Skip to main content

Withdraw sedition charges against three young women activists: 1100 feminists

Safoora Zargar
Counterview Desk
About 1,100 feminists from all over India – organisations and individuals across religion, class, caste, ethnicity, ability, sexuality and genders – have issued a solidarity statement condemning what they have called “the targeted crackdown on Muslims and women activists in Delhi”, who were at the forefront of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
The statement notes, “The Delhi Police, at the behest of the Union Home Ministry is brazenly rounding up people under the cover of the Covid lockdown”, denouncing “false narratives that try to link anti-CAA protests with the violence in Delhi”, even as demanding action against those who whom they consider as “actual instigators and perpetrators of communal violence”, including BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra and Pravesh Verma.
Seeking “full disclosure of arrests and detentions from Delhi Police”, and “withdrawal of false cases and immediate release of all political prisoners”, the statement particularly takes strong exception to “sedition charges” against three young Muslim women “who were at the forefront of peaceful democratic protests and not involved with violence in any way, unlike what the Delhi Police is alleging.”
These are: Gulfisha, 25, an MBA student, who was reportedly arrested by the police on April 9, but continues to languish in judicial custody “without proper access to her family or lawyer”; Safoora Zargar, 30, a member of the Jamia Coordination Committee, arrested despite being three months’ pregnant, and Ishrat Jahan, former municipal councillor, in jail for over a month now and is allegedly “subjected to custodial torture.”
Prominent among the signatories include activists Annie Raja, Medha Patkar, Farah Naqvi, Aruna Roy, Shabnam Hashmi, Kavita Krishnan, and Meera Sanghamitra; academics Zoya Hasan and Jayati Ghosh; authors Meena Kandasamy and Gita Hariharan; journalist Pamela Philipose; theatre personality Maya Rao; and film maker Aparna Sen.

Text:

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the brazenly malicious attacks, arrests and intimidation by the Delhi Police of Muslim women, students and activists, as well as other citizens who have spoken up against the unconstitutional moves of the present ruling dispensation.
Media reports that about 800+ anti-CAA protesters have been detained or arrested since the Covid 19 lockdown, which means they have had little or no access to lawyers and legal aid, and their families given no information of their whereabouts for extended periods after they were in custody.
The impunity with which the Delhi Police is carrying out this sweep under direct orders from the Home Ministry is facilitated by the reduced media, public and legal scrutiny under the lockdown.
As feminists we decry this systematic crackdown on, and misrepresentation of, the peaceful and constitutional anti-CAA-NRC-NPR movement. Led so powerfully by Muslim women across the country, these protests witnessed a new wave of women stepping out in their own neighbourhoods in huge numbers, defying social structures and asserting their rights as citizens of a secular, democratic republic -- one of the most historic moments and movements, since independence.
In Delhi itself, from the Dadis of Shaheen Bagh to the spirited women from Jamia, Hauz Rani, Jama Masjid, Nizamuddin, Seelampur, etc, the women’s spectacular leadership and the solidarities they formed across communities and locations inspired millions across the world, but evidently, also shook the foundations of the ruling elite.
After all, until these women organised themselves with such clarity, and commitment to democratic values, the only use the government had for them was as symbols of repression to be ‘saved’ from Muslim customary practices such as the Triple Talaq.
Gulfisha, 25, is one such young Muslim woman who emerged a leader in the Seelampur anti-CAA protest. An MBA student, Gulfisha has reportedly been arrested by the police on 9th April, but until this day, the details remain blurry. She has been languishing in judicial custody under false charges of sedition, without proper access to her family or lawyer.
Collage of posters demanding release of the three activists
The Covid lockdown has brought jail mulakats to a standstill, and no alternative means of communication such as telephonic contact are available to be apprised of her state of health or well-being. The same holds for numerous men from Seelampur who were allegedly picked up by the police at about the same time as Gulfisha, although their exact whereabouts are not known.
Safoora Zargar, 30, member of the Jamia Coordination Committee has been arrested despite being three months’ pregnant -- at a time when overcrowding in prisons and have become a huge concern worldwide.
Former Municipal Councillor, Ishrat Jahan, active in the Khureji protest has been in jail for over a month now, and been subjected to custodial torture. Her co-accused, Khalid Saifi emerged from police custody with both his legs as well as two fingers broken—indicating brutal torture.
We have good reason to fear for the rights and safety of Gulfisha, Safoora, Ishrat and others like them: as women, as undertrial prisoners, and as those falsely charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
Some of the other student activists arrested and slapped with draconian charges and sent to judicial custody include Meeran Haider (President, RJD Youth Wing, Delhi), Sharjeel Imam (JNU scholar), Shifa-Ur-Rehman (President, Jamia Alumni Association). Dr Umar Khalid of United against Hate has also been reportedly slapped with UAPA and is ‘under investigation’.
In an unprecedented and shameless move, the Delhi Police has now even booked Zafarul Islam Khan, chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission under sedition charges!
We must remember that inspired by Shaheen Bagh, sit-in protests led by Muslim women were held in 200+ locations across the country.
Holding up images of Savitri Bai, Fatima Sheikh, Babasaheb Ambedkar, painting protest graffiti and reading the Preamble, reciting poetry and slogans upholding constitutional values and communal harmony, this was a tremendously powerful assertion of rights and resistance, of historically marginalized women creating the possibility of a new nation of emancipation, justice, equality and dignity.
Worrying accounts of women students who were active in the peaceful protests being targeted are coming also to the fore
In response, the majoritarian forces of the Hindu right, shifted the register of contestation by unleashing multiple attacks on these gatherings, culminating in a pre-planned communal pogrom targeting the Muslims in North-East Delhi.
The government, unwilling to dialogue with the women, chose the masculinist response of trying to crush them. Its message is clear -- those who dare challenge its fascist, patriarchal, communal, classist and casteist nature will be meted the harshest State sanctions.
Countless detentions, interrogation and intimidation of women and student activists from many anti-CAA protest sites and Universities like Jamia, bear testimony to how brazenly the State is using everything, including the pandemic, to silence more than just one Gulfisha or Safoora; to warn all Muslim women who dare to speak out.
For minority communities to exist in India today seems to be a provocation, for them to question and think seems to be a greater trouble, and of course, to protest and sing songs of azaadi is apparently just too much.
Not surprisingly, a malicious and false narrative that 'the peaceful protests by women were the cause of the violence in Delhi' has been propagated by the police, fanned by sections of the media and vested interests to camouflage the explicit political nature of the violence, carried out with the collusion and participation of security forces.
Despite claims by the police of ‘finding the real culprits’, the organized and premeditated nature of the violence on the minority community and the great asymmetry in losses and deaths between affected communities is yet to be accounted for.
Right-wing leaders of the BJP such as Kapil Mishra and Anurag Thakur who openly threatened violence have not even been named in FIRs. Those who fired at gatherings are out on bail. Reports of 'out-of-towners' brought in to perpetuate the violence have yet to be subjects of investigation.
After all of this, the community which bore the brunt of the communal violence most, including the peaceful women protesters and men, is being projected as the ‘aggressor’ and demeaned in numerous ways through vicious propaganda. Hundreds of Muslims are being picked up and incarcerated.
Led so powerfully by Muslim women, these protests witnessed a new wave of women stepping out in their own neighbourhoods
There is no clarity on the total number of FIRs, arrests and detentions. Muslim women and other activists who worked with them in solidarity towards a shared concept of citizenship and feminist sisterhood are also being systematically vilified.
Media reports that in the last some days, the police has seized the phones of AISA activist Kawalpreet Kaur and few activists of Pinjra Tod. Worrying accounts of women students who were active in the peaceful protests being targeted are also coming also to the fore.
Taking cognizance of such ground realities, the Delhi High Court as recently as on April 27, directed the Delhi Police to comply with the DK Basu guidelines regarding arrests and detentions.
In the long run, these attacks by the State will affect far more than members of just one community. Much like the NRC project that is bound to deprive the poor and marginalized across religious groups of citizenship rights, the present focus on terrorizing Muslims instead of tackling the Covid-19 pandemic reveals a deep apathy towards safeguarding the lives and well-being of millions of toiling poor across the country, many of whom belong to the ‘majority’ community.
We remember with hope and inspiration the vibrant anti-CAA protests across the country from December to February. We remember that while the state was firing tear gas shells in libraries and mercilessly lathi-charging peaceful protesters and students, while the police stood by as vigilante gunmen opened fire, these protesters stood strong and fearless in their determination against the Hindutva project.
They are the conscience keepers of the nation, and we salute them! The actions of the State only reveal how much it fears such voices, and how far it will go to subvert the cause of truth and justice. We declare our unflinching solidarity with the Muslim women, students and activists who worked together as harbingers of peace and shall defeat sinister attempts to project them in bad light by the state and vested interests.
We demand:
  • Delhi Police must immediately make public all FIRs, arrests and detentions with their legal status and conduct a free and fair investigation into all the incidents of violence.
  • False cases against peaceful anti-CAA protesters must be dropped, and all those arrested on trumped-up charges must be released immediately. 
  • Real culprits of the violence in Delhi must be booked, including the likes of Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma and others who instigated hate, sparked and perpetuated the violence. 
  • Detentions, intimidation & harassment of those who assert the democratic right to protest must stop. 
  • Prisons must be decongested as per orders of the Apex Court and all political prisoners released.
  • UAPA and the sedition law must be repealed. 
To this oppressive regime, we say yet again:
इस खुले झूठ को, जेहन की लूट को, मैं नहीं मानती, मैं नहीं जानती!
तोड़ तोड़ के बंधनो को देखो बहने आती हैं!
आएंगी ज़ुल्म मिटाएंगी, वो तो नया ज़माना लाएंगी!
---
Click here for the list of signatories

Comments

TRENDING

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

What's behind Donald Trump's 'narco-state' accusation against Venezuela

By Manolo De Los Santos  The US government has revived its campaign to label Venezuela a "narco-state", accusing its top leadership of drug trafficking and slapping hefty bounties on their heads for capture. This campaign, which only momentarily took a backseat, is a strategic fabrication, not a factual assessment. This accusation, particularly amplified under the Trump Administration, is a calculated smokescreen to justify a long-standing agenda: the overthrow of the Venezuelan government and the seizure of its vast oil and mineral resources. A closer examination of the facts reveals a country that has actively fought drug trafficking on its own terms and a US government with a clear and consistent history of destabilizing independent countries in Latin America.

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857  By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman*  Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”