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Continued incarceration and harassment of dalit rights activist Chandrashekhar Azad under NSA

Image Credit :- The Week

Chandrashekhar Azad

Uttar Pradesh

 

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on May 4th, regarding the continued incarceration and harassment of dalit rights activist Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad under NSA. He along with Mr. Vinay Pratap Singh formed the ‘Bhim Army’, named after Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar.

On June 8, 2017, Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan was arrested and 23 cases were filed against him. He was not present anywhere near the place of occurrence of the clashes and despite that he is falsely accused of rioting, armed with deadly weapons, unlawful assembly, attempt to murder, assaulting public servants, trespassing and breach of peace. Five months later, in November 2017, the Allahabad High Court had granted him bail in all the cases as the police could not provide evidence of his specific role in the incidents of violence or of possessing weapons of any kind. There were reports in the media that the High Court commented that charges against Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan appear to have been politically motivated.

Within hours of the High Court order, the Uttar Pradesh government invoked the draconian National Security Act (NSA) against Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan and took him under administrative detention till February 2018 as per the order of a non-judicial advisory board established under NSA. Of the 40 prominent activists and leaders of Bhim Army who were arrested and tortured in jail, all of them have been granted bail, except Mr. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan who continues to languish in Saharanpur Jail. His health also deteriorated due to lack of adequate medical attention and his condition became critical.

HRDA prayed for thorough investigation and to take immediate actions on the perpetrators of the case.

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