Uwazi

The Human Rights Defenders’ Alert (HRDA) on October 29, 2020 urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to ensure the physical safety of journalist S. K. Lenin his family from corrupt panchayat leaders in Nagaram village of Tamil Nadu.

The organisation requested the Director General of Police (DGP) to initiate an inquiry into the physical and verbal assault on Lenin by Panchayat leader Gopi Krishnan on August 2 whom the journalist had named in his report on corruption in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MNREGA) run by the Union Ministry of Rural Development.

Similarly, they also demanded an inquiry against District Collector Uma Maheshwari for ignoring corrupt activities practiced by local authorities under the MNREGA and for ignoring Lenin’s complaints about the same.

The undeterred journalist approached the local Vadakadu police station instead who arrested Krishnan. However, when nothing was done about the rest of the panchayat members, Lenin chose to go into hiding fearing the political power of those involved.

“Whatever scam they will do, we will share with you, you jobless reporter. You are a human rights activist; you are not a big shot. Even if you give a complaint to the district collector you can do nothing to me nor shake me,” Krishnan had said outside a local shop, while leaving blood marks around Lenin’s neck.

The HRDA condemned the incident as a criminal act that barred journalists and similar Human Rights Defenders from exercising their right to dissent against a public official enshrined within Article 19(a), Freedom of Speech and Expression, of the Indian Constitution.

“If journalists are physically assaulted when they criticise politicians and public officials, seldom journalists will dare to take a stand and the fourth pillar of the democracy will be crushed further,” they said.

On August 1, Lenin collected information about corruption in the MNREGA – a government scheme that aims to help underprivileged people find a job, especially during COVID-19. He said that these jobs are vulnerable to corrupt practices by some panchayat members who show fake accounts to manage salary transfers to people who have not done any work.

Lenin also mentioned that corruption within the MNERGA scheme has been happening at Nagaram village for some time as per panchayat leaders Mr. Ramaiah and Muthuraj Durai.

The members of Makkal Pathai, a not-for-profit organisation based out of Chennai, have been on a hunger protest against National Eligibility cum Entrance Examination (NEET) in their offices in Chennai over the past week. On Sunday, the seventh-day of protest in Chennai, the members were forcefully dragged away by the police. Members also allege that the police misbehaved with them. Koyambedu police have lodged about 30 members at a kalyana mandapam while six who were on the hunger-protest have been admitted to Kilpauk Medical College (KMC). No case has been registered.

Visuals shared on Makkal Pathai’s Facebook page shows police forcefully entering into the office premises following which members are dragged out. They can be heard condemning police brutality.

Sharing voice notes from KMC where about six of them are currently kep, member Chandra Mohan (41) says, “We have been continuing our hunger protest for six days. They have hit us and admitted here at KMC. Women’s clothes were lifted, they were shamed, we were shamed and we have been brought here. We condemn this brutality.”

In an audio note, Chandra Mohan says the members have rejected IV fluids and are still fasting in the hospital. "We gave our word to the people. We will continue our fasting until they tell us." He further alleges that the police have ransacked their office in Chennai taking away phones and computers.

Speaking to TNM, Koyambedu police station Inspector K Madeswaran says no complaint has been filed on the members but their protest had to be stopped since it was a health risk. “We have been asking them every day to stop their hunger protest. Moreover, groups of people gather there on a regular basis. Press is invited and this crowding of people is a risk especially due to the pandemic,” he tells TNM.

“We have not registered any case against them yet because they are giving us their details. They are requesting for the Chief Minister to come down in person to listen to their demands and scrap NEET,” he adds.

When asked about allegations of women being harassed the officer says, “We only tried to end their fasting. Even though they have not eaten in six-days, they put up a good resistance.”

Vignesh, the coordinator from Coimbatore says, “We are holding a one-day fasting protest here in Coimbatore office. Police have arrested our members who were holding hunger-protest for six continuous days in Chennai. We condemn this.”

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) launched a major crackdown on terror funding in Jammu and Kashmir and conducted raids on NGOs and journalists across 10 locations in Kashmir and one in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning.

NIA sources have said terror operations were being funded by sourcing funds from foreign countries in the name of business, religious works and other social works by these organisations in Jammu and Kashmir.

The probe agency raided NGO Athrowt at Nawakadal, the Greater Kashmir office at Press Colony and the residence of activist Khurram Parvaiz, among other places.

Sources told India Today TV that the money came through hawala channels from different parts of the country and abroad and was being used to fund terror activities in Kashmir through NGOs.

"These NGOs were not registered. That means they did not have the FCRA license, yet they were getting funds from Pakistan and Europe, and even countries like Fiji and East Timor," the sources said.

The NIA sources said that the probe agency is looking at two aspects - terror funding and secessionist activities.

In a statement, NIA said, "This case was registered by NIA on 8/10/2020 u/s 120B, 124 A IPC and sections 17, 18, 22A, 22C, 38, 39 and 40 UA(P)A, 1967 on receipt of credible information that certain NGOs and Trusts are collecting funds domestically and abroad through so-called donations and business contributions, etc and are then utilizing these funds for secessionist and terrorist activities in J&K."

"Those whose premises have been searched include residence and office of Khurram Parvez (co-ordinator of J&K Coalition of Civil Society), his associates viz. Parvez Ahmad Bukhari, Parvez Ahmad Matta and Bengaluru-based associate viz. Swati Sheshadri; Ms. Parveena Ahanger, Chairperson of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons ( APDPK) and offices of NGO Athrout and GK Trust," said the NIA.

The probe agency said that the raids were conducted after specific inputs and more NGOs are also under scanner. The documents and phones seized will be sent to the forensic lab, the sources said.

The NIA sources told India Today TV that the case was registered last week, but was not mentioned on the NIA website to maintain confidentiality. The NIA raids were led by the IG and DIG, who flew Srinagar specially for the raids.

Slamming the move, former J&K chief minister and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti has said, "NIA raids on human rights activist Khurram Parvez & Greater Kashmir office in Srinagar is yet another example of GOIs vicious crackdown on freedom of expression & dissent. Sadly, NIA has become BJPs pet agency to intimidate & browbeat those who refuse to fall in line."

A group of slogan-raising men had assembled outside the residence of lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat in Jammu late on Tuesday night, a day after a cartoon she posted on micro-blogging site Twitter stirred controversy.

Rajawat, who received limelight for representing the victim’s family in Kathua rape and murder case in 2018, told NewsClick that a mob gathered outside her accommodation, raised slogans and gave her death threat by chanting “Deepika teri kabar khudegi, Jammu Kashmir ki dharti pe (Deepika your grave will be dug in the land of Jammu and Kashmir).”

Narrating the sequence of events, Rajawat said that it was 12.30 am in the night when she heard few men shouting her name. “I was scared to death. I alerted my PSOs and phoned IG Jammu who responded immediately and sent police who later cleared the mob,” she said.

The cartoon posted by Rajawat, with a caption “Irony,” juxtaposed two paradoxical scenes: in one scene, a man touching feet of a female Hindu deity during the nine-day Hindu festival of Navratri; in the other scene, with the header “Other Days,” the same man is aggressively holding both legs of a woman, depicting sexual violence.

The cartoon was accused of hurting Hindu religious sentiments resulting in a section of social media users demanding Rajawat’s arrest. Since then, as per Rajawat, she and her family have been receiving calls threatening her to remove the cartoon and tender an apology.

“Don’t rapes happen? If they can prove that rapes don’t happen in India then I will tender a public apology. I have also not removed the cartoon as it was not meant to hurt religious sentiments but to highlight the hypocrisy of the society towards women,” Rajawat said.

Rajawat personally identified the mob as related to right-wing Hindu groups and said that it was an attempt to silence her. “At that time, I felt like Gauri Lankesh. Her image kept crossing my mind. I was shivering,” the lawyer said. Gauri Lankesh, a journalist known to be critical of the right-wing and accused of “outraging the sentiments of Hindus”, was shot dead by bike-borne assailant outsider her residence on September 5, 2017.

Much solidarity with Rajawat has also poured in from several sections including Bollywood actors, directors, lawyers, and opposition leaders who are tweeting using the hashtag #IStandWithDeepikaRajawat.

In 2018, Rajaswat faced a similar backlash when she took up the case of a minor Bakarwal girl who was raped and murdered in Kathua. She was then accused of being “anti-Hindu.” Later, the victim’s family had removed her from the case by accusing her of “not attending the court proceedings.”

Rajawat believes that she has been targeted for being vocal against policies of the present government. “They wanted to threaten to silence me as I am vocal against the Modi government and its policies.”

In Jammu, which has a prominent presence of right wing politics, it has become risky to voice dissent, especially after the abrogation of Article 370 last year. Last month, a young man popular as the Mask Man was taken away by the police and was released after being questioned for hours after he silently held a placard questioning the government and its promises.

A journalist working with The Caravan magazine was on Friday allegedly assaulted by a senior police officer in North Delhi and detained for nearly four hours while he was reporting on protests against the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in the area.

“Today [Friday] afternoon, the Delhi Police assaulted The Caravan India’s staffer Ahan Penkar while he was reporting,” the magazine tweeted. “ACP [Assistant Commissioner of Police] Ajay Kumar kicked and slapped Penkar inside the Model Town station premises. Penkar repeatedly told the police that he was a journalist and prominently displayed his press ID.”

However, the deputy commissioner of police, North West Delhi, on Saturday said that Penkar was seen protesting and was detained, after which he had said he was a journalist. The police have sent him a notice on the matter.

Penkar was reporting on a protest concerning the alleged rape and murder of a teenager in North Delhi, the magazine added. “Students and activists had gathered outside the Model Town police station to demand the registration of an FIR in the case,” it said. Caravan also shared a photo of the injuries on Penkar’s back.

Penkar later submitted a complaint to Delhi Commissioner of Police SN Srivastava. The journalist said that he saw a group of people gathered around the police station, demanding that the police file an FIR in the rape case.

Penkar said he was speaking to the 14-year-old girl’s aunt when the police began taking the protestors inside the station. He held up his press card and kept repeating that he was reporting the news, but the police took him inside too.

The journalist said that the police forcibly took his phone from him and deleted all the videos that he had recorded while reporting. “The police was abusing us the whole time and threatening us,” Penkar said in his complaint. “After a little time, the ACP Ajay Kumar came into the room holding a steel rod and threatened to beat us with the rod.”

Penkar added that Kumar kicked him in the face, back and shoulders. He also said that the police officer stamped on his ankle and threatened to register a case against him and others. The journalist added that he also saw the police beat up a Muslim man and a Sikh boy. He demanded an FIR against the police officers who assaulted him.

In August, three journalists from magazine were attacked by a mob in North East Delhi’s Subhash Mohalla neighbourhood while they were reporting on a story.

Journalists Prabhjit Singh, Shahid Tantray and their colleague were covering communal tensions that broke out in the area on the night of August 5, following the foundation-laying ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. In his complaint to the police, Singh said that had he not intervened, Tantray would have been beaten to death by the mob since he was a Muslim.

At a meeting organised by the Press Club of India on August 13, the journalists said that the Delhi Police had been helpless and scared of the mob.

Several journalists’ organisations had expressed outrage over the attack on Singh, Tantray and their colleague and demanded a first information report against the accused. The Editors Guild of India called the attack on the journalists “reprehensible” and demanded that the police take quick action against the guilty.

A Dalit writer and activist, Durai Guna, has been arrested in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukottai district for putting up sarcastic ‘recruitment’ posters — critical of the district administration in a circuitous way — across his native town. The posters are a way to protest against alleged administrative apathy and inaction against encroachment of a waterbody in his village.

The posters appeared as an advertisement and mockingly ‘invited’ candidates for posts ranging from tehsildar to district collector, leaving Revenue officials fuming, according to a senior police officer.

The waterbody concerned — Vettukulam water tank, spread on 3 acres of land — is in Karambakudi village of the district.

The police officer said Guna was arrested late on Tuesday based on an FIR registered under non-bailable charges under IPC Sections 170 (pretending to hold any post as a public servant) and 501 (printing any matter known to be defamatory), among others.

The officer said, “The posters defamed the administration. We received the complaint from a village official, and were told to file a case and arrest him.”

Maintaining that Guna had “motives” to defame the administration when he had proper methods to raise a complaint, District Collector P Uma Maheshwari said, “Now I have decided to book all encroachers (of the waterbody concerned) under Goondas Act.”

The poster — titled “Job Openings, People Needed” — invited honest and efficient candidates for the posts of collector, district revenue officer, tehsildar and village administrative officer in order to revive a waterbody by removing encroachment as per Madras High Court’s order. According to it, qualifications required were “common sense, self-respect and maturity.”

Asked about the arrest on serious charges for what was seemingly a harmless protest criticising the administration, District Collector Maheshwari said, “There were many complaints against him. He was arrested twice for different offences. I am told by the police that there are four FIRs against him and he was let out on bail after arrests on both occasions.”

Stating that Guna never approached her with a petition on the issue, Maheshwari said: “He petitioned the tehsildar. Our officials inspected the land and decided to give two months’ time since they (villagers) had already sown crops for this year.”

The Uttar Pradesh Police has booked Malayalam journalist Siddique Kappan and three others for sedition as well as under the stringent UAPA, a day after they were stopped on their way to Hathras, home to a Dalit woman who died after being allegedly gang-raped. Siddique from Malappuram, Atiq-ur Rehman from Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur have been booked by the Mathura police. Siddique Kappan is a senior Delhi-based journalist, doing freelance work for several Malayalam media houses, including azhimukham.com.

The FIR (first information report) copy, accessed by TNM, alleges that the four men had gone to disrupt the peace in Hathras and there is a big conspiracy behind their visit. The Uttar Pradesh police had earlier said that they had arrested them for having links with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliate in Mathura. However, the PFI link has not been mentioned in the FIR at all.

The FIR shows that the four have been booked under 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as section 17 (punishment for raising funds for terrorist act) and 14 (punishment for unlawful activities) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

All the four have also been booked under section 65 (tampering with computer source documents), 72 (punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service) and 76 (punishment for violation of privacy) of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008.

The FIR also mentions the website, justiceforhathrasvictim.carrd.co, which had information on how to protest safely and avoid the police. The police have stated that the website incites violence and threatens the law and order situation. “The main intention of this website has been found to be to encourage communal hatred, cause unrest in the society and to spark riots on a large scale,” the FIR states, adding that the four have been arrested over “larger conspiracy”. The four accused have been accused of running the website and that it has been created under the garb of 'collecting funds' to incite violence. However, the PFI link has not been mentioned in the FIR.

The Uttar Pradesh police had on Monday said that it seized the mobile phones, laptops and some literature, which “could have an impact on peace and law and order”, from the arrested people. During interrogation, it came to light that the four arrested people had links with the PFI and its associate organisation Campus Front of India, the UP police had claimed.

The Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeking his release, saying he was going to Hathras only to perform his duty as a reporter. Terming Kappan's arrest as illegal and unconstitutional, the KUWJ also filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking his immediate production before the court and release from the "illegal detention".

Kappan is also the KUWJ's secretary and was proceeding to Hathras only to do his duty as a reporter, KUWJ's Delhi unit president Miji Jose told the Chief Minister in her letter, urging him to order his release.

"We understand that he was taken into custody by Uttar Pradesh police from Hathras toll plaza. Our efforts and the efforts by some advocates based in Delhi to contact him were not successful," KUWJ said.

Hathras has been in the news following the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman who was allegedly gang-raped on September 14 in a village in the district. And her cremation at night, allegedly without the parents' consent, has triggered widespread outrage.

An 83-year-old Jesuit priest has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the probe into the 2018 violence in Maharashtra's Koregaon-Bhima village.

Father Stan Swamy, an activist working with tribals, was picked up from his home in Jharkhand capital Ranchi by a team of NIA officials from Delhi. The officials reportedly spent around 20 minutes at his home before taking him away.

The arrest has sparked outrage. Author and historian Ramachandra Guha said Stan Swamy has spent a "lifetime fighting for the rights of adivasis."

"That is why the Modi regime seeks to suppress and silence them; because for this regime, the profits of mining companies take precedence over the lives and livelihoods of adivasis," Mr Guha tweeted.

Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan tweeted, "...Now arrested by the NIA under UAPA! The venality of this BJP govt & NIA knows no bounds (sic)."

The probe agency claimed that Stan Swamy is a member of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) and was "actively involved in its activities".

"He also received funds through an associate for furtherance of the CPI (Maoist) activities," officials of the probe agency said.

The agency said documents and propaganda material of the CPI (Maoist) and literature were seized from Stan Swamy, adding that he was in contact with the other accused in the Koregaon-Bhima case.

"The NIA is after me. I'm being pressurised to go to Bombay... The NIA questioned me for 15 hours... I'm being called to the Mumbai office of the NIA. I refuse to go there. I am 83 and have health issues. I don't want to expose myself to the coronavirus. I have never been to Bhima Koregaon," Stan Swamy had said in a video on October 6.

"If NIA wants to question me, they can do so via video-conferencing," he said.

Several prominent activists, scholars and lawyers have been jailed for over two years while they await trial.

Stan Swamy, who has several health issues, is the oldest person to be in custody in the Koregaon-Bhima case. He has been questioned several times in the past in connection with the case. Originally from Kerala, Stan Swamy has been working for tribals in Jharkhand for over five decades.

The case relates to an event on December 31, 2017 in Pune which was followed by violence and arson in Maharashtra that left one person dead.

Investigators claim that the activists at the Elgar Parishad meet had made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements, which it said had triggered violence the next day.

Last month, the Supreme Court declined to entertain a plea for an interim bail on medical grounds by lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, who is among the accused in the case. Ms Bharadwaj, 58, has been in jail in Mumbai for over two years and is suffering from diabetes and comorbidities and wanted interim bail so that she could take a medical check-up, her lawyer had said.

The investigation also claimed to have uncovered a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

During the investigation, the NIA said, it was revealed that senior leaders of the CPI (Maoist), a banned organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, were in contact with the organisers of the Elgar Parishad event as well as the accused arrested in the case to spread Maoist and Naxal ideology and encourage unlawful activities.

On 7 and 8 September 2020, human rights defenders, Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe, RameshMurlidhar Gaichor and, woman human rights defender Jyoti Jagtap of the Kabir Kala Manchwere arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in relation to the violence that broke-outat Bhima Koregoan on 1 January 2018. The three defenders are currently being held in NIAcustody in Mumbai.Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) is a Pune based cultural troupe formed by members of the youth in theBahujan community in the state of Maharashtra. Their performances speak out against the castesystem and the various atrocities committed against the community across the country. SagarTatyarao Gorkhe, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap form part of a group of musiciansand poets in the cultural organisation. As part of the group, the three defenders performed at the‘Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerana Abhiyan’ on 31 December 2017,a celebration of the 200thanniversary of the Dalit victory over the Peshwas (upper caste rulers) in the Battle of Koregaon. On 7 September 2020, human rights defenders Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe and Ramesh MurlidharGaichor were arrested at the NIA office in Mumbai. Almost two months previous, between 13 and15 July 2020, the defenders had been called in for interrogation by the NIA, under the pretence ofbeing witnesses to Maoist activity. On 2 September 2020, both defenders were issued a notice bythe NIA, asking them to appear again on 4 September 2020 for further questioning. During theinterrogation, both Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe and Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor were asked to implicatethose currently detained in the Bhima Koregaon case by making a false admission that thedetainees had been in touch with Maoists. Furthermore, the interrogation officials went on to statethat they would release the two defenders if they gave a such a statement under Section 164 of theCode of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which has a provision for witnesses to avoid arrest. Bothdefenders were then asked to go to the NIA office on a daily basis until 7 September 2020, at whichpoint they were arrested. The following day, the defenders were brought before a NIA SpecialJudge who ordered them to be held in NIA custody until 11 September 2020. The custody hasbeen extended until 19 September 2020.On 8 September 2020, woman human rights defender Jyoti Jagtap was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad in Pune, and then later brought to the NIA in Mumbai. The previous day, on 7September 2020, the defender had gone to the NIA office in Mumbai after receiving a notice topresent herself earlier that day. She was briefly questioned but no statement was taken by theauthorities. When she was arrested the next day, she was brought before the NIA Special Judge on9 September 2020, who remanded her to police custody until 11 September 2020. The custody hasbeen extended until 19 September 2020.The three defenders have been targetted since their participation in the ‘Bhima Koregaon ShauryaDin Prerana Abhiyan’ in December 2017. Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor andJyoti Jagtap were all named in the initial First Information Report of the Bhima Koregaon case. On17 April 2018, the homes of all three defenders were raided by the Pune police, who seized all oftheir electronic devices, including mobile phones, CDs and hard disks. The defenders were notpresented any warrants authorising the search and neither was an inventory of items provided bythe police.The arrest of Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap, and thecontinued incarceration of twelve others accused in the Bhima Koregaon case are a direct reprisal for their peaceful human rights work. The arrests take place during COVID-19, despite the risk thatimprisoned human rights defenders face in this context. Front Line Defenders has previouslyexpressed concerns over the continued detention and health of the accused in the context of thepandemic, seeing most of them fall in the ‘at-risk’ category, and in particularhas askedthatimmediate medical attention be provided toVaravara Rao.Front Line Defenders condemns the arrest of Sagar Tatyarao Gorkhe, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichorand Jyoti Jagtap and the continued incarceration of Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, VernonGonsalves, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, AnandTeltumbde, Mahesh Raut, Surendra Gadling and, Hanu Babu as it believes they are directly relatedto their peaceful human rights work on behalf of the most marginalised communities in India.

On television and in the courtroom, the young lawyer could be a force. Babar Qadri stood as a rare, pugilistic voice arguing on behalf of his native Kashmir, the rocky region long torn between India and Pakistan, on India’s combative and increasingly nationalistic talk shows.

Shouted at, he would shout back. More than once, an angry host kicked him off the air.

On Thursday, Mr. Qadri, 40, was shot to death in his home, making him one of the most high-profile casualties of the violence wracking Kashmir.

Family members said an assailant posing as a potential client shot him in the head and chest in the courtyard of his home in the old part of Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. The identity of the assailant was not clear, the police said, according to local media. They declined to answer questions from The New York Times on Friday.

Kashmiris on Friday mourned Mr. Qadri as a rare public advocate for his home in a troubled time. One year ago, India tightened its hold on the Kashmir region, and local activists say speaking out has become increasingly dangerous.

“The lion was killed in his den,” said Majid Hyderi, a longtime friend of Mr. Qadri, citing a common nickname for him. “With his killing, we have lost a roaring voice for peace.”

Long volatile, the predominantly Muslim Kashmir region has suffered growing violence since the Indian government last year revoked the region’s semiautonomy and increased its security presence there. The move hardened the attitudes of militants who have fought for years for independence from India and sidelined moderate voices calling for ways to improve relations with the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has taken an increasingly hard line toward India’s Muslims.

Mr. Qadri’s death is part of a wave of political assassinations that have shaken the region in the last few months. It was the first killing of a prominent civil society member since the killing of Shujaat Bukahri, the editor of a local daily newspaper, two years ago. Editors’ Picks Nicole Kidman Leans Into the Pain The One Name the W.N.B.A. Won’t Say Buried in Salt, These Potatoes Are a Joy to Eat Continue reading the main story

Mr. Qadri had said in recent weeks that he had received death threats. On Twitter this week, he said the police should investigate people who had accused him of being a man of “agencies,” implying he worked secretly for Indian intelligence.

“The sense of tragedy is all the more because he warned of the threat,” Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister of the region, wrote on Twitter. “Sadly his warning was his last tweet.”

Mr. Qadri’s round, bespectacled face was famous in the region and throughout India for his vociferous criticism of New Delhi’s increasingly stronger hand in Kashmir. In person, he could be shy and retiring and would rarely interrupt others, unlike when he was on television. He also had sharp words for Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting pro-independence Kashmiri militants and other armed groups.

Both countries, Mr. Qadri said in an interview with The Times about a month before his death, “play with the dead bodies of Kashmiris.”

Mr. Qadri grew up in Srinagar speaking Kashmiri, Hindi and English, which later made him an effective spokesman in polyglot India. He studied law in the city and became a human rights lawyer. He was a common sight in Srinagar, driving around the city in a gray hatchback with his two young daughters.

He rose to prominence in 2012, when Indian police forces accused a number of children of attempting to murder officers and burning police vehicles. A photo of him wearing a gray suit, perhaps a size too large, while trying to comfort a terrified boy being led away by a police officer went viral on the Kashmiri internet. When the boy was set free, his family members said Mr. Qadri had argued in court on his behalf “like a lion,” giving the young attorney the nickname.

As security forces put more Kashmiris in prison, Mr. Qadri was widely sought after, and he became known for his ability to win the freedom of children in particular. He also became a frequent guest on Indian television, where he sharply criticized the Indian forces for their harsh oversight of Kashmir.

Mr. Qadri kept up his television appearances even as Indian media became increasingly nationalistic after the election of Mr. Modi in 2014. As Indian forces stepped up their enforcement efforts in Kashmir in the name of fighting terrorism, he faced an increasingly difficult reception. Other panelists often called him “Mr. Traitor.”

Late Thursday, as the dust settled in the city, Mr. Qadri’s body, covered by a red blanket, was put in an ambulance and taken to his ancestral home in north Kashmir, where family and friends lowered his body into the ground and bade him farewell.

Friends and relatives beat their chests. During the procession, one of Mr. Qadri's daughters — Zahera, 4 — asked her mother where her father was, according to Surat Shakeel, a family friend. Mr. Qadri’s wife told her that he had gone to perform the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. Kashmiri parents often tell their children that the dead have gone to hajj.

Burhan Ahmad Bhat, a university student who participated in the procession, said he wondered whether Mr. Qadri’s killers would be found and whether they would continue to be labeled “unidentified,” like the killers of so many other Kashmiris.

“All we know is that they are killed by unidentified gunmen,” Mr. Bhat said. “But we never come to know why.”

The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Government of India which it came to know on 10 September 2020, brings all the work being done by the organization to a grinding halt. The organisation has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work. This is latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organizations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations, Amnesty International India said today.

“The continuing crackdown on Amnesty International India over the last two years and the complete freezing of bank accounts is not accidental. The constant harassment by government agencies including the Enforcement Directorate is a result of our unequivocal calls for transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir. For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent,” said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India.

Amnesty International India stands in full compliance with all applicable Indian and international laws. For human rights work in India, it operates through a distinct model of raising funds domestically. More than four million Indians have supported Amnesty International India’s work in the last eight years and around 100,000 Indians have made financial contributions. These contributions evidently cannot have any relation with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. The fact that the Government is now portraying this lawful fundraising model as money-laundering is evidence that the overbroad legal framework is maliciously activated when human rights activists and groups challenge the government’s grave inactions and excesses.

The attacks on Amnesty International India and other outspoken human rights organizations, activists and human rights defenders is only an extension of the various repressive policies and sustained assault by the government on those who speak truth to power. “Treating human rights organisations like criminal enterprises and dissenting individuals as criminals without any credible evidence is a deliberate attempt by the Enforcement Directorate and Government of India to stoke a climate of fear and dismantle the critical voices in India. It reeks of fear and repression, ignores the human cost to this crackdown particularly during a pandemic and violates people’s basic rights to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, and association guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and international human rights law. Instead, as a global power and a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, India must fearlessly welcome calls for accountability and justice,” said Avinash Kumar.

As part of the Nobel Prize winning movement, Amnesty International India holds itself to the highest evidentiary standards. Our work in India, as elsewhere, is to uphold universal human rights and build a global movement of people who take injustice personally. These are the same values that are enshrined in the Constitution of India and flow from a long and rich Indian tradition of pluralism, tolerance and peaceful dissent.

———

BACKGROUND: CHRONOLOGY OF ATTACKS AND HARASSMENT OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA:

On 25 October 2018, Amnesty International India endured a 10-hour-long raid as a group of officers from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a financial investigation agency under the Ministry of Finance, entered its premises and locked the gates behind them. Most of the information and documents that were demanded during the search were already available in the public domain or filed with the relevant government authorities. The residence of a Director was also raided.

Immediately after the raid, the bank accounts were also frozen by the ED. As a result, Amnesty International India was forced to let go of a number of its staff, adversely affecting its work in India including with the marginalised communities. Despite the ongoing investigations and before the framing of charges, the Government of India started a smear campaign against Amnesty International India in the country through selective leaking of documents gathered by the ED, to government-aligned media outlets. This resulted in a malicious media trial against the organization.

In early 2019, the Department of Income Tax started sending investigative letters to more than 30 small regular donors. Apparently, the department did not find any irregularities but the process adversely affected the fundraising campaigns of Amnesty International India.

In June 2019, Amnesty International India was denied permission to hold the press conference launch in Srinagar to release its third ‘Lawless Law’ report on the misuse and abuse of Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir. It was forced to digitally release it.

On 22 October 2019, Amnesty International testified at the US Congressional hearing on the situation of human rights in South Asia with specific focus on Jammu and Kashmir since the unilateral abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India.

On 15 November 2019, two weeks after the testimony and amid rumours of impending arrests of the organizations top officials, the offices of Amnesty International India and the residence of one of its directors were raided again by the CBI. The raids were conducted on the basis of a First Information Report filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs over unsubstantiated allegations of suspected violations of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. It suggested investigations be launched under other laws like Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

On 13 April 2020, Amnesty International India called on the Uttar Pradesh Government to stop its intimidation of journalists through use of repressive laws during a pandemic. On 15 April 2020, the Cyber Crime Police Station, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh notified Twitter to furnish information about Amnesty International India’s Twitter account @AIIndia which the organization uses to monitor and analyse developments in international human rights law and Indian constitutional and criminal law related to human rights issues.

On 5 August 2020, marking the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, Amnesty International India released an update on the situation of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir.

On 28 August 2020, marking the six-month anniversary of the riots that took place in North-East Delhi in February 2020, Amnesty International India released an investigative brief on the complicity of Delhi police in the riots which claimed the lives of at least 53 people, mostly from the minority Muslim community.

The release of the two publications has provided fresh impetus to the establishment to harass and intimidate Amnesty International India through its investigative agencies.

On 10 September 2020 Amnesty International India came to know that all its bank accounts were completely frozen by the Enforcement Directorate bringing most of the work of the human rights organization to a grinding halt.

Expressing grave concern about the physical assault of a human rights defender and the subsequent apathy by Satara police, the Human Rights Defenders Alert and the National Dalit Movement for Justice (NDMJ) have written an urgent letter of appeal on September 29.

The letter addressed to the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC), the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and various UN officials demanded action against the rural police for their apathetic treatment of the physical assault case of Advocate Sujit Nikalje and his family by local goons for his work as a human rights defender.

As many as six people allegedly assaulted the Dalit rights activist and lawyer, who was returning to Phaltan from Dhumalwadi on September 6, along with his wife and his brother’s family. The family was returning from a visit to a nearby waterfall when the group of miscreants verbally and physically harassed them. A crowd that had rushed to the family’s help after hearing their shouts caught one attacker Kunal Gaikwad and handed him over to the police.

The organisations alleged that the Inspector of Phaltan rural police, Nitin T Sawant, not only failed to apprehend the attackers but also threatened Nikalje for a baseless offence of entering a restricted waterfall area.

“The fact is that the waterfall comes under the jurisdiction of Dhamalwadi Panchayat, which had decreed that locals were allowed to visit it. The attackers were in fact in contravention to the Panchayat’s orders barring outsiders from visiting the waterfall. Furthermore, the police let off the Mr. Gaikwad on September 6, 2020, without registering a case despite having been caught red handed,” wrote the organisations.

They demanded that Satara’s Superintendent of Police file a report against the Inspector, the rural police and other personnel for wilful negligence and inaction to register the Advocate’s case.

The organisation also asked that the charge of attempt to murder be added to Nikalje’s existing FIR along with other charges of voluntary hurt, assault on a woman to outrage her modesty, unlawful assembly and armed rioting. Lastly, they demanded compensation for the Dalit rights activist who was assaulted on account of his human rights work.

“We urge that this case is treated as a case of reprisal on the human rights defender,” said the letter.

Five of the six accused were arrested on September 10 following intervention by Superintendent of Police Ms. Tejaswi Satpute. However, Mr. Deepak Gaikwad continues to be absconding.

The organisations that believed the attack was of a pre-meditated nature said, “He [Gaikwad] has been identified by the HRD as being the leader of the pack and took the lead in instigating the attack against the HRD. The fact that he continues to be free puts the life of the HRD [Nikalje] and his family in imminent threat.”

The malicious attacks on Adivasis are on the rise even as illegal felling of trees and other intimidation tactics by the forest department continue in isolated incidents across the country. The latest incident took place in Madhya Pradsh where some forest officials illegally detained, assaulted and tortured two activists: Kailash Jamre and Pyarsingh Waskale working for Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan in Burhanpur district Madhya Pradesh.

On August 29, two Adivasis- Jabarsing Keriya and Somla Chamarsingh were picked up while going back to their village after buying groceries. No information was provided to villagers until late that night. The next morning, the forest staff called Kailash Jamre and asked some of them to come to court to apply for bail for the two tribals. Pyarsingh Waskale accompanied Kailash as they attended the hearing of Jabarsingh and Somla. The forest department offered no evidence, nor did they present a chargesheet of the crimes committed by the two, however their bail application was rejected. As Kailash and Pyarsingh were exiting the court, on August 30, they were forcibly picked up by Khaknar Range Officer Abhay Singh Tomar and a few others.

Kailash and Pyarsingh were then taken to Khaknar Range office, where they were illegally locked up all night, and were allegedly brutally beaten up by around 20-25 staff and officers. According to Kailash, 2 or 3 people would hold their limbs while the others beat them with lathis. Most were drunk, and kept abusing them for ‘talking too much about the law and being the leaders of the sangathan’.

When the news of the illegal detention reached the village, many Adivasis gathered at Khaknar police station late at night and demanded registration of FIR against the forest officials. But, like in so many other cases of recent times, the police refused to file FIR and instead threatened the Adivasis with arrest. They were also allegedly misled by the police that Kailash and Pyaarsing had been taken to Burhanpur and that they had not been mistreated and would be produced in Court the next day.

They were brought to the District Court, Burhanpur, the next day and as Kailash and Pyarsingh were so brutally beaten up in custody, Kailash could barely stand and collapsed in court, whereafter he was hospitalised for 6 days and he is still unable to walk.

Both Kailash Jamre and Pyarsing Vaskale, of Rehmanpur village in Khaknar block are active members of Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan and constantly educate Adivasis about the provisions of the Forest Rights Act and their other legal rights. They have also, along with others, been active in opposing illegal clearing of forests which is happening with the active connivance of forest officials. They were mercilessly beaten up by forest department officials who said, “Tum hi jyaada kanoon karte ho.. dekhte hai teri sangathan kitni mazboot hai” (You are the ones who talk too much about the law.. now let’s see how strong your organisation is).

The region has a history of violence against Barela and Bhilala Adivasis who are claimants under the FRA. The forest staff, for decades has been demanding money from Adivasis for sowing, harvesting along with threats of false charges and cases slapped on them. Kailash and Pyarsingh are activists who for the past two years have been generating awareness about the Forest Rights and other legal rights and entitlements for Adivasis – putting an end to the decades of extortion by forest staff and officials from Adivasis for simply growing food.

Kailash himself and Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan, as an organization have written to the District Collector and Superintendent of police giving a detailed account of the incident and demanding action. They have demanded that strict action be taken against the forest officials and they be booked under sections of the IPC as well as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as also the false cases against the adivasis and the activists be withdrawn.

Organisations that work at grassroots level to awaken and strengthen tribal communities seems to have become the new target of forest officials possibly because these activists always come to the rescue and raise their voice along with fellow adivasis whenever any injustice is meted out by forest officials.

A fortnight ago, tribal rights champion Soni Sori found herself in quite a conundrum. On September 24, she had tested positive for COVID-19. A day later, she was supposed to present herself before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for an inquiry in the killing of Bheema Mandavi, a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, and four policemen in an alleged Naxal attack from the past year.

Sori had informed the officials about her health condition; they, however, insisted she still appears. Four days later, the local administration went ahead and booked her under sections of the Indian Penal Code for violating the quarantine rules.

Sori, who had remained active through the lockdown, visiting villages and helping people in need in the tribal district of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, developed symptoms in the month of September. As fever persisted, she decided to get herself tested. “The result stated I was infected by coronavirus. The local health officials came and put me in quarantine immediately at my residence in Geedam (a tehsil in Dantewada),” she says.

But when Sori called the NIA officials informing them about her health status, she says the officers refuse to believe her. “I was asked to make arrangements and be present before the NIA’s Dantewada office, over 80 km away,” she says. Sori’s health condition scared her neighbours, and local travel agents were unwilling to lend their vehicle for the travel, her nephew Lingram Kodopi says. The two were then forced to travel on a bike amid heavy rains.

“I was burning with a high fever. I was afraid they would detain me in the case. They questioned me for over seven hours despite my condition,” she adds.

Sori was informed about her health condition by Devendra Pratap Singh, a health officer in Geedam. Despite the positive report, the Dantewada police, along with the NIA insisted a second test was conducted. The second test too came out positive. But Sori alleged that despite the rapid test kit clearly indicating that she was positive, the police and Pratap declared that she had tested negative and is fit to face the inquiry.

But then, Singh later went ahead filing a case against Soni under Sections 188, 269, and 270 of the Indian Penal Code for disobeying an order duly promulgated by a public servant, for indulging in a negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life and malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life respectively. All three sections are bailable.

When The Wire approached Singh for his comment, he confirmed that an FIR has been registered. “I merely did my job. I am in-charge of the region and since Sori had travelled even when she was put under strict quarantine, I was duty-bound to report her to the police,” he said. When asked why he had claimed that she was negative on the day of Sori’s appearance before the NIA, Singh denied having made such a statement. He also confirmed that she tested positive both times. The former chief medical officer, Dr S.K.P. Shandilya, who was in-charge of the Dantewada region until three days ago, also confirmed that Sori had tested positive. The Wire has accessed her medical reports and also the FIR registered by Singh.

Sori, who has faced police atrocities including sexual torture and prolonged incarceration in the past, shared that she finds the state police and the NIA’s act inhumane. “If questioning me was so important, the NIA could have waited for a few weeks. Why did they insist I travel even when they are fully aware that this illness spreads super fast? It wasn’t just about my health alone, I could have endangered so many more lives,” she says.

Under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the investigating agency ought to have travelled to her residence. The section states, “…provided that no male person under the age of fifteen years or woman shall be required to attend at any place other than the place in which such male person or woman resides.” The section also makes provision for travel allowance. But Sori says she was asked to make her own arrangement.

Bheema Mandavi murder case

On April 9, 2019, Bheema Mandavi, then the sitting BJP MLA from Dantewada, and four personnel of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) were killed after Maoists had allegedly blown up their vehicle with an IED. This incident took place near Shyamgiri village under the Kuakonda police station area of Dantewada. The case was handed over to the NIA for investigation and on October 2, the agency filed a bulky chargesheet and named 33 persons as accused.

The NIA was in a hurry to question Sori before filing the chargesheet.

In the chargesheet, the NIA has claimed that the attackers after the ambush had also looted the arms and ammunition of the security personnel. All accused have been booked under several sections of the IPC, the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

While the Jagdalpur team of the NIA refused to take Sori’s health condition seriously, its Bombay team, investigating the 2018 Elgar Parishad’s case, cancelled its scheduled questioning last week. Sori, who was one of the many guest speakers at the Elgar Parishad event organised in Shaniwarwada of Pune to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon, was to be questioned by the NIA. A team of officers had reportedly traveled to Dantewada but decided to return on finding out about her health condition. The team spoke to Sori on the phone instead and has rescheduled a visit to Dantewada to the coming week.

Mr. Dhirendra Pratap isa Dalit rights activistandthe national president of an organization called "Purvanchal Sena” formed in 2006 and working against the oppression of Dalits.

On September 08, 2020,in Kusmaul village in Gorakhpur, a candidate for Pradhan’s election Mr. Sonu Jatav was abusedwith‘casteist slurs’by the sitting Gram PradhanMr. Vivek Shahi.Mr. Dhirendraand his organisationopposedthis incident and the police filedan FIR under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (PoA) against the Pradhanon September 09, 2020.However,Mr. Vivek was not arrested and he is alleged to have gone to the Dalit colony and abused Dalits in front of the police.The police instead of upholding law and order and arresting Mr. Vivek, remainedsilent and abetted the atrocities. A video was also made of this incident.Mr. Dhirendra and his organisation were constantly demanding the arrest of Mr. Vivek.

On September 18, 2020, around 02:00 AM, 20-25 men in plain clothes, armed with guns,jumped the wall and entered Mr. Dhirendra’shome in village Betiahata,Gorakhpur.When Mr. Dhirendra’s fatherenquiredwho they were and how did theyenter hishome, they said that theywere from the crime branch andhad come for an investigationand started searching their home room by room. Mr. Dhirendra was sleeping in hisroomduring this time. When he woke up, the intruders told him too that theyare from the crime branch and said that “You are Dhirendra ‘Purvanchal Sena’ president, now you will know how to become a leader.”Mr. Dhirendra asked them for anarrest warrant or notice, hearing which theystarted abusing himand forcibly triedto take him. Mr.Dhirendra's younger brother was recording this entire incident onhis mobile. After seeing him record the incident, the policemen snatched the mobile from the younger brother and took him too forcibly. They also abused and harassed women.When the two brothers were brought out of the house, the family also came out and noticed that some policemen inuniformwere standing outside the house.There were 6-7 cars,including a police jeep. The policemen started slappingboth HRDs, while trying to force both brothers into theircar. When their father tried to rescue his son, they tried to beat him with a lathi. Then theyforcibly abducted both thebrothersandtook them.In themorningtheirfather went to nearest police station–Cantt Police Station in Gorakhpur –and asked about his sons. But the policemen replied that they did not knowabout them. He then went to successive police stations to ask about his sons but did not get any information. Then he went to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP)GorakhpurMr.Bhupendra Kumar Singh’s office but Mr. Singh was not present,so he left a letter regarding the incident. Around 02:00 PM,hemet the District Magistrate(DM) of Gorakhpur Mr. VijendraPandiyan and told him the incident. The DM assured him that he will find his sons. Around 03:00 PM,Mr.Dhirendra and his brotherwere brought to the district hospitalof Gorakhpur for medicalexamination andafter medical theywere sent to the Gorakhpur District Jail. At 3:03 pm an FIR was registered by Mr. Amit Kumar Chaturvedi, Sub-Inspector atCantt Police Station, Gorakhpurunder sections307(Attempt to murder),332(Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353(Assault or criminal force to public servant from discharge of his duty)against Mr. Dhirendra, Mr. Yogendra Pratap and another personMr. Vicky David.TheFIRstated that on the night of September17-18, 2020, Mr. Chaturvedi, (Sub-Inspector) along with Constables Deepak Kumar and Ram Chander Yadav were on duty at Betiahata Chauraha, Betiahata, Gorakhpur.From the Crime Branch, Mr. Sadiq(SI), Mr. Chandrabhan (SI), Mr. Rashid (Head-Constable), Mr. Dharmendra (Constable), Mr. Yogesh (Head-Constable), Mr. Pradeep (Constable), Mr. Rakesh (Constable), Mr. Indresh (Constable), Mr. Qutbuddin (Constable) and Mr. Monish (Constable) had gone to the Betiahata Chauraha. They were told by aninformer that a wanted criminalMr. Vikky David is standing near Hanuman temple with two people.After getting the information, 15 policemenreached Hanuman Templewhere theysaw three people standing who said their names wasMr. Vicky David, Mr. Dhirendra Pratap and Mr. Yogendra Pratap. When all of them were body searched,it seemed as if Mr. David had a gun and in the scuffle severalpolicemen fell downand all three of themran away firing.Mr. Chaturvedi statedin FIR that,“the police searched for them but all three could not be found. That's why I'm filing a FIR”.Mr. Dhirendrawas constantly persuadingthe policeto uphold the constitution and act against Dalit atrocities. This is the main reason why the police targeted Mr. Dhirendra.The entire narrative showcasesextreme neglect and misuse of power by the Gorakhpur police. From not arresting Mr. Vivek and then abetting crime against Dalits to the post-midnight raid, abduction and illegal arrest in a fabricated case demonstrate a state of complete lawlessness in Gorakhpur. Acts by the police depict extremely serious and blatant violations of arrest procedures of the Cr.P.C, the DK Basuguidelinesand NHRC’s ownguidelineson arrestprocedures.

Adv. Varsha Deshpande is a well-known activist in Maharashtra and is based out of Satara district. She has worked for many years against social malpractices such as female foeticide and child marriages. She is also the founder president of the organizationcalled ‘Dalit Mahila Vikas Mandal’ which works with Dalit women for self-employment and has also established Free Legal Aid Center in 1996 with the help of Maharashtra Legal Aid Society.

Ms. Tamanna Mujawar and Ms. Aishwarya Jadhav, both residents of Satara,had money dealings in the past due to which a dispute broke out between them. Ms. Jadhavhad borrowed Rs. 15000 from Ms. Mujawar of which she had returned Rs. 12,500.Since they were unable to resolve the issue,Ms. Jadhav approached the Free Legal Aid Centre on August 24, 2020. However unable to resolve the issueeither, both wereaskedby the WHRD to visit the Satara City police station.

On August 25, 2020, the Satara City Police registered an FIR against Adv. Varsha Deshpandebased on a complaint filed by Ms. Mujawaralleging that the WHRD had physically assaulted her and demanded a ransom.The complaint stated that whenadispute croppedup between her and Ms. Jadhav at the Free Legal Aid Centre, Adv. Deshpande threatened her that she would initiatea legal case against her and also slapped her. Ms. Mujawar also accused Adv. Deshpande of demanding aransom of Rs. 50,000, failing which shewould file a complaint against her.Based on her complaint,the Satara city policestationcharged the WHRD under sections 384 (extortion) and 323 (causing voluntary hurt) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC).In her complaint, Ms. Mujawarsaid that the Ms. Jadhav had asked her to come to Adv. Deshpande’s office at 2.30 p.m. However, Adv. Deshpandehas clearedthat she hadnever called Ms. Mujawar to the office and the latter had come on her own volition. On August 26, 2020, Ms. Jadhav filed a police complaint stating that she had approached Adv. Deshpande as she wanted help on how to get out of her current predicament. However,in her office,Ms. Mujawar started a verbal fight with Adv. Deshpande. She also alleged that Ms. Mujawar was forcing her into a prostitution and blackmailing racket. Ms. Mujawar allegedly demanded that Ms. Jadhav pay her the amount due with interest when she refused to do Ms. Mujawar’s bidding. Based on Ms. Jadhav’s complaint the Satara city policestationhave filed an FIR under sections 452 (House Trespass), 342 (Wrongful Confinement), 323 (Voluntary Hurt), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (Criminal Intimidation), and section 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 which pertains toprocuring, inducing or taking an individual for the sake of prostitutionagainst Ms. Mujawar. No one has yet been arrested.We believe that the Ms. Deshpande, a longstandingwoman Human Rights Defenderof repute,has been implicated in a false case by the Satara police since she hasbeen vocal about police inaction on several occasions in the pastregarding sexual harassment of women. Recently,the WHRD had also complained to the state DGP about SDPO Mr. Sameer Sheikh and his handling of cases.Since there seems to have been a recent history with Mr. Sheikh as well as the facts of the above case, we are inclined to believe that the case against Adv. Deshpande is fabricated and false and has been filed with a malicious intent.

With top Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hitting the streets to highlight the Uttar Pradesh government’s mishandling of the Hathras gangrape-and-murder case, one would assume that since at least in the states where the party is in power, individuals’ right to protest would be honoured.

But in Maharashtra, particularly in Mumbai, that is not the case. The city police began tracking 24-year-old anti-caste activist Suvarna Salve at 1 am on October 2 and at the crack of dawn, they were at her doorstep armed with a legal notice to prevent her from participating in any protests in the city.

Suvarna, a student and cultural activist, says the police first called her on her cell phone at midnight and inquired about her whereabouts. “They asked me for my address and said they want to serve me a notice at 1 am. I informed them that I was away and they should not bother my family. But at around 7:15 am, the police were at my doorstep with a notice. My family received the notice,” she says.

The notice, typed in Marathi, stated that Salve was prohibited from participating in a “peaceful protest” organised by a Mumbai-based collective ‘Hum Bharat ke Log’ (We the People of India). Issued by the Marine Drive police station and signed by senior police inspector Mrityunjay Hiremath, the notice states:

“In the peaceful protest, banners and placards with messages like “Sab Nirbhay Bano, Loktantra Zinda Rakho, Savidhan ka SanmaaN karo” (Become fearless, keep democracy alive, respect the constitution) are to be displayed near a Gandhi statue at Madam Cama road.”

In the notice, issued under section 149 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the police have quoted a whole bunch of sections, including those under the Maharashtra Police Act, the Epidemic Diseases Act and other sections of unlawful assembly claiming that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the public gathering is prohibited. Section 149 of the CrPC implies that every police officer may intervene for the purpose of preventing, and shall, to the best of his ability, prevent, the commission of any cognizable offence

Salve says while the sections applied are understandable, the motive behind serving a notice only to her is not. “It was supposed to be a public gathering. Several people had decided to participate. But they identify just a few in the crowd and serve a notice. How to even understand this behaviour,” she asks.

Besides Salve, at least two more persons who were to participate in the protest have been served with similar notices. Salve did not attend the protest and Firoze Mithiborewala, one of the protestors, confirmed that the police served similar notices to two teenagers who had assembled at the protest site.

Interestingly, when The Wire contacted the Marine Drive senior police inspector Hiremath to inquire about the grounds for issuing this notice, he said that he was not aware of it. “There is no protest organised within my jurisdiction. We have not issued any notice,” he claimed over the phone. The letter has his name and signature on it.

This is not the first time that the Mumbai police have served a notice on Salve. On August 29, The Wire, in a detailed piece had reported the Mumbai police’s attempt to classify Salve as a “habitual offender” and initiate the administrative procedure of “externment” against her. In that notice, the Mumbai police also demanded a whopping surety of Rs 50 lakh from her. The notice was served to her for participating in an impromptu protest organised in the city in January in the wake of the attack on students and faculty members inside the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus.

Salve says she has been singled out and harassed by the current state dispensation. She says the police’s act of serving notices on her for every public appearance is crafted with a clear intention to profile and criminalise her.

Since her college days, Salve has been a vocal anti-caste voice, participating in protests and students’ agitations across India. In 2016, after the death of Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad, which many described as an “institutional murder”, Salve joined the Joint Action Committee (JAC) formed to fight for justice for Vemula and other Bahujan students who face discrimination in campuses.

Salve told The Wire, “The protests that I have participated in have always been peaceful and organised against the atrocities and violations of human rights in the country. This protest [on October 2] was organised to register our protest against the inhuman treatment meted out to a Dalit family, whose 19-year-old daughter was allegedly gang-raped and killed. And the irony is, the Mumbai police identifies one Dalit woman and prohibits her from protesting.”

The cyber wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police summoned and abused Auqib Javeed, a Kashmir based journalist, over a news report about police intimidation of social media users. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its India affiliate Indian Journalists Union (IJU) condemn the police’s highhandedness and urge the Indian authorities to stop such the violence and intimidation of journalists.

Javeed was assaulted and harassed by Jammu and Kashmir Cyber Police on September 19 for his news report entitled ‘Police Question Kashmir Twitter Users For 'Anti-Govt' Posts’ published on the Article 14 online site. His article highlights cases of the intimidation by the Jammu and Kashmir police to civil society members, journalists and students for their tweets critical of government actions on article 370 and the internet shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir. The article claims that dozens of Twitter users in Kashmir have been forced to maintain their silence after being interrogated by the police about their posts on Article 370 and the Internet shutdown. The police have accused Javeed’sreport of being ‘fake and baseless’.

According to Javeed, after being summoned he was abused and assaulted at the cyber-police’s police on September 19 along with two members of the Kashmir Press Club. He said two masked police slapped him and Tahir Bhatti, the Superintendent of Police who is in charge of the police’s cyber cell, abused him. The journalist was released after five hours. The police have refuted his allegations of abuse.

Journalists in the J&K region are frequently harassed, threatened and summoned particularly over any criticism of the Indian government revocation of article 370 which lead to the imposed internetshutdown in August 5, 2019.

On July 31,Qazi Shibli, the editor of news portal The Kashmiriyat , was detained whileFahad Shah, editor of news portal Kashmir Walla, was summoned on May 20. The police in Srinagar also filed separate investigations or First Information Reports (FIR) against Kashmiri photojournalist Masrat Zahra and journalist Gowhar Geelani on April 18 and April 21 respectively. And, cyber police in Srinagar questioned journalist Peerzada Ashiq on April 19 in relation to the journalist’s news articles.

A journalist from Tripura was beaten up by unidentified individuals, after he criticised Chief Minister Biplab Deb’s remark that he will not forgive media houses for publishing stories of alleged mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis by the Bharatiya Janata Party government, NDTV reported on Monday.

Parashar Biswas, a journalist with a Bengali newspaper, made the criticism after being discharged from a coronavirus care centre. In his video, posted on Facebook on Saturday, Biswas said he wanted to warn the chief minister that he should not threaten the media.

Biswas was thrashed at his house in Ambassa, the headquarters of Dhalai district, on Saturday night. He was critically injured and was taken to a hospital in Agartala. “We have filed a case and are investigating the attack,” Deputy General of Police Rajiv Singh said.

Subal Dey, the editor of Syandan Patrika, where Biswas works, said he was attacked within 12 hours after he made the Facebook post. “He was attacked within a day after the chief minister issued a threat against the media and within 12 hours of his Facebook post. We suspect this attack to have been carried out by BJP members.”

But the BJP denied it was responsible for the attack. “We condemn the attack on the journalist,” Tripura BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee said. “None of our party members are involved in this. Police has started investigation. If any political party members are involved, law will take its course.”

Deb had said on Friday that he would not “forgive” the media for its allegedly “confused” coverage of the coronavirus situation in the state. “A few newspapers and journalists are getting overexcited and confusing the people of Tripura,” he had said. “History would not forget them. I will also not forgive them. People of Tripura will not forget them. Biplab Deb will not forget them. I do what I say, I keep my words. History will remain witness to it.”

Journalists in Agartala held a meeting on Sunday under the forum “Assembly of Journalists”, and asked Deb to withdraw his statement. “Within 24 hours of Chief Minister’s public threat to newspapers, a journalist has been attacked, beaten brutally,” they said in a statement. “This has led to a feeling of insecurity among journalists in the state.” The group said that if Deb did not withdraw his statement, they might have to approach Governor Ramesh Bais, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Press Council of India.

Forum for Protection of Media and Journalists in Tripura Chairperson Subal Kumar Dey said the comments of the chief minister were “undemocratic and unconstitutional”, News18 reported. “We hope he will withdraw his remark within the next three days,” Dey said.

Dey claimed that not one but two journalists have been attacked since Saturday. “The state is trying to enslave media persons,” he alleged. “State government orders are issued to choke journalists’ voices.”

Tripura has so far reported 19,165 cases of the coronavirus, including 200 deaths, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As many as 11,536 people have recovered.

The famous Urdu poet Munawwar Rana’s daughters, Sumaiya Rana and Uzma Parveen had asked people to gather near the Chief Minister’s residence and beat ‘thalis’ to make their voices heard.

Post this, they have been placed under house arrest on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, over their call for the protest against the UP government led by the Chief Minister Ajay Singh Bisht also known as Yogi Adityanath, the police said.

Sumaiyya and Uzma, who had also played a key role in the anti-CAA protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, in Lucknow earlier this year, had asked the public to raise their voices against a host of increasing ongoing issues, and mishandling of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Sumaiyya who lives at Kaiserbagh in Lucknow, said, “The UP government has failed in containing the contagion in the state. Private hospitals are fleecing the public because the state government is turning a blind eye on them. The COVID-19-related high mortality rate has further worsened the healthcare crisis in UP. Besides, the state government has also failed in curbing unemployment that has started taking a toll on the state’s youths. I had given a call to make our voices heard. ”

After this incident, a large number of policemen were seen outside the Silver Heights Apartments in Kaiserbagh area where they live.

Besides, the police didn’t allow the protesters to gather outside the CM’s residence.

The police spokesperson said since Section 144 is in force in the state capital, no congregation of people could be allowed.

The cases against them have been registered on charges making objectionable comments on social media, public obstruction, violating Section 144 and disturbing peace.

Delhi Police arrested former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for instigating the North-East Delhi riots that broke out in February this year.

“Khalid was one of the main conspirators of riots in which 53 persons died and over 400 were injured,” special cell of Delhi Police said after the arrest.

The former JNU scholar has been questioned twice by the police over the last two months for speeches he delivered at the Shaheen Bagh protest site. According to the police, Khalid had planned the riots with former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain.

Khalid was charged with sedition and arrested in February 2016 too, for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans inside the JNU campus along with former student union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others.

“We arrested Umar Khalid late Sunday night,” said a senior police officer associated with the probe, requesting not to be named.

On August 3, the suspended AAP councillor had reportedly confessed to his crime and told the police that he was given the task to collect as much glass bottle, petrol, acid, stones as possible during the violence.

Communal violence broke out in Delhi between anti-CAA and pro-CAA protesters in February this year. Hundreds of people were detained in connection with the violence and police faced criticism for their slack management of protesters and ineffective handling of the riots.

The cost of exercising one’s constitutional right to protest in Mumbai has been fixed at Rs 50 lakh.

The Mumbai police has issued a notice seeking surety of a whopping Rs 50 lakh from a 24-year-old student and cultural activist Suvarna Salve for participating in an impromptu protest in January, organised in Mumbai in the wake of the attack on students and faculty members inside the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus.

While this is the only FIR ever registered against Salve, the Mumbai police have also decided to classify her as a “habitual offender” and initiate another administrative procedure of “externment” against her.

Salve, a lead singer and activist of the cultural troop Samata Kala Manch, was one of the 31 persons to be booked by the MRA Marg police for participating in a peaceful rally from Hutatma Chowk to Gateway of India in South Mumbai on January 6. Over 300 people from across Mumbai had joined the rally which was organised in protest against the violent attack on students in JNU campus by activists belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS’s) students’ wing, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The Mumbai police’s decision to slap FIRs against activists in the city had attracted severe criticism. Rights activists and political leaders had termed the Mumbai police’s action as excessive and also equated it with the Delhi police which had remained a “mute spectator” and done nothing to control the masked mob that roamed around freely for almost three hours in the JNU campus but later had booked the victims instead.

In Mumbai, the protest was organised at two separate spots, just a few kilometres apart. The police have filed two separate FIRs – one at MRA Marg police station and another at Colaba police station – for those attending the protests. In both places, several prominent figures like former Bombay high court judge B.G. Kolse-Patil, and actor Sushant Singh had participated. When the rally soon transformed into a sit-in protest at Gateway of India and more and more people joined in support, state ministers like Jitendra Awhad visited the spot to negotiate with protestors.

While the initial decision was to not take criminal action against the protestors, the police had eventually changed their stance. In all 31 persons have been named in the FIR and have been booked under section 141, 143 and 149 (unlawful assembly) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code, along with section 37 of the Bombay Police Act, 1951.

All sections are bailable and punishable for less than six months. Prominent persons were excluded from the FIR and only student activists and some lawyers were named. Some of them even claimed that they were not present at the protest site but were still named in the FIR.

Despite of filing a case of unserious nature, the police have sought an unusually high surety, and more strangely have demanded it only from Salve. The notice, issued on August 24, has sought an explanation as to why Salve a proceeding should not be initiated against her under Section 110 (e) of the CrPC. The notice also seeks at least one of two persons to appear as a “surety”, pledging an amount of Rs 50 lakh, ensuring her good behaviour for the next two years. If she fails, the amount or the property would be confiscated by the state.

Salve says this is done to discourage her from participating in any political activism in the future. “This is done clearly with an intention to harass,” she said. “There were several influential people who had participated in the protest but they chose to go behind one student activist. They know I will never be able to furnish such surety ever. I belong to a Dalit community, and stay in a slum rehabilitation housing,” she pointed out.

Since her college days, Salve has been a vocal anti-caste voice, participating in protests and students’ agitation across India. In 2016, when Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at University of Hyderabad, was allegedly killed in an “institutional murder”, Salve joined the Joint Action Committee (JAC) formed to fight for justice for Vemula and other Bahujan students facing discrimination in campuses.

In the past years, when anti-caste organisations and political parties like Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi called for a bandh in the state, Salve like several other activists was served a notice under Section 144 of the CrPC against participating in any public gathering. “There has been a systematic attempt made to curtail dissenting voices. Like me, several other Ambedkarite activists have been served such notices,” she said.

Her lawyer Ishrat Ali Khan says the police’s decision to classify her as an “habitual offender” also stems from the same mentality. “Look at the crime here – organising and participating in a peaceful protest. From no stretch of imagination can an individual exercising their right to expression and protest be termed as a habitual offender,” he said.

Section 110 of the CrPC, also in legal parlance called as “chapter proceedings” is initiated against those who have been booked in multiple crimes. An executive clause, the proceedings under this section is initiated by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) level officer and if convicted, the person is externed for a stipulated period of time outside the district limit.

Several researchers have pointed to its discriminatory nature and how it gets disproportionately used against marginalised identities like Dalits and Denotified Tribes. In most cases, it is noticed that the executive officials hearing the case convict the person and the individual then has to move the high court to get their name cleared. This is a tedious process, requiring both resources and patience.

Khan, in his over a decade of experience handling cases under this section, said he had never seen the section being slapped against someone for protesting. “The subsections cover several crimes like theft, dacoity and extortion. The police claim to use it against “hardened criminals”, something that Salve or any dissenting activists don’t qualify for, he said.

The Network of Women in Media, India, condemns the online abuse and harassment of Chennai-based journalist Kavin Malar. The relentless abuse, personal attacks and doxing (a practice where personal identifying information is broadcast online) by droves of trolls are part of growing attempts on social media to silence vocal women journalists in India. Facebook’s reluctance to take down these posts and the delay by the police in registering a complaint have only emboldened online harassers.

After Kavin wrote some comments online about what she felt were political motives behind the arrests of members of YouTube group Karuppar Koottam and, in a different instance, posted in support of another journalist being trolled online, a Bharatiya Janata Party functionary, Kalyanaraman, named Kavin as being anti-BJP. Facebook users who appear to support the BJP flooded her timeline and harassed her for weeks.

On August 9, a user named Sasi Kumar posted two photographs of Kavin with the words “My rate is 1000 rupees”. Soon afterwards, she began to get obscene calls and messages on Facebook from other users. Kavin is a journalist of solid credibility. The implication that she is soliciting is a condemnable attempt to malign her journalistic identity and reputation.

When Kavin and several others reported the post and photograph to Facebook, the social media platform refused to take any action, saying the post was not against their community standards. It was only after over 10 days that Facebook removed the photo. Other abusive comments remain online. So does Sasi Kumar’s profile.

Responding to Kavin’s complaint and the solidarity that poured in for her, on August 17 the Chennai Cyber Crime cell registered a case under Sections 354-D of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998.

Kavin is an independent Tamil journalist who has been harassed for her courageous reportage on caste discrimination, communal violence and gender rights. She was harassed online in 2013, too, while covering the death of a Dalit man who married a Vanniyar woman in Dharmapuri. NWMI had written to the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu demanding action. It was only when Kavin went to court that the police filed a complaint against her harasser, self-proclaimed political analyst Kishore K Swamy, under court orders.

This March, the police closed the 2013 case saying the abusive comments were “undetected”, when many are still clearly online. Swamy, meanwhile, continues to harass several journalists, especially women and the few mainstream Tamil journalists not from the upper caste. There are at least five police complaints against Swamy, with no proportionate action.

Such police inaction allows online abusers to attack women journalists with impunity. Investigations must be completed and justice done for the internet to be a safer space for all.

Abusive and targeted content in non-English languages is a distressing reality for Indian journalists. Although the recent post was in English, Kavin often faces attacks from social media users who post in Tamil. These abusive comments often escape the notice of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter moderators.

NWMI asks that social media platforms find ways to quell harassment in regional languages, whether with multilingual moderators or better translation algorithms.

Journalists across the world face threats and insults on social networks, from ordinary trolls or professional ones, in an obvious attempt to silence them. Some Indian political leaders have lauded these trolls as “warriors” and have endorsed their synchronised attacks by following their accounts or even offering them positions in their political parties.

Online harassers especially target investigative and female journalists. Doxing endangers reporters and their families. Its psychological effects on the victim and other journalists can lead to self-censorship or leaving social networks which have today become essential to journalistic work. Such online harassment can act as a deterrent to journalists, preventing them from doing their duty.

Our demands:

Chennai police must immediately begin credible investigations into the complaint.
Facebook must promptly take down obscene posts and remove the profiles of serial abusers.
Social media platforms must develop effective moderation procedures that enable quick action on such online attacks, especially on women journalists and those from disadvantaged social groups. 

The Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested Sharjeel Imam in connection with the riots in the city in February, Indian Express has reported. Imam has been booked under sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Booked under the sedition law for a speech in which he had called for a chakka jam, Imam was arrested from Bihar�s Jehanabad on January 28.

He was brought to Guwahati from Delhi in January and has been in Guwahati Jail since then. On July 22, Sharjeel tested positive for COVID-19 and was among 435 inmates of the jail who did so.

He was brought back to Delhi from Assam on Sunday on a production warrant, Express has reported.

Imam, a PhD scholar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and an IIT alumnus, had been actively involved in the Shaheen Bagh protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

In late April, Delhi Police has booked Imam under the UAPA in connection with the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act near Jamia Millia Islamia in December last year.

Imam has been booked under section 13 (unlawful activities) of the Act in the case, his counsel advocate Mishika Singh had said. The lawyer said the charge has been invoked to delay his release.

The police had earlier charged Imam with sedition, alleging his speech promoted enmity between people that led to riots.

�He was arrested in two cases of violence at Jamia on December 13 and 15, 2019, for instigating and abetting the Jamia riots, due to his seditious speech on December 13 and based on evidences collected, IPC sections 124 A and 153 A were also invoked,� Anil Mittal, additional PRO, Delhi Police had said then.

In late June, 13 United Nations independent experts called on India to immediately release activists who were arrested for protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act. In a statement issued from Geneva, it had named Imam among others.

The Delhi high court in early July said there were �good and justifiable grounds� for extending the time to complete investigation against Imam in a case related to his allegedly �inflammatory speeches� during the anti-CAA protests. Justice V. Kameswar Rao had dismissed Iman�s plea challenging the trial court�s June 25 order granting three more months to the Delhi Police, beyond the statutory 90 days, to complete the case�s investigation under the UAPA.

Mr. Zakir Ali Tyagi(22)is a social activistassociated with several socialorganisations and hasbeen a part of several human rights fact-finding teamsin Uttar Pradesh.He has also been involved in peaceful anti-CAA protests. In 2017, NSA was filed on Mr. Tyagi regarding his Facebook post, critical of the UPChief Minister.Subsequently, he spent42 days in jailand is currently out on bail.Mr. Mithun Dikshit, the SHO of Parikshit Garh police station,was informed through a phone call by control roominLucknowthat the remains of some dead cows were lying in the forest of Aminabad village (Bada Gaon) Parikshit Garh. The SHO directedSub-Inspector Mr. Mahesh Singh Ranato investigatethe case.SI Mr. Rana went to the Aminabad forest and foundremains of a cowfrom the sugarcane fields of a farmer, Mr. Vipin. These remains were sent for forensic examination and an FIR was lodged against unknown people under Uttar Pradesh Prevention of cow Slaughter Act-1955, Section5 (Prohibition on sale of beef)and Section 8 -Penalty (1) (Whoever contravenes or abets the contravention of the provisions of Section 3, Section 5 or Section 5-A shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees).Onthe midnight of August 25, 2020, 15-20 policemen reached Mr. Zakir Ali Tyagi�s village Aminabad(Bada Gaon),KilaParikshit GarhinMeerut and entered his home without permissionor any prior notice. The policemenfrom Kila Parikshit Garh police station in Meerut,came in2-3 police jeeps, and somewere without uniform or official badges. Three non-uniformed policemen had covered their faces with black masks. They started to misbehavewithMr. Tyagi�s mother and sister-in-law.WhenMr. Tyagi angrily asked the police why had they entered his housewithout permission, the policeman replied that they had come to take him. They tookhim without any detention orarrest proceduresand when somevillagers opposed this, thepolice threatenedthem.In the morning of August 26,2020,some respected people of the village went to Kila Parikshit Garh police station and asked about Mr. Tyagi, but the constable told themto come later because�Inspector Sahab is sleeping right now�.However,the villagerswere unofficially told by a policeman that Mr. Tyagi is alleged to be involved in the Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA protests and thus won�tbe released. Around 11:15 am,Mr. Tyagi�s familyreceived a phone call from the Kila Parikshit Garh police stationthat he was being sent to jailfor being involved in cow slaughter and that they can comeand meet him.Mr. Tyagihad beendetained at the police station all nightand his family allegesthat he was abused and beaten up.We believe that Mr. Tyagi is ahuman rights defender and this is a completely fabricated case by thepoliceto target him for questioninggovernment policiesand taking part in the peaceful protests. There is no reason to associate Mr. Tyagi with slaughtering the cow. The carcass of the cow was notfound in his fieldsor near his house, nor was Mr. Tyagi�s name mentioned in the original FIR.According to the information available, the farmer on whose land the remains were found also told the police that Mr. Tyagi isinnocent.There is also no evidence that Mr. Tyagi had any connection with the incident in any form. Mr. Tyagi�sdetention and arrest from his home at midnight, by non-uniformed policemen without badges and in black masks and non-production of any document, flouted all laws and procedures on arrest mentionedin the CrPC, DK Basu and NHRC guidelines and raises serious questions.

Mr. Manish Kumar Soni(36), resident of Ambikapur, district Sarguja, Chhattisgarh,isasenior investigativejournalist and human rights defender. In his 17-years�career,he haswritten articles aboutcommon citizens, custodial deaths, Adivasisetc. In2016,Mr.Sonifollowed the custodial death cases in the Sarguja and documented how innocent Adivasiswerearrested and tortured to death in the custody. These articles were published indifferent national and state newspapers. Angered by these articles,a false case against Mr. Soni was lodged in Ambikapur Police stationu/s 353 and 186 2of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)and he is out on conditional bail.During the COVID lockdown too,he has video graphedmany irregularities in the health department work and published in different local web portal and social media.

OnMarch 25,2020, journalist Mr. Manish KumarSoniposteda Facebook post with photos of security forces who had died in naxal attacks which said:Look at the caste and community of the killed and the identification of the killers. All will turn out to be from the same community. Now try and understand those who are getting them killed. You will get the answers. The jungles can only be captured by getting the Adivasisto fight against Adivasis.

On August 16,2020, the Assistant Sub-Inspectorof Ambikapur police station, Mr. Rakesh Yadav lodged an FIR(No. 33354002200463) under IPC Sections 153(a)(promoting enimitybetween classes), 153(b)(imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505(2) (false statement, rumours, with an intent to create enimity) against Mr. Soni for the above-mentioned Facebook post. The FIR statesthat the police had received a written complaint against Mr. Soni fromMr. AlokDubey,local ward member and also associated with the BJP,regarding �a provoking post�byMr. Soni which was a threat to national integrity. According to the complaint, Mr. Soni�s Facebook post insultedthe Adivasi community and createdhatred towards the security forces in the mindsof the ordinary citizen and affects national unity and integrity.Though the police have not yet arrested Mr. Soni, he has been getting repeated calls,harassing and intimidating him,since the FIR has been filed. The HRD allegesthat local policemen have threatened himthat �if you keep doing such things, you will be encountered and even your dead body will not be found.�He wascalled to the police station by the SP Mr. Tilakram Koshimaa week after the FIR was filed, whoquestioned his credentials as a journalist and warned him to stay away from writing aboutthe police and custodial killings. Mr. Soni evencalled the IG Police, Mr. Ratanlal Dangi for help, who said he doesn�t know anythingabout the case, but that the district policemen will handle the work and you should leave �all this.� He was also warned by the Deputy Protection Officer of the court to take anticipatory bail or the police may arrest him anytime.We believe thatMr. Soniis beingthreatened andintimidated for his work as a journalist for hisprevious record of exposing custodial killings as well as writing thepostrelated to Adivasis.It is a matter of grave concern that police officials are giving threats of fake encounters and arrests to citizens and journalists. A free media is an extremely important fourth pillar of the Indian democracy. Our Constitution gives every citizen including journalists the right to exercise freedom of speech. These FIR and intimidation tacticsused by functionaries in power are proof of a vendetta against Mr. Manish Kumar and absolutely violate his right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(a) of the Indian Constitution. Freedom to expression is crucial to the work of HRDs. The right to freedom of opinion and expression encompasses three different aspects: 1) the right to hold opinions without interference; 2) the right of access to information; and 3) the right to impart information and ideas of all kind. On the aforesaid it is stated that Declaration on Human Rights Defenders seeks to protect the monitoring and advocacy functions of defenders by recognizing their right to obtain and disseminate information relevant to the enjoyment of human rights.

Several civil society members across the country issued a statement on Friday in support of an Ahmedabad-based anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) activist who was issued a show-cause notice for externment in July, for his alleged involvement in criminal activities.

Kaleem Siddiqui (39) a resident of Bapunagar, was one of the organisers of the two-month-long Shaheen Bagh-like anti-CAA agitation in Rakhial of Ahmedabad. The protest which started on January 14 was called off on March 14 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On July 17, the office of M A Patel, Assistant Commissioner of Police (A division), Ahmedabad Police, had sent a show-cause notice to Siddiqui stating that the police department was contemplating to extern him for two years from Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Mehsana and Kheda.

Siddiqui on July 30, had presented himself before the police and denied the allegations made against him, in a written response.

Expressing solidarity, the civil society signatories to the statement, which include historian Ramchandra Guha, former Amnesty International head Aakar Patel, independent MLA Jignesh Mevani, retired ambassador of India Madhu Bhaduri and others, have stated that the police’s action appears to be an attempt to “silence dissent by civil society actors and the Muslim community,” and is “condemnable and unwarranted.” They have sought that the notice must be revoked immediately.

Siddiqui also filed a plea in Gujarat High Court, challenging the show-cause notice for externment issued against him, while seeking a stay on the operation of it, pending hearing and disposal of the matter.

Mr. Gajendra Singh isa journalist based in Churu district for around five years,working for First India Newsfor last two years. He reports from Sardarshahar Tehsil on all matters. On July 22, 2020, in Sardarshahar of Churu district, the residents of Kaka Colony went inside the office of the executive engineer of the city's water department Mr. Govind Prasad Sharma to give a memorandum for concerns related to water. Mr. Sharma allegedly told the residents that requestwill not be metat which point the residentsof Kaka Colony asked the executive engineer to give the same in writing. At this point, Mr. Sharma allegedly started misbehaving and started abusing the residents telling them to get out of his office. He allegedly threatened the residents that he would take action on grounds that they were crowding in his office and not maintaining social distance.Mr. Gajendra Singh was accompanying the residents of the colony at their request. Before coming to the office of the executive engineer, they had given a similar memorandum at the Sub Divisional Magistratewhose proceedings had been recorded by Mr. Singh. Here too,Mr. Singh started recording the proceedings. Mr. Sharma demanded that Mr. Singh stop recording and even threatened tocharge him with obstructing a public servant, if he didn’t stop. He then pushed the journalist and even triedto snatch themobilewith which Mr. Singhwas recording. When the residents left the premises,Mr. Singh decided to take Mr. Sharma’s view to ensure that hisreporton the incident has both sides. At this point, Mr. Sharma again assaulted Mr. Singh and pushed him outside the premises.Both instancesof assaults and abuses were recorded on camera and there is also CCTV footage that has recorded the incident.The same was aired by news channels.Mr. Singhhas submitted a written complaintto the Sub Divisional Magistrateof Sardarshahar, Ms. Rina Champa,on the same eveningof the incidentwho stated on record that an inquiry will be initiated. However, there has been no inquiry report, nor has any action been taken against Mr. Sharmawhocontinues to hold his office.We are greatly concerned with this blatantmisuse of powerand criminal assault of a journalist by a government employee who was a coveringnews of a delegation for redressal of citizensgrievances.This is also a clear abuse of power by a public servant against the public they serve. It appears that the Executive Engineer was provoked by seeing Mr. Singh recording his abuse ofthe citizens and thus physically assaulted him. This is not only a criminal act, but an action to prevent a journalist from their right to obtain information in public interest. Our Constitution gives journalists the right to exercise freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(a) of the Indian Constitutionwhichis crucial to the work of HRDs, including journalists. The right to freedom of expression encompasses three different aspects: 1) the right to hold opinions without interference; 2) the right of access to information; and 3) the right to impart information and ideas of all kind. On the aforesaid it is stated that Declaration on Human Rights Defenders seeks to protect the monitoring and advocacy functions of defenders by recognizing their right to obtain and disseminate information relevant to the enjoyment of human rights.

Delhi University professor Apoorvanand was questioned by the Delhi Police Monday in connection with the Northeast Delhi riots that broke out in February this year.

The professor said his phone has been seized by the police for investigation.

“On Monday, 3 August, 2020, I was asked by the Special Cell, Delhi Police to appear before it in the investigation into FIR no 59/20 related to the violence that happened in NE Delhi in February 2020. I spent five hours there. The Delhi Police also considered it necessary to seize my phone for the purpose of investigation,” Apoorvanand said in a statement issued Tuesday.

Apoorvanand’s phone hasn’t been returned by the police yet.

He told ThePrint that while he was there at the station for five hours, he was questioned for around 3 hours.

“There was violence and, hence, we must all know who the real perpetrators were, it’s only in the best interest of the nation that they are found and the truth established,” Apoorvanand said when approached by ThePrint for a comment.

The DU professor said in the statement that the police shouldn’t harass, and victimise protesters and their supporters who opposed, through Constitutional means, the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and the process to create a National Population Register.

Apoorvanand, who teaches Hindi at Delhi University, added that he hoped the Delhi Police’s probe into the violence that killed 53 and injured around 250 others will focus on the “real instigators and perpetrators against a peaceful citizens’ protest and the people of North East Delhi”.

When ThePrint reached Delhi Police, its public relations officer Eish Singhal said: “Apoorvanand was called with regard to the Northeast Delhi riots case investigation. He was summoned through a notice. His phone has been taken by the investigating team for a probe.”

Asked when his phone would be returned and if he would be summoned again, the PRO declined to comment. ‘Home Minister, PM treated CAA protesters like enemies’

Urging the police to conduct a just and fair investigation into the violence, the professor said in his statement that it is disturbing to see a “theory” emerging that treats the “supporters of the protesters as the source of violence”.

Speaking to ThePrint, he further said: “What we see is that the February violence ultimately resulted in the disruption of all protest sites that were holding strong since the last two months. Assuming that the protesters whether in Shaheen Bagh or in other places would take such a suicidal step to destroy themselves is absurd.”

He added, “The only thing that these protesters wanted was for the government to hear their concerns and cries, while recognising the legitimacy of the government. In return, the government functionaries, the Home Minister, the Prime Minister and other BJP leaders treated them like enemies and launched a smear campaign against them. They pitched them as being against another section of the society.”

The DU professor also said the whole investigation into the riots has been turned on its head.

“Protests are never against other sections of the society, but this time we saw that misinformation and hate was launched against those showing dissent,” he added.

“Never in the history of independent India has any protest been attacked by other sections of the society. But this time, we saw gangs attacking the protests on behalf of the government. They were legitimised by the state. The point is that we cannot give others the licence to do that with protesters who wanted the government to hear them out,” he added.

On the Delhi Police’s interrogation report that mentioned former AAP leader Tahir Hussain and former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, the DU professor said this is not the natural course of justice.

“It is against the principle of natural justice to publicise something attributed to a person who is in no position to confirm or deny the statement of the police,” Approvanand said.

“We earnestly hope that the professionalism of our investigative agencies is employed in finding the real perpetrators and source of violence, which targeted mainly the protesters and the people from the Muslim community,” he added.

A special court here on Friday remanded Delhi University (DU) associate professor Hany Babu, arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, in judicial custody till August 21.

Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil, 54, associate professor at the Department of English of the university, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on July 28 for his alleged involvement in the case.

He was sent to judicial custody by special court judge D E Kothalikar at the end of his NIA remand on Friday.

Earlier, the NIA had submitted before the court that the accused had links with the CPI (Maoists).

The case relates to the alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

The Pune police filed a charge sheet and a supplementary charge sheet in the case on November 15, 2018 and February 21, 2019, respectively.

The NIA took up the investigation in the case on January 24 this year.