BRITISH SOUTH ASIAN GROUPS PROTEST CASTE AND GENDER VIOLENCE AND DEMAND JUSTICE FOR BANT SINGH! 

A savage and barbaric assault by powerful Congress Party-backed Jat landlords has left Bant Singh, Dalit leader of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha (All-India Agrarian Labour Association) in Mansa, Punjab, with both hands and one leg amputated. His ‘crime’ was his sustained resistance to upper caste power and violence, and in particular, his struggle to bring his minor daughter’s rapists to justice. This case is currently generating massive protests in Punjab.

The Aldwych

London WC1 (nearest tube: Holborn)

This protest will coincide with a massive gherao (encirclement) of the Punjab State Parliament in Chandigarh.

We will also be handing in a letter to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, urging him to take action. (see the demands at http://new.petitiononline.com/Bant06/petition.html)

The letter has  been endorsed by British-based organisations, including South Asia Solidarity Group, Indian Workers Association (GB), Asian Women Unite!, Punjab Human Rights Internet, Sri Guru Ravidas International Human Rights Organisation (regd.UK), Dalit Solidarity Network,  Shahid Udham Singh Welfare Centre (Birmingham) Newham Asian Women’s Project, Imkaan Asian women’s refuge network , DEEP (Defenders of the Environment and Ecology of Punjab) . It has also been endorsed by Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn. The petition has also been signed online by more than 600 individuals.

For information on Bant Singh’s case, see  

http://www.cpiml.org/liberation/year_2006/February/i_can_still_sing.htm

Some background on the  situation for dalit agricultural labourers in Punjab and the activities of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha, Bant Singh’s organisation, are reported on at http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20060224002904000.htm

Details: South Asia Solidarity Group, sasg@southasiasolidarity.orgTel. 020 7267 0923