NSA on Chandrashekhar Azad: Protests Continue in Saharanpur, Politicians Condemn UP Govt Move

Protests continue in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh against the imposition of the draconian National Security Act (NSA) by the state government on Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ and two other Dalit rights activists.

Azad’s health, meanwhile, has been deteriorating, and he was rushed to Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College in Meerut from the Saharanpur district jail on November 7 for severe stomach infection.

Azad was arrested on June 8 by the UP police on charges of inciting violence and other related crimes, during a series of caste-based clashes that had erupted in May between Dalits and Thakurs, the dominant upper caste community, in Shabbirpur village of Saharanpur district.

On November 2, the Allahabad High Court had granted Azad and three other Bhim Army members bail, calling the charges against them as being “politically motivated”.

However, just a day after the bail order, the Saharanpur District Magistrate on November 3 ordered that Azad, a lawyer and founder of the Dalit rights organisation Bhim Army Bharat Ekta Mission, be booked under the NSA. Two Dalit activists from Shabbirpur village, Shiv Kumar and Sonu Kumar, were also booked under the Act.

The NSA allows for a person to be jailed for a maximum period of one year without trial, on mere suspicion of posing a threat to “national security”.

Ever since the NSA imposition, activists and villagers have been protesting at several places in Saharanpur district.

On November 10, Dalit women from Ramnagar village in the district began an indefinite hunger strike to protest against the framing of Azad under NSA.

Since November 8, Dalit residents of Shabbirpur village have already been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike demanding that the NSA against Azad and others be revoked. The hunger strike continues, even as there are reports of many participating women falling ill.

Members of the Bhim Army and others on November 9 had staged massive protests in Saharanpur town, and submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate.

Amnesty International India also condemned the arrest and detention of Azad under the NSA On November 10, saying “detention under the NSA circumvents the human rights safeguards of ordinary criminal procedure, and undermines the rule of law”.

On November 13, the Bhim Army Defence Committee along with the United Against Hate campaign held a press conference at Press Club in Lucknow on the situation of Dalits and Muslims in UP, where speakers demanded that the NSA against Azad be revoked.

Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar Ansari of JD(U) on November 10 criticised the NSA imposition, calling the attitude of the Yogi government in UP as “dictatorial”.

Uttar Pradesh Nationalist Congress Party president Ramesh Dikshit, also on November 10, demanded the revoking of charges under the NSA against Azad.

On November 11, the UP state committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued a statement expressing concern over the health of Azad and condemning the framing of charges against him under the NSA.

While Azad was healthy at the time of his arrest, he has reportedly been unable to walk and been wheelchair-bound at least since October 28, when he was sent to Lucknow district hospital by the jail authorities. Azad was kept in the ICU, and was diagnosed with multiple medical issues, including acute abdominal pain. He was brought back to jail and then sent to Saharanpur Hospital in between, before being admitted to the Meerut medical college.

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on November 9 also pledged his support to Azad from Gujarat, while terming the slapping of NSA on Azad as “illegal”.

The protests against the NSA imposition are being meticulously documented by the ChalChitra Abhiyaan (a cultural-political film cooperative).