It’s not even been 48 hours since journalist, activist and educationist Teesta Setalvad was picked up from her ancestral home in Mumbai, and already there is huge support from across the world as well as India for her.
Elaine Pearson, the Acting Asia Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has now urged governments at the G-7 summit that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending at present to raise questions about Setalvad’s arrest.
Very worrying to learn of the detention of Indian activist Teesta Setalvad who led the campaign for accountability for the 2002 riots in Gujarat. With India’s PM Modi at G7 summit in Germany, it’s critical that governments raise concerns about this case. https://t.co/dtg5ffOZIX pic.twitter.com/jXsn4kAgFb
— Elaine Pearson (@PearsonElaine) June 26, 2022
This is yet another example of international support for Setalvad after Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders demanded Setalvad’s release saying, “Teesta is a strong voice against hatred and discrimination. Defending human rights is not a crime.”
Deeply concerned by reports of #WHRD Teesta Setalvad being detained by Anti Terrorism Sqaud of Gujarat police. Teesta is a strong voice against hatred and discrimination. Defending human rights is not a crime. I call for her release and an end to persecution by #Indian state.
— Mary Lawlor UN Special Rapporteur HRDs (@MaryLawlorhrds) June 25, 2022
Similarly, international humanitarian organisation Amnesty’s India unit, that has itself faced persecution on trumped up pertaining to obtaining foreign funds, had also called Setalvad’s arrest “a direct reprisal against those who dare to question their human rights record,” and said, “It sends a chilling message to the civil society & further shrinks the space for dissent in the country.”
Setalvad’s detention comes a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by her along with Zakia Jafri, whose husband was murdered during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The petition sought to investigate the role of PM Narendra Modi, who was then Gujarat’s Chief Minister.
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) June 25, 2022
Closer home, the Mumbai Press Club has condemned the human rights defender’s arrest saying that she has been made a scapegoat “in a chilling process of vendetta unleashed by the executive and the judiciary.” They have further said, “It is unacceptable that a person who has been fighting for civil justice should be accused of fabricating evidence and misleading the Special Investigation Team.” Calling for an end to the “politics of vengeance”, they have also demanded that all charges be dropped against Setalvad and she be released immediately.
MUMBAI PRESS CLUB CONDEMNS ARREST OF MEMBER TEESTA SETALVAD #FreeTeestaSetalvad pic.twitter.com/z6pHVed6SI
— Mumbai Press Club (@mumbaipressclub) June 26, 2022
Among politicians, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has called out the regime’s “habit of targeting opponents and infringing on civil liberties”.
W’out entering into the merits or any specifics of the case (which we must leave to the courts to decide), I deplore GoI’s habit of targeting opponents& infringing on civil liberties, of which the arrest of @TeestaSetalvad is the latest example. India’s democracy is our strength!
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) June 26, 2022
Similarly, CPI (M) Politburo member Brinda Karat also came out in support of Setalvad and called her arrest a “very vindictive action” by the regime. She warns that such actions are an “ominous threat to all democratic citizens” who dare to question the role of authorities in the spread of communal violence.
Comrade Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau Member of the CPI(M) speaks on arrest of activist Teesta Setalvad. pic.twitter.com/SnjlLTWis8
— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) June 26, 2022
Meanwhile public meetings and peaceful protests are being organized across India. A meeting of socio-political organisations has been called at Shastri Ghat in Varanasi at noon today by an organization called Nagrik Samaj.
A similar meeting has been called at 4 P.M in Patna at the Buddha Smriti Park by women’s rights groups.
Then at 5 P.M, a protest has been planned near the Hanuman Mandir outside Dadar railway station (East) by various activists and civil society members such as Prakash Reddy, Vidya Chawan, Adv. Mihir Desai, Vivek Monteiro, Milind Ranade, FerozeMithiborwala, Dolphy D’Souza, Varsha Vidya Vilas, Lara Jesani, Guddi, M A Khalid, Vishal Hiwale, Nuruddin Naik among others.
The Joint Forum against NRC has also issued a statement condemning the arrest calling it a “naked act of political vendetta” and condemned how “the complainants are now being accused of conspiracy and being persecuted.” Hailing Teesta Setalvad for her “relentless crusade against perpetrators of the Gujarat pogrom of 2002”, they also praised “her role in defence of those incarcerated in detention centres and the vulnerable NRC-excluded people in Assam” calling it “inspiring”.
Meanwhile, Delhi University professor Apoorvanad has written a scathing piece about the entire sordid matter in The Wire, saying, “Between the outrage by the court against the trouble-makers and the arrest was an interview in which the home minister of the Union government of India names the organisation of Teesta Setalvad and indicates that some officials of the state worked to defame the then state government and the chief minister.” He further wrote, “It seems that the interview and the work on the first information report (FIR) by an officer of the Gujarat police naming Teesta, Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt were going on simultaneously. What else explains the knock on the doors of Teesta and Sreekumar within hours of the airing of the interview.”
Related:
Ahmedabad court remands Teesta Setalvad to police custody till July 1
Support pours in for Teesta Setalvad
Release Teesta Setalvad: Indian Human Rights groups and activists
PRESS RELEASE: Teesta Setalvad roughed up as Gujarat ATS personnel barge into her home