Citizens for Justice and Peace
DISHA RAVI
Disha Ravi is a 21-year-old climate activist and founder of Fridays for Future campaign, a people’s movement for climate justice in India. In pursuance of her interest in climate change and vegan food habits, she also works as a culinary experience manager with GoodMylk, a company involved with making plant-based food accessible and affordable to people. She has been arrested in connection with editing a ‘toolkit’, that the Police claim was put together by a “pro-Khalistani group” named Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF) for the farmers’ protest on social media.
Charges
Sections 124A (sedition), 120A (criminal conspiracy) and 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code
JIGNESH MEVANI
The independent Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Vadgam constituency in Gujarat, was arrested by Assam Police in connection with two tweets containing allegedly offensive content against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Dalit rights activist-turned-politician was arrested with scant regard to procedures surrounding arrest of a sitting MLA, and taken to Assam the following day. After he got bail in the case he was re-arrested in connection with a case where he stands accused of assaulting a woman officer of the Assam Police.
Charges
Twitter case: IPC sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 153 A (promoting enmity between groups), 295 A (outraging and insulting religious beliefs), 504 (insult with intent to provoke) and 505 (public mischief). Assault case: IPC sections 294 (obscene acts and songs), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging duty) and 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman).
AASIF SULTAN
A Kashmiri Journalist who covers politics and human rights for the Srinagar based monthly magazine Kashmir Narrator. He is also the recipient of the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award by American National Press Club. After doing a story titled ‘The Rise of Burhan Wani’, he was detained on August 31, 2018, by the Police on charges of providing support to militants.
Charges
Criminal conspiracy and section 19 (harbouring and supporting known terrorists) of UAPA. Also booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) in April 2022. In another FIR dated 2019, he is booked under Sections 147 and 148 (rioting and punishment for rioting), 149 (offence committed by any member of unlawful assembly), 336 (endangering human life) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides Section 13 (advocating, abetting or inciting unlawful activity) of UAPA.
DR. G.N. SAIBABA
A differently abled former lecturer of English at Ram Lal Anand College, Delhi University, Dr. Saibaba has been a prominent voice against State excesses. He was particularly vocal about Operation Green Hunt, a drive against alleged Naxalites, where underprivileged sections fell prey to brutal assault by State forces.
Charges
Sections 13 (unlawful activities), 18 (conspiracy), 20 (member of a terrorist gang) and 38-39 (support to a terrorist organisation) of the UAPA. Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.
GAUTAM NAVLAKHA
Gautam Navlakha is a senior journalist, civil rights activist and a writer who has been a fierce critic of the Indian Army’s atrocities in the Kashmir Valley. He is a member of People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), Delhi and also the editorial consultant of the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW).
Charges
Sections 153A (promote enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, caste, class), 505(1B) (publishes something to cause alarm in the minds of the public), Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 13 (Punishment for unlawful activities), 16 ( Punishment for terrorist act), 17 (Punishment for raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (Punishment for conspiracy), 18B (Punishment for recruiting of any person or persons for terrorist act), 20 (Punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation), 38 (Offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) and 40 (Offence of raising fund for a terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
SHOMA SEN
Founder of Stree Chetna, an NGO that works for women’s right and against dowry cases, Shoma Sen is a professor of English at the Nagpur University. Her Left-leaning activities have turned out to be a thorn in the side for the government and it has led to her arrest on fake charges.
Charges
Sections 153A, 501(1)(b), 117, 120B, 121, 121A, 124A & 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Sections 13, 16, 17, 18, 18B, 20, 4 38, 39 & 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA).
Dr. ANAND TELTUMBDE
The 71-year-old is an Indian scholar, writer, activist working in the field of civil rights, especially Dalit rights. He is a management professor at the Goa Institute of Management (GIM). Teltumbde was an executive at Bharat Petroleum and managing director of Petronet India Limited before becoming an academic. He was also a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur before he joined as a senior professor at the Goa Institute of Management (GIM). He has been critical of the Modi government, and now sees himself arrested on allegedly trumped up charges of having “Maoist links”.
Charges
Sections 153A (promote enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, caste, class), 505(1B) (publishes something to cause alarm in the minds of the public), Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 13 (Punishment for unlawful activities), 16 ( Punishment for terrorist act), 17 (Punishment for raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (Punishment for conspiracy), 18B (Punishment for recruiting of any person or persons for terrorist act), 20 (Punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation), 38 (Offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation) and 40 (Offence of raising fund for a terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
SIDDIQUE KAPPAN
He is a Kerala based journalist who currently works with the news portal Azhimukham as a regular contributor. He also serves as the Secretary of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ). He was picked up by the police when he was on his way to cover the Hathras case and is accused of being associated with an Islamic organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) and having a history of organising demonstrations against CAA.
Charges
Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of a class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code, section 17 (raising funds for terrorist act) of the UAPA, section under Information Technology Act for carrying “suspicious” literature
MUNAWAR FARUQUI
He is a comedian who spent over a month in jail for a joke he did not crack. Munawar Faruqui was arrested in the middle of his comedy show by the Indore Police on complaints by a Hindutva outfit Hind Rakshak Sanghathan for allegedly making indecent jokes about Hindu Gods. His arrest led to a social media uproar as the Indore Police accepted too, that no jokes about Hinduism were cracked. During his performance in Hyderabad in August, 2022, around 50 people were taken into preventive custody when they reached the venue of a show by the stand-up comedian. Among the people arrested were a number of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) workers. Following this show, he was denied permission to hold shows in Bangaluru and Delhi. While the Bengaluru police said that that the show’s organisers did not obtain the necessary permissions to hold the show, Delhi police said that the possible impact of his shows on communal harmony in the area was why he was not allowed to hold the show.
Charges
Sections 295 A (deliberate, malicious intention of outraging religious feelings), 298 (deliberate intention to wound religious feelings), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection, in view of the pandemic), 188 (disobey orders promulgated by public servants) and 34 (acting together in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.