See a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YHeaWtjP6C4
http://youtu.be/UWnCrB1qwE4
In an open letter addressed to the Prime Minister of India
and other officials, about 250 concerned activists, academics, intellectuals,
students, professionals and democratic organisations have demanded immediate
medical attention for the Adivasi school teacher, Soni Sori, 35, currently in
custody in Raipur Central Jail, Chhattisgarh. Sori’s condition is believed to
be rapidly deteriorating as a result of torture and sexual abuse at the hands
of the Chhattisgarh police. She is the mother of three young children.
Signatories to the letter include members of the National Advisory Council
Harsh Mander and Aruna Roy, writers Arundhati Roy and Meena Kandasamy,
respected economist Jean Dreze, Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan and
renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky.
Soni Sori was arrested in Delhi on 4th October, 2011, where she had
gone to seek legal assistance, fearing for her life after repeated harassment
by the Chhattisgarh state police. Despite her pleas in the courts that she be
held in Delhi,
she was sent back to Chhattisgarh. After seeing preliminary indications that
she had been tortured in police custody, the Supreme Court ordered an
independent medical examination at NRS
Medical College,
Kolkata, where doctors found stones lodged in her vagina and rectum. In a
series of letters written to the Supreme Court Advocate from jail, Sori
recounted how she was stripped, electrocuted, and physically and sexually
tortured by the police.
More than six months after she was tortured, Sori continues
to be imprisoned in Chhattisgarh and has received virtually no follow up
medical treatment for the injuries she sustained in police custody and the
infections that have developed as a consequence. According to two people (one
of whom is her lawyer) who were allowed to meet Sori in prison last week, her
face was visibly swollen and her hands and feet appeared abnormally thin,
indicating severe weight loss. Sori complained of a severe burning sensation
while passing urine and of blisters on her thighs and her private parts. The
magistrate in the Dantewada court, where Sori was produced earlier in the week,
is reported to have remarked that she appeared unwell. According to the jail
doctor in Raipur,
Sori suffers from fluctuating and high blood pressure and from anaemia. Yet, on
those occasions when she has been taken to the Raipur Medical
College, she met with
ridicule, indifference and inadequate care from the doctors and other hospital
personnel. Police interference with the doctors is also suspected.
No investigation or action has been initiated against the
police officers responsible for her torture. On the contrary, Superintendent of
Police Ankit Garg, named in Sori’s letters, was awarded a Gallantry Medal on
Republic Day, 2012. Sori’s petition before the Supreme Court asking to be
transferred out of Chhattisgarh has been subjected to repeated delays and is
still pending. Her health continues to deteriorate in the meantime.
Sori is just one of many women subject to torture and sexual
violence in custody. In a recent report, the Asian Centre for Human Rights
documented that four custodial deaths had occurred daily in India over the
past decade. Those demanding medical attention for Sori fear the worst by the
time she is granted a final hearing.
Open Letter:
To,
Shri Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India
Shri P. Chidambaram, Home Minister
Shri Shekhar Dutt, Governor of Chhattisgarh
Shri Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh
We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned by the rapidly
worsening health of Soni Sori in Raipur Central Jail. She has been passing
blood with her urine, is having difficulty to sit or get up, and has lost
considerable weight. Despite doctors from NRS Medical
Hospital having confirmed
that stones had been inserted into her vagina and rectum, Soni Sori has
received no proper medical attention. We fear for Soni’s life and are outraged
and ashamed at this inhuman treatment of a woman in India.
Soni Sori, 35, is an adivasi school teacher from Dantewada
who was arrested in New Delhi
on Oct 4 2011. Six months have passed since Soni was tortured physically and
sexually but neither the state nor the central government has investigated the
abuse. Her case has been repeatedly listed up in the Supreme Court but has been
postponed every time. Throughout the duration of Soni Sori’s imprisonment, the
state has also tried to stifle her communications with the civil society. In
January this year, a team from various women’s groups across the country went
to Raipur Jail to meet Soni, but they were prevented from doing so by the
administration.
The brutal treatment meted out to Soni Sori, and the
prevailing situation of conflict and repression in Chhattisgarh, cause us grave
concern about Soni in particular, and the situation of women prisoners, in
general. We demand immediate access for fact-finding groups to meet with Soni
Sori and others to assess their condition in jail, particularly their medical
situation. We fear that Soni Sori’s condition is rapidly deteriorating, and
demand that she receive immediate medical attention.
Signed,
Harsh Mander
Meena Kandaswamy, Poet, Writer, Activist
Prof. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor Emeritus, MIT
Prashant Bhushan, Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Anand Patwardhan, Filmmaker
Aruna Roy, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
Nikhil Dey, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
Shankar Singh, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
Dr. Deepankar Basu, Prof of Economic, UMass Amherst
Dr. Prithvi R Sharma, MD
Jean Dreze, Allahabad University
Uma Chakravarti, Retd Professor, Delhi University
Anand Chakravarti, Retd Professor, Delhi University
Arundhati Roy, Writer & Social Activist
Mohan Rao, Professor, JNU, Delhi
Dr. Abha Sur, Women Studies, MIT
Hiren Gandhi, Darshan, Amhedabad
Dr. Saroop Dhruv, Darshan, Amhedabad
Dr. Suvrat Raju, Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad
Manasi Pingle, Film Maker
Admiral L Ramdas, Former Chief of Naval Staff, Alibag
Lalita Ramdas, Alibag
Prof. K.N. Panikkar
Dr. KS Sripada Raju
and more than 200 others.
(Complete list of signatories at http://iadhri.wordpress.com)