Protest Letter to High Commission:

To:

His Excellency Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, High Commissioner

High Commission of India

India House

Aldwych

London                                                                                                          

WC2B 4NA                                        

Tel: 020 7836 8484                                                     12 June 2008

Email: hc.london@mea.gov.in

By email and post

Your Excellency,

We are writing to protest in the strongest terms against the arrest of 36 survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster on 9 June, against the sexist and racist treatment they received at the hands of the Delhi police, and the continued detention of many of them.  Most are women and children – we understand that the youngest is only six years old.  Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh (Bhopal Gas-Affected Women Stationery Workers’ Union), who was a distinguished visitor to our Women’s Centre in London in 2005 and whose health is poor, is one of the women detained. 

We have already informed our network in the UK and will be contacting our international network. 

President Bee, the other Bhopali survivors and their supporters were taking part in a peaceful demonstration for justice.  But instead of concern for their just cause and for their health, which is already fragile as a result of the disaster, they were beaten at Parliament Street police station (which resulted in at least one teenager needing hospital treatment), and also the girls and women were abused. 

Some of the policemen responsible for the beatings are named below in an email from the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.  ICJB also report that when young girls went to the aid of a woman being arrested, plainclothes policeman Mahendra Singh screamed : "In Kaaliyon ke kapde fado" (“Tear the clothes off these blackies!”) – a shocking racist incitement to sexual humiliation and violence.

2

Further, we understand that the young people still being held were taken to juvenile prison, while 18 adults refused to be bailed as they have committed no crime -- they have been taken to Tihar prison, where three of the women began a hunger strike for their release.  We are extremely concerned for their welfare.

The protests outside the Prime Minister’s office in Delhi are the culmination of an extraordinary survivors’ march of 800 kilometres from Bhopal to Delhi to remind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that promises he made two years ago concerning economic, social and medical rehabilitation, and provision of clean drinking water, are yet to be met.   

The Bhopal to Delhi march was marked in England and Scotland on 27 March 2008 with solidarity marches by concerned people in the UK, who went to the High Commissions in London and Edinburgh.  We were part of the delegation to the High Commission in London and met with High Commission staff.  The UK marches highlighted that now, babies and children are being affected by poisons from the site -- which has not been cleaned up. 

This is not the first time Bhopali women and children who are gas survivors have met with police brutality, so we have no doubt that they were deliberately targeted.  We wrote to the previous High Commissioner, Mr Kamalesh Sharma, in April 2006 after a similar brutal attack on peaceful, vulnerable protesters.

As you know, most gas survivors are low-income Muslim and Hindu people from the poor neighbourhoods of Bhopal.  There is immense international support for them and their demands.  People in many countries, including the US, are shocked by these events and are watching to see whether the Indian government will apologise to the people of Bhopal and act on their demands after so many years. 

  
We call for the immediate release of all people detained from the protest and for all charges to be dropped.  We call for the police who committed the assaults on protesters to be prosecuted and the people they attacked compensated.

And we call on the government of India finally to meet their demands, in particular access to clean water, a clean-up of the plant owned by Dow Chemical, proper compensation for all the victims, and a Commission on Bhopal, as well as pay equity and decent conditions for the stationery women who are government employees. 

Yours sincerely,
 

Claire Glasman          Didi Rossi
WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)
                                                                                                    . . ./continues

Cc
Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, Fax: 91-11-23019545 / 91-11-23016857
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
Nawa Chhattisgarh Mahila Samiti - NCMS (New Chhattisgarh Women’s
         Organisation)
Farah Edwards-Khan, International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
Women of Colour in the Global Women’s Strike

_______________________________________________________________

BHOPALIS BEATEN UP IN POLICE STATION

AXN ALERT

9 JUNE 2008. 11 a.m.

Plainclothes policemen and women and some uniformed police today beat up Bhopal survivors and their children inside the parliament street police station. 16 year old Imran was belted by policemen, including Yad Ram, a uniformed policeman from the Parliament Street police station. The belting has hurt his eye, and he has been taken to the hospital. Other policepersons whose names are known include Suraj Bhan, Mallik (a tall, big-set cop), Mahendra (in plainclothes), and the gun-toting Yad Ram. 27-year old Vikas was set upon by 13 policemen. Irshad, 20, was also beaten up badly. The police did not spare the kids. The youngest padayatri, 11-year old Yasmin, 6-year old Nagma, and 24-year old Meera More were also beaten by the police when they tried to prevent the police from dragging Rachna Dhingra, a padayatri, into the lock-up. Seeing the girls come in aid of Rachna,

Plainclothesman Mahendra Singh screamed: "In Kaaliyon ke kapde fado." (*Tear the clothes off these blackies).*

All the while, the older women were forced into police lock-up.

Since the time that they were picked up from the Prime Minister's Office for demonstrating in a high-security area, senior police officials have talked tough. Callers who spoke to Mr. Nand Mohan, Deputy Commissioner of Police said the top cop said the Bhopalis will have to face the consequences this time. The Prime Minister's silence on the matter of demands has prompted the Bhopalis to protest in front of his house two times.

Mr. Muthukumaran, Director of Public Relations, Prime Minister's Office did not know that Bhopalis were being beaten up at the parliament street police station for a mistake of his boss, the Prime Minister. However, when

intimated about it, he said: "I have heard about it. It is shameful. I have informed the authorities, and we'll see what can be done."

This is not a matter about a few angry policemen. The policemen had nothing to be angry about the Bhopalis. The rot spreads far higher.

With nine Bhopalis, including two women (Rachna and Meera) who are to go on a hunger strike tomorrow, please begin a neend udao.

Call the below people, and demand that a full-blown enquiry affixing responsibility for today's deplorable incident is conducted:

Deputy Commissioner of Police Nand Mohan: +91 9818099041

Assistant Commissioner of Police Gurdeep Singh: +91 981033880

SHO Avinash Diwedi +91 9810046832

Muthukumaran. Director, Public Relations, PMO: +91 9871990019

for more information, visit www.bhopal.net

Nityanand Jayaraman

International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal