|
Home--News
Coca-Cola's Role in Suspicious Death in India to be Investigated
Court Orders Inquiry into Death of Community Leader who Opposed
Coca-Cola
For Immediate Release
February 1, 2006
Contacts:
T. Fatimson, Campaign For Right to Livelihood and Food Security +91
452 2525462, +91 98421 65146 (India)
Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center + 1 415 336 7584 (US)
San Francisco (February 1, 2006): The India Resource
Center is deeply alarmed to learn that the Coca-Cola company in India
is now the subject of a police inquiry into the suspicious death of
community leader, Mr. V. Kamsan, who had publicly opposed Coca-Cola's
proposed operations.
On January 30, 2006, Justice P. Murugesan of the Madurai Bench of
the Madras High Court directed the Superintendent of Police to register
a case into the suspicious death of Mr. Kamsan and directed the Crime
Branch Criminal Investigation Department to conduct an investigation.
The court action came as a result of a petition filed by Mr. Kamsan's
wife, Mrs. Santhanamary.
Mr. V. Kamsan was the chairman of the Gangaikondan panchayat (village
council) and he died under suspicious circumstances on August 30,
2005.
Mr. Kamsan had opposed the proposed Coca-Cola bottling plant by the
South India Bottling Company Private Limited - a Coca-Cola franchisee
- which was setting up a soft-drinks unit in Gangaikondan village
in southern Tamil Nadu.
On August 23, 2005, Mr. Kamsan convened a meeting of the Gangaikondan
village council which passed a resolution against the proposed Coca-Cola
plant, stating, "As the unit will cause environmental and health hazards
besides triggering acute drinking water scarcity, the Government should
immediately cancel the permission given to the company, which is planning
to prepare a range of soft drinks here."
However, within 12 hours, Mr. Kamsan issued a prepared statement to
the Hindu newspaper, one of India's leading English dailes,
completely contradicting the resolution passed earlier in the day.
When asked by the Hindu about issuing the "conflicting statement",
Mr. Kamsan said: "I am under immense pressure from the public, the
police and some other quarters. So I have issued this statement."
On that same evening, according to Mrs. Santhanamary's petition, Coca-Cola
company officials "coerced" her husband into accompanying them, detained
him and forced him to drink alcohol, even though Mr. Kamsan was suffering
from jaundice. Mr. Kamsan was brought back home by Coca-Cola company
officials on August 28 in very serious condition, and according to
the petition, he admitted that the Coca-Cola company authorities had
forced him to drink liquor and drop the village council resolution.
He died from jaundice on August 30, 2005.
There is strong community opposition to the proposed Coca-Cola bottling
plant in Gangaikondan, and foul play was suspected by many community
members in Mr. Kamsan's sudden disappearance and death, as well as
the timing between his public opposition to the plant and his death.
Last week, on January 27, 2006, the Gangaikondan village council once
again passed a resolution asking the state government to cancel the
license of the proposed facility "as the effluents discharged from
the plant will pollute the environment, groundwater and soil."
"The Coca-Cola company in India talks a lot about having good community
relations, rainwater harvesting, transparency and accountability but
the ground reality is that the company is engaged in all sorts of
dubious activities in an attempt to intimidate local communities,
particularly where there is significant local opposition to its operations,"
said T. Fatimson of the Campaign for Right to Livelihood and Food
Security, one of the active groups working in Gangaikondan to oppose
the bottling plant.
"No company, however large, is above the law, and we expect a thorough
police investigation into the suspicious circumstances surrounding
Mr. Kamsan's death," said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center,
an international campaigning organization. "The investigation must
ensure that there is no interference from Coca-Cola company authorities."
For more information, visit www.IndiaResource.org
---ends---
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. India Resource Center is making this article available in our efforts to advance the understanding of corporate accountability, human rights, labor rights, social and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
|
