A I PRESS RELEASE - LUCKNOW INCIDENT

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE 27 July 2001

AI Index ASA 20/040/2001 - News Service Nr. 1310

India : police harassment against the workers of human rights defenders

raising AIDS awareness

Four human rights defenders, arrested solely for their lawful AIDS

prevention activities, should be immediately and unconditionally released

and the action of the Uttar Pradesh Police should be promptly and

impartially investigated, Amnesty International said today.

" These activists appear to have been targeted by the police solely for their

work with the homosexual community, " the organization said, adding that

it considers them to be prisoners of conscience because they have been

arrested solely for their activity to promote the prevention of AIDS and the

right to health.

The organization sent a letter to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh

concerning the reportedly arbitrary interference of Uttar Pradesh Police

officers with the lawful activities of two organizations raising AIDS/HIV

awareness among male homosexuals in Lucknow. In particular, Amnesty

International is concerned by reports that police have arrested four

members of those organizations.

On 7 July police arrested Bharosa Trust Program Manager Parmeshwar

Nair, a worker of the same organization Mohhamad Shahid, the Naz

Foundation International (NFI) director, Arif Jafar, and another office worker

of the same organisation, Sudhees Kumar, charging them with

“Punishment of criminal conspiracy” and “Unnatural offences” under

Articles 120 B and 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

On the same day police raided the offices of the two organizations and

seized materials they considered as pornographic, but the activists said

these were used to raise safer sex awareness. While in police custody the

four men were reportedly severely beaten with batons. They are presently

in judicial custody in Lucknow District Jail; their application for release on

bail was turned down by the judge without giving specific grounds for his

decision. They are now appealing to the Uttar Pradesh High Court.

The lawyer defending the four detainees was reportedly threatened with

arrest by the police on 9 July during the search of the office of Bharosa

Trust which was taking place without the required search warrant from the

court. He was also told not to discuss this case with other human rights

activists in India or abroad.

The Government of India has recently publicly acknowledged, at the United

Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS), that

lesbians and gay men constitute a marginalised community and that they

are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection.

" The Indian authorities should now go one step further and ensure that

subordinate state bodies act in accordance with the government's

international stands and national plans of action, " Amnesty International

said.

Background

NFI and Bharosa Trust work within the framework of the National Project

Implementation Plan set out by the National AIDS Control Organisation

(NACO), which identifies male homosexuals as a priority target for AIDS

prevention. Bharosa Trust is also a registered body recognized by Uttar

Pradesh State Aids Control Society, UPSACS. The work of these

organizations appears to be completely in coherence with the positions

taken by Government of India at national and international level.

\ENDS

Public document

For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in

London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566; Amnesty International, 1 Easton St.,

London WC1X 0DW

or

Amensty International India Programme Office, (11) 6510202 / 6854763, G-

13, I Floor, Hauz Khas, New Delhi- 110 016

http://www.amnesty.org

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