Dreaded State Outreach

The People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) unequivocally condemns the raid by the Chhattisgarh Special Task Force and the Rajasthan police on the house of Kavita Srivastava, a noted human rights activist and general secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), in the morning hours of 3 October 2011.

As learnt until now, the Chhattisgarh police claiming to be looking for a “khatarnak (dreaded) naxalite” landed with a search warrant at Kavita’s house. No written specification of the person that the police was looking for was given to her family or colleagues. This arbitrariness and mindless hounding of people and activists is quite consistent with the past practices of the Chhattisgarh government and its police. The present incident underscores its territorial outreach and the larger connivance of the oppressive forces across the states.