Annual General Meeting (AGM) of ‘Human Rights Law Network’ (HRLN) a leading human rights organization in India, held on 19th to 21st December 2009 at Santiniketan, district Birbhum, West Bengal. More than hundred of lawyers attached with HRLN attended the AGM to discuss the future course of their action. MASUM was also invited in that AGM as fraternal organization. Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (Masum) and HRLN has a long drawn relationship for fighting against torture and impunity. Various issues like Criminal Justice Administration, Terrorism, Naxalism, Torture, Reservation, Displacement, Communalism was discussed during different sessions of the program.
On 20th December morning session Mr. Kirity Roy, secretary of Masum, facilitated one session with the pro-bono lawyers from different parts of our country; India, for consolidating the anti torture network all over the nation. He tried to explain the necessity to have a country-wide network of the activists to fight torture perpetrated by the state agencies. He mentioned the lessons learnt in past experiences in organizing PACTI ‘Programme Against Torture and Impunity’ (PACTI). IT is not only the perpetrator police in uniform, who are violating the rights of the citizen, but it is also the doctors who are attached with the Government Hospitals are reluctant to note down the details of the injuries seen. The lower judiciary also very much clubbed with the local police administration for which victims are not getting justice in time. So to combat the ‘torture’ we have to fight out against the lacunas in our criminal justice system.
