Activists from several prominent human rights and civil liberties organisations spoke at the Mumbai Press Club on Wednesday, condemning the arrest of the five activists by the Pune Police, with senior Bombay High Court counsel Suresh Rajeshwar speaking about his professional association with Arun Ferreira, one of the five arrested.
Mr. Rajeshwar, who is a part of the Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights, said he was not going to speak regarding the arrests per se, but about Mr. Ferreira, as they had been practising law together for the past two years.
“Arun Ferreira was charged with some Naxal activity for which he was in jail for five to seven years, and around 10 to 13 cases were slapped against him. He was acquitted in every case. He completed his law degree during his time in prison. When the first set of arrests happened on June 6 in the Bhima-Koregaon incident, which included Shoma Sen and Surendra Gadling, Mr. Ferreira was defending some of the accused in that trial,” Mr. Rajeshwar said.
The senior counsel said the Pune Police knew this. He said that there is an atmosphere of targeting lawyers who decide to defend people’s rights and take on the state machinery.
Mr. Rajeshwar said that on Monday, he had accompanied Mr. Ferreira for a bail application hearing in the high court. “Before leaving, he told me he would be coming to office late the next day, since he had to take his mother-in-law for a medical check-up. But at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, I found out that there were raids happening,” he said.
Justice B.G. Kolse Patil said the people who had been arrested on Tuesday and the five arrested in June had no links to the Elgar Parishad. Activist Susan Abraham, who was also present, narrated what happened in court. “They are now saying this is a nationwide conspiracy and that they have 260 letters with fresh evidence, for which they said they will need 90 more days. After 180 days, who knows what the charge sheet will say,” she said. Ms. Abraham also highlighted that releasing documents to the media was blatantly illegal and barred by the Bombay High Court. “They are just doing this to influence public opinion. Some legal action has to be taken against the continuous release of fabricated documents to the media,” she said.
All the activists also demanded that the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) be repealed as it was unconstitutional. “The UAPA is never misused. It is always used. The Act was created for repression,” activist Mihir Desai said.
