Inconvenient truth of Soni Sori

Appeal to save Soni Sori

Update on 4/28/2012: Various Non Profits & Human Rights Organizations are running campaigns to save Soni.  Over last few months, I have taken the issue of Soni Sori torture to my heart. Please see the bottom of this blog to see what you can do to save her.

UPDATE on May 2nd, 2012: http://iadhri.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/supreme-court-directs-chhattisgarh-government-to-bring-soni-sori-to-aiims-for-treatment/

See bottom of this page for information on this topic from Dec 2011.

Tehelka is running a campaign to save Soni Sori since atleast last month:  http://www.tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=Ws030412spLanding.asp  and  http://www.tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=Ne140412Arrest.asp

For the uninitiated:
Soni Sori is an Adivasi school teacher from Dantewada who was arrested on Oct 4, 2011. The charges against her are possibly completely false. Anyhow, since then she has been brutally tortured and sexually abused while in police custody in Chhattisgarh.
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Despite doctors from NRS Medical Hospital having confirmed that stones had been inserted into her vagina and rectum, Soni Sori has received no proper medical attention. She has been passing blood with her urine, is having difficulty to sit or get up, and has lost considerable weight.
More than six months after she was tortured, Soni remains imprisoned in Chhattisgarh and has received none of the follow-up medical treatment she badly needs. During this time, no investigation or action has been initiated against the officers implicated in torturing her.
Soni’s petition is still pending before the Supreme Court, and in the meantime, her health condition continues to deteriorate. Unless she receives medical attention soon to treat the injuries she sustained in police custody and infections developed as a result, there is a very real possibility that by the time the petition comes up for hearing, there will no longer be someone left alive to offer any justice to.

The brutal treatment meted out to Soni Sori, and the prevailing situation of conflict and repression in Chhattisgarh, cause grave concern about Soni in particular, and the situation of women (and men) prisoners, in general. We should be outraged and ashamed at this inhuman treatment of a woman in India. Such shameful behaviors are like a slap in the face of our civil liberties.
Police is supposed to protect people, not victimize them. Indian Government must take strict action to protect its innocent citizens and punish the police that is misusing its powers.
Power of changing the world is in the hands of people i.e. You and Me. We always complain that Government didn’t do this or that. Today, it is OUR turn to do something for fellow citizens.
We must take charge and not let even a single case of such torture continue.

There are several Non-profit Organizations already doing the work for us. All you need to do is send them, from the comforts of our safe and luxurious homes, your name and affiliation (if any) as an endorsement.

Please sign these appeals to save Soni Sori:
1. http://iadhri.wordpress.com/
Email to iadhri.org@gmail.com with your endorsement.

2. https://www.change.org/petitions/save-soni-sori-and-punish-chattisgarh-police-savesonisori
Petition can be signed online on this website itself.

I have already sent my endorsements. I encourage you to do the same.

My heart-felt gratitude for reading this, (hopefully) endorsing this, and spreading the word to your friends and family.

Soni Sori

After reading this article, I cried for several hours. My heart was filled with terror. Just reading about such a harrowing experience on another woman/ human being feels so terrifying that it is a matter of concern as to how Soni Sori is living through this ghastly encounter. I wonder where she gathers the strength and the spirit to keep fighting?

I am very ashamed that such incidents happen in India even today. Where is the Government of India when its citizens need it the most? How is it allowing the pathetic Chhattisgarh police to get away with something so abominable? Where are the People of India when it is time to speak up? Where is the mainstream media that covers some ridiculous gossip news on bollywood stars but fails to write a single line on this story?

Original Article:  http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ne151011coverstory.asp

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