Skip to main content

Protests across India seek release of Gulfisha, others arrested under 'draconian' UAPA

By A Representative

In a major show of strength across India, feminists, people's movements, students, trade unionists, farm workers, fisher people, members of Adivasi, Dalit and Muslim communities, civil liberty activists, journalists, and academics joined events across India, expressed their solidarity with Gulfisha Fatima, arrested on April 9, 2020.
Accused in four FIRs, and charged under the Unlawful Activities Prohibition Act (UAPA) and various serious sections of the IPC such as 302, 307, Arms Act etc., Gulfisha has secured bail in all other cases, but she continues to remain in jail in FIR 59/20 which invokes the UAPA. An Urdu masters student of Delhi University, an MBA graduate, and a radio jockey, Gulfisha, who belongs to Seelampur area of North East Delhi, was a part of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act-National Population Register-National Register of Citizens (CAA-NPR-NRC) movement.
Numerous cities and towns across the country were part of this solidarity actions which were held at Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Araria, Patna, Lucknow, Faizabad, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Badwani, Baroda, Jaipur, Pune, Bhopal, Bhilai, Kolkata, Sitapur etc.
It was pointed out, Gulfisha's imprisonment is a part of a "frightening pattern" of repression of all democratic and dissenting voices by the current government. In the same case as hers many like Ishrat Jahan, Tasleem Ahmad, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Athar Khan, Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Salim Mallick, Salim Khan, Khalid Saifi, Tahir Hussain and Shifa-ul-Rahman continue to languish in jail.
While many cities held public actions like street protests, press interactions, public meetings, candle light vigils, community gatherings and rallies, solidarity from other places was expressed through online modes of protest, art, twitter engagement, release of posters and statements.
At a press conference held in Delhi, speakers, including activist Uma Chakravarti, poet Nabiya Khan, student leader Apeksha Priyadarshini, Kavita Krishnan and journalist Arfa Khanum took the opportunity to not only speak about her but all the other "falsely accused" imprisoned persons as well. Because there can’t be justice for one, there has to be justice for all.
Nabiya Khan said, "It's not a free country for minorities, Muslims, and women. Gulfisha's imprisonment is an organised attack on Muslims and women. State wants to keep Muslim women in check, Muslim women need saving that is the state narrative, Shaheen Bagh has strongly upturned that narrative. Protests against CAA-NPR-NCR were not just a fight against some laws, but to create equal citizenship for Muslims, for Muslim women. Justice will be done when the real perpetrators of Delhi pogrom are sent to jail."
Apeksha Priyadarshini asked, "Recently a UAPA accused got bail after two years, who will be responsible for those years? Who will take responsibility for Gul's 18 months?" She said, "Our faith in the state and even the judiciary has been weakened. The whole role of the Delhi Police remains uninvestigated. Those arrested under UAPA are overwhelmingly Muslim, Dalit or Adivasi. If we want real democracy, then the fight for equal citizenship cannot be criminalised. Constitutional morality needs to be cultivated."
Kavita Krishnan spoke about how the Delhi High Court judgement asked pertinent questions like why put UAPA and other terror charges on protests? Citing additional sessions Judge Vinod Yadav who gave "honest verdicts" in almost 12 cases, she mentioned how he emphasised on the accountability of the police. As a result, he has now been transferred. People who fight for democratic rights are inside prison, those who threaten and kill openly are roaming free outside.
Arfa Khanum said, "I have come here today for Gul because Gul fought for me. I was a witness to the Delhi violence, I am not an activist but a active journalist, who hears the 'zameer ki awaaz', I want to share my experiences of the anti-CAA-NRC movement, why Gulfisha is so important for us, why is she so threatening for the the state?"
She added, "Without freedom of expression democracy dies. Today when we gather here, we gather to continue this struggle for democracy. When the state dehumanises them by sending them to jail, our responsibility is to humanise them. She is paying the cost by her freedom being snatched away, while she is in the process protecting our freedom, our democracy. We are all indebted to Gulfisha."
Nargis Saifi spoke about how how her husband Khalid Saifi was brutally tortured in custody, his limbs and legs were broken
Speaking on the occasion, Nargis Saifi spoke about how how her husband Khalid Saifi was brutally tortured in custody, his limbs and legs were broken, he had to be brought in on a wheelchair. He was the first to be arrested; and when he was almost about to get bail in that case, he was rearrested in FIR 59/20.
She said, "The only crime of my husband is that he stood for the rights of the oppressed. My husband introduced me to these struggles, I would participate and meet people, and that has given me courage to continue this struggle outside."
Wondered Nargis Saifi, "What is the crime of our children who have been waiting for their father for 20 months? I think that today our children are going through this but maybe if Khalid would not have fought, this would be the fate of many others. If Khalid would not have stood with others, maybe today nobody would stand for Khalid."
Gulfisha’s father spoke about how the shock and trauma of her imprisonment has affected him mentally, emotionally and physically, that he feels he won't live long, unless they release Gul, perhaps then this pain and strain will go away.
Noor Jahan, mother of Athar Khan, also arrested like Gul, said, "The movement came to a halt because of the pandemic; but once it ends, I will resume this political struggle. There are so many people that we didn’t know like Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi and others, but today we all stand in solidarity with each other. This is very important."
The organisers, which included several women's organisations and civil liberty groups, demanded Immediate release of Gulfisha Fatima and others, repeal of CAA-NRC-NPR, UAPA and other "draconian" sedition laws, and investigation of the "real perpetrators" who orchestrated the Delhi Riots 2020.

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.

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.

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...

Spirit of leadership vs bondage: Of empowered chairman of 100-acre social forestry coop

By Gagan Sethi*  This is about Khoda Sava, a young Dalit belonging to the Vankar sub-caste, who worked as a bonded labourer in a village near Vadgam in Banskantha district of North Gujarat. The year was 1982. Khoda had taken a loan of Rs 7,000 from the village sarpanch, a powerful landlord doing money-lending as his side business. Khoda, who had taken the loan for marriage, was landless. Normally, villagers would mortgage their land if they took loan from the sarpanch. But Khoda had no land. He had no option but to enter into a bondage agreement with the sarpanch in order to repay the loan. Working in bondage on the sarpanch’s field meant that he would be paid Rs 1,200 per annum, from which his loan amount with interest would be deducted. He was also obliged not to leave the sarpanch’s field and work as daily wager somewhere else. At the same time, Khoda was offered meal once a day, and his wife job as agricultural worker on a “priority basis”. That year, I was working as secretary...

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.

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.”

Proposed Modi yatra from Jharkhand an 'insult' of Adivasi hero Birsa Munda: JMM

Counterview Desk  The civil rights network, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), which claims to have 30 grassroots groups under its wings, has decided to launch Save Democracy campaign to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to be launched on November 15 from the village of legendary 19th century tribal independence leader Birsa Munda from Ulihatu (Khunti district).

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...

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...