Skip to main content

Drop sedition charges, release human rights defenders: EU MPs' letter to Govt of India, NHRC


By A Representative
European Parliament’s 20 members, expressing concern over the crackdown on human rights defenders in India, have asked the Government of India and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to provide an open space to civil society. In a letter, they have said, “India is the largest democracy in the world, and an important strategic partner of the European Union, whereas the relationship between the two is based on shared values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.”
Addressed to the ministers of law and justice (Ravi Shankar Prasad), tribal affairs (Jual Oram) and social justice and empowerment (Thaawarchand Gehlot), and NHRC’s liaison officer for human rights defenders, the letter says, there are “worrying signs of shrinking civil society space in India”, underlining the need to “take urgent steps to change course, release all detained human rights defenders in the country, drop all charges against them, and allow them to carry out their work free from risk or impediment”.
Citing a series of crackdowns on human rights defenders, beginning with the arrest of three Dalit rights activists, a professor and a social activist in June last year for the Bhima Koregaon violence in January 2018, and use of the anti-sedition Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the letter expresses shock over the Jharkhand police went so far as to file sedition cases against 20 tribal rights activities for criticising the state government.
The letter mentions, among others, the names of those harassed or arrested, including Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha , Arun Ferreira, Degree Prasad Chouhan, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Valarmathi Madhaiyan and Piyush Manush, Stan Swamy, letter asks the Government of India to “release all those who have been detained, drop all charges against them, and stop all judicial harassment of human rights defenders.”

Comments

Post a Comment

NOTE: Hateful, abusive comments won't be published. -- Editor

TRENDING

Arrival of USS Lincoln: A ‘leisure trip’ to Thailand or a neo-colonial move to commodify women?

By Benyasiri Eimviriyapong   The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for a ‘leisure trip’ in Thailand before returning to its campaign of destruction against the people of West Asia demands immediate interrogation and opposition. For us Thai people, and those in sites of American plunder across the globe, this a rattling of the US’ cold war colonial chains on its most loyal lap dog, while conducting a war of aggression in Iran and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. In allowing the USS Lincoln to dock, the Thai ruling elites are once again facilitating a system of imperial violence that extends far beyond Southeast Asian borders, a system which in our case, is predicated on sexual violence and femicide.
2 comments
»

Global financial institutions 'ignored' climate warnings in Nepal’s hydropower disaster: SANDRP probe

Counterview News  A catastrophic flood disaster across Nepal’s Himalayan river valleys has triggered urgent international scrutiny over the role of multilateral lenders and development finance institutions. According to an extensive investigation published by the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), international financiers—including the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the Export-Import Bank of China —pushed forward major hydropower projects in disaster-prone valleys despite documented warnings, recurring historical floods, and unheeded safety recommendations.
Post a Comment
»

Pilgrimage or pollution? The waste crisis of Indian faith

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  In today's times, there are certain issues that are constantly talked about and discussed, yet no visible impact seems to be made. Beyond water, soil, and pollution, one crisis that continues to be overlooked is waste. Like other life-threatening problems, waste too is gradually moving toward burying and obliterating us. After the Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar, approximately 8,000 tonnes of waste were left behind on the riverbanks, including bottles filled with urine. 
Post a Comment
»