People’s March Editor Kutty Freed on Bail

February 25, 2008. A World to Win News Service. The editor of the Indian Maoist magazine [People’s March] Govindan Kutty has been released on bail after nearly two months in prison on charges that his publication is subversive. [Revolution editors’ note: Previous articles from A World to Win News Service on the arrest of Kutty appeared in Revolution #116 and #118 and are available online at revcom.us.]

Kutty had been on hunger strike and force-fed since his arrest December 20. People’s March is a legally published and registered publication that has come out for more than seven years. His release in exchange for a 100,000 rupee ($2,500) bond carries continuing restrictions on his freedom (he is not allowed to leave Ernakulam, in the state of Kerala, and must report to the police every two weeks). The charges against him still stand; according to the prosecution, he is still “under investigation.”

The following statement by Kutty was released by the Information Bureau of the International League of People’s Struggle February 25.

Dear friends,
I was released from prison today [February 24] around noon. I thank the print and mass media in extending their support for my struggle in prison. I thank the civil and democratic rights organisations, the Kerala Working Journalists Union, advocates P.A. Paura, Madhusudan in extending legal assistance, Arundhati Roy, Girish Karnad, Maheshwata Devi in exposing my cause.

People’s March publication will be resumed as early as possible.

Normally police seize only the hard disks of any computer. In my case they seized the whole C.P.U., monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, everything. I have to buy everything as the seized items will be returned only after the closure of the case by court.

Normally the police seize only the SIM card. In my case police seized the mobile itself. That means I have to spend money for a computer and mobile.

The owners of the printing press which prints People’s March were threatened by police. They refuse to print People’s March. These are the problems before People’s March. Even though People’s March is a Registered Newspaper registered under the Registrar of Newspapers for India…

A World to Win News Service is put out by A World to Win magazine (aworldtowin.org), a political and theoretical review inspired by the formation of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the embryonic center of the world’s Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations

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