MADURAI: Representatives of various human rights and civil liberties organizations have today made an appeal or rather demanded that the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) must be repealed immediately since it is being used to stifle people’s voice through arrests and silence the activists.
They also lashed out at the ‘Q’ Branch police in Tamil Nadu for arresting innocent people from poor families by foisting false cases. At a press conference held in Madurai on 12th February 2020, the national secretary of Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) along with senior advocates and activists had demanded the UAPA repeal since it is a ‘draconian’ Act.
RELEASE THOSE WHO WERE ARRESTED:
The demand for repeal of this Act came from Centre for Protection of Civil Liberties (CPCL), People’s Rights Protection Centre (PRPC) and the PUCL “It is a draconian Act being misused by police and we strongly condemn the Central and State governments. Ruling parties should not be anti-people. The cases booked by police on one family just for raising a slogan – Lakshmi, Salavahanan and their son Sudhakar – must be withdrawn.
They are just one example and we want cases booked on others too should go. The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act is being wrongly used by police to silence activists who are genuinely working for people’s cause,” the representatives demanded.
Among those who expressed their anguish at today’s press meet in Madurai include Mr.Anthony Das (PRPC)), Mr.Murugan (CPCL), advocate Mr.A.Syed Abdul Kather (National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations), advocate Mr.Rajendran and Mr.John Vincent.
