Indian columnist arrested on trumped-up “Maoism” charge
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Gautam Navlakha, a well-known columnist and human rights defender who, despite serious humanitarian concerns, has been jailed on a flimsy charge brought by India’s counter-terrorism police, the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Update 14/05/2024: Released by the supreme court on 14 May, Navlakha had been held since April 2020 on various charges including violating the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He covered stories involving the troubled northern territory of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Maoist armed separatists. He was assigned to house arrest In November 2022 because of his age and health problems. The Bombay high court had ordered his release on bail in December 2023 but the National Investigation Agency appealed against the decision and his house arrest was extended.
Although he insists on his innocence, Gautam Navlakha handed himself in at NIA headquarters in New Delhi yesterday and was immediately detained. In so doing, he was complying with a detention order issued on 16 March and a supreme court decision on 8 April rejecting his bail application.
An editorialist for the Newsclick website, Navlakha is charged with participating in a “Maoist conspiracy” because the NIA claims, without any supporting evidence, that he was involved in inter-communal violence during a major gathering in January 2018 to mark the 200th anniversary of an important victory for India’s Dalit (“Untouchable”) community.
Originally arrested in August 2018, Navlakha is facing up to seven years in prison under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
“Virtual death sentence”
“We urge India’s prosecutors to order Gautam Navlakha’s immediate and unconditional release and to drop the completely baseless charges against him,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.
“His arrest is clearly a politically-motivated reprisal for his articles condemning human rights violations in India. As well as constituting an utterly Kafkaesque denial of justice, jailing him the middle of the Covid-19 crisis poses a serious threat to his health.”
Navlakha is 65 years old and has cardiac problems. According to his lawyer, imprisoning him during the coronavirus crisis “is virtually a death sentence.”
In a moving statement written just before he surrendered, Navlakha said he was pinning his hopes on “a speedy and fair trial” but lamented the fact that he was being tried under legislation in which “an accused is guilty unless proven innocent.”
As RSF reported last November, accusations of “Maoism” are often used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to smear and harass journalists.
India is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index.
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