Resist the Witch-Hunt of Teesta Setalvad!

“Bail for the Culprits of Fake Encounters, Jail for Activists”!

Police Officers Accused of Cold Blooded Fake Encounters Gets Bail and Reinstated…

Activists Who Take On the State Might Against Communal Pogrom Is Denied Bail On Framed Charges!!!

In a travesty of sorts, days after former DG Vanzara and another police officer P.P. Pandey were granted bail in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, and P.P. Pandey was reinstated as the Additional Director General of Police, in charge of law and order in Gujarat, human rights activists Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand were denied anticipatory bail plea in a fabricated case of ‘embezzlement of funds’ for Gujarat riot victims.

It is to the credit of activists like Teesta Setalvad that there have at least been some amounts of justice delivered post the 2002 Gujarat riots. However her taking on the might of the state and seeking to establish that these riots could not have taken place without the tacit support of the then Modi govt in Gujarat, has resulted in her becoming a target of several such attempts to force her to bow down. Even in the early years immediately after 2002, as it became clear that Citizens for Justice and Peace was going to continue to support riot survivors in their fight for legal justice, the Gujarat police filed FIR after FIR against Setalvad. All of them were found to be spurious.

According to the media reports the bail applications have been turned down because Setalavad and Anand were “not cooperating with the investigations” and that prima facie “funds were used for private purpose”. It is a matter of record that they have submitted their original bank statements, balance sheets and audited accounts that completely disprove the allegations. Does this amount to ‘non-cooperation’/ ‘wrong-doing’?

In contrast to the police quickly rising up in arms against a person fighting for justice Gujarat riot victims, what has been the Gujarat’s government’s response to the police officers accused of murdering innocent Muslim youth in fake encounters?? With Mr Pande’s reinstatement, most of the policemen accused of being allegedly involved in fake encounter cases are back in the state’s police force. Those who have been reinstated so far include Abhay Chudasama and Raj Kumar Pandiyan, accused in the Sohrabbudin fake encounter case. Amit Shah too got ‘discharged’ by the special CBI court. The irony is there for all to see.

While it has come as small relief that the SC has stayed her arrest for a day, the secular democratic fabric of this country is in greater threat than ever before. We stand in solidarity with Teesta Setalvad and other activists in their struggle and will continue our efforts to strengthen all collective struggles against communalization and minority witch hunt.