By John Dayal
New Delhi, Sept 2, 2022: The All India Catholic Union is happy lawyer and activist Teesta Setalvad has been given bail by the Supreme Court of India September 2, although she has had to surrender her passport.
But common people may not understand if this is routine or if the court or the government fear she may abscond and seek refuge in some other country. Many Indian criminals, including some very rich men, are in hiding in the UK and elsewhere and have defied the government’s full power to get them back home to stand trial for their crimes against the Indian people.
The Catholic Union, like the rest of the Christian community, has faith in the highest court of the land. In fact, we have approached the court ourselves seeking justice for Dalit Christians who have been denied their constitutional rights of protection of the law and affirmative action for seventy years. We are also in support of other Christian petitions before the Supreme Court of India asking it to instruct central and state governments to protect the community which is facing repeated attacks from members of the Sangh Parivar, and in the last few days, from some political elements in the Sikh community in Punjab.
We also hope the Supreme Court will soon order the release on bail not just of Teesta’s fellow prisoners, police officers R B Sreekumar, Sanjiv Bhatt and others. We also hope the court will accept the bail applications of Kerala journalist Kappen, JNU and Jamia scholars and many others who have been in jail for years without trial under stringent laws such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Among them are human rights activists, professors, lawyers and even poets. We remember that the 84-year-old Jesuit Father Stan Swamy died a prisoner without the concerned courts listening to his appeals for release on medical bail.
We are happy the chief justice of India asked probing questions of the governments of India and Gujarat and of the high court why Teesta ‘s bail application had not been heard for as long as two months. The bench even asked of the police had discovered anything new in two months of questioning her. They had to admit they had found nothing new.
In question is not just the case of one activist such as Teesta Setalvad or one case relating to Gujarat. The denial of bail has been used as an instrument of punishment. And at the receiving end are human rights activists, writers, and anyone else who may be a dissenter or may differ from the government. In recent times, courts have sought to punish activists for moving public rights writes on behalf of Dalits, women, Adivasis and other marginalized persons.
As religious minorities, we seek a rule of law in which everyone, rich or poor, majority or minority, woman, or man, Dalit, Adivasi and the marginalized can have faith. Our survival depends on a robust system of rule of law and implantation of constitutional guarantees. The Supreme Court is a protector of the guarantees of the constitution.
(John, a veteran journalist and renowned human rights activist, is the spokesperson of the All India Catholic Union.)