By Matters India Reporter
Kolkata: A post card campaign was launched on December 10, the human rights day, to seek the release of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy and those allegedly accused falsely in the Bhima Koregaon case
Under the campaign, the “Friends of Fr. Stan Swamy” planned to send as many as 100,000 post cards to India’s prime minister and home minister demanding the immediate release of the 83-year-old Jesuit and others imprisoned in the case. The campaign also wants the draconian Unlawful Activities Prohibition Act (UAPA) repealed.
In Kolkata, eminent human right activist Sujato Bhadra opened the campaign by signing the first post card at Ranu Chayya Manch, near the historic Victoria Memorial.
Before signing the card, Bhadra explained how the UAPA has been abused for vested interests.
He was accompanied by Kriti Roy, secretary of Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM, Bengal human rights protection front), the organizer of the event in Kolkata.
Jesuit human right activist Father Irudaya Jothi, one of the coordinators of the campaign, explained the reasons for the nationwide program and how it was planned nationally.
Father Jothi welcomed the Jesuit collaborators, teachers, students, parents and alumni of the hundreds of the Jesuit educational institutions who have joined the campaign.
The Jesuit food right activist in West Bengal expressed the hope all who value human rights would join the campaign transcending religion, caste, creed, gender and ethnicity.
He also invited social centers, parishes, farmers, workers, villagers, Dalits, Adivasis, minorities, women organizations, NGOs and CSOs and peoples’ movements and friends of Swamy and the co-accused.
Nearly a hundred post cards were signed at the Kolkata venue. Some government officers too were present at the venue.
The campaign has been taken up by civil society members in various parts of the country along with Jesuits, Conference of Religious India and other network partners.
The organizers claimed that each of India’s 28 states will send at least 5,000 post cards.
A booklet on Sudha Bharadwaj, a lawyer, trade unionist and human rights activist, was released at the same venue. The lawyer has been languishing in the prison for more than two years without bail or trial in the Bhima-Koregaon case.
A note attached to the campaign invitation explains why UAPA should it be repealed.
UAPA, it says, is not a response to some new or unique threat of terror. The law enacted in 1967 is a continuation of colonial instinct to mute dissent and rule through a fascist politico-legal structure.
Similar laws are the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), Disturbed Areas Act, and Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), 2002.
POTA was repealed two years later because of the wide criticism of its misuse.
However, the UAPA which was kept on the backburner for long was resurrected by adding many anti-people provisions through a series of amendments in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2019, the note says.
Some key elements of amended UAPA are:
A broad range of offences are vaguely worded and ambiguously defined
Wide powers given to search, seize, detain that negate protections existing in criminal law and constitution
The 2019 UAPA Amendment Act enables states to name individuals as “terrorists” and deny the accused any access to legal redressal
UAPA rejects the principle that “one is innocent until proven guilty” and puts the burden of proof on the alleged accused, unacceptable in democracy
On an average, 75 percent of cases filed under the black laws have ended in acquittal or discharge over three years ending 2016, as per the analysis of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB)
The NCRB 2019 data shows 165 percent jump in sedition cases and 33 percent increase in UAPA cases under the present regime
The note says UAPA does not want to find the culprit of a crime but punish innocents even before the trial starts and silence all dissenting voices
For example, the Bhima Koregaon “conspiracy” case wrongly implicates 16 renowned intellectuals, lawyers, professors, writers and activists.
Other victims in the case are Jyoti Raghoba Jagtap, Sagar TatyaramGorkhe, Ramesh MurlidharGaichor, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha and Hany Babu.
The government this year used UAPA and Arms Act and other laws to wrongly book 19 Delhi-based scholars and activists who were a part of the peaceful nation-wide anti-CAA protests.
They included Asif Tanha, Devangana Kalita, Gulfisha Fatima, Ishrat Jahan, Khalid Saifi, Meeran Haider, Natasha Narwal, SafooraZargar, Sharjeel Usmani, Shifa Ur Rahman.
The total number of such arrests in Delhi has exceeded 1,300. Scores of other activists continue to be under the threat of “investigation” over violence in Delhi in February.
I fully support Post Card campaign
Even if that doesn’t secure their release, it will have other good effects.
A similar campaign has been launched by A.C. Michael from Delhi. Noble effort but I feel that an online petition would have been easier to implement and monitor.