Meeting on Political Prisoners in India

23rd April, 2006
Ambedkar Bhawan
New Delhi

MEETING TO DISCUSS THE ISSUE
OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN INDIA

A number of democrats and democratic organisations mainly from Delhi but also from other states met in Delhi on 23 April 2006 in Ambedkar Bhawan, Pahargunj and discussed the problems of thousands of political prisoners incarcerated in various prisons across the country.

The following decisions were unanimously taken at the end of the meeting:

1. A committee with a name Campaign Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners is formally and initially formed in this meeting with an open invitation for organisations and individual democrats to join in the committee. Some organisations, participated in the meeting as observers, would later confirm their participation after discussing in their respective organisations.

2. A number of organisations and individuals who have been approached from various states are announced as part of the Campaign Committee.

3. More organisations and individuals will be approached to join the committee.

4. The committee will have a 10-member executive initially working from Delhi to initiate and to look after the work of the Campaign Committee. The persons who offered to be on the committee are: Prashant Bhushan, Nirmalanshu Mukherjee, SAR Geelani, N D Pancholi, Vijay Singh, Saibaba and Rakesh Shukla. Three others will be approached to join this committee.

5. Professor Nirmalanshu Mukherjee, University of Delhi offered his residential address for the Campaign Committee. Now onwards his address 38/2, Probyn Road, Delhi 100 007 is the address for correspondence for the Campaign Committee. Email address: notoprisons@gmail.com

6. It was decided to collect the concrete details of the cases of the political prisoners from various states. A data bank of the political prisoners is be to prepared with the help of which an analysis has to be prepared.

7. Two activists based on Delhi with the skills of documenting and preparing the analysis of the cases of political prisoners will found to work fulltime for the committee. A team of senior lawyers will guide these activists.

8. It was decided to form the similar Campaign Committees in all states with the active initiation of all those who consented to form the committee.

9. It was decided to approach all civil and human rights organisations in the country to assist the Campaign Committee in securing and compiling the data regarding all cases of political prisoners and conditions of prisons. Organisations which are part of the committee or organisations whose activists and leaders are arrested will also be approached to provide the details of the political prisoners.

10. The tabulation sheets or proforma models for collecting the details will be prepared by the senior advocates in Delhi. Prashant Bhushan has taken the responsibility for this.

11. A note on the concept of political prisoners will be prepared by the 10-member executive committee.

12. A mass campaign will be launched to take the issue of political prisoners to the wider people in India and abroad. The campaign will create a public opinion for the release of political prisoners of all organisations irrespective of their political opinion or perspective.

13. Initially some important political cases will be gathered and analysed to present them before the people and government.

14. A Jan Sunwai will be held in August/ September 2006 in a big way.

15. The Campaign will be run all over India and internationally.


Delhi
1.Achin Vanaik, University of Delhi
2.Akhilesh Gaur
3.Anand Chakravarti, University of Delhi
4.Anand Swaroop Verma, Social Activist
5.Anil Chamaria, writer, Columnist
6.Arundhati Roy , Writer, New Delhi
7.Bela Bhatia
8.Bhim Sen Tyagi
9.Dasharatha, Advocate, IAPL, Delhi
10.Debashish, Doctor, (Observer), PDSU, Delhi
11.Deeptika Tandon, Delhi University
12.Gautam Navlakha, Editorial Consultant, EPW
13.Haripal Tyagi, Artist, Delhi
14.Harish Dhawan., Delhi University
15.Sidhantkar, ICTU
16.Javed Malik, University of Delhi
17.JP Sharma, ( Observer), AIFTU, Delhi
18.Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Professor, JNU
19.Manorajan Mohanti, Lok Chakra, retired Professor, University of Delhi
20.N K Bhattacharya, Jan Hastkshep, Delhi
21.N.D. Pancholi, Advocate, New Delhi
22.Nagaraju, Social Activist, Delhi
23.Neeraj Malik, University of Delhi
24.Nirmalanshu Mukherjee, University of Delhi
25.Pankaj Bist, Writer
26.Praful Bidwai, Writer, Delhi
27.Prashant Bhushan, Advocate, New Delhi
28.Prempati, Social Activist
29.Raj Kishore Secretary, R.D.F.
30.Rajendra yadav, writer
31.Rajesh Tyagi, Advocate, Delhi
32.Rakesh Shukla, Advocate, Delhi
33.Ramesh Anand
34.Ramkumar Kishak
35.Rona Wilson, Research Scholar, JNU, New Delhi
36.Saibaba, University of Delhi
37.SAR Geelani, University of Delhi
38.Shahana Bhattacharya, Delhi University
39.Sharmila Purkuyastha, Delhi University
40.Sohan Chaudhary
41.Tripta Wahi, University of Delhi
42.Ujjwal Kumar, University of Delhi
43.Umachakravorty, Professor, Delhi University
44.Vijay Singh E.C., DUTA, Delhi.
45.Viswanath Tripathi

Uttar Pradesh
46.Anupam Sharma, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
47.Ashok Prakash, Convenor, Shahid Bhagat Singh Chetna Manch, Aligarh.
48.Bhagawant Prasad, Rtd. District Judge, Allahabad
49.BM Nagar, Ex President, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti
50.Charles Samuel Singh, Aligarh Civil Court
51.Chaudhary R P Singh, Aligarh Civil Court
52.CP Sharma, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
53.Abinesh Agrawal, Dept., of Physics, Bareilly College
54.Ful Singh Baghel, Aligarh Civil Court
55.H.N. Singh, Advocate, Chairman, Bar Council, Aligarh Civil Court
56.Hari Om Barsheney, Advocate, Aligarh Civil Court
57.Hasmat Ali, Advocate, Bareilly Court, Bareilly
58.Md. Israr Khan, Reader, Economics Department, MJP
59.Mira Bhattacharya, Rtd., Prof. of Political Science, Gorakhpur University
60.Nahar Khan, Advocate, Bareilly Court, Bareilly
61.Ramdeo Shukla, Professor & Head, Department of Hindi, Gorakhpur University.
62.Rajen Mishra, Aligarh Civil Court
63.Ruhelkhand University, Bareilly
64.S.P. Singh, Advocate, Allahabad High Court, DHRF
65.Surendra Mohan Yadav, Advocate, Bar Council, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
66.Upasana Gautam, Convenor, Jagruk Chatra Manch
67.Y.M. Mishra, Advocate, Allahabad High Court, IAPL

Bihar
68.Meera Dutt, Editor, Talash
69.Mithilesh Kumar, Adocate, IAPL
70.Preeti Sinha, Editor, Filhal

West Bengal
71.Amit Bhattacharjee, Professor, Jadavpur University
72.Amitdyuti Kumar, Vice President, APDR
73.Chotan Das, General Secretary, Bandi Mukti Committee
74.Ram Ratan Chatterjee (APDR), Kolkata
75.Sujata Bhadro, Secretary, APDR

Orissa
76.Anadi Das, Ex-M.P.
77.Dandapani Mohanty, Darman Prathirodh Manch, Orissa
78.KPK Rao, Advocate & TV Reader
79.S.K. Mahapatra, Advocate
80.S.N. Mudali, Advocate
81.Viswapriya Kanunga, Advocate

Jharkhand
82.Jitan Marandi, RDF, Jharkhand
83.Neetai Ravani, Advocate
84.Satyanarayan Bhattacharya, Advocate
85.Shashibhushan Pathak, Democratic Rights activist
86.Tridib Ghosh, Civil Rights Activist

Andhra Pradesh
87.Bojja Tarakam, Advocate, Andhra Pradesh
88.KR Choudhary, Professor & Agricultural Scientist, Andhra Pradesh
89.Lateef Md. Khan, CLMC

Maharashtra
90.K.D. Rao, Advocate, IAPL, Mumbai

Haryana
91.Balbir Singh Saini, Advocate, Ambala, Haryana
92.Balbir Singh, Advocate
93.Ramesh, Democratic Rights activist

Uttarakhand
94.Sunil, President, Progressive Students’ Union, Uttarakhand
95.Prashant Dhayani, Journalist


More names will be included in this list soon.