PUCL condemns
the conduct of District Commissioner of Bangalore
(The following letter was sent to Shri S.M. Krishna, Chief
Minister of Karnataka)
Dear Sir, I/We condemn the most atrocious conduct of Mr. Sanaulla, District
Commissioner of Bangalore, in ordering the arrests of citizens who were demanding
access to public domain information on the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor
in the Environmental Public Hearing held on 5 July 2000 at Bangalore. It would
have been most appropriate if the Hearings were held after the documents were
provided to the public as assured in the previous Hearings held during March
2000. To have denied these documents, and what's worse, arrest those who were
exercising their rights to demand the information, is a most condemnable act
of an officer of your Government.
I/we demand that you should suspend Mr. Sanaulla forthwith for this most irrational,
arbitrary and reprehensible act of ordering brute police action and immediately
order an enquiry into the incident.
It would consequently be most appropriate on your part to withhold any clearance
to the project, and further direct the concerned agencies to hold Hearings in
a just, responsible and peaceful manner but only after the requested public
domain information is made available at local Taluk Panchayat offices for inspection
by the public, especially in the local language.
Given the widespread abuse of human rights during yesterday's July 5th "hearings",
the same must be declared null and void.
I/We hope that you will take immediate action in this regard as a true sign
of progress in a democratic society. -- Y P Chhibbar, General Secretary, National
PUCL, July 26, 2000
(PUCL Bulletin, August 2000)