Citizens for Justice and Peace
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.
DR. VARAVARA RAO
An activist and poet, Dr. Varavara Rao has been targeted by the State since the 1970s. He has been in the crosshairs of the Andhra Pradesh government, and was also hounded during the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi. The octogenarian was most recently implicated in the Bhima-Koregaon case and has once again been incarcerated for months. He was repeatedly refused permanent bail on medical grounds despite his advanced age, a bout of Covid-19, and a progressive deterioration in his health. Finally, the Supreme Court granted him bail on medical grounds in August 2022, deleting the requirement for surrender put forward by the Bombay High Court when it had previously granted him temporary bail.
Charges
Section 124 A (Sedition) of the Indian Penal Code, sections 38 and 39 (support to a terrorist organisation) of UAPA
SUDHA BHARADWAJ
This trade union leader has been at the forefront of the movement to empower workers and Adivasis in Chhattisgarh for over 25 years. She is the general secretary of the Chhattisgarh unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and a member of Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS).
Charges
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, along with IPC Sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups), 505 (public mischief), 117 (abetment) and 120 (conspiracy)