People's Union For Civil Liberties
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People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) is a human rights body formed in India in 1976 by
Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...
, as the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights (PUCLDR).


Background


Indian emergency

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...
was a Gandhian leader in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
after independence. When
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...
was found guilty of violating electoral laws by the
Allahabad High Court Allahabad High Court, officially known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, is the high court based in the city of Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad, that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established o ...
, 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 The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...
opposition leaders and dissenting members of Indira Gandhi's party, Congress (I) were arrested, beginning The Emergency in 1975. Narayan was detained at
Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...
, and when released in 1976, formed the PUCLDR to oppose the suppression of civil and political rights during the emergency. The organization was thrown into disarray by his death and the election of the
Janata party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...
to power, which promised to enact the PUCL platform. 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. 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.


Post-1980

After the return of Indira Gandhi to power in the 1980 elections in India, the organisation regained momentum and was renamed as the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). Its founding conference was held in November 1980. Since 2023, the President of the PUCL is Kavita Srivastava, Renowned Social Activist, from Rajasthan, working against rising fascism and communalism, with the women's movement, the Convenor of the Right to Food Campaign and many other movements which have shaped India. The General Secretary is V. Suresh. eminent advocate, working with the Human rights movement for the last four decades Other notable office bearers include Dr.
Binayak Sen Binayak Sen (, ) is a pediatrics, 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 Global Health Council, Jonatha ...
, Sudha Bharadwaj, Advocate N D Pancholi, Senior Counsei Mihir Desai, Farman Naqvi, R Murali, Surendra Kumar, Rohit Prajapati, Ashok Bharti, Father David solomon, @Bhanwar Meghwanshi, Lara Jesani, Seema Azad, Y. Rajendra, S Balamurugan, Shahid Kamal, Arvind Avinash, Arvind Narrain, Kailash Meena, Mujahid Nafees, Sarfaraz, Sr. Sewti among others.


Operations

The founding conference of the PUCL in November 1980, drafted and adopted the organization's constitution, making it a membership based organization. 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. 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 Rajindar Sachar (22 December 1923 – 20 April 2018) was an Indian lawyer and a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. He was a member of United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and also served as a c ...
, 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 23 March every year, the date on which the
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
n
State of Emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...
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,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
n or foreign. All the expenses are met by the members, the office bearers, and the activists. The PUCL supports
grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...
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 Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...
after trivial crimes like minor trespassing, a problem linked to the tension caused by the
Kashmir conflict The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, and also between China and India in the northeastern portion of the region. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1 ...
.


Charges against Dr Binayak Sen

Binayak Sen Binayak Sen (, ) is a pediatrics, 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 Global Health Council, Jonatha ...
, who is the National Vice-President of the Union and General Secretary of its
Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...
unit, was arrested in May 2007 by security agencies for his alleged links with
Maoists Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China and later the People's Re ...
. In 2010, Sen was convicted of
sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...
and several other offences under
Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the official criminal code of the Republic of India, inherited from British India after independence. It remained in force until it was repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in December 2023 ...
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 Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...
. After his conviction, he was later released by the
Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...
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. His appeal against conviction is pending with the Chhattisgarh High Court.


Notable people

* Mohammad Mohibul Haque, secretary of the PUCL Aligarh Unit


See also

*
Citizen's Justice Committee Citizen's Justice Committee (commonly known as CJC) is an Indian umbrella organization of various human rights organizations and is known for ''pro bono'' representing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims in their legal battle to gain justice. For ...
* Confederation of Human Rights Organizations * Association for Protection of Civil Rights * Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations * People's Union for Democratic Rights


References


External links

*
PUCL completes 25 years, on Indymedia.org
{{Authority control Human rights organisations based in India Human rights enforcement agencies in India Organizations established in 1976 Civil liberties advocacy groups 1976 establishments in India