Prabhat Patnaik, Irfan Habib and Githa Hariharan Among Others Condemning CBI Raids on Lawyers Collective

Eminent personalities from diverse fields on Thursday condemned the latest series of CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] raids at the home and offices of senior advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover and termed it a “brute show of intimidation as well as gross abuse of power” by the Modi government.

In a public statement issued after the raids, they argued that the raids are in a long line of coercion and intimidation against the senior advocates.

Anuradha Kapur, D N Jha, Githa Hariharan, Irfan Habib, Pamela Philipose were among the signatories to urge the government to immediately put an end to the “acts of intimidation and harassment” against Mr Grover, Ms Jaising and Lawyers Collective.

Here is the full text of the public statement:

We, the undersigned individuals, strongly condemn the raids at the home and offices of senior advocates Ms Indira Jaising and Mr Anand Grover this morning by the CBI. The raids are being carried out in both Delhi and Mumbai. This, the latest in a long line of coercion and intimidation of Ms Jaising and Mr Grover, is nothing short of a brute show of intimidation as well as gross abuse of power. This is especially so since both the advocates, well known for their pioneering work in the field of human rights, and their NGO, ‘Lawyers Collective’, have fully cooperated with the authorities ever since criminal charges were filed against them in alleged FCRA violation cases. The raids that have taken place today despite this show of cooperation are shocking.

The reprisal against Lawyers Collective began in 2016 by suspending their FCRA license, which was then challenged in the High Court of Bombay. Lawyers Collective’s challenge to the FCRA cancellation and non-renewal are currently pending before the High Court. On 13 June 2019, the CBI registered a First Information Report under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) relating to charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, false statement made in declaration and various sections under the FCRA and Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act 1988.

Lawyers Collective, a human rights organisation based in New Delhi with its registered office in Mumbai, was founded by noted Indian human rights defenders and lawyers Ms Indira Jaising and Mr Anand Grover. Ms Jaising and Mr Grover are senior advocates with an exceptional profile of public service, probity and personal and professional integrity. In 1986, Ms Jaising became the first woman to be designated as a senior advocate by the High Court of Bombay, and in 2009 she became the first woman to be appointed as Additional Solicitor General of India. Ms Jaisingh was a member of the UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) between 2009 and 2012. She is a recipient of the Padma Shri awarded in 2005, followed by the Rotary Manav Seva Award for her services to the nation. Mr Grover was UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health between 2008 and 2014. The country’s HIV/AIDS treatment programme has evolved with the serious efforts of the HIV/AIFS Unit of Lawyers Collective, headed by Mr Grover. Ms Jaising and Mr Grover, through Lawyers Collective, have advocated for advancing the rights of the most vulnerable and marginalised sections of Indian society, including children. On several occasions, they have challenged the unconstitutional and anti-people actions and policies of the State through judicial processes.

We, as citizens strongly urge that:

• Acts of intimidation and harassment against Mr Anand Grover, Ms Indira Jaising and Lawyers Collective stop immediately

• The criminal charges against Lawyers Collective be immediately withdrawn pending the decision of the High Court of Bombay.

• Misuse of the country’s laws and the state machinery against human rights defenders come to an end

• The National Human Rights Commission of India take cognizance of this matter and take immediate action under the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 (PHRA), including a review of the FCRA under Section 12 (d) of the PHRA.

Prabhat Patnaik

Vivan Sundaram

M.K. Raina

Irfan Habib

Amiya Kumar Bagchi

Sohail Hashmi

Madangopal Singh

Ram Rahman

Zoya Hasan

D.N. Jha

C.P. Bhambri

Jayati Ghosh

Nilima Sheikh

C.P. Chandrasekhar

Geeta Kapur

Saeed Mirza

Achin Vanaik

Pamela Philipose

Githa Hariharan

A.J.Vijayan

Aban Raza

Abhilasha Kumari

Abinash DC

Abir Dasgupta

Abraham.P.C.

Aditya Mukherjee

Aditya Shrivastava

Ahmar Raza

Akhil Chaudhary

Amal Sandy

Amar Farooqui

Amita Joseph

Amitra Sudan Chakrabortty

Amiya Kumar Bagchi

Amreen Murad

Anand K. Sahay

Ananya Basu

Anil Bhatti

Anil Chandra

Anil Chandra

Anil Karne, Jabalpur

Anil Sadgopal

Anil Verghese

Anil Varghese

Anjali Bhardwaj

Anomita Sen

Antara Dev Sen

Anu Chenoy

Anuradha Kalhan

Anuradha Kapur

Aquile Khan

Archana Prasad

Arjun Dev

Arjun Sheoran

Arpana Caur

Aruna Burte

Aruna Gnanadason

Arundhati Dhuru

Arunkumar H.G

Arvind Abraham

Asghar Wajahat

Ashish Kothari

Ashlin Mathew

Asmita Aasaavari

Astha Bamba

Atif Jung

Atlury Murali

Avik Kumar Maitra

Ayesha Kidwai

Badri Raina

Bhanumati Rao

Bharat

Bharti Ali

Bikash Deb

Biraj Patnaik

Bittu K

Bobjee Kurien

Brinelle D'souza

C.P. Bhambri

C.P. Chandrasekhar

Chanchal Chauhan

Chirashree Das Gupta

Chitra Mathur

D.N. Jha

Devika Daulet-Singh

Dewan Ritu

Dinesh Abrol

Estelle Desai

Fauzia shakil

Fidel Sebastian

Firoz Mithiborwala

G. Arunima

Gargi Chakravartty

Gautam Mody

Geeta Kapur

Geeta Menon

Geeta Seshu

Geetha Mehra

Githa Hariharan

Grijesh Dinkar

Hamida Vasanwala

Harish Iyer

Hasina Khan

Himayush Chopda

Hozefa Ujjaini

Indira Arjun Dev

Indira Chandrasekhar

Indrani Mazumdar

Iqtidar Alam Khan

Ira Bhaskar

Irfan Habib

Jacob Tharu

Jahar Kanungo

Javed Anand

Javed Malick

Jawari Mal Parakh

Jayati Ghosh

Jehangir Asgar JAni

Jhuma Sen

Joe Athialy

John Cherian

Joseph Mathai

Jothi SJ

Jyotsana Dhawan

K. L. Tuteja

K. M. Shrimali

K. Sudha

K.M. Shrimali

Kabi Sherman

Kailash Meea

Kailash Meena, Rajathan

Kalpalata Dutta

Kalyani Menon-Sen

Kamal Chenoy

Kamini Tankha

Kavita Shrivastava

Khairunnisha Pathan

Kumar Shahani

Kumkum Sangari

Lakshmi Krishnamurthy

Lata Singh

Latifa Hafeez

Lima Kanungo

M.A. Khalid

M.K. Raina

M.M.P. Singh

Maaz Bin Bilal

Madangopal Singh

Madhu Prasad

Madhur Bharatiya

Madhusree Dutta

Malabika Majumdar

Mallikarjuna Sharma

Malti Gupta

Mamata Dash

Mamta Singh

Mangla Verma

Manish Purohit

Manju

Maria D’Cunha

Maroona Murmu

Mary E John

Maulshree Pathak

Mausumi Chetia

Maya John

Maya Krishna Rao

Meera Samson

Meera Sanghamitra

Mihir Desai

Mimansa Sahay

Mini Mathew

Mithu Sen

Mohammad Mansoor Alam

Mohan Katarki

Mohan Rao

Moloyashree Hashmi

Monica Chandy

Mukut Lochan Kalita

N.K. Sharma

Nadeem Rezavi

Nandan Maluste

Nandita Gandhi

Nandita Shah

Narjees Nawab

Navjot Altaf

Navtej Johar

Neeladri Bhattacharya

Neeraj Malik

Nilima Sheikh

Nina Rao

Niti Saxena

Nitin Sethi

Nivedita Menon

Nivedita Saksena

Noella de Souza

Nupur Chowdhury

P. Chandramohan

P. Nandi

P.K. Shukla

Pamela Philipose

Parijata Bhardwaj

Parthiv Shah

Prabir Purkayastha

Prachi Lohia

Pradeep Narayanan

Praveen Jha

Priya P

PT George

Pulin Nayak

Pushpamala N.