Killing of Mr. Niyamat Ansari, human rights defender of workers' rights

Killing / Death threats

India

March 24, 2011

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme ofthe World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federationfor Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the followingsituation in India.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by People's Watch ofthe killing of Mr. Niyamat Ansari, human rights activist engaged in thedefence of workers’ rights in Manika Block, Latehar District, State ofJharkhand, as well as of death threats received by his associate Mr. BhukhanSingh. Mr. Niyamat Ansari wasnotablydocumenting cases of corruption related to theimplementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA)[1].

According to the information received, on March 2, 2011, a group of armed men came to theresidence of Mr. Niyamat Ansari, in the locality of Jerua, in the village ofKope. They took him away and reportedly brutally beat him for nearly one hour.After they left the village, members of his family found him unconscious andcarried him by foot over a distance of ten kilometres, from Jerua village toManika police station, where an ambulance was sent to bring him to LateharSadar Hospital. Mr. Niyamat Ansari died soon after reaching the hospital.

The armed men were allegedly also seeking Mr. BhukhanSingh, but the latter was able to hide.

The killing of Mr. Niyamat Ansari is believed to berelated to his work in favour of workers subjected to the MGNREGA and hisdenunciation of corruption in relation to this employment scheme in the Stateof Jharkhand.

On March 3, 2011, the police ofLatehar recorded a First Information Report (FIR)[2], based on the statements of the sister of the deceased, againstseven private local contractors or their associates and against Mr. Sudarshan,a local Maoist leader belonging to the Koel Sankh zone of Communist Party ofIndia of Pratappur block in Chatra district, also believed to be involved inthe murder. To date, only one of the private contractors has reportedly beenarrested.

On March 5, 2011, the local newspapers PrabhatKhabar and Dainik Bhaskar published a statement written by the SouthLatehar Sub-zonal Committee of the Communist Party of India, claimingresponsibility for the murder, and warning Mr. Bhukhan Singh that if heremained under police protection, he would meet the same fate.

In an interview to the New Delhi newspaper TheTelegraph dated March 21, 2011, Mr. B.K. Sinha, the Secretary of theDepartment of Rural Development of the Ministry of Rural Development, recognisedthat the killing of Mr. Niyamat Ansari was linked to his activities related toMNREGA. He announced that he would send a team of experts to Jharkhand to “seehow the system worked and identify deficiencies” in the implementation of the MahatmaGandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme which, according to him, hasbeen taken over by a contractors’ mafia allegedly behind the murder of Mr.Niyamat Ansari. Mr. Sinha also said that if hisdepartment was not satisfied with the investigations on the murder, it couldask a central agency to take over the case, as provided under Section 27(2) ofthe MNREGA.

The Observatory expresses its deepest concern aboutthe killing of Mr. Niyamat Ansari, which merely seems to aim atsanctioning his human rights activities, and urges the Indian authorities to order an immediate,thorough and impartial investigation into his assassination, prosecute allthose responsible and try them before a competent and impartial tribunal. TheObservatory also calls on the Indian authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychologicalintegrity of Mr. Bhukhan Singh.

Background information:

Since MGNREGA was launched in 2006, Mr. Niyamat Ansari and Mr. Bhukhan Singh have been working for therights of workers subjected to the MGNREGA, particularly through the support ofseveral cases of demands for unemployment allowance at the Latehar People’sCourt, which were accepted in February 2009. In the framework of their legal activitiesin favour of these workers, Mr.Niyamat Ansari and Mr.Bhukhan Singh also collected information and investigated cases of corruption,especially by private contractors taking financial advantage of this employmentsystem in Jharkhand.

In February 2011, Mr. Niyamat Ansari exposed a case of embezzlementof 250,000 Rupees (US$ 55,280) from funds which should have been allocated toworkers subjected tothe MGNREGA in the village of Rankikala. On March 1, 2011, the daybefore the killing of Mr. Niyamat Ansari, a FIR was lodged against the formerManika Block Development Officer (BDO) and another local administration’s staffmember suspected to be responsible for the scam. Later on, more than 200,000Rupees were reportedly recovered from the former BDO.

Actions requested:

The Observatory urges the authorities of India to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrityof Mr. Bhukhan Singh and ofall human rights defenders in India;

ii. Order an immediate, thorough, effective and impartial investigation intothe killing of Mr. Niyamat Ansari and death threats against Mr. Bhukhan Singh, the result of which must be made public, in order toidentify all those responsible, bring them before a civil competent andimpartial tribunal and apply to them the penal sanctions provided by the law;

iii. Put an end to acts of harassment and threats faced by defenders ofsocials and economical rights in India, and more generally by all human rightsdefenders;

iv. Conform to theprovisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9,1998, especially:

- its Article 1, which states that “everyone has theright, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strivefor the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms atthe national and international levels”;

- its Article 6(a), which provides that “everyone hasthe right, individually and in associations with others, to know, seek, obtain,receive and hold information about all human rights and fundamental freedoms”;

- its Article 9.3 (a) and (c), which states that“everyone has the right, individually and in associations with others, tocomplain about the policies and actions of individual officials andgovernmental bodies with regards to violations of human rights and fundamentalfreedom by petition or other appropriate means, to competent domestic judicial,administrative or legislative authorities or any other competent authorityprovided for by the legal system of the State, which should render theirdecision on the complaint without undue delay [...] to offer and provide professionally qualified legalassistance or other relevant advice and assistance in defending human rightsand fundamental freedoms”;

- and its Article 12.2, which provides that “theState shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competentauthorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, againstany violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination,pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or herlegitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”.

v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamentalfreedoms in accordance with international human rights standards andinternational instruments ratified by India.

Adresses:

· ShriManmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister’sOffice, Room number 152, South Block, New Delhi, India. Fax:+ 91 11 2301 6857 Email: pmosb@pmo.nic.in

· Dr.P. Chidambaram, Union Minister of Home Affairs, Ministry of HomeAffairs, 104-107 North Block, New Delhi 110 001 India. Fax:+91 11 2309 2979. Email: hm@nic.in

· JusticeKapadia, Chief Justice of India and RK. Raghavan, Chairman of the SpecialInvestigation Team, Supreme Court, Tilak Marg, New Delhi -1,India. Fax: +91 11 233 83792, Email: supremecourt@nic.in

· JusticeK. G. Balkrishnan, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission ofIndia, Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi 110 001, India. Tel: +91 11230 74448, Fax: +91 11 2334 0016, Email: covdnhrc@nic.in ; ionhrc@nic.in

· Gopinathan,Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative to theUnited Nations (Geneva), Rue du Valais 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. Tel: +41 22906 86 86, Fax: +41 22 906 86 96, Email: mission.india@ties.itu.int

· Embassyof India in Brussels, 217 Chaussée de Vleurgat, 1050 Brussels, Belgium, Fax:+32 (0)2 6489638 or +32 (0)2 6451869

Please also write to thediplomatic representations of India in your respective countries.

***
Geneva-Paris, March 24, 2011

Kindly inform us of any actionundertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, an OMCTand FIDH venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders andaims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

[1] MNREGA is an Indian jobguarantee scheme which provides a legal guarantee for 100 days of employment inevery financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to dopublic work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage of US$2.22 per day in 2009 prices. This act was introduced with the aim of improvingthe purchasing power of the rural people, primarily semi or un-skilled work topeople living in rural India.

[2] A First Information Report is a writtencomplaint filed at the police.