Emergency in Bastar: Human Rights Defenders Under Attack, Democracy in Peril

This is the video of the Press Conference organised by Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) and Citizens for Peace and Justice in Chhattisgarh (CPJC) on 12th January 2017 at Indian Women's Press Corp (IWPC).

Speaking at the press conference, Adv Savithri gave a chilling account of the condition of her husband and his colleagues in the jail, where they have been beaten, threatened with torture and forced to sign “confessions” admitting to carrying demonetised currency for the Maoists. She described the farcical proceedings in the special Naxal Court in Dantewada, where Telugu literary magazines and textbooks seized from the arrested men were presented as “Maoist literature” and where the judge denied bail on the grounds that the team had entered Chhattisgarh without permission. She spoke of busloads of women and children being presented in court and sent straight into jail without a hearing or any legal representation. Prisoners are brought into court not just handcuffed but chained hand and foot.

Speakers urged the media persons present to break their silence on the situation in Bastar, and join activists in calling for the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in Bastar. A press release was brought out for the same, on 12th January, 2017.