New Delhi: Saying that freedom of expression was at stake in the Delhi lieutenant governor (LG)’s granting sanction to prosecute Arundhati Roy and Sheikh Showkat Hussain under stringent laws for statements they made in 2010, over 200 academics, activists and journalists have urged the withdrawal of this sanction.“We the concerned citizens of India deplore this action and appeal to the government and the democratic forces in the country to ensure that no infringement of the fundamental right to freely and fearlessly express views on any subject takes place in our nation,” an open letter they signed read.Delhi LG Vinai Kumar Saxena granted sanction last week to prosecute Roy and Hussain under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA, an anti-terror law that makes it difficult for accused persons to secure bail.Booker Prize winner Roy and former professor Hussain are accused of delivering provocative speeches at an event in Delhi in 2010 where Kashmir’s secession from India was allegedly discussed.In October, Saxena granted sanction to prosecute Roy and Hussain under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) dealing with promoting enmity between groups, making assertions prejudicial to national integration and circulating information with the intent to cause mutiny or incite offences against the state.Noting that the Supreme Court had stayed prosecution under the IPC section relating to sedition, Saxena did not grant sanction but noted that a case was made out to do so.The signatories of Friday’s letter – which is reproduced at the end of this article – noted that the Supreme Court had ruled sedition was applicable only when there was incitement to violence or public disorder.“[Roy’s] statement made in a seminar cannot be considered as an incitement to violence. Nor did any violence result from her statement,” they wrote.The Indian Express noted that the invocation of the UAPA against the two will allow the government to bypass the statute of limitations for the IPC sections involved and that the definition of “unlawful activities” – in Section 13 of the Act, under which the police have sought sanction to prosecute them – includes phrases used in sedition law.The signatories added: “Indeed, the health and vibrancy of our democracy is crucially dependent on upholding such rights.“We appeal that the [LG] should immediately withdraw this sanction to frame charges against [Roy] and [Hussain] for sedition and also again appeal to the democratic forces across political parties to take forward the constitutional struggle for freedom of speech and expression by asking for withdrawal of such draconian acts as the UAPA.”§Statement of Concerned CitizensJune 21, 2024We the concerned citizens note with dismay the sanction of Delhi’s Lt. Governor to frame charges of sedition under UAPA against the well-known writer and Booker prize winner, Ms. Arundhati Roy and Dr S Hussain, a former professor of Central University of Kashmir. From all accounts a statement made way back in a seminar(in which both were participants) in 2010 on Kashmir has been made the reason for framing these charges.Now it is well known that the Supreme Court has made it clear that charges of sedition cannot be brought against an individual if there is no incitement to violence. Ms. Roy’s statement made in a seminar cannot be considered as an incitement to violence. Nor did any violence result from her statement.The issue at stake is freedom of expression guaranteed under our constitution. We the concerned citizens of India deplore this action and appeal to the government and the democratic forces in the country to ensure that no infringement of the fundamental right to freely and fearlessly express views on any subject takes place in our nation. Indeed, the health and vibrancy of our democracy is crucially dependent on upholding such rights. We appeal that the Lt. Governor should immediately withdraw this sanction to frame charges against Ms. Roy and Dr. S Hussain for sedition and also again appeal to the democratic forces across political parties to take forward the constitutional struggle for freedom of speech and expression by asking for withdrawal of such draconian acts as the UAPA.Mukta Manohar, Social ActivistSunil Chavan , Social WorkerKumar Ketkar, Journalist, Former MPAjay Mahurkar, AcademicAjay Dandekar, AcademicShriranjan Awate, Poet and WriterNandini Sundar, AcademicRomila Thapar, HistorianShruti Tambe, AcademicAmit Bhaduri, EconomistAnnapurna Garimella, Art HistorianGagan Sethi, EducationistMeera Sanghmitra, Activist, NAPMVikram Srinivas, Political ActivistParimal Maya Sudhakar, Columnist and Political Commentator Yogendra YadavNiranjan Takle, Journalist T Gopal Sing, Retd.Civil Judge, President, Lohia Vichar ManchSurinder Jodhka, Academic Sanjay Srivastava, AcademicShripad Dharmadhikary, ActivistHimanshu Thakkar, ActivistSharad Lele, AcademicPradip Chatterjee, ActivistZahid Parwaz Choudhary, ActivistRajesh Ramakrishnan, ActivistRavi Chopra, EnvironmentalistAyush Chaturvedi, Student Anjali Deshmane, Rtd. Government Employee Ramesh Awasthi, ActivistTushar Gandhi, Public IntellectualSanjay Mangala Gopal, ActivistMadhurata Deshmukh, Retd Director, C-DACManjiri Manerikar, PathologistJayendra Parulekar, Pediatrician, Environmental Activist Rajaram, AcademicLeena Pandhare, AcademiJo Chopra McGowan, Social Worker Dipak Dholakia, Social Activist Soumya Dutta, Activist Ashutosh Shirke, Counsellor and Activist Pushpesh Kumar, Academic Utpal V. B., Writer and activist Padma Velaskar, Academic Anant Maringanti, Academic Vineeta Bal, Academic Ravindra Rukmini Pandharinath J. Joy, Activist Researcher Brinelle D’Souza, Academic and activist Govind Mathur, Retired Judge Nagmani Rao, Academic and activist Veena Naregal, Academic Sanjeev Chandorkar, Academic Shekhar Deshmukh, Journalist Nitish Navsagare, Academic Shilpa Ballal, Filmmaker Dayanand Janakdande, Publisher Sanjay Savale, Researcher, ActivistYouvraj, Activist, New Socialist AlternativeMilind Champanerkar, Activist, TranslatorGeorge Chira, activistG D Parekh,Rtd. Judge Vandana Palsane, academicAzhar Tyabji, Urban planner Gautam Bhatia. Architect Kamini Tankha, Concerned Citizen Bharat Patankar, ActivistAnanta, Activist Manu Bhatnagar, ActivistNeeraj Hatekar, AcademicNarendra Dengle, ArchitectVijaya Chauhan, ActivistNeera Adarkar, Architect Chhaya Datar, Academic Lara Patwardhan, Academic Vibhuti Patel, Academic Megha Pansare, Academic Paramjit Singh Judge, Academic M P S Ishar, Former vice chancellor, Jammu University, MRS Punjab Technical University BathindaSatish Sharma, AcademicAjit K Pandey, AcademicSuneeti Jain, Retired Govt OfficerJogi Panghaal, Design Practitioner and ProfessorKranti Kanade, FilmmakerSambit Malik, AcademicGanesh Vispute, Poet, Writer and artistRiyaz Tayyibji, Architect Beulah Kaushik , HousewifeSnehanshu Mukherjee, ArchitectDattatraya Gangode, AcademicSakshi Varade,Student Dhanashree Gangurde,StudentNikhil Gorwadkar, studentSiddharth Agarwal, Researcher-Activist Dinesh Abrol, Activist, Delhi Science ForumPrema A., AcademicQaneez Sukharani, ActivistAvli Verma, ResearcherAbhijit Arvind Deshpande, Academic Suniti S. R., Activist. Hemant Patil, Media Consultant. Abhay Karde, consultant. Vandana Kulkarni, activist. Vinay R. R. , Activist. Arati Rohan Khatu, Academic. Chaitra Redkar, Academic . Depinder Kapur, Development professional. Manu Kaushik, management professional. Varsha Mehta, Independent researcher. S. Faizi, Ecologist. Bibind Vasu, Management professional . Ahmed Fawaz, Development professional. Emmanuel Murray, Investment professional. Laxmikant Deshmukh, Retd. IAS, Writer. Pradeep Shinde, Academic. Javed Anand, Journalist and Activist . Bhausaheb Chaskar, Teacher . Amber Habib, Academic. Vipul Mudgal, Academic. Rajeswari Raina,Academic . Robina Gupta, Filmmaker. Ashish Chaddha, Academic. Anindita Mukhopadhyay, Historian. Kaveri Gill, Academic. Pushpendra, Academic, Activist . Rahul Ghai, Academic. Swasti Singh, Academic. Amita Josheph, Concerned Citizen . Abha Dev Habib, Activist, Academic. Navdeep Mathur, Academic. Tanishka Kachru, Academic. Bhupen Sarmah, Academic . Swagata Naidu , Academic . Ajoy Lagoo, Professional. Sulbha Lagoo, Professional. Shaila Shintre , Teacher. Atharva Shintre, Student. Anand Shintre, Professional. Gajanan Nimgaonkar, Professional. Mahendra Khandelwal, Professional . Shobha Paranjpe, Teacher . Pranjal Shrotriya ,Theatre Professional. Maya Joshi, Teacher. Harsh Joshi, Academic. Sunita Gupta, Doctor. Shafi Shekh, Service . Jaya Mehta , Economist. Vineet Tiwari , Journalist. Anuradha Tiwari, Teacher . Satish Bagal, Retd. Civil Servant . Roopashri Sinha, Freelance Researcher . Naresh Dadhich, Scientist . Shrikant K.T., Businessman. Vijay Kandgaonkar, Consultant . Arun Khore, Journalist . Shiney Varghese, Development Professional. Gauri Bhagwat, Academic. Meet Jafar Sultan, Academic. Lalita Joshi, Banker. Aparna Phadake, Academic. Subhash Lomte, Activist. Prabhakar Shetty, Bank Union Activist. Anil Prabhu, Bank Union Activist . Dhananjay Kulkarni, Bank Union Activist . Harishchandra Thorat, Academic . Sangita Hari Narke,Concerned Citizen . Ujwala Masdekar, Bank Union Activist . Medha Purao Samant, Banker . Shubhangi Thorat, Concerned Citizen . Smruti Landge, Concerned Citizen . Arun Anavkar, Bank Union Activist . Suresh Landge, Academic . Ulka Mahajan, Activist . Shivpriya Surve, Writer . Milind Wagh, academic . Umesh Bagade, Academic . Shriram Jadhav, Activist . Firoz Amir, Businessman . Tilottama Zade, Activist . N. Shankar, Bank Union Activist. Ankita Yadav, Head of Operations in NGO . Shrish Tambe, Concerned Citizen . Sheeva Dubey, Academic and Activist . Madhuri Awate, Concerned Citizen . Amitabh Kumar, Retd. IPS . Vidyarthi Vikas, Faculty, AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna . V D Patil, Activist . Tushar Gandhi, Writer and Activist . Radhika Das, Filmmaker and Artist. Sooraj Samant, Consultant and Analyst . Madhukar Dube, Journalist . Raju Parulekar, Journalist . Chaitanya Sawale, Concerned Citizen. Vishwas Utagi, Banker . Satish Deshmukh, Retd. Officer, Air India . Suvarnreha Jadhav, Visual Artist and Colourist . Rahee S.G, Ph.D. Scholar . Gauri Shintre, Student Tarun Chowdhury, Student. Gauri Gill, Artist. Neeraja, Writer . Kavita Kowshik, Retd. Social Entrepreneur and Farmer Activist . Vivek Bhandari, Academic . Dhruv Raina, Academic. Ashish Kothari, Environmentalist . Anant Phadake, Activist Researcher . Seema Kulkarni, Activist Researcher . R S Sandhu, Academic. Anchal, Concerned Citizen . Sanchita Days, Concerned Citizen . Jharna Jhaveri, Concerned Citizen . Nina Pathak, Environmentalist . Ila Kambali, Activist . Madhavi Inamdar, Concerned Citizen . Girija Gupte, Academic . Sadhana Khatti, Activist . Rumina Pushkin, Concerned Citizen . Anuradha Gaikwad, Concerned Citizen . Ravindran Gopinath, Academic . Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Journalist and Academic. Meera Viswanathan, Academic . Shobhana Warrier, Academic . Divya Bhatnagar, Academic . Ujjwala Mehendale, Freelance Journalist . Prasad Zaware, Chartered Accountant . Sangram Khopade, Media Person . Kedar Gadgil, Business Consultant . Prashant Kothadia, Founder, Forum for Constitutional Nationalism . Anvar Rajan, Trustee, Maharashtra Gandhi Smarak Nidhi . Umesh Thakur, Activist . Anjali Chipalkatti, Educationist . Nitin Thakur, Journalist . Shashikant Malode, Academic . Umesh Shinde, Academic . Dattatrey Gangode, Academic . Sakshi Varade, Student. Dhanashree Gangurde, Student. Nikhil Gorwadkar, Student. Vidya Dengle, Artist. Ashok Bhandari, Rtd. IPS . Nandita Narain, Academic . Vijaya Venkatraman, Academic
