The Brutal World of India’s Political Prisoners

Thanks to Frontlines of Revolutionary Struggle for sharing this piece. It originally appeared here, and details the horrific treatment of political prisoners in India. 

“He was being beaten so badly,” said Mr Mahato, a look of controlled pain on his face. “In the end, I could take no more. I told him to say he was there. It was the only way they would leave him alone.”

KOLKATA // The new government in West Bengal has promised to review all cases against political prisoners, but a long history of police brutality has made it difficult to distinguish between legitimate protesters and active insurgents.

After three days of watching his teenage son being tortured, Utpal Mahato could take no more. In desperation, he told his son to tell the police what they wanted to hear – that he had been involved in one of the most lethal terrorist attacks in India’s history.

India’s Maoists: “We will Talk About Justice”

Note from Ka Frank: In this speech, Govindan Kutty describes his experience in jail in Kerala until his release on February 24, as a result of an intense campaign exposing his jailing as an attack on freedom of press in India. Kutty also relates how he received warm support from political prisoners serving long terms in Viyyur jail, and how this support speeded his release. The speech was delivered at the founding meeting of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, held New Delhi March 31-April 1 2008.

By P. Govindan Kutty, Editor, People’s March, India

Dear friends, Let them talk about law……………. We will talk about justice.

You all know very well that I bring out People’s March from Jun 2003 which is legal magazine Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers of Government of India and is permitted to post at concessional rates by the Postal Department. It was also put on our dedicated web http://www.peoplesmarch.com from Jun 2003. From the very beginning my residence was put under the vigilance scanner of the Government of India. The CBI, IB and Special Branch sleuths used to come to my residence regularly under the pretext of getting a copy of People’s March.