Human Rights Defenders Data Information Knowledge Solidarity

HRDs must counter State's offensive of intimidating ordinary people, from expressing their opinion on social media or on various issues . Lawyers as well as Journalists, and youtubers bring these cases up in the public eye in order to youth to feel more secure speaking out.. This series we will document case law as well as reports through links to documents, reports from various websites and Blogs and Posts of HRDs. This is also an attempt to publicise all the dirty tricks State have been using. This is a contributory effort..

Ill-Treatment of Stan Swamy in Jail Should 'Shake Foundation of Democracy': Fellow Prisoner https://thewire.in/rights/ill-treatment-of-stan-swamy-in-jail-should-shake-foundation-of-democracy-fellow-prisoner 6 Jan 2022

A pretrial detainee at the Taloja central prison in the outskirts of Mumbai, who spent close to a year with 84-year-old Jharkhand-based tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy, Iklakh Rahim Shaikh, arrested in March 2019, has written a 14-page scathing letter accusing the prison administration of ignoring Swamy’s deteriorating health conditions and denying him treatment even when he was rapidly slipping.

The letter has been dispatched to additional director general of prisons, Maharashtra, Atul Chandra Kulkarni on November 11. Shaikh, who has spent close to 60 months in jail (five years without trial!!!), says he has been lodged in an “Anda Cell”, an-egg shaped cellar, so called for its oblong shape. The cell lacks ventilation and only those considered “high-risk prisoners” are usually sent here. But several prison testimonies show that anyone defying the prison authorities is also shunted here as a matter of “punishment”.

During his stay, Shaikh says he came across several “VIP prisoners” who were accused of multi-crore banking scams, builders, drug lords and hardened criminals who without any illness and court order got themselves hospitalised. This, he claims, is done only to ensure constant communication with their family members and the world outside, which is denied to other prisoners. ..

Shaikh alleges that the jail staff has been extorting hefty amounts of money from prisoners even to make the most basic facilities available to them. “Our right to life, as guaranteed in the constitution, should remain intact even in jail. But that is not the case. Most basic facilities are also denied to us,” he alleges.

He says, while most prisoners don’t get taken for their regular court visits on the ground that there are not enough escort facilities available, the rich never face this problem. “They give the same excuse even to ferry seriously ill prisoners to the hospital,” he alleges. Shaikh’s letter sheds light on what really gets termed as “natural”. Deaths of those denied adequate and timely medical care can’t be termed as natural, he says in his letter. The NCRB data gives vague reasons like diarrhoea, schizophrenia, epilepsy, liver-related ailments and heart problems as causes of “natural” deaths.

Poor Medical Care for Prisoners Explains Why Number of Custodial Deaths Is Only Rising https://thewire.in/rights/prison-custodial-death-medical-care 15/Jan/2020 In 2018, 1,845 people died while incarcerated. That's the highest number India has seen so far.

How the ‘anda cell’ is used to discipline prison inmates https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/how-the-anda-cell-is-used-to-discipline-prison-inmates/ October 28, 2021
Jinee Lokaneeta writes: Although it does not exist in prison manuals, it’s a well-known element of Indian jails.

The news that eminent journalist and human rights activist and scholar implicated in the Bhima Koregaon case, Gautam Navlakha, has been moved to an “anda” circle in Taloja jail on October 12 is just another reminder that imprisonment itself appears inadequate for the state. Instead, there is a constant need to continually break the body and soul of a person by making the conditions more challenging. It is unclear whether the “anda cell” is authorised by prison manuals. At times, the arbitrariness of these actions suggest that these are the discretionary actions of “petty sovereigns”

In the Sunil Batra case, the Supreme Court wrote: “If the prisoner breaks down because of mental torture, psychic pressure or physical infliction beyond the licit limits of lawful imprisonment, the prison administration shall be liable for the excess.” The question, however, is how long can the “anda cell” and lack of basic rights be considered within the limits of lawful imprisonment?

https://www.theleaflet.in/can-neither-walk-write-or-eat-talojia-jail-has-brought-to-this-situation-fr-stan-swamy-tells-hc/

https://www.theleaflet.in/prisoners-entitled-to-their-medical-report-under-article-21-also-entitled-to-phone-call-to-approved-family-members-after-hospital-visit-bombay-hc/

https://thewire.in/rights/the-indomitable-spirit-of-father-stan-swamy