Activists seek prompt ruling in C'garh 'sexual assault' cases

Welcoming the NHRC notice to Chhattisgarh government on the alleged rape and assault of 16 women by the state police, activists today sought a prompt ruling in the matter and alleged that false cases were being filed against social workers under the garb of demonetisation.
"Chhattisgarh is in a state of emergency in the manner in which people are being falsely implicated and arrested. We want strong action against Bastar's IGP Kalluri and the state government," sociologist and activist Nandini Sundar said at a press conference organised by Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS).
"Both Kalluri and the chief secretary have ignored repeated summons by the NHRC, which shows that Chhattisgarh government is beyond the Constitution," Sundar said.

"If accountability is not sought this impunity will continue. The state authorities and functionaries are brazenly in contempt of all orders of all institutions and therefore it is imperative on the part of institutions like SC and NHRC to decisively and promptly intervene," said women's rights lawyer Vrinda Grover.
The activists also hightlighted the manner in which the police was deliberately filing false cases of exchanging demonetised currency notes against activists trying to uncover police brutalities.
According to them, Bastar IGP SRP Kalluri has publicly accused advocate Shalini Gera of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group of exchanging demonetised currency for Maoists.

The Chhattisgarh police had also arrested seven Telangana activists on these charges.

Vrinda Grover said such "strategies" were being adopted to justify that demonetisation was indeed flushing out terrorism.
"One of the justifications given by the government for its note ban is that this will help fight terrorism. Now that the entire money is back in the banks and there is not even a single instance where they can show that terrorism has been impacted people are being implicated in false cases is part of a national strategy to justify a failed initiative."
All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) has also appealed to the NHRC to direct the Chhattisgarh government to "disband and stop providing protection to illegal and unauthorised lumpen elements through organisations like the Samajik Ekta Manch and AGNI, which has threatened to physically stop human rights activists from entering Bastar".