Rajat Kalsan

Hunam Rights Defender and Advocate

Haryana

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on 1^st November regarding the death threats and withdrawal of police protection to a human rights defender and Advocate Rajat Kalsan. Mr. Rajat Kalsan, is a lawyer and Dalit rights activist. He himself belongs to a Scheduled Caste. He pursues cases related to atrocities, violations, discrimination of Dalits in different courts in the state of Haryana. He also conducts awareness training on the constitutional rights for Dalit community youths in different rural pocket of the state. He is associated with several civil society groups working for Dalit rights in the state and at national level also.

In Mirchpur village of Haryana, some miscreant had torched the Dalit settlement on April 21, 2010, and in this arson a man and his daughter died due to burning. He had been fighting for justice of the Dalit victims in this case and representing the victims in the court. He is also representing a gang rape case, in Hisar district where a Dalit young girl was kidnapped and was gang-raped on September 9, 2012, thereafter her father committed suicide. Mr. Rajat assisted Dalit villagers from Bhatla in Hansi to file a criminal complaint in July 2017 against a social boycott imposed against them by members of dominant castes. Subsequently, based on a petition, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana constituted a fact-finding into the boycott. On September 2, 2017, Mr. Rajat assisted this committee when they visited the village. As a result, he received several death threats and was forced to flee as he feared assault by a group of dominant caste members.

As in most of the cases he is representing the Dalits and perpetrators being from the dominant castes and government authorities including the police, he had been facing threat including death threats. Through an order of the court, he was provided with police protection for the past 6 years. But, for the past few months, the police protection provided to him has been withdrawn without any information. Following it, on numerous occasions he was threatened and recently facing serious threats to his life. He has also alleged that some political groups and officials from police department and others are in a conspiracy to lodge false case against him. He apprehends their intention is to arrest him under fabricated and false charges and kill him in the custody.

In an attempt to curtail Mr. Rajat’s legal practice and him representing the Dalits and working against atrocities, a group of dominant caste people staged a demonstration at Hansi Old Court area demanding the state administration to cancel his license to practice law and register a case of disloyalty against the State. On September 14, 2017, the police registered another case against him which alleged that he had tried to instigate Dalit villagers to file false complaints, bearing with case no. 302/17 under sections under sections 389 (threat to public servant), 153 A (promoting enmity between religious groups), 153 B (imputations prejudicial to national interests), 211 (false charges of offence), 193 (false evidence), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) ,506 (criminal intimidation) ,120-B (criminal conspiracy) ,109 (abetment) of Indian Penal Code.

HRDA prayed for thorough investigation and to take immediate actions on the perpetrators of the case.