Actor Sadaf Jafar, who will be seen in Mira Nair’s A Suitable Boy, has been lodged in a Lucknow jail since 19 December, when she was arrested while capturing videos of the protests taking place at Parivartan Chowk in Lucknow as part of the Anti-CAA protests.
Along with Mira Nair, now Swara Bhasker and Mahesh Bhatt have tweeted, demanding the release of the actor. Swara wrote, “Activist and actor #sadafjafar is in jail in Lucknow.. not clear why! Her friends #DeepakKabir is also in jail because he went to enquire after her.. #FreeSadaf #FreeDeepak and make UP police accountable for its excesses!”
Mahesh Bhatt also tweeted about the same, “If the mind is shackled or made impotent through fear, it makes no difference under what form of government you live, u are a subject & not a citizen . Without liberty of speech, all of the outward forms and structures of free institutions are a sham, a pretense. #FreeSadaf”
Earlier, Mira Nair appealed that immediate medical attention and care be provided to Sadaf and to all others arrested, detained or in judicial custody, and are in of need medical care. According to Mira, medical care has been denied to her so far, as the authorities have maintained she has received no injuries at all. Unable to get in touch with Sadaf herself, Mira was able to contact her sister, Naheed Varma.
“Naheed told me that Sadaf is still bleeding in jail from blows inflicted on her by male policemen. She is in pain, in a freezing prison where she is provided no mattress, only a ragged blanket. No medicine is allowed her. Her two young children are alone during the holidays without their single mother.”Mira Nair
Naheed, who met her sister soon after the arrest, says that she witnessed the injuries herself when she met her sister in jail on 19 December, and then on 23 December.
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