One of the five arrested human rights activists and professor, Sudha Bharadwaj has claimed that the letter police believe she has written and produced on Friday, is convicted and fabricated to criminalise her and other human rights, activists. Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested by Pune police on Tuesday in a multi-city raid and is now under house arrest.
Bharadwaj in a statement writes, “the letter, which the police said was written by her to one “Com Prakash,” was a “mixture of innocuous and publicly available facts and baseless fabrication. Legal and democratic activities such as meetings, seminars, protests have been sought to be delegitimised by alleging they are funded by Maoists.”
Statement of #SudhaBharadwaj on Pune Police claims. pic.twitter.com/oxA14OM8YO
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“A number of human rights lawyers, activists, and organisations have been deliberately named to cast a stigma over them to obstruct their work and incite hatred against them,” she said.
“I categorically state that I have never given Rs 50,000 to hold any programme in Moga. Nor do I know any Com. Ankit who is in touch with Kashmiri separatists,” she wrote.
“There is an effort to delegitimise IAPL, an association of lawyers whose pride is Justice Hosbet Suresh and which has been active in speaking up against attacks on lawyers. I categorically state that I have never given Rs 50,000 to hold any programme in Moga, nor do I know any “Ankit from Maharashtra” or “Com” who is in touch with Kashmiri separatists,” she wrote.
“I know Gautam Navlakha, a senior and respected human rights activist whose name has been mentioned in a manner to criminalise and incite hatred against him. I know the Jagdalpur Legal Aid group well and have never solicited any fund from them least of all from any banned organisation. I categorically state that their work has been absolutely legitimate and legal…there has been an effort to criminalise and incite hatred against various lawyers, activists, and organisations who have exposed (human rights) violations in Bastar, Chhattisgarh,” Bharadwaj wrote.
Another activist Tosif Shaikh, who is representing Mumbai-based Vernon Gonsalves, said, “police seemed more interested in media trial in this case as they did not have strong evidence to prove allegations leveled against the accused in a court of law”.
