Speaker 1: In this episode, we talk about a Supreme Court mandate
Speaker 1: from twenty twenty, according to which CCTV cameras were to
Speaker 1: be installed in police stations to monitor and kurb custodial
Speaker 1: torture and deaths. We also talk about former Bangladesh Prime
Speaker 1: Minister Sheik Hasina making her first public media appearance in
Speaker 1: two years from New Delhi, saying she would return to
Speaker 1: Bangladesh despite fears of getting arrested or even killed. But
Speaker 1: first we talk about the wave of protests unfolding in
Speaker 1: Punjab just months ahead of the assembly elections. Hi, I
Speaker 1: am Hrikananda and you are listening to three things there
Speaker 1: in an Express News show. Over the last two months,
Speaker 1: Punjab has witnessed a series of protests by employee unions,
Speaker 1: contractual workers, unemployed youth, pension seekers and several other groups,
Speaker 1: all demanding better wages, regular recruitment and the fulfillment of
Speaker 1: promise made by the government. These protests and strikes, often
Speaker 1: taking place simultaneously, have tested the state government's ability to
Speaker 1: manage the unrest and the political fallout while ensuring that
Speaker 1: essential services don't suffer. So to understand why these groups
Speaker 1: have taken to the streets, what their key demands are
Speaker 1: and how the ARP government is responding to them. We
Speaker 1: speak to the Indian Expresses Raki Jagga, who reports on
Speaker 1: Punjab for the paper. Raki, could you explain to us
Speaker 1: why protests by different groups are intensifying in Punjab just
Speaker 1: ahead of the semi elections.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the protests are happening because it's not a new
Speaker 2: thing that the protests are happening ahead of the polls.
Speaker 2: It's a normal practice. If we see even in any
Speaker 2: pole bound state. So six or seven months ahead of
Speaker 2: the elections, a number of unions they intensify their protests,
Speaker 2: although they keep on organizing their protests if their demands
Speaker 2: are not met from time to time. But I mean
Speaker 2: six or seven months ahead of the poles they intensify
Speaker 2: because they they tend to build a pressure on the
Speaker 2: ruling government that the elections are coming in and they
Speaker 2: may get few of their demands fulfilled.
Speaker 3: And even if they won't be able to.
Speaker 2: Get the demands fulfit, they can get that opposition's sympathy
Speaker 2: and all, and maybe the opposition can include their demands
Speaker 2: in their manifestos.
Speaker 3: So this is a.
Speaker 2: Reason the employees' unions and even the farmers, the laborers.
Speaker 2: They have a common practice to intensify their protests ahead
Speaker 2: of the polls. Although in Punjab there had been regular
Speaker 2: protests in the last four years, but now I mean
Speaker 2: the intensity has increased.
Speaker 1: And can you tell us which are the major groups
Speaker 1: currently protesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the protests started with the linemen, the apprentices. They
Speaker 2: started their protests in June. They were the students we
Speaker 2: can say sort of students only the ones who complete
Speaker 2: their apprenticeship courts for the linemen in a trade, so
Speaker 2: they are giving some training and then after a test
Speaker 2: they can be recruited as linemen in the Electricity Board.
Speaker 2: Initially they were the ones who were testing in June
Speaker 2: and they were brutally latly charged on June five. And
Speaker 2: then they were protests by other groups as well. I'm
Speaker 2: in like the unemployed unions. These continue happening, but now
Speaker 2: in July the protests were being done by the regular
Speaker 2: employees of Electricity Board for better grades, the doctors and
Speaker 2: the paramedic staff of the Amadnik clinics and they were
Speaker 2: protest by the Narrega workers for pending wages and they
Speaker 2: wanted regularization, and they were protested by the salitation workers
Speaker 2: as well for regularization and also for better wages, and
Speaker 2: the ASHA, the aggredited social health activists, they are continuing
Speaker 2: their protests even now. And there are health workers who
Speaker 2: called themselves as Corona warriors because they were recruited during
Speaker 2: the Corona period. So they are the ones who are
Speaker 2: still sitting on protests even now.
Speaker 1: So let's start with sanitation workers. Why were they on strike?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the sanitation workers, they were on strike since July
Speaker 2: eight earlier. They were on strike for sixteen or seventeen
Speaker 2: days in May as well. So there are more than
Speaker 2: twenty five thousand sanitation workers and a part of them
Speaker 2: are on track, and the number of the workers who
Speaker 2: are on regular roles they're very less. But the regular
Speaker 2: ones were just supporting the outsourced and the contractual persons
Speaker 2: and they were on strike that they were seeking on
Speaker 2: minimum wages up to forty thousand per month.
Speaker 3: That they said that we are doing a.
Speaker 2: Hazardous work and this work which is not done by
Speaker 2: anyone else, and we are looked down upon for doing
Speaker 2: this work, so we should be paid well. And the
Speaker 2: other thing was that they said we should not be
Speaker 2: outsourced or we should not be on contract.
Speaker 3: We should be on regular roles. So these were the
Speaker 3: main demands.
Speaker 2: And not only the workers who are in field who
Speaker 2: are doing the cleaning jobs and the severmen there.
Speaker 3: Are back off his staff as well.
Speaker 2: There are gardeners, baildars, electricians or peons in the sanitation department.
Speaker 2: They were also along with these persons that who wanted
Speaker 2: I mean the better grade. So everyone was along with
Speaker 2: and they were doing the strike. And because the monsoon
Speaker 2: is on full swing, the Punjab was in a very
Speaker 2: bad state and choked sievers and the roads full of
Speaker 2: garbage and all. So it was really a hard time
Speaker 2: for the government to convince these employees. And finally on
Speaker 2: Monday late evening, the Local Government Minister Hajutsinghbanks was able
Speaker 2: to convince these striking employees to call off the strike.
Speaker 1: Right and even employees working in the power sector have
Speaker 1: been demanding better wages, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the power employees also again I mean for better wages.
Speaker 2: They said that there was one notification issued by the
Speaker 2: previous Congress government in July twenty twenty and because of
Speaker 2: that the Punjab government they had implemented the central payscales
Speaker 2: and I mean according to the power sector employees they
Speaker 2: said that Punjab's quality of living is much better than
Speaker 2: the national average and hence the state payscales were on
Speaker 2: a better side than central pay scales. I mean when
Speaker 2: Punjab government had started this department, the Power Sector department,
Speaker 2: and they said when they were shifted to the central
Speaker 2: pace case, so it was kind of for demotion for them,
Speaker 2: I mean in sort of salaries. So they said that
Speaker 2: central pace calls are paying them less, so they want
Speaker 2: that notification to be withdrawn and they should be given
Speaker 2: state paycills only. And at the same time again and
Speaker 2: a number of employees in the power sector they are
Speaker 2: on contract and they want them on regular roles. And
Speaker 2: in power sector there is a scheme that because it's
Speaker 2: a high risk job and if you die while on duty,
Speaker 2: so the family members they get job on compassionate ground.
Speaker 2: So there were many cases pending in which the families
Speaker 2: were waiting for jobs on compassionate ground. So these were
Speaker 2: the various reasons. And there were around eighteen or twenty
Speaker 2: thousand employees they were on strike and another five or
Speaker 2: six thousand they were on contract, so they were also
Speaker 2: supporting them. So finally the Power Minister he was able
Speaker 2: to convince the striking employees on twenty six July, and
Speaker 2: these power sector employees, they have temporarily called of their strike.
Speaker 2: They said, we are waiting till August fifteen for the
Speaker 2: formal implementation of a number of demands and if they
Speaker 2: will not be implemented in later and spirit, I mean
Speaker 2: as they have been promised, so they said they may
Speaker 2: resume the strike after August fifteen.
Speaker 1: Yet again, and now we come to the Manrega employees.
Speaker 1: What concerns have been expressed by them regarding their working
Speaker 1: conditions Manrega employees.
Speaker 2: I mean, these are the ones around twenty one hundred
Speaker 2: of them. They are the ones the back office staff,
Speaker 2: the ones who run the system, I mean the supervisor,
Speaker 2: the gram say works, the computer operators, and the coordinators,
Speaker 2: the ones who coordinate with the entire these NAEGA workers.
Speaker 2: So they are on wages. And the rest NAEGA workers
Speaker 2: they are on daily beges now the three hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty or soap per day. But these people around twenty
Speaker 2: one hundred persons, the back of his staff, they get
Speaker 2: regular wages. So they were saying that they are on contract.
Speaker 2: When Nearrega's scheme started in two thousand and five and
Speaker 2: since then a number of them they are working since
Speaker 2: two thousand and five, and they wanted now to be
Speaker 2: on regular roles before being switched to this Viksitbaharat, the
Speaker 2: GMG scheme, and that's why they were saying that we
Speaker 2: won't sign the fresh contract under GMG, but unless and
Speaker 2: until we are giving an assurance that will be on
Speaker 2: regular roles and working with the Rural Development and Punchaya Department.
Speaker 2: And in addition to this, their wages since January they
Speaker 2: were pending, and their wages are in the range of
Speaker 2: eighteen thousand to fifty thousand, depending on the various designations.
Speaker 3: The employees they work.
Speaker 2: So for the pending wages, they were on strike since
Speaker 2: June one, and on July seventeen they were even issued
Speaker 2: a warning letter that if they don't sign a contract
Speaker 2: under GMG, so they'll be terminated and the new fresh
Speaker 2: recruities will be given the jobs. Even then, they had
Speaker 2: continued with this strike, but in the mid of the
Speaker 2: July government was able to mount pressure on them, so
Speaker 2: they called off their strike and then they signed contracts
Speaker 2: under GRAMG and now under JIRAMG they are not on
Speaker 2: regular roles. They are rather again on contract, or rather
Speaker 2: their contract starts from day one and Raki.
Speaker 1: Interestingly, Sangrur, which is the CM's home district, has become
Speaker 1: the center for unrest. Do we know why that is?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean wherever the CM lives, so the employees'
Speaker 2: unions they always try to march towards that city. Only
Speaker 2: when Kaptain Brinder Singh was the CM, the Pateala used
Speaker 2: to be the favorite hotspot for the employees unions to protest.
Speaker 2: And when Procasting Badel was the CM, especially his home
Speaker 2: I mean native village Badel in books a district that
Speaker 2: used to be the favorite hotspot for the employees unions
Speaker 2: and other protesters to protest. And now that the same way,
Speaker 2: the CM hails from Sangrur. He hails from Sathage village
Speaker 2: which is in Sangrur and he also has a accommodation
Speaker 2: innegated colony in Sangrooves. So the employees' unions they tend
Speaker 2: to go towards that gated colony only where the SAM
Speaker 2: has a house. And although he rarely visits that house,
Speaker 2: but I mean it's a symbolic thing that the it's
Speaker 2: a SAM house and whenever sm visits Sangurur. So he
Speaker 2: do visits his house and there is a security outside
Speaker 2: that house. So I mean there's huge police force outside
Speaker 2: that gated colony. Only a police never allows the protesters
Speaker 2: to go inside the gate of that colony. But the
Speaker 2: protesters always they march towards that road. It's a state highway,
Speaker 2: the Sangrur Patala Highway. They march towards that road and
Speaker 2: then there is a barricading about one kilometer ahead of
Speaker 2: that colony and most of the times police they don't.
Speaker 3: Allow them to march ahead.
Speaker 2: And ultimately a number of times a forces used, then
Speaker 2: they turn back or they give their memorandum and then
Speaker 2: they turn back. So this is a reason the Sangrur
Speaker 2: is a hot spot because the sm lives there and
Speaker 2: if they are doing a protest in Sangurur, so they
Speaker 2: think that they'll be heard of or maybe they may
Speaker 2: get some attention from the media or maybe from the
Speaker 2: officers because a lot of VIP movement keeps on happening
Speaker 2: in their district.
Speaker 1: Right and how has the ARP government responded to these protests?
Speaker 1: How were they able to bring the protests to a halt.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the ARP government as I told you that in
Speaker 2: the Naraga strike that they were able to convince them
Speaker 2: or they were able to mount pressure on them. So
Speaker 2: the finally they made them join the GMG scheme. But
Speaker 2: the ARP government they have given them the wages I mean,
Speaker 2: although the wages are still pending, but they were shored
Speaker 2: these striking employees that they'll be paid back the wages
Speaker 2: of the period during which they did the strike. And
Speaker 2: at the same time they also withdrew their termination letter
Speaker 2: as well. And in sanitation workers strike, Ahmadaming government they
Speaker 2: gave a lot of things the employees. They were earlier
Speaker 2: on ten thousand and five hundred dollars per month salary
Speaker 2: only the contractual workers, and on May May one, the
Speaker 2: labor day, their salary was raised to fourteen thousand per month.
Speaker 2: And now when they were doing the strike in July,
Speaker 2: Josing Banks, he announced that the salary of the contractual
Speaker 2: employees has been raised to twenty five and twenty per
Speaker 2: month and that is equivalent to the salary of a
Speaker 2: regular employee who's on probation. And at the same time
Speaker 2: they announced that the contractual employees who have completed five
Speaker 2: years of job in contract, the ones who are doing
Speaker 2: the hazardous jobs, they'll be put on regular roles. And
Speaker 2: the outsourced employees who have completed that in hour of
Speaker 2: three years of the job under outsourced company, they will
Speaker 2: be put on contract. And the government had to have
Speaker 2: made all these changes because on July twenty two, while
Speaker 2: these employees they were protesting rather I will say that,
Speaker 2: because there was a lot of garbage lying on the roads,
Speaker 2: so the government was making their own efforts to get
Speaker 2: that garbage cleaned from the roads, and the sanitition employ
Speaker 2: they were preventing the private staff and the government authorities
Speaker 2: and the police who were getting it cleaned not to
Speaker 2: get it cleaned. So during that episode, clash happened and
Speaker 2: these employees, including the women employees, women's sanitation workers, they
Speaker 2: were brutally lati charged by the punjapolice and that was
Speaker 2: got on camera.
Speaker 3: The videos went viral.
Speaker 2: Thirteen workers got injured, and I mean it became a
Speaker 2: huge political issue in the country because on one hand,
Speaker 2: the Amadmi Party was protesting the Gentlemantha police force and
Speaker 2: on the next day, only July twenty two, this thing
Speaker 2: happened in Bernalla, so they had to suspend two police
Speaker 2: employees and after July twenty two only they announced so
Speaker 2: many things and hiking wages and the other reforms.
Speaker 1: And keeping this in mind, what was the opposition's response
Speaker 1: to these protests?
Speaker 2: The opposition as I said that once the Bernala Lati
Speaker 2: charge happened, then the opposition was all out against the
Speaker 2: Amadhme Party and Amadmi Party was literally at the receiving
Speaker 2: and the party normally while they're addressing the workers because
Speaker 2: the power sector and the sanitation these all are essential
Speaker 2: kind of services, so they used to be very strict
Speaker 2: with these employees even while appealing them. So after this thing,
Speaker 2: once are all the opposition and the Congress, the BJP,
Speaker 2: they were all out against them. So Amame party was
Speaker 2: literally cornered and BGP President Caver saying Hillo, he even
Speaker 2: gave ten thousand rupees each to all the injured sanitation
Speaker 2: workers from his own pocket. And the opposition reacted strongly
Speaker 2: and they said we fully support the striking employees. So
Speaker 2: that's how the employees were getting a boost and ruling
Speaker 2: party was being cornered and they were under pressure to
Speaker 2: get the strike result.
Speaker 1: So Raki, how do we see these larger issues being
Speaker 1: resolved and what can we expect in the upcoming days.
Speaker 2: Although these major strikes they have ended, but still these
Speaker 2: are temporary kinds of arrangements.
Speaker 3: They may again come on strike.
Speaker 2: And the larger challenge is coming from the employees, the
Speaker 2: regular employees of more than fifty government departments who have
Speaker 2: not been given eighteen percent pending dearness allowance and that
Speaker 2: courte case is going on and those employees are also
Speaker 2: planning major protests in the coming weeks although they are
Speaker 2: fighting a legal battle as well. The Corona warriors, as
Speaker 2: I mentioned, they are sitting on strike in Pateala. They
Speaker 2: were the temporary employees who were recruited during Corona period
Speaker 2: and they were recruited for a short period because at
Speaker 2: that time the department needed more health workers. And now
Speaker 2: they're saying that we want regular jobs and the ASHAs
Speaker 2: they are still on strike. They want the better incentives
Speaker 2: and they want that minimum stipend of ten thousand per
Speaker 2: month should be given to them apart from the rest
Speaker 2: of the incentives and they want graduty other things as
Speaker 2: well on lines of Haryana government.
Speaker 3: And in addition to this, the farmer unit.
Speaker 2: They are planning the protests in the coming months because
Speaker 2: as I said ur. In the electioneer everyone gets in
Speaker 2: full mode. And then the farmer unions they are planning
Speaker 2: their protests not only against them in Jab government but
Speaker 2: also against the Center government because the Center government they
Speaker 2: said they did not implement MSP as a legal guarantee
Speaker 2: and a number of other demands and they are against
Speaker 2: the India US trade deal as well. So the farmer unions,
Speaker 2: the say Kissan Murchak, they're also gearing up. They're doing
Speaker 2: many meetings. The promises which were done by the BGP
Speaker 2: government in twenty twenty one when the protests at the
Speaker 2: daily border that was lifted. So they said that those
Speaker 2: promises were not fulfilled till now. So something big is
Speaker 2: going to come up from the farmer's front as well
Speaker 2: in the coming months.
Speaker 1: And next. We talk about a Supreme Court mandate that
Speaker 1: was meant to make police stations more accountable. Back in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, the Supreme Court had directed that CCTV cameras
Speaker 1: installed in all police stations across the country in order
Speaker 1: to come custodial torture and debts and ensure that what
Speaker 1: happens inside police premises can be monitored.
Speaker 4: These cameras also safeguard honest police officers from false allegations
Speaker 4: of abuse.
Speaker 1: That's the Indian expresses Beneath Bahla, who reported on the
Speaker 1: story for the paper.
Speaker 4: So the idea behind these CCTV cameras is to bring
Speaker 4: about transparency when it comes to allegations of custodial violence.
Speaker 1: But a new report submitted to the Court has found
Speaker 1: that many states are yet to install CCTV cameras in
Speaker 1: their police stations and that has raised larger questions about implementation.
Speaker 1: Some states say that they have enough funds of their
Speaker 1: own to install the CCTV cameras because their proposals have
Speaker 1: been approved, but the assistance have not been provided by Center,
Speaker 1: and others have not even submitted proposals yet despite saying
Speaker 1: they need money. So to understand why the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: CCTV mandate has remained incomplete, Michaeleeague Chashama speaks to Beneath
Speaker 1: in this segment.
Speaker 5: We need to place in a broader context. Could you
Speaker 5: help our listeners understand just how serious the problem of
Speaker 5: custodial violence is in India.
Speaker 4: So we actually have data regarding the number of custodial
Speaker 4: debts during police custody in the last few years, the
Speaker 4: numbers considering the size of India may not seem huge.
Speaker 4: So for example, in the financial year twenty one twenty two,
Speaker 4: there were one seventy six such deaths recorded. In twenty
Speaker 4: two twenty three it was one sixty three, twenty three,
Speaker 4: twenty four it was one fifty seven, twenty four to
Speaker 4: twenty five it was one forty and then last year,
Speaker 4: which is twenty five twenty six, it was one seventy.
Speaker 4: So it's hovered around the one fifty one seventy mark.
Speaker 4: But a like there is a possibility of this data
Speaker 4: being underreported and be even if this data is accurate,
Speaker 4: the fact that one hundred and fifty odd people are
Speaker 4: dying in police custody in any year, that like those
Speaker 4: are in itself not small numbers, right, one hundred and
Speaker 4: fifty people who were just accused of crimes and died
Speaker 4: while being held up by the police. If you hold
Speaker 4: those numbers up against most other countries in the world,
Speaker 4: it will come across as proportionately huge. So this is
Speaker 4: why the Supreme Court took cognizance of this, recognized this
Speaker 4: as a grave problem within our criminal justice system, and
Speaker 4: that is why the mandate for CCTV cameras was given right.
Speaker 5: And speaking of this report, we understand that at the
Speaker 5: national level, twenty one states and Union territories have submitted
Speaker 5: proposals or action plans seeking funds for CCTV installation centralized
Speaker 5: monitoring systems. But you highlight how Jharkhund has reportedly not
Speaker 5: installed a single camera. So do we know why the
Speaker 5: state has fallen so far behind?
Speaker 4: Yeah, your correct, Jarkun, according to the report, doesn't have
Speaker 4: a single CCTV camera in any police station. According to
Speaker 4: the report, the state's chief secretary blamed it on a
Speaker 4: mix of interdepartmental disagreements, budgetary constraints, and other bureaucratic red
Speaker 4: tape hurdles. They had to float tenders twice in order
Speaker 4: to get someone to install these cameras, and they still
Speaker 4: haven't applied for central funds under the Assistance for Modernization
Speaker 4: of Police scheme by the Central government. So the fact
Speaker 4: that there are still no cameras even six years after
Speaker 4: the judgment shows that there is a very serious lapse
Speaker 4: on Sharkan's part.
Speaker 5: And we need what about other states, because several states
Speaker 5: have sought financial support through the Union government's assistance to
Speaker 5: states and Union territories for modernization of police scheme.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so again it's not. The report doesn't make for
Speaker 4: great reading because most of the states, even ones who
Speaker 4: have submitted proposals to the Central government for using its
Speaker 4: scheme money for setting up these CCTV cameras. Even for
Speaker 4: those states, the money has not come from the Central
Speaker 4: government to them even after their proposals have been approved
Speaker 4: by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. In fact, Himachal
Speaker 4: Pradesh is the only state in India that has actually
Speaker 4: received funds this financial hear from the central government. The
Speaker 4: delay seems to be on the center's end. The central
Speaker 4: government had said that it had about eighteen fifty pro
Speaker 4: rupees available for this more the police modernization scheme, but
Speaker 4: in a meeting in July, the government stated that the
Speaker 4: scheme is lapsing and funds are now limited. So as
Speaker 4: a result, a lot of states are caught between the
Speaker 4: Supreme court strict monitoring and deadlines for implementing its twenty
Speaker 4: twenty judgment and the realities of actually getting money from
Speaker 4: the government from the central government for implementing the Supreme
Speaker 4: Court's mandate.
Speaker 5: Right and interestingly, some states have said that they can
Speaker 5: financi city reinstallation themselves, So how do we read that?
Speaker 4: So, yeah, you're correct. There are some states like Marastra, Goujrat,
Speaker 4: Haryana and Odishav and a couple of Union territories which
Speaker 4: have said that they have sufficient funds in their own
Speaker 4: state budgets for setting up these cree cameras. I think
Speaker 4: it should be seen as a positive sign because it
Speaker 4: shows that if there is a genuine political will, then
Speaker 4: state governments can bypass these central funding delays that I
Speaker 4: spoke about and take ownership of the Supreme Court's mandate
Speaker 4: and police anyway is a state subject under our constitutional framework.
Speaker 4: So state governments are well within their right to use
Speaker 4: their own revenue money for this issue if they prioritize
Speaker 4: it and we need.
Speaker 5: Given that it has been six years since the Supreme
Speaker 5: Court's order, have authorities commented on the challenges faced and
Speaker 5: the fact that why it has taken so long.
Speaker 4: As I said, there are many reasons behind this, so
Speaker 4: there are bureauctic hurdles to blame. There is also poor
Speaker 4: planning on the part of some states because states like Biharre, Kerala,
Speaker 4: MP and the Government of Delhi there yet to file
Speaker 4: proper action plans as to how they will use the
Speaker 4: money and for what. Bihar had actually submitted a plan
Speaker 4: but turned out as the report has flagged that the
Speaker 4: plan was for traffic surveillance rather than police stations, so
Speaker 4: that's why it wasn't given money. So clearly there are
Speaker 4: issues with planning and technical confusion also which are to blame.
Speaker 4: But with such Supreme Court judgments which require the laying
Speaker 4: out of infrastructure across the country, it is expected that
Speaker 4: there will be delays and it remains to be seen
Speaker 4: how much longer does it take for governments to fulfill
Speaker 4: the Supreme Courts mandate. As I told you, Imachal Pradesh
Speaker 4: has received the money. Some other states have also said
Speaker 4: that they already have the money and it's not as
Speaker 4: if no progress has been made. Apart from so, only
Speaker 4: Jharkan is a state where there are no CCTV cameras
Speaker 4: yet in police stations. All other states and Union territories
Speaker 4: there is some progress, and depending on which state or
Speaker 4: which Union territory to go to, you'll find either some
Speaker 4: or even most police stations have CCTV cameras. So such delay,
Speaker 4: as I said, is expected, but significant progress has been
Speaker 4: in the last six years.
Speaker 5: And even if cameras are installed, is that enough? And
Speaker 5: also are there other safeguards that exist for people in
Speaker 5: police custody.
Speaker 4: Certainly not so. Even if you get a CCTV camera,
Speaker 4: it needs to have a tamper detection feature, for example,
Speaker 4: so that its footage cannot be deleted or manipulated. You
Speaker 4: also need CCTV cameras which can hold data for as
Speaker 4: for the Supreme Court's mandate eighteen months, so that delays
Speaker 4: in investigation don't lead to the CCTV cameras throwing up
Speaker 4: a blank for a particular case that happened in the past. Moreover,
Speaker 4: you need centralized dashboards as well, so that these cameras
Speaker 4: feeds can be monitored remotely. But even apart from that,
Speaker 4: you need several other safeguards against custodial violence, which were
Speaker 4: laid down by the Supreme Court in another judgment called Dkbaso.
Speaker 4: These guideline include, among other things, that when someone is arrested,
Speaker 4: the police officer must have a clear name tag, They
Speaker 4: must prepare an arrest memo signed by a witness and
Speaker 4: inform a relative or friend of the person who's being
Speaker 4: arrested of the arrest immediately. Then once the person is arrested,
Speaker 4: they have a right to a medical examination every forty
Speaker 4: eight hours, and they also have the right to meet
Speaker 4: a lawyer during their interrogation. And under our constitution, anyone
Speaker 4: who's arrested must be presented before a magistrate within twenty
Speaker 4: four hours. So the CCTV camera's mandate is just meant
Speaker 4: to sort of supplement these rights and make sure that
Speaker 4: all these other rights are actually provided. Two persons who
Speaker 4: have been arrested and are in police custody.
Speaker 1: And in the end we talk about Former Bangladesh Prime
Speaker 1: Minister Sheik Hasina made her first public media appearance in
Speaker 1: two years from New Delhi yesterday, saying she would return
Speaker 1: to Bangladesh by December despite fears of being arrested or
Speaker 1: even killed.
Speaker 6: Whatever fate evers me, I will return to my people.
Speaker 6: I cannot stay away while my pilabit county men are
Speaker 6: I know.
Speaker 3: I may be detained, I may be sent to prision.
Speaker 6: They may try to enforce Verdic's issue in fabricated cases.
Speaker 6: But fear cannot decide my duty to the people, my life.
Speaker 1: The president was held at the Foreign Correspondence Club of
Speaker 1: South Asia in New Delhi. The former Prime Minister of
Speaker 1: Bangladesh fled Dhaka two years ago after facing widespread student
Speaker 1: led protests and has been living in India since then.
Speaker 1: Ahead of the event, India reiterated that the media interaction
Speaker 1: was being organized by a private entity and said the
Speaker 1: government neither had any role in it nor in dose
Speaker 1: the views expressed there. Bangladesh had earlier expressed concern that
Speaker 1: the event could affect improving bilateral ties. In a virtual
Speaker 1: interaction with the media in Delhi, the former Bangladesh Prime
Speaker 1: minister said that the current Bangladesh is not the one
Speaker 1: for which three million people sacrifice their lives in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy one.
Speaker 6: This is not the Bangladesh we built. This is not
Speaker 6: the Bangladesh for which three nil people sacrificed their lives
Speaker 6: in ninety seventy one.
Speaker 3: Let me begin with that.
Speaker 1: She said that the truth about July and August twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four is that it was not a peaceful student's movement,
Speaker 1: and how her government had tried to resolve the issue
Speaker 1: peacefully through dialogue, legal process and patience, but behind the
Speaker 1: language of reform, organized groups were working to turn students'
Speaker 1: demands into a violent political instrument. Speaking emotionally about her
Speaker 1: family's legacy, Hasina broke down while remembering her father's Sheik
Speaker 1: Mujibur Raheman, and other family member killed in the nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy five assassination. The Awami League president added that the
Speaker 1: ban on her party should be lifted and reiterated that
Speaker 1: she would return to her country. Hassina also called upon
Speaker 1: the international community to stand with the people of Bangladesh
Speaker 1: in their struggle for democracy, justice and peace. As a
Speaker 1: stable Bangladesh matters for South Asia and for the Bay
Speaker 1: of Bengal. Hassina's son, Saji Bazid, said that Bangladesh has
Speaker 1: become another Pakistan on India's eastern front and raised concerns
Speaker 1: over the role of foreign intelligence agencies in Bangladesh. He
Speaker 1: also questioned the death toll reported in connection with the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four protests in Bangladesh, pointing to differences between
Speaker 1: figures cited by the United Nations and those cited by
Speaker 1: the previous administration headed by Muhammed Unis. He alleged that
Speaker 1: the UN's assessment covered only the period of up to
Speaker 1: August fifteen, twenty twenty four, while noting that deaths continued
Speaker 1: beyond that date.
Speaker 7: You have the UN number of fourteen hundred, whereas the
Speaker 7: government number is eight hundred something. Who are these additional
Speaker 7: six hundred people? Where did the UN get those names?
Speaker 7: Our party has written to the UN, our lawyers have
Speaker 7: written to the UN again and again, and today the
Speaker 7: UN has not provided any names. But more importantly, the
Speaker 7: UN only covers a period up to August fifteenth of
Speaker 7: twenty twenty four, but we know that the debts continued.
Speaker 7: And what is most alarming.
Speaker 1: Was it also criticized the unis led interim government, which
Speaker 1: has been replaced by the Tarikirrhman government. You were listening
Speaker 1: to Three Things by the Indian Express. Today's episode was
Speaker 1: edited and mixed by Surish Babar and produced by Ichasharma
Speaker 1: and me Niharikhananda. If you like the show, then do
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