Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri on Monday condemned the arrest of social activist Teesta Setalvad and former Gujarat Director-General of Police R.B. Sreekumar by the Gujarat police after the Supreme Court upheld the clean chit given to Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, in the 2002 riots case.
Mr. Alagiri said the Supreme Court had a duty to protect those fighting for justice. “It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court has called for action to be taken against Teesta Setalvad and others who were fighting against the ruling party, and is protecting people in the ruling party,” Mr. Alagiri said.
Mr. Alagiri wondered how social activists and human rights organisations could function if the courts supported what he called the “vindictive action” against those standing up for justice.
“The country is moving towards autocracy. It signals the beginning of the end of those in power,” Mr. Alagiri claimed.
People’s Union for Civil Liberties, civil society organisations and senior advocates also condemned the arrests and staged a protest at the Chennai Press Club, demanding that those arrested be released.
The Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by Zakia Jafri, calling for an investigation into the criminal conspiracy which resulted in communal violence in 2002 following the Godhra train burning incident. The court observed that all those involved in such abuse of process need to be in the dock and proceeded against in accordance with law.
V. Suresh, national general secretary of PUCL, said the State had used the observations made in the judgment to falsely and vindictively prosecute those who had struggled for justice.
“Within 24 hours of the release of the judgment, the Gujarat police arrested Setalvad. The arrest seeks to deter citizens from holding the State accountable for enabling violence. We condemn this brazen attempt to silence and criminalise those who stand for constitutional values, and who have struggled against very difficult odds to try to achieve justice for the victims of [the incident in] 2002,” Mr. Suresh said.
“This is an attack against social activists who assist the victims. Today, it is Teesta from an NGO. Tomorrow, it may be a lawyer or any other person who assists victims seeking justice. It has a chilling effect on social activists, lawyers and mediapersons,” senior advocate R.Vaigai said.
“If you arrest people who work for public causes, it undermines civil societies and democratic movements,” senior advocate N.G.R. Prasad said.
