New Delhi. Siyasat.net
Several academics, politicians, and lawyers on Monday expressed solidarity with activist Umar Khalid a day after the Delhi police’s special cell arrested him under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Protection) Act (UAPA) for his alleged role in the conspiracy behind the February riots in Delhi.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor called for standing with people like Khalid citing imperilling of civil liberties and democracy. “….When democracy & civil liberties are imperilled by the actions of the Govt [government], whether it is [Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram] Yechury, Umar Khalid or Kafeel Khan, we must all stand with them.”
Swaraj India chief, Yogendra Yadav, called Khalid a thinking idealist, who has always opposed violence in any form. “Shocked that an anti-terror law UAPA has been used to arrest a young, thinking, idealist like @UmarKhalidJNU who has always opposed violence and communalism in any form. He is undoubtedly among the leaders that India deserves. @DelhiPolice can’t detain India’s future for long,” he tweeted.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan called Khalid’s arrest a conspiracy to frame peaceful activists in the guise of investigation. “Umar Khalid’s arrest by Delhi police after naming Yechury, Yogendra Yadav, [academics] Jayati Ghosh & Apoorvanand, leaves no doubt at all about the malafide nature of its investigation into Delhi riots,” he tweeted.
Bhushan was referring to a charge sheet related to the riots filed last month that has the statement of an accused attached to it claiming Yechury, Apoorvanand, former lawmaker Chaudhary Mateen and advocate Mahmood Pracha instigated anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protestors. The Delhi police have issued a clarification saying these individuals have not been named as accused in the case.
The riots were triggered following clashes between supporters of the CAA and its opponents. The CAA’s passage in December to fast-track the citizenship process for non-Muslims, who have entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh before December 31, 2014, triggered protests across the country.
Opponents of the law insist it is discriminatory and unconstitutional as it leaves out the Muslims and links faith to citizenship in a secular country. They say it could result in the expulsion or detentions of the Muslims unable to provide the documentation if the law is seen in the context of a proposed pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). A process carried out in Assam to detect undocumented immigrants led to the exclusion of around two million people from NRC in 2018.
Activist Harsh Mandar said Khalid speaks about Gandhi and non-violence. “…He’s a youth a country should be proud of – idealistic, progressive, brave. We spoke together in anti-CAA protests: he spoke always of non-violence & Gandhi. Today he’s arrested under draconian UAPA on trumped up charges of conspiracy. Cry out, my country,” he tweeted.
A group of academics and activists separately issued a statement in Khalid’s support and called his arrest a “witch-hunt”. “As citizens deeply committed to Constitutional values, we condemn the arrest of Umar Khalid who has been subjected to a malicious investigation targeting peaceful anti-CAA protestors. He has been booked under several charges including UAPA, sedition and conspiracy for murder. With deep anguish, we have no doubt in saying that this investigation is not about the violence in February 2020 in the national capital, but on the completely peaceful and democratic protests across the country against the unconstitutional CAA,” the statement said.
The signatories to the statement include Ravi Kiran Jain and V Suresh of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties; lawyers Mihir Desai and ND Pancholi; academics Satish Deshpande, Mary John, Apoorvanand, Nandini Sundar and Shuddhabrata Sengupta; and rights activists Aakar Patel, Mander, Farah Naqvi and Biraj Patnaik.
“It is very significant that of the 20 arrested, 19 are under the age of 31. Of which 17 have been charged under the draconian UAPA and have been imprisoned on charges of a conspiracy for the Delhi violence whereas those who actually instigated and participated in the violence have not been touched. Of the ones incarcerated, five are women, except for one all are also students,” the statement added.
Jamia Millia Islamia student Meeran Haider, Jamia Coordination Committee’s Safoora Zargar, and Pinjra Tod activists Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita have also been arrested under UAPA on charges of allegedly planning and executing the riots.
Left-wing All India Students Association (AISA) said all the speeches of anti-CAA protesters are in the public domain and to claim a conspiracy is “not only laughable but points fingers” at the credibility of the investigation. “Activists, students and political leaders who participated in these spontaneous protests that erupted across India were fighting to defend the constitution and plurality of our society. Umar Khalid along with Khalid Saifi and other activists was doing the very same i.e. defending the constitution and democracy,” AISA said in a statement.
Actors Swara Bhaskar, Prakash Raj, and Zeeshan Ayyub also tweeted in Khalid’s support.
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