A group of 150 prominent writers, filmmakers and activists including senior journalist Ramachandra Guha, author Amitav Ghosh, film actor Naseeruddin Shah and former Member of Rajya Sabha Rajmohan Gandhi have united their voices to seek freedom for student activist Umar Khalid alongside other Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest detainees.
In this joint statement, they strongly opposed the prolonged Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) detention without trial or bail which has forced these defendants to endure years in prison.
These signatories comprise a group that includes historian Romila Thapar, US-based scholars Gayatri Chakravarty and Akeel Bilgrami as well as Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey and human rights activist Harsh Mander.
Sharjeel Imam recently completed five years in prison while Khalid marked the 1,600th day of his imprisonment since his arrest in 2020.
The statement emphasized the surprising contrast between Umar Khalid’s comments about CAA when he described the law as supporting the divisive political forces that Mahatma Gandhi battled throughout his life.
“They are destroying the values of Mahatma Gandhi and the people of India are fighting against them. The citizens of India stand prepared to bring the nation together if those in control attempt to create division,” Khalid had delivered a speech before his arrest.
“Umar and many others like him are in prison charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), without bail, without trial, for years at an end. Not because they motivated or instigated anybody to commit any act of violence, but because they stood in defence for peace and justice and advocated non-violent dissidence against unjust laws,” read the joint statement.
The statement also demanded the release of multiple other male and female student activists including Athar Khan, Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifi, Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider and Shifa-ur Rahman.
The statement points out that the issue involves more than just Umar Khalid. It brings attention to detainees such as Gulfisha Fatima who has spent the last five years in prison while still holding her degrees in MBA and displaying history authority.
The statement queries the legal basis behind the imprisonment of Khalid Saifi who was arrested for reading India’s constitutional Preamble which contains both secularism and equality provisions.
According to the statement, the scholar Sharjeel Imam admitted to recognizing dissenting risks yet denied being charged with terrorism regarding riots that erupted one month after his detention.
Signatories maintain that they have observed a systematic pattern in which authorities prosecute individuals because their opposition voices originate from Muslim backgrounds.
The statement stated problems on how the judiciary managed the case while referencing previous rulings from the Delhi High Court about government abuse of terror laws when prosecuting the activists.
The statement highlighted two main issues – the concern about the extended refusal to grant bail and evaluation of judicial system misuse to silence protest movements.
“This repeated denial of bail and prolonged incarceration without trial is one of the most distressing aspects of Umar Khalid’s case and that of the others in this case. This is even though the high court in 2021 while granting bail to three of the accused, had made strong observations about the arguments put forth by the state,” the statement said.
