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STATEMENT CONDEMNING THE PERSECUTION OF LAWYERS COLLECTIVE AND SENIOR ADVOCATES INDIRA JAISING AND ANAND GROVER BY THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS, INDIA

We, the undersigned, unequivocally condemn the efforts of the Ministry of Home Affairs to persecute the Lawyers Collective (LC), Indira Jaising and Anand Grover in order to obstruct the legal and human rights work being carried out by them. We condemn the suspension of the FCRA registration of LC, as well as the mala fide and motivated manner in which the Ministry of Home Affairs, in a blatant violation of law, leaked the suspension notice to the press even before providing LC with a copy of the same. There has been a systematic campaign and abuse of the legal process by the Central Government to malign Indira Jaising and Anand Grover as well as LC over the past six months. The suspension of LC’s FCRA registration is nothing but an escalation of the Government’s campaign to crush dissent and criminalise any person or organisation that questions or opposes the violation of fundamental rights and human rights by the State and its agencies. The motivated campaign and actions against LC fit neatly into the present Government’s concerted campaign against marginalised and oppressed sections of society and any person, whether students, activists, academics or individuals who question the policies, actions and the abuse of power by the government.

Senior Advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover have an exceptional profile of public service, probity and personal and professional integrity as lawyers and as human rights activists. Their work has received global recognition. Ms. Indira Jaising, has made an unparalleled contribution to law and jurisprudence on gender discrimination, whether relating to women’s right to property, sexual harassment at the workplace, domestic violence etc. She has also been a member of the CEDAW Committee. Anand Grover held the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Health between 2008 to 2014. He has made a tremendous contribution to the legal campaign against the criminalisation of homosexuality; rights of persons living with HIV; and access to medicine and healthcare. Ms. Jaising and Mr. Grover, through LC

June 3, 2016 2 have and continue to advance the rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized sections of society, thereby upholding constitutional values. Instead of recognizing their invaluable contribution to the county and its people, the Government is making all efforts to obstruct their work.

Through the persecution and harassment of LC and Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, the present Government is sending a clear and chilling message to the citizens of this country that the inevitable consequence of questioning or criticising the present Government’s policies is repression and criminalisation.

LC has specifically and repeatedly countered and justified each of the bald allegations regarding misuse of funds that have been levelled by the MHA. However, the MHA has displayed an unusual vindictiveness by ignoring the official responses sent by LC and proceeding to suspend their FCRA registration. The malafide and clear intention to malign and harass LC is evident from the fact that the MHA, in clear violation of procedure, allowed the notice of suspension of FCRA registration to be provided to the media before it was provided to LC, Ms. Jaising or Mr. Grover. The MHA’s suspension of LC’s FCRA registration is based on the allegation that the FCRA has been violated on the following grounds: A. That the remuneration paid by LC to Ms. Jaising for certain services provided by her while she was also serving as a government servant (as the Additional Solicitor General of India) is a violation of the FCRA. - LC in its response to the MHA has specifically stated that at this time Ms. Jaising was not a government servant. B. That the reimbursement of expenses for telephone and internet, incurred by Mr. Anand Grover while he was serving as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health were a violation of the FCRA. - LC has denied the same and has specifically stated that the reimbursements pertained to expenses incurred for work done by Mr. Grover for LC itself. C. That LC has used funds it has received through the FCRA to organise dharnas and rallies which can be interpreted as political action in violation of the FCRA. - This has been repeatedly denied by LC as being entirely false and baseless. LC has further stated that the only money it has spent on mobilizing communities was

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received from local sources or UN agencies, which is not illegal, moreover, the community mobilisation was restricted to organising people living with HIV/AIDS, which can be no means be considered a ‘political activity’

The allegations against LC are motivated, absurd and feeble, and display nothing but a desperate attempt by the Government and MHA to persecute persons who are able to challenge and highlight the egregious violation of human rights that the present Government is committing, condoning and is complicit in.

It is therefore no surprise that the targetting of LC and Ms. Jaising and Mr Grover began subsequent to their legal representation and intervention in certain cases. Ms. Jaising and Mr. Grover have legally challenged the discharge of BJP National President Mr. Amit Shah who was an accused in the fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati. Ms. Jaising has represented Priya Pillai who challenged the Central Government’s action of preventing her from attending a conference abroad and critiquing Government's policies on allowing corporations to acquire and mine lands belonging to farmers and others. Mr. Grover had represented Yakub Memon in challenging the death sentence awarded to him before the Supreme Court.

We stand in solidarity with Indira Jaising, Anand Grover, and all their colleagues at LC. We condemn all efforts to obstruct their work, and to harass and persecute them. We are confident that LC, Indira Jaising and Anand Grover will not be deterred by the malicious and vindictive campaign unleashed by the Government and we are confident that they will continue to work to uphold Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights. We appeal to all those who support the right to dissent, question and criticize anti-people policies of the government to express their solidarity.

In Solidarity,

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Organisations/Institutions 1 All India Blue Star Employees' Federation 2 All India Democratic Women's Association 3 All India Blue Star Employees' Federation 4 Aman Biradari Trust 5 Amnesty International India 6 Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives (AALI) 7 Association for Promotion of Sustainable Development, Hisar 8 Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Manch (MASUM) 9 Beyond Beijing Committee 10 Borok Peoples' Human Rights Organisation 11 Centre for Equity Studies 12 Centre for Human Rights and Development 13 Centre for Social Equity and Inclusion 14 Civil Society Forum on Human Rights 15 Community Legal Education Center 16 Deen Bandhu Sahayata Samiti (DBSS) 17 Delhi Forum 18 Evironment Support Group, Bangalore 19 Forum Against Oppression of Women 20 Gonggam Human Rights Law Foundation 21 Greenpeace India 22 HAQ Centre for Child Rights 23 Ideosync Media Combine 24 Indian Social Institute 25 INSAF - Indian Social Action Forum 26 Institute of Development Education, Action & Studies (IDEAS), Madurai 27 JEEVA, Karnataka 28 Kamani Employees' Union 29 LABIA - A Queer Feminist LBT Collective, Mumbai 30 Law Life Culture, Bangladesh 31 Lok Manch 32 Mahan Sangarsh Samiti, Madhya Pradesh 33 Naga Peoples' Movement for Human Rights 34 Nari Shakti Manch, Gurgaon 35 National Alliance Group for Denotifed and Nomadic Tribe (NAG - DNT) 36 National Commission for Justice and Peace 37 National Foundation for India 38 New Trade Union Initiative 39 NoMore Campaign 40 Peoples Union For Civil Liberties 41 People's Watch 42 Programme Against Custodial Torture and Impunity (PACTI) 43 RTI Federation

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44 Saheli Women's Resource Centre 45 South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), Canada 46 South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM) 47 URO, Bhopal 48 Wada Na Todo Abhiyan 49 Women in Governance (WinG) 50 WSS (Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repressions)

Individuals/Activists 1 Aaditya Deskhmukh Symbiosis Law School, Pune 2 Aakar Patel Amnesty International India 3 Aarthi Pai Lawyer, Bangalore 4 Abha Bhaiya 5 Achin Vanaik 6 Adikanda Singh 7 Adilur Rahman Khan Odhikar Centre for Study of 8 Aditya Nigam Developing Societies (CSDS) Support Cell for Civil Society 9 Aditya Shrivastava Organisations

10 Ajay Bhardwaj Documentary Filmmaker 11 Ajay Kumar VB RIGHTS, Trivandrum 12 Ajaya Kumar Singh 13 Akhand Human Rights Activist, Odisha 14 Akhila Vidyasandra 15 Aloysius Amar Jesani 16 Amit Sengupta Journalist 17 18 Amita Joseph 19 Amitabh Behar National Foundation for India 20 Amrita Chhachhi

21 Amrita Johri Satark Nagrik Sangathan 22 Amritra Sudan Chakrabortty MANAB, West Bengal Deen Bandhu Sahayata Samiti 23 Anand Lakhan (DBSS) 24 Anjali Alexander 25 Anjali Bhardwaj Satark Nagrik Sangathan Annie Raja NFIW 26 27 Anubha Rajesh Senior Manager ICF International Anuradha Kapoor 28 29 Apoorvanand University of Delhi Society for Sustainable 30 Arun Jindal Development, Rajasthan

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31 Aruna Burte Aruna Roy MKSS 32 33 Arundhati Dhuru NAPM Asad Zaidi Three Essays Collective 34 35 Asha Singh 36 Ashish Kothari Kalpavriksh, Pune 37 Ashok Agrwaal South Asia Center for Bhojpuri 38 Ashok Kumar Singh Studies 39 Asim Sarode Advocate 40 Asmita Basu

41 Avinash Kumar Ayesha Kidwai 42 43 B.S. Ajeetha Advocate, Chennai Babloo Loitongbham Human Rights Alert 44 45 Bela Bhatia Activist 46 Bezwada Wilson Safai Karamchari Andolan 47 Bharti Ali HAQ Centre for Child Rights 48 Bharti Sharma Bijoy Basant Patro 49 50 Bindu N Doddahatti Advocate Banglar Manabadhikar 51 Biplab Mukherjee Suraksha Manch (MASUM) 52 Biraj Patnaik Centre for Equity Studies 53 Bizeth Banerjee 54 Brinelle D'Souza TISS 55 C.P. Sujaya Chayanika Shah 56 57 Chirashree Ghosh Senior Manager Mobile Creches 58 D. Thankappan Kamani Employees' Union 59 D.W. Karuna Researcher, Chennai 60 Deepa SAMA Deepa Venkatachallam 61 62 Denzil Fernandes SJ Executive Director Indian Social Institute 63 Devika Singh Mobile Creches St. Aloysius Degree College, 64 Dr. Ambrose Pinto SJ Principal Bangalore 65 Dr. Aurobindo Ghose Advocate 66 Dr. Gabriele Deitrich Madurai 67 Dr. Gnana Prakasam Executive Director Centre for World Solidarity 68 Dr. Goldy M. George Chief Editor Journal of People's Studies Director and Professor Centre for Development 69 Dr. Indira Hirway of Economics Alternatives, Ahmedabad 70 Dr. J. Vincent Manoharan Lawyer, Dalit Rights Defender 71 Dr. Jasveen Jairath Water Sector Professional and Activist

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72 Dr. Meena Dhanda Reader in Philosophy and Cultural Polictics 73 Dr. Mira Shiva 74 Dr. Mohan Rao Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University 75 Dr. Nandita Gandhi Social Researcher and Activist, Mumbai 76 Dr. Nandita Shah Women's Rights Activist, Mumbai 77 Dr. Narendra Gupta PRAYAS, Chittorgarh 78 Dr. Nimalka Fernando President IMADR 79 Dr. Sandeep Pandey Centre for Health and 80 Dr. Shakeel Executive Director Resource Management Tata Institute of Social 81 Dr. Shilpa Phadke Sciences National Law University, 82 Dr. Sophy K.J. Assistant Professor Delhi Research Professional in Global Health and Bioethics, 83 Dr. Sunita Bandewar Pune 84 Dr. Vandana Prasad

Dr. Vikas Bajpai Assistant Professor 85 Jawaharlal Nehru University North Eastern Social Research 86 Dr. Walter Fernandes Senior Fellow Centre 87 Dunu Roy 88 Enakshi Ganguly HAQ Centre for Child Rights 89 Farah Naqvi Writer and Activist 90 Fr. Cedric Prakash Human Rights Activist Gagan Sethi 91 92 Gautam Mody General Secretary New Trade Union Initiative 93 Geetha Nambisan Management Professional 94 Ghanshyam Shah Retired Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University 95 Haris Azhar KontraS, Indonesia Harsh Jaitli 96 97 Harsh Kapoor Harsh Mander Aman Biradari 98 Hasina Khan 99 100 Hazel D'Lima Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai 101 Hazim Rashid Human Rights Defenders' 102 Henri Tiphagne Alert - India National Forum for Housing 103 Indu Prakash Singh National Convenor Rights Ingrid Srinath HIVOS India. 104 105 J. Moses Secretary YMCA Jagmati Sangwan AIDWA 106 107 Jahnvi Andharia Human Development and 108 James Dabhi Research Director Research Centre, Ahmedabad

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Jashodhara Dasgupta 109 110 Javed Anand Journalist and Human Rights Activist 111 Jaya Iyer Zinda Dilli 112 Jayati Ghosh Jawaharlal Nehru University 113 Jeevika Shiv Advocate Jitendra Chahar 114 115 John Dalton Arogyam Agam 116 John Dayal Activist and writer Simon Fraser University, 117 John Harriss Canada 118 John Samuel

119 Joseph William 120 K Ashok Rao 121 K. Joshi Human Rights Defender, Andhra Pradesh Kabi S 122 123 Kabi Sherman Kalyani Menon-Sen Feminist Learning Partnerships 124 125 Kalyani Raj 126 Kamayani Bali Mahabal Human Rights Activist, Mumbai 127 Karen Gabriel 128 Karthik Bittu University of Hyderabad All India Progressive Women's Kavita Krishnan 129 Association (AIPWA) Kavita Srivastava PUCL 130 131 Kuldip Chand 132 Kumar John Director Social Watch, Chennai 133 Kumar Kalanand Mani Peaceful Society Kumar Sundaram IndiaResists.com 134 135 Lakshan Dias Lawyer Lakshan Dias Associates 136 Lata Singh Jawaharlal Nehru University 137 Lesley Esteves LGBT Rights Activist 138 M. A. Patil Vice President New Trade Union Initiative 139 M. Nizamudeen CONFET 140 Madhu Sarin Madhusree Dutta 141 142 Maitreyi Gupta Women's Rights Lawyer, Bangkok 143 Mallika Sarabhai Social Activist 144 Mamta Borgoyary CEO FXB India Suraksha Head of Policy and CIVICUS World Alliance for 145 Mandeep Tiwana Research Citizen Participation 146 Manisha Gupte Women's Health Activist, Pune Jamia Teachers' Solidarity 147 Manisha Sethi Association 148 Manohar Elavarthi Political Activist, Bangalore 149 Manoj Mitta Journalist

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150 Manu Alphonse Centre for Women's 151 Mary E John Professor Development Studies 152 Mathew Cherian Chairman VANI 153 Maya Shanker Sangini, New Delhi 154 Mazher Hussain Tata Institute of Social 155 Meena Gopal Sciences 156 Meena Menon 157 Meena Seshu Sangram 158 Meenakshi Ganguly 159 MG Devasahayam Mira Shiva 160 161 Monica Sakhrani 162 Monisha Behal Mridula Bajaj 163 164 Mujahid Nafees Ramjas College, University of Mukul Mangalik 165 Delhi N. D. Pancholi PUCL 166 167 N. Vasudevan President New Trade Union Initiative 168 N.D. Jayaprakash 169 Nafisa D'Souza Executive Director LAYA, Visakhapatnam Delhi University 170 Nalini Taneja 171 Nandan Maluste 172 Nandini Rao 173 Nandini Sundar Delhi University 174 Nandita Narain Associate Professor St. Stephen's College Navsharan Singh 175 176 Neelanjana Mukhia 177 Neelima Sharma Theatre Person 178 Neeru Bhatnagar Mobile Creches Nikhil Dey MKSS 179 180 Nina Rao 181 Nirmala Karunan Greenpeace India 182 Nishit Kumar CHILDLINE India Foundation 183 Niti Saxena 184 Nivedita Menon Jawaharlal Nehru University 185 Ovais Sultan Khan ANHAD 186 P. Joseph Victor Raj HOPE, Puducherry 187 P.K. Vijayan 188 P.R. Ramesh Padma Deosthali CEHAT 189 Tata Institute of Social 190 Padmini Swaminathan Professor Sciences

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191 Pamela Philipose 192 Pankaj Butalia Filmmaker National Campaign on Dalit Paul Divakar 193 Human Rights 194 Pawan Dhall 195 Poulomi Pal 196 Prabhat Patnaik Economist and Political Commentator 197 Pradeep Baisakh Social Activist and Independent Journalist Developmental 198 Pradeep Esteves Activist Context India 199 Pradipta Nayak IHRE, Odisha 200 Pramada Menon Pramada Menon 201 Human Development and 202 Prasad Chacko Director Research Centre, Ahmedabad Prathibha Sivasubramanian 203 Priya Pillai Greenpeace India 204 205 Prof. Anuradha Chenoy 206 Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy Asia Pacific Center for Integral 207 Prof. Kim, Yong-Bock Chancellor Study of Life 208 Purnima Upadhyay Khoj, Melghat Purwa Bharadwaj 209 210 Pushkar Raj Writer 211 Pushpa Achanta 212 PVS Giridhar Advocate, Chennai 213 R. Umamaheshwari Radhika Desai 214 215 Raj Mahey 216 Rajalakshmi Sriram Professor Emeritus University of Baroda 217 Rajendra Sail Former President PUCL Chhattisgarh 218 Rakhi Sehgal 219 Ram Puniyani All India Secular Forum 220 Rama Sarode Advocate Rama Srinivasan 221 222 Ridhima Mehra South Asia Forum for Human 223 Rita Manchanda Rights 224 Rita Taku ACR, Arunachal Pradesh Nazariya: A Queer Feminist Ritambhara Mehta 225 Resource Group Nazariya: A Queer Feminist Rituparna Borah 226 Resource Group 227 Roger Gaikwad General Secretary NCCI 228 Rohit Prajapati Activist, Gujarat

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All India Union of Forest Roma 229 Working People Roshni Nuggehalli Yuva 230 231 Ruki Fernando Human Rights Activist, Sri Lanka Hunter College, City 232 Rupal Oza Associate Professor University of New York 233 S. Srinivasan 234 Sandhya Gokhale Indian Journal of Medical Sandhya Srinivasan 235 Ethics 236 Sandipan Paul Indian Journal of Medical 237 Sandya Srinivasan Ethics Sarojini N. B. 238 239 Satish Deshpande 240 Satish Singh Forum to Engage Men (FEM) 241 Seema Misra

Shabnam Hashmi 242 Anhad

243 Shamsul Islam Academician Shankar Singh MKSS 244 245 Shantha Sinha 246 Sharad Behar 247 Sharmila Purkayastha Miranda House Chhattisgarh Mahila Jagriti 248 Shashi Sail Sangathan 249 Sister Carol Geeta Sameeksha, Ajmer 250 Sister Superior Sameeksha, Ajmer 251 Sreedharan Nair Independent Consultant Stalin K Video Volunteers 252 253 Stan Swamy Global Human Rights 254 Subash Mohapatra Communications 255 Subhash Mendhapurkar SUTRA, Himachal Pradesh 256 Subhashini Ali 257 Sudeshna Sengupta Mobile Creches Dakshini Rajasthan Majdoor 258 Sudhir Kumar Katiyar Union 259 Suhas Kolhekar Vikalpa Sangam 260 Suhasini Mulay Actor 261 Sujata Ghotoskar Researcher and Activist, Mumbai 262 Sujata Patel President Indian Sociological Society Sumitra Mishra 263 264 Suneeta Dhar Activist 265 Suresh Bhat 266 Sushant Stanley IRDWSI

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267 Svati P. Shah 268 Swarna Rajagopalan 269 Syeda Hameed 270 Tanushree Gangopadhyay 271 Tapan Bose 272 Teesta Setalvad Journalist and Human Rights Activist Tenzing 273 274 Theo van Boven Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture People's Action for Rural 275 Thomas Pallithanam Awakening 276 Udaya Kalupathirana Human Rights Activist, Sri Lanka Ujjwala Mhatre 277 278 Uma Chakravarthi 279 Uma Chandru Urvashi Butalia 280 Tamil Nadu State Commission 281 V. Vasanthi Devi Former Chairperson for Women Chatti Mahatma Gandhi 282 V.B. Chandrasekaran Aashramam, Andhra Pradesh 283 Valay Singh Saheli Women's Resource 284 Vani Subramanian Centre Veena Gowda 285 Veena Johari Lawyer 286 Former Deputy 287 Veena Shatrugna Director National Institute of Nutrition 288 Venu Arora Executive Director Ideosync Media Combine 289 Vidyasagar Ramamurthy Retired UNICEF 290 Vijay Mandake 291 Vijayan MJ General Secretary Programme for Social Action Indian Council for Cultural 292 Vikash Kumar Consultant Relations (ICCR) Madhya Pradesh Progressive 293 Vineet Tiwari General Secretary Writers Association 294 Vineeta Bal Scientist Indian Christian Women's Virginia Saldanha 295 Movement. 296 Vrinda Grover Advocate and Activist 297 Warisha Farasat Advocate 298 William Gomes Journalist, UK

299 William Stanley 300 Xavier Dias Editor Khan Kaneej aur Adhikar 301 Zahoor Wani APDP

302 Zakiya Kurrien

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