VISAKHAPATNAM: Human Rights Forum (HRF) has demanded that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the state government of AP and Telangana drop the fabricated charges against HRF representative VS Krishna and members of other rights, dalit and women’s organisations.
HRF AP state general secretary K Sudha and president UG Srinivasulu, in a statement here on Tuesday, said attempts to suppress dissent should be stopped immediately, and that efforts to criminalise human rights work will never succeed. “We are not an adjunct of either the Maoists or any political party. HRF will continue doing what it has been doing since it took birth in 1998 with a broad-based and truly independent human rights movement. The UAPA must be removed from the statute books,” they said.
They said personnel of the NIA along with local police conducted a raid on the residence of VS Krishna in Visakhapatnam last week. The raid started about 5.35 pm on March 31 and ended 2.30 am. In all, the NIA team seized six hard disks, one mobile, three SIM cards, three SD cards and a few documents from his residence. Krishna’s and his family’s bank details were photographed, and the NIA team interrogated him for eight hours at their offices in Vizag on April 1 and 2.
The HRF leaders reiterated that the accusations against Krishna and functionaries of several other organisations are clearly an exercise in intimidation intended to stifle lawful dissent and protest. They said the contents of the FIRs are full of lies.
“In the Munchingput FIR, Krishna has been accused of influencing Vakapalli rape survivors to depose falsely against the policemen... It is because of the sheer resilience of the women of Vakapalli and the intervention of the High Court in 2012 and the Supreme Court in September 2017, that the trial is continuing in the SC, ST Special Court at Visakhapatnam,’’ they said.