Telangana activists to move Chhattisgarh HC for bail

RAIPUR: Telangana state Civil Liberties Committee will move the Chhattisgarh High Court after the Dantewada court, south Bastar, on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of 7-member “fact-finding team” of Telangana Democratic Front.

The Bastar police on December 26 arrested the seven activists in Sukma. All were sent to jail after they were charged under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CGPSA).

“We are going to file bail application in the High Court at Bilaspur next week. There is no rule of law in Bastar where the inspector general of police SRP Kalluri has suppressed democratic norms”, said Narayan Rao, general secretary of Telangana Civil Liberties.

The seven members from Telangana include lawyers, social activists, journalists and a research scholar. They were reportedly visiting restive Bastar zone to study and probe into the existing ground situation.

Chhattisgarh police alleges that the visiting team engaged in “suspicious” activities were under surveillance. The police after the arrest had claimed to have recovered rupees one lakh old currency notes from them besides some incriminating Maoist literature.

Meanwhile, the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO), a coalition of some 20 civil and democratic rights groups from across India, has planned to launch a nationwide campaign against the Chhattisgarh’s security act.

“CDRO will soon mount a mass campaign across the country against the blatant misuse of Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act which is a draconian law that violates core freedom and infringes upon the fundamental rights of citizens. The local tribals remain the worst sufferers”, Rao told Express.

However the proponents of the law asserted that the outlawed CPI (Maoist) are most active in Chhattisgarh, particularly in Bastar zone and have waged war on the government and security forces for more than three decades, so such law is aimed only to combat India’s greatest internal security threat.