Those
who had joined AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA) included Manoj Pande, Dr. Puneet Bedi, Shanta ji, Arun
Bhandhari; Shalini SCN, Lalitha S.A.; Dr. J.P. Jain, Dr.
Mathew Varghese, Dr. P.S. Sahni; Jagdish Bhardwaje, Yashwant, Shobha Aggarwal, J.S. Kohli, Manjit Singh. Some of these activists had known each
other for decades/ several years and had worked together in different campaigns
and movements prior to joining ABVA.
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In
1983 Shanta ji, Yashwant and Dr. P.S. Sahni were members of the Jhuggi Jhompri
Niwasi Adhikar Samiti (JJNAS). This organization had dozens of constituent
members – individuals/ organizations based in Delhi and Calcutta (now Kolkata).
JJNAS was opposed to slum demolitions without rehabilitation of the uprooted
people. In 1984 several draconian laws were passed in Parliament to target slum
dwellers, treating the latter as criminals and to uproot them at the whims and
fancies of those in power. JJNAS opposed these laws; organized a few protest
marches; demanded ration cards and voter identity cards for slum dwellers. When
one slum dweller, Wilson was tortured to death in a police station on the
alleged charge of stealing a ceiling fan, cases were filed not only in the
trial court against the policemen involved but also in the Supreme Court.
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Dr.
J.P. Jain, Dr. Puneet Bedi (Gynecologist), Dr. Mathew Varghese (Orthopedic
Surgeon), Dr. P.S. Sahni (Orthopedic Surgeon) had studied at Maulana Azad
Medical College and associated hospitals, New Delhi during the late 60s and
70s. The latter three doctors were in the forefront of the two month long
agitation launched by the Junior Doctors Federation (JDF) of Delhi in 1980
resulting in the strike affecting all the five major public hospitals in Delhi.
The strike was called off after an agreement signed between JDF and the Union
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The demands pertained to pay raise,
working hours and future job prospects. During the follow-up of the strike 37
of the two thousand odd striking doctors led by Dr. P.S. Sahni were sentenced
to 28 days imprisonment at Tihar Jail, Delhi.
Dr. Puneet Bedi
is a rare gynecologist who never performs ultrasonography for sex
determination; he never does any unnecessary Caesarian operation, opting to
patiently hold on for hours, nay day, for normal delivery to take place. Dr.
Mathew Verghese’s commitment to the needy patients is legendary; he spends half
his earnings on poor patients. He has earned the epithet of “one among five
people from around the world who were real life heroes.”
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Shanta
ji, Dr. J.P. Jain, Dr. P.S. Sahni, Manjit Singh had worked together amongst the
victims of anti-Sikh violence in 1984 in various relief camps set up in Delhi.
As per Government reports at least 3000 Sikhs were burnt alive in Delhi itself.
Manjit Singh, a Sikh by faith, had to have his hair shorn off to escape being
burnt alive; within a few days of this violence Manjit Singh had started doing
relief work. Manjit Singh was a communist by ideology; though a man of limited
means he had a library of progressive literature at his humble house. He
practically had all the issues of weekly magazine, Mainstream since its inception!
For 26 months the
work undertaken by these four activists involved setting up of medical relief
centers, filing of compensation applications; petitions to various authorities;
a series of protest actions e.g. rallies to the office of Lt. Governor of
Delhi; Delhi Development Authority; Boat Club etc.
Shanta ji as the
senior most ABVA member was a source of strength for all ABVA members. She had
courageously battled both her personal and political struggles. Dr. J.P. Jain had left his secure and well paid government job
to do voluntary work amongst victims of 1984 violence.
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During
the 1988 Cholera epidemic in Delhi Arun Bhandari, Dr. J.P. Jain, Dr. P.S. Sahni
were part of the 11 member fact finding team, Nagrik Mahamari Janch Samiti,
which brought out a Citizens’ Report, Crime
Goes Unpunished. The report became part of the case filed in the Supreme
Court demanding fixing of the
responsibility on the guilty officials responsible for the water contamination
supplied through shallow ‘pumps of Death’! A large protest demonstration was
organized outside the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, followed by a
public meeting at Delhi’s Sapru House. Through Arun Bhandari ABVA’s reports
would get distributed to other parts of the country whenever Arun – through his
parent organization Ankur – was travelling for a workshop, meeting organized by
other social groups outside Delhi; Arun was equally at ease in mobilizing
people from Bastis for protests
organized by ABVA. He would ensure that the participating people were well
versed with the issue at hand.
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From
1980 onwards Jagdish Bhardwaje, a professional blood donor (who sold his blood
for a living) had organized the poorest of the professional blood donors in
Delhi for a better deal at the hands of the private and government blood banks.
Jagdish Bhardwaje, coming from a middle class background, had hit the pavement
in 1981 while at the peak of his personal and professional life. He had
suffered huge economic losses in his business and had to dispose off his
Greater Kailash-II residence and car in a distress sale. His wife left him
along with the only son the couple had. He overcame a spell of severe
depression and struggled with his life on the pavement at Jama Masjid, Old
Delhi. He found himself amongst people who were forced to earn their livelihood
by selling their blood. Later he organized them under the banner of
professional blood donors and launched a long agitation at Boat Club – the Hyde
Park of Delhi – so that they get better remuneration for a bottle of blood! The
organization acquired an all India banner. For about two decades Jagdish
himself was selling his blood for a living; at times once a day and even thrice
a day on occasions.
In 1990, Jagdish
joined ABVA and was actively associated with it for over a decade. A report – Blood of the Professional – authored by
him documents the lives and struggles of professional blood donors in India. In
a public interest litigation filed by H.D. Shourie titled Common Cause
vs. Union of India and Others [Writ Petition (civil) 91 of 1992], the
Supreme Court had inter alia banned professional blood donation. Jagdish had
filed an intervention application through advocate Laxmi Kant Pandey urging the
court to have a rehabilitation policy for professional blood donors in the
event the court was likely to ban professional blood donation. Though the
judgement delivered on 4 January, 1996 victimised the professional blood donors
eventually, Jagdish’s application was not even considered.
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Yashwant,
himself a young leprosy patient residing in a slum area at Tilak Nagar, New Delhi
was instrumental in organizing the inmates of this colony, Jagat Matha Kusht
Ashram. As they were facing discrimination in their own state of Karnataka
(mainly district Bijapur) these leprosy patients had shifted to Delhi in the
1970s to earn their livelihood through begging. Dr. P.S. Sahni started working
amongst them after leaving his job at All India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS), New Delhi in December, 1983. Yashwant was active in the panchayat of leprosy patients. Yashwant
organized a number of protest actions including at the then national protest
site, Boat Club, New Delhi. During one of their most militant protest actions
near the office-cum-residence of the then Lt. Governor of Delhi the police
resorted to firing resulting in injuries to many of the protesting leprosy
patients and death of one of them. One of the leprosy patients, Govind Ram
filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India on 19 June, 1985. Mrs
Kapila Hingorani, senior advocate argued the case.
The petitioner,
Govind Ram, aged 80 years, suffering from leprosy with crippling deformities
was one of the 7000 persons with leprosy in Delhi and earned few rupees by
begging and on this account he often found himself in jail after being arrested
under the Anti-begging Act. The petitioner resided at jhuggi no. 26 at this
Ashram.
It was submitted
that there are 4 million people in India suffering from leprosy; that most of
them in Delhi are taken to Remand Home called “Sewa Kutir’at Kingsway Camp
which inmates refer to as ‘Danda Kutir’ because of the severe beatings they get
there. The petition pointed out that these people suffer from a number of
disabilities in the matter of employment, elections, and travel under the laws
and more in practice as they are treated worse than untouchables. Moreover with
the repeal of the Indian Lepers’ Act, 1898 in Delhi and a few other states,
alternate means of rehabilitation and their medical treatment have not been
made.
P.N. Bhagwati
the then Chief Justice of India and Justice V. Khalid passed an order on 9
September, 1985 asking Union Government and the Law Commission to provide
suitable legislation for the treatment and rehabilitation of leprosy patients.
The writ petition continued for over 20 years (1985 to 2004). About half a
dozen Chief Justices retired while the case was on. The petitioner was thrown
in jail after being arrested under the Anti-begging Act; his jhuggi was
demolished by Delhi Development Authority; in 1989 he died without any medical
treatment and rehabilitation. After 20 years of legal struggle and innumerable
court orders a suitable legislation for the treatment and rehabilitation of
leprosy patients is yet to see the light of the day.
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Even
before ABVA was christened in 1990 as such three of us – Dr. J.P. Jain, Lalitha
S.A. (Joint Women’s Program), and Dr. P.S. Sahni had got together to plan
working amongst the commercial sex workers (CSWs) in Delhi’s red light
district, G.B. Road. At that time the sex workers were being targeted for
forcible HIV testing. Eventually a small dispensary was set up in one of the
brothel houses where medicines for common ailments were provided and condoms
were distributed. Later Shalini SCN (Women’s Development Program, Indian Social
Institute, New Delhi) joined this work. When CSWs realized that a section of
the mainstream media had written derogatory things about them, they protested
and sent rejoinders to the newspapers. In fact some of them accompanied us to
the newspaper offices. When a demonstration was organized at the office of
Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi on 28 February, 1990 some of the
CSWs joined the protest with their faces uncovered.
In 1989, Shobha Aggarwal & few
others lawyers had started a Legal Support Group to provide free legal aid to
the poor and needy. In 1990, the Delhi Police under the supervision of Deputy
Commissioner of Police, Amod Kant arrested 112 women in prostitution and their
children on the charge of being ‘neglected juveniles’, under Juvenile Justice
Act, 1986. Even after the Juvenile Welfare Board pronounced that none of them
were neglected juveniles, the State went in appeal. The appeal was dismissed in
March 1995. For five years Shobha Aggarwal, advocate was attending the court
regularly as a lawyer for these victims. At times she had to wait in the court
room for the whole day. In the first two years more than two hours on every
hearing were spent in taking attendance of the women & their children; and
warrants of arrests were issued against anyone who was not present. Children
had to miss school for attending the court. They were made to stand outside the
court room in a line like prisoners while the attendance was taken. The
attitude of the judges and the court staff towards the accused was that of a
priest towards a sinner. They were granted exemption from appearance only after
Shobha had an argument with one of the presiding judges. The case passed
through several judges. Not a single one was willing to apply his/her mind to the
application for summary dismissal of appeal filed by the police as no appeal
was legally allowed under the Act against the order of acquittal by the
Juvenile Justice Board. One of the judges who sat on the case – without passing
any order for years – was later elevated to Delhi High Court! It took full five
years for a judge to dismiss the State’s appeal against the order of acquittal
of the women and children.
The net result has been that the
police has refrained from indulging in a repeat performance of such brutal
raids in later years. The spontaneous public protests by the women concerned
after their arrest, and the debate that ensued in the media followed by the
protracted legal battle has had a salutary effect on the powers that be.
Lalitha is passionate about her work
amongst the CSWs and their children. Her work continues till date. Her humility
is unmatched. Shalini, a onetime Christian Nun
had to confront, cajole, and convince the Church, the Bishops and the Indian
Social Institute to be working courageously amongst the CSWs.
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Manoj
Pande and J.S. Kohli were working with the Service Civil International, India (SCI)
when they joined ABVA. Manoj Pande is still active in ABVA’s work; for over
twenty-six years Manoj has been the Secretary at Himalaya Seva Sangh, New Delhi.
Earlier known as the Border Areas Coordination Committee, the Himalaya Seva
Sangh was set up by a number of Gandhian Organizations in 1962 to promote
community action for Social and Economic Development in the Himalayan region;
to guide, coordinate and promote the activities of voluntary organizations and
individual social workers working for socio-economic uplift of the people of
that region. It is primarily through the efforts of Manoj Pande that ABVA’s
work has reached the remotest parts of the country; wherever he travels during
the course of his work he is able to communicate to the local people how
non-funded work by ABVA in the last 30 years continues. Both Manoj and J.S.
Kohli have participated in ABVA’s protests and have joined hands in bringing
out some of ABVA’s reports. ABVA’s protests would begin by slogan shouting led
by Manoj Pande in his thunderous voice and the rest would join in slogan
shouting. As SCI’s member, rejoinders sent by J.S. Kohli to newspapers supporting
ABVA’s actions would be a big boost to the fledgling organization that ABVA was
in the making.
When
all these 14 activists joined ABVA they brought their lifetime’s experience
with them which got reflected in ABVA’s work. Many of them have had a brush
with socialism and feminism. Thus in different campaigns, draconian and
anti-people laws were being fought against by these activists – whether the
laws were against slum-dwellers; against leprosy patients [e.g. Indian Lepers’
Act, 1898 and The Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959 as applicable to
Delhi; The Juvenile Justice Act, 1986; The Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women
and Girls Act, 1956 (SITA); Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1986 (PITA)]. When
Supreme Court of India put a ban on professional blood donors, ABVA organized
meetings and protests to get the judgement overturned. Jagdish Bhardwaje was
the moving spirit in this campaign.
Many
of these 14 activists had a very good understanding of the functioning of the
Indian Parliament through practical use of its various modalities e.g. raising
questions in Parliament; call attention debates; special mention in Parliament;
petitioning before committees of Parliament etc. All this was useful to ABVA in
its work. Some ABVA members had firsthand experience of being petitioners in
the Supreme Court; others had moved subordinate courts during the course of
their work. So for this group of 14 activists challenge to Section 377, IPC and
its repeal in toto did not present any insurmountable problem. With their
political experience it was a natural corollary – except that no member of the
sexual minorities agreed to be part of the court case till 31st
December, 2000!
Out
of these 14 members Shanta ji, Shalini SCN, Jagdish Bhardwaje, Yashwant &
Manjit Singh have since passed away. Out of the seven people who prepared the
Report Less than Gay six were from
the aforementioned 14 members. The seventh person involved in preparing the
report was Siddhartha Gautam who had joined ABVA as a law student briefly for
about two to three years before he passed away in January, 1992. Even during this
period he was out of Delhi to be with his parents in Kolkata; or out of India
for treatment in USA. He provided lots of source material on gay and lesbian
issues – both Indian and western. This was useful in preparing Less than Gay. As per an understanding
no ABVA member – living or dead, including Siddhartha talked about his or her
sexuality in public. All constructs to the contrary are an afterthought and only
violate the privacy of the person concerned by vested interests.
Many
people – who joined ABVA for a few years before venturing out in other fields –
helped enrich ABVA’s work: Gauri, then a theatre activist with Alarippu which focused on amateur
theatre; A. Srinivas, journalist by profession and rebellious by nature who was
eased out of several newspapers every year or so since he refused to compromise
with his principles; he ensured that proceedings of the court case filed by
ABVA for repeal of Section 377, IPC got reported in The Pioneer. Ashwini Ailawadi
introduced ABVA members to the world of drug de-addiction and rehabilitation.
He got ABVA members to attend Al-Anonymous meetings scheduled every Wednesday
and Saturday in the evening hours to listen to first-hand experience of those who
had quit substance abuse for over five years; Anuja Gupta, a teacher of French
joined ABVA after her brother Siddhartha Gautam died. Dimple had been involved
in women’s movement and lesbian issues. Though a taciturn she was persuaded to
speak as the lead speaker in the seminar the ‘Politics of Sexuality’ organized
by ABVA in 1992 at Indian Social Institute, New Delhi. Dimple got her friend Renu
who worked at a Union Ministry, Govt. of India to join ABVA. D. Dalip joined
ABVA and made us aware of how gay men got ‘treated’ at premier medical
institutions in the country like AIIMS; the sort of interrogation a gay person was
subjected to even if he ventured to go for an HIV testing on his own volition.
Teena Gill, a journalist who was working with the Indian Express left ABVA soon
after joining due to conflict of interest.
