Social groups protest legal action against writers outside DC’s office

Amritsar, July 1

Members of the Tarksheel Society (Punjab) and Jamhuri Adhikar Sabha (Punjab) held a protest against the Union Government for initiating legal action against renowned writer Arundhati Roy outside Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Monday.

Providing information about this, Dr Parminder, secretary of the Sabha, and Sumit Singh, state committee leader of the Society, said the protest was also directed against the government for taking action against Prof Shaukat Hussain of Kashmir. They said that to prosecute him under the black law of the UAPA after 14 years based on a speech he gave during a seminar in 2010 in favour of the democratic freedom of the people of the North Eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir was an attack on the citizens’ freedom of expression. It is an authoritarian attack on the constitutional rights of citizens and a form of dictatorship, which will not be tolerated under any circumstances, they said.

The sit-in was held to cancel the case registered under the UAPA against Arundhati Roy and Prof Shaukat Hussain.

During the protests, copies of the three new anti-people criminal laws implemented by the government from July 1 were burnt. A demand letter was also submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, addressed to the President to unconditionally cancel the case against these two and withdraw the three criminal laws.