Victims of police atrocity speak out at People’s Court

Victims of police atrocity speak out at People’s Court

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, December 11: In his presidential address at the inauguration ceremony of the 2-day People’s Court jointly organized by the Mangalore Pradesh Catholic Sabha and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Mangalore Bar Association President S. P. Chengappa lamented the gross violation of human rights by the police department and said that the police are puppets in the hands of politicians and act according to the whims of these politicians to suppress the citizens.

  

The purpose of organizing the People’s Court was to hear various cases of police atrocities in coastal Karnataka. The event was held as part of Human Rights Day observation in the auditorium of Milagres College on Saturday evening.

Lamenting the failure of independent India to stop police atrocities, he said that Indians have been experiencing police atrocities right from pre Independence days and that the police of independent India are also following British rules and methods. Lamenting over the rise in violation of human rights and citing the examples of the murder of advocate Naushad Khasimji and the disappearance of advocate Preetham, he said even advocates are not safe from police atrocities. He also said that the police implicate innocent people for various reasons. He urged human rights activists to keep their struggle secular and free of bias.

Secretary of Tamil Nadu State PUCL Balamurugan inaugurated the event and urged the human rights activists to react strongly against violation of human rights in society.  Lamenting that atrocities are crossing all limits and that human rights activists are facing sedition charges, he said that activists should be bold and daring enough to face the fascist forces that abound in today’s society.

Secretary of Karnataka State PUCL Laxmi Narayan released a book of fact-finding reports regarding NHRC and SHRC cases and other related correspondence published by DK PUCL.
Retired Justice M. F. Saldanha and PUCL State President P. B. D’Sa were also present.

Zakir Hussain Ullal, a victim of police atrocity, shared his terrible experiences with the police. Besides Hussain, a number of other victims spoke about their experiences.