Rajinder Sachar, former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, has said that a democratic society cannot tolerate police excesses in the name of maintenance of security.
He was addressing a convention on protection of democratic rights, organised by Keraleeyam, here on Sunday.
“The police do not have the rights to search a place without a court order,” he said. He criticised the police for having raided the office of Keralayeem, a magazine that focussed on human rights and environmental issues, recently.
He stated that the State could intervene in the individual’s freedom of expression only if there was a threat to national security. “Whatever that challenges or criticises the State’s doings is now interpreted as a threat to national security. This is fascism of the highest order,” he added.
He said corporates were controlling the Central government. “Supporters of democracy should prevent the country from moving into another Emergency. Kerala should take the lead in fighting fascism,” he said.
He was one of the authors of a report brought out in April 1990 by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and others entitled, ‘Report on Kashmir Situation’.
He argued before the Supreme Court that the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) should be quashed since it violated fundamental rights. In March 2005, he was appointed to a committee to study the condition of the Muslim community in India and to prepare a comprehensive report on their social, economic and educational status.
The other speakers included S.P. Udayakumar, Priya Pillai, Kaleeswaram Raj, M. Geethanandan, C.R. Neelakantan, Simon Britto, Hashim Chendapilly, M.R. Govindan, Vilayodi Venugopalan and Sharath Chelur.
