Protest and Solidarity Statements on the arrests of Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha
PROTEST AGAINST THE FACIST ONSLAUGHT ON DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
Countercurrents / Press Release by Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation
On 14th April,2020, Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha surrendered and were arrested by the NIA, pursuant to order of the Supreme Court rejecting interim protection. This order paved the way for the arrest of two more scholars under the draconian laws for their exercise of the right to free speech and dissent. We believe the arrest of these two intellectuals not only infringes their constitutionally protected rights but is a larger reflection of the fast ceding of the political, social and public space in the country.
Read full statement
PROTEST THE ARRESTS: DEMAND RELEASE OF THE 11 ARRESTED IN THE BHIMA KOREGAON CASE
Press Release by Peoples Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR )
The attempt to browbeat rights activists, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde to ‘surrender’ to the National Investigation Agency, amidst a nation-wide lockdown on account of Covid-19, marks a deep and scathing new low in the political history of contemporary India.
For over two years now, the Bhima Koregaon case, as it has come to be known, has been the mainstay for the State resorting to arrests of democratic rights activists, lawyers and journalists across the country – those who have been tirelessly raising issues of grave human rights violations in the dirty war being waged by the State in the forests at the heart of the country.
Read full statement
STOP THE POLITICAL PERSECUTION OF TELTUMBDE AND NAVLAKHA! FREE THE BHIMA-KOREGAON-11 NOW!
By India Civil Watch
India Civil Watch – International (ICW-I) strongly condemns the incarceration of Dr. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha, two of India’s foremost public intellectuals and courageous defenders of political freedoms, human rights and civil liberties. Dr. Teltumbde is also widely respected as a leading Dalit scholar, author of thirty books, who has lectured across the world on the annihilation of caste and the Dalit struggle, neoliberal capitalist plunder, and the rise of Hindutva politics.
Read full statement
NAPM CONDEMNS CONTINUED OPPRESSION OF CIVIL LIBERTIES AND TARGETING OF DISSENT
Kractivism / by National Alliance of People’s Movements
Reaffirming our faith in the Constitution on Ambedkar Jayanti
Selfless services of doctors, health and sanitation workers and spontaneous relief efforts from ordinary citizens and civil society raises hope for India
April 14/15, 2020: As the country paid homage to Babasaheb Ambedkar on his 129th birth anniversary, Prof Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha, two of India’s finest public intellectuals and activists were taken in custody by the Indian State for their ideas and lifelong commitment to the democratic values and the ideals enshrined in the Constitution. What could be the greater irony for us as a Republic ?
Read full statement
STATEMENT ON THE ARRESTS OF ANAND TELTUMBDE AND GAUTAM NAVLAKHA
By Political Science Association
As the nation was celebrating the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, his grandson-in-law Anand Teltumbde was being arrested by the National Investigation Agency along with fellow activist Gautam Navlakha, under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention)Act (UAPA).
Read full statement
ACTIVISTS DETAINED FOR PEACEFUL DISSENT
By Human Rights Watch
Counterterrorism Law Politicized in Bhima Koregaon Case
New York: Indian authorities on April 14, 2020 detained two rights activists who have been critics of government policies, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should immediately drop all charges under a counterterrorism law against Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha for allegedly inciting caste-based violence along with other activists during a demonstration in Maharashtra state in 2017.
Read more
WSS CONDEMNS THE ARRESTS OF ANAND TELTUMBDE AND GAUTAM NAVLAKHA AND DEMANDS THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
By Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS)
Today, with undeniable irony, we have witnessed the surrender/arrests of Prof. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Both Prof. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha are known to us through their activism, writing and relentless pursuit of democratic principles. They have also remained steadfastly opposed to Brahmanical Hindutva fascism in all its manifestations.
Read full statement
WOMEN DEMAND END OF TARGETING OF DISSENTS AND MINORITIES
By AIDWA, NFIW, AIPWA
We, the undersigned women’s organisations express strong concern and register our protest against the violations of civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, by the Narendra Modi-led Union government and other state governments led by the BJP. Recent developments show that the government has been targeting intellectuals and activists as well as prominent journalists who have been questioning the government’s faulty policies. This is a serious attack on their democratic, civil and legal rights. FIRs, arrests, imprisonment without evidence have become the new norm.
Read more
SOLIDARITY WITH GAUTAM NAVLAKHA, ANAND TELTUMBDE, AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS ARRESTED IN BHIMA KOREGAON CASE
By CPI-ML Liberation
The arrest of activists and scholars Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) over ridiculously trumped up charges in the Bhima Koregaon case on Ambedkar Jayanti, 2020, is a day of shame for India’s democracy. The fact that both of them, senior citizens above 60, will be incarcerated in cramped, overcrowded jails during a pandemic that poses a threat to the lives of the elderly, is especially shameful.
Read full statement
CONDEMN ARREST OF TELTUMBDE & NAVLAKHA
By CPI-M
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) strongly condemns the arrests of Anand Teltumbe and Gautam Navlakha on completely trumped up charges in the Bhima Koregaon issue. It is a matter of concern that the hon’ble Supreme Court did not postpone their arrests in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read full statement
CLAMPDOWN ON DISSENT CONTINUES DURING THE VOVID-19 PANDEMIC
Press Release By Amnesty International India
Responding to reports that human rights defenders, Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha have surrendered before the National Investigative Agency (NIA).
Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India, said:
“The clampdown on dissent in India continues. Even during a pandemic, the Government of India is targeting those critical of the government. When hard-won rights to expression and peaceful protest are weakened, everyone stands to lose.”
Read more
CONDEMN THE STATE TERROR IMPOSED BY THE FASCIST REGIMES OF INDIA AND NEPAL
By Nepalese intellectuals, writers and journalists
A joint Statement by Nepalese intellectuals, writers and journalists, demanding immediate release of Varvara Rao, Prof. Saibaba, cultural activist Maila Lama and other social activists and political prisoners.
Along with the Corona terror, we are facing state terror imposed by the fascist regimes. Nepalese revolutionary cultural- activist Maila Lama is kept in jail along with other political prisoners and the KP Oli government is ridiculing the question of the survival of the political prisoners.
Read full statement
AI-India Video: Bhima Koregaon 9: Heroes Who Fight For Your Rights
en | 6:18 min | 2019
Watch video
