INDIA: Human rights organisation office raided by police
10 October 2008 6:20 am

Kolkata-based human rights orgnaisation Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) of West Bengal has condenmed a police raid in its office on 27 September 2008.

Issuing a press statement, MASUM said the raid from three policemen in plain clothes was related to a writ petition filed by MASUM challanging the police authority to file a case against one of its leaders.

The organisation says the Kolkata police, possibly irked by the challange filed at the High Court Calcutta, had raided the office where they demanded three affidavits of the victims present in the Peoples Tribunal on Torture organised on 9 and 10 June 2008.

The Kolkata police had registered a case against Kirity Roy, the then President at Taltolla police station on 9 June 2008 on charge of impersonating juror, goverment officer and criminal conspiracy which the statement claims was “out of grudge and to gag the voice of human rights defenders” for organising the Tribunal.

The police raided the office on 12 June 2008 ransacking among the documents and taking away number of documents from the office. FORUM-ASIA has sent the information to Margaret Sekaggya, the UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders.

FORUM-ASIA urges the authorities to drop the complaint filed against Kirity Roy as he has been targeted solely as a result of his work in protection of torture victims and stop further harassment so that human rights defenders are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear.