[Aaj-ke-naam] Brutal Killing of Human rights Activist Navleen Kumar

[Monteiro and Jayasankar]

Brutal Killing of Human rights Activist Navleen Kumar

Dear friends,

We are shocked to hear of the brutal killing of human rights activist
Navleen Kumar on June 19, 2002 at Nalasopara on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Navleen Kumar has been working for over a decade to protect and restore
tribal-Adivasi lands in the Nalasopara area, a suburb of the ever expanding
city of Mumbai. Land developers and builders have tried to transfer land
from local tribal-Adivasis, using threats, violence and a host of other
illegal means. Navleen has successfully protected and restored
tribal-Adivasi land through sustained legal interventions. In the course of
her work, Navleen too had been receiving threats; the last one had been
about 3 months ago when she was threatened at gunpoint at Nalasopara
station. Earlier, she had been threatened within the premises of a court at
Thane District.

Navleen Kumar's crusade started after the murder of her journalist husband,
Murali Kumar some years ago. His killers were never apprehended and it is
widely believed that they belonged to the land mafia network.

We strongly condemn the brutal killing of Navleen Kumar and demand that:

1.. The Maharashtra government should immediately conduct a thorough probe
into this murder.

2.. The assailants and the network supporting them must be brought to book

3.. In the light of Navleen Kumar's crusade, the Maharashtra government must
appoint a high powered committee consisting of tribal-Adivasi MLAs, senior
tribal-Adivasi leaders, senior bureaucrats, academics and representatives of
social organisations working with Adivasis, to probe into the large-scale
tribal-Adivasi land alienation process engineered by a criminal nexus of
land mafia, bureaucrats and politicians.

We urge you to write to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra expressing your
concern at the following address:

Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh
Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Mantralaya, Mumbai 400 032, Maharashtra, India
Telegrams: Chief Minister, Mumbai, India
Faxes: Office - 022 202 9214 Res - 022 363 1446

We are sure that our collective action will bring justice to Navleen Kumar,
protect human rights defenders and safeguard tribal-Adivasi rights over
natural resources.

Yours sincerely,

Prof.D L Sheth, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi
Shri Sharad Kulkarni, Centre for Tribal Conscientization, Pune
Ravi Rebbapragada, Samata, Hyderabad
Rohit Jain, Sruti, New Delhi
Arvind Anjum, Janmukti Sangharsh Vahini, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
Indu Netam, Adivasi Samata Manch, Markatola, Chhattisgarh
Bidulata Huika, Orissa Adivasi Manch, Rayagada, Orissa
Sadhana Mina, Adivasi Mahila Vikas Parishad, Dungarpur, Rajasthan
Ashok Chaudhary, Adivasi Ekta Parishad, Vedchhi, Gujarat
Achyut Yagnik, Ashok Shrimali, Suchitra Sheth, - Setu, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
S.Krishnadas , Times Foundation , The Times of India Group,  Bombay
Jane Krishnadas , Lecturer - International Law , Keele Univ., UK