Civil Liberties Groups Seek Release of Political Prisoners
CLC leaders pointed out that 17 Muslim prisoners belonging to the Popular Front of India have been under trial in Nizamabad since 2022 under UAPA cases, despite no charges of violent acts.
Hyderabad:The Civil Liberties Committee (CLC) along with CPI and other activists demanded the release of political prisoners detained under UAPA cases. “It is necessary that we strongly demand that the Telangana government release political prisoners. Governments of other states, including Andhra Pradesh, as well as the Centre, must release political prisoners,” Supreme Court advocate D. Suresh, CLC general secretary, said at a protest at Dharna Chowk on Saturday
TG‑CLC president Dr Gaddam Laxman said, “We demand the immediate release of all political prisoners in jails, especially Adivasi prisoners who have been sick and lying in jails for several years.” He alleged that 230 people were implicated in false UAPA cases by the BRS government and have been running around courts for seven years. “Although all of them are false cases, the Congress government has not withdrawn them either,” he added.
Cases filed during the Telangana statehood struggle were not dropped even after formation of the state, and new cases were also slapped on people mobilising over issues under the state government, activists said.
CLC leaders pointed out that 17 Muslim prisoners belonging to the Popular Front of India have been under trial in Nizamabad since 2022 under UAPA cases, despite no charges of violent acts.
Suresh said around 1,200 people in Chhattisgarh, 1,000 in Jharkhand and many others in Odisha, UP, Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra and Delhi were jailed on allegations of being Maoists. He cited the case of lawyer Surendra Gadling who he said was “falsely implicated in the Bhima Koregaon case and has been unjustly languishing in jail for eight years without bail.”
He added that activists like Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have been in jail for six years without trial or bail, while courts imposed restrictions on Varavara Rao, Rani Satyanarayana (Kiran), Sadanala Ramakrishna and Paru Patel, forbidding them from leaving Mumbai and Kolkata.
“Even after bail, they are forced to stay away from loved ones, facing severe financial and health problems. When it is claimed the Maoist movement has ended, how is it democratic to continue harassing activists with litigation and detention?” Suresh questioned.
He also condemned the recent sentencing of Chaitanya Mahila Sangham leaders Shilpa, Devendra and Swapna to five years’ imprisonment in what he called a “false case”. “Swapna has a three‑year‑old toddler. After sentencing, the mother and child were ruthlessly separated. Such ruthlessness toward human relationships through an unjust verdict can never be justified,” he said.
