Revolutionary writer G. Kalyan Rao on Monday demanded the repeal of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act allegedly being misused by those in power to put behind bars the human rights activists across the country.
Leading a protest by members of the UAPA Repeal Agitation Committee in front of Prakasam Bhavan here, he said the UAPA had been misused to arrest intellectuals like former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba who had been suffering from serious disabilities and quell dissent. Nagpur Central Jail inmate Pandu Narote serving life imprisonment along with Saibaba and four others had died of swine flue in prison as the jail authorities did not provide him proper treatment.
The Maharashtra police had allegedly foisted a case in connection with Koregaon Bhima violence against intellectuals like Varavara Rao, Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navalakha, Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira and put them behind bars, said Organisation for protection of Democracy State president Ch. Sudhakar while pressing for scrapping of the ‘‘draconian’‘ law.
