In Support of Teesta Setalvad and others: Revenge is the only motive of the vindictive Modi government

SAHMAT
Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust
29, Ferozshah Road, New Delhi-1
Tel: 011-23381276, 23070787
Email. sahmat8@yahoo.com

26.3.2014

Press Statement

In Support of Teesta Setalvad and others

Revenge is the only motive of the vindictive Modi government 

We are shocked and outraged by the continuing attempt of the highly vindictive Modi government and the Gujarat police to somehow implicate activists Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, along with three victim-survivors of the state-sponsored Gujarat carnage in 2002 on patently trumped-up charges.

This is nothing but a desperate bid to delay or derail the justice process, in particular Zakia Jafri’s appeal which is now before the Gujarat High Court. Mrs. Jafri has accused Gujarat chief minister and home minister, Narendra Modi along with 59 other top politicians, police officers and civil servants of conspiracy for mass murder and other serious criminal offences.

It is significant that the Supreme Court appointed amicus curiae in the case, Mr. Raju Ramachandran, has told the apex court there was enough prima facie evidence to prosecute Modi.

Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand are being especially targeted as they are among the founder members of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and have been at the forefront of the struggle for justice for the victims-survivors of the Gujarat pogrom.

Equally condemnable is the hounding in the same alleged “cheating” case, of three office bearers of Gulberg Housing Society, Ahmedabad, each of whom lost several family members when police watched as frenzied mobs attacked their colony on February 27, 2002. Among them is Tanvir Jafri whose father and former Congress MP, Ehsan Jafri was mercilessly butchered along with 68 others.

CJP is today nationally and internationally recognised and respected for the sustained efforts of its team of lawyers resulting in 117 of the perpetrators being given life sentences by the trial courts. Among them is former BJP MLA and minister in Modi cabinet Maya Kodnani and Gujarat’s Bajrang Dal leader, Babu Bajrangi for their role in the Naroda Patiya massacre.

Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand have already filed affidavits in the courts, rebutting each and every charge in detail. What’s more, they have accused the Gujarat police of spreading falsehood through affidavits filed in court.

The latest malicious move of the Modi government and the Gujarat police is a clear indicator that revenge is the shape of things to come.

As citizens committed to the Rule of Law, we denounce the vengeful action of the Modi government and the Gujarat police, and demand immediate withdrawal of the motivated and baseless FIR against Teesta Setalvad, Javed Anand, Tanvir Jafri and the office-bearers of the Gulberg  Society.

Romila Thapar              Rooprekha Verma                    Sashi Kumar

C.P. Chandrasekhar                 Prabhat Patnaik                        Anil Bhatti

Archana Prasad                        Vivan Sundaram                       Ram Rahman   

Madangopal Singh                    M.K. Raina                              Ajeet Caur                  

Irfan Habib                               Githa Hariharan                        Gitanjali Shree

Indira Chandrasekhar               Jasodhra Bagchi                       Jagmati Sangwan

K.M. Shrimali                           Sudhir Chandra                        Shireen Moosvi

Sohail Hashmi                          Amiya Kumar Bagchi         Aditya Nigam                          

Ajith Pillai                                 Ali N. Rizavi                             Amar Farooqui

Amit Sen Gupta                        Anil Chandra                            Anuradha Chenoy                    

Arjun Dev                                Arpana Caur                            Asad Zaidi

B.P. Sahu                                 Badri Raina                              Biswamoy Pati

D.N. Jha                                  E. Somanathan             Faizan Haider Naqvi

Geeta Kapur                            Ghayur Alam                            Indira Arjun Dev

Iqtidar Alam Khan                    Ishrat Alam                               Jauhar Kanungo

Jayati Ghosh                             Kamal Mitra Chenoy                Kesavan Veluthat

Keval Arora                             Kumar Shahani             Lata Singh

Lima kanungo                           Madhu Prasad                          Zoya Hasan

Madhusree Dutta                      Malini Bhattacharya                  Mihir Bhattacharya

MMP Singh                              Mohan Rao                              Moloyashree Hashmi

N.K. Sharma                            Najaf Haider                            Nalini Taneja

Nandakumar                            Navjot Altaf                             Nikhil Kumar

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay           Nilima Sheikh                           Mrinalini Mukherjee
Parthiv Shah                             Nivedita Menon                        Utsa Patnaik    

Prabhat Shukla             Pradeep Saxena                       Praful Bidwai

R.C. Thakran                           Rahul Verma                            Rajendra Prasad

Rakhshanda Jalil                       Zafar Agha                               Ramesh Rawat

Rebecca Kurian                        Rekha Awasthi             S. Kalidas

S.Z.H. Jafri                               Saba Hasan                              Sashi Kumar

Shakti Kak                               Shamim Akhtar             Shamshad

Shikha Ghosh                           Wasi Haider                             Shohini Ghosh

Sukumar Muralidharan  V. Ramakrishna