Tipu Sultan

Social activist and HRD

West Bengal

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on November 26, 2021, regarding the illegal arrest of HRD Tipu Sultan under fabricated charges by the West Bengal Police.

Mr. Tipu Sultan is a Human Rights Defender working on various human rights issues in Birbhum district, West Bengal. 

In Paruldanga a three-year girl was brutally raped and murdered. Students’ Unity for New Society (SUNS) a student group conducted fact-finding about this incident. Mr. Sultan is a former member of this SUNS union. Although Mr. Sultan was not a part of that fact-finding mission, 6-7 policemen reached his residence in Gurupally village in a police vehicle in civilian clothing. None of them wore name tags for identification. They claimed they were from Santiniketan Police Station without giving them any information regarding the arrest warrant and arrested Mr. Sultan. When his grandfather went to the same police station, the personnel in charge denied it and said that the HRD was not lodged there.

Mr Sultan's family members, friends, and delegations of the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) visited Santiniketan and Bolpur Police Stations several times on October 13, 2021, but police personnel denied any knowledge about his detention/arrest and said that the family could file a missing complaint in the matter. Police hand-delivered a letter to Mr. Sultan's father at his residence about arresting  Mr. Sultan in a five-year-old case by Jhargram district police. The letter was signed by the Sub Inspector from Bolpur Police on October 13, 2021, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 18, 20, 23 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. 

We believe that the police acted with malafide intentions to detain and arrest Mr. Sultan. It is a gross abuse of the HRDs’ fundamental right to life and personal liberty granted by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution as well as a complete violation of their human rights as guaranteed by national and international laws.