Naxal suspect Arun Ferreira acquires human rights degree in jail

Suspected Naxalite and Bandra resident Arun Ferreira, arrested by the Maharashtra police in Nagpur in 2007 and in jail ever since, has passed a post-graduate diploma course with flying colours from the Indian Institute of Human Rights (IIHR), Delhi.

Currently lodged in Nagpur central jail, Ferreira appeared for the course on human rights through correspondence.

Speaking to DNA, IIHR director Rahul Rai said, “I hear that undertrial Arun has done brilliantly in the exam. He has also submitted four project reports in keeping with the demands of the course, which were very maturely written considering the lack of resources available to an undertrial.”

According to Rai, 40% of the students taking the course comprised serving policemen, IAS and judicial personnel, and government employees. “The two-year course can be completed over five years through correspondence. Every year at least 10,000 students appear for the course and approximately 4,000 certificates are given out.”

The IIHR has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 13 universities across the country which recognise the course on a par with a master's programme, which makes the students eligible to pursue a doctorate in human rights from those universities.

Ferreira, along with Murli alias Ashok Satyam Reddy, Dhanendra Bhurle and Naresh Bansode, was arrested for allegedly carrying out clandestine operations for the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). In December 2009, the four were acquitted in one of the cases against them as the prosecution failed to prove that they were Naxalites or involved in any unlawful activities.