On June 25, 1975, India was thrust into a dark chapter of its history with the declaration of Emergency by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. For the next 19 months, until March 21, 1977, the country witnessed an unprecedented clampdown on civil liberties, freedom of speech, and political dissent.
Political opponents and activists were arrested indiscriminately, many of whom were subjected to brutal and inhumane torture, as meticulously documented in the book “Torture of Political Prisoners in India” found in the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.
The British colonial rule, notorious for its repression, had never witnessed such a complete blackout of information. The treatment of political prisoners during this period was harrowing
Reports by the Lok Sangharsha Samiti and the personal testimonies within the book highlight the calculated nature of the torture inflicted. Prisoners were kept in illegal confinement and subjected to various forms of physical and psychological torment. These included stamping on bare bodies with heeled boots, severe beatings, forced positions causing immense pain, and electric shocks applied to sensitive areas. Victims were also stripped naked, subjected to burns with cigarettes or candle wax, denied basic necessities like food, water, and sleep, and even forced to drink their own urine.
Lawrence Fernandes: A Tragic Tale of Torture and Resilience
Arrest and Initial Torture:
• Lawrence Fernandes, brother of George Fernandes, was arrested from his Bengaluru residence on May 1, 1976, around 9 pm.
• The arrest was ostensibly for interrogation related to a habeas corpus plea filed for another brother, Michael Fernandes, who was detained under MISA.
• Lawrence was tortured from 9 pm until 3 am the next day, enduring severe beatings with clubs and the root of a banyan tree. Five clubs broke during the torture.
• He was subjected to vulgar abuse, threatened with being killed by a train, and only spared when his health severely deteriorated.
Solitary Confinement and Inhumane Conditions:
• Lawrence was kept in solitary confinement under extremely unhygienic conditions until May 20, 1976.
• He was frequently denied food or given improper food, allowed to bathe only three times, and denied a change of clothes.
• His confinement led to severe physical and mental deterioration.
Mother’s Heartbreaking Account:
• On May 21, Lawrence’s mother visited him in prison upon being informed by a lawyer.
• She described finding him in a state that was barely alive, unable to move without assistance, with his left side crippled, both left leg and hand swollen, and having lost about 20 kg in 20 days.
• Lawrence was in a mentally and physically wrecked condition, unable to speak freely, and terribly afraid of the police and anyone he perceived as an interrogator or tormentor.
Horrors Inflicted by Congress During Emergency
Torture of Prisoners in Kerala and Tamil Nadu
• Chokalinga Chittibabu died because of injuries due to police torture suffered while trying to save M.K. Stalin in Madras Central Prison during Emergency. Strangely, Stalin is now supporting the same party that imposed Emergency, leading to the death of Chittibabu ji.
• In Cannanore, during a lathicharge between police and protestors, they were beaten till lathis broke.
• In Mundiyoruma, farmers Prabhakaran, Thangappan and Vasu were taken away and beaten black and blue for ten days straight.
• In Ernakulam, leaders chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ were taken away by police and beaten up by ten to thirteen constables. Heads of leaders were kept between their knees and were beaten up. When knees were removed all of a sudden, the victims would fall. Victims were beaten till canes broke.
• P. Rajan — an engineering student who was picked up by the police for a crime that couldn’t be proven. His dead body was disposed off and couldn’t be located till today. It was the long and lonely struggle of T.V. Eachara Warrier — Rajan’s father — that brought out the truth behind his son’s disappearance after he was taken away by the police on March 1, 1976.
Horrors in Hyderabad
• Narsinha Reddy was slapped on both his ears so severely that bloody started oozing from them and he had to be operated upon.
• Student leader Rajawardhan was beaten so mercilessly he vomited blood and fell unconscious. Even then, he was not given any medical attention.
• Leaders were stripped of their clothes, denied food and made to sleep in severe cold.
• On 7th October, 1975, seven persons were arrested at Godawari Khani in Karimnagar District. They were pasting some posters. Of these, three were asked to remove their clothes and their bodies were burned with melted candle wax. When doctors saw them, they were horrified.
Torture of Prisoners in Vishakhapatanam
• A political prisoner named Gopi was beaten so severely in Nalgonda, he could not pass urine.
• In Vishakhapatanam, political prisoner Erraji, whose ‘crime’ was writing political slogans on walls, was given electric shocks.
• In East Godavari prison, political prisoners Koka Kurma Rao and Krishna Prasad were severely beaten up and hanged by their hair where they lost consciousness.
Torture of Students in Karnataka
In Karnataka, through various accounts, one can see that the police’s ‘favourite’ torture technique was the ‘aeroplane. In ‘aeroplane’, the victim is tied up in ‘aeroplane’ manner wherein the victim’s hands are tied behind their backs with a rope. The rope is then taken towards the ceiling with a pulley and the victim is pulled up a few feet above the ground. The victim will then hang midair with both their hands tied behind their backs.
• Young College students in Belgaum were subjected to third degree torture and were hanged from ceiling in ‘aeroplane’. The excruciating pain made them lose their consciousness.
• Student leaders in Hubli, Shrikant Desai, Padmanabh Harihar and Puttu Swamy, were all beaten up and put on ‘aeroplane’.
• In Mysore, too, student leader Ravi was arrested, beaten up, kicked and put on ‘aeroplane’.
• In Mangalore, Udaya Shankar, a student from Canara college, was taken away by police without warrant on 12th November, 1975. He was manhandled, caned and kicked till his body turned red and blue. He was deprived of food. All these atrocities took place in presence of Superintendent of Police, Chopra. Later, Udaya Shankar was put on ‘aeroplane’, not once but thrice.
• One Shrikant, a student from Bangalore, was also beaten and put on ‘aeroplane’.
• In Mangalore, merchants Anant Hegde, Padmanabh Hegde and Ganesh Kudwa were taken into police custody and tortured without food and proper sanitary arrangement. After three days of caning and kicking, when their knees could not bend and they could barely walk, they were made to walk the distance towards Magistrate.
• Narasamma, a woman protestor was arrested on 15th August 1975. She was pregnant. While she was taken to hospital for delivery, her legs were tied to the cot with a chain.
• Another student leader, Sesha, was rubbed all over body with poisonous caterpillars.
• Students at Shimoga were lathicharged.
Torture in Assam
While prisoners were kept at Dibrugarh and Guwahati jails, in Guwahati jail, CPIM leader Rabin Kalita was detained in August 1975 under draconian MISA. He was later hospitalised and operated upon but he could not make it. He died with handcuffs on. His relatives were not even allowed to meet him or attend to him.
Excesses in Rajasthan
• Jugal Bihari Sharma in Savai Madhopur was given electric shocks.
• Similarly, political prisoners Pulchand, Ramesh Chandra and Ramesh Sharma were given electric shocks at Gangapur.
• In Sikar, Jhunjhun, one lawyer, Ghanshyam Tiwari went to file petitions in court. He was taken into custody and tortured on suspicion of having gone to defend the political prisoners. He was beaten up so mercilessly that he fell unconscious.
• In Jodhpur, the protestors were humiliated by making them march with placards with ‘we are traitors’ written on them.
Draconian Laws in Delhi and Haryana
• Hemant Kumar Vishnoi, Delhi University Union Secretary was arrested while on a picnic with fellow students in Delhi’s Buddha Gardens. He was hung upside down and beaten up. Burning candles were put on his bare soles and chilli powder smeared on his nose and rectum. Despite torture, he refused to ‘confess’ to a non-existent plot against Indira Gandhi. All this was done even though there was no case registered against him. His whole body was swollen because of the torture.
• Mahavir Singh, another Delhi University student was beaten up and tortured so much that his skin started reacting to even shirts he would wear.
• Shiv Kumar Sharma, a DU student was forced to inhale chilli powder. He was also beaten up with rods, shoes and gun butts.
• Student leader Ashwini Kumar was made to lie down at police station and a constable then danced on his chest wearing ammunition boots.
• On 26 June, 1975 itself over 200 teachers of Delhi University were arrested.
• Jasbir Singh, a JNU student was arrested on 23 June, 1976 and in his statement he described the torture meted out to him. He writes he was taken inside a room of a police station where he was beaten up by clubs, boots and chappals from 6 pm till midnight. Next day, his hands and feet were tied to a pole that was bound to two chairs. he was suspended between these two chairs. He was pushed side to side and swung on it when he started vomiting blood. Police told him repeatedly that he’s going to die and no one will ever know as his body will be thrown in the Yamuna river. The torture continued for days.
• Jugal Bihari Sharma in Savai Madhopur was given electric shocks.
• Similarly, political prisoners Pulchand, Ramesh Chandra and Ramesh Sharma were given electric shocks at Gangapur.
• In Sikar, Jhunjhun, one lawyer, Ghanshyam Tiwari went to file petitions in court. He was taken into custody and tortured on suspicion of having gone to defend the political prisoners. He was beaten up so mercilessly that he fell unconscious.
• In Jodhpur, the protestors were humiliated by making them march with placards with ‘we are traitors’ written on them.