It was raining that day in August as we waited in the premises of the biggest jail in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. The shed right beside the main entrance to the jail, where visitors meet their clients or loved ones, was unusually crowded for a weekday.
At a time, three prisoners spoke to visitors across separate mesh windows. The conversations lasted about 15-20 minutes, seemingly depending on the whims of the jail official hovering around. The shed, much like a ticket counter, did not provide any privacy to either the visitor or prisoner, with a crowd standing behind, eagerly waiting for their turn.
"Journalists who have been targeted must not give up and we must continue the fight" was how Santosh Yadav greeted us from across the mesh window. A police official stood right behind Santosh, seemingly eavesdropping, but he openly expressed his views on the crackdown on media personnel in one of Chhattisgarh's most economically backward regions.
I was with Kamal Shukla, a journalist; Somaru Nag, a local Adivasi stringer; and Jitender Yadav, Santosh Yadav's brother. Santosh was arrested last year - under harsh laws like the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) - on trumped up charges of being involved in an armed encounter between Maoists and security forces in August 2015. Both the CSPSA and the UAPA do not meet international human rights standards and have often been used to target journalists and civil society members.
Somaru had also been in prison until July 21, when he was acquitted by the Chhattisgarh High Court of charges of being a "Maoist sympathizer" and collaborating to commit arson and banditry. Due to the sluggish pace at which cases move in lower courts in Bastar, Somaru had to spend at least a year in pre-trial detention, despite the lack of eye witnesses or substantive evidence against him. He said his time in jail had caused him psychological trauma and affected his work, which included fighting for the basic rights of Adivasi communities and their access to public amenities like water and electricity.
One had hoped Santosh's pre-trial detention would not be as long as Somaru's, but Santosh has been in prison well over a year now. After bail rejections in Chhattisgarh by an NIA court and the High Court, a glimmer of hope emerged when the Supreme Court on 17 October asked the Chhattisgarh government to respond to a fresh bail petition.
However, on November 2, Santosh and seven other prisoners were accused of new offences after they were beaten up in prison for staging a hunger strike in protest against the quality of food served at the jail. Offences of "rioting", "obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions" and "assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty" were registered by the police against all eight prisoners.
Bastar-based journalist Santosh Yadav was arrested by the Chhattisgarh police in September, 2015
Prisons in Chhattisgarh have been found to have terrible conditions. In 2015, a CAG report found that the Chhattisgarh government had failed to provide prisoners access to sanitation and a hygienic environment.
Prisons in Chhattisgarh are also among the most overcrowded in the country, and abuses are common. A 2013 research report by lawyers at JagLAG (Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group) showed that under trials in Bastar often spent long periods in jail awaiting trial. Nearly half the under trials in Dantewada district jail had spent over a year in prison.
JagLAG (Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group) had been representing Santosh in the lower courts until February this year, when they were forced to leave their homes following intimidation by self-styled vigilante groups like the now disbanded Samajik Ekta Manch. Santosh was instrumental in connecting the lawyers with local Adivasis accused by the state police of being involved in Maoist encounters.
Local journalists have claimed that Santosh was arrested soon after he got into an argument at a press conference with a senior police official from Bastar and questioned Maoist surrender claims. On the same day, he had also working to secure the release of five Adivasi men from Bhadrimahu village who had been arrested.
There are several discrepancies in the case against Santosh which suggest that the charges against him have been fabricated. For one, his name is missing from the list of the names of suspects in the first page of the FIR. It only magically appears in the complaint section on the second page of the FIR that was filed on 22 August 2015. Moreover, the case against Santosh Yadav rests primarily on the testimony of a police official who, in the FIR, said he had identified the journalist at night, by the light of a flare, from over a hundred Maoist fighters. The police official subsequently failed to definitively identify Santosh in an identification parade, which happened a month after his arrest.
Kamal Shukla, who has been relentlessly leading the movement for a journalists' protection law in Chhattisgarh, wasn't surprised by the news of Santosh's beating. He says that Santosh had spoken to him about protests against the food served in prison two months back. Local media reports said the prisoners were baton-charged for "causing a disturbance". But the police insist that the protest was violent.
Santosh's family and lawyer, who were not allowed to meet him after the incident, said that he has been tortured in custody on several previous occasions. In late July, newspapers reported an alleged attempt on Santosh's life in prison by a fellow inmate. At his home in Darbha, his wife says, "He has been threatened with his life inside the prison a few times before".
For now, Santosh's brother Jitender is providing for the family and holding up morale. With much determination he told me, "We will fight this till the end. We are trying to get him released as soon as possible. We just need your support".
For a man who has been falsely arrested, beaten and torn apart from his family, Santosh appears surprisingly stoic. When asked if he would continue to be a journalist once he gets out, he said, "I will definitely continue journalism. I also want to help out a few prisoners I have met here who are innocent and have been framed." Immediately after, he took down a human rights lawyer's number on a piece of paper for the 18 other prisoners accused in the same case. This is what Santosh is truly guilty of - getting into trouble, but for others and seeking justice.
(Makepeace Sitlhou is a campaigner at Amnesty International India.)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.