By TCN News,
New Delhi: Civil rights activists have condemned the vindictive actions’ against human rights activist Teesta Setalvad secretary of Citizen's for Justice and Peace and her husband Javed Anand.
“In the latest round of vindictive actions against human rights defender Teesta Setalvad secretary of Citizen's for Justice and Peace the Gujarat police Crime Branch has registered a false FIR on malicious grounds of cheating etc. This time the vindictiveness of the Gujarat police has extended to also implicating two Survivors Salimbhai Sandhi who lost five family members including his son Mohammed and Firoz Gulzar Pathan who also lost four from his family in the vicious attack on Gulberg Society on 28.2.2002. Javed Anand also a human rights defender has also been roped in as a co-accused in this malicious and motivated case,” a joint statement said.
The timing of the FIR is significant given the fact that for a full eleven months after CJP and Sabrang had given satisfactory explanations to the Crime Branch investigations had been dropped. In a written complaint to the Crime Branch, Ahmedabad police, the office bearers of Gulberg Society had accused complainant Feroze Khan of forging the letterhead of the society. A former employee of CJP, Rais Khan has been at the root of this and 2 other false criminal complaints against Teesta Setalvad. In both he has been aggressively aided by the Gujarat police.
The sudden filing of this FIR soon after the Ahmedabad Magistrate's acceptance of the SIT report is not without significance. The timing of this FIR replete with a threat of arrest is seen by us as efforts to prevent prompt filing of appeal in the Zakia Jafri case against Narendra Modi and 59 others.
These activists see the FIR as a “deliberate campaign to vilify the efforts to procure justice for the victims of the carnage of 2002 and strongly condemn the mala fide attempts to embroil human rights activists like Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand in false cases and demand an immediate withdrawal of these cases.”
They have extended their solidarity to the struggle for the rights of the 2002 victims and support to Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand.
The joint statement was signed by following persons:
Achin Vanaik, Academics
Aditi Mangaldas, Artist
Aamir, ANHAD
Ahmed Sohaib, Academics/JTSA
Ambarien Alqadr, Academics/JTSA
Asad, Activist JSSF
Anuradha Bhasin Jmawal, Senior Journalist
Annie Raja, NFIW
Anuradha Chenoy, Academics
Apoorvanand, Academics
Anwar khalil, Advocate
Arshad Ajmal, Activist
Abha Bhaiya,
Azam Khan, Hyderabad
Bhasha, Senior Journalist
Bhavna Sharma, Anhad
Bakhtiyar Shiekh, Law Gradute
Colin Gonsalves, Human Rights Law Network
Cranti, Ahmedabad
Darpana Academy
Eisar, Advocate
Gulrez kamal Warsi
Harsh Dobhal, Journalist
Harsh Kapoor, South Asian Citizens Web
Indu Prakash Singh, CityMakers Rights Defender
Ikshula Arora, JSSF
Jaya Mehta, Economist/Sandarbh Kendra Indore
Jayshree Joshi Eashwar
Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Academics
Kavita Srivastava, PUCL
KM Shrimali, Historian
KN Panikkar, Historian
Kumar Sundaram, Anti Nuclear Activist
Manisha Sethi, Academics/JTSA
Mansi Sharma, Activist
Manan Trivedi, Anhad
Mohammad Arif, AISF
Mohd Shariq, Advocate
Nabanipa Bhattacharjee, Academics/JTSA
Nandita Das, Actor/Producer
Navaid Hameed, MOMIEN
ND Pancholi, PUCL
Noorjehan Safia Neyaz, BMMA
Preetika Nanda JSSF
Praful Bidwai, Writer/Activist
Purwa Bharadwaj, Activist
Ram Puniyani, Writer/Activist
Rupesh, Cultural Activist/Paigham-e-Mohabbat
Sanghamitra Misra, Academics/JTSA
Sanjay Kapoor, Senior Editor
Sanjiv Bhatt, IPS
Sohail Hashmi, Filmmaker/Writer
Satya Sivaraman, Journalist
Shabnam Hashmi, Social Activist/Anhad
Sheba George, Sahrwaru
Shahid Ali, Advocate
Surya Gridhyal JSSF
Saiyed Danish JSSF
Shweta Sanjiv Bhatt, Gujarat
Suman Bhattacharyya, Kolkata
Sukumar Muralidharan, Senior Journalist
Sunil Sagar, Advocate
Shoeb Shakil, Advocate
Tanweer Fazal, Academics/JTSA
Tanveer Husain khan, ANHAD
Tajally Shehreyar JSSF
Tanveer Nasrin, Kolkata
Umar Daraj, Advocate
Vineet Tiwari, General Secretary, PWA Indore
Vinod Kumar, Cultural Activist/Paigham-e-Mohabbat
Wilfred D Costa, INSAF
Zakia Soman, BMMA