In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, prominent rights group National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO) on Friday demanded that the government should release all the political prisoners immediately. The group expressed particular concern over Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan’s contraction of the virus and reports of him collapsing in Mathura jail where he is being held.
While asserting his imprisonment as being completely unfair and done on baseless charges, general secretary Prof P Koya said, “With the Covid pandemic on the surge again, keeping political prisoners like Kappan and many others who remain jailed for no crime other than raising their voices against injustices, releasing them is all the more urgent.”
He demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners in light of the coronavirus pandemic, noting that “Kappan’s catching Covid is a testament to the condition in which people are kept in jails. In the same prison in which Kappan is held, around 50 other inmates have also tested positive for Coronavirus.”
“Many political prisoners, including the ones who have been jailed in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case, have been languishing in jail while the trial is getting delayed. No crime has been proven and they are kept in jail for political reasons,” he added.
Kappan was arrested on his way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, along with three other student activists on 5 October by the UP Police’s Special Task Force. On 7 October, they were booked for sedition under the Indian Penal Code and under Section 17 of the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Besides Kappan, student activists Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Meeran Haider, Khalid Saifi, and others who have been at the forefront of the anti-CAA movement are languishing in jails.
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Rushda Fathima Khan is the Staff Reporter for The Cognate.
