Protests in Saharanpur Against Govt Framing Bhim Army Founder Chandrashekhar Azad Under NSA

Protests are being held at several places in Saharanpur district against slapping of the draconian National Security Act (NSA) on Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ and two others by the Uttar Pradesh government.

On November 3, the Saharanpur District Magistrate ordered that Azad, a lawyer and founder of the Dalit rights organisation Bhim Army Bharat Ekta Mission, be booked under NSA, which allows for a person to be jailed for a maximum period of one year without trial, on suspicion alone of posing a threat to “national security”.

The NSA order came a day after the Allahabad High Court, on November 2, granted Azad and three other Bhim Army members bail in cases related to the caste-based riots in Saharanpur district in May. The single-judge bench of Justice Mukhtar Ahmad had called the charges against Azad and the others “politically motivated”.

Azad was arrested on June 8 by a special task force team of the UP police on charges of inciting violence and other related charges, in relation to the series of clashes that had broken out between Dalits and Thakurs, the dominant upper caste community, in Shabbirpur village.

On May 9, clashes also took place in Saharanpur town between the Bhim Army and the UP police, when the Dalit organisation was protesting against an earlier attack by Thakurs on Dalit homes in Shabbirpur on May 5. More than 55 houses of Dalit families were gutted in the violence and members of the community had to flee the village. The Bhim Army was demanding compensation for the Dalit families and police action against the perpetrators.

However, after the May 9 protests turned violent, the police slapped cases on members of the Bhim Army, which marked the beginning of a witch-hunt of the Dalit rights group by the UP government.

Besides Azad, two other Dalit activists from Shabbirpur named Shiv Kumar and Sonu Kumar have also been booked under the NSA.

Several activists have condemned the UP government for framing Azad under NSA with the sole motive of keeping him in jail. Azad has been lodged in the Saharanpur district jail.

Since November 8, Dalit residents of Shabbirpur village have been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike against the the imposition of NSA on Azad and the others. The villagers say they plan to continue the hunger strike until the NSA is lifted, as being documented in periodic live broadcasts on Facebook by ChalChitra Abhiyaan (a cultural-political film cooperative):

On November 9, Bhim Army and other activists also staged a massive protest in Saharanpur town against the NSA imposition and submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate. There are reports of protests taking place at other places in the district too, as per ChalChitra Abhiyaan.

Two members of ChalChitra Abhiyaan were also detained by the police on November 8 while covering the hunger strike, but later released:

There were already speculations that Azad could be booked under the NSA, so that he remains imprisoned.

In a press statement issued on November 4, the Committee for the Defense of Bhim Army expressed its shock and dismay at the move. The statement also mentioned that Azad had already heard that he could be booked under the NSA:

“Around 6-7 September, Chandrashekhar had already written about this in a hand-written letter from prison, addressed to his comrades, friends and well wishers of the Bhim Army.

He had mentioned that he had learnt from sources in the jail that the administration (and state government) did not want him to fight for his bail, and if he did, they would book him under NSA.”

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