. Specially between 7pm and 9pm which 
is the peak time for walkers and joggers, the 
areas and tracks around the mosque are taken over 
by dozens of 'Nimazis', obstructing those who are 
engaged in their regular exercise. Would the DHA 
allow similar loud speaker operated separate 
religious congregations for those who belong to 
other sects or other religions.  Does the DHA not 
know that there are four other mosques located 
all around the park, and therefore there is no 
need of allowing loud speakers and religious 
congregations inside this park. The DHA, unless 
it intentionally wishes to create a Jamia Hafsa 
like situation, would be well advised to take 
some immediate actions. It could stop all 
religious congregations in the park premises, 
prohibit the use of loud speakers, and ensure 
that park is used only for the purpose it was 
built for.

[ii] Letter to the Editor by Isa Daudpota (would love to know which
paper prints this and with what changes - bs)

NO TO NINJA NUISANCE

My eighty year old Lahori aunt and the country's 
police force have one thing in common.  My 
gynecologist aunt refuses to employ any staff in 
her clinic who wears a hijab, let alone the 
face-hiding Ninja headgear, which is becoming 
increasingly common in our cities.  Patients need 
to communicate unambiguously with their 
care-givers -would you like a Ninja peering down 
your mouth or another orifice, or asking you 
questions muffled by a face-clinging fabric?

Lone Ranger had his day.  Today the police refuse 
talking to masked men.  They sometimes even haul 
up those who drive in cars with privacy 
preserving dark glasses.   In our fear-laced 
times you need to know exactly whom you are 
talking to.

The same concern applies to educational 
institutions where it becomes impossible to 
communicate with Ninja female students with 
blinking eyes.   This is made worse when the 
lecturer too adopts this garb.  While a hijab 
maybe recommended according to some religious 
interpretations as a means of maintaining 
personal modesty, the Ninja version of it isn't! 
Thus the paragons of modernism in the Ministry of 
Education and the Higher Education Commission 
should issue orders banning the masked headgear 
in all education institutions.

As for the militant women in places such as Jamia 
Hafsa the solution is clear.  If they stopped 
being supported by government agencies, they 
could be flushed out by means commonly known.   A 
more humane way is to show them a better 
alternative:  have the Aabpara Community Center 
located near their madrassa offer good discounted 
food, show interesting enlightening films, free 
internet access and classes in modern thought. 
Also teach skills, which get them employed in a 
worldly job.

Pakistan's dilemma is clear-cut though:  it 
cannot rest in peace until religion remains mixed 
up with the workings of the state.   It is time 
that those who gain international publicity using 
the slogans of modernism show their concern by 
stamping out the menace of the Ninjas.  Such 
hypocrites refuse to even voice their concern in 
unambiguous terms.


Q. Isa Daudpota
Islamabad


______


[4]

Issues in Secular Politics
May 2007 I

ARMY AND THE PEACE PROCESS IN KASHMIR

by Ram Puniyani

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of People's Democratic 
Party, the party ruling in alliance with Congress 
in Kashmir, recently called for demilitarization 
of the state and withdrawal of the Armed Forces 
(Special Powers) Act (April 2007). This demand 
was looked at with great amount of skepticism on 
the ground that how can we control the armed 
militancy in the state without the army presence 
and the special act to back that up. It is 
noteworthy that since the last elections when the 
electoral process was more democratic than the 
earlier one's, there is reduction in the overall 
militant actions in the state. It is also worth 
noticing that the atmosphere for dialogue and the 
amity within communities is better than before. 
Surely it is comparatively more representative 
character of this government, which has improved 
the situation. The question is, is it army, which 
can end the militancy, or is it the democratic 
character of the government and the keenness for 
dialogue with the disgruntled elements, which can 
further improve the situation. To begin with 
let's realize that army is trained to deal with 
'enemy armies', enemies only , its functioning is 
totally authoritarian and it has its own methods 
very different from the civic norms of a 
democratic society. It is all right that an army 
is deployed in some area for a short while, but a 
prolonged deployment of the army creates further 
problems and civilian life suffers a set back 
which tantamount to loss of trust in the ruling 
government, alienation of people and further 
boost to the phenomenon which bring in militancy 
in the first place.

As such Kashmir has been in the news most of the 
times for last few decades but unfortunately for 
the wrong reasons. On one hand we have the 
militancy, military's heavy handed actions, fake 
encounters, missing young men, half widows and 
streaks of blood on the greens of the valley, on 
the other there are efforts to bring in peace 
through dialogues and still on the other we have 
the gross misrepresentation of the events of 
Kashmir to communalize the mass consciousness'. 
Communal elements have presented it as a 
Hindu-Muslim problem and have propagated that 
events in Kashmir are one more example of 'Muslim 
separatism', while the real issue relates to the 
historical roots, the regional power equations 
and the ethnic identity of Kashmir. The debate on 
the efforts to bring in amity in the valley needs 
to be seen in the historical genesis of the issue 
and complexities of the present, the changing 
tilt of US with the aim to bring peace in the 
bullet torn edifice of the society. Also mistakes 
of the past need to be shunned if we aspire for 
the harmony and justice.

With India's independence the Princely states 
were given three options, one to merge with 
India, two to merge with Pakistan and three to 
remain independent. While most of the princely 
states merged with India or Pakistan, the king of 
Kashmir, Hari Singh decided to remain independent 
on the ground that his 'Hindu' Kingdom cannot 
merge with secular India. While the king was 
Hindu, majority of populating of Kashmir was 
Muslim. Pundit Perm Nath Dogra, of Praja 
Parishad, the precursor of BJP, Bharatiya 
Jansangh, endorsed his stand. Later Hari Singh 
offered standstill agreement to both India and 
Pakistan. As per this some state functions were 
to be shared with Pakistan and India. India 
rejected the offer; Pakistan accepted it and its 
postal department started serving Jammu and 
Kashmir.

When Pakistan army, dressed as tribal attacked 
Kashmir, the people of Kashmir did not want to 
merge with Pakistan and accordingly the President 
of National Conference, Sheikh Abdullah and 
representative of Maharaja Harisingh went to 
Delhi to urge upon the Indian Government to send 
the army to Kashmir to quell the Pakistani 
aggression. As at that time, Kashmir was not part 
of India, Indian Government did not accept this 
request. The negotiations to help Kashmir 
resulted in the treaty of accession according to 
which Kashmir was to have total autonomy barring 
in the matters of defense, external affairs, 
communication and currency. Kashmir was to have 
its own Constitution, with Sadr-e-Riyasat and 
Prime Minster. It is on these terms that Indian 
army went to Kashmir to quell the Pakistani 
aggression. Indian army stalled the Pakistani 
army, but by that time Pakistani army had 
occupied nearly one third of Kashmir. The matter 
was taken to United Nations, where it was 
resolved that plebiscite will be held, to 
ascertain the wishes of Kashmiri people, after 
Pakistani and Indian armies withdraw from 
Kashmir. Neither of the armies withdrew and no 
plebiscite took place.

The elections held in Kashmir led to the victory 
of National Conference and Sheikh Abdullah was 
chosen the Prime Minister of Kashmir. The major 
achievement of Sheikh Abdullah was land reforms 
without any compensation to the landlords. As 
such Kashmir was a society, which stood on the 
foundation of Sufi Islam, values of Vedant and 
Buddhism. These are the ingredients of 
Kashmiriyat. After the Kashmiri assembly came to 
take charge of things, the ultra nationalists and 
Hindu communalists in India started the campaign 
for abolition of the clauses of autonomy of 
Kashmir, demanding its total merger with India. 
The pressure of this 'forcible integration of 
Kashmir' led to a discomfort amongst the people 
of Kashmir, and Sheikh Abdullah voiced his 
concern that Indian Government is going back from 
its earlier promise. With his statement calling 
for respect of treaty of accession, he was dubbed 
as anti Nationalist and was put behind the bars. 
His imprisonment may be amongst one of the few 
cases of imprisonment of an elected chief of the 
state.

His imprisonment was the first act due to which 
the process of alienation began in Kashmir. This 
alienation was aggravated further by the 
political parties in power in Center trying to 
impose their agenda of power sharing with the 
National Conference. The rigging of elections was 
a regular phenomenon in Kashmir. With this the 
alienation of Kashmiri youth turned in to 
militancy, duly supported by Pakistan, which in 
turn was backed by the US. The local militants 
were joined in by the one's trained in Pakistan 
and later joined by the Al Qaeda elements.

The militancy in Kashmir initially was not based 
on communal ground and Kashmiriyat remained the 
overarching goal. In the decades of 80s the 
militancy did assume communal color, targeting 
the Kashmiri Pundits. Jag Mohan intensified the 
problem by encouraging the Pundits to leave the 
valley on the plea that every Kashmiri Muslim is 
a terrorist and Pundits face the physical threat.

Hanging of Maqbool Butt and rigging of elections 
worsened the problem giving a further boost to 
separatist tendencies in the valley. The issue 
was communalized in the country by presenting it 
as a Hindu India versus Muslims of Kashmir. The 
communal elements in the country made a heavy use 
of this issue to polarize the society. The 
response of Indian government was to go on 
increasing the presence of army in the valley. 
Today the number of military personnel is so 
heavy that the air is thick with intimidation of 
the army guns. The local Kashmiris are the 
victims of the acts of the militants and that of 
Indian army. Army treats most of the civilians as 
suspects.

This alienation of local people and gross 
violation of human rights needs to be redressed. 
The restoration of part of democratic process 
during last elections has been a welcome sign. 
Any area under military presence cannot breath 
freely. Too many disappearances, senseless 
killings and the orphaned children tell the story 
of state of affairs in Kashmir. The confidence of 
local people has been shattered by this approach, 
which looks at Kashmir as the real estate to be 
acquired at any cost. Kashmir as the inseparable 
part of India on one hand and Kashmir a Muslim 
majority state cannot be part of India, these 
contrasting positions need to be countered to 
respect the autonomy and aspirations of Kashmiri 
people. That is the only way to restore the human 
rights and amity in the valley, which is being 
wounded by the guns of dissatisfaction and 
weapons trying to control the aspirations of 
people.

Today the thinking on the Kashmir issue has to 
begin with the idea of respecting the wishes and 
well being of Kashmiri people, and to apply the 
soothing balm to the wounded psyche of average 
person in Kashmir. While dialogue with the 
dissident factions goes on we need to reduce the 
heavy-handed presence of army in the area. We 
also should register the fact that a long stay of 
army will affect the way of thinking of army 
itself. We have heard about the incidents like 
Chittsinghpura massacre of innocents at the hands 
of our own army, many an army personnel have 
tried to bake their own bread under the guise of 
their uniform. By winning over the trust of the 
people we can definitely reduce the intensity of 
militants' actions, and in due course bring in a 
more hospitable atmosphere. A long-term view of 
the matter is equally important. To begin with we 
need a social audit of the actions of army and to 
devise a mechanism where by armies actions are 
not arbitrary but are subject to civic scrutiny, 
and involvement of civilians and political 
representatives in the process of planning the 
actions of army.

The over all improvement in the situation needs 
to be welcomed and path for further improvement 
sought in a proactive way.


______


[5]

The Times of India
3 May, 2007

LEARNING TO SPEAK CASTE
by Satish Deshpande

That fount of all contemporary wisdom - the 
Internet - offers an involuntary but acute 
diagnosis of the predicament of caste via this 
feeble joke: India decides to send a 20-member 
space exploration team to the moon, and the caste 
quotas are decided immediately - six SCs, four 
STs, eight OBCs, and, if possible, two 
astronauts. While the intent of the joke is all 
too obvious, the unintended insight is in the 
fact that the 'astronauts' have no caste, but the 
'reserved categories' have only their caste.

The joke rightly assumes that although we tacitly 
know the caste of the astronauts, we agree that 
it is not relevant, only their qualifications 
('astronaut') are. It also assumes, rightly 
again, that although we tacitly know that the 
'reserved categories' would also have 
qualifications, we agree that they are not worth 
mentioning, only their caste is. In short, the 
joke knows exactly who 'we' are and who 'they' 
are and why the two can never mix.

This, then, is the predicament of caste today: 
its invisibility - or persistent denial - in one 
context versus its hypervisibility - or constant 
invocation - in another. India is split into two 
irreconcilable parts. One part appears to be 
divesting itself of caste, having climbed on to a 
plateau of economic and educational security 
where the normal rules of the game are now in its 
favour.

But the larger part of society is still heavily 
invested in caste, because it is trying to climb 
the steep slope of inherited disadvantage, and 
caste is the only lever it has to reduce the tilt 
of the playing field. These unequal and opposed 
parts are also mutually reinforcing in a strange 
way. It is as if each must weave what the other 
must unravel. How and why did we get here? Is 
there a way out?

The first clue to how we got here is in the 
peculiarity of caste as an institution marked for 
abolition. Unlike religion or other aspects of 
traditional culture, there was nothing in caste 
that was thought to be worth preserving. Modern, 
progressive Indians could (at least in public) 
only desire 'the annihilation of caste', to use 
Babasaheb Ambedkar's passionate term. In the 
Nehru era this desire took the form of a public 
silence on caste.

A caste-blind state refused to track the 
differential flow of the benefits of development. 
Under cover of this high-minded refusal, the 
upper castes proceeded to encash their inherited 
advantages and monopolise the spheres of urban 
privilege, particularly higher education. At the 
same time, attempts to mobilise lower caste 
identities were discredited as 'casteist'.

A second clue is in the fact that 1947 was not a 
revolution but a transfer of power from the 
British to an Indian elite. What should have been 
a sharing of power among different social groups 
turned into a project of 'nation-building' 
controlled by the upper castes.

The Dalit challenge was neutralised by the Poona 
Pact of 1932, an abject surrender - masterminded 
by a ruthless Mahatma - of Dalit claims to 
power-sharing in return for reservations as a 
sort of welfare programme. If the Dalits were 
'constitutionalised', the Other Backward Classes 
were 'regionalised' in the Nehru era. After an 
abortive attempt with the First Backward Classes 
Commission, the OBC issue was banished from the 
Centre to the provinces.

Here, the upper segments often became quite 
powerful as rural 'dominant castes' and were 
given subordinate roles in the 'Congress system'. 
But large lower segments comprising the artisanal 
castes stayed poor and powerless. Most 
importantly, urban OBCs remained economically and 
educationally much closer to the Dalits than to 
the upper castes.
It is only after Mandal that both Dalits and 
backward castes have begun to speak the language 
of national power-sharing.

Thus it is that six decades after the abolition 
of caste we have produced a national elite that 
is overwhelmingly upper caste. We know this but 
can't prove it because we have refused to collect 
data on caste. Despite having one of the world's 
most sophisticated statistical systems, we have 
been strangely reluctant to include social 
indicators.
Barring exceptions, those who insist on keeping 
things this way are invariably from the creamy 
layer of the upper castes.

Lately, they have begun to receive partial 
support from unexpected quarters - the creamy 
layers of the backwards and Dalits - who insist 
that caste is all important, but all other 
attributes (like income, wealth or education) are 
irrelevant. So we have a vocal group of urban 
upper castes, long accustomed to power in the 
public sphere, who wish caste to remain 
unspeakable. We also have an emergent lower caste 
mobilisation beginning to address the 
incompleteness of independence, who insist that 
caste alone - and nothing else - must be spoken.

To find a way out, we have to resist the 
temptation of equating both groups and seeking 
the pleasures of even-handed liberal 
exasperation. The upper castes today are 
infinitely more powerful in the urban public 
sphere than the lower castes, and it is they who 
must first acknowledge caste. Once we sincerely 
recognise caste and begin to track it in the 
Census, in admission lists, national surveys and 
every relevant place, we will earn the moral and 
political right to begin contextualising caste in 
terms of its internal differentiations and 
specificities.

Only then can we truly hope to abolish it. To 
annihilate caste we must first gather the courage 
to speak it.

The writer teaches sociology in Delhi University

______


[6] 

Hindustan Times
May 02, 2007

Editorial

PREDATOR STATE

Not too many patriotic tears are being shed after 
the 'encounter' killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and 
the brutal murder of his wife Kausar Bi in 
November 2005 have become public knowledge. 
Sheikh had a criminal record, while Kausar is 
being perceived as simply the wife of a man with 
a criminal record. And yet, the latest admission 
made by the Gujarat government that the two were 
indeed slain by the police is deeply worrying for 
a nation that prides itself on not being a banana 
republic. Matters relating to law and order 
cannot be left to extra-judicial methods not 
because of 'jholawalla' concerns but because such 
a Manichean approach can open up a Pandora's box 
where the guilty and the innocent are decided by 
parameters outside the law. It seems that this 
Dirty Harry-style vigilantism has already become 
a default position with DIG D.G. Vanzara telling 
his subordinates in the Gujarat Police that 
bumping off Sheikh was part of "patriotic work". 
What guarantee is there that innocents with no 
criminal links - like Kausar Bi - are not turned 
into statistics of success in the job of 
"fighting the enemies of the State"?

Jurisprudence is made to follow certain norms for 
one overwhelming reason: so that there is a trail 
of accountability ensuring that the law is not 
made to serve personal whims and biases. Take the 
case of the trial of the five Britons accused of 
having links with the suicide bombers who bombed 
trains in London on July 7, 2005, and had plotted 
other attacks. They were sentenced to life after 
a three-year-long trial that involved 33,800 
hours of painstakingly collected evidence. The 
crime for which the London jehadis were sentenced 
was serious enough for a lynch mob to be let 
loose without the State worrying too much about a 
public outcry. But that would mean unleashing 
violence on anyone even suspected of harbouring 
terrorist intentions.

In India, the Gujarat case is just one of the 
many extra-judicial killings that we have come to 
know about. Sheikh and Kausar Bi were killed for 
being from a certain community. Whether in 
Kashmir or in Ansal Plaza in Delhi, the bodies of 
alleged 'militants' become trophies of success in 
a war against terrorism. The result of taking 
such an easy way out is that one does not need to 
be proved guilty any more to face the 
consequences of allegedly breaking the law. And 
this warped reasoning can apply to both a 
criminal like Sohrabuddin Sheikh as well as a 
law-abiding citizen like you. It won't make a 
difference.

_____


[7]

THE HINDU
MAY 02, 2007

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT NARCOANALYSIS

BY SRIRAM LAKSHMAN

Narcoanalysis is steadily being mainstreamed into 
investigations, court hearings, and laboratories 
in India. However, it raises serious scientific, 
legal, and ethical questions. These need to be 
addressed urgently before the practice spreads 
further.

- PHOTO: By Special Arrangement

A suspect is being ` narcoanalysed' in Bangalore 
in a 2004 double murder case. In the drug-induced 
state, she spoke about a knife and purse 
allegedly involved in the crime but neither was 
recovered by the police. The outcome: acquittal 
owing to a lack of evidence. The judge also ruled 
that the narcoanalysis report and videograph 
could be used only for investigative purposes and 
not to convict suspects.

NARCOANALYSIS HAS become an increasingly, perhaps 
alarmingly, common term in India. It refers to 
the process of psychotherapy conducted on a 
subject by inducing a sleep-like state with the 
aid of barbiturates or other drugs. In a spate of 
high profile cases, such as those of the Nithari 
killers and the Mumbai train blasts, suspects 
have been whisked away to undergo an interview 
drugged with the barbiturate sodium pentothal.

This practice has also garnered support from 
certain State governments as well as the 
judiciary. Politicians have fallen into the habit 
of hurling the term `narcoanalysis' at opponents. 
In 2006, Karnataka Congress leader H. Vishwanath 
suggested that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy 
should undergo narcoanalysis in the Chenamma 
Trust bribery case. The Home Ministry's 
Directorate of Forensic Sciences plans to expand 
narcoanalysis facilities nationwide. It is not 
surprising then that there are about 300 people 
in the narcoanalysis queue at the Forensic 
Science Laboratory (FSL) in Bangalore alone.

It would appear that the narcoanalysis beast has 
acquired a life of its own. It is increasingly 
knocking at the doors of courts and finding ready 
acceptance as a device to get at the truth during 
police investigations, though its scientific 
basis and value are under strong challenge. It is 
for this reason that the scientific, legal, and 
evidentiary issues relevant to the narcoanalysis 
debate need to be critically discussed.

Narcoanalysis is rarely used for therapeutic 
purposes today. The reliability of the practice 
has been questioned by leading psychiatric and 
forensic experts. Dr. P. Chandra Sekharan, the 
highly regarded former Director of the Forensic 
Sciences Department of Tamil Nadu, has 
characterised the practice as an unscientific, 
third-degree method of investigation.

It is surely significant that while `truth 
serums' have been in use since the early part of 
the 20th century, they are not used in most 
developed countries today. During and after the 
War years, United States armed forces and 
intelligence agencies continued to experiment 
with truth drugs. The CIA has admitted to using 
these as part of its interrogation tactics. But a 
declassified CIA interrogation manual says that 
while truth drugs can be useful in overcoming 
resistance not dissolved by other methods, the 
actual content of what comes out during the 
interrogation can be "psychotic manifestations 
... hallucinations, illusions, delusions or 
disorientation." At the 1977 U.S Senate hearings 
on its secret mind-control project, the CIA 
acknowledged that "no such magic brew as the 
popular notion of truth serum exists."

Studies have shown that persons who make truthful 
confessions are those who were likely to confess 
had interrogators persisted with regular methods; 
and that persons who lie can continue to manifest 
a lie even under the influence of a so-called 
truth serum. Moreover, the investigator can 
induce and communicate his own thoughts and 
feelings to the suspect. The scientific 
literature indicates that if narcoanalysis has 
any extra-therapeutic uses, it may be in making a 
suspect feel that he has revealed more than he 
actually did. With repeated questioning, it may 
be possible to reduce ambiguities although these 
cannot be eliminated.

Two objections

Scientific scepticism and the absence of 
controlled studies have not deterred Indian 
investigating agencies from running to the FSL in 
Gandhinagar or, more likely, Bangalore - the 
narcoanalysis hub for various police departments 
across the country. FSL, Bangalore, conducts 
sodium pentothal narcoanalysis in conjunction 
with three other tests - psychological profiling, 
polygraph (`lie-detector') tests, and brain 
mapping. Polygraph tests, which one can learn to 
`pass' or `fail,' are used for screening and 
confirmation purposes only. Brain mapping, a 
premature if promising technique not entirely 
free from controversy itself, indicates whether a 
subject's brain stores experiential knowledge 
about a certain object. Narcoanalysis is used 
when investigators need oral elicitations from a 
suspect. For instance, if brain mapping indicates 
that the suspect stores information about a blue 
getaway car allegedly used in the crime, the 
narcoanalysis, according to the FSL, Bangalore, 
is used to provide information such as the number 
of the car, where it is parked, and so on.

Dr. B.M. Mohan, Director of FSL, Bangalore, 
claims that he has data to prove his contention 
that narcoanalysis has a 96 to 97 per cent total 
success rate. Included in the definition of 
`total success rate' is the discovery of 
information that either triggers a relevant 
section of the law or may be cross verified with 
other tests (such as brain mapping). According to 
Dr. Mohan, findings that discredit narcoanalysis 
are usually based on studies of scopolamine and 
sodium amytal and are not applicable to sodium 
pentothal, which is used by the Indian 
laboratories. He adds that during narcoanalysis 
the tendency is to sleep if not questioned, 
rather than hallucinating or fantasising.

There are two problems with this argument. Using 
sodium pentothal is not a new advance in 
narcoanalysis. Two experts at the National 
Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences 
(NIMHANS), Bangalore interviewed by The Hindu 
pointed out that internationally the 
psychological fraternity has used sodium 
pentothal for decades; and discontinued its use 
in all but the rarest cases, partly because there 
is no guarantee that the drug will elicit 
factually accurate information. Secondly, Dr. 
Mohan's contention that it is difficult to 
manifest fantasies in narcoanalysis is 
questionable. False memory is an extremely 
well-researched area according to Dr. 
Chittaranjan Andrade, a professor of 
psychopharmacology at NIMHANS. While patients 
under narcoanalysis may find it difficult to lie 
consciously depending on the depth of the 
narcoanalysis, they can say things that are not 
true and on the surface of their minds. Dr. 
Andrade explains the case of a suspect who is 
repeatedly accused of a crime during regular 
interrogation: "The same thing goes on during the 
narcoanalysis. He remembers `you've done this, 
you've done this.' He says, `I have done that.'"

When science has outpaced the development of law 
or at` least the layperson's understanding of it, 
there are unavoidable complexities regarding what 
can be admitted as evidence in court. In the 
United States, where science often interfaces 
uncomfortably with the law, the Supreme Court 
offered four criteria, part of the Daubert 
Standard (1993), by which to judge the 
credibility of a scientific principle held by a 
minority of practitioners: hypothesis testing; 
peer review and publication; knowledge of error 
rates; and acceptability in the general 
scientific community.

Pseudo-science

We must give narcoanalysis its due and grant that 
it has provided valuable leads to the police in 
some instances. However, one swallow, or even 
many swallows in this case, do not a summer make. 
It is logically consistent for even a 
pseudo-science to produce reliable outcomes in 
particular cases. The overall reliability and 
science behind the practice can only be 
determined after statistical analysis of a 
sufficiently large sample.

The irony of the situation we face in India is 
that the science behind narcoanalysis, as we know 
it, has not leapfrogged the courts by any stretch 
of imagination. The Bangalore research results 
and methods have been neither peer-reviewed nor 
published. Regarding publication of the data, Dr. 
Mohan says he will go public with the FSL data in 
three to four months (from March 2007) and is 
willing to debate its implications at 
international forums. But it is unlikely that 
studies based on some 300 criminal investigations 
will yield controlled experimental data. The 
feedback that goes into defining the success of 
the analysis is provided in part by police 
questionnaires. Here lurks a conflict of interest.

Legal aspects

There are other significant legal aspects to the 
narcoanalysis debate. In a 2006 judgment (Dinesh 
Dalmia v State), the Madras High Court held that 
subjecting an accused to narcoanalysis is not 
tantamount to testimony by compulsion. The court 
said about the accused: "he may be taken to the 
laboratory for such tests against his will, but 
the revelation during such tests is quite 
voluntary." There are two fallacies in this 
reasoning. First, if narcoanalysis is all that it 
is made out to be by the Bangalore FSL, the 
accused will involuntarily answer questions posed 
to him during the interview. The second fallacy 
is that it is incorrect to say that the accused 
is merely taken to the lab against his will. He 
is then injected with substances. The breaking of 
one's silence, at the time it is broken, is 
always technically `voluntary.' Similarly, it can 
be argued that after being subject to electric 
shocks, a subject `quite voluntarily' divulges 
information. But the act or threat of violence is 
where the element of coercion is housed. In 
narcoanalysis, the drug contained in the syringe 
is the element of compulsion. The rest is 
technically voluntary.

In 2004, the Bombay High Court ruled in the 
multi-crore-rupee fake stamp paper case that 
subjecting an accused to certain tests like 
narcoanalysis does not violate the fundamental 
right against self-incrimination. Article 20(3) 
of the Constitution guarantees this: "No person 
accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a 
witness against himself." Statements made under 
narcoanalysis are not admissible in evidence. 
However, recoveries resulting from such drugged 
interviews are admissible as corroborative 
evidence. This is, arguably, a roundabout way to 
subverting the right to silence - acquiring the 
information on where to find the weapon from the 
subject when, in his right senses, he would not 
turn witness against himself.

Arguments have been made that narcoanalysis 
constitutes mental torture. It works by 
inhibiting the nervous system and thus lowering 
the subject's inhibitions. It is not difficult to 
interpret this as a physical violation of an 
individual's mind-space.

The State police departments are responsible for 
generating demand for the process. The decision 
to conduct narcoanalysis is usually made by the 
Superintendent of Police or the Deputy Inspector 
General handling a case. A high-ranking official 
in the Karnataka Police told The Hindu that 
police departments in India have poor skills when 
it comes to collection, collation, and 
presentation of evidence before the courts. 
Consequently, when there is enormous pressure on 
a police department to solve a case, sending 
suspects to narcoanalysis not only buys time but 
also gives the impression that something concrete 
has been done about the case.

Some officials connected to law enforcement argue 
that narcoanalysis can be of great use in 
instances where witnesses turned hostile; rape 
cases where issues of consent are being debated; 
and cases where the investigating officer is hard 
pressed for time or working to disrupt offences 
planned for the near future, including terrorist 
acts.

Scope for abuse

This ticking-bomb terrorist case argument has 
also cropped up frequently in the media after the 
9/11 attacks. It has been championed by Harvard 
Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, who argues 
for legitimising torture in select scenarios, for 
example when a hypothetical bomb is waiting to 
explode. There are many arguments against the 
selective use of normally banned cruel practices. 
Authorities are likely to abuse the power to 
decide which situations will warrant such 
exceptions, even when such extraordinary 
situations are explicitly laid out by law. It 
will be difficult to find a fool-proof way to 
determine which suspect is concealing information 
about a hypothetical bomb. It will often be 
impossible to know if there is a bomb ticking in 
the first place. These questions of discretion 
aside, when a country claims to be committed to 
human rights and against torture, one may ask if 
there can ever be a situation that warrants a 
deviation from its commitment to such principles.

While the expert studies and court opinions 
available internationally have granted that there 
may be some use in narcoanalysis, the 
overwhelming evidence is that narcoanalysis is by 
no means a reliable science. In the face of a 
near-consensus internationally, one or two Indian 
forensic labs claim to have new evidence and 
studies claiming remarkable success rates for the 
process. They must now prove their claim that 
narcoanalysis is backed by sound science. In the 
absence of proof, narcoanalysis must necessarily 
be suspended, especially given its ethical and 
human rights implications.

State governments need to work with the central 
authorities to enhance the investigative 
capabilities of their police departments. The 
police now hand over one of the most crucial 
parts of the investigation to a clinical 
psychologist conducting narcoanalysis. 
Interrogation is an art as well as a science. It 
takes enormous amounts of training and patience - 
skills evidently lacking in much of the police 
force and increasingly outsourced to Bangalore. 
The central government must make a clear policy 
stand on narcoanalysis - because what is at stake 
is India's commitment to individual freedoms and 
a clean criminal justice system.

_____


[8]

IN THE WAKE OF NANDIGRAM

A call by concerned citizens
A People's Convention  in Kolkata, June 2-3, 2007

The valiant struggle of the peasantry in 
Nandigram against the acquisition of their land 
and homesteads for the proposed chemical hub SEZ 
has drawn nationwide attention. Despite the 
massacre of March 14 and the continuing reign of 
terror unleashed by the police and hired killers 
of the ruling party in the state, Nandigram has 
refused to surrender. On the contrary, it has 
sparked unprecedented mass protests across West 
Bengal and elsewhere. People's movements in 
various parts of the country against the forcible 
acquisition of farmlands, forests and other 
natural resource base of the poor in the name of 
SEZ and for the so-called industrial projects 
have also drawn inspiration and sustenance from 
Nandigram. No wonder, Nandigram has become a 
major focus of people’s resistance against the 
neo-liberal agenda that seeks to establish the 
hegemony of global corporate capitalism.

Time is now ripe to bring all the people's 
resistance movements across the country together 
under one coordinating network. Towards this end, 
we are proposing a People's Convention, followed 
by a huge rally, in Kolkata on 2-3 June 2007 
(before the onset of monsoon). We call upon all 
our friends in the people's movements and 
people's organisations, irrespective of political 
or ideological moorings, to come forward and 
actively participate in this programme. May the 
convention/rally become the launching pad for a 
united nationwide struggle against the 
government's land acquisition policy for SEZ and 
industrial projects.

The convention/rally, and the countrywide 
movement to be launched from there, will be 
raising the following demands:

1.	Scrap the SEZ policy that aims to set up 
extra-territorial authorities within the country 
and acquire huge tracts of farm and forest lands 
for the corporate capitalists while endangering 
the lives and livelihoods of millions.
2.	Abolish or reformulate the colonial and 
draconian Land Acquisition Act of 1894 that 
served as the chief instrument of land 
acquisition.
3.	The Chief Minister of West Bengal, who 
has owned up to the responsibility for the mass 
murders in Nandigram, must resign. Everyone who 
has had a hand in the Nandigram massacre, 
directly or indirectly, must be suitably punished.
4.	People’s institutions at the grassroots 
must be allowed the autonomy to act so that 
Nandigram can return to a life of peace and human 
dignity.

  In solidarity

1		A Sohaib	Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi
2		Aditi Chowdhury	Media Consultant, Kolkata
3		Aditya Nigam	CSDS, Delhi
4		Ajaya Sahaya	Sarvodaya Mandal, Delhi
5		AK Thakur	Physician, Kolkata
6		Amar Kanwar	Filmmaker, Delhi
7		Amarnath	Freelance Journalist, Patna
8		Ambuj Sharma	Punjab University, Chandigarh
9		Amit Bhaduri	Economist, Delhi
10		Amit Sengupta	Journalist, Delhi
11		Arun Kumar	JNU, Delhi
12		Anand Kumar	JNU, Delhi
13		Anil Chaudhary	INSAF
14		Anjan Ghosh	Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata
15		Apoorvanand	Delhi University
16		Arshad Ajmal	Lok Parishad, Patna
17		Arun Kanndal	Lawyer, Chandigarh
18		Arundhati Roy	Writer, Delhi
19		Aseem Shrivastava	Delhi
20		Ashima Sahajpal	Journalist, Chandigarh
21		Ashok	Gurgaon
22		Ashok Choudhury	NFFPFW, Saharanpur
23		Atmaram	Chandigarh
24		Atul Kumar Singh	JNU, Delhi
25		Azizur Rahman Azami	JNU, Delhi
26		Basant K Chowdhary	Advocate, Patna
27		Bhaskar Gupta	Jadavpur University, Kolkata
28		Bhupinder Brar	Teacher, Chandigarh
29		Bilash Sarkar	Chatra-Chatri Sanhati, Kolkata
30		Chetan Premani	Scientist, Chandigarh
31		Chitleen K Sethi	Journalist, Chandigarh
32		Chitra Joshi	Delhi University
33		Corinne Kumar	El Taller International, Tunisia
34		Daljit Ami	Filmmaker, Chandigarh
35		Debabrata Bandopadhyay	Administrator, Operation Barga, Kolkata
36		Debal Deb	Kolkata
37		Debarshi Das	Punjab University, Chandigarh
38		Deepak Singh	Punjab University, Chandigarh
39		Dhruva Narayan	Daanish Books, Delhi
40		Dilip Bose
41		Dinesh Prasain	JNU, Delhi
42		Dipanjan Roy Choudhury	Retired Professor, Kolkata
43		Dipankar Chakraborty	Editor, Aneek, Kolkata
44		Dithi Bhattacharya	NTUI, Delhi
45		Divya Godara	Lawyer, Haryana
46		Gadadhora Mahapatra	JNU, Delhi
47		Gautam Bandopadhyay	Nadi Ghati Bachao Manch, Raipur
48		Gautam Navlakha	Delhi
49		Gautam Roy	Journalist, Kolkata
50		Gopal Rai	Teesra Swadhinata Sangharsh, Delhi
51		Hari P Sharma	SANSAD
52		Harsh Dobhal	Human Rights Law Network, Delhi
53		Harsh Sethi	Seminar, Delhi
54		Hemaa Sharma	Journalist, Chandigarh
55		IK Shukla	Los Angeles, US
56		Inder Singh	Scientist, Chandigarh
57		Iswar Chandra Naik	JNU, Delhi
58		Jagdish	Theatre, Chandigarh
59		Jai Sen	CACIM, Delhi
60		Janaki Srinivasan	Punjab University, Chandigarh
61		Jishnu Dasgupta	Chatra-Chatri Sanhati, Kolkata
62		JN Bhartiya	All-India Small & 
Medium Newspapers' Federation, Kanpur
63		Joginder Singh Toor	Advocate, Chandigarh
64		Kabir Suman	Journalist, Kolkata
65		Kanchi Kohli	Kalpavriksh, Delhi
66		Kanihar Kant	JNU, Delhi
67		Karan Bhardwaj	Lawyer, Chandigarh
68		Kavita Srivastava	PUCL, Rajasthan
69		KC Nahata	Forum of Voters, Delhi
70		Krishna Ballabh Yadav	Nawada, Bihar
71		Krishna Bandyopadhyay	Khoj Akhon, Kolkata
72		Kuldeep Saxena	Kanpur
73		Ladly Mukherjee	Filmmaker, Kolkata
74		Lallan Baghel	Punjab University, Chandigarh
75		Madhu Bhaduri	Parivartan, Delhi
76		Madhuresh	CACIM, Delhi
77		Mahasweta Devi	Writer, Kolkata
78		Mamata Dash	Delhi
79		Manisha Sethi	Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi
80		Manju Menon	Kalpavriksh, Delhi
81		Manoj Joseph	ISI, Delhi
82		Medha Patkar	NBA/NAPM
83		Meher Engineer	Scientist, Kolkata
84		MK Vijayan	Delhi Forum
85		MN Karna	Ex-Vice-Chancellor, NEHU
86		Monohar Mouli Biswas	Kolkata
87		Mukesh Sharma	Bharati Vidya Sadan School, Gaziabad
88		Mukul Mangalik	Delhi University
89		Mukul Sinha	Advocate, Ahmedabad
90		Nabarun Bhattacharya	Writer, Kolkata
91		Nabarun Roy	Kolkata
92		Nabinananda Sen	Calcutta University
93		Nadim Nikhat	Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad
94		Nasiruddin Haider Khan	Lucknow
95		Neetu	Yuva Bharat, Delhi
96		Nirmalanshu Mukherjee	Delhi University
97		Nisha Singh	Delhi
98		Nivedita Menon	Delhi University
99		Pampa Mukherjee	Punjab University, Chandigarh
100		Parmod Kumari	Journalist, Chandigarh
101		Parveen	Lawyer, Punjab
102		Pavan Srivastava	Ara, Bihar
103		PK Yadav	JNU, Delhi
104		Praful Bidwai.	Columnist, Delhi
105		Prafulla K Mishra	Orissa Jan Sangharsha Morcha, Orissa
106		Prafulla Samantara	Lokshakti Abhiyan, Orissa
107		Prakash Bikhoi	Teesra Swadhinata Sangharsh, Delhi
108		Pramod Gupta	Filmmaker, Kolkata
109		Pranab Kanti Basu	Viswa Bharati University
110		Pranati Bhattacharya	Calcutta University
111		Prashant Bhusan	Advocate, Delhi
112		Premangshu Dasgupta	Little Magazine Forum, Kolkata
113		Probal Dasgupta	ISI, Kolkata
114		Rabi Shankar	Prakrukrit Sampada Surakshya Parshad, Kashipur
115		Raimondo Bultrini	La Republica, Italy
116		Rajeev Dhanda	Punjab University, Chandigarh
117		Rajeev Godara	Sampuran Kranti Manch, Haryana
118		Rajeev Mohan Saxena	JNU, Delhi
119		Rakesh Rafiq	Yuva Bharat, Delhi
120		Rakesh Raman	Journalist, Delhi
121		Ramashray Prasad Singh	PUCL 
President & Editor Manavadhikar Patrika, Begusarai
122		Ramesh K Pani	Delhi
123		Ranjana Padhi	Kashipur Solidarity, Delhi
124		Rohan D'Souza	JNU, Delhi
125		RP Rai	Delhi
126		Rukmini Sen	NUJS, Kolkata
127		Rupesh	Lok Parishad, Patna
128		Sachin Gautam	Shakarpur, Delhi
129		Sahana Basavapatna	The Other Media, Delhi
130		Sahayaraj	ISI, Delhi
131		Sailen Bhattacharya	PCC, CPI-ML, Kolkata
132		Salman Dube	Noida
133		Samar Bagchi	NAPM, Kolkata
134		Samir Amin	Third World Forum, Dakar, Senegal
135		Samuel John	People's Theatre, Sanrur
136		Sandeep Pandey	ASHA, Lucknow
137		Sanjay Kak	Filmmaker, Delhi
138		Santanu Basu	Punjab University, Chandigarh
139		Santosh Kumar Singh	Punjab University, Chandigarh
140		Santosh Rana	PCC, CPI-ML
141		Satabdi Das	AID-Awareness, Delhi
142		Satya Sivaraman	Delhi
143		Shalina Mehta	University Teacher, Chandigarh
144		Shalini Bhutani	GRAIN, Delhi
145		Shukla Sen	EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity), Mumbai
146		Simon Uchai	Tripura Tribal 
Land Rights Restoration Campaign Committee, 
Agartala
147		SK Khosla	Retd from Govt Service, Chandigarh
148		Sourabh Gupta	Journalist, Chandigarh
149		SS Cheema	Engineer, Chandigarh
150		Subhasis Mukherjee	Calcutta University
151		Subrat Kumar Sahu	TERI, Delhi
152		Suddhabrata Sengupta	Sarai, Delhi
153		Sudeshna Bannerji	Jadavpur University, Kolkata
154		Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalam	BKU, Punjab
155		Sumanta Banerjee	Journalist, Dehradun
156		Sumit Chakravartty	Editor, Mainstream, Delhi
157		Sumit Chowdhury	Filmmaker, Kolkata
158		Sumit Sarkar	Historian, Delhi
159		Sumit Sinha	Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee, Nandigram
160		Sunil K Singh	Lawyer, Chandigarh
161		Sunil Sorabh	Delhi
162		Sunita Das	Aneek, Kolkata
163		Sunita Narayan	Daanish Books, Delhi
164		Surendra Babu	CACIM, Delhi
165		Surendra Mohan	Socialist Front
166		Swami Prakash Pandey	JNU, Delhi
167		Tanika Sarkar	JNU, Delhi
168		Tanweer Fazal	Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi
169		Tanya Chakravartty	NFIW, Delhi
170		Tila Kumar	Sociologist, Delhi School of Economics
171		Tripta Wahi	Delhi University
172		Uma Chakravarty	Historian, Delhi
173		Urmila Bahai	Delhi
174		Utkarsh Kumar Sinha	INSAF
175		Vaskar Nandy	PCC, CPI-ML
176		Vijay Singh	Editor, Revolutionary Democracy, Delhi
177		Vinay K Singh	Rashtriya 
Swabhiman Andolan (Alakh Yatra), Patna
178		Vrajaindra Upadhyay	IIT, Delhi
179		Vrinda Grover	Advocate, Delhi


_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

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