NEW DELHI: A group of activists and academicians, condemning the arrest of former JNU students’ leader Umar Khalid, on Wednesday demanded the immediate release of those booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the northeast Delhi riots and setting up of a judicial inquiry commission to punish the “real culprits”.
In a joint statement, they alleged that the democratic voices of dissent are being “gradually implicated”.
The statement came after Khalid was arrested by the Delhi Police on September 13. Khalid has been charged under the UAPA. The joint statement was issued by Syeda Hameed, writer and former member of erstwhile Planning Commission of India, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, former JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar, CPIML politburo member Kavita Krishnan, journalist Pamela Philipose and former DUTA president Nandita Narain.
Wearing masks with faces of the arrested student activists and holding placards of their names, the mother and father of Khalid also joined the protest along with other activists Bhushan demanded an independent enquiry commission be set up to probe the Delhi Police’s investigation into the communal violence. “An enquiry committee should be set up to look into the investigations by the Delhi Police in the violence. A committee also was set up for the 1984 riots,” he said. Bhushan said they recently requested President Ram Nath Kovind to constitute a commission of inquiry.