Skip to main content

Academics, activists, lawyers condemn 'misuse' of anti-terror law against farmers

By A Representative 
Gathered at the Press Club of India in Delhi, several senior academics, activists and lawyers, condemning the Government of India’s alleged attempt to criminalize and break a “legitimate” farmers’ protest, have regretted that following the violence on January 26, the government has “activated the criminal justice machinery to lodge FIRs” against farmer leaders under a range of criminal laws, including the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
In a statement following the Press Club meet on behalf of the participants, the Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM) said, “the familiar playbook of the ruling establishment”, last seen in the winter of 2019, has been revived, pointing out, at that time too “the equal citizenship movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)-National Register of Citizens (NRC), and its young leadership, was similarly vilified, terrorized, charged under UAPA, and arrested.”
Demanding “unconditional withdrawal” of motivated FIRs against the leadership of the farmers’ movement and calling it “a brazen misuse of the police and the law to silence people’s legitimate democratic expression”, the statement said, “The fake state narrative of the farmers movement as a ‘violent conspiracy’ against India, is an exact copy-paste of the narrative we saw last year around the anti-CAA movement..”
The speakers at the meet drew attention to sections the media “pushing” government agenda, pointing out, the farmers’ protest rally on January 26 was “completely peaceful” , with thousands of tractors displaying “with pride the tricolour” on the Republic Day. They expressed alarm on the manner in which several senior journalists and public figures have been charged with sedition, apart from other criminal sections of IPC, one of them simply for a tweet, which was later “retracted”.
Those present at the meet included senior Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, Secretary of the Gandhi Peace Foundation Kumar Prashant, activist Shabnam Hashmi, economist Atul Sood, and scientist and co-convener of the Nation For Farmers Dinesh Abrol.

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Can free‑living Indian street dogs teach us about how to care for pet dogs?

By Daniel Ramp, Kapil Vishwas Patwardhan, Rosalie Chapple  We give our pet dogs shelter, veterinary care, affection, training and play. We decide when they eat, where they sleep, when they go outside, who they meet, and how they move through the world.
Post a Comment
»

Rights groups condemn arrests and security buildup amid Siang mega-dam protests in Arunachal

By A Representative    A  coalition of  several civil rights, labour, student and social justice groups,  Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), has condemned the arrest of three anti-dam activists in Arunachal Pradesh following recent violence in Pasighat, demanding their immediate release and the withdrawal of security forces from protest areas opposing the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP).
Post a Comment
»

A path of self-reliance in place of migration: Saplings, nutrition gardens and perseverance

By Vikas Meshram*  In the tribal belt stretching from Banswara to Dahod, the day often begins with a glance at the sky. The fields are small, the land uneven and sloping, and irrigation mostly means whatever the rain chooses to give. Yet in the villages of this region, a different story has been unfolding over the past few years. Sitting in meetings of Vaagdhara’s Gram Swaraj groups, farmers have begun to treat water, forest, land, livestock and seed as their real capital. 
Post a Comment
»