Narendra Modi Govt’s record of jailing civil rights activists and political dissenters is assuming proportions of state repression
Dr Abhay Kumar
NEW DELHI — On Wednesday (July 19) afternoon, the Press Club of India, adjacent to the newly-constructed Parliament, was jam-packed with activists, lawyers, scholars, students and civil society members. They all gathered at the national capital to speak against state repression, violation of civil rights and misuse of investigative agencies. Eminent lawyers Prashant Bhushan, Mihir Sharma, civil rights activists K. Ravi Chander, Prof. Laxman Gaddam, feminist activist Poonam Kaushik, Delhi University professors Nandita Narain and Saroj Giri were among the key speakers. The theme of the public meeting was ‘Indian democracy and the suppression of democratic voices.
In the meeting, serious concerns were raised over attacks on the civil liberty of the people and the indiscriminate use of draconian laws by the state to silence its critics. Political misuse of investigative agencies by the government was also condemned. But the main focus of the meeting was the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The activists demanded that it should be repealed without any delay.
One of the reasons for its repeal is the way the police and investigative agencies have interpreted the act of terrorism. For example, criticism of the government and top political executives have been seen as “disaffection against India” and the dissenters have been charged with cases under UAPA. Once an individual gets arrested under the UAPA, the chances of him/her getting bail become remote. This is because under UAPA the responsibility to prove innocence is put on the accused. This goes against the liberal notion of jurisprudence where granting bail is a rule and keeping one in jail is treated as an exception.
At the time when the meeting was being held at the Press Club in New Delhi, a campaign for the release of Adivasi rights journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh was going on. He has completed a year in jail. Last year on July 17, Rupesh was arrested by Jharkhand Police. He was charged with different sections of IPC as well as UAPA. At present, he is in Patna’s Beur Central Jail.
The spirit of the law, however, is reversed in the UAPA case. In normal circumstances, an accused is presumed innocent, unless he/she is proven guilty. But in the UAPA case, the burden to prove one’s innocence is laid on the accused. As has been seen, the accused arrested under the UAPA cases have spent several years in jail without filing the chargesheet by the police and the beginning of the trial by the court.
During the freedom struggle, the issue of civil liberty figured prominently and nationalist leaders spoke strongly against its violation by the colonial state. But the post-independence democratic state has not only continued with the colonial sedition law but added a few extra-constitutional laws to its quiver. Lawyer Prashant Bhushan has earlier challenged the legality of UAPA in the Supreme Court but the matter is yet to be taken up. Bhushan is of the opinion that investigative agencies have been widely misused by the ruling establishment. For example, an overwhelming number of cases slapped by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are against opposition leaders. In the meeting, he, therefore, reiterated the need for an independent functioning of investigative agencies and employing a fair selection process for choosing their top officers.
Human rights activists argue that Rupesh’s only “crime” is that he, as a journalist, wrote stories against the ongoing plunder by the corporate houses. He highlighted the violation of special provisions enshrined in the Constitution for the protection of the Adivasi lands.
After he was jailed, the family suffered hardships. Her 38-year-old wife Ipsa Shatakshi was fired from her teaching job at a private school, a few months after his arrest. Facing a financial crisis, she has to offer private tuition to feed his family and pay for the education of her six-year-old son, Agrim. Besides, she needs resources to fight the legal battle for justice for her husband.
While we are aware of the case of Rupesh, there are other prisoners arrested under draconian laws about whom the mainstream press hardly writes anything.
The violation of civil rights of the political prisoners in the Bhima Koregaon cases is yet to become an issue in the mainstream media. The accused have spent almost five years without any substantive investigation by the police. It seems that the main motive of the police in UAPA cases is not to investigate the allegation but to delay the process so that the prisoners languish in jail year after year.
Such a negative trend is also seen in the 2020 Delhi riots cases. Umar Khalid has been denied bail even after he has spent one thousand days in jail. Sharjeel Imam and Meeran Haider, other anti-CAA activists who were arrested much before Umar, are yet to get bail. According to an estimate, over one thousand people are put in jail under different cases related to the Delhi riots and about whom the media hardly report anything. Thus prosecution itself has become punishment for most of these detainees who may be set free by the courts finding them innocent.
While there are enough provisions in the IPC to punish criminals and maintain law and order, the state has enacted several extra-constitutional laws to punish dissenters. The draconian laws are often justified in the name of national security, but it is largely misused against the most vulnerable sections and the political opponents of the government. Such a policy does not work for national integration but gives birth to discontent in society.
The figures from the National Crime Records Bureau for 2019 show that the number of people arrested under the UAPA has seen an increase of over 72% from 2015 when the Narendra Modi Modi Government came to power. A democratic polity is different from an authoritarian regime in the sense that the former ensures the protection of civil rights.
(First published in News Trail, Bengaluru)— The author is a Delhi-based journalist.
