The People’s Union for Civil Liberties denounces the Gujarat government’s persecution of whistle-blowers

January 1, 2011: People’s Union for Civil Liberties strongly condemns the Gujarat government’s campaign of calumny
against and attempt to frame under false charges human rights defender Teesta Setalvad of Citizens for Justice and Peace, lawyer MM Tirmizi, victim survivors of the Lunawada massacre and media person Rahul Singh for exposing the Gujarat police’s callousness and cruelty in the Lunawada massacre and mass burial case.

Teesta Setalvad, her organisation, CJP, and lawyer, Tirmizi, with the help of the kin of the victims were instrumental in getting the high court orders in 2006 and then Supreme Court orders in 2008 for a dignified burial of the massacre victims’ mortal remains. These were the victims of the 2002 genocide in Gujarat. It is well known that the Gujarat police had callously dumped the bodies near the Paanam river at Lunawada in Godhra district of Gujarat.

The national outcry following media reports on the efforts of Citizens for Justice and Peace and the court judgements forced the Gujarat government to ultimately hand over the bodies for a decent burial. Following the rejection by the Gujarat high court of the victim survivors’ petition for a CBI investigation into the tampering of evidence in the Lunawada case, the Gujarat government saw an opportunity to persecute whistle-blowers and human rights defenders.

As Rais Khan, the local CJP representative, dismissed from the organisation for irregularities, switched sides under the influence of the accused and the police in the Lunawada case, the Gujarat government has increased its efforts to teach Teesta and other co-activists, lawyers and journalists a lesson. Thus they have issued summons to the Headlines Today correspondent, Rahul Singh, who, as Sahara TV correspondent, had publicised the Gujarat government’s misdeeds.
PUCL fears that, emboldened by Dr Sen’s conviction under trumped up charges in Chhattisgarh, the Gujarat government will make a swift move to arrest Teesta and other human rights defenders, lawyers, media persons and others under trumped up charges of doctoring evidence in the Lunawada case. We see this as the Gujarat government’s ploy to influence the courts before its imminent judgement in the Lunawada massacre case.

The PUCL has decided to lodge a complaint with the NHRC against this persecution.

Mahi Pal Singh, Kavita Srivastava
National Secretaries, PUCL n

(People’s Union for Civil Liberties, founded in 1976, is India’s oldest and largest human rights organisation; website: www.pucl.org.)