The following statement was released in a meeting held today January 04, 2011 at Prashant, Ahmedabad. A large number of Human Rights Activists participated in the meeting. Apart from those present the statement has also been signed by the activists from others parts of India.
STATEMENT
We strongly condemn the malicious and motivated campaign against human rights activists and their lawyers struggling for justice for the victims of the genocidal carnage in Gujarat in 2002.
The patently false allegations of doctoring evidence are being orchestrated at a time when crucial trials are nearing completion and accused among whom are powerful politicians and policemen face charges of criminal conspiracy and murder.
The allegations against Teesta Setalvad secretary Citizens for Justice and Peace and the organisation she represents as well as advocate Sohail Tirmizi a lawyer who has fought tirelessly for justice were spearheaded first by the state of Gujarat, then fuelled by a former employee.
The recent attempt to file an application before the bar council for the cancellation of the ’sanad’ of five lawyers namely- Mukul Sinha, Amrish Patel, SH Iyer, Shamshad Pathan and Sohail Tirmizi, through an accused of Naroda Patiya is condemnable.
The timings of the malafide allegations are aimed at derailing the course of justice and come at a time when the apex court is poised to hear a complaint of conspiracy to commit mass murder, subversion of justice and destruction of evidence.
The brazen attempts need to be seen for what they are given the seriousness of the charges against the Gujarat state and its functionaries.
Dev Desai
Dhirendra Panda
Dr Ghanshyam Shah
Dr. Harshavardhan Hegde
Feroza Nooruni
Fr Cedric Prakash sj
Gaurang Raval
Gautam Thakar
Govind Parmar
Hanif Lakdawala
Harsh Mander
Hiren Gandhi
Hozefa
John
Junaid Ansari
Kavita Srivastava
Mahesh Pandya
Manisha Sethi
Manisha Trivedi
Manoj Sharma
Mansi Sharma
Meena Jagtap
MM Tirmizi
Mukhtar Sheikh
Mukul Sinha
Nadeem
Nafeesa Barot
Nandita Das
Nasiruddin Haider Khan
Noorjahan Dewan
Prasad Chako
Prashant Bhushan
Praveen Mishra
Prof Anuradha Chenoy
Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy
Prof KM Shrimali
Prof KN Panikkar
Prof Rooprekha Verma
Prof. Ram Puniyani
Rasheeda
Roopa
Satya Sivaraman
Seema Duhan
Shabnam Hashmi
Sheba George
Sonal Patel
Sophia Khan
Uma Chakravarty