Avinas Tiwari, Anupam Varma and Rupa Shukla 

HRD and student activist associated with Naujawan Bharat Sabha.

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India regarding a politically motivated and fabricated FIR against Mr. Avinash Tiwari, Ms. Rupa Shukla, and Mr. Anupam Varma by the Lucknow police. Mr. Tiwari, Mr. Verma are student activists and are associated with Naujawan Bharat Sabha (NBS) and Ms. Shukla is associated with Naujawan Bharat Sabha and Stree Mukti League, an organization working for the rights of women.   

A campaign known as “Jan Swashtya Adhikari Abhiyan” was being run nationally by various NGOs and organizations including the NBS and Stree Mukti league. The major demands of the campaign were to nationalise the healthcare system, economic support to those who lost their livelihood, relaxation of IPR on COVID-19 vaccination, ration for all, immunisation and health care facilities for all frontline workers, including sanitation workers and health workers.

They were attacked by the local councillor Mr. Rohit Dubey and his supporters when the HRDs were circulating pamphlets to the people on the street on May 17, 2021, articulating the campaign’s demand. Police came and took them to the police station, instead of the assailants. They were made to sign a piece of paper without being allowed to read what was written in it. They later came to know that FIR was registered against them under various sections of Indian Penal Code 188, 269, and 270.   

The FIR against the HRDs is politically motivated and a serious violation of the constitutional rights guaranteed under Article-19 of the Indian Constitution. It also violates Article-21 of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights (UDHR), Article-19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which provides for the right to live without any fear, intimidation, harassment, or mental torture, right to freedom of expression, right to freedom of opinion, expression, and information also respectively.