Feminists in India across religious, caste, class and sexuality issued a statement condemning the crackdown on Muslims and women activists in New Delhi. These activists were at the forefront at the protest against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
“As feminists we decry this systematic crackdown on, and mis-representation of, the peaceful and constitutional anti-CAA-NRC-NPR movement. Led so powerfully by Muslim women across the country, these protests witnessed a new wave of women stepping out in their own neighbourhoods in huge numbers, defying social structures and asserting their rights as citizens of a secular, democratic republic — one of the most historic moments and movements, since independence,” they wrote in a statement.
The 1,100 signatories to the statement alleged that the Delhi Police were rounding up people at the behest of the Union Home Ministry.
Multiple students were detained and charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The signatories include activists such as Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, Shabnam Hashmi, Soni Sori, Sadaf Jahar, Anjali Bhardwaj and Teesta Setalvad, authors such as Meena Kandasamy and Gita Hariharan, senior journalists, advocates, filmmakers, student activists and feminist groups.
The statement highlights three Muslim women who have been booked — 25-yr-old MBA student Gulfisha who was arrested on April 9 on charges of sedition, Jamia Coordination Committee Safoora Zargar who is three months pregnant, and former Municipal Councillor Ishrat Jahan.
“Despite claims by the police of ‘finding the real culprits’, the organized and premeditated nature of the violence on the minority community and the great asymmetry in losses and deaths between affected communities is yet to be accounted for. Right-wing leaders of the BJP such as Kapil Mishra and Anurag Thakur who openly threatened violence have not even been named in FIRs. Those who fired at gatherings are out on bail. Reports of 'out-of-towners' brought in to perpetuate the violence have yet to be subjects of investigation,” the statement stated.
The signatories made five demands:
> That the Delhi Police make all FIRs, arrests and detentions public, along with their legal status, and a free and fair investigation into all incidents of violence be conducted
> False cases against peaceful anti-CAA protesters be dropped and all those arrested on trumped-up charges must be released immediately
> People who instigated hate and perpetuated the violence be booked
> That detentions, intimidation and harassment of those who assert the right to protest be stopped
> Prisons be decongested and political prisoners be released
> UAPA and the sedition law be repealed