All 56 people arrested in anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Varanasi have been released on bail by the court. However, three of the released – Manish Sharma, SP Rai and Anup Shramik have been taken into custody on another charge of distribution of pamphlets related to the protest and have been booked under sections 153 A and 153 B. They will have to now have to make a fresh appeal to be granted a bail in the matter.
Though the FIR was registered against an unknown person, Sharma, Rai and Shramik had been booked under these charges because their contact numbers were mentioned on the stated pamphlet.
In the past 12 days, some students and social activists had been arrested on serious charges of inciting riots and stoking violence in peaceful agitations during the anti-CAA protests. They had been arrested from the Chetganj area while marching to Benia Bagh ground on December 19, 2019. Due to the holiday season, their cases were pushed for hearing to January 1, 2020.
56 people were granted bail by the Judge Sarvesh Kumar Pandey of the Varanasi court of Additional Sessions on the submission of two bonds of Rs. 25,000 each.
Activists related to the Sajha Sanskriti Manch had taken to social media and signed an online campaign, making an appeal to the government and district administration to expedite the release of over 25 students and activists arrested in the peaceful protests. In its appeal, it had mentioned that different organizations had come together to protest the CAA nationwide. Some activists affiliated with the Sajha Sanskriti Manch had gathered at the Gandhi Chaura for a prayer meeting during which the police arrested them and put them in buses to take them towards the police station. Even though the protest was entirely peaceful, the state spun a conspiracy against these social and political activists and booked them under criminal charges, rendering them to stay in custody for 12 days.
The locals of Benia Bagh had participated in the peaceful protest and even though the police tried to intimidate the people, they did not let the protest turn violent. The activists too allowed the police to arrest them without causing any unrest. They were told that for violating prohibitory orders, they were being charged under Section 151, but on reaching the police station, other charges too were slapped against them. Among those arrested were 12 students from the Benaras Hindu University and more than 10 others were senior citizens among the ages of 60 – 80 with serious health ailments.
Well-known social activists Ravi Kumar and his wife Ekta Shekhar who have been raising the issue of air pollution throughout the state were also among those arrested. Their 14-month-old toddler had to be without them as they were sent to custody for more than two weeks.
Another environmental activist Saniya Anwar too was lodged in jail. Veteran trade union leader Prakash Rai, farmer issues representative Ram Janam, District organizer for national public protests Satish Singh, research students Dhananjay Tripathi, Divakar Singh, Raj Abhishek, Deepak ingh, Ravi Prakash Bharti, human rights activist Dr. Anup Shramik, Cheddi Lal Nirala, Sanjeev Kumar Singh, Rajnath Pandey, Gaurav Mani Tripathi, Prashant Rai, Arpit Giri, Jay Shankar Singh among other people who have contributed to social causes around Varanasi and its surrounding areas were among the ones arrested.
The above mentioned activists have been involved in different social, cultural and creative activities for decades and never has once a criminal charge been registered against them. It is only in this instance to intimidate them that they have been wrongly booked under such serious offences.
The Sajha Sanskriti Manch condemns these arrests and feels that arresting protestors who exercise their democratic right to a peaceful protest and clubbing them with anti-social elements or miscreants who purposely incite violence is a grave folly of the authorities.
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