AFRO-NETS> Police Abuse on AIDS Activists in India

["Jyothi Kumar V Subhash T.V." <swfk@asianetindia.com>]

Police Abuse on AIDS Activists in India
---------------------------------------
 
 
Dear AFRO-NETS subscribers,
 
The following letter is self explanatory and gives a picture of the 
recent incident of Police Violence on The Support Group for Sex work-
ers in Kerala. We will share you the follow-up shortly.
 
 
--
THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE
Thiruvananthapuram
 
SUB: HUMILIATION, INSULT AND ABUSE BY AN ASI AND DRIVER ON 20th JUNE 
2003
 
This is to take your kind attention on the incident dated 20th June.
 
We are working among sexworkers to prevent the spread of AIDS and for 
their human rights. We have a counseling project named Thrani,a home 
for the Sex workers children(Chilla) and a program for the Sex work-
ers(Anasooya).We have informed the local police station and other 
concerned officials like Circle Inspector, Peroorkkada and along with 
you, when we started our office in the above address.
 
Running a drop-in-center for sexworkers in a city suburb is a diffi-
cult and sensitive thing. So we contacted the Residents association 
there and opened a dialogue. We kept it at a low key and though with 
reluctance the president of the Association agreed to go along with 
it. He and some of the residents understood the need of the hour. 
Without a drop-in-center the AIDS prevention projects won't work. The 
Government projects all over Kerala also face this predicament. Our 
project is run by the National Network of Sex Workers with its head-
quarters in Kolkata. Till the last February, we were doing a similar 
project in Kovalam under the State AIDS Control Society (KSACS). An-
other project run by another voluntary organization, SOMA, is still 
running in Uppalam Road, near Statue under KSACS. The projects all 
over Kerala are running without changing the existing laws criminal-
izing the premises of sexwork. The NGOs who take up the projects 
brunt all the ire from the public. So we do it knowing the difficul-
ties involved.
 
Our project was running smoothly for the last six months, though with 
some opposition from a section of the nearby residents. We were able 
to clarify the situation and kept our dialogue with them going. It is 
a balancing act and we needed support from all the quarters, espe-
cially the police. Till yesterday that was our experience. On 20th 
June an unfortunate incident happened. One of the sexworkers, who 
used the drop-in-center from the beginning, got inebriated with alco-
hol and got violent. Our staff could not manage and phoned me for 
support. They sought help and the police arrived without much delay. 
The residents who were keeping aloof till then came to the scene.
 
We needed the help of police and were quiet relaxed when the police 
came. But the ASI and the driver behaved so badly. They questioned us 
as we were culprits and did not allow us to call the head of the in-
stitution or to take a copy of the letter we have already submitted 
to the concerned police authorities. My (subhash) finger was injured 
and was bleeding and they did not allow me to get it dressed.
 
The police who came to help us on our emergency call created such a 
scene. The ASI and the Driver called us "Da.." "Da.." and "do not be 
smart" and all other abusive words, which is not printable. He 
shouted to get us inside the police jeep, which we resisted. Then he 
raised his hands to beat us. We could see his intention was to hu-
miliate us and be a hero in front of the crowd gathered. We tried to 
explain our situation but he ridiculed us and all of them laughed. He 
threatened us and warned us of the sheer consequences of RUNNING A 
BROTHEL
 
The Sex worker who was drunk, street based and uneducated never be-
haved to us this badly when she is sane. It is understandable and we 
are all responsible for what she is. But a responsible police officer 
(and on his inspiration even the driver) behaved very indecently in-
side our office and towards the officers in charge. They disturbed us 
from completing our work and ordered to close the office.
 
We never had such a severe teasing in our life time. He knew that we 
are educated people, responsible citizens and have equal responsibil-
ity in serving the society. But it was a shock and we cannot recover 
from it. If people involved in serious social, human rights and 
charitable works are treated in similar fashion what is the fate of 
people involved in criminal activities? We sought justice which was 
blatantly denied. We request you to mend it.
 
Our social problems are so complex and traditional approaches and at-
titudes to manage crisis situations are sometimes found obsolete. We 
lack people to work for the rights of the marginalized people. Only 
very few educated people (who are otherwise also capable to get white 
color jobs) are involved in social intervention programs like ours. 
We know the difficulties and social pressures from all circles. Still 
we take it as a commitment. The judgmental and biased attitudes are 
vitiating the culture to work with marginalized people. The ASI and 
the driver are also keeping the same value system and the outfits of 
such a society. It's our personal integrity and quality that help us 
to devote our time and service to such causes. May be your ASI and 
driver could not reach to this level of understanding. It is no 
body's fault. We accept people as they are. They do what they are 
learned and as they tuned. Police some times do and act irresponsibly 
against law. Some uniforms and positions make some people feel that 
they are above everything and every one. Yet there should be some 
different learning opportunities to all. Let them take some time to 
think again and improve their behavior and change their attitudes.
 
We have registerd an official complaint against the concerned ASI 
Mr.Mohammed Shafi and the driver as individuals for the psychological 
damage, social damage and personal damage created only because of a 
sheer lack of maturity and a plain show of irresponsibility by a po-
lice official while handling such a very sensitive issue.We request 
you to take necessary action against the two police personnel in-
volved. We will forward this complaint to police officials in the 
higher rank and go to the court on a similar fashion if necessary ac-
tion is not taken.
 
 
Yours truly,
 
Jyothi Kumar V Subhash.T.V
(Administrative Officer) 
(Regional Co-ordinator)
Sex Workers Forum Kerala
ANASOOYA
PTPN.E.31 PTP Nagar Post, Trivandrum, South India
Pin 695038
Tel.: +91-471-236-8142
mailto:swfk@asianetindia.com
--
To send a message to AFRO-NETS, write to: afro-nets@healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe afro-nets OR unsubscribe afro-nets
To contact a person, send a message to: afro-nets-help@healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.afronets.org