A group of Canadian organisations has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind, requesting them to drop all charges against Dr Anand Teltumbde, a reputed author and civil rights activist who was booked by the Pune Police for allegedly inciting caste-based violence at Bhima Koregaon on 1 January 2018.
The letter states that the charges against Teltumbde are patently fabricated and adds that he faces imminent arrest “as a so-called ‘Urban Naxalite’ (or Maoist) under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).”
People arrested under this act face years of incarceration without trial, the letter said.
The Dr Ambedkar Memorial Lecture Committee (comprising these Canadian organisations, namely Institute for the Humanities, Simon Fraser University; Department of Asian Studies, Centre for India and South Asia Research, and the Robert HN Ho and Family Foundation Program in Buddhism and Contemporary Society at the University of British Columbia; Chetna Association of Canada; and the Dr Hari Sharma Foundation for South Asian Advancement) had invited Teltumbde to deliver the Dr Ambedkar Memorial Lecture in Vancouver and Surrey in 2016.
“We appeal to the Government of India in the name of justice, democratic freedom, and the rule of law that the charges against Teltumbde be dropped unconditionally and that the ten human rights activists currently in jail be released immediately and unconditionally,” the groups added in the letter.
Read the full letter here.
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