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His Excellency the President of India,
The Honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi,
Mr Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Statement in Support of Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand
- from Civil Society Organizations and Human Rights defenders -
We the undersigned express our profound dismay and disquiet at the continued official harassment by the central government of leading Indian human rights defenders Teesta Setalvad and Jawed Anand. Following the election of the BJP led government in Delhi in May 2014, the country has witnessed open strenuous official efforts to foist a large variety of charges of financial irregularity on them, to harass them, to tarnish their reputations, and to secure their arrests. Fortunately the interventions of the higher judiciary have protected them so far. However the latest raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation into their home and offices in Mumbai on 14 July 2015 are signs of continuing open misuse of official bodies to harass these human rights defenders.
We are calling for a fair trial without intimidation and harassment in the criminal case against Teesta Setalvad,, who, for more than ten years, has been fighting for justice on behalf of victims of the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, and subsequently helped file cases against Gujarat government functionaries, including then chief minister of the State of Gujarat, Mr Modi.
She and her husband Javed Anand organized in Bombay and the region: they set up and ran several organizations; among those are : Citizens for Justice and Peace to support the victims, including legally: Koj to educate children against communal violence in schools; Communalism Combat to fight Hindu fundamentalism (and all fundamentalisms) in the media.
Following the election of Mr Modi as Prime Minister of the Federation of India, there has been intense pressure brought on Teesta and Javed to tone down their accusations. She has been intimidated in all possible ways; several court cases have been lodged against her, which all ended up with clearing her of the accusations. She regularly receives death threats and must live under 24 hours protection. Their personal assets have been frozen (not just those of their organistions) which left them penniless while they had to fight the unending court cases against them.
The state police of Gujarat presently accuses her of embezzling funds meant for the riot victims and is attempting to arrest her prior to the trial for interrogation in custody. Progressive voices in India has made it clear that, in their view, all this was fabricated in order to silence a vocal human rights defender, and that, would she be arrested and interrogated in custody, she will be in great danger. So will Javed if he were to be arrested. We join these progressive in India and elsewhere to condemn their intimidation and harassment. The open official bullying of courageous human rights defenders even as persons charged with a range of serious crimes walk free are brazen official attempts to diminish Indian democracy. These must be powerfully resisted by all democratic voices in India and elsewhere.
Signed: Date 1st August 2015
1. Ruki Fernando – Human Rights Defender2. INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre3. Anberiya Hanifa,4. Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum5. Faizun Zackariya6. Citizens’ Voice for Justice and Peace7. Sudarshana Gunawardena,8. Rights Now - Collective for Democracy9. Britto Fernando , Families of the Disappeared10. Domestic Workers Union11. Red Flag Women’s Movement12. Rohini Weerasinghe, Kantha Shakthi Forum13. Ceylon Workers Red Flag Union14. Menaha Kandasamy – General Secretary RFU.15. Chulani Kodikara,16. Kumudini Samuel17. Padma Pushpakanthi, National Women’s Movement18. Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Director, Trikone Cultural Centre19. Mirak Raheem20. Shreen Abdul Saroor21. Women’s Action Network22. Farzana Haniffa23. Sriyani Pathirage, Rural Women’s Front24. Peter Rezel25. Jeanne Samuel26. Ramani Muttettuwegama, Lawyer27. Centre for Policy Analysis28. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu29. Kishali Pinto Jayawardena30. Selvy Thiruchandran, Women’s Education and Research Centre31. Bhavani Fonseka32. Shyamala Gomez33. Vasuki Nesiah34. Hilmy Ahamed
