New Delhi: Thirteen North American and Canadian diaspora organisations have issued a joint statement urging the Indian government to stop persecuting its critics and dropping the charges against writer Arundhati Roy and former professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain.
On June 14 this year, Lieutenant governor of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena, had sanctioned the prosecution of Roy and Hussain, a former professor at the Central University of Kashmir, under Section 45 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with a 2010 speech. They are accused of “delivering provocative speeches in public”.
Referring to the electoral setback suffered by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the statement said, “In the normal course of events that [setback] could have led to a diminution of the regime’s aggressive behaviour towards dissidents. But, as the old saying goes, a leopard cannot change its spots and the chances of Modi toning down his autocratic impulses are low.”
The diaspora groups called the move to prosecute Roy and Hussain as “the latest manifestation of Modi’s authoritarianism”.
Reproduced below are the full statement and the list of signatories.
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Condemn Indian Govt Prosecution of Arundhati Roy and Showkat Hussain
The historic election results last month left the Modi regime with a minority in Parliament needing to enter a coalition to be able to form a government. In the normal course of events that could have led to a diminution of the regime’s aggressive behavior towards dissidents. But, as the old saying goes, a leopard cannot change its spots and the chances of Modi toning down his autocratic impulses are low. The latest manifestation of Modi’s authoritarianism is the proposed prosecution announced by Delhi’s Lt. Gov. Saxena on June 14, 2024 of the famous writer Arundhati Roy and retired law professor Showkat Hussain Sheikh under the draconian UAPA code for “provocative speeches” made at a forum on Kashmir in 2010, fully 14 years ago! As a supposedly law-abiding nation, doesn’t India have a statute of limitations for alleged crimes not amounting to murder like most other democratic countries? As an editorial in the Frontier newsweekly of June 30-July 6 points out “the very invocation of UAPA after 14 years is technically problematic as experts say in this case UAPA bypasses the statute of limitations and the ‘top court stay on sedition law’.”
A number of political parties in India such as TMC, CPM and CPI have strongly condemned the prosecution of Roy and Sheikh as having no logic except of the fascist kind. On June 29, the Hindu newspaper reported that the top UN human rights official voiced concern over the use of anti-terror law in India to silence critics and urged authorities to drop cases against author Arundhati Roy over 2010 comments. Reportedly, the UN Human Rights office led by High Commissioner Volker Türk in a post on X (formerly Twitter) said: “#India: We are concerned by the use of #UAPA anti-terror law to silence critics. Repeat call for review of law & release of human rights defenders detained under it. Urge authorities to drop cases against Arundhati Roy and Sheikh Showkat Hussain over comments on Kashmir.”
Ms. Roy was very recently honoured with the prestigious Pen Pinter Prize 2024.
Along with the views expressed by many distinguished writers, the undersigned organisations strongly condemn the proposed prosecution of Arundhati Roy and Sheikh Showkat Hussain and call on the Indian government to cancel it and stop persecuting distinguished writers for exercising their freedom of speech under the provisions of the Indian Constitution.
- Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association, Winnipeg
- Gursharan Singh Memorial Lecture Committee, Vancouver
- Progressive Cultural Association, Calgary
- Taraksheel Society of Canada
- South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), Vancouver
- CERAS (Centre sur l’asie du sud), Montreal
- South Asian Women’s Community Centre (SAWCC), Montreal
- Teesri Duniya Theatre, Montreal
- Femmes de diverses origines/Women of Diverse Origins (FDO-WDO), Montreal
- Canadian Forum for Human Rights and Democracy in India (CFHRDI)
- Secular Peoples Association of Edmonton
- South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC)
- India Civil Watch International (ICWI)
