Mumbai, October 8
Over 180 members of the cultural community, including actor Naseeruddin Shah, cinematographer Anand Pradhan, historian Romila Thapar and activist Harsh Mander among others, have condemned the FIR lodged against 49 celebrities for an open letter they wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Last week, an FIR was filed in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur against personalities, including directors Aparna Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and writer-columnist Ramchandra Guha, for alleged sedition over a letter they wrote to the PM in July, voicing concern over growing incidents of mob lynching.
In new letter issued on Monday, the eminent personalities questioned how writing an open letter to the PM could be called “an act of sedition”.
“An FIR has been lodged against 49 of our colleagues in the cultural community, simply because they performed their duty as respected members of civil society. They wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister, expressing concern about mob lynching in our country.
“Can this be called an act of sedition? Or is harassment by misusing the courts a ploy to silence citizens’ voices?” the letter read.
The signatories, which also included writers Ashok Vajpeyi and Jerry Pinto, academician Ira Bhaskar, poet Jeet Thayil, author Shamsul Islam, musician TM Krishna and filmmaker-activist Saba Dewan, promised they will continue to speak up against silencing of “people’s voices”.
“This is why we share their letter here once again, and appeal to the cultural, academic and legal communities to do the same. This is why more of us will speak every day. Against mob lynching. Against the silencing of people’s voices. Against the misuse of courts to harass citizens,” the letter added.
The FIR was lodged on October 3 under several sections of the IPC, including those related to sedition, public nuisance, hurting religious feelings and insulting with an intent to provoke breach of peace. — PTI
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2oswVU5
via Today’s News Headlines
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