AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, INDIA
Dear Friends,
As you have no doubt been following in the news, there is a concerted campaign against Amnesty International India (AII) by the ABVP and some sections of the government after the filing of the FIR on charges of sedition against them by Bangalore police, following their event on Kashmir there.
While there isn’t much substance to the legal case against AII, the vilification of the organisation through selected leaks by the MHA in the media on the status of their funding, prior permissions they have sought etc. continues unabated.
We are attaching a letter of solidarity for Amnesty International India. In case you do decide to go ahead and decide to sign on to this, please send a mail to legal.cso@gmail.com.
We are looking both for institutional and individual signatories. If you are part of an institution, we would prefer having your institutional affiliation stated as well in your mail. We would be grateful if you could please circulate this amongst friends and kindred spirits/ organisations who may want to sign on the statement.
As Always,
Biraj & Amitabh
(On behalf of the CSO Support Cell)
Support Cell for CSOs
Room no. 101, Indian Social Institute
10, Institutional Area, Lodi Road,
New Delhi – 110003
Tel: 011-49534000 (Ext. 140/141)
We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the recent attacks on Amnesty International India, in Bangalore and the filing of the frivolous but dangerous charges of sedition against the organisation.
As Civil Society Organisations committed to the ideals of the freedom of speech and expression and the freedom of association guaranteed by our Constitution, we see the FIR registered against Amnesty and the subsequent vilification of the institution as an yet another attempt to criminalize dissent in India.
We note with concern that this is not an isolated case, but part of a series of actions on the part of the governments present and past, irrespective of their ideological persuasions to paralyse independent dissenting voices through the use of archaic laws like the one on sedition that has been invoked against Amnesty.
Events like the one that Amnesty conducted in Bangalore which brought to the fore the violations of human rights in Kashmir, based on their well- researched report on Kashmir, are an integral to the role that human rights orgnisations are expected to play in a democracy. Any attempts to stifle such interventions are a direct assault on the freedom of association and the freedom of speech and expression. We stand in solidarity with Amnesty International, a well-respected global human rights organisations that was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977. The further prosecution of Amnesty on charges of sedition will reflect very poorly on Indian democracy.
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