Victims of India's TADA laws 03 August 1997 India has achieved 50 years of independence, with many celebrations well under way - but what has it been able to give its citizens in terms of basic human rights? Victims of India's TADA laws 3RD AUGUST 1997 India has achieved 50 years of independence, with many celebrations well under way - but what has it been able to give its citizens in terms of basic human rights? Sarah Lala's campaign for justice started 4 years ago, to free her husband Salim Lala who has been imprisoned in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India. Sarah's husband was arrested in August 1993 and has been held in custody for the past 4 years without being tried. Firstly Salim was held in prison for 10 months without charge. In June 1994 he was charged under The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act - TADA. The police claimed they found a cache of arms in the village where his uncle owned a farm. These claims are false states Mrs Lala, a case of mistaken identity - Salim Lala has always maintained that he is completely innocent. Sarah says when her husband was taken to the local Rander police station an officer remarked that they had got the wrong man but continued to hold him because they couldn't be bothered to find the real man. Salim and his uncle who is also imprisoned with him have been tortured, the police have beaten them senseless, depriving them of sleep. Petrol and paraffin have been injected in to Salim's uncles joints. Salim was beaten up mercilessly and forced to sign a blank piece of paper, for the police to fabricate a confession. Salim's uncle recently became very ill and badly dehydrated, he was denied hospital treatment. In their 4 years of detention Salim's aunt passed away, his uncle's daughter got married both men were not allowed to attend either of these important family occasions. Under the TADA act, the powers to execute the Act are at the discretion of the state government. Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav of Bihar state and Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav of Uttar Pardesh both decided not to administer this act, therefore there was no TADA detainees in these states. It is unlucky that Salim Lala was in Gujarat. There are an estimated 65.000 TADA detainees in Indian prisons. The act has an extremely low rate of conviction, out of 200 people charged under TADA only one person will be convicted, which just proves how unfair and ridiculous the Act is. People are held for years in prison without trial. The detainees and their families go through so much unnecessary heartache and suffering. This Act can in many ways be seen by some Muslims as prejudiced for example in 1995, 228 TADA cases were registered in Rajahastan, 101 were against Muslims, 96 against Sikhs and 3 against Hindus. There is no bail under the TADA Act and appeals can only be made to the Supreme Court in Delhi. Thousands of people are unfortunately precluded this right as the court is in Delhi, families would have to undertake very expensive long journeys. To obtain a lawyer for the Supreme Court the minimum cost would be RS 250.000, which is £4.200 a large amount to raise even by western standards. The TADA Act is against one of the basic points of the Indian Constitution, that a person is presumed innocent until he is proven guilty. TADA presumes that people are guilty until they are proven innocent. In June 1995, after coming under mounting criticism from the International community, the Indian government repealed the Act. However those arrested prior to this date would continue to remain in prison. Since December Salim has been receiving dates for his trial to begin, each time the date is postponed. No sooner is his trial date released, Salim, Sarah and their families hopes are raised, but to no avail as it is postponed without any legitimate reason. In June of this year Sarah visited her husband Salim in India, and it seemed his trial would soon start, but it didn't. At the moment there is no indication of when Salim's trial will begin. The Judicial system is slow and tedious, years months, weeks, days, hours and seconds are just ticking away while Salim sits in his cell, staring at the four walls without hope of any prospect of release. Sarah says the best years of her and her husband's life have gone, a part of her life they will never have again. Mrs Lala, her family and her husband's, have waited all these years but as time goes on they are becoming more and more disheartened. Sarah's family have already spent thousands of pounds and Salim's family have spent hundreds of thousand rupees, but to no avail, as the system is corrupt, with no conscience. Salim is allowed visitors only once a month. In the six weeks that Sarah was in India she was only allowed to visit him once. For Sarah to reach her husband she had to undertake an arduous 12 hour journey. Along with Salim there are a total of 29 people (out of which 27 are Muslim) charged under the same case. For the majority of these prisoners who were the main breadwinners for their families, the situation is bleak as the families are struggling just to survive, unable to afford legal fees for the trial. Two months ago 20 men charged the TADA (as part of the RDX case-Salim is also alleged to be involved in the RDX case) held in Valsad prison, Gujarat for the past 3 years, were eventually tried. At the conclusion of the trial, all 20 men were acquitted, innocent. In the judgement, the judge made specific reference to the fact that police had very little evidence to prove their case and had used torture and coercion to extract confessions from these 20 and other witnesses. One famous example of a TADA detainee has been the Indian film actor Sunjay Dutt - son of veteran actors Sunil Dutt and Nargis. Sunjay Dutt was released on bail on October 17th 1995 after fifteen and a half months in a Bombay prison. In Maharashtra state many prisoners have been tried and many more have been released on bail. This is attributable to the fact that the state government have intervened and ordered the legislative procedures to accelerate the process, including granting bail to prisoners. Unfortunately the Gujarat government have not felt it an important enough issue to do this, and therefore Salim Lala and 28 other men continue to remain in prison. Sarah is very confident that once her husband has been tried he will also be acquitted innocent as the police have not got a shred of evidence against her husband. The Indian Government has been saying for the past four years that they will give these men justice. The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Wagela came to Surat. A delegation of Muslims went to see him because the majority of oppressed people held under TADA are Muslims. Mr Wagela promised he would do something but he has done nothing. The Prime Minister of India, I.K Gujeral appeared on television claiming he wanted the detainees to receive justice, but Salim and the other detainees still remain where they are. It's a case of the Indian government making all the right noises, but at the end of the day there is no progress. What is needed is a wider public awareness, not only in this country but world-wide, with the help of the media. If India were to receive pressure from Britain they might do something, after all Britain along with America do play an important part in giving financial aid to India. It is wrong that innocent people should have to suffer to this extent. The rest of the world should wake up to those atrocities. When two English women were detained in a Bangkok prison for smuggling heroin there was an outcry from the public and John Major asked the Thai government to show clemency. Both women were pardoned and sent back to Britain. The same applied in the case of Samantha - a former model who was convicted of smuggling drugs and was held in an Indian prison. She insisted she was innocent. After protests from the British government she was also released. As soon as she arrived in Britain she confessed that she had smuggled drugs. Both these cases illustrate that people who were guilty of serious crimes were released due to the intervention of the British government. Salim Lala and the other detainees are innocent men who surely deserve this kind of intervention, compassion and above all justice. In America there are already 2 senators who are trying to push a bill through congress to stop humanitarian aid to India if they do not improve their human rights record, including the gross abuses under TADA. The TADA Act is no more because it was unjust, but two years on detainees booked under this law are still in prison without trial. Four years is a very long time, please help us to help Salim and other Muslims who have not seen freedom now for four years. ANNEELA AHMAD Recommend this article to a friend Your name: Your friend's email address: