The Alan-Thaha Human Rights Committee, Kerala, expresses its deep concern and anguish over the imminent arrest of prominent intellectuals Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde in the Bhima-Koregaon case.

The Supreme Court order earlier this week, refusing them any relief against arrest in the case under trumped up charges, is a matter of grave concern because it effectively divests the citizens of even the minimum avenues for justice and protection against a state system bent on terrorising the people and destroying even the semblance of protests and democratric resistance.

In this context, it is important to remember that both Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde are very prominent and highly respected scholar-activists in the country, with a  number of books and other publications to their credit. It is evident that they are being pursued by the state and its agencies like the Maharashtra police with an intent to terrorise and browbeat any serious intellectual efforts to challenge and expose the acts of terror on the part of the state machinery.

We, the members of the Alan-Thaha Human Rights Committee, Kerala, which has been fighting the arrest of two young students in Calicut over four months ago under the UAPA, and other signatories, express our solidarity with the duo, who are fearless fighters for protection of democratic and human rights in the country. We call upon the government and the Prime Minister of India to reconsider their position in the case as it is unjust and violative of basic rights. We also urge them to desist from acts of state terror at this point, as the country is fighting a terrible pandemic,  a time when it is next to impossible for the citizens to put up a democratic resistance through public platforms and organisations of a peaceful nature. Any arrest at this moment would only mean that the state and its agencies are taking cynical advantage of the present situation we are facing, and that the citizens are being denied their fundamental rights even at this point of great national peril.

K. Sachidanandan

B R P Bhaskar

Arundhathy Dhuru

Sandeep Pande

Goutham Modi

B. Rajeevan

Joy Mathew

Ajitha K

P K Pokker

J Devika

K E N

Kalpatta Narayanan

K P Kannan

Sunil P Ilayitam

J Prabhash

Savithri Rajeevan

Appukkuttan Vallikkunnu

Venketesh Ramakrishnan

Raman Mahadevan

Rammohan K T

K R Meera

Priya P Pillai

V K Joseph

P K Parakkadavu

V R Sudheesh

Rethy Devi

Sidharthan Paruthikkad

S Gopalakrishnan

P J James

V S Anil kumar

Ajayan Adat

Anwar Ali

Sudha Padmaja Francis

Kamal K M

K Vinod Chandran

P T John

K K Rema

M K Dasan

Pramod Puzhankara

Mythri Prasad Aleyamma

Sajitha Madathil

Maithreyan

V P Vasudevan

Umeshbabu K C

P F Mathews

Deepesh T

Premchand

N P Chekkutty

Azad

Sudeep K S

Dileep Raj

Deepak Narayanan

Muhsin Parari

K N Ajoykumar

Asif Kunnath

M M Sacheendran

Sulfath M

Smitha Neravath

Priyesh kumar

K S Hariharan

K. P Prakasan

Gulab Jan

C R Neelakantan

Ravi Paloor

V K Suresh

Reshma Bharadwaj

Jayan P M

Manoj P T

Dinu Veyil

Viji Penkoottu

N C Haridasan

Shinu kumar

Kusumam Joseph

T R Venugopalan

K P Sethunath

Suresh O P

Aparna Vinod

P. Kumarankutty

N Sasidharan

Suhara V P

Iris

M M Khan

Balakrishnan V A

C U Thresia

R K Bijuraj

N K Bhoopesh

Chandrasekharan (Chans)

Sheeba Ameer

Mrudula Devi Sasidharan

K. Santhosh kumar

T L Santhosh

K K Surendran

Jossy P C

Yakoob

Shoukath Ali Eroth

Sreenivasan E K

Moncy P J

K Murali

V Vijaya kumar

Surendranath C

K P Vijaya kumar

A Prathapan

Haseena

Sheeja V

S V Rajadurai

Mahathi Ravi Sanghamithra

Appu Balusseri

Muhammed Salim

Girija K P

Bindu.K C

Carmel Christy

K.N.Sunandan

Suresh.M

Deepthi Narayanan

T V Vijayan

T.Narayanan Vattoli