To All Who Oppose Authoritarianism and Uphold People's Right to Protest

Withdraw False Charges Levelled on CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya!
Stop the Witch-hunt of CPI(ML) Activists in Jharkhand!

We, the undersigned individuals and organisations, hereby demand immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the false charges framed against CPI (ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and others in a fast-track court in Ranchi under Sections 147, 114, 148, 149, 353, 323, 324, 307, 188, 431 of the IPC and Section 17 of the CLA (a repealed act that continues to be invoked in Jharkhand!).

It may be recalled that on March 1, 2001 the CPI(ML) had organized a protest demonstration, led by Dipankar Bhattacharya, before the newly formed Jharkhand Assembly demanding action against guilty police officials who had killed eight tribal protesters opposing the NDA governments move to resume the controversial Koel Karo project. The police not only ill-treated and arrested him and other leaders and resorted to brutal lathicharge but also slapped a false case on them! Newspapers carried photographs of dozens of CPI(ML) activists lying bloody and battered, and of the police dragging Dipankar Bhattacharya and late Mahendra Singh (then CPI(IML)s lone MLA in the Jharkhand Assembly) by their clothes and hair.

For the General Secretary of a recognised political party, leading a political protest to voice certain issues before a representative Assembly, to be charged with abetting attempted murder, is probably unprecedented in the annals of Indian politics. For Jharkhand under BJP rule this however seems to be order of the day. The state has become notorious for wanton violation of human rights. A draconian legislation like POTA has been used most arbitrarily against innocent people in Jharkhand.

Apart from frequent incidents of police atrocity, the state has been witness to disturbing cases of state-sponsored murder including those of Prashant Sahay, a spirited public interest lawyer, and Comrade Mahendra Singh, popular CPI(ML) leader and legislator. The CBI team probing Mahendra Singhs assassination has found the police guilty of violating all standard norms after the assassination even as Dipak Varma, the erstwhile Giridih SP and one of the prime accused in the murder case, continues to be protected by your government from any punitive legal or administrative action.

We are also outraged by the double standards of your government. While all the cases pertaining to the Ram Janambhoomi campaign and the Jharkhand movement have been withdrawn, the one pertaining to the March 01, 2001 protest is being zealously pursued.

We cannot tolerate this and demand immediate withdrawal of the thoroughly fabricated and politically prejudiced charges leveled on Dipankar Bhattacharya and four others.