IPT 1.1 | september 2022 | Section 2
Muslims also continue to be subjected to disproportionate instances of arbitrary detention. In the period under review, prominent cases reported included
- An 8 year old Muslim boy spent four days in custody in Bihar charged with rioting during the Shobhyatra procession communal clash on 10 September. The boy was picked up along with his 70 year old grandfather, with the police recording his age as 13 years despite his birth certificate records his birth in January 2014.
- Javed Mohammad, activist in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, in detention since 11 June 2022. Mohammad was accused by authorities of organising protests against the BJP in the city, and was arrested under the National Security Act, 1980 (NSA). The BJP ruled UP Administration had also, on 12 June 2022, demolished Mohammad’s house, in an act of reprisal against the HRD.
- Zaid Pathan, a critic of another BJP ruled Administration – this time Madhya Pradesh – and it practice of arbitrary demolition of houses and businesses of those it accused of violence during anti-government protests, was arrested in Khargone district on 15 August 2022, again under the National Security Act.
NSA is a colonial-era preventive detention law that gives arbitrary powers to authorities to detain civilians for prolonged durations – a statute that violates the ICCPR, yet is invoked frequently against mostly minorities and dissenters in what is plainly an abuse of law.
- Mohamad Zubair, journalist and co-founder of fact checking website AltNews was arrested on 27 June 2022 by Delhi police, soon after he called attention internationally to hate speech by senior BJP leaders. The alleged crime made out for the arrest was a tweet he had shared in 2018 that the police claimed promoted enmity between groups and offended religious sentiments. A few days later, Zubair was also accused by Uttar Pradesh Police for calling out genocidal speeches against Muslims made by Hindu religious leaders. It was only on 8 July 2022, after bringing the case before the Supreme Court that Zubair was able to secure a temporary bail.
- Teesta Setalvad, a vocal advocate for justice for victims of anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat (2002), was arrested on 25 June 2022 by an anti-terrorism squad of the Gujarat Police, for seeking prosecution of senior government officials complicit in the 2002 violence. Authorities accused Setalvad of forging evidence against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the chief minister of Gujarat during the pogroms. Setalvad’s prosecution came a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition by her, among others, challenging a report by Gujarat State’s special investigative team that absolved Modi of involvement in the violence. Her application for bail was
rejected by lower courts and Gujarat High court. It was only on 2 September 2022, that Supreme Court granted interim bail to Setalvad. Former state Police chief RB Sreekumar, and former police Officer, Sanjeev Bhat, also accused by Gujarat Government in the conspiracy case, remain in custody.
These recent detentions are also a reminder of the continuing incarceration of Muslim student leaders and HRDs in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for some three years now. From January 2020 the Delhi Police as well as Uttar Pradesh arrested students and activists, primarily Muslim under some of India’s harshest laws, including the draconian anti-terror law (the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), as part of a crackdown against those protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which targets especially Muslims of India. Despite communications by UN Experts and campaigns by human rights organisations, at least 13 HRDs continue to be in pre-trial detention, denied bail still. At least two have alleged torture in custody.
In Jammu & Kashmir, arbitrary detentions have long been a tool of repression, formalised by the use draconian laws, including the UAPA and especially J&K Public Safety Act 1978, which allows authorities to detain individual for upto two years without charge or trial, prompting UN experts to call for repeal of the law. According to reliable sources, 2022 has seen a 32 per cent increase in habeas corpus applications compared to previous years, indicating a further jump in detentions, mostly under PSA and other draconian provisions. Many of those arrested and detained include journalists, according to one source, 27 journalists since August 2019, including eight under UAPA. Among others, Asif sultan, Fahad Shah, Sajad Gul continue to endure ‘revolving door’ detentions, despite UN experts alerting India to the violations that they among other journalists in J&K are being subjected to. Meanwhile senior political leaders continue to remain under ‘house arrest’, while prominent HRDs, including Khurram Parvez, now in custody for almost a year, have anti-terror charges made out against them.
Muslims Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, residing in different parts of India, have of late, also been coming in the crosshairs of authorities, with cases of raids on settlements, arrests and detentions, and threats of deportation rising.
- 19 July 2022: Mohamad Shaqir, one of the two petitioners in the Supreme Court challenging the mass deportation of Rohingya refugees from India was detained for several hours at the Kalindi Kunj police station in Delhi for interrogation. Several other Rohingya individuals were also detained including a family with members undergoing treatment for serious health issues.
- 26 July 2022: Ten Rohingya refugee settlements (with 360 refugee families) in Nuh district of Haryana, were raided by state police. Refugees were gathered in the fields, including children and women. During the surprise inspection, local police seized 30 vehicles including Cycles, Rickshaw, Van and motorcycles. Community members say their livelihoods depended on those vehicles such as vegetables selling, rag picking, fruits selling, rickshaw pulling etc. Two refugees were reportedly injured.
Along with political rhetoric that regularly vilifies Rohingyas, authorities targeting Rohingyas with raids and detentions is forcing the refugees to migrate to Bangladesh.
Arbitrary detentions is one of the reasons for India’s prison population being overwhelming made up of pretrial cases – 76 per cent against the global figure of 34 per cent. India has more prisoners awaiting trial than ever before, and more prisoners are spending longer periods in jail than before. Muslims are overrepresented among the prison population in India, especially at pre-trial stage, with Muslims making up almost 30 per cent of all detainees in in 2021, twice their representation in total population.