Civil society groups in Haryana’s Hisar have alleged and condemned the arrest of Dalit human rights lawyer and community rights activist Rajat Kalsan, who has also been subjected to police torture and casteist slurs.
According to a statement by the Students for People’s Democracy (SfPD), Kalsan was arrested by the Hisar Police twice on the same day, in connection with two separate cases.
A reputed lawyer in Haryana, Kalsan has been fighting cases on caste-based atrocities and has fought cases in India’s Khap-dominated regions, including cases of gang rapes, killings, and house burnings.
On 30 July, Kalsan was arrested while he was visiting an auto market. The Haryana Police, who had been tracking him, reached the location to serve him a notice, according to SfPD.
The lawyers in the case alleged that the police came in civilian clothes to serve him a notice, a pattern that is being observed in the arrest of many activists and lawyers.
“However, the actual picture was that a group of 20 to 30 police officers in plain clothes came to serve him a notice at night when he was in the market. No formal procedure was followed; rather, intimidation techniques were used against him,” Lavanya Jha, activist and member of SfPD, told Maktoob.
The Haryana Police, in a statement, also alleged that Kalsan had become violent and disrupted their work, for which he has been charged with “obstruction of justice as he verbally abused them and injured one officer.”
SfPD has also accused the police of making Kalsan sit in a humiliating and demeaning posture.
In a picture that is going viral, Kalsan can be seen squatting with two police officers standing beside him.
These photographs were then circulated to shame him, Jha added.
Members have also accused the police of torturing and beating Kalsan, including using casteist slurs.
“Kalsan was subjected to third-degree police brutality and custodial torture, which is a blatant violation of Article 21 in the Indian Constitution. He was taken from one district to another in a police jeep. He was not given food, beaten, and abused with casteist slurs by the police. His family, who is in constant touch with him, told us that his health is in a weak state,” Jha added.
Kalsan has been charged under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 115 (causing hurt), 121.1 (hurting a public servant), 126 (wrongful restraint), and 352 (insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).
According to reports, two cases have been filed against Kalsan – one in Hisar and another in Hansi.
In the first instance, Hansi police arrested Kalsan in connection with a complaint filed by a man named Sushil, who alleged that the activist had circulated a video accusing the complainant’s family and the police of corruption and misconduct in the Budana case.
Acting on the complaint, Narnaund police registered an FIR under multiple sections of the IPC.
Civil society members have alleged that Kalsan’s arrest is linked to a case related to the blind murder of a woman in Budana village in Hisar.
“Kalsan was fighting a case of atrocity and sexual assault on a person whose family has now been accused of the murder. In connection to the blind murder case, a complaint was filed against Rajat, alleging that he circulated a video accusing the victim’s family and the police of corruption in the murder case. A day after he got interim bail in this case, he was again charged with a fake case of manhandling and obstructing police officials,” they said in a statement.
Kalsan was later presented before a court, which granted him bail in the matter.
However, soon after being released, he was rearrested by Hisar police in a separate case involving charges of manhandling and obstructing police officials.
Kalsan was released on Monday after he was presented before the Judicial Magistrate with a bail bond of Rs. 50,000.
The court, after hearing that Kalsan was a practicing lawyer, stated, “The court is of the view that no useful purpose would be served by detaining the accused in judicial custody.”
In the previous month, the police raided his house three times, and he has been under constant surveillance by the police for the past year. The Haryana police have also blocked his social media account.
“There is misinformation being spread by local media channels and local YouTubers who are celebrating his arrest, welcoming his arrest. The local media has been instructed not to report on Rajat Kalsan or the cases that he has been fighting,” a statement by SfPD stated.
Previously, Kalsan has faced various cases against him, including intimidation by police authorities for his work defending the rights of Dalit people. In 2015 and 2016, two other cases were filed against him in reaction to his work against atrocities committed by dominant caste members.
Kalsan has faced multiple death threats and physical assaults. In 2011, he was provided police protection. The protection was withdrawn in 2016 without any apparent reassessment of the risks he faces, according to SfPD.
“Such abduction, wrongful incarceration, and custodial torture of activists, often with fabricated cases, has increasingly become a norm under the current fascist regime. This is not an isolated instance, but part of a growing trend of state repression against those who challenge communal hatred, caste oppression, and fascist rule. The arrest and prolonged imprisonment of scholars, lawyers, and activists in the Bhima Koregaon case, many of whom are yet to be granted bail despite there not being any evidence, exposes how the regime targets voices that stand with the oppressed. Similarly, numerous students, activists, and citizens who opposed the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) were arrested under draconian laws like UAPA, on farcical grounds and without due process,” SfPD said in a statement.
Previously, in 2017, Amnesty International had also come out in support of Kalsan.
In a statement, they said, “The threats and charges against Rajat Kalsan are part of a growing trend of threats, harassment and killings against human rights defenders in India. Human rights defenders are working in increasingly hostile environments and are facing numerous hurdles in their work. These include fear of violence, state reprisal, clampdown on funding and punitive laws.”
Nikita Jain
Courtesy : Maktoob Media
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