MSM Outreach Workers Abused in DELHI by Delhi Police

[Guest guest]

[Editors note: When one make a public statement about such an incident, it would

have been useful to add some more basic details of the incident. When did it

happened, where did happened, who all involved, which police station and which

police officer refused to file FIR etc..]

Dear All,

The terrible news is not the fact that some people can pretend to be police and

act in viiolence against HIV outreach workers, but that the police can take on

the mantle of 'Moral Police " and insist that they involve the families of the

outreach workers that have been violated, while refusing to do their primary

duty of filing an FIR and investigating the matter.

It is the duty of NACO to INTERVENE WITH THE CENTRAL HOME MINISTRY THAT CONTROLS

THE DELHI POLICE to ensure that some explanation becomes

forthcoming why the Delhi Police can act in the manner they do.

Mr. Chidambaram has to give some answers here. After the 377 judgement, they

cannot even hide behind the bogey that homosexuality is a crime. The negligence

of the Delhi Police is the real crime. Shame on them.

Aditya Bondyopadhyay

e-mail: <adit.bond@...>

Dear Sir,

Around 8.35 Pm of this evening I received calls from my outreach workers and

peers that they were harassed at their outreach site (Hot Spot), looted, and

beaten up by three men claiming them to be police in civil dress, they also

shouted on our outreach workers saying that they are doing bad work of spreading

homosexuality and promoting gay sex by distributing free condoms.

Outreach workers and peers were shown knife and were threatened badly and also

these three men snatched 300 rupees from one of Outreach Workers.

After speaking to me over phone I ask them to immediately go to police

station and lodge an FIR (First Investigation Report). At the police station

beside immediately taking action one of the police officer behaved very badly

with all the staff and asked one of the outreach worker to call up his father so

that the police can speak to him.

When this outreach worker called me and handed over phone to the police officer

he just kept repeating and saying that I want to speak to this fellow’s father

and disconnected the phone. It was absolutely intricate to understand why this

police officer wanted to speak to the father.

After my continues calling to the outreach worker on his cell phone, he picked

it up and said after much of dispute within the police men and them one

constable is accompanying them at the point of incident. After my second call

around 9.30 Pm, Mitr’s Outreach worker said that police are now ready to write

down FIR.

Till now I have only this information in tits and bits. But my question with

entire of this incident is:

- Beside taking immediate action police men harassed them so badly

- For what reason outreach worker was ask to call up his father

- The officer was not even ready to hear my words even when I said him

very clearly that we are running DSACS program Supported by *Delhi

Government* over phone.

- Is there any kind of community coordinator available from SACAS, who

can help us in any hour especially for these kind of incidents.

- We have been ignored for advocacy meeting with them for one or other

reasons.

There are many more issues but at present Is there any kind of security I can

afford to promise my community members and volunteers, I understand it’s

difficult for me to do so but things can be improvised and quickly there is need

of some kind of program on a bigger level to advocate these agency’s and

bureaus, so that the kind of hamper we and other Organisation like us are facing

to running the intervention properly will not happen.

Rupesh Chettri

Mitr Trust (MSM/TG CBO)

New Delhi

e-mail: <mitr.cbo@...>