Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 11:00:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: "chaklada-AT-scf.usc.edu" <chaklada-AT-scf-fs.usc.edu>
Subject: Fw: An appeal from Mahasweta Devi (fwd)


From: moazzam <alifms-AT-JPS.NET>
> Date: Friday, August 07, 1998 08:24:29

> Subject: An appeal from Mahasweta Devi
>
> *************************************************************************
> An appeal for money to build up a legal defence fund for members of the
> so-called DeNotified and Nomadic Tribes.
>
> Dear friends
>
> I received a request for money, from Mahasveta Devi in Calcutta, to build
> up a legal defense fund to help individuals belonging to such tribes.  Here
> I'll mention the outlines of the issue but I'd be happy to send more
> detailed material to anyone interested.
>
> During the British administration, various groups in India were
> "scientifically" branded as "criminal tribes."  This classification became
> particularly rigid in 1871 with the passage of the Notification of Criminal
> Tribes and Castes Act.  The groups that fell under the purview of this act
> included wandering minstrels of Jodhpur, professional singers and musicians
> (such as the Bauls of Bengal), snake charmers, fishermen, nomadic cattle
> herders, grass cutters, various forest tribes and other assorted groups
> that did not fit into settled caste hierarchies and did not live within the
> usual strictures of serving the upper castes. The "scientific" basis for
> such a Notification was that, since some individuals of these groups
> occasionally had to resort to petty theft to survive, crime was clearly a
> hereditary caste-based profession for these groups as it was presumed to be
> for gypsies in Europe.  The Act put a large number restrictions in place.
> The members of the Notified Tribes were meant to be forced into criminal
> settlements, fingerprinted, allowed to travel only with special passes and
> so on.
>
> In 1952 the government of India repealed the Act.  But even now, members of
> these - now "DeNotified tribes" are harassed, routinely by the local
> police.  I'm sure you all know the usual sordid details of such stories -
> people being forced to pay bribes regularly, picked up and arrested
> arbitrarily, made to confess to assorted crimes, beaten and tortured and
> occasionally killed in police custody.
>
> Earlier this year, those advocating for the human rights of the Denotified
> and Nomadic Tribes won a rare and powerful judicial victory in the case of
> one such unfortunate individual, Budhan Sabar, who had supposedly hanged
> himself while in police custody. Budhan Sabar was picked up on Feb 10, 1998
> by the local police (in Purulia district, West Bengal) while out buying
> paan.  The police then claimed that he confessed to various dacoities
> (robberies) while
> in custody.  On the 17th of February he was declared dead, supposedly a
> suicide in prison.  Luckily, in this particular instance, Mahasveta Devi
> found out about his death early enough before the police had had a chance
> to dispose of the body.  Thus, the group DNT-RAG (DeNotified and Nomadic
> Tribes Rights Action Group) was able to get an independent post-mortem
> performed on the body of Budhan Sabar.  On the strength of this post-mortem
> report, they were able to win a judgement of physical torture and wrongful
> death in police custody, a landmark judgement in their favour, naming both
> the police thana (station) and the specific officers involved, and paying a
> provisional compensation of Rs. 2 Lakhs (200,000 rupees= approx. $4500) to
> Budhan's wife.
>
> With this precedent and buoyed by this victory the DNT-RAG plans to bring
> up a large number of similar cases, of other tribals who have been tortured
> or have died in police custody.  For this reason, to defray the costs of
> this effort, they would like to build up a legal defense fund.
>
> So - please contribute generously in order that this effort may go forward.
>  For now, (until they set up some tax-exempt connection with
> foreign-exchange licences) please send your money in my name:
>
> Aniruddha Das
> 500 E 63rd St, Apt 16 G,
> New York, NY 10021
>
> I will happily give you receipts from the DNT-RAG in October, once the
> money has been handed over to them.
>
> Please get in touch with me for any further details.
>
> Thanks,
> Aniruddha Das
>
> ***************************************************************************
> Aniruddha Das
> Rockefeller University,
> 1230 York Ave, New York,
> NY 10021,
> U.S.A.
>
> ph:  212 327-7770
> FAX: 212 327-8240
> E-MAIL: das-AT-rna.rockefeller.edu
>
> ***************************************************************************
>



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