Opposition leaders on October 21 expressed solidarity human rights activists such as Jesuit Father Stan Swamy and lawyers arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and demanded the repeal of the stringent law.
Addressing a webinar organized by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), they urged the public to break their silence on the government’s efforts to “chip away the rights of the people.”
The National Investigation Agency arrested Father Swamy, 83, and others in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.
Father Swamy was arrested on Oct. 8 from his residence near Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand State in eastern India. Next day, it took the priest, a patient of Park-inson’s disease, to Mumbai, some 1,710 km west of Ranchi, and presented him before a court that sent him to judicial custody until on October 23.
Addressing the webinar, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren alleged that the federal government was trying to silence the voices of marginalized commu-nities. He also alleged that the country’s unity, integrity and democratic structures were under attack under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury as well as the DMK’s Kanimozhi urged civil society groups and the public to break their silence over the “government’s attacks on the rights of the people.”
Yechury said entire UAPA law needs to be repealed, as it is prone “gross misuse.” He said that UAPA, sedition law and National Security Act need to be seen together as part of the “larger plan of the BJP and RSS” to pave the way for a “fascistic, intolerant and authoritarian Hindutva nation.” The Centre, he alleged, is using central agencies to undermine the Constitution, while shielding the real perpetrators of violence.
A total of 16 people have been arrested under the UAPA in the case, which include three cultural activists of the Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) – Ramesh Gaichor, Sagar Ghogre and Jyoti Jagtap – as well as rights activists, writers, lawyers, and academics Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Shoma Sen, Hany Baby, lawyers, Sudha Bharadwaj, Surendra Gadling, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson and Arun Ferreira.