By Mohammed Naushad Khan
NEW DELHI: Expressing solidarity with those languishing in jail for years for the simple reason of defending democracy and freedom of the people, former ministers, parliamentarians, lawyers, journalists, academicians and civil society members gathered at a public meeting organized by Concerned Citizens of Delhi and the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) at the Press Club of India here on Friday and demanded their immediate release on bail.
The important among those who have been incarcerated for more than four years in the 2020 Delhi riots and other cases are Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Gulfishan Fatima, Sharjeel Imam, Asif Iqbal Tanha, and several others though there is not even an iota of evidence of their involvement in any incident of violence. Their only fault is that they opposed the draconian Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019 that intended to reduce a large majority of Indian Muslims to aliens in their own country by linking CAA with the National Register of Citizens(NRC) and putting them in special shelter homes constructed at different places in the country. There is also a provision to confiscate the property and bank accounts of such people.
There are also dozens of others in Bhima Koregaon and other cases who are in jail for years without any concrete evidence against them about the charges levelled against them.
Former Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who is senior Advocate, while recalling his personal experience on how the system works, said that there has to be internal democracy within parties and any leaders should have the freedom to speak their point of view on any important and burning issue without being afraid of getting sidelined within the party. Even sometimes it becomes difficult to criticize the judiciary in the apprehension of contempt of court if one is not well versed about how to put in that perspective where the message is given and it does come in the purview of any contempt.
Rajaram Singh, Member of Parliament, CPI (ML) while focusing on the functioning of the government said, “In the last Lok Sabha elections we have shaken the fascist regime but great effort is needed to uproot them from political powers.”
This story was originally published in indiatomorrow.net. Read the full story here.
