A State-level collective of various human rights forums will hold a convention in front of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on February 25 against the misuse of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and other police atrocities.
The collective has asked political party leaders to make their stance clear on various human rights violation issues in the State at the convention.
Coordination committee leaders said here on Thursday that the meet would request political party leaders to openly declare their observations on the misuse of UAPA, encounter killings in the name of preventing terrorism, and euthanasia. The demand to conduct a judicial inquiry into the Nilambur encounter killing of Maoist leaders too would be placed for open discussions, they added.
The leaders said a policy-level unity among various political parties was the need of the hour to justifiably address human rights issues and fight violations. The meet would also strive to form a collective of like-minded politicians to work together and make effective interventions on time, they said.
A senior leader of the coordination committee said the Police Department in the State was trying to go back on its promise to withdraw the forged cases under UAPA against various human rights activists. “The government has the responsibility to look at their concerns and save human rights activists from the unlawful torture using unjust laws,” he added.
The activist said the support of political party leaders would also be sought to pass a resolution in the Kerala legislature against the legalisation of euthanasia. Instead of legalising mercy killing, the government should come up with measures to offer quality treatment to the needy, he pointed out.
