TCN News
With prominent individuals and organizations displaying their outrage at the recent arrests of Muslim activists, the common public is no different to extend support to the student activists.
A new petition has been created by the user Aazaad Lab targeting 2500+ signatures has challenged the government’s harassment of protestors who were slapped with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The petition is addressed to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi Police, highlighting that the government “is acting through police” for detaining Shifa Ur Rehman, Umar Khalid, Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar in prison for their alleged involvement in the Delhi pogrom.
The petition involves common people as signatories who are enraged by the selective targeting of activists who participated in non-violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). It is supported by a coalition of global student resources groups and associations like The Boston Coalition, Hindus for Human Rights, Council on Minority Rights in India, International Action Center, Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, Coalition Against Fascism in India, Students Against Hindutva Ideology and more.
The petitioners reflect that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged all countries to release “every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners, and those detained for critical, dissenting views” in light of the Coronavirus pandemic and that the Indian government is exercising arbitrary powers by “wrongfully arresting and imprisoning people while the people who actually incited violence and engaged in hate speech, such as Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, and Parvesh Verma, roam free.”
Having received 1800+ signatures is less than 24 hours, the petition demands the immediate release of students booked under UAPA, challenging the government “to charge the real culprits like BJP leaders who incited violence and made hate speeches. It has stated that “Delhi Police must stop arresting and intimidating the peaceful and justice-minded activists, who have participated peacefully in the CAA protests.”
Sign the petition here: