BACHCHA PRASAD SINGH a political
prisoner was released from Patiala Jail after long detention in fake case: Interviewed by
Shailza Sharma
July 17, 2016
by
Aditya Nigam
Guest post. BACHCHA PRASAD SINGH who was
recently released from Patiala Central Jail, interviewed by SHAILZA
SHARMA
Bachcha Prasad Singh was released from Patiala
Central Jail on May 31, 2016 after being kept in illegal judicial
custody for an extra three days. In a time when all verification
processes are possible online, he was dragged by police officials on
a 32 hour road journey from Patiala to Kanpur, for verification of
his identity and pending cases. When the Kanpur court and jail
authorities refused to take him in custody since he had been granted
bail in the FIR registered at Kanpur, the jail authorities could not
do much and he was again taken back to Patiala. There were murmurs
among the police officials ‘isko Punjab se nahin chhodna’
(He should not be released from Punjab). Only when a habeas
corpus was filed in Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court by
the Senior Advocate R.S. Bains, the Patiala jail authorities were
compelled to release Bachcha Prasad. Harassment at the hands of the
Patiala jail authorities was his fate on the day of his release as
well, his barrack, his belongings and his bags, which were already in
custody of the jail authorities were stripped and searched and he was
thoroughly humiliated.
Knowing that it is the
modus operandi of the State to re-arrest political
prisoners, immediately upon their release on false pretexts, it was
the apprehension of his lawyers that the State was creating
circumstances which could lead to his re-arrest. However, it is a
testament to the dedication and life of the 57 year old revolutionary
who after more than 6 years of imprisonment, considered this episode
in his life nothing but a brief pause.
***
Please tell us about the circumstances of
your initial arrest and the reasons why you were arrested in the
first place? Also, shed some light on the progress and status of your
cases.
I was arrested from Kanpur in
2010 on allegations of ‘conspiracy to wage war against the State’,
under Sections 120-B and 121-A, of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and
under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,
1967 for being a member of a banned organisation.
After a few days, the Indian State framed a second
case against me from Chintapalli, Vishakhapatnam where I was accused
of being involved in the 2008 attacks against the Greyhound forces,
who were killed by alleged Maoists. Generally, the modus operandi
of the State is to present an incident as some sort of
conspiracy, in such cases. This method was also previously deployed
by the State during the 1967 Naxalbari struggle and even during the
colonial rule when Bhagat Singh was accused in the Lahore conspiracy
case. In my case, after the arrest of Kobad Ghandy they used his
confession, which was unsigned, unverified and in all probability
fabricated by the police to allege that we had been involved in
arranging meetings where decisions were made to wage war against the
State.Subsequently, everyone who was arrested including Amitabh
Bagchi, Vijay Kumar and Subramaniam was arrested on the basis of the
alleged confession given by Kobad Ghandy, according to which we had
allegedly held meetings to allocate responsibility for allegedly
waging war against the State by dividing the country into various
zones. This case was depicted as a conspiracy, where all the alleged
central committee members (CPI (Maoist)) were involved and thereafter
whoever was arrested was charged in this case. A production warrant
was issued against me and I was then shifted to the Vishakhapatnam
Central Jail and after four years of trial, I was acquitted alongwith
a few others.
The next case was lodgedat Karimnagar, Telangana and
I am not even aware of the incidents that became the basis of my
arrest. In this case, Malliraji Reddy was arrested and similar to the
case in Vishakhapatnam, an alleged confession of Malliraji Reddy was
used to make subsequent arrests and a list was prepared of all those
who were to be arrested. Even if the arrested were not on such
prepared list, they were slotted in the ‘unknown’ column. In the
present case, which was also depicted as a conspiracy, initially a
chargesheet was filed against others, however, since no supplementary
chargesheet was filed within the statutory period of 180 days, as
prescribed under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 against
me and a few others, almost everyone in this case was granted
statutory bail.
The most recent FIR was filed at Patiala in
2014-15, in which I was subsequently discharged. Here, after Kobad
Ghandy’s arrest from Delhi, once again his alleged confessional
statement was used to frame me, in his confessional statement, Kobad
has allegedly stated that we held a meeting with students in Punjabi
University, Patiala and on this basis a case was filed against me and
2 other people. However, what was peculiar in this case was that the
production warrant was sent to Vishakhapatnam jail, but, when I wrote
to the court to initiate proceedings in my case so that I could apply
for bail, no supplementary papers were provided on the basis of which
I could prepare my defence. When I contacted my local lawyer in
Patiala, he informed me that my name did not even appear in the
chargesheet. He asked me to send over a photocopy of the production
warrant, however, since the jail authorities refused to send a
photocopy the matter was prolonged. Although, I had already been
granted bail in the Kanpur case on December 1, 2013 and had been
acquitted in Vishakhapatnam case, I had no choice but to furnish a
bail bond and security, which meant that the State had to hand me
over to the Punjab police. They spent 3 to 4 days searching for the
papers to accompany the production warrant.
So presently, these are the 4 cases against me;
trial is pending in the Kanpur case, I have been granted bail in the
Karimnagar case, acquitted in the Vishakhapatnam case and have been
discharged in the case from Patiala. I have seen that till date, only
for political reasons the State has been instructing the local police
to prolong my detention.
What were the conditions inside the prison
and what do you have to say about the general attitude of the prison
authorities towards political prisoners? Are there unreasonable
restrictions inside the prison with respect to access to books,
meeting family members and lawyers etc.?
As per my experience, the prison conditions depend
on the sensibilities of the respective State government. With respect
to political prisoners, I believe, wherever we have seen a strong
tradition of radical or communist movements, the jail authorities,
employees and the other prisonersare familiar with the concept of
political prisoners and that is reflected in their attitude towards
the political prisoners. The recognition of the status of political
prisoners is a factor of civil liberty movements both inside and
outside the prisons, in States like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,
unofficially political prisoners are treated as such and there are
even separate Maoist barracks.Conversely, in Punjab there is no
recognition of concept of political prisoners at all, amidst
authorities or the prisoners.
After a new and bigger jail was built in
Vishakhapatnam jail, there were no longer separate barracks for
Maoist political prisoners, therefore we protested inside the jail
and through agitations, court proceedings, media attention and
petitions to officials; we were successful in obtaining special
rights for political prisoners, including separate barracks.
What were the demands you made as political
prisoners, during your protests?
As you may be aware, the struggle for rights of
political prisoners has been alive since the days of Bhagat Singh and
other revolutionaries who went on a hunger strike against the
colonial Empire. Unfortunately, our demands have not varied much
since those days. Among other demands, we stressed the need for
provision of uncensored newspapers, access to books, transparent
interview/meeting procedures with family or lawyers and the right to
address media personnel. With respect to newspapers, jail manuals
provide that prisoners should be given censored versions, however we
raised demands against this, since provision of censored newspapers
is an attack on our democratic rights and our right to know. When it
comes to access to books, there has always been a tussle between the
authorities and the prisoners. There is a Supreme Court directive in
this regard that be it Maoist literature, Marxist literature, it
should be allowed to be accessed. There is also a Supreme Court
judgment that undertrials should be allowed to address media
personnel, we pursued this agenda as well. So overall, with combined
efforts outside and inside prisons, there have been some changes.
Alongwith our demands for recognition of status of
political prisoners, we raised certain demands with regard to general
prison conditions, as well. Prison conditions are deplorable and the
treatment of prisoners is despicable. If a criminal justice system is
to be based on the jurisprudence of reformation and correctional
justice, reformatory steps have to be taken to improve the current
prison conditions and recognition of basic human rights of prisoners.
Presently, the State and the prison authorities deploy punitive
methods based on repression, they continue a colonial legacy and they
have no intentions of changing their methods.
We know that as per the recent Supreme Court
judgment
[1],
the judges have stated that there is a need to re-evaluate the
methods of arresting people, arresting people on fabricated charges
which leads to overcrowding, respect the human rights and dignity of
the prisoners and efficiently operate the undertrial review
committees; even then there is a serious lack of initiative from the
side of the executive, judiciary and the prison authorities. For
prisoners who have been languishing in jails for over 25-30 years,
the advisory boards refuse to review their cases. The State
governments have the power of acquittal and remission, which have
been curtailed to some extent in the recent past, but they do have
these powers. Especially in UP jails, the conditions are pathetic, no
efforts are made to review the cases of those who have been on life
sentences for years, I met a man in the Patiala jail who is 93 years
old and has been in jail for over 23 years. The Supreme Court has
clearly said that right to life means life for everyone, even for
prisoners
[2];
we know that the courts have time and again reiterated that bail is a
right, then why is everyone so careless about these reforms? In all
the States review committees and advisory boards are formed and their
objective is to review cases and work on the release of prisoners, to
account for prisoners’ good behaviour, but this is nowhere
implemented in reality. So, we had raised this demand as well during
our agitation that those who have completed 14 years of imprisonment
should be set free
[3],
if someone has completed half of their prison sentence as an
undertrial
[4],
they should be freed. It is the responsibility of the District Court
Judges to accompany the Superintendent in order to conduct surveys
and identify the prisoners that should be released immediately on
personal bond; even this is not implemented anywhere. It is a pity
and sad commentary on our judicial and criminal justice system that
on the one hand the Chief Justice of India is crying on national
television and on the other the entire State machinery runs the
prisons as centres of torture.
I should draw attention to the fact that in recent
times, political prisoners are being branded as criminals through
State propaganda, be it Naxalites or Muslims. Their cases are being
viewed through the prism of State security and national threat, while
their actions are merely political in nature. Through the means of a
vicious nexus with the mainstream media, psychological warfare and
government’s policy of low intensity conflict, the public is being
fed a narrative which frames our identity as criminals, who are a
threat to the nation. A systematic brain washing of the public is
taking place to feed the narrative that revolutionaries are
criminals, using politics as an excuse and simply doing business in
the name of the revolutionary movement, this impacts our image as
political prisoners to a large extent. Wherever there is no movement,
State propaganda and popular media dominate the opinions of the
masses. Aajkal unka prachaar hi hamari chhavvi ka nirmaan kar
raha hai, khaaskarun ilaakon mein jahaan movement ka prabhaav kam hai
(In today’s time, government’s propaganda is the means of
formation of our public image, especially in the areas where the
revolutionary movement is not strong).Ultimately, the political
prisoners also have to suffer the consequences of government’s
practices of black-painting them.
What are the consequences of a political
life on the family members?
This issue has to be analysed from a class
perspective. There are a few within the political movement who come
from a middle class or upper middle class background and their
economic and familial conditions are supportive of their struggles.
These are the people who joined the movement because of an
ideological bent, stayed with the revolutionary movement, have
contributed a lot and some of them now find themselves imprisoned.
Hardships arise because the network required to ensure support for
all political prisoners is actually not steady in all areas.
Therefore, many a times the political prisoners are left to fend for
themselves. Furthermore, the Adivasis suffer the most. Most of the
times they do not even understand the local language, or legal
processes and their crime is only that they tried to defend their
rights, self-respect, lifestyle, land and culture, against
corporations. For instance, Adivasis from Gadchiroli are put in
Nagpur Central Jail, they don’t have anyone to meet, they are not
given proper treatment and they are not even categorised as political
prisoners, so a large section of political prisoners act as a
catalyst for the advancement of class struggle. Recently, an
Adivasi political prisoner, Kamla had been released from
Vishakhapatnam jail after 9 years of being charged with more than 48
false and fabricated cases; she had no one who could help or take
care of her. I believe, there must be at least 6000-8000 such
Adivasis languishing in jails in the entire country.
Nonetheless, there are a few democratic forces and
progressive lawyers who assist the families and ensure that they get
to meet the prisoners, but the authorities remain completely callous
in this respect.
While demanding a separate status for political
prisoners, we did raise the issue that there should not be a specific
date for meeting family members, since many times they are travelling
long distances for a meeting. The families in such cases should not
have to return without a meeting. In many jails, the circumstances
are so disdainful that the jail authorities do not let you meet your
lawyer or family members without the presence of an intelligence
official; our meetings depend on the availability of intelligence
officials. It is preposterous that while a prisoner is trying to
communicate with family members or lawyers through thick barriers,
there are two officials standing on both sides, spying on behalf of
the State to gain access to your defence strategies for the trial. In
some prisons, the authorities did relent but in majority of the
prisons intelligence officers are present, whether officially or
unofficially.
Due to the change in power and advent of the
new government, do you see an acceleration in the State’s
repression and use of new technologies or military methods to repress
people?
The rise of Hindu fascism in India has to be seen
in the context of an international phenomena. This rise in Hindu
fascism is nothing but a manifestation of the crisis of world
imperialism, especially American imperialism. Whenever finance
capital has been in deep crisis, democratic forces and spaces have
been curtailed.The financial crisis of 2008 has not been contained
and its impact has only grown and has even reached Europe. As a
result of this growth, we see a rise in people’s resistance in many
countries like Greece, France, Portugal and Spain, although they may
not be widely covered in the media. In 2010-11 even in the Middle
East, where it is unprecedented we saw the Arab Spring uprising. In
order to defend themselves against people’s resistance due to their
own repressive and exploitative policies, finance capital and its
comprador give impetus to religious fundamentalism and succeed in
converting a class upsurge into religious fundamentalist rivalries,
i.e. Arab Spring to Arab Winter. Since in India, Hinduism is the
majority religion, religious fundamentalism takes the form of
Hindutva fascism.
We also see that our democratic space in the
country is shrinking. People like P. Uday Kumar and 2000 others with
him, who are protesting against the Kundakulam Nuclear Power Plant
are charged under sedition.
[5]
Would you say that they are the ones who are anti-development or the
ones building the Chernobyls? So the portrayal of real democratic
forces as anti-development, is the policy of the State. It is part of
the government propaganda to pass the mantle of
GDP as the real
measure of growth and development. In reality, it is the measure of
growth for the corporations whereas the government sells it as the
real measure of welfare of the people. As and when anybody raises
a voice against or questions such farcical narratives, they are
branded anti-development and anti-national. Any and all radical,
democratic, progressive forces that oppose corporate loot are branded
anti-development and circumstances of stifling their opposition are
created. When this strategy is not sufficient, a combination of Hindu
fundamentalism and national chauvinism is presented to the people,
which is now evident in the anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim discourse
being fed.
This kind of fascism is based on national chauvinism
and Hindu fundamentalism. Presently, they have the backing of
many forces which are aiding the government’s propaganda. Since in
a country like India, peoples’ movements are likely to rise against
attacks of fascism, in order to deal with such peoples’ movement
they are converting a soft State into a police establishment.
In my opinion the way to confront the present
scenario is to form a strong resistance and a broader united front
against Hindutva forces, it does not matter if this united front is a
collection of the parliamentary left, radical left or socialist
faction, a united front is required. A unanimous and public
backlash against imperialism, Hindu fundamentalism and State
repression from a cultural, economic or political front, is the need
of the hour; on individual and local levels, without emphasising the
need for any sort of organizational backing, we have to create strong
counteractive forces.It is the time to stay united, to forget our
dogmatic and ideological differences and remember what Lenin said
“divided we fall, united we win”.
As a prisoner and especially as a political
prisoner, did you face any torture while you were imprisoned and what
were the forms of torture employed by the State?
Torture, harassment, verbal insults and use of vile
language are common practices inside the prison. The State is adept
in employing various methods of torture even without involving
physical violence. They kept me under illegal detention for almost 4
days, during which I was not allowed to sleep. They call this process
‘marathon interrogation’ where various teams of 3-4 officials
keep replacing each other and they repeat the same question with
consistency. They won’t let you sleep, won’t let you eat, will
keep harassing you and asking the same questions, again and again.
Once I was taken into custody, they continued this process for over a
period of 12 days and even more officials from Delhi and the
Intelligence Bureau were invited for investigation. Many of my
comrades were beaten up, but it was more of a mental torture in my
case.
Now that a large section of the leadership
from the revolutionary movement is in their 60s-70s and due to recent
arrest and false encounters, do you think that there is a need for
cultivation of a new base or leadership?
This largely depends on the phase
of the revolutionary movement. There was a time when majority of the
leadership was among the students and intellectuals from middle class
and in fact the current leadership is a continuity of the
intelligentsia who joined at that time. Even within the Naxalbari
movement, there was a lot of student participation but presently, a
large majority from the peasantry and Adivasis are forming a part of
the on-ground leading forces. The revolutionary movement is trying to
cultivate a leadership amongst the Adivasis, who have no dearth of
experience in ground practices, but may be lacking in theoretical
rigor. Earlier there was a tradition of intellectuals joining the
revolutionary movement from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab and
other States, however, this has seen a slowdown since the
revolutionary movement is weak in urban and plain areas. It is vital
for the revolutionary movement to put in efforts to build a
leadership from the intellectuals as well, which is lacking and is
nothing but a situational lacking. Also, the subjective forces
required to achieve this objective, are insufficient.It is a positive
aspect of the movement that the leading forces are Adivasis, however,
if the movement has to be advanced, the leadership has to come from
students and intellectuals.
We need to remember that everything is not under
our control, sometimes it depends on the circumstances. If we analyse
the recent political events surrounding the JNU incidents, it can be
said that the revolutionary movement has not created personalities
and leaders like Umar Khalid, Kanhaiya Kumar and Anirban
Bhattacharya; they were shaped by the circumstances. However, due to
the struggles of the movement in the last 4-5 years there has been an
increase in awareness amongst students from Banaras Hindu University,
Allahabad University, Hyderabad University, Jadavpur University and
some universities in Telangana. One positive aspect is that, for
instance, Kanhaiya Kumar is a member of AISF which is a student body
of the CPI, however, his ideology transcends the politics and agenda
of CPI and is not at all limited by it. Now, it is the responsibility
of revolutionary movement to mobilise this wave of radical events in
the country and if steered in the right direction, in the coming
years it could sustain and advance the revolutionary movement.
As a result of the State’s acceleration of
repression and fascist tendencies, do you witness a proliferation of
radical movements in the country?
It is important to recognise that the subjective
forces are agents of change and these recent radical events are a
result of the circumstances created by the Modi government, their
proceedings thrust people towards radical movements and opposition.
There is no doubt that an incredible ground of opposition is being
prepared in contemporary India, it depends on the movement as to how
they wish to mobilise this wave of opposition and these circumstances
will only continue to grow in future. Objective conditions, which are
the basis of change, exist and the requirement is to intensify
subjective preparations.
What are your views on revolutionary
violence?
With respect to revolutionary violence, we need to
ask the important question of ‘who perpetuates violence in the
first place?’; it is always the ruler. Violence is the only means
of sustenance for the ruler or exploiter, it is a part of their
character and existence. The intensity of the violence depends on
the requirements of the crisis of the ruler. If you look at the
combined history of Communist movement, you will see that it always
begins with a dialogue on rights and demands. However, in a situation
of crisis, the State intensifies repressive methods and converts even
peaceful movements into violent ones. The revolutionary movement has
not directed the people to pick up arms but they are doing it since
in this atmosphere of State repression or corporate loot, it is
needed. Revolutionary violence is defensive in nature and is a form
of resistance; and it becomes impossible for people to exist without
defending themselves.
Now that you are free, what are your plans
for the future?
In today’s political atmosphere it is very
difficult to remain on the sidelines, the environment is such that it
is impossible for even the non-politicized masses to stay away from
the revolutionary movement. In this politically charged environment,
it is difficult for anyone who has been a part of the revolutionary
movement for a long time, to stay away from it. After having been a
part of the movement for so long, I would say that in order to
advance the revolutionary movement, it is time to reflect on the
strategies and tactics of the revolution, keeping in mind recent
global and political developments. There is no doubt that I was
always a part of the radical movement, I am a part of the radical
movement and will always be a part of the radical movement.
————————————-
[1]
The interviewee is talking about the judgment delivered by Justice
Lokur and Justice Agarwal in February, 2016 which among other things,
gave directives on prison reforms including the reduction of
prisoners in overcrowded jails and basic human rights of the
prisoners (Writ Petition (Civil) No.406/2013).
[2]
Sunil Batra v.Delhi Administration [(1980) 3 SCC 488]
[3]
Power tosuspend, remit and commute sentences under Sections 432, 433
and 433A of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973
[4]
Section 436A of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973
