>"All the provisions of the Bill are already contained in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the National Security Act and the Public Safety Acts. Why, then, is it necessary? The answer is because the state requires a statute that has nothing to do with terrorism but will strike terror in the hearts of human rights activists and cripple their work. That is why the Bill is drafted vaguely to capture in its net all well-meaning citizens of India mobilising against the system." ----------------------------------------- Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/maharashtra-urban-naxal-law-colin-gonsalves-9449360/ indianexpress.com <https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/maharashtra-urban-naxal-law-colin-gonsalves-9449360/> Colin Gonsalves writes: Under proposed ‘urban Naxal’ law, I could be arrested for fulfilling my duty Colin Gonsalves [The writer is a senior advocate, Supreme Court, and founder-director of the Human Rights Law Network] July 13, 2024 ------------------------------
It is in the nature of government, particularly these days, that persons in high places will suddenly come up with a bright idea and without much ado, draconian laws are made and pushed through Parliament. They are pushed through without discussion and without sending these obnoxious bills to Select Committees. Such is the nature of the special public security acts passed in Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. One such legislation has now been tabled in Maharashtra — the *Special Public Security Act, 2024* <https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/naxalism-in-urban-areas-maharashtra-govt-tables-bill-9447984/#:~:text=The%20key%20provisions,or%20%E2%80%9Charbours%E2%80%9D%20a%20member.> . Reading the Bill through the eyes of a human rights lawyer, I could see straightaway how my participation in meetings to explain to social workers the provisions of criminal law and the Constitution could have terrible repercussions. As a human rights lawyer, it is my duty to interact with members of the public throughout the country, particularly in tribal areas, conflict zones and places where atrocities on Dalits are taking place. In these meetings called by a wide spectrum of groups, I take the invitation at face value, participate in the meeting and advise social activists on the course they can take to engage in social movements within the contours of the rule of law. Since non-violent struggle is constitutionally protected and the Constitution makes it our solemn duty to the nation to resist draconian measures of the state, I can immediately see how my right to freedom of speech and expression can be crushed by this Bill. If I encourage disobedience by peaceful means, of authorities promoting illegalities such as tree cutting and environmental degradation, or if I innocently participate in a meeting of social workers protesting against torture by the police and fake encounters, I am immediately liable to be arrested and kept in jail for three years. It is no excuse for me to say that I did not know the identity of some of the organisers who, according to the police, had dubious links with certain organisations. I will be caught nevertheless under Section 8 even if I am not a member of any unlawful organisation. Things don’t end there. In an evolving Kafkaesque situation, the police can notify my office and my home, evict me and take possession. They may also forcibly enter my home and grab whatever money and other assets — such as my computers — that they find. All they need to say is that my training of activists in the use of the law to, say, prosecute the police, was for the purpose of aiding some unlawful organisations, because members of that organisation, unknown to me, participated in the meeting. *Urban Naxals* <https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/the-rise-of-urban-naxals-a-term-not-used-by-govt-8203746/>, as our Home Minister is fond of saying, if they do exist at all, are a very unverifiable lot. I certainly would not go by the opinion of the Hon’ble Minister. Moreover, I believe that as a lawyer, it is my duty to educate everyone including a Naxalite on the law and the Constitution, irrespective of how that legal education will work out in reality. Even a Naxalite has a right to know what rights she has in the Constitution and in criminal law. On her arrest, she must know how to apply for bail. She must know how to register an FIR <https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/everyday-explainers/fir-cognizable-offence-ipc-explained-7780266/> against a police person for torture. All such legal education programmes can be perceived as aiding unlawful organisations and incur the wrath of the state. The Bill is crudely drafted to crush freedom of speech and expression. It is meant to make impossible vigorous non-violent struggle against oppression. All the provisions of the Bill are already contained in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the National Security Act and the Public Safety Acts. Why, then, is it necessary? The answer is because the state requires a statute that has nothing to do with terrorism but will strike terror in the hearts of human rights activists and cripple their work. That is why the Bill is drafted vaguely to capture in its net all well-meaning citizens of India mobilising against the system. I don’t make this criticism without cause. We have gone through the experience of the arrest of the Bhima Koregaon <https://indianexpress.com/article/what-is/what-was-the-battle-of-koregaon-mahar-dalit-marathas-maharashtra-bandh-5009488/> lawyers and social workers, none of whom, even after five years of incarceration, could be shown to have engaged in any act of violence intended to overawe the state by warfare. All of them were denied bail by judges, up to the Supreme Court. After suffering incarceration, they were released by brilliant judges in the high courts and the Supreme Court with the finding that there was no material to show involvement in terrorist offences. Among those arrested are the Pinjra Tod group of young women in Delhi and inspiring non-violent human rights activists such as Vernon Gonsalves, Anand Teltumbde, Mahesh Raut, Arun Fereira, Khurram Parvez and Stan Swamy. So too the passionate and selfless human rights lawyers working for tribals in conflict zones, like Sudha Bhardwaj and Surendra Gadling, who on receipt of tiny amounts of fees or often without any money did legal work for the emancipation of tribals who suffer injustices on a daily basis. So too the situation of reputed academics like G N Saibaba, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen and outstanding journalists such as Siddique Kappan, Prabir Purakhystha and Rupesh Kumar. The list goes on. Not a single judge in the country has ever called an accused an “urban Naxal”. Finding Leftist literature in a house was held to be not incriminating by the Supreme Court in Vernon’s case. Yet it finds mention in the Bill. Mere participation is not criminal, said the Supreme Court in Shoma Sen’s case. Yet even innocent participation will invite a three-year jail term. Because the judiciary has let us down again and again, the government has become so bold as to draft a law to trap within its web all those who struggle without guns or bombs for a better India for their children. *The writer is a senior advocate, Supreme Court, and founder-director of the Human Rights Law Network *© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
