New Delhi: Activists, scholars, lawyers and writers have issue a joint statement condemning the multiple cases – including culpable homicide – filed against MNREGA activist Sanjay Sahni and others in Muzaffarpur. A total of six cases have been filed against Sahni in the last four-and-a-half years.Sahni told The Wire that the administration has been threatening since the time he began educating people about the MNREGA, which guarantees employment for 100 days every year. “They have filed false cases against me and a few others who are working with me. Whenever there is any violence anywhere in the region, my name is added to the FIR,” he said.In July 2017, a fact-finding team investigated the five FIRs that were filed against Sahni at the time. The cases involved charges of violence, obstructing government officials and caste atrocities. The team concluded they were false cases.The latest case was filed against Sahni on September 7, after the death of a worker in Maniyari, Muzaffarpur. The worker’s wife and Sahni have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.Sahni, however, denies even having been in Muzaffarpur that day. “I was not even present here. The father of the boy who died has been misled by the administration and has been told to include my name in the FIR,” he said.Last week, thousands protested in Muzaffarpur against the charges. Now, eminent citizens including Jean Dreze, Harsh Mander and Farah Naqvi have issued a solidarity statement.The full statement has been reproduced below.§We strongly object to the continued harassment of members of Samaj Parivartan Shakti Sangathan (SPSS), also known as MNREGA Watch, in Muzaffarpur and stand in solidarity with them. SPSS began with the electric passion of one man — Sanjay Sahni, a class 7 drop-out, once an electrician in South-West Delhi — to expose corruption in National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) works in his Panchayat. SPSS is no longer one man’s crusade against corruption. It is a non-violent people’s movement that has now translated to a collective of more than 50,000 labourers, largely Dalit women, who are fighting for their rights and against corruption. Some of the sangathan members are facing a severe backlash from the local elite and the bureaucracy through a series of false FIRs.A detailed fact-finding report on the fabricated FIRs filed till April 2017 was compiled and presented to the Director General of Police, Bihar in June 2017. No palpable action seems to have been taken. On the contrary, more false FIRs have been filed since. In the most recent FIR, dated 6th September 2018, it has been claimed that three SPSS members (Sanjay Sahni, Mandeshri Devi and Nilam Devi) forcefully took away the daughter-in-law of the complainant to do NREGA work — in opposition to her husband’s wish. This allegedly led his son to commit suicide. The truth, in fact, is that Sanjay was away in Ranchi, in a meeting with Jean Drèze, when the purported incident in Muzaffarpur took place. Further, on 8th September, the police illegally detained Mandeshri Devi, telling her that she would not be released until Sanjay surrenders. Later, the complainant (father of the deceased) submitted an affidavit with the Muzaffarpur Court retracting the FIR, saying that he was forced to file it by the police.On 18th September 2018, a complaint letter about this bogus FIR and the continued harassment faced by the sangathan was submitted to the Additional Director General (ADG) Modernisation and the ADG Special Branch. On 2nd November 2018, the ADG Special Branch had forwarded Sanjay Sahni’s FIR files to SSP Muzaffarpur. On 11th November 2018, Sanjay’s email account was hacked and threatening emails were sent from it to the Bihar Chief Minister. Later, the same email was forwarded to the DGP by the CM’s office and copied to Sanjay regularly. Sanjay has, since, sent email responses stating that he had nothing to do with the emails sent to the CM and that he is willing to cooperate with the investigation in the matter. In at least another of the six known FIRs, dated 31st March, 2017, there is incontrovertible evidence to suggest that Sanjay was away in Ranchi at the time of the alleged offences.The other FIRs stand on very weak ground, with incongruent testimonies of a small set of government officials weighed against consistent accounts of a large number of SPSS workers and other local citizens. The means that have been used to harass and break the sangathan, such as false FIRs and fabricated emails, are symptomatic of the methods employed to suppress dissent across the country. The sangathan’s resistance is part of the larger struggle to defend democracy. We support this effort and stand in solidarity with the sangathan. A dharna is being organised in Muzaffarpur on 14th December, 2018 to protest against these atrocities. Please endorse if you agree.Our immediate demands from the government are as follows:Quash the false FIRs against members of SPSS.Take strict action against those using FIRs to break the sangathan.The administration should work in collaboration with the sangathan and respect citizens’ rights.EndorsementsA Rajarajan, AdvocateAbey George, Member, Kerala RTI MovementAbhay Kumar, Grakoos KarnatakaAbhijit Sen, Concerned CitizenAbhinav Sekhri, AdvocateAchin Vinaik, Retired Professor, Delhi UniversityAditya Shukla, AdvocateAjitha George, Omon Mahila Sangathan, Noamundi, JharkhandAlok Laddha, Chennai Mathematical InstituteAmita Baviskar, Professor of Sociology, Institute of Economic GrowthAmitava Choudhary, National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to InformationAmrita Johri, Satark Nagarik SangathanAnand Srivastava, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji UniversityAnand Vaidya, Yale UniversityAnindita AdhikariAnjali Bharadwaj, National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to InformationAnjor Bhaskar, Concerned CitizenAnkita Aggarwal, NREGA Sangharsh MorchaAnuradha Talwar, NREGA Sangharsh MorchaApurva Bamezai, Researcher, University of PennsylvaniaArchit K, AdvocateAruna Roy, National Federation of Indian WomenAshish Ranjan, Jan Jagran Shakti SangathanAshok Verma, Jharkhand Loktantrik ManchBhanwar Meghwanshi, Concerned CitizenBharat Dogra, Concerned CItizenBhaskar Prabhu, Mahiti Adhikar ManchCecilia Davies, LawyerChakri, National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to InformationCheryl Dsouza, Campaign for Judicial Accountability and ReformChitra Venkataramani, National University of SingaporeDebmalya Nandy, Concerned CitizenDeep Joshi, ActivistDevaki JainDipa Sinha, Concerned CitizenDunu Roy, Hazards CentreA.S Sharma, Former Secretary, Government of IndiaFarah Naqvi, Writer and ActivistGautam Bhatia , AdvocateGautam Mody, General Secretary, New Trade Union InitiativeGeorge Monippally, Jharkhand Van Adhikar ManchHarsh Bora, AdvocateHarsh Mander, Aman BiradariHimanshu Thakkar, South Asia Networks on Dams, Rivers and People, Delhi.Himanshu, Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityIshan Banerjee, Independent Development PractitionerJagdeep Chhokar, Professor (Retd.), Indian Institute of Management AhmedabadJayati Ghosh, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityJean Drèze, Visiting Professor, Ranchi UniversityJeffrey Witsoe, Assistant Professor, Union College (New York)Kavita Krishnan, AIPWAKetaki Purohit, Concerned CitizenKiran Shaheen, Concerned CitizenKunal Ambasta, Advocate Ragini Ahuja , AdvocateMahendra Yadav, NAPM BiharMeghana Rao, Visiting Faculty, Azim Premji UniversityMeneka Khanna, AdvocateMR Sharan, PhD Candidate (Public Policy), Harvard Kennedy SchoolMythili V. K., AdvocateN Sai Vinod, AdvocateNachiket Udupa, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti SangathanNazar KhalidNoopur Tandon Sen, MPA/ID candidate, HarvardPaari Vendhan, AdvocatePamela Phillipose, JournalistParas Ram, Suchna Evum Rozgar Adhikar AbhiyanParth Shrimali, JNUPayoshi Roy, AdvocatePraavita Kashyap, AdvocatePrashant Bhushan, AdvocatePraveen Peter, Activist, JharkhandRajendran Narayanan, Azim Premji University, BangaloreRajesh Veeraraghavan, AcademicianRakesh Reddy Dubbudu, FactlyRakshita Swamy, concerned citizenReetika Khera, IIM AhmedabadRobin Christopher, AdvocateRosamma Thomas, Journalist, PuneS Prabu Ramasubramanian, AdvocateSabarish Subramaniam, AdvocateSaikat Ghosh, IIT KanpurSakina Dhorajiwala, Independent ResearcherSayandeb Chowdhury, Ambedkar University, DelhiShailesh Gandhi, Former Central Chief Information CommissionSharmadip Basu, Azim Premji UniversitySharvari Nadkarni GhoshSiraj Dutta, Right to Food CampaignSubhashini Dinesh, Concerned CitizenSuchi PandeSunandan K N, Azim Premji UniversitySurabhi Dhar, AdvocateSwati Narayan, Right to Food CampaignUtkarsh Saxena, AdvocateUttam Gayen, General Secretary, Paschim Banga Khet Majoor SamityVasavi Kiro, Jharkhand State Visthapit AayogVikas Dubey, Ph.D Student, IIT KanpurVipul Mudgal, National Campaign for People’s Right to InformationVishnu Unnikrishnan, AdvocateVrinda Bhandari, AdvocateWilliam Vinoth Kumar, AdvocateXavier Dias , Former Editor, Khan Kaneej Aur ADHIKAR (Mines minerals & RIGHTS)Yogita Bangar, AdvocateZeba Sikora, Advocate