June 4, 2014
The meeting of the Delhi University Committee Against Police Repression DUPR organized the convention Democracy and dissent: Understanding the Abduction and Arrest of Saibaba
with the solidarity of several individuals and institutions. At the
meeting speakers like Dr Aparna (CPI(ML), New Democracy), Justice Sahai
(PUCL), Prateek Bombade (Senior Advocate, SC) Seema Azad (Editor,
Dastak), Majeet (PUDR) expressed grave concern at draconian laws like
the UAPA, and their use to silence democratic and dissenting voices
within and outside the University. Varavara Rao and Arundhati Roy noted
the relation between the deployment of the UAPA, the ongoing struggles
of the adivasi across several states and the increasingly brutal and
widespread corporate-state military actions. Several speakers also noted
the corporate-state’s nexus and the actual aversion of these entities
toward democracy, the Constitution and legalities. Raghuram (I P
University), N Sachin, Karen Gabriel expressed concern at the manner in
which the politics of branding has resulted in the criminalization of
ideas and the sanction of illegalities, persecution and torture. They
expressed concern about the ways in which the coercive apparatus of the
State, including the judiciary is deployed against those who speak up
for the impoverished, the marginalized, the dispossessed, the dalits,
adivasis, women, and speak against the organized land grab and
state-corporate loot of common resources. SAR Geelani and Prateek
Bombade spoke about the ways in which the judiciary is complicit with
the ruling elite.
Speakers also noted the ways in which Operation Green Hunt manifests
first as a paramilitary operation, and now the state-corporate ownership
of media, information and institutions. Now, even the universities are
being sold to corporations. What does democracy mean now? Does democracy
mean support neo-liberalism? It was noted that struggles are born in
the corridors of the university and it is indeed the character of a
University to generate and tolerate these. People like Saibaba are part
of such struggles and the state attacks, isolates people within the
university, and targets them. They also remarked on the conspiracy of
silence on these issues, and issues of corporate loot, land grab and
displacement among mainstream political parties and the largely
corporatized mainstream media.
Resolution:
This gathering unanimously condemns the abduction and arrest of Dr G N
Saibaba, and his continued incarceration and torture in the Central
Nagpur Jail. We believe that the draconian UAPA is being used to
suppress the voices of those individuals and organisations that are
involved in the struggle against injustice, and the oppression and
dispossession of the poor and marginalised. It is a matter of
considerable shame that the law enforcement agencies of the state have
violated legal procedures, regulations and basic human rights, and
continue to do so with impunity. Saibaba’s rights as a Person with
Disability (PwD) have been completely disregarded as well.
We condemn the complicity of the Delhi University in the attack on
democratic voices and impulses that are integral to the very character
of the University as a space. We condemn the Delhi University’s
encouragement and normalisation of continuous police presence in the
University campus. We also condemn the University’s participation in the
state’s harassment and persecution of Saibaba through actions like show
cause notices, suspensions and now an eviction order.
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