October 3, 2011
PUCL Condemns Raid at the House of Kavita Srivastava at Jaipur
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) strongly condemns the outrageous and uncalled for act of raid at the residence of Kavita Srivastava, PUCL national secretary in Jaipur early morning today (3 October 2011). The raid was conducted by the Chhattisgarh Police with active assistance of Rajasthan Police, supposedly searching for a maoist. We understand that this was done at the behest of inputs from central intelligence agencies which prompted Chhattisgarh police to seek a search warrant. The raid is a scandalous act of maligning, intimidation and harassment to muzzle dissent at the behest of the government of Rajasthan which is out to victimise human rights activists who expose its misdeeds of atrocities against Muslim minorities and poor. The arrival of police with a truck load of them is nothing but to create fear amongst the family members of Kavita Srivastava and others. There is no doubt that the raids were a well thought out design to go after the human rights activists aimed at silencing them through the misuse of law and official machinery. In all its manifestations the present raid is in the series of acts of blatant vindictiveness aimed at sending a message to the larger human rights community that the present central and state governments have no faith in and respect for the value of dissent and protest as a cardinal principles as enshrined in our constitution. It is clear that Kavita Srivastava has been targeted primarily because of her role in pointing out Chhattisgarh government’s violation of human rights, Rajasthan government’s mindless use of force against Muslim minorities and centre’s anti-poor policies. PUCL appeals to the larger human rights community and freedom loving people of the country to come forward strongly to resist the unabashed crusade of the government against the human rights defenders in the country. PUCL also demands that the National Human Rights Commission must take a serious view of the matter and as per its commitment to protect the human rights defenders ensure that no further harassment is meted out to Kavita Srivastava and her family.
PUCL will hold a press conference with other human rights organisations tomorrow at 3: 30 at Indian Women’s Press Club, 5 Windsor Place, Ashoka Road, New Delhi.
Prabhkar Sinha, President PUCL
Rajinder Sachar, former President PUCL
Pushkar Raj , General Secretary PUCL
Mahipal Singh, Secretary PUCL
Chitranjan Singh, Secretary PUCL
V. Suresh , Secretary PUCL
Rajinder Sachar, former President PUCL
Pushkar Raj , General Secretary PUCL
Mahipal Singh, Secretary PUCL
Chitranjan Singh, Secretary PUCL
V. Suresh , Secretary PUCL
