The following statement was released in a meeting held today January 04, 2011 at Prashant, Ahmedabad. A large number of Human Rights Activists participated in the meeting. Apart from those present the statement has also been signed by the activists from others parts of India.
* * *STATEMENT* We strongly condemn the malicious and motivated campaign against human rights activists and their lawyers struggling for justice for the victims of the genocidal carnage in Gujarat in 2002. The patently false allegations of doctoring evidence are being orchestrated at a time when crucial trials are nearing completion and accused among whom are powerful politicians and policemen face charges of criminal conspiracy and murder. The allegations against Teesta Setalvad secretary Citizens for Justice and Peace and the organisation she represents as well as advocate Sohail Tirmizi a lawyer who has fought tirelessly for justice were spearheaded first by the state of Gujarat, then fuelled by a former employee. The recent attempt to file an application before the bar council for the cancellation of the 'sanad' of five lawyers namely- Mukul Sinha, Amrish Patel, SH Iyer, Shamshad Pathan and Sohail Tirmizi, through an accused of Naroda Patiya is condemnable. The timings of the malafide allegations are aimed at derailing the course of justice and come at a time when the apex court is poised to hear a complaint of conspiracy to commit mass murder, subversion of justice and destruction of evidence. The brazen attempts need to be seen for what they are given the seriousness of the charges against the Gujarat state and its functionaries. Dev Desai Dhirendra Panda Dr Ghanshyam Shah Dr. Harshavardhan Hegde Feroza Nooruni Fr Cedric Prakash sj Gaurang Raval Gautam Thakar Govind Parmar Hanif Lakdawala Harsh Mander Hiren Gandhi Hozefa John Junaid Ansari Kavita Srivastava Mahesh Pandya Manisha Sethi Manisha Trivedi Manoj Sharma Mansi Sharma Meena Jagtap MM Tirmizi Mukhtar Sheikh Mukul Sinha Nadeem Nafeesa Barot Nandita Das Nasiruddin Haider Khan Noorjahan Dewan Prasad Chako Prashant Bhushan Praveen Mishra Prof Anuradha Chenoy Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy Prof KM Shrimali Prof KN Panikkar Prof Rooprekha Verma Prof. Ram Puniyani Rasheeda Roopa Satya Sivaraman Seema Duhan Shabnam Hashmi Sheba George Sonal Patel Sophia Khan Uma Chakravarty -- ANHAD 23, Canning Lane New Delhi-110001 Ph: 23070722/23070740 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
