India: CASR strongly condemns the second time arrest of Manish Azad
We hereby share a statement by Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) that we have received.
6 JANUARY 2025
CASR STRONGLY CONDEMNS THE SECOND TIME ARREST OF POLITICAL ACTIVIST, POET, AND WRITER MANISH AZAD BY LUCKNOW ATS IN THE SAME CASE FROM 2019
On January 5, UP ATS [Editor’s note: Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad] arrested the political activist, poet And writer Manish Azad from his residence in Allahabad. Manish Azad has been politically active for the last 3 decades, Manish is founder president of Inqalabi Chhatr Sabha. Manish’s articles, poems and film reviews are published in different magazines. He does translation work for his livelihood. He was previously arrested in this same fabricated case by UP ATS in July 2019 and was released on bail after 8 months of incarceration. He has also been incriminated in another bogus FIR. His jail diary ‘Abbu ki nazar me jail’ was published in 2022. It is pertinent to mention that before his arrest for the second time in this bogus and cold case, after more than 4 years of securing bail, Manish’s targeting was already underway when he was tagged in the bogus Lucknow Conspiracy Case pertaining to alleged conspiracy to revive the Maoist party in North Indian states. His house was raided along with residences of other activists across UP on September 5, 2024.
Under this present FIR from 2019, UP ATS has also arrested Advocate Kripashankar Singh on March 5, 2024, along with his life partner Binda Sona. Another activist Anita Azad was also arrested in the same case. Kripashankar was founder of Front Against Fascism and was an editor of its newsletter ‘Viruddh’ . Earlier, he was arrested in another fabricated case in 2010 and got bail after 5 years of incarceration. After his release, he did his graduation in Law and started practicing in the Allahabad High Court. Adv Kripashankar fought cases of poor people especially jail inmates who did not have any lawyer to get bail and other judicial help. NIA raided his house on 5 September 2023 in the bogus Lucknow Conspiracy Case. He is currently lodged in Lucknow Central Jail. Activist Binda Sona and Anita Azad worked in the Savitribai Phule Organization to educate poor women especially Dalit women. Anita was also active along With her life partner Brijesh Kushwaha in Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) with Farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait and Darshan Pal Singh in its UP chapter. While Binda was arrested by UP ATS on March 5, 2024, Anita was arrested by UP ATS on October 18, 2023. Both are currently lodged in Lucknow Central Jail. It is also important to note that activist Anita Azad has a miscarriage in December 2023 in Lucknow Central Jail because of the medical negligence by Jail authorities as well as rejection of her bail application on medical grounds by NIA-ATS Special Court, Lucknow.
Manish Azad’s arrest is part of a larger crackdown on activists by Brahmanical Hindutva fascist BJP-RSS government all over India in the name of Over Ground Workers (OGW) of Communist Party of India (Maoist). It is an attempt to suppress the democratic people’s movement for a just society and an ill conceived scheme to suppress people’s democratic aspirations, which shall not and will not succeed.
CASR strongly condemns the witch hunt and arrest of activist Manish Azad in bogus cold case under the pretext of national security and urban Naxalism. We urge all the progressive and democratic organizations and individuals to come together and resist the continuous targeting of trade union leaders, farmer leaders, writers, poets, advocates, students, and other political activists.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST STATE REPRESSION
Organizing Team
(AIRSO,AISA, AISF, APCR,ASA,BAPSA BBAU,BASF, BSM, Bhim Army, bsCEM,COLLECTIVE,CRPP, CSM CTF, , DISSC, DSU, DTF, Forum Against Repression Telangana, Fraternity, IAPL, Innocence Network, Karnataka Janashakti, LAA,Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, Mazdoor Patrika, , NAPM, NAZARIYA , Nishant Natya Manch, Nowruz, NTUI, People’s Watch, Rihai Manch, Samajwadi Janparishad,Smajwadi lok manch, Bahujan Samjavadi Mnach, SFI, United Peace Alliance, WSS,Y4S)
