PUCL is shocked by and condemns the detention and arrest by NIA police team of 83 year old Fr. Stan Swamy from his residence in Bagaicha, Ranchi to take him to Mumbai to be remanded in the Bhima Koregaon (BK) case for allegedly being part of the larger conspiracy to cause unrest. The inhuman and insincere act of the NIA[Read More…]
Conjuring consent in a post-factual, post-truth scenario Freedom of the press is under siege: from without by the State and its thriving band of storm troopers and from within by the owners of private media who have cut loose from the rule of law and due process, rendering scores of journalists at the precipice of precarity. This seemingly relentless double[Read More…]
To: Mr. SN Srivastava, IPS Commissioner of Police, Delhi Police Headquarters, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi Subject: Urgently stop the motivated and malicious investigation and carry out bona fide investigation into the violence in North East Delhi in end February, 2020; Stop filing of charge sheet on the basis of fabricated evidence and false confessions in the conspiracy case made[Read More…]
The first of PUCL Maharashtra’s series of discussions on the impact of the lockdown on civil liberties, examined the rights of prisoners and the responsibility of the State to ensure the safety of all its citizens. The speakers for the session were Maja Daruwalla, Board Member and Senior Advisor, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Mihir Desai, Senior Counsel and Convenor,[Read More…]
The People’s Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL) is dismayed and disappointed over a Full Bench decision of the Supreme Court holding Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Advocate, guilty of criminal contempt of court for a set of tweets which the court felt “undermines the dignity and authority of the institution of the Supreme Court of India and the Chief Justice of India[Read More…]
PUCL appeals that the Government of India urgently listen to the people of J&K, initiate dialogue and restore peace Withdraw the police state: Restore freedom and democracy in the region Part A: Overview It has been over a year since 5th August, 2019, when Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister abruptly introduced a Constitutional Amendment in the Indian[Read More…]
PUCL Welcomes the NHRC directions to the Chhattisgarh Government, Ordering one lakh rupees compensation to those wrongly booked and illegally arrested. The PUCL welcomes the decision of the NHRC against the State of Chhattisgarh on its complaint number 667/33/20/2016 filed in 2016, which directs the Government of Chhattisgarh to pay compensation of Rs. one lakh each, to 13 members of[Read More…]
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) expresses its outrage and condemnation at the recent arrest of renowned linguist, Dr Hany Babu M. T., faculty member in Delhi University, by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). It shows once again the Indian State’s desperate and diabolic endevour to continuously silence intellectuals and criminalise those questioning its actions and holding different views,[Read More…]
Vara Vara Rao is a nationally renowned Telugu poet and intellectual who has been incarcerated since August, 2018 in the Bhima Koregaon case. He is considered one of the best critics in Telugu literature and has taught Telugu literature to undergraduate and graduate students for about 40 years. He founded Srujana (creation), a forum for modern literature in Telugu in[Read More…]
25th June, 2020 marks the 45th year of the Declaration of the infamous Emergency Declaration of Indira Gandhi. It is a day remembered as the day in 1975, when the Indian Government waged a war on its own people, suspending the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and turning India into an authoritarian country. 25th June is also the[Read More…]
The Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties condemns the attempt at criminalizing the writings of journalist Supriya Sharma, Executive Editor of the Scroll, the most recent victim of state attack on the media. The article, “In Varanasi village adopted by Prime Minister Modi, people went hungry during the lockdown” was published on June 5th, 2020. Among the people it reported on[Read More…]
Labour Laws Necessary to Protect Fundamental Rights of Workers PUCL is deeply concerned at the swiftness with which many states in the nation are dismantling the protection afforded to workers under their various labour laws. These laws provide many of the basic guarantees to workers – ensuring that employees get paid decent wages on time, have reasonable working hours, and[Read More…]
April 25th, 2020 marks the end of the first month of India’s gigantic, country-wide lockdown to counter and check the spread of the COVID -19 – Corona virus. As the Prime Minister gets down to discuss on 27th April, 2020, with the CMs of all the states of India, about whether to continue fully or partially with the biggest ever[Read More…]
PUCL strongly deprecates and deplores the rejection by the Supreme Court on 07th April, 2020, of the Petition filed by Gautam Navalakha and Prof. Anand Teltumbde seeking additional time to surrender before the trial court in the Bhīma Koregaon, case in view of both of them being over 65 years old and being in the `high risk category’ as[Read More…]
PUCL strongly condemns the motivated, targeted and brutal attack by the CRPF and Delhi Police on students of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi yesterday, Sunday 15th December, 2019 causing serious injuries to over 150 students including girls, and also arrest of scores of students and youngsters. By all media reports and eye witness accounts, the[Read More…]
PUCL Call to Citizens to launch Non-Cooperation Movement against CAA & NRC PUCL deplores the promulgation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 on 12th December, as a law which renders asunder the basic structure of India’s constitutional scheme founded on the stated goals of secularism, respect for diversity and peaceful coexistence of all communities, without distinction of community, caste, creed[Read More…]
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) condemns the raid on DU professor, Dr Hany Babu’s residence in Noida, Delhi, by the Pune police earlier today (10 September 2019). The unending trial of democracy and unremitting assault on the Constitution and rule of law, in the name of Bhima-Koregaon, and the McCarthy-style With-hunt and victimisation of constitutionally minded academics and[Read More…]
The PUCL condemns the abrogation of key portions of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and the bifurcation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and taking away its statehood. While the deed by itself is deceitful, the manner in which it was done is even more so. All the constitutional provisions, procedures, safeguards and values have been disregarded. What[Read More…]
The PUCL strongly condemns the attack on Indian Army personnel in Pulwama, Kashmir, which led to the killing of about 40 CRPF personnel. The killings happened in the most brutal and dehumanised way, with a RDX filled SUV ramming into the Bus which was part of a convoy carrying the army personnel on the Jammu Srinagar highway. The resulting blast[Read More…]
The PUCL strongly condemns the recent fabricated, malicious and motivated attacks against Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj and other human rights defenders, by Republic TV and its anchor Ms. Shivani Gupta, Deputy Editor Mr. Shawan Sen and its Managing Director, Mr. Arnab Goswami, by way of a series of programmes presented on Republic TV on 4th July 2018 as “Super Exclusive Breaking[Read More…]
PUCL is deeply shocked and strongly condemns the dastardly assassination of Shujaat Bukhari, Editor-in-Chief of `Rising Kashmir’ on Thursday, 14th June, 2018 evening by armed gunmen just as he was getting into his vehicle after leaving office. 2 of his personal security officers also died as a result of the shooting. A very experienced journalist Shujaat was a strong voice[Read More…]
The People’s Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL) is seriously concerned over the implication of issues raised by the 4 senior most SC judges after the Chief Justice of India (CJI) going public about their disagreement with the CJI over functioning of the judicial institution both in its administrative as also judicial sphere of functioning. In the Press Conference today, all[Read More…]
The PUCL condemns the action of Mumbai Police for registering on 16th July, 2017 a criminal case of defamation and obscenity against the comedy group, `All India Bakchod’ (AIB) for allegedly caricaturing the PM, Narendra Modi. According to the police AIB had on Thursday, 15th July, tweeted a picture of a Modi look-alike standing in a railway station, peering into[Read More…]
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties strongly condemns the raids by the CBI on 5th June 2017 on the residence and offices of Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy, co-founders of NDTV. While it is a declared position of PUCL that under our Constitutional scheme, the rule of law is supreme and no individual or institution is above the[Read More…]
The PUCL strongly condemns the illegal, unprovoked and malicious arrest by the Telangana police of a 7-member team of lawyers, journalists and human rights activists belonging to the Telangana Democratic Forum and other organisations on 25th December, 2016 at Dummagudam village of Bhadrachalam District of Telangana who were planning to visit Chhattisgarh to enquire into complaints of human rights violations[Read More…]
The PUCL strongly condemns the decision of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to punish Hindi news channel, NDTV India, for revealing “strategically – sensitive” information while covering the Pathankot attack in January, 2016 by ordering that the Channel close down telecast for a day between 9-10th November, 2016. The decision is reminiscent of the Emergency period when the media[Read More…]
PUCL (People’s Union For Civil Liberties) condemns the actions of the Bengaluru Police in foisting a case of sedition, creating enmity and other charges against Amnesty International India and unnamed staff for holding a meeting on 13th August, 2016 in Bengaluru on human rights abuses in Kashmir in which families of victims participated. From the statement of Amnesty it is[Read More…]
The PUCL is deeply concerned at the growing caste atrocities on dalits by the upper caste communities in the state, particularly in the rural areas. Of more concern is the deliberate inaction by the government machinery in providing protection to the dalit communities and making a mockery of the Prevention of Atrocities Act (1989). The recent incident in Kamagarh is an example of this. On 3rd June, 2016, eleven dalit houses were burnt down allegedly by the upper caste (Sabarna) of the village Kamagarh of the eponymous Panchayat in the Aska Block of Ganjam District.
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This article is based on the 25th Chandrashekar Memorial Lecture delivered on 20 September 2020. The original lecture was delivered in Hindi and the event was organized by Punashcha, the Indian People’s Theater Association (IPTA) and Koshish. Friends, comrades gathered here; I am very honoured to be invited to deliver the Chandrashekhar Memorial Lecture this year but I cannot say[Read More…]
