Lucknow: Over the last month, Uttar Pradesh police has sent notices to 10 women activists who were on the forefront of protests against the Hathras brutality of October 2020.

These activists had been vocal in calling for government accountability and a fair probe into the incident where a 19-year-old Dalit woman died after having been gang-raped and injured by four 'upper' caste Thakur men in the Uttar Pradesh village.

Among those who received notices were activists like Uzma Parveen, Sumaiya Rana, Madhu Garg and Meena Singh – who were also seen in the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests across Lucknow in 2019. 

All the notices pertain to a protest held on October 8, 2020, protest held at the '1090 Crossing' of Gomti Nagar in the city. As is visible, police waited more than five months before serving notices on the activists, asking them to appear before the investigating officer.

Parveen, Rana and Singh, who spoke to The Wire, all said that the notices came as a surprise.

Parveen, who was visible in the anti-CAA movement, received a call from the Gautampalli police station in central Lucknow.

She said police summoned her under Section 41 (A) of the CrPC and informed her that a case has been registered against her for participating in a protest against the Hathras incident. The case has been filed against her under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 145 (joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has been commanded to disperse) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code.

“On the day of protest, the Lucknow police manhandled and dragged me through the road. Police detained me for six hours. A video of police manhandling me is also available on social media," Parveen said.

Veteran women rights activist and senior member of the All India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA) Madhu Garg also received a similar notice. Garg told The Wire that a police personnel of inspector-level arrived at her office. She was interrogated for 30 minutes, she said. 

Garg is a vocal critic of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has been an active campaigner for women's rights and has led many movements over the last three decades. She, too, was a figure of note during the anti-CAA protests.

Meena Singh of the All India Progressive Women Association (AIPWA) also received a call to appear before police. But she did not visit the police station to register her statement as police have not sent her a physical copy of the notice so far. “I will not go there until police send me a legal notice,”she added.      

Police also lodged an FIR against Sumaiya Rana and Fauzia Rana – daughters of renowned Urdu poet Munawwar Rana – for participating in the peaceful protest. 

All the activists have also been charged under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and Section 56 in the Disaster Management Act, 2005, apart from sections 188, 145, and 353.  

Also read: In Hathras ‘Conspiracy’ Plotline, a Glimpse of How Hindutva ‘Fringe’ is Really Its Mainstream

Sumaiya Rana was booked by police days before she joined the Samajwadi Party on December 29, 2020. In November, the Qaiserbagh police had sent a notice to her for allegedly opposing government policies and thus spreading public outrage. The notice was sent under Section 107/116 of the CrPC. The magistrate can proceed with such a booking if the person is within their jurisdiction or the place of the apprehended breach of the peace or disturbance is within the local limits of their jurisdiction. 

Rana said that she had appeared before the assistant commissioner at his office at Kaiserbagh Kotwali to fill a bond. "I will not sit silently against discriminatory policies of the government," she said.

Now a national spokeswoman of the Samajwadi Party, Rana said that the BJP government wants to “muzzle all voices of dissent but this is impossible in the world's largest democracy where the constitution of India has envisioned the right to peacefully protest."

Rana was seen at the anti-CAA protests at Ghanta Ghar and had also visited other towns to deliver speeches on the CAA. Cases against her were also registered during the anti-CAA protests.

According to the top police officials, UP police is investigating nearly 7,000 cases that were registered in Lucknow.  

Investigating Officer Santosh Kumar Gaud told The Wire that cases have been registered against 10 women, and now police personnel are summoning them and recording statements.

The UP police claimed in its report that a group of 30 to 35 women under the leadership of Sumaiya Rana had carried out an "anti-government procession" and violated Section 144 of the CrPC, which had come into effect because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In its FIR, the police also alleged that protesting women were not wearing masks despite the pandemic and had a scuffle with police officials.

Police had detained the women activists on the day of the protest for hours.

Around 16 FIRs had been registered against 300 protesters, mostly women, in the Thakurganj police station of Lucknow after they organised an anti-CAA protest at historical Ghanta Ghar at Hussainabad.

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