COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
185/3, Fourth Floor, Zakir Nagar, New Delhi—25
26/05/10
PRESS RELEASE
As per the information that is available from the civil rights activists and concerned citizens the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners demands the immediate production of Mr. Varanasi Subramanyam, a Central Committee member of the CPI (Maoist) party, before a court of law. Since the evening of 16.06.2010 it is reported that he has remained without any trace of his whereabouts. Further there is information as per the statement of revolutionary poet Vara Vara Rao that he missed an appointment at Badayun Western UP on the 17 June 2010 evening. And every effort to get in touch with Mr. Varanasi Subramnayam on the 18, 19 and 20 of June 2010 has failed.
Given the track record of the Central Intelligence and AP Special Intelligence agencies we at the CRPP are concerned for the life of Mr. Varanasi Subramanyam as there is a real threat that he may be eliminated. We strongly demand that he be produced before a court of law and allowed access to a lawyer of his choice. Only this can guarantee his right to be immune to mental and physical torture.
We also attach the statement issued by Vara Vara Rao on 20.06.10.
In Solidarity,
Gurusharan Singh
President
Amit Bhattacharyya
Secretary General
SAR Geelani
Working President
Rona Wilson
Secretary Public Relations
Statement from Varavara Rao
Produce Varanasi Subramanyam a Central Committee member of the
CPI (Maoist) Party before a court of law immediately!
The Central and State governments are responsible for his life!
With great concern let me bring to the notice of the media the news that I received from the CPI (Maoist) party about the disappearance of Varanasi Subramanyam one of their Central Committee members since the evening of 16.06.2010 after 7 pm. Since then Varanasi Subramanyam has remained incommunicado with the rest of the party. He was supposed to be there in Badayun in Western UP on the 17.06.2010 in the evening.
There also he missed the appointment. The CPI (Maoist) party is concerned that there is threat to his life as he might have been arrested by the police. While sharing the concern of the CPI (Maoist) party I strongly demand that State with Home Minister Chidambaram should act responsibly like a country that respects its laws and produce him before a court of law as he has gone missing since the evening of 16 June 2010.
I was informed that he was not traceable on 17, 18 and 19 June despite many efforts by his comrades.
The arrest of Varanasi Subramanyam has been a joint operation of the Central Intelligence Bureau and the AP SIB. Varanasi Subramanyam aged 55 years who is popular among the oppressed masses as , Srikant, Aman, Saroj, Vikas hails from Malkapuram in Prakasham District.
As a student he read law in the University of Andhra. During his student days, inspired by the revolutionary peasant struggles of Shrikakulam and Telangana he joined the Radical Students’ Union (RSU). Later he rose to become the president of RSU.
After reading his law he also practiced as an advocate in the Visakhapatnam bar under Rachakonda Viswanatha Shastri, the popular Telugu writer known as Raavi Shastri.
But he was not someone who would be content with a life as a lawyer. His unflinching commitment for the cause of the poor made him reach out to the coal miners of Singareni. Little wonder he soon became a popular leader of the working class. The trade union that he organized under the banner Singareni Karmika Samakhya attracted hundreds of thousands of coal miners that it soon earned the wrath of the state. Soon a ban was imposed on this organization along with the then CPI (ML) (People’s War). He then shifted to North India.
The inordinate delay in producing Varanasi Subramanyam before the court is a blatant violation of his right to a lawyer of his choice, immunity against torture and worse a real threat to his life as the Andhra Pradesh police has been with impunity killing all the leaders of the CPI (Maoist) party hailing from the state.
I further call upon the central and state governments especially the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to act like statesmen when they are talking about a possible dialogue with the CPI (Maoist) party. It would end like yet another exercise of duplicity and hypocrisy if P. Chidambaram goes ahead with his brutal repression campaign against the CPI (Maoist) party and at the same time claim that he is serious about talks. He should use his office to ensure that Varanasi Subramanyam is produced before a court of law immediately.
Varavara Rao
Hyderabad
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