Stop Intimidating Bela Bhatia

The Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) strongly condemns the intimidation of activist Bela Bhatia by members of the vigilante group Action Group for National Integrity (AGNI) on 23 January 2017. This intimidation came after the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) visit to Bastar, Chhattisgarh, to record the statements of women who have suffered sexual violence at the hands of the security forces and the police in two separate incidents in October 2015 and January 2016. A NHRC report also accuses the Chhattisgarh police of sexual violence in this area. Bela Bhatia accompanied the NHRC team on its visits.

She was terrorised by a mob of 30 men outside her home in Parpa village, Jagdalpur. They threatened to burn the house down if she did not leave Bastar immediately. They threatened her landlady as well. Bhatia managed to contact the Bastar collector, but when the police actually arrived, it did little to disperse the mob. The men continued to harass Bhatia and forced her to sign a declaration saying she would leave Bastar in 24 hours. Before this, Bhatia’s landlady and her sons had been called to the police thana on 22 January to get her to leave the house.