India

Lachit Bordoloi is a journalist and adviser of Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS), an organisation working to defend human rights in the Assam region. With other representatives of civil society he was invited to join the People’s Committee for Peace Initiatives in Assam (PCPIA) and is a member of the People’s Consultative Group (PCG), an organisation set up to initiate peace discussions between the Indian Government and the United Liberation Front of Assam.  

Front Line is deeply concerned following reports received of the severe beating and arrest of human rights defender Advocate Parvez Imroz on 17 November 2008 by Indian security forces, before being released without charge late in the evening. Advocate Parvez Imroz is the co-convener of the International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir, and the co-founder and president of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). Front Line previously wrote to you on 1 July 2008 concerning the attempted assassination of Advocate Parvez Imroz.  

Front Line is seriously concerned about the judicial harassment of Kirity Roy, the former president of Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), a non-governmental human rights organisation based in Howrah, Kolkata, West Bengal. On 27 September 2008, police entered the offices of MASUM searching for Kirity Roy and affidavits from the People's Tribunal on Torture (PTT), which is organised by the National Project on Preventing Torture in India (NPPTI).  

Front Line is deeply concerned that human rights defenders, Duskar Barik, Mamata Barik, Jayanti Sethy and Ranjan Patnaik currently fear arrest by police following reports that they have alleged links with armed Maoist groups. The above-mentioned human rights defenders all work for the Keonjhar Integrated Rural Development and Training Institute (KIRDTI), an organisation that campaigns for the land rights of adivasis, or indigenous populations, ecological protection from mining and illegal felling of woods, in Harichandanpur and Banspal Block of Keonjhar district in Orissa. KIRDTI is also involved in working on development activities with the 'Juang' tribal community.  

Front Line is deeply concerned following reports that human rights defenders Dr Angana Chatterji and Advocate Parvez Imroz, conveners of the International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir have been subjected to intimidation and harassment. The International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir began on 5 April 2008 and was formed by the Public Commission on Human Rights in order to investigate charges of institutionalised violence and human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir.