Six facts of shame: IAPL reveals harassment of lawyers in Chhattisgarh

The Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) recently released a report highlighting the harassment of lawyers in the tumultuous state of Chhattisgarh. Titled Attacks on Lawyers in Chhattisgarh, the report was based on a fact finding mission undertaken by twelve lawyers from Maharashtra, Telangana and Chandigarh in March 2016..Apart from reiterating the ground realities in the conflict state, the report also reveals how lawyers have borne the brunt of the police, non-state actors, and even other lawyers, while trying to ensure that Adivasis and those labelled as Naxals get their due legal representation..Here are six of the findings of the report:. The Outsiders.As reported earlier, advocates Shalini Gera and Isha Khandelwal of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JagLAG) were forced out of Bastar after prolonged pressure from the police and the Bastar District Bar Association (BDBA). The BDBA demanded that the lawyers prove their credentials, as well as a fine of Rs. 500/- for every case handled by them. The report also states that JagLAG’s clients were intimidated to ask their lawyers to stop appearing for them..The lawyers continue to face harassment even after being evicted from the region. Quite recently, Shalini was harassed by the Bastar police while providing legal aid to one of her clients.. Painting the Town Red.The members of JagLAG are not the only ones to have been persecuted by the authorities. Satendrakumar Chaubey is still fighting a case for which he was arrested in 1999, on trumped up charges. Case papers of his clients in his possession were deemed as “Naxal material”..Rekha Praganiya was arrested for having similar papers and was shown as absconding in an ongoing criminal case in which she herself had been representing the accused. She was acquitted and released in 2013, after spending a year in jail, only to be ostracised by her fellow lawyers..Amarnath Pandey has a spate of criminal cases filed against him, for merely representing tribals booked as Naxals and victims of encounter killings. The police even managed to coerce one of his clients into saying that Pandey was a “white-collared Naxal, and causing such allegations to be made for the sake of money”..The report also points to a caste-based discrimination at the Bar. Shobharam Gilhare, a Dalit lawyer wanted to start his practice in 2011, but no lawyer would take him on board. In 2013, he started doing legal work for Center of Social Justice, and started working from the bar room. In June 2014, the then Secretary of the bar association, confiscated the table at which he was sitting.. Dog Eat Dog.As mentioned earlier, lawyers’ bodies in the state have done little in the way of helping things. The report states that they are quick to pass resolutions restraining lawyers from appearing in cases that arouse popular sentiment. It also states,.“The bar associations instead of safeguarding the interests of lawyers, and creating an atmosphere where they are able to function freely without fear, are passing resolutions stating that no lawyer should appear for Christians, Dalits and alleged Maoists, and intimidating those who dare to so appear.”. Hand in Glove?.The report states,.“Some Judges and Magistrates too have bowed down to the illegal diktats of the bar associations, preventing lawyers against whom resolutions have been passed from appearing before them.”.And those subordinate judges that exhibit some sort of independence are shown the door, as was the case with Chief Judicial Magistrate of Sukma district, Prabhakar Gwal. He was was removed from service “in public interest with immediate effect” by the state government on the recommendation of the High Court, without even holding a departmental enquiry. The reason?.“..had questioned the police’s indiscriminate arrest of tribals, and had granted bail in deserving cases.”. Imbalanced Scales.To make matters worse, draconian legislations like the Chhattisgarh State Public Security Act are being implemented in the state. It penalizes any individual, who according to the state, “whether by committing an act or by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise…tends to interfere with the administration of law”..There are also laws being used to discriminate against Christians and Dalits in the state. For example, under the Panchayats [Extension to Scheduled Areas] Act 1996, resolutions have been passed by gram sabhas preventing the entry of non-Hindus into villages.. Counting the Days.The report also reveals some shocking statistics regarding incarceration rates in the state. 98% of all inmates in Dantewada District jail and 96.6% in Kankar District jail are undertrials as against the all India figures of 67.6%. The period of incarceration is also much longer in Bastar; while 90% of undertrials in India get released within the first year of arrest, in Bastar only 31% get released within the first year of arrest..Moreover, the rate of grant of bail is very low in Bastar; while over 75% of accused get bail at the all-India level, the figures for Bastar show that merely 18% get bail. In 2013, 96% of criminal cases ended in acquittal, whereas the all-India figure was 23.6%. Accused are known to continue to languish in jail for more than 6 years..Read the full report below: