Left parties in the State on Wednesday demanded that the FIR registered against Professor Anand Teltumbde in the Bhima Koregaon case be quashed, saying that he was falsely accused and charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for having “Maoist connections”.
“Retired Justices P.B. Sawant B.G. Kolse Patil were the conveners of the Elgar Parishad. It is due to their insistence that Dr. Teltumbde accepted the position of coordinator for the meeting. However, he did not attend the public meeting as he disagreed with the organisers’ views,” Mahendra Singh of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) said.
Left parties will also be holding a protest on Friday at Azad Maidan for the charges to be dropped against them. Mr. Singh said that critics of Narendra Modi and those who oppose Hindutva are being suppressed across the country. “The ruling government is using the UAPA vehemently against those who speak against the government,” Prakash Reddy of the Communist Party of India (CPI), said.
Poet Vara Vara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and activists Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Gautam Navlakha were arrested by the Maharashtra Police after raids were conducted on August 28.
Mr. Teltumbde’s premises in Goa were also searched during the same and his name was added to the FIR. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on January 14, refused to quash the FIR against him but granted him four weeks to apply for bail.
After the Supreme Court order, several activists, academics, students and writers including authors Meena Kandasamy and Arundhati Roy have demanded that the FIR be quashed. A group of Ambedkarite associations from across the world have also demanded the withdrawal of the charges against Mr. Teltumbde.
