Justice B.G. Kolse Patil (former Judge, Bombay High Court), Chander Uday Singh (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court) and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan (Advocate, Supreme Court) came together on Wednesday to condemn the recent raid by the Delhi Police on Advocate Mahmood Parcha, who they feel is being targeted due to his work with people accused in the February 2020 Delhi violence.

“Mehmood Pracha is a prominent lawyer who has been defending several persons accused by the Delhi police and its special cell, including those accused in the Delhi riots cases,” they said at a press conference in Delhi. “He has also been instrumental in getting FIRs registered against the Delhi Police for their one-sided and malafide investigation resulting in framing the innocent and protecting those guilty in the riots. He has initiated other criminal proceedings against functionaries of the RSS & BJP for their involvement in recent Delhi riots,” explained the trio.

Kolse-Patil, Singh and Bhushan are extraordinary legal luminaries and together they pointed out several lapses of legal procedure by the police. In a statement issued, they began by tackling the search warrant itself saying, “In the guise of executing this warrant the police allegedly wanted to seize the hard disks of his computers. Mr. Pracha however prevented that since that was not authorized by the search warrant. However, the police got access to his computer, inserted devices to access and take away whatever information they wanted or could access from his computers, in an operation lasting about 15 hours.”

Pointing out how the police dodged the requirement to furnish a video recording of the raid, they said, “Though the search proceedings were ordered to be and were videographed by the police, yet the video of the search operation has not been made available to Mr. Pracha, despite his request. Mr. Pracha has complained that the Police officers who came for the search were threatening him by using the name of the Home Minister Amit Shah, and it is therefore imperative that the video recordings be furnished to him without delay.”

The trio also pointed out that given how the email that was used as the basis for the search warrant was readily available to authorities, the raid was basically unnecessary. “Obviously therefore the object of the search was to get hold of all the information in his computer systems which not only contained his personal and private information but in particular contained communications between him and his clients which are protected from disclosure by S. 126 of the Indian Evidence Act as well as Rule 17 Part 2 section 2 of the Bar Council of India rules,” they surmised adding, “This is a gross violation of law by the police and totally malafide.”

They further asked, “Assuming for a moment that it was impossible for the Special Cell to obtain copies of the emails from the recipients, including the Commissioner of Police, why was no summons or order issued under section 91 of the CrPC calling upon Mr. Pracha to produce the allegedly incriminating documents before taking recourse to the drastic remedy of a search and seizure operation?”

They concluded by saying, “This illegal search is particularly ominous and sinister in light of the fact that Mr. Pracha has been instrumental in exposing the Delhi Police in its malafide investigation in the Delhi riots and seeking accountability of its officers. The Supreme Court Bar Association and the Bar Association of India have also condemned these raids, as has the Bar Council of Delhi.”

The entire statement may be read here: 

Related:

Adv Mehmood Pracha’s Office raid: Court summons IO for video footage
Mehmood Pracha’s office raid a “pressure tactic” by Police: Delhi Riot victims
Delhi Police question Mehmood Pracha over Anti Pakistan protest 

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In wake of the raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the offices of senior advocates and human rights defenders Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, liberal politicians and members of civil society have shown support for the duo.

Anand Grover and Indira Jaising.
 

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Dr. Teltumbde has been charged for offences registered u/s 153-A, 505(1)(b), 117, 120(b), 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and u/s 13, 16, 17, 18, 21, 18 (b), 20, 38, 39,  and 40 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 2012 (UAPA). 

The petition is seeking action from the court on the grounds that Dr. Teltumbde is innocent, and has been false implicated, and says that the raid on his house was wrongfully conducted in the absence of Dr. Teltumbde or his wife, and without a search warrant. Reportedly the search was conducted as the police obtained a key from the security guard, completely flouting the processes of search. The petition states that he is “not even remotely connected to the organizing or conducting of the said event,” and notes that Dr. Teltumbde’s name “has been added in the said FIR as an afterthought by the prosecution as his name is not to be found in the original FIR dated 08.01.2018”. Advocate Mihir Desai appeared for the petitioner.

The petition established Dr. Teltumbde’s long career and work as both an activist and a scholar. Right from student politics till serving as the Managing Director and CEO of Petronet India Ltd. up until 2010, Dr. Teltumbde has had an interesting and illustrious career. He has been known for his intellectual writings, especially his column in Margin Speak in India’s leading social science journal Economic and Political Weekly (EPW). He is currently the General Secretary of Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR), as well as a renowned scholar. Advocate Mihir Desai appeared for Dr. Teltumbde.

Even on the issue of Bhima Koregaon, Anand Teltumbde was known to hold a different rather controversial opinion. He had written an article dated December 31, 2017 in the online web portal The Wire, titled ‘The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities it Seeks to Transcend’. This article had reportedly angered various sections of Dalits, and went on to establish his intellectual independence and even a “disconnect with Elgaar Parishad” or Bhima Koregaon. Here, the petition argues that it is nobody’s case that the he attended the Elgaar Parishad.

Dr. Teltumbde’s petition is seeking that the court issue a “Writ of Certiorari or any other direction or order in nature of Certiorari or any other appropriate writ, direction or order, to quash and set aside the proceedings against” him. It is also seeking that a Writ of Mandamus “or any other direction or order in nature of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, direction or order” be issued, “directing that no coercive steps will be taken against the Petitioner by the Respondent Police”. Pending the hearing and final disposal of the petition, it has also called for a stay on criminal proceedings against Dr. Teltumbde, interim protection, and “a Writ of Mandamus or any other direction or order in nature of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, direction or order, directing that no coercive steps will be taken against the Petitioner by the Respondent Police”.

The petition may be read here.
 
 

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Sagar Vernon Gonsalves speaks of how courteous, and helpless the family felt again, with the witch-hunt of the state. Read the son of Vernon Gonsalves and Susan Abraham

I experienced a familiar sense of helplessness yesterday morning.

Around 6 am our house was raided by more than 10 people from the Pune Police along with constables from our local MIDC Police Station. They had come to search our house and arrest my father. Our mobiles were taken away, landline phone kept off the hook; our personal CPU was opened, books were taken down one by one, CDs were examined, pen drives were scanned for suspicious material.

Any book that had Mao, Naxal or Marx in its name was cross examined and many of them were taken away as evidence. These are books you could very easily have found in a library or online. My personal copy of the Bolshevik Revolution Volume 1 by E.H. Carr was also packed away as evidence. They were in our house for almost 7 hours till around 1:45 PM with some police constables standing at our building gate as well. We were not allowed to go out of the house in all this time.

The helplessness deepened when I saw the casual conversations my parents were having with the Police constables. About what they had studied and where they lived. At one point my mother even made tea for the entire police team and said to me “They are still our guests”. Tea was had, and conversations were shared but that feeling of helplessness kept clawing at me from the inside. There was nothing my parents or me could do against the might of the all-powerful State and its machinery. So, we coped with it through small talk and smiles. We cooperated and let them do their jobs.

The feeling was familiar because this had happened more than ten years ago in August 2007 when my father was arrested on numerous false charges, brought home at 12 in the night, and our house was raided from 12 midnight to way past 6 am. I was 12 back then and was witnessing the scene more from the eyes of my mother who could do nothing even though she was a lawyer. At that time, she was told to co-operate, or she could get arrested as well. Back then also there was small talk to cope with the helplessness. The police officers were very impressed by how much I studied and complained about their own children who had no such inclinations.

In August 2007 also, we cooperated and let the State do its job. After spending five and half years in jail, my father was acquitted in all cases. Five and a half years of a person’s life was spent languishing in prison for crimes he had never committed. What a wonderful job the state had done.

This was the condition our room was left in after the raid. The Police sealed all the evidence in this room while my parents and me were sitting in the hall at Mumbai

Fast Forward to August 2018, August clearly is not a good month for us, the feeling has returned. Back then it was the midnight knock now it was the morning bell. And believe me it is not a good feeling. To be persecuted by the very state whose duty it is to protect and safeguard your rights. To watch while someone whom you love and admire, more importantly someone whom you know has done no wrong, be taken away to jail and all you can do is give that person a tight hug and tell them to be strong. Even to that my father’s response was “Don’t Worry! At least I’ll be able to keep the others company inside!” Along with helplessness, I learnt a lot about hospitality and optimism yesterday.

Among the many things that I admire greatly about my father is his commitment to his beliefs and ideals. To stand up for what his right and help those whose rights are denied. He has always done that and will continue to do so. This did not deter him the last time and will not do it now as well. He has an unbreakable spirit and will always stay true to what he believes in.

What we can do as citizens of this country is to protest against this crushing of dissent by the state and its machinery. The systemic oppression of people who raise questions and have an opinion which opposes from the existing narrative. The undemocratic way they are treated and the labels which are being given to them.

Defend the right to dissent. It is a fundamental right of all the citizens in a democratic state.
 
 

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