New Delhi: Expressing concern over the rise in the number of political prisoners in India since 2014, Welfare Party of India (WPI) president Dr. SQR Ilyas addressing media personnel on Thursday in New Delhi called for the release of such prisoners who have been raising their voices against the ruling regime.
During the interaction with media, Dr Ilyas underscored that "Ever since this government came into power, people who have been raising their voices against human rights violations, CAA-NRC, AFSPA, Sedition,those people are being directly targeted and are put behind the bars which shows that this government cannot tolerate dissent."
WPI organized a people's tribunal on August 31 as a peaceful grassroots initiative to create a space for re-examining the evidence and arguments with a purpose of adjudication of questions of legal responsibility for a large scale violation of human rights through incarceration of political prisoners.
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The jury of the people's tribunal consisted of Retd Justice SS Parkar (Mumbai HC), Senior Advocate Supreme Court Prashant Bhushan, Dr Zafrul Islam , ex Chairman Delhi minority commission and others.
The families of victims who presented their case before the jury were Umar Khalid, Khalid saifi, Safford zargar, Prof Saibana, Mr Haribabu and a few others. Case histories of Natasha Narwal, Siddique Kappan, Gautam Navlakaha were presented before the jury.
In its observation, Dr Ilyas noted that the jury observed that police is using brutal force to convert those arrested to become police informers. The Panel also suggested that the police should be made accountable and the faulty police officials should be punished for implicating innocent people on fake and fabricated charges.
"We've sent a letter to the President calling for the release of such political prisoners planted under fabricated charges and have demanded for the repeal of draconian laws such as AFSPA, NIA Act, Sedition, UAPA and others", noted Dr Ilyas.
