This pattern is identical to that in the Bhima-Koregaon case, launching a nationwide hunt against alleged “Urban Naxals”, while those who were so clearly responsible for instigating riots after the Elgar Parishad meeting in January 2017 are being allowed to go scot-free. The intense activity of the Delhi Police in pursuing this line of inquiry is in marked contrast to their inaction in investigating leaders associated with the BJP who were seen inciting violence on public television. Under the omnibus FIR 59 of 2020 alone, more than 17 arrests have taken place already under the UAPA, and over two hundred have been arrested under sections of the IPC. Over the past several months, students, activists, writers, artists, journalists and other public persons who participated in the anti-CAA protests have been targeted for repeated inquiries, and many have been arrested. This, in turn, is part of the larger design to shut down all dissent in the country so that no one dares question authority. It is part of a clear strategy by the Delhi Police to present protests against the CAA as a conspiracy to plan and stage the communal riots that shook Delhi in late February. This is not a normal enquiry or police business as usual. This is not all – the summons mentions 19 sections of the IPC two sections each of the Prevention of Damage of Public Property (PDPP) Act two sections of the Arms Act and, finally, four different sections of the UAPA. Apoorvanand has been summoned under section 43F of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA. Like dozens of others in the past two months, Prof. What matters is the context and manner in which this is happening. It is not unusual, or even improper, for the police to ask citizens to cooperate in the crime they are investigating. As concerned citizens who love and value our democracy, and our country, we must speak out before it is too late and all voices of freedom are silenced forever. For this democracy today faces its most serious crisis since independence, far more critical than Indira Gandhi’s Emergency 45 years ago. Also, a day when we must overcome all fear, to stand up for each individual’s right to disagree, dissent, and thereby deepen our democracy. This comes close on the heels of the interrogation of many other activists.Ī day when authorities feel free to haul in the nation’s leading public voices to police stations, merely because they speak against the policies and ideology of the ruling government, is a day we must all be deeply concerned. Apoorvanand, well-known writer, public speaker and Professor of Hindi at Delhi University, where he spent 5 hours, for an interrogation in connection with the Northeast Delhi riots. On Augthe Special Branch of the Delhi Police called in Prof. Nationwide condemnation of Delhi Police regarding their interrogation of Prof.
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