About 2200 people condemn arrest of Teesta Setalvad, Sreekumar, demand release

2231 persons from 21 states in India and all around the world including, writers, artists, scholars, academicians, teachers, professors, lawyers, journalist, students, civil servants and others condemned the arrest and five day remand of Human Rights Defender and noted journalist Teesta Setalvad and former DGP police, RB Sreekumar and have come in solidarity with the two and have demand their release. Criticising the top court’s judgment of undermining the due process of law, they have appealed to the SC to review its own judgement as it has “criminalised” Teesta and Sreekumar.

The signatories through the press release have expressed shock at the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Zakia Jafri case “which has criminalised the lawful pursuit of the criminal conspiracy case of the 2002 Gujarat genocide”. Protests have been planned on Monday 27th June 2022 in several cities across the country.

The press release said that the dismissal of Zakia Jafri’s petition in the Supreme Court that called for an investigation into the conspiracy to hatch the events resulting in communal violence following the Godhra train burning, has deepened “the sense of injustice and marks a moment of profound hurt and loss as far as all those who care about constitutional values.”

It said, the SC has “not only dismissed the idea that there was a conspiracy to commit the crimes of murder, rape and destruction of property, but instead went further and took to task those who sought to ensure justice for the communal hate crimes following the Godhra incident.”

The supreme Court had accused without naming that some people were responsible for sensationalising and “kept the pot boiling”, referring to it the press release said that the SC judgment assailed “those who used the process of law to pursue justice for those who were targeted because of their minority status for over sixteen long years as having the ‘audacity’ to ‘question the integrity of every functionary’ and their motives were tarred as 2 ‘ulterior design’.”

The 2231 people condemned the “naked and brazen attempt to silence and criminalize those who stand for constitutional values and who have struggled against very difficult odds to try to achieve justice for the victims of 2002.”
They demanded that the “false and vindictive FIR be taken back unconditionally and Teesta Setalvad and others detained under this FIR be released immediately.”

Leading signatories are General Secretary, PUCL V. Suresh, NAPM convenor Medha Patkar, Columnist Apoorvanand, , Theatre and Film Actor Shabana Azmi, Writer Aakar Patel, Kumar Ketkar, MP, former Navy Chief Admiral Ramdas, Writer and Former Planning Commission Member Syeda Hameed,I, Former VC, Lucknow University Rooprekha Verma, , MKSS founder Aruna Roy, Carnatic Musician TM Krishna, Poet Gauhar Raza, Shabnam Hashmi, Anhad, Feroze Mithiborwala, Bharat Bachao Andolan, Pratibha Shinde, Lok Sangharsh Morcha, V S Krishna, HRF, Activist and Socialist party leader Sandeep Pandey, Writer Gita Hariharan, HRD Henri Tiphagne from Human Rights Watch, Writer Shamsul Islam, HRD Babloo Loitongbom Human Rights Alert, Former Diplomat Madhu Bhaduri, Actress Mallika Sarabhai and 2250 others.

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