Bangalore, May 29: Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), on Monday said that Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda told a delegation of CPI(M) Members of Parliament who met him that “justice will be done” in the case of Vittala Malekudiya, journalism student of Mangalore University and a tribal activist of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, and his father Linganna Malekudiya. Father and son were arrested by Karnataka's anti-naxal force on March 3 on charges of having links with Maoists. Speaking to presspersons, Ms. Karat, who led the delegation that submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister on the issue, said that Mr. Gowda had assured them that the investigation would be over by June 3. Those who were responsible for arresting Mr. Vittala in the examination hall “would not be spared”, Ms. Karat quoted him as saying.
In her memorandum to Mr. Gowda, Ms. Karat said that Mr. Vittala and his father were arrested on fabricated charges and on the grounds that the former was a member of a banned Maoist organisation. The two had been charged under Section 10 and 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and section 121 of the IPC, accusing them of sedition and waging war against the State.
Tribal rights
Ms. Karat said that, in fact, it was the State which had been waging a war against the rights of adivasis in Belthangadi taluk of Dakshina Kannada district, where they were being forcibly evicted to 'protect' the environment in the Kudremukh National Park. Mr. Vittala's father, along with other adivasis in the park, under the banner of the Karnataka Adivasi Hakkugala Samanvaya Samiti, were demanding settlement of their rights to land under the Forest Rights Act. Mr. Linganna was arrested and his leg broken by the anti-naxal force of the Police Department. Hearing the news, Mr. Vittala rushed to his village, where he too was arrested, she recalled.
The CPI(M) leader said the government had opposed bail applications of the activists. Mr. Vittala had not been allowed to write his examinations on the grounds that he had no attendance, in spite of directions by the court.
Land rights denied
She said that of the 20,000 claims by adivasis in Karnataka for land pattas, the State government had granted just 6,000 pattas. “The Forest Rights Act is clear that adivasis cannot be relocated from reserve forests before their rights are settled under the Act, and their assent for relocation sought,” she said. The State government, she said, was claiming the meagre Central package of Rs. 10 lakh for adivasi relocation as their own. “We are demanding land for land,” she said.
Speaking further on the issue, she said: “This case is beyond the unlawful arrest of Vittala and his father. It is about the rights of tribal people in the country, who are stuck between the naxals and the anti-naxal force.”
On Trinamool
When asked about her assessment of the one-year Trinamool Congress regime in West Bengal, she said: “Trinamool is known for its announcements and tall claims, with very little action on the ground. The public will judge them for their deeds.”
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