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dam-l LS: Nandurbar Court Quashes Detention but Retains Arrests
NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN
B-13, Shivam Flats, Ellora Park, Baroda-390007 (Ph. 0265-382232)
Camp- 16, Ashoknagar, Dhule- 424001 (Ph. 02562-34519)
________________________________________________
Press Statement/ September 29, 1999.
College Students In Dhule Protest As Dharna Enters Fifth Day
DISTRICT COURT QUASHES PROHIBITORY DETENTION OF MEDHA AND OTHERS BUT
RETAINS ARRESTS UNDER OTHER SECTIONS
In a belated judgement, the Sessions Court in Nandurbar has today
(Wednesday, 29th) quashed the action under section 151 (prohibitory
detention) against Medha Patkar, Dr. Sugan Baranth . Ms. Samata Mutha, but
has stayed the police action under s. 144 and 37(1). The ruling came a day
too late to pursue the further action on the part of Andolan The people
will be discussing the implications of the ruling after the details are
made available. The ruling came on the fifth day of the indefinite dharna
by the people in the Narmada valley against the anti-people policy of the
Government of Maharashtra in suppressing the peopleís agitation and their
issues.
The Andolan, in a letter, has asked the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra to
come forward to face the basic issues that is being raised regarding the
submergence and displacement. Similar demand was made to the Narmada
Control Authority (NCA), to address the issues of the affected people.
On the fifth day of the dharna, over a hundred students from different
colleges in Dhule came in a rally along with the teachers to express
solidarity with the Andolan and the demands of the dharna. The students
have decided to have a ëbandhí (closure) in five colleges in the city on
Thursday (30th) as a mark of protest against the state government. The
studentsí action came closely on the heels of the public readings of the
Marathi translation of the excerpts from Ms Arundhati Royís book ì The
Greater Common Goodî, by noted Marathi litterateur, Ratnakar Matkari. He
alongwith Prof. Sanjay M.G., held a series of such programmes in the
colleges in Nashik, Yeola, Malegaon and Dhule.
Hundreds of adivasis and peasants have been on the dharna protesting
against the illegal and unjust arrest of their 386 colleagues in Dhadgaon
on September 23. The villagers from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,
representatives from Gujarat and the supporters from all over India have
launched a dharna against the arbitrary act o the part of the government of
Maharashtra. They accused the state rulers that they are trying to save
their skin by avoiding the basic issues that the people have been raising
through the four month old satyagraha, facing even the submergence thrice.
Sanjay Sangvai