India – CASR strongly condemns the Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist state calculated attempt to obstruct the release of Roopesh

We hereby share a statement published by Campaign Against State Repression (CASR).

Roopesh is a political prisoner who has completed ten full years in custody. He was arrested on May 4, 2015, and since then has been entangled in a web of more than 40 UAPA cases filed across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Despite the gravity of the charges, 13 cases were dismissed outright due to a lack of proper sanction under UAPA, and he was acquitted in at least one. The sole conviction was in a 2014 case from Vellamunda, Kerala, which carried a 10-year sentence — a sentence Roopesh has already served.

This is a rare case where all legal requirements were met: his sentence was completed, bail was secured in every other pending case, and all fines were paid — yet authorities have suddenly seized on a long-dormant case from 2012 lodged in Karnataka to block his release days before he was due to walk free. The case has remained dormant for more than a decade — after his arrest in 2015, during eight years of undertrial detention, and through the full term of his sentence. It was not mentioned in his 2015 arrest, not pursued during trial or sentencing, and is now suddenly being activated—without any new evidence or urgency.This is merely an attempt at political harassment dressed up as due process. It is a calculated political act to prolong punishment by paperwork rather than by law. The state is weaponizing procedure to enforce punishment, and does so precisely when the courts and law have run their course.

Roopesh was never granted parole, not even in exceptional circumstances — including the death of his father or during his daughter’s wedding. These are concessions routinely granted to most inmates, but he was consistently denied. In one instance, he had applied for publication of his latest novel from prison—a manuscript titled Bandhitharude Ormakurippukal (Memoirs of the Imprisoned). The jail authorities denied permission, saying it contained references to the UAPA, the judiciary, and prison system — though no specific passages were flagged. Roopesh protested this by a hunger strike at first, and then an indefinite fast. By late May, he had been hospitalised with jaundice, and even in medical care, denied family access.

Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court ruled in March 2022 that the timeline for UAPA sanction is “mandatory and sacrosanct”, not optional. The court quashed three cases against Roopesh because the state government took six months to sanction UAPA charges, violating the seven-day rule under section 45 and corresponding rules. A division bench criticised the state for excessive delay and noted that lack of “application of mind” also rendered the sanction invalid. After more than a decade of incarceration, and completing all legal obligations, Roopesh is yet again entangled in an old case — activated only to deny a prisoner his constitutionally guaranteed release. No new evidence, no fresh charges, no judicial urgency — only the apparatus of delay.

This ongoing persecution is not just limited Roopesh—it is a violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India Article 21: the right to life and personal liberty, which includes the right to a fair and speedy trial. The Supreme Court’s 1979 decision in Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar affirmed that prolonged detention and delayed trials violate Article 21. Roopesh’s case has seen repeated denial of this right. Article 14 — the right to equality before the law. The selective denial of parole, the revival of random cases, and the continued harassment despite judicial clearance starkly contradict the principle of equal treatment under the law.

The Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist state’s pattern with Roopesh — pursuing spurious charges, delaying trial sanction, denying parole and creative expression — is symptomatic of a broader systemic weaponization of UAPA and related laws against political dissenters. Prisoners like Roopesh are punished silently and endlessly through procedural abuse, often with lifelong consequences.

If the state can detain a man indefinitely after he has completed his sentence — by dragging out old, unused cases — it is eroding the very foundations of its claims of being a democratic republic. Judicial timelines must not be bypassed at the whim of administrative power. Civil rights and liberties, even of prisoners, cannot be treated as privileges by law enforcement agencies and police officials. We call on civil liberties groups, legal professionals, journalists, student and workers’ organisations, and all democratic citizens to stand with Roopesh and demand his immediate and unconditional release now.

We demand:

1. Immediate and unconditional release of Roopesh, who has served his sentence, cleared bail, and fulfilled all legal obligations.
2. Complete withdrawal of the revived 2012 Karnataka case, which was dormant until now and lacks any substantive new basis.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST STATE REPRESSION

Organising Team

(AIRSO, AISA, AISF, APCR, ASA, BASF, BSM, Bhim Army, bsCEM, CEM, 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 Magazine , Nishant Natya Manch, Nowruz, NTUI, People’s Watch, Rihai Manch, Samajwadi Janparishad, Smajwadi lok manch, Bahujan Samjavadi Mnach, SFI, United Peace Alliance, WSS, Y4S)