Kawalpreet Kaur, president of the Delhi unit of All India Students’ Association (AISA) on Wednesday said that Delhi Police’s action of seizing her mobile phone was an attempt to instil fear and intimidate students for their activism.
Delhi Police on April 27 had seized Ms. Kaur’s mobile phone in connection with investigations into the north-east Delhi riots.
Stating that as a student activist she had remained active in mobilising students against attacks on public funded institutions, movements on social and gender justice and participated in peaceful demonstrations against the CAA, NPR and NRC, Ms. Kaur termed the police action as “outrageous.”
In a statement Ms. Kaur said: “Delhi Police’s action of seizing my phone is outrageous and is an attempt to instil fear among us all. Worse is that all this is happening at a time when the entire world is in lockdown faced with a pandemic and it is difficult to hold mass protests and access legal help... let us stand united against the intimidating tactics of Delhi Police amidst lockdown.”
‘Struggle must go on’
“It is deeply shocking and disturbing to know that the police is trying to intimidate me for my activism, for speaking in defence of the Constitution. Our struggle to uphold our Constitution and democratic rights must go on despite the government’s attempt to intimidate and silence voices of democracy and peace,” the statement read.
The students’ association on Tuesday had alleged that the seizure memo handed to Ms. Kaur cited a First Information Report with a “slew of charges including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
