The Rich Revolutionary Life of People’s March Editor Swapan Dasgupta

Source: Revolution in South Asia Posted by Ka Frank on February 9, 2010

Swapan Dasgupta(19 April 1949—2 February 2010)

Swapan Dasgupta, the editor of Bangla People’s March, published from Kolkata, died in jail custody as the first political prisoner to die as a UAPA/Unlawful Activities Prevention(Amended) Act of 2008 prisoner.

He breathed his last on 2 February 2010 in the ITU, Mackenjee ward of SSKM hospital, Kolkata as a result of physical and mental torture in the police lock-up since his arrest on 6 October 2009 and utter negligence on the part of the government to give him proper medical treatment both inside Presidency Jail, Kolkata as also in the SSKM hospital.

Many people and democratic forums described his death as murder and sections of urban literati have raised the demand for enquiry about the circumstances leading to his death. Swapan Dasgupta was the editor of Bangla Peoples’ March since its inception in August 2004 and carried on his task to the best of his ability with courage, dedication and sincerity. Even when the English People’s March was banned by the government, he continued to publish the journal disseminating revolutionary ideas and news about revolutionary struggles in different parts of the country and also beyond, braving all odds. Intimidation from the state could hardly make any impact on his mind.

Why maoists? The real Avatar: Mine – Story of a Sacred Mountain

Why maoists? The real Avatar: Mine – Story of a Sacred Mountain

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Operation green hunt

UP: ‘Naxal’ couple were running magazine for four years

Retired labour commissioner M P Srivastava, father of Seema Azad, reads Dastak. Express Photo

Booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their alleged Naxal activities, 35-year-old Seema Azad and her husband Vishwavijay Azad have been publishing Dastak Nai Samay Ki, a monthly Hindi magazine for the last four years.

The magazine, duly registered with Registrar of Newspaper for India, focusses on public issues pertaining to politics and social causes.

And while the police maintain that there is no case against the magazine, the arrest of Seema and her husband has come as a shock to friends and relatives.

“There was no need to publish a monthly magazine for almost four years for sustenance, if Seema was associated with Naxal activities,” said Neelam Shankar, a writer associated with Dastak Nai Samay Ki. “Seema focussed on national and international issues, social causes and policies of the government. She used to cycle several miles to distribute the magazine and it was in last October that her father-in-law bought her a moped for the work.”

Seema and Vishwavijay decided to publish the magazine as they thought it was a noble profession and would help them financially, said Seema’s father M P Srivastava.

UP: Family Protests as PUCL UP Secy among ‘Naxals’ Held in State

(Yahoo! India News, 8 February 2010):

Among the three alleged Naxalites arrested from Allahabad and Gorakhpur by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force on Saturday was the state secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Seema Srivastava. She was picked up along with her husband, Vishwavijay Azad alias Kamalji.

While Srivastava, 35, and Azad were arrested from Allahabad, Asha alias Heerman Munda was arrested from Gorkhapur.

Produced before a court in Allahabad, Srivastava said she or her husband had no links with Naxals, nor were they involved in any illegal activity. While she claimed they together brought out a monthly magazine called Dastak, the police say Azad is the head of the Uttar Pradesh State Organising Committee of the CPI(Maoist).

PUCL state president Chitranjan Singh confirmed that Srivastava was the organisation’s state secretary, and said they would approach the National Human Rights Commission. Rajeev Yadav, organising secretary of the PUCL, said the couple had been targeted as Srivastava had organised protests against the “encounter” that killed Kamlesh Choudhary, a Naxal leader, in Sonbhadra district in November.

Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Additional Director General (Law and Order) Brij Lal said the couple were arrested following disclosures made by Asha, who is reportedly a member of the CPI(Maoist)’s Central Mahila Sub-Committee.

The STF team seized banned Naxal literature, a camera and Rs 1.11 lakh from the three, he said.

The Additional Director General said Azad and Srivastava, residents of Madhuban village in Allahabad district, had been working to expand the Naxalite base in the state for the past three to four years. Munda, according to him, was a native of Tinkara village of Bihar’s Chapra district and had been staying in Krishnanagar colony area of Gorakhpur.

Srivastava’s father M P Srivastava, a retired assistant labour commissioner, however, termed the arrest a conspiracy against her. “She was a good student, and completed her Masters in Psychology from Allahabad University in 2000. She got married to Vishwavijay Azad and entered student politics. As a father who has (seen her) since childhood, I do not subscribe to what police claim of her,” M P Srivastava told The Indian Express.

Azad, a former student leader of Allahabad University, belongs to a rich family of Mau district.

In their magazine Dastak, Srivastava and Azad had been very vocal against the sand mafia in Allahabad and adjoining regions. M P Srivastava said Seema, the younger of his two daughters, has always been very “upright and bold”. “She has never compromised with her values. She could have been a teacher and would have spent her life with ease, but she preferred to serve the downtrodden.”

“Why did the police arrest her like a criminal?” he asked. “She was coming from New Delhi by Rewanchal Express on Saturday. Her husband went to receive her at the Allahabad junction. The STF arrested the duo and kept them at an undisclosed location. The police informed me only today (Sunday) morning about her arrest.”

Seema is a human right worker, not a ‘Naxali’

To,
The Chairperson,
National Human Right Commission
New Delhi,

sir,

We want to acknowledge you that Seema Azad ,journalist ,human right worker and executive member of peoples Union for civil liberties (PUCL), and her husband former student leader Vishwavijay and friend Asha, were detained by the police on Allahabad Railway Junction without any proper reason on Saturday(6th Feb 2010). Both of them were returning from World Book Fair, New Delhi by the Reewanchal Express. According to police they all are Naxalite.
Sir, the organization wants to highlight the background of detention. PUCL has continuously raised the voice against the atrocity done by the police-Bahubalies nexus in kachhari region of Allahabad and Kausambi district on the sand mining labours. Due to the pressure of politician and Bahubalies , DIG of Allahabad has framed many fraud cases against the labour movement leader. DIG had banned the ‘Lal Salam’ cited it as against the nationality. PUCL had condemned the ban saying that it was natural address of Communist party. According to PUCL ‘Lal Salam’ is a common address of labourer across the world. Raising the cause of fighting labour against the illegal collection and illegal mining of sand in Nanda ka Pura village of Kausambi, the minster Seema azad and advocate K. K. Roy of PUCL has issued a report on human right violation. In past one month the police and PAC jawans has unleashed the Lathicharge couple of times in Nanda ka Pura village. Police had torched the local office of CPI (ML) New Damocracy in Nanda village. And their leader were detained in the jail for several days in fraud cases. The voice against them , doesn’t suit the mood of DIG of Allahabad and police. Police doesn’t want that the voice should be raised by any organization against their working style. The arrest of Seema Azad , her husband Vishwavijay and friend Aasha is done by the police in the revenge. Seema Azad has no any connection with the Naxalite and she is working in the field of human right for past several years. She is also editor of a monthly magazine ‘Dastak’. She has made report on serious issues like human right situation in eastern Utter Pradesh, labour movement, SEZ, situation of Mushar cast and Encephalitis disease. Vishwavijay, husband of Seema Azad , and his friend Aasha were active student leader of Central university of Allahabad for a long time. They have strongly raised the concerned problem of students under the banner of ‘INQUALABI CHHATRA MORCHA’. The persons which are naxalite, according to the police, are working in between students and labour for a long time.
Sir, in past also UP Police has threatened the leader of PUCL working for the human right concern. PUCL has raised the questions against the encounter of Kamlesh Chaudhoury in Chandauly dated 9th November. After that , in a press conference dated 11th November 2009, DGP Brijlal has articulated that “the action would be taken against the PUCL leader”(see Dainik Hindustan of November 12, 2009). The Allahabad arrest of Seema Azad is a chain of the same retaliation.
Hence, we appeal for the prompt action in the matter and also we appeal that police atrocity and human right violation should be stopped. We also demand that Seema Azad and her friend should be released as soon as possible.

- Sincerely

Vandana Mishra, General Secretary, PUCL, U.P.
Chitranjan Singh, National Secretary, PUCL
K.K. Roy , Advocate, state executive member, PUCL
Ravikiran Jain, state executive member, PUCL
Satendra Singh, Convener, People’s Union for Human Rights(PUHR)
Sandeep Pandey, winner of Magsaysay award and state executive member,PUCL
S. R. Darapuri, former police director, state executive member,PUCL
Anshu Malviya, Shehri Garib Sangharsh Morcha
Shahnawaz Alam, Organization Secretary ,PUCL
Rajeev Yadav , Organization Secretary,PUCL
Vijay Pratap, Freelance journalist and human right worker
http://naipirhi.blogspot.com/2010/02/seema-is-human-right-worker-not-naxali.html

Silent procession with Peoples March editor’s body

Related News from The Indian Express: Kolkata editor of Maoist mouthpiece dies in custody

Kolkata: A silent funeral procession was taken out on Wednesday with the body of Swapan Dasgupta, editor of a banned Maoist magazine, by politicians and activists who claimed he had a custodial death.

Dasgupta, who was arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) four months ago, died Tuesday at the SSKM hospital where he was admitted with asthma and respiratory complications on December 17, the hospital superintendent Debashish Bhattacharya said.

Dasgupta was the editor of the Bengali version of the Maoist magazine ‘People’s March’. Among those who took part in the march Wednesday were Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Sumon and theatre personality Bivas Chakra borty.

Suman, who courted controversy for opposing anti- Maoist operations in West Midnapore district and bringing out an album of songs on Chhatradhar Mahato, the jailed Peoples Committee against Police Atrocities leader, alleged that Dasgupta was killed in custody and demanded a probe.

"The government allowed him to die. When he was shifted from jail to the SSKM hospital on December 17, he was not given a bed and was forced to lie on the floor. Even after he was detected with blood cancer, blood was not provided as requisitioned," Sujato Bhadra, Secretary of human rights NGO APDR, told an agency.

The funeral procession to the Keoratala burning grounds was followed by marchers carrying placards describing Dasgupta as ‘the first martyr of the UAPA’.

PTI

Swapan Dasgupta killed in custody the first victim of UAPA

The Kolkata based human rights organization Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) expressed concern that Swapan Dasgupta, becomes the first fatal victim of UAPA inWest Bengal even before any trial, as he succumbs on February 2, 2010 at about 5am to growing illness at SSKM Hospital, Kolkata.

He was arrested under this Act on 06th October 2009 for publishing ‘Peoples March’ (in Bengali version), though the publication is still not banned. He was denied bail and detained under jail custody in appalling conditions. As he was achronic asthma patient, distressing treatment at custody aggravated his illness. UAPA undoubtedly proves it’s cruel futurity.

MASUM said it was informed that the inquest was done by Mr. Swapan Kumar Ghosh, Additional Commissioner of Police (4), South Division, Kolkata Police under Bhowanipur Police Station Inquest number 141. MASUM secretary Kirity Roy lamented that this very act was a gross violation of criminal procedure code of India.

He alleged that the government of West Bengal purposefully violated the section 176 (1A) of Cr. P.C. where it is mandatory that in case of any custodial death, the inquiry should be made only by a judicial (Metropolitan) Magistrate.

If India proclaims to be a democratic state, he said that it is supposed to ensure the ‘right to oppose’ and curbing the voice of opposition defies the basic premise of democracy. Application of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on Maoists and some other political persons in recent past inWest Bengal manifests the tendency of defying democratic principles, he added.

MASUM said that UAPA is nothing but the latest legal weapon by the state for arresting and detaining the people with dissent voices even before a fair trial and project it as preventive detention. The draconian law includes the provisions of repealed TADA and POTA, and surpasses all erstwhilecriminal laws in ruthlessness.

During the debate of UAPA at Indian parliament, Roy recalled that some of the parliamentarians opposed the law, especially those of CPI(M). However, contrary to their stance,West Bengal government, mainly ruled by the same party has been one of the frontrunners in implementing this draconian and anti-people law.

Consequently, he deplored that many persons who are otherwise ‘innocent’ have been arrested under this law. It clearly shows that though the parties differ on ideological plain, they are just different sides of same coin on the question of power structure.

He said that MASUM always stands against the violent politics, whether it is practiced by Maoists or any other political party. “We understand that, if any political or non-political citizen involves in any violent action viz. murder, rape, destroying properties etc., the existingcriminal laws are sufficient to penalize them to the highest degree. UAPA is completely uncalled for in this direction”, he added.

If one observes all social and political violence during previous 25-30 years in West Bengal, he lamented that it would be evident that CPI(M), the leading party in the government, has been most instrumental behind them. It needs to be mentioned that most of the perpetrators are roaming scot-free with administrative patronage, he pointed out.

Following the tradition of procedural violation is adding ‘feather to the flock’. Swapan Dasgupta, a detainee under UAPA has expired due to extreme inhuman treatment at jail and hospital as well. MASUM reckon his untimely death as judicial killing with utmost disregard towards law of the land, he said.

Roy said that the unfortunate incident is only an indication to the prevailing heinous criminal justice system which underlies UAPA also. Hence, he said they condemn the draconian law and demand repudiation of the same immediately. Merinews

Naxals not blocking NREGA farm productivity schemes: Study

New Delhi: The programmes taken up under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which increase agriculture productivity in the rural areas, are not being "blocked" by the Naxalites, a study has claimed.

Council for Social Development (CSD), a study group of social workers and social scientists, also noted in its draft report that "as a combined result of NREGA and Naxalites’ pressure, contractors are paying higher wages to the manual workers (in the areas hit by left-wing extremism)".

The Naxalites have been blocking road construction but not the other kinds of permissible works under NREGA, CSD claimed in its report. The study had been jointly sponsored by the Rural Development Ministry and UNDP.

"Especially, land development works on the lands owned by scheduled castes and scheduled tribes….In short, those works which increase agricultural productivity of the rural poor are not blocked by Naxalites," it added.

The CSD conducted the study in tribal-dominated and Naxal-affected areas in Chattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh on implementation of NREGA and its impact there.

Sources in the ministry said that CSD was given the task to conduct a study in Naxal-affected areas after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had in one of the meetings of the ministry in October last year sought to know whether any study was conducted on the impact on NREGA.
PTI

Swapan Das Gupta – the first Unlawful Activities Prevention Act prisoner in India attained martyrdom today.

Dear friends,

With profound grief we infirm you that Com Sapan das Gupta Editor of Bangla People’s March, the first Unlawful Activities Prevention Act prisoner in India attained martyrdom today.

The callous attitude of ‘Indian Democracy’ snuffed out his life.

I would like to recall the day 19th July 2009 when I met him and stayed with
him for a few days. The way he was carrying out his work selflessly together with nursing his 35 year old 90% mentally retarded (from child birth)
sister.

This is nothing but State murder.

P.Govindan kutty
Editor, People’s March

Excellent summary of events – historical perspective

From: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264001

The Claws Of The State

The war on Maoists is backed by a parallel war on rights activists
Jyoti Punwani

There are things I haven’t forgotten about that October night 30 years ago, like the shock of discovering that my knees were shaking as the banging on the door grew louder. The voices, coarse and angry, were asking for P.V. Bhaktavatsalam, the lawyer who had dared to defend those charged with being Naxalites in a state obsessed with eliminating them. The parallels with modern-day Chhattisgarh couldn’t be greater.

Back then, between August and October 1980, ten young men had been killed in police encounters in the North Arcot and Dharmapuri districts. Their crime? Organising peasants in that backward region, where the Naxalites had a base. M.G. Ramachandran, then chief minister, had given the police, headed by the megalomaniacal Walter Dawaram, a carte blanche to crush the peasant movement. The police went about their task in the only manner they know: eliminating the leaders and arresting those protesting these murders for sedition.

In those post-Emergency days, when human rights was a cause that attracted celebrities, an all-India fact-finding team set out to investigate these ‘encounters’. Headed by Cho Ramaswamy, editor of the Tamil magazine Thuglak, it included environmentalist Claude Alvares and senior journalist Mohan Ram. None of these names mattered. We had barely checked into our lodge when a mob of plainclothesmen and “victims of Naxalites” started stoning our lodge. After what seemed an eternity, uniformed police escorted us out of the lodge and the town “for our own safety”. I remember the cringing gratitude I felt towards these “saviours” as they drove away their own drunken colleagues, but not before Claude’s glasses were broken and Mohan was given a black eye.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve thought about that night often. Nothing seems to have changed, except the ruling parties. The Naxalites are active again in our most backward areas, and the police have again been given a free hand. Once again, anyone exposing the illegal actions of the police—the rapes and killings of adivasis over the last five years—has been targeted. Himanshu Kumar, a Gandhian, has been evicted from the area; Dr Binayak Sen was jailed. Over the last two months, fact-finding teams trying to enter the forests of Chhattisgarh and Orissa, where tribal resistance to land being acquired for private industry is being brutally suppressed, have been attacked or turned back.

In Narayanpatna, Orissa, an all-women’s team out to investigate last November’s killing of two adivasi leaders in police firing was first attacked inside a police station and then on the road. The attackers were plainclothesmen and civilians who were later “dispersed” by policemen.
In Chhattisgarh, the police have set up an obstacle course for teams trying to reach the Maoist heartland of Bastar. On December 14, they seized the vehicles of an all-women team, citing irregularities in the drivers’ documents. When the women tried to go ahead by bus, the police warned the bus drivers not to carry them. All this was to “save” them, the women were told. The police let them have a taste though—a mob punctured the tyres of the bus in which the team was returning. Prof Nandini Sundar of Delhi, a petitioner in the Supreme Court against the government-backed Salwa Judum, was stalked by the police, turned away by hotels and hounded by Bastar’s unique tribal Special Police Officers in the hostel she stayed the night. She, too, had to return without reaching her destination. Only Medha Patkar managed to breach, briefly, the police’s ‘No Entry’ sign, but not before her team was attacked with eggs by Salwa Judum tribals on Dantewada’s main road as police stood by, watching.

But 30 years on, three developments have changed the situation radically. One, the Centre has openly entered the fray, sending its forces to crush the Maoists, making the adivasi areas a war zone. Two, the police have raised anti-Maoist groups: Salwa Judum in Bastar and Shanti Samitis in Orissa, which can tackle human rights busybodies too. Finally, “human rights” has lost the halo that propelled celebrities into action. Two years after DIG Mohandas sent us packing from Tamil Nadu, declaring, “I can tell you for sure that no fact-finding committee will be allowed to come here”, another team did just that. (By then, the encounter toll had risen to 21.) Heading the second team were socialist MPs Surendra Mohan and Mrinal Gore, and Swami Agnivesh. Today, human rights groups wonder who can break into Chhattisgarh DGP Vishwaranjan’s protected zone, where tribal eye-witnesses to “encounters” are so well protected against “outsiders” that, despite Supreme Court orders, their own lawyers are denied access.

Sapan Das Gupta Editor of Bangla People’s March UAPA prisoner now on ventilation in hospital

"Sapan Das Gupta Editor of Bangla People’s March UAPA prisoner now in ventilation in mackanjee ward ICU, SSKM. Friends are invited by hospital authority to have a last look."

See report below from Express India news by Madhuparna Das. If any worse happens it will be a State murder.

P.Govindan kutty
Editor, People’s March

Source: express News India

Kolkata The ban on the People’s March — a mouthpiece of the Maoists — was lifted by the Press & Registration Appellate Board (PRAB) over three months ago. But two persons arrested in Kolkata have been in jail since owing to their association with the publication.

The state police officers plead ignorance about the lifting of the ban.

Sapan Dasgupta, editor of Bengali version of People’s March and Sadananda Singha, its publisher, were picked up from their homes in Garia by the Special Branch of Kolkata Police on October 7. The press in Maniktala Industrial Area was raided and all documents and equipment were seized.

They were charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for publishing a banned periodical that allegedly contained “seditious matter”, even though the ban had been lifted. And they were remanded in judicial custody.

A senior officer of Kerala Police said: “The People’s March was proscribed in February 2008 after the Ernakulam District Collector banned it on January 15 on the ground that it indulged in publishing seditious matters, exhorting the public to take up arms for violent struggle and promoting divisive tendencies in the country.”

But a ruling of the PRAB on August 7 this year set aside the Collector’s order and held that “the magazine regains its force and becomes operative with immediate effect.”

The Board, comprising Chairman Justice K N Ray and member Ramesh Gupta, said as per Section 8(b) of the Press and Registration of Books Act, no publication could be banned on these grounds. The ruling stated: “Seditious offences may be taken cognizance of under the IPC or other relevant laws.”

Jacob Punnoose, Director General of Police, Kerala, said: “In December 2007, we arrested P Govindan Kutty, the editor, publisher and printer of the periodical.” Later, the state government decided to ban the publication after issuing an order. However, the PRAB has quashed the order. “But I cannot comment on why the ban was lifted by the PRAB,” h added.

Kutty, the 63-year-old editor, had appealed to the Board against the ban, and in August, after nine months, it allowed the publication to restart.

“The PRAB has allowed me to come out with the magazine once again, the first issue has been published in November,” Kutty said on phone from Ernakulam, Kerala. The issue has an interview of Central Committee member of the CPI(Maoists), Ganapathi as its lead article.

“The West Bengal Government has taken a step worse than the Kerala government,” he said. “I was arrested by the Kerala Police and subsequently my magazine was banned.” But Swapan Dasgupta was arrested for publishing a banned magazine at a time when the ban had already been lifted, Kutty said. Dasgupta was slapped with a case under UAPA. “But where does the case stand if the ban does not exist? I have decided to appeal to the court for the release of two innocent persons.

The DGP, Bhupindar Singh, said: “Dasgupta and Singha were arrested for publishing a banned magazine which is the mouthpiece of the Maoists. We are yet to receive any written order saying the ban has been lifted.

Ashok Bakshi, a senior Public Prosecutor of the state, however, said: “If the ban on the magazine does not exist then legally they should be released. But the case is pending in Sealdah court.”