lo siento que es solo en ingles
(attachment is pasted as text below)
Begin forwarded message:
> From: "poets.and.writers f" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: June 9, 2005 12:57:23 PM EDT
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: journalists-writers held; kept in 68 hours of illegal custody
>
> Dear Sir,
> This for your notice. Four writers, two of them senior journalists,
> along with two CPI (Maoist) leaders, were arrested by Andhra Pradesh
> police at Aurangabad (Maharashtra - India) on May 31 and kept in 68
> hours of illegal custody. One of the two doesn't have pancreas and
> lives on artificial insuline. He was denied insulin for 68 hours,
> causing abnormal raise in sugar levels. They were blindfolded and
> Details are giving in the attachment. Please take up the issue at
> necessary fora.
>
> Regards
> friends
>
>
Condemn conspiracy to silence
people’s voices in Andhra Pradesh
Oppose Conspiracy cases against writers and activists
Writing is no conspiracy
hAndhra Pradesh police barged into Maharashtra to
arrest four eminent writers, journalists, and two
Maoist leaders, violating State’s jurisdiction
hBlindfolded and hands tied, they were kept in 68 hours
of illegal custody
hThe six, including one writer-journalist who lives on
artificial insulin and a heart patient, were denied
medical care for two days
hFascist Government hatching ‘Conspiracy case’ against
writers discussing peace process with Maoist leaders
STOP PRESS: Senior journalist-writer N Venugopal taken to
four days of police custody. Democrats and rights activists worry
he might be implicated in false cases and subjected to physical
and mental torture. Sixteen hours after the Chief Minister,
Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy assured journalist unions that
the Government would not oppose the bail petition of four writers,
the police chose to oppose the petition
he Andhra Pradesh police have arrested four VIRASAM (Revolutionary
Writers’ Association - Andhra Pradesh) leaders and two CPI (Maoist)
leaders in an MTDC guesthouse at Aurangabad (Maharashtra) on May 30 at
8.30 p.m. About 15 policemen raided the room and blindfolded the six
immediately. Though the raid was conducted by Maharashtra police, they
were handed over to Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of Andhra Pradesh
police within two hours. They were taken to Nizamabad district
headquarters in Andhra Pradesh. They were kept in 68 hours of illegal
custody, blindfolded and hands tied with rope all along. Though they
were not physically tortured, they were put to severe mental torture by
this inhuman and illegal act and interrogation.
The DIG of police presented them as if they were lifeless things to
the media at 3.45 p.m. on June 2 in his office at Nizamabad. He told
reporters that the six were arrested on the outskirts of Nizamabad
while they moved suspiciously. He said they were trying to escape into
the Nallamala forest to put into action the “conspiracy plan they
hatched in the Aurangabad guesthouse against the legally formed State”.
Interestingly, Nallamala forest is nowhere near Nizamabad.
Nizamabad, a north Telangana district bordering Maharashtra, is far
away from Nallamala. Even a child can tell that Nizamabad is not the
route to reach Nallamala forest.
The six were again kept in police custody till 12.30 p.m. on June 3
and were produced in Magistrate court in Bodhan in the district. The
magistrate remanded them to judicial custody in District Jail in
Nizamabad till next hearing slated for June 17. They were remanded
under Sections covering criminal conspiracy and waging war against the
State.
More heinously on June 6 police have asked the court to handover N
Venugopal, a senior journalist and writer, along with Ganti Prasadam
and Surender, both CPI (Maoist) leaders, to police custody for 10 days
for further interrogation and to search the places of meetings and
visits as if they are conspirators.
Let us begin with the profiles of the six accused to understand
better the real conspiracy hatched against democratic values and
natural justice.
One of the six men were V Chenchaiah, 55, is a lecturer in Jawahar
Bharathi Degree College, Kavali, for the last 30 years. Incidentally,
Virasam founder member and renowned critic late KVR also taught at the
same college. A true student of KVR, Chenchaiah followed his legacy and
had been working in the revolutionary literary movement. He served
Virasam as its General Secretary for six years and edited ‘Aruna
Thara’, the monthly magazine of Virasam for years. Presently, he is the
Vice-President of the organisation. An established literary critic in
Telugu, he published a collection of articles — Sahitya Drukpatham’ in
2000. He, along with N Venugopal (a co-accused in the conspiracy case),
edits the annual literary criticism produced by Virasam members.
2) The second accused in the case is Pinakapani. The 35-year-old
writer-poet-critic is currently the editor of Aruna Thara. He served as
General Secretary of Virasam for two consecutive terms, totaling four
years. He penned an outstanding novel based on the Vempenta massacre,
where several Dalits were burnt alive. The novel, Nippula Vaagu (A
Stream of Fire), is a landmark in Telugu literature in that it
portrayed the socio-economic conditions and State violence. He also
published two long poems — one on the need for unity of Dalit and
Revolutionary forces (Kalisi Paadalsina Paata) and the other on
American imperialism (White Houselo Nidrabhangam — A nightmare for
White House).
Besides writing several short stories, he wrote literary criticism
with the penname ‘Dharani’ in Aruna Thara.
Also, he is a social activist and addressed several public
meetings condemning State violence.
3) S Ravi Kumar (29) is the manager of ‘Aruna Thara’. He is a
poet, singer and cultural activist. A noted cultural organiser, he was
instrumental in forming broad anti-communal cultural united fronts in
his native Cuddapah district in the aftermath of Gujarat genocide.
4) The fourth accused is N Venugopal (40) is a multi-faceted
intellectual, poet, critic, columnist and a well-acclaimed commentator
on socio, economic and cultural issues. He is one of the early,
consistent and strong opponents of World Bank and IMF policies in
Andhra Pradesh. Besides writings hundreds of articles, he toured
extensively in the State to lay bare the anti-people nature of the
World Bank policies.
He is an Executive Committee member of Virasam. He edits a
socio-economic fortnightly ‘Veekshanam’. Well-known intellectuals like
A B K Prasad and V Hanumantha Rao are among the founding members of
this magazine.
He is a well-known journalist with a standing of 25 years in the
field. In his career, he worked for Srjana (a literary magazine),
Andhra Patrika, Economic Times and Indian Express.
One of his works included ‘Ammakaniki Andhra Pradesh’ (Andhra
Pradesh on Sale — 1999), a commentary on anti-people LPG policies
implemented by the then Chandrababu Naidu Government, the book was a
huge success and went to press several times.
His other works included, Samachara Samrajyavaadam (Cultural
Imperialism - 1992), Kallola Kaalamlo Medhavulu (Intellectuals in the
time of turbulence), Paan’vuram (Poetry collection) and Katha
Sandharbham (criticism on Telugu fiction).
He translated several popular Chinese, Russian and African works
into Telugu. The long list of translations included Maa Katha (1983),
Udaya Geetika (The Song of Youth - Chinese - Yang Mo - 1985), Railu
Badi (1989), Mao Kavithalu (1993), Cheekati Paata (with his companion C
Vanaja - 1985), Anamakudu (1993) and Pedda Manushulu (Man of the People
- Chinhua Achebe -1996).
5) Ganti Prasadam @ Prabhakar (56) is a State Committee member of
CPI (Maoist) and also its Media Spokesman. He edits ‘Kranthi’, its
official organ on behalf of the State Committee. He is in the
revolutionary movement for more than three decades.
6) Y Surender @ Sudersan (42) is a District Secretary level cadre.
He is in the movement for the last 14 years.
The four leading members of Virasam met the CPI (Maoist)
mediaspokesperson and his associate to discuss the peace talks that
were scuttled by the Andhra Pradesh Government after the first phase
under the World Bank pressure. They, as writers and social activists,
conveyed to the CPI (Maoist) about the democratic aspirations of people
and their demand for meaningful peace by continuing the peace talks.
The Government, which is quite vocal in reiterating that it is
committed to peace talks, has chosen to implicate them in a conspiracy
case instead of trying to know the minds of the writers and CPI
(Maoist) about the peace process and social change. It shows the
Government’s double standards. The Government itself welcomed the
leadership of CPI (Maoist) and CPI (ML - Janashakti) from underground
in October 2004 and held talks for four days, treating them as
government guests. The same Government, which did not say that it has
opted out from peace talks, implicated the Revolutionary writers in
conspiracy case when they tried to discuss about the peace, democracy
and the revolutionary movement.
Conspiracy cases are not new to Virasam. Its members have long been
facing such cases for the last 30 years. Secunderabad conspiracy case,
Rajahmundry conspiracy case, Chittoor conspiracy case and Ramnagar
conspiracy case were some examples where Virasam members were
implicated. And all of them were acquitted by the trial courts. The
State never succeeded in branding and proving the revolutionary
cultural movement as conspiracy.
But what about the illegal arrests, mental torture and days, weeks,
months and years of confinement in prison walls denying freedom to the
freedom-loving writers.
Hence I appeal to the democratic minded people, writers cultural
activists and intellectuals to impress upon the AP Government to
withdraw cases against the Virasam members along with the two CPI
(Maoist) leaders and release them unconditionally forthwith.
Hyderabad,
Yours Sincerely,
6.6.2005
Varavara Rao
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