People's Union for Civil Liberties

Last updated
People's Union for Civil Liberties
AbbreviationPUCL
Founded1976
Founder Jayaprakash Narayan
Type Non-profit
Location
  • 332, Ground Floor, Patpar Ganj, Opposite Anand Lok Apartments (Gate No.2) Mayur Vihar-I, Delhi-110091
Website www.pucl.org

People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) is a human rights body [1] formed in India in 1976 by Jayaprakash Narayan, as the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights (PUCLDR). [2]

Contents

Background

Indian emergency

Jayaprakash Narayan was a Gandhian leader in India after independence. [3] When Indira Gandhi was found guilty of violating electoral laws by the Allahabad High Court, Narayan called for her to resign, and advocated a program of social transformation. He asked the military and police to disregard unconstitutional and immoral orders. However, Janata Party opposition leaders and dissenting members of Indira Gandhi's party, Congress (I) were arrested, beginning The Emergency in 1975. Narayan was detained at Chandigarh, and when released in 1976, formed the PUCLDR to oppose the suppression of civil and political rights during the emergency. [3] The organization was thrown into disarray by his death and the election of the Janata party to power, which promised to enact the PUCL platform.[ citation needed ]

Narayan originally intended PUCL to be an organisation free from political ideologies, bringing those concerned about defending civil liberties and human rights from different backgrounds onto a common platform.[ citation needed ] According to the PUCL, the PUCLDR was a loosely organised group of people who were working with Narayan, a prominent figure in the Indian Opposition in the 1970s. [4]

Post-1980

After the return of Indira Gandhi to power in the 1980 elections in India, the organisation regained momentum [3] and was renamed as the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). Its founding conference was held in November 1980.

As of 2019, the President of the PUCL is Ravi Kiran Jain, Senior counsel from Allahabad, and the General Secretary is V. Suresh. [5] Other notable office bearers include Dr. Binayak Sen, Sudha Bharadwaj and Kavita Shrivastava among others. [6]

Operations

The founding conference of the PUCL in November 1980, drafted and adopted the organization's constitution, making it a membership based organization. [7] The PUCL's constitution does not allow members of a political party to hold any office and hold membership in the PUCL; the number of members, belonging to political parties, in the national or state executive committees shall not be more than 50% of the members of the National Council and the National Executive Committee respectively (and also the corresponding bodies at the state and local level). The PUCL does not allow more than 10% of its members to be from the same political party. [7]

V. M. Tarkunde served as president and editor-politician. Arun Shourie served as general secretary. Y. P. Chhibbar was appointed as executive secretary. Those elected as president and general secretary have included V. M. Tarkunde, Rajni Kothari, Rajinder Sachar, K. G. Kannabiran, Arun Shourie, Y. P. Chhibbar, Arun Jaitley, Satish Jha, Dalip Swami, and others.

It publishes a monthly journal in English, the PUCL Bulletin, that was founded by Satish Jha, Arun Jaitley, Smitu Kothari and Neeraja Chowdhary and helped bring a large number of people to the fold of PUCL. PUCL also organises a JP Memorial Lecture on March 23 every year, the date on which the Indian State of Emergency was lifted in 1977.

It presents its Journalism for Human Rights' Award which carries a citation and an award of Rs 20,000. PUCL, as its policy, does not accept money from any funding agency, Indian or foreign. All the expenses are met by the members, the office bearers, and the activists.

The PUCL supports grassroots movements that focus on organizing and empowering the poor rather than using state initiatives for change.

They have brought to light the cases of the bonded labourers, children in prison and violence committed against women undertrials.

The PUCL has worked on the issue of the hundreds of people detained by India and Pakistan's governments and accused of espionage after trivial crimes like minor trespassing, a problem linked to the tension caused by the Kashmir conflict. [8]

Charges against Dr Binayak Sen

Binayak Sen, who is the National Vice-President of the Union and General Secretary of its Chhattisgarh unit, was arrested in May 2007 by security agencies for his alleged links with Maoists. In 2010, Sen was convicted of sedition and several other offences under Indian Penal Code by Raipur Sessions Court in Chhattisgarh after finding him and two others, guilty of sedition for helping the Maoists in their fight against the state. They were sentenced to life imprisonment. [9] After his conviction, he was later released by the Supreme Court of India though the apex court said it was giving no reason for granting bail and left it to the satisfaction of the trial court concerned to impose the conditions for his release on bail. [10] His appeal against conviction is pending with the Chhattisgarh High Court.

Notable people

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arun Shourie</span> Indian economist, journalist and politician (born 1941)

Arun Shourie is an Indian economist, journalist, author and politician. He has worked as an economist with the World Bank, a consultant to the Planning Commission of India, editor of the Indian Express and The Times of India and a Minister of Communications and Information Technology in the Vajpayee Ministry (1998–2004). He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1982 and the Padma Bhushan in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jayaprakash Narayan</span> Indian independence activist

Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava, also known as JP and Lok Nayak, was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is mainly remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and calling for her overthrow in a "total revolution". In 1999, Narayan was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social service. His other awards include the Magsaysay award for public service in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arun Jaitley</span> Indian politician and attorney (1952–2019)

Arun Jaitley was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jaitley previously held the cabinet portfolios of Finance, Defence, Corporate Affairs, Commerce and Industry, and Law and Justice in the Vajpayee government and Narendra Modi government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janata Party</span> Indian political party

The Janata Party abbreviated JP, lit. People's Party) is an unrecognized political party in India. It was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. In the 1977 general election, the party defeated the Congress and Janata leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister in independent modern India's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Emergency (India)</span> 1975–1977 state of emergency in India under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

The Emergency in India was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country.

Vithal Mahadeo Tarkunde, was a prominent Indian lawyer, civil rights activist, and humanist leader and has been referred to as the "Father of the Civil Liberties movement" in India and a former judge of the Bombay High Court The Supreme Court of India also praised him as "undoubtedly the most distinguished judge of the post-Chagla 1957 period" in the Bombay High Court.

Sajjan Kumar is an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India from Outer Delhi as a member of the Indian National Congress but resigned from the primary membership of the party after he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a case relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The Bihar movement, also known as the JP movement, was a political movement initiated by students in the Indian state of Bihar against misrule and corruption in the state government. in 1974. It was led by the veteran Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP. The movement later turned against Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government in the central government. It was also referred to as Sampoorna Kranti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satyendra Narayan Sinha</span> Indian politician (1917–2006)

Satyendra Narayan Sinha was an Indian politician and statesman, participant in the Indian independence movement, a leading light of Jaya Prakash Narayan's ‘complete revolution’ movement during the Emergency and a former Chief Minister of Bihar. Affectionately called Chhote Saheb, he was also a seven-time Member of Parliament from the Aurangabad constituency, a three-term Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, and a Member of the Bihar Legislative Council once. Regarded to be one of India's most influential regional people of the time, his reputation was synonymous with being a strict disciplinarian and tough taskmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Binayak Sen</span>

Binayak Sen is a paediatrician, and public health specialist. He is the national Vice-President of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). He is the recipient of several awards including the Jonathan Mann Award, the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, and the Gandhi International Peace Award..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of Indira Gandhi</span> 1984 encounter in New Delhi, India

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at 9:30 a.m. on 31 October 1984 at her residence in Safdarjung Road, New Delhi. She was killed by her Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star by Indian Army between 1 and 8 June 1984 on the orders of Gandhi. The military operation was to remove Sikh militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other Sikh separatists from the Golden Temple of Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, Punjab, the holiest site of Sikhism. The military action resulted in the death of many pilgrims as well as damage to the Akal Takht and the destruction of the Sikh Reference Library.

Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005 is a law in the state of Chhattisgarh passed by the Chhattisgarh assembly in December 2005. The bill received the assent of the President of India and was brought into effect by notification issued on 12 April 2006.

The Janata Morcha was a coalition of Indian political parties formed in 1974 to oppose the government of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Congress (R) party. The coalition was an integral part of the popular movement against the Emergency rule of Indira Gandhi and the direct predecessor of the Janata Party, which defeated the Congress (R) in the 1977 Indian general election to form the first non-Congress government in independent India. It was formed by Jayaprakash Narayan and Morarji Desai, chief of the main opposition Congress (O) party.

Rajni Kothari was an Indian political scientist, political theorist, academic and writer. He was the founder of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in 1963, a social sciences and humanities research institute, based in Delhi and Lokayan, started in 1980 as a forum for interaction between activists and intellectuals. He was also associated with Indian Council of Social Science Research, International Foundation for Development Alternatives, and People's Union for Civil Liberties.

K G Kannabiran was a human rights activist and a lawyer of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (AP). He was cofounder and National President of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

Ajit Bhattacharjea was a veteran Indian journalist, newspaper editor and campaigner for democratic rights, and the Right to Information Act. In a career spanning nearly 60 years, he remained the editor of the Hindustan Times, The Times of India and The Indian Express and after his retirement in 1983, was the director of the Press Institute of India till 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gautam Navlakha</span> Indian human rights activist and journalist

Gautam Navlakha is an Indian human rights activist, journalist, and prisoner. He has written on left-wing extremism and is a critic of army and state atrocities in Kashmir. He is a member of People's Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi. He is also an editorial consultant of the Economic and Political Weekly. He resides in New Delhi.

People's Union for Democratic Rights is an organisation based in Delhi which is committed to legally defend "civil liberties and democratic rights" of the people. The People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) is an independent entity and is not affiliated to any political party or organisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ajay Narayan Jha</span>

Ajay Narayan Jha (born 15 January 1959; IAST: Ajaya Nārāyaṇa Jhā) is a 1982 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Manipur cadre. He was the Finance Secretary of India for three months. He was appointed as the member of Fifteenth Finance Commission of India in place of Shaktikanta Das and served there till 26 November 2023. Thereafter, he was appointed as a member of Sixteenth Finance Commission on 1 January 2024.

Ilina Sen was a human rights, trade union and feminist activist, as well as a teacher and author associated with the women's movement in India. She died on August 9, 2020, at the age of 69 after battling cancer for several years.

References

  1. ↑ Agrawal, Anoop; Shankar, Jay (4 May 2010). "Prosecutors Demand Death Sentence for Mumbai Gunman". Businessweek . Archived from the original on May 11, 2010.
  2. ↑ Naliyath, Sunil (2013-06-13). "Guardians of liberty". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 2021-08-20.
  3. 1 2 3 Donnelly, Jack; Howard-Hassmann, Rhoda E.; Howard, Rhoda E. (1987-11-06). International handbook of human rights. ABC-CLIO. pp. 156–. ISBN   978-0-313-24788-0 . Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  4. ↑ "PUCL History". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
  5. ↑ "Dr V. Suresh | PUCL". www.pucl.org. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
  6. ↑ "Office Bearers | PUCL". www.pucl.org. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
  7. 1 2 "A Short History of PUCL". People's Union for Civil Liberties. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  8. ↑ Your World: The Nowhere Man, Rupa Jha, October 21, 2012, BBC (retr 2012 10 20) (Program link:The Nowhere Man)
  9. ↑ "Dr Binayak Sen found guilty of treason, gets life imprisonment". The Times of India. India. 25 December 2010. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
  10. ↑ "Times Now: SC grants bail to Binayak Sen – 15 Apr 2011". Timesnow.tv. 15 April 2011. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.