శ్రీ కౌముది ఆగస్ట్ 2020

 

Who are Kalyani and Tanmay, the activists jailed for helping the Araria gang rape complainant?

The two social workers have been in jail for over 20 days, even though the complainant has been released on bail.

Aarefa Johari
Aug 01, 2020

Tanmay Nivedita has been working with rural communities in Araria, Bihar, for over four years. | Photo courtesy: Kamayani Swami

On July 10, a young woman in Araria, Bihar, refused to sign a statement written on her behalf after she finished narrating to a magistrate how she had been raped by a group of men a few days ago. She said she could not read. She asked the judge to allow the statement to be read out to her, before she signed it.

Less than 30 minutes later, the 22-year-old rape complainant found herself being arrested, along with two social workers who had accompanied her to the court to help and support her. The judge, she claimed, had called her a “pagal, badtameez ladki” – a crazy, ill-mannered girl – accused her and the social workers of arguing with him, and ordered their arrest.

The four men accused of raping the 22-year-old woman have not yet been identified or arrested. But the complainant and her companions – Tanmay Nivedita and Kalyani – were sent 240 km away from Araria to a jail in Samastipur, and charged with non-bailable offences like disrupting court proceedings and preventing public servants from doing their duty.

On July 18, after their arrest drew nationwide criticism, the rape complainant was finally granted bail and released from jail. But Tanmay and Kalyani, who have been charged with the same offences, are still in jail, more than 20 days since their arrest.

Both the social workers are members of Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, a labour union working on a variety of workers’ rights and social justice issues in northern Bihar. In Araria and neighbouring districts, Tanmay and Kalyani are known for their efforts to mobilise marginalised communities, nurture youth leaders, empower women and improve healthcare.

Since the Patna High Court is partly closed due to the Covid-19 lockdown, they will have to wait at least till August 6 before their bail pleas are heard. As they remain stuck in jail, Scroll.in spoke to their colleagues and friends about who they are, what grassroots-level work they do and how they are continuing their activism in jail.

Read article: scrollin

India needs more than just money to truly reform its police

July 13, 2020

By Manavi Kapur

Culture and lifestyle reporter

Brute force. REUTERS/Adnan Abid

The instances of police brutality across the globe have stirred grief and anger.

And yet, the death of George Floyd happened in a context that was entirely different from that of the alleged custodial deaths of J Jayaraj and his son, Bennicks Immanuel. While Black Lives Matter protests across the US called for defunding the police, in India, these reported killings asked for a complete reform of the police forces.

The call for police reform is not new, and the government has enabled several committees to create a roadmap to modernise the forces. This call has also been intensified when gangster Vikas Dubey was allegedly killed by the police in an encounter. And yet, change has been slow to come. Most of the Indian states, for instance, only spend 3% of their annual budgets towards maintaining the police force, and have widespread human resource shortages.

But simply more funds for the police is not going to reduce cases of brutality, according to Maja Daruwala, senior advisor for Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, and editor of the India Justice Report. “It’s important to see if current spending is enough and properly utilised before reaching any conclusion on what better-policing costs,” she said.

In an interview with Quartz, Daruwala speaks of the problems with budgetary allocations for the police force, why it hasn’t been modernised, and what states can do immediately to improve the level of sensitisation among officers. Edited excerpts:

Read article: Quartz India