LEGAL NOTICE SENT TO NGO SAATHII ON 18 JULY, 2015

To,

1.     Groups working on issues of HIV/AIDS and rights of sexual minorities

2.     SAATHII's funders

Sir/Madam,

Please find below a legal notice sent to NGO SAATHII for procuring funding through lies and using AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan’s (ABVA) work for the same. The notice is self-explanatory. ABVA's work needs no introduction and ABVA’s stand against funding is well known. While most groups have accurately depicted ABVA’s work on their websites there are some which are spreading wrong information. SAATHII is one of these. Orinam on its website has posted a video in which one Shamona Khanna claims that Siddhartha Gautam (S.G.) started ABVA. These are patent lies. ABVA was and remains a collective and S.G. in fact joined after ABVA members had already been working on the issue of HIV/AIDS.  (See the notice below for details). There may be more such lies posted on the web. It pains us to see the work of a non-funded, non-party organization being hijacked by vested interests. We request all groups and individuals working on the issue of HIV/AIDS and rights of sexual minorities to check their websites for any misinformation regarding ABVA and remove the same.

We would also like to make it clear that in case ABVA – despite all efforts to resolve the issue outside the court – is forced to initiate legal proceedings against SAATHII any adverse repercussion on the funding of other such groups working on the issue of HV/AIDS and/or rights of sexual minorities will lie squarely with SAATHII.

Thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Shobha Aggarwal

Advocate and member, AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan

LEGAL NOTICE SENT TO NGO SAATHII ON 18 JULY, 2015

To,

SAATHII,

229, Kalitala Main Road, Purbachal (North),
Kolkata - 700 078

18 July, 2015

Also at:

SAATHII Chennai
78, Pushpa Nagar Main Road
Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600 034

Sir/Madam,

On behalf of AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA), a non-funded, non-party organization working on the issue of fighting discrimination against those affected by HIV/AIDS and those targeted as the high risk groups, I hereby serve upon you as under:

1.       That you have for a long time through gross lies and misrepresentation used ABVA’s work to procure funding for Siddhartha Gautam Film Festival from 2003 onwards over several years till date. That when this fact came to ABVA’s notice early this year emails were sent to you so that you could rectify your mistakes and take correctional steps.

2.       That the lies and misinformation circulated by SAATHII to procure funding and as promotional literature were tabulated and sent to you via email on 18 February, 2015. The table is being reproduced below for ready reference:

S.No.	Statements	Correct Factual Position
1.	He (Siddharth Gautam S.G.) was one of the first people in India to talk about HIV/AIDS as a human rights issue and started AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA) in 1989-90 in New Delhi, the first AIDS activist group in the country.	ABVA was formed due to the collective efforts and commitment of a number of activists. Many of the activists had been working together in various campaigns from 1984 to 1988-89 which made it easier for these activists to come together to form ABVA. S.G. joined at this point of time. Giving credit to one individual for starting ABVA is an insult to all the ABVA members both dead and alive. S.G. was one of the members of ABVA. As a collective ABVA was one of the first organizations to talk about HIV/AIDS as a human rights issue. To be fair Ashok Row Kavi (Bombay Dost); Dr. I.S. Gilada (of erstwhile Indian Health Organization); and Dr. Suniti Soloman (Chennai) were easily the earliest to be active on these issues years before ABVA was formed. There must have been many more – most importantly PWH&A (people with HIV & AIDS) who chose to maintain anonymity or carried pseudo-names. Perfectly understandable.
2.	ABVA also initiated a petition campaign that helped prevent the passing of the draconian AIDS (Prevention) Bill of 1989. Siddhartha’s work as a lawyer in New Delhi strengthened these efforts.	The said petition campaign was initiated much before S.G.  became a lawyer. ABVA had members who had a decade’s experience of using parliamentary techniques; their expertise was valuable.
3	He was responsible for bringing out “Less than Gay – A Citizen’s Report on the Status of Homosexuality in India”.	There were seven ABVA members who had co-authored the report; it was indeed a group effort of all the ABVA members and not just these seven and certainly not just one amongst these seven. The report is available at the following link: http://www.sacw.net/article10497.html  the names of the seven co-authors can be verified.
4.	Siddhartha also worked with ABVA to publish a series of well-researched reports on the status of other vulnerable  groups of people like women in prostitution, professional blood donors and drug dependents, …	ABVA’s report titled Women And AIDS – Denial and Blame was authored by ten members including S.G. Another report titled Blood of the Professional was authored by just one member, Jagdish Bhardwaje. The report on drug dependents titled This Sugar is Bitter was conceived and brought out much after S.G.’s death!

3.       However despite several reminders sent by us the following corrective actions have not been taken so far contrary to the assurances given by SAATHII:

a.      ABVA has not been provided with the list of funders (with their names and address) involved in Siddhartha Gautam Film Festival over the period under discussion.

b.     ABVA has not received copies of the grant proposals and reports to donors to get funds for the said film festival.

c.     SAATHII has not put up on its website a prominently displayed apology stating that certain statements carried in the literature circulated by it from 2003 onwards on Siddhartha Gautam Film Festival to date are patently false and incorrect. That rectification is being done through the following statement after receiving a detailed complaint from ABVA. An assurance that the said corrected page would be prominently displayed on your website and easily assessable till SAATHII remains in existence.

d.     You have not given an assurance that the same mistakes would not be repeated again.

e.      You have not got the patently false and factually incorrect statements taken from your website by other people removed from the internet.

f.       You have not pinpointed the persons in your organization who were instrumental in drafting your literature which had false and incorrect statements and the action you contemplate against them.

4.   ABVA had also communicated through its email dated 24 March, 2015 that your response via email dated 16 March, 2016 to its serial no. 1 statement in the table is totally unacceptable. You were informed that it was, in fact, ABVA as a collective which was one of the first organizations to talk about HIV/AIDS as a human rights issue. S.G. by virtue of being associated with ABVA talked about HIV/AIDS as a human rights issue. You were advised to go through the primary sources i.e. ABVA reports to confirm this. You were asked to provide ABVA with material to show that S.G. was involved in HIV/AIDS work prior to his joining ABVA. You were further advised that if you still persist in making wrong representations ABVA reserves its right to resort to all methods to ensure that justice is done not just to ABVA but also to all ABVA members dead as well as living – who have never tried to take individual credit for the work of the collective.

However you have till date not done the needful. It must be stated that for a funded NGO like SAATHII to appropriate the work done by a non-funded voluntary group to get funds is a despicable act. It is like Kafan Chori. This act of yours while giving monetary advantage to you has also defamed ABVA as ABVA is ideologically and morally against funding. You have violated the basic principles that ABVA as a group stands for and caused the members of ABVA severe mental and emotional trauma. You have also violated intellectual property rights of ABVA. It is made clear to you that the moral responsibility of any repercussion on the funding of other groups working on HIV/AIDS related issues once ABVA files a case against SAATHII would be entirely on your shoulders.

Now, therefore, take notice that in case you fail to comply with all the terms listed in para 3 and 4 of this notice with in a period of fifteen days of receipt of this notice, appropriate legal proceedings will be initiated against SAATHII for damages of Rs. One Crore only (Rs. 1,00,000,00/-) for violation of ABVA’s intellectual property rights and defamation; procuring funding under false pretenses and other related reliefs at your risk as to cost and consequences. The amount eventually received by ABVA as damages will be donated to a charity.

(Shobha Aggarwal)

Advocate and member AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan