South Asia Citizens Web

We have gathered here today to express our collective anguish at the sheer brazenness with which the Delhi police has turned the investigation into the February violence in Delhi into an inquisition of the anti-CAA protests. Just two days ago, Umar Khalid was taken into custody and booked under UAPA and several other criminal sections, thereby adding to the list of anti-CAA protestors languishing behind bars. He is among the soaring young voices who have risen up in defense of the Constitution, at the service of truth, and are today prisoners of conscience.

Writer and Activist Rahila Gupta on Political Blackness. Meet-ups are run by Ali Malik.
Rahila Gupta is a freelance journalist and writer. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and New Humanist among other papers and magazines. Her books include, “Enslaved: The New British Slavery”; “From Homebreakers to Jailbreakers: Southall Black Sisters”; “Provoked”; and “Don’t Wake Me: The Ballad of Nihal Armstrong” (Playdead Press, 2013). She is co-authoring a book with Beatrix Campbell with the title “Why Doesn’t Patriarchy Die?”

We approach you as the Head of the Delhi police to express our deepest concern over reports which allege bias in the investigation by the Delhi police in the North East Delhi violence cases. This tragedy, which occurred between 23rd -26th, February 2020, took 53 lives and injured scores of others, is a matter of grave shame for our country.

We, the undersigned citizens, organisations and movements, write today to urge the Supreme Court to reconsider its order of 31.08.2020 in M.C. Mehta v Union of India & Ors. (Writ Petition No. 13029/1985). The order summarily demands forced evictions of long-established communities on lands entrusted to the Railways in New Delhi. Passed in a long-pending case on waste management in the city, the order will have devastating consequences on the lives, livelihood, dignity and rights of nearly 50,000 households, or over 2.5 lac people. It also comes at a time when the city is barely coping with the assault of the COVID-19 pandemic and will expose marginalised communities to health risks that further compound the threat to their homes, assets and livelihoods.

Selected statements issued by concerned citizens and by the Communist Parties following the naming of prominent people in a police charge sheet re the North Delhi Communal Violence and regarding the arrests conducted by Delhi Police