New Delhi: As former JNU student leader Umar Khalid completed four years in jail this month, his family along with those of other activists who participated in the CAA-NRC protests and were imprisoned following the 2020 Delhi riots, came together demanding their immediate release while highlighting the selective application of “bail is rule, jail is the exception” principle in granting bail despite recent pronouncements by the Supreme Court.
“It is said that any democratic society has three pillars – the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. And these should be separate. But if the Chief Justice of India invites the prime minister to his house (for a puja) and that is made viral, do I have any hope of getting justice?” said Khalid’s father S.Q.R Ilyas while speaking at a public meeting organised by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) in New Delhi.
Ilyas questioned why action is not taken against police officials when a person is found innocent.
“It is time to raise questions not just against the judiciary and the government but also against the opposition,” he said.
Along with Ilyas, the families of other political prisoners – Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Khalid Saifi, Athar Khan – all of whom participated in the CAA-NRC protests and were arrested in 2020 following the riots in Delhi, were also present at the public meeting and demanded their immediate release.
The meeting was also attended by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Supreme Court advocate Shahrukh Alam, Hartosh Singh Bal (Executive Editor at The Caravan), comedy and satire artists Kunal Kamra and Sanjay Rajoura, and actor Swara Bhasker.
“Case came up in court 62 times but no hearing”
Farzana Yasmeen, Meeran Haider’s sister, said that while the family is deeply troubled, her brother continues to be content that he raised his voice for what is right.
“This is the fifth year that he is in jail. Meeran always raised his voice for rights and justice, but did not raise his voice for anything that should warrant his imprisonment. The family is in pain, because he is in jail. But whenever I meet him he says he is happy to have raised his voice for what is right. When I attend such gatherings and then tell him that many people had come, he tells me that this gives him happiness and joy,” she said.
Haider, along with Khalid and others have been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and various provisions of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) in connection with the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.
Haider, who was arrested in February 2020, withdrew his bail application last week from the Delhi high court where it had been pending and said that he would now move a trial court.
The years of incarceration without trial or bail was also highlighted by Athar Khan’s mother, Noor Jehan. Khan has also been booked under UAPA and was arrested in July 2020.
“Our case came up in court 62 times but still there has not been a hearing. Whenever the Supreme Court says that ‘bail is the rule and jail is the exception’, we feel a sense of hope that our matter will now move. But nothing changes and we keep waiting for when he will get bail. He raised his voice for what is right, for all of us. And today he is in jail for four years,” she said.
The selective application of the Supreme Court’s recent pronouncements stressing on the principle of granting bail was also highlighted by Nargis Saifi, Khalid Saifi’s wife who said that her children are waiting for their father as they grow up.
“He raised his voice for his rights, so he was jailed. He has not been given bail even after four-and-a-half years, while those charged for rape, corruption, are being let out on bail,” she said.
Saifi also demanded greater solidarity in support of her husband and others and asked, “Where are the tens of thousands from the CAA-NRC protests? Is this how we show support for our comrades still imprisoned?”
Some protests seen as national catharsis, others as terror conspiracy
Advocate Shahrukh Alam, drawing references to the Supreme Court’s remarks during the ongoing R.G.Kar rape and murder case, where it referred to protests as a form of national catharsis said that a definition needs to be drawn about what kind of a protest constitutes national catharsis and when it is a terror conspiracy.
“Who must define this? State cannot as it is a party. The court needs to do this. Why is the police using UAPA on protestors?” she said.
“Does a protest need to have the endorsement of the majority for it to be legitimate for the court to feel this is something right? This problem of discrimination and oppression of Muslims is systemic but also individual and affects people personally,” she said.
Alam also referred to Rahul Gandhi’s recent statement in the US about religious freedom in India by citing the example of Sikhs, and questioned why “purported political allies shy away from naming Muslims.”
“RSS doesn’t believe in democracy or the Constitution”
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh who was also present at the event said that he comes from a region which is referred to as the RSS’ “nursery.”
“I come from an area which is called a nursery of the RSS. They neither believe in democracy or the constitution. Anyone who speaks for Muslims is anti national. And this ideology is a big threat to us and will remain so. The way this ideology has infiltrated every sector is a big danger to the constitution and to our democracy,” said Singh.
“The RSS is not a registered body, it does not have any membership or account. If anyone is caught they say we don’t have membership. Similarly when Nathuram Godse was caught they said we don’t have any members. They have infiltrated every sector whether it is bureaucracy or judiciary,” he added.
Singh, who is a former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, said that riots cannot take place without the knowledge of the police and the administration, and claimed that during his tenure as Madhya Pradesh chief minister no major riots took place in the state.
“Now we have to unite against the bulldozer justice of this double engine government. This bulldozer is not just being run on their houses but on their families as well. The BJP and Modi are using bulldozers on the constitution as a political weapon.”