The prolonged incarceration without trial of a large number of writers, journalists and social activists, often without so much as a charge-sheet against them is disturbing and shocking and all that these individuals have done is to criticize the present government in India says a statement released by top US academics including Amartya Sen and others.
Prabir Purkayastha, a 75-year old senior journalist, author, and founding editor of the independent newsportal Newsclick, whose office and home were repeatedly searched for weeks on end for incriminating evidence without any being found, has been arrested and, despite being imprisoned for nearly six months, is yet to be served a charge-sheet; the harmful effects of such an action on media independence are obvious for everyone to see, says the statement.
A group of prominent international scholars, academicians, and writers has sounded the alarm over the prolonged incarceration of critics of the BJP government in India. This open letter with known names such as Amitav Ghosh and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has been published urging the global community to pay attention to the erosion of democratic principles in the world’s largest democracy, and released by SAHMAT.
“India has long been admired internationally as an exemplary democracy, and the largest in the world. Any abridgement of democracy in India is tragic, not only for the people of India, but for all of humanity. We write this letter to alert international opinion to these recent alarming developments in that country and to urge those holding positions of responsibility in the various organs of the Indian state,” reads the statement. The statement especially mentions the case of online media portal, Newsclick’s founding editor, 75-year-old journalist, author, Prabir Purkayastha who has been in custody for nearly six months without being charged. Some of the other signatories of the letter include academics Charles Taylor, Judith Butler, Wendy Brown, Sheldon Pollock, and David Shulman.
Others have been incarcerated even longer, such as those arrested in the Bheema-Koregaon case who (with the exception of those whom the courts have released on bail on medical or technical-legal grounds) have been languishing in prison for over five years without any trial.
Likewise, many accused in the Delhi riots case have been in prison for over three years without any trial –and often without complete charge sheets brought against them; some, who have been charged, but with no trial in sight, have spent even longer in jail than the maximum legal sentence warranted by the charges against them.
This extended incarceration without trial has been given legislative backing, through an amendment to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act passed by the Indian parliament. But legislative backing provides no justification for such incarceration. Indeed, to use it as a justification amounts to saying that Constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights can be abrogated through a legislative majority; that, notwithstanding Constitutional provisions, someone can be imprisoned for any length of time by a government enjoying a legislative majority. This amounts to undermining the Constitution and overturning the structures of democracy.
A separate note was also penned and released by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen directed to “my fellow citizens,” where he highlighted a series of cases where journalists and activists have been detained solely for expressing dissent against the current administration. “There are, of course, many other unjust uses of compelling law that continue in India, despite our hope of building a fairly governed country, but imprisonment without trial and without fairness in the treatment of human beings is certainly among the worst injustices that the country has made into a regular arrangement.”
Recently, after the detention of Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal in relation to a liquor policy scam, the US state department released a statement citing the importance of ensuring a “fair, transparent and timely legal process” and that the US was closely monitoring the case of the chief minister. India soon summoned a top diplomat after the statement was made and the foreign ministry stated, “We take strong objection to the remarks”.
However, state department spokesperson Mattew Miller declined to comment on the summons citing confidential diplomatic meetings the following day, also stated that the US government was aware about how the Congress party’s funds were also frozen in their banks.
The statement by academics also states that, “India has long been admired internationally as an exemplary democracy, and the largest in the world . Any abridgement of democracy in India is tragic, not only for the people of India, but for all of humanity. We write this letter to alert international opinion to these recent alarming developments in that country and to urge those holding positions of responsibility in the various organs of the Indian state, in particular the judiciary, to ensure that the abridgements we are currently witnessing are reversed, and that no encroachment occurs on the fundamental rights of its citizens. Those holding such positions of responsibility will be remembered by posterity if they honourably stand up for Indian democracy.”
Signatories include:
- Amitav Ghosh, Novelist and Author, New York.
- Wendy Brown, UPS Foundation Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton.
- Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, and the Program of Critical Theory, University of California, Berkeley.
- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor, Columbia University, New York.
- Sheldon Pollock, Arvind Raghunathan Professor Emeritus of South Asian Studies, Columbia University, New York.
- Martha C. Nussbaum, Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Philosophy, University of Chicago, Chicago.
- Steven Lukes, Professor of Politics and Sociology, New York University, New York.
- David Bromwich, Sterling Professor of English, Yale University, New Haven.
- Marjorie Cohn, Professor,Thomas Jefferson School of Law,San Diego; former president, National Lawyers Guild, U.S.A.
- Jonathan Cole, John Mitchell Mason Professor, Provost & Dean of Faculties (1989-2003),
Columbia University, New York. - Janet Gyatso,Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies and Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs, Divinity School, Harvard University, Cambridge.
- Carol Rovane, Violin Family Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University, New York.
- Jan Werner-Muller, Roger Williams Straus Professor of Social Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton.
- Charles Taylor, Emeritus Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, Oxford University; and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at University of Montreal.
- 15. Akeel Bilgrami, Sidney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy; Professor, Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University, New York.
- David Shulman, Renee Lang Professor of Humanistic Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Amartya K. Sen, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Harvard University, Cambridge, supports this statement (see the supporting statement attached).
The separate statement released by Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen is below:
ON THE UNDERMINING OF ELEMENTARY FREEDOMS IN INDIA
Amartya Sen
Some friends of mine have recently written a cogent statement on the violation of elementary freedoms in contemporary India, and, even though I do not, as a rule, sign joint letters, I would like to add my voice to theirs. So this is written as a general statement addressed to my fellow citizens.
Under British rule, Indians were often arrested and imprisoned without trial, and some were kept in prison for a long time. (As many of my family members were trying hard to free India from colonial rule, several of them experienced this kind of treatment of imprisonment without trial.) As a young man, I had hoped that as India became independent, this unjust system, in use in colonial India, would stop. This has not, alas, happened, and the unsupportable practice of arresting and keeping accused human beings in prison without trying them has continued in free and democratic India.
Along with others who are rightly outraged by this injustice, I must also strongly express my sense of indignation at this basic violation of human freedom in my own country, whose claim to being a democracy is strongly negated by such practice.
There are, of course, many other unjust uses of compelling law that continue in India, despite our hope of building a fairly governed country, but imprisonment without trial and without fairness in the treatment of human beings is certainly among the worst injustices that the country has made into a regular arrangement. We should very much hope that the judicial system of India will have the good sense to eliminate barbarities of this kind.”
Related:
India third highest across the world to enforce internet shutdowns