June 3, 2016 1 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 June 3, 2016 3 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, June 3, 2016 4 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 June 3, 2016 5 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 June 3, 2016 6 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.