Bela Bhatia Harassed and Threatened
On 23 January 2017 around 30 people went to the house of human rights defender Ms. Bela Bhatia in Pandripani village, Bastar district, Chhattisgarh, central India. They accused her of being a “Maoist sympathiser” and threatened to burn the house down if she did not leave immediately.
Bela Bhatia is a human rights defender, independent researcher, writer and presently Honorary Professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. In January 2016 and November 2015, Bela Bhatia brought to light two instances of gang rape and sexual assault by security forces conducting anti-Maoist operations, and provided assistance to the victims in filing complaints with the police in Bijapur. The human rights defender has participated in the preparation of many fact-finding reports and served on a Planning Commission-appointed panel to examine challenges to governance in areas of the Maoist rebellion. Prior to that she had engaged in extensive study of the Naxalite movement in Indian states such as Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
On 23 January 2017, around 30 people went to the house of human rights defender Ms. Bela Bhatia in Pandripani village, Bastar district, Chhattisgarh, central India. They accused her of being a “Maoist sympathiser” and threatened to burn the house down if she did not leave immediately.
Download the Urgent Appeal (PDF)
On 23 January 2017, a group of around 30 local villagers went to the house of Bela Bhatia in Pandripani village, Bastar district, Chhattisgarh, central India. They protested outside and accused her of being a “Maoist sympathiser”. She was threatened that her house would be set on fire if she failed to vacate it immediately. Her landlady was also threatened and was warned to force Bela Bhatia to leave. Fellow human rights defenders contacted the Inspector General of Police and other senior police officers of Bastar district to report the incident and request police assistance in ensuring Bela Bhatia’s safety. Although a police officer initially responded by saying, “Very soon Maoists and their dogs will be thrown out of Bastar”, a number of officers were sent to her house to provide the human rights defender with protection. The mob of villagers eventually left her house when Bela Bhatia assured them that she would vacate it by 24 January.
On 7 January 2017, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a press note indicting Chhattisgarh police of raping and sexually assaulting at least 16 women in Bijapur. Bela Bhatia had been working closely with the NHRC on the investigation. On 19 and 20 January 2017, Bela Bhatia together with the NHRC team went on a mission to record some statements of women who had filed cases of rape and sexual assault against the security forces in the villages of Peddagelur and Bellamnendra in Bijapur district.
This is not the first case of harassment against Bela Bhatia. On 26 March 2016, death threats were made against her during a demonstration close to her home in Jagdalpur. Participants in the demonstration demanded that the human rights defender be put to death, accused her of being a Naxal terrorist and questioned her landlady and neighbours.
The harassment of Bela Bhatia is part of a larger wave of repression of human rights defenders, including lawyers, researchers and journalists, standing up against police in the Bastar district. Previously, investigations into human rights violations in the area had been rare due to significant restrictions of people's freedoms as a result of the long drawn-out military confrontation between government forces and Maoist rebels in the region. The Chhattisgarh police has previously used the same intimidating and threatening tactics against several other women human rights defenders in the Bastar region, including tribal activist Ms Soni Sori, lawyers Ms Shalini Gera and Ms Isha Khandelwal, and journalist Ms Malini Subramaniam. More recently, on 25 December 2016, seven human rights defenders of the Telangana Democratic Front (TDF) were arrested by the Chhattisgarh police and charged on 26 December 2016 under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act for allegedly possessing banned currency notes and Maoist literature.
Front Line Defenders expresses grave concern at the threats against human rights defender Bela Bhatia , which it believes are solely motivated by her peaceful and legitimate work in human rights in Chhattisgarh state.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in India to:
1. Immediately cease all further harassment of Bela Bhatia, as Front Line Defenders believes that the human rights defender has been targeted solely as a result of her legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights;
2. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Bela Bhatia as well as of the members of her family;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in India are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.
On 26 March 2016, death threats were made against human rights defender Ms Bela Bhatia during a demonstration close to her home in Jagdalpur. Participants in the demonstration demanded that the human rights defender be put to death, accused her of being a Naxal terrorist and questioned her landlady and neighbours.
Download the Urgent Appeal (PDF)
On 26 March 2016, a group of around 100 men, women and armed police officers in plain clothes came to the village eight kilometres from Jagdalpur, where Bela Bhatia rents a house. The human rights defender was not at home at the time. In her absence the group questioned Bela Bhatia's landlady and neighbours about the human rights defender. They demanded that the landlady answer questions as to why she had rented a place to a “Naxalite terrorist” and told her to order Bela Bhatia to vacate the house. The crowd subsequently marched through the village, shouting slogans such as “Death to Bela Bhatia”. They also distributed pamphlets calling the human rights defender a “Naxal stooge”, a “foreign stooge”, and criticizing her husband, Mr Jean Dreze, accusing him of being a Naxal supporter.
Bela Bhatia has faced intimidation on multiple occasions in recent weeks. In February 2016, police visited her home in the village, questioned her neighbours and photographed her landlord. In January 2016, after the human rights defender had helped several women who had been raped by police officers to file complaints in Bijapur, she faced intimidation from representatives of Samajik Ekta Manch, who organised a mob and shouted slogans accusing her of being a Naxalite, and of not raising issues of human rights abuses by Naxals. Samajik Ekta Manch is a Jagdalpur based organisation reportedly supported by the Chhattisgarh Police, allegedly to counter Naxal influence and activities in the Bastar region. The group has previously used the same intimidating and threatening tactics against several other women human rights defenders in the Bastar region, including tribal activist Ms Soni Sori, lawyers Ms Shalini Gera and Ms Isha Khandelwal, and journalist Ms Malini Subramaniam.
The harassment of Bela Bhatia is part of a larger wave of repression of human rights defenders, including lawyers, researchers and journalists, standing up against police in the Bastar district. Previously, investigations into human rights violations in the area had been rare due to significant restrictions of people's freedoms as a result of the long drawn-out military confrontation between government forces and Maoist rebels in the region. However, two protests against human rights violations committed by police and restrictions upon the freedom of speech in October and December 2015 served to instigate greater human rights activism in Bastar.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the harassment of Bela Bhatia, which it believes is directly linked to her legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights in the Chhattisgarh state.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in India to:
1. Immediately cease all further harassment of Bela Bhatia, as Front Line Defenders believes that the human rights defender has been targeted solely as a result of her legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights;
2. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Bela Bhatia as well as of the members of her family;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in India are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.
