The Human Rights Forum (HRF) of Andhra Pradesh has called the recents raids by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) at the premises of several Adivasi, Dalit and human rights activists in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, state action intented “to cast disgrace on human rights activism.”

The raids were conducted by the NIA on March 31-April 1, to investigate the activists for “alleged links with Maoists”. The agency seized the phones, computers, laptops, books and papers from most of the premises raided. According to HRF this was “part of a concerted attempt to diminish and delegitimise the very notion of human rights in the public eye”. The forum issued a media statement on Tuesday and said that “the intention of the government is to make the process itself the punishment, to endlessly harass those critical of the political establishment’s policies and practices”. It added that invoking “the UAPA, an enactment that is fundamentally incompatible with democracy and civilised norms and imperils political freedoms, is meant precisely to serve this purpose”. 

The HRA reiterated that the UAPA “mocks at established canons of jurisprudence and legal scholars have described it as an instrument of State tyranny” and the recent amendments add do that. During the search and seizure raid on the residence of VS Krishna, Human Rights Forum (HRF) AP & Telangana Coordination Committee member in Visakhapatnam last week NIA seized six hard disks, one mobile, three sim cards, three SD cards and a few documents. They also reportedly photographed his and family’s bank details and interrogated him for about eight hours at their offices in Vizag on April 1 and 2 stated HRF. Other searches were reported conducted at “31 locations spread across eight districts of Andhra Pradesh namely Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Prakasam, Srikakulam, Kurnool, Krishna, East Godavari and Kadapa and four districts of Telangana namely Ranga Reddy, Hyderabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Medak.”

The HRF has shared that these raids were pursuant to a case registered at the Munchingput police station, Visakhapatnam district on November 23, 2021. The case contained charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA), sedition, criminal conspiracy and various other IPC provisions. It has been alleged that the accused belong to frontal organisations of the proscribed CPI (Maoist) and are doing its bidding, and the NIA has been investigating the case since March 7, 2021. 

The HRF has once again reiterated that, “accusations against VS Krishna of Human Rights Forum and functionaries of several other rights, literary, and dalit organizations is clearly an exercise in intimidation intended to stifle lawful dissent and protest. We have no hesitation in stating that the contents of the FIRs are a litany of lies. In the Munchingput FIR, VS Krishna has been accused of influencing the Vakapalli rape survivors to depose falsely against the policemen.” It once again called  this “an atrocious allegation” and said  HRF, along with several other organisations provided the Adivasi women witnesses deposing before courts, with food and shelter when they come from remote areas. According to HRF, “it is because of this solidarity and sustained rights activism that the police are now seeking to intimidate VS Krishna in what we believe to be a clear case of vindictiveness.”

It has called charges brought about in the Munchingput FIR “a catalogue of fabricated and sometimes farcical accusations. There is a deliberate attempt at wrongful and malafide prosecution. It can only be termed as a rampant abuse of the criminal justice system. It is becoming evident now, following the recent NIA raids, that some kind of a story of a grand conspiracy of ‘urban Maoism’ is being sought to be orchestrated in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.”  

The HRF has questioned the seizure of hard disks, and mobile from VS Krishna’s residence and his without providing him with a cloned copy. According to the media statement when Krishna asked when he could get them back, “NIA personnel said that if no incriminating evidence was found, he could claim them from the NIA Special Court at Vijayawada”. However the forum says this is a long process and the seized hardware contains personal, and work-related data. “The seizure of personal digital devices and their contents during investigation results in not only a dispossession of valuable property of the activists but also of their right to livelihood, privacy and human dignity. This amounts to an infringement of Constitutional rights,” said HRF

The forum has demanded that “the NIA and the State governments of AP and Telangana drop the fabricated accusations against VS Krishna and members of other rights, dalit and women’s organisations. There must be an immediate halt to attempts at suppressing dissent. Seeking to criminalise our human rights work can never succeed.” HRF added that they “are not an adjunct of either the Maoists or any other political party” and will continue its human rights movement.

Related:

NIA raids activists in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for alleged Maoist links

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided the homes of senior journalists and officials associated with independent media portal NewsClick.in. The raids reportedly began at 10 AM on January 9 in Delhi, at the homes of the journalists as well as the office of the news portal.

According to news reports, and information shared by journalists over social media, those raided included NewsClick’s owner senior journalist Prabir Purkayastha and its editor Pranjal. The Quint, shared on twitter that according to the ED these raids are linked to an alleged money laundering case. It added that the probe was looking at alleged funding received from “dubious companies” abroad.

ED is conducting raids/searches at #newsclick news website’s Directors offices in a money laundering case for taking foreign funding from some dubious companies abroad: ED @TheQuint

— Poonam Agarwal (@poonamjourno) February 9, 2021

Journalists including those who have been associated with the portal also confirmed the ED raids.

ED raid at https://t.co/WK95HKtJzE ‘s office & Directors/Shareholders home since 10am this morning. @newsclickin . This is where I do my shows Bol ke lab aazaad hain tere and Newschakra

— Abhisar Sharma (@abhisar_sharma) February 9, 2021

Modi government’s assault on media continues with ED raid on @newsclickin office, homes of owner Prabir Purkayastha and editor Pranjal, in Delhi. NewsClick was one of the last bastions of critical reporting on the government’s policies.

— Mohammad Ali (@hindureporter) February 9, 2021

Readers, activists, and civil society members sent messages of solidarity with the journalists.

Modi & Shah continue to muzzle independent small media, that unlike Big Modia, insists on reporting on the Andolans – people’s movements – of our country. ED raid is on now at the @newsclickin office & the home of its owner Prabir Purkayastha and editor Pranjal. Shame!

— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) February 9, 2021

The office of news portal #Newsclick in Delhi raided, along with residences of founder Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha and Editor Pranjal.

The attack on media houses which are speaking up on recent issues, continues !

— Aishe (ঐশী) (@aishe_ghosh) February 9, 2021

The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) also issued a statement condemning the ED raids on the office of online portal Newsclick and the homes of its owner editor Prabir Purkayastha, editor Pranjal and human resources head Amit Chakravarty. According to the DUJ statement signed by office bearers, senior journalists S.K.Pande Sujata Madhok, “Newsclick has been providing a platform to leading investigative journalists like Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and bold video journalist Abhisar Sharma, P.Sainath – among others. It has also been reporting extensively on the farmers’ agitation for the past two months. It has established itself as a different voice with news and analysis of national and international affairs.”

The DUJ stated that it viewed the raids as a “serious attack on the online media and the freedom of the  press. Coming in the wake of the filing of sedition charges against several senior journalists last week and government moves to curb free speech on Twitter and YouTube, the raids are ominous.” It added that the “ aim is clearly to intimidate and browbeat  independent and critical voices that disagree with the government on contemporary issues.

The raid also brings back memories of how yet another portal The Quint had been targeted in the past. IT officials had raided Quint’s offices and the home of its founder Raghav Bahl in October 2018 purportedly in connection with a “tax evasion” case. An Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) was filed in June 2019 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for the alleged non-disclosure of GBP 2.38 lakhs that was allegedly used to purchase a property in London. Bahl maintained that he had not defaulted on either his taxes or his debts and was just being harassed.

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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.
 
 

The post August is Not a Good Month for Us, a Son Expresses Anguish at the Witch-Hunt of His Parents, Twice Over appeared first on SabrangIndia.