Arundhati Roy and other intellectuals address press conference, condemn arrest of activists
New Delhi, Aug 30 (IBNS) : Noted activists and authors on Thursday joined together to condemn the recent arrest of five activists in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence and to protest the raids on the houses of five others under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
They aired their voice at a press conference at the Press Club of India in the national capital.
Those present at the press conference included Arundhati Roy,Prashant Bhushan, Bezwada Wilson and Aruna Roy.
On Tuesday, police teams had arrested activist-poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj in Faridabad, and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi, after conducting raids at their residence.
They were arrested for their alleged links with the Bhima-Koregaon violence and Maoists.
The Pune police had been conducting countrywide raids on people suspected of having Maoist links to the Bhima-Koregaon violence.
After hearing petitions by activists against the arrests of the five, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that all five activists be kept under house arrest till September six. There will also be a stay on their transit remand till then.
The rights groups that have organised the press conference are The Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS).
Other speakers at the event are Harish Dhawan from PUDR, Kalyani Menon from WSS, ND Pancholi (PUCL) and Sanjay Parikh (PUCL). Activist Jignesh Mevani is also present at the press conference.
In a joint statement issued by the groups, they said the "targeting of these democratic rights activists and organisations is an attack on the poor and marginalised sections of our society on whose behalf these activists have been raising their voices."
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