Swapan Dasgupta's death is a shame; we want governance, not tyranny

Sir,
Swapan Dasgupta died in custody on the 2nd of February 2010, becoming the first casualty of the UAPA in West Bengal. We draw your attention to the following facts pertaining to his arrest and death:


Swapan Dasgupta was the editor of a Bengali periodical.
He had been arrested under the UAPA on the 6th of August 2009, although the periodical he edited was duly registered and was not proscribed on the date of his arrest, or thereafter till date.
At the time of arrest he was suffering from asthma and other complicated diseases and his condition worsened on his incarceration.
His ailments were not specifically treated and he was shifted to the SSKM hospital in Kolkata only when his condition became critical.
He died without any actual treatment at the SSKM hospital.
It has been reported that the inquest of his death was carried out by a police officer and not a magistrate empowered to inquire into custodial death as per the Criminal Procedure Code of our country.


In connection with the above we hereby articulate the following concerns and demands:

The law of the land, as enacted and interpreted by our Courts, as well as all relevant international protocols, gives certain basic rights to prisoners and all held in custody.
We demand an impartial investigation of how much of the aforesaid rights were made available to Swapan Dasgupta, or for that matter, are being made available to other prisoners under the UAPA. We also observe in this connection that this is by no means the first death in jail custody in this state, but is another woeful addition to a series.
We condemn the callous and inhuman attitude of the West Bengal state administration.
We strongly protest the state of affairs and demand that as the Prime Minister of a nation calling itself a democratic republic you ensure for all citizens, including those convicted and under trial, the rights which are their due. We demand hereby that no one else in custody or in prison should be deprived of their basic rights and die without treatment.