The attack on the integrity of human rights activist Teesta Setalvad and others is a desperate and cowardly act: Saajhi Duniya


January 4, 2011: Saajhi Duniya notices with pain and  anguish the malicious and unfounded attack on the integrity of human rights activist Teesta Setalvad and several other lawyers who have taken up the cases of the victims of the Gujarat carnage in 2002. On several occasions human rights activists like Teesta Setalvad have proven their firm commitment to the cause of justice and a secular polity. She has even risked her life and security in extremely adverse situations and has withstood the pressure of violent communal forces. In fact, human rights activists like Teesta Setalvad are doing the work which different organs of the state and judicial system must do because they have the formal and prime duty of protecting the rights of the people irrespective of caste, creed or gender and ensuring that the victims of any breach of constitutional values get justice. These organs of the state and judicial system owe their validity to their allegiance to the Constitution.

Thus a citizen in the position of Teesta Setalvad must be supported and protected by all possible means so that the forces which are in the habit of trampling the rights of innocent people and snuffing pro-people voices, howsoever high and mighty these forces be, do not win and do not get emboldened. The smear campaign against Teesta and other human rights activists is a desperate and cowardly act on the part of those who wish to destroy the plural culture of our nation and whose tyrannical and barbarous schemes to subvert democracy have been well exposed. Those who lose rational and moral ground often indulge in such campaigns as we are witnessing against Teesta and other activists.

Hopefully, the deliverance of justice will not be affected by this and those who believe in tyranny and monoculture will receive defeat at the hands of both the judiciary and a peace-loving public.

Roop Rekha Verma
Secretary, Saajhi Duniya 

(Saajhi Duniya is a Lucknow-based women’s rights group committed to peace, education and secularism.)

Investigate the roots of this malicious vilification The Indian American Muslim Council condemns the persecution of Teesta Setalvad and other human rights activists  January 7, 2011: The Indian American Muslim Council  (IAMC), an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, has strongly condemned the mala fide campaign of persecution and harassment of human rights defender Teesta Setalvad, secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), Advocate Suhel Tirmizi and numerous other lawyers and human rights activists that have been in the forefront of the struggle to secure justice for the victims of the Gujarat riots of 2002.   Mr Rais Khan, a former employee of CJP, on whose testimony Teesta Setalvad has been accused of having ordered the doctoring of a riot victim’s affidavit, was dismissed from the service of CJP for suspicious conduct as well as financial irregularities. The fact that a person with a dubious record and a clear conflict of interest with CJP has accused one of the most respected human rights defenders of the country raises disturbing questions about the forces behind this vilification campaign.   “Ms Teesta Setalvad’s fearless advocacy of the victims of human rights abuses and her efforts to secure justice and dignity for the poor and dispossessed should be lauded. Instead, the forces that have fuelled hate and communal violence in the country are bent on stifling her voice,” said Shaheen Khateeb, president of IAMC. “We appeal to the prime minister of India, Shri Manmohan Singh, to prevent this potential miscarriage of justice by ordering a CBI investigation into the roots of this malicious campaign. Justice will be served only when the Gujarat government is held accountable for its misdeeds during and after the genocide of 2002,” added Mr Khateeb.  (Indian American Muslim Council, formerly Indian Muslim Council-USA, is the largest advocacy organisation of Indian Muslims in the United States; website: www.iamc.com.)