Hello, Indeed the news has been disturbing. I pray for Siddique's recovery.
I agree that it is important to have a legal support system in the Indian Wikimedia ecosystem to safeguard Wikimedia volunteers for their Wikimedia contribution/activities, or to provide necessary advice. As a member of Access to Knowledge (A2K), I initiated a discussion sometime ago, to work on a legal support model in India. I think we should work on it with Wikimedia Foundation and the community to provide necessary support. Suggestion is welcome. Regards Tito Dutta Member, Access to Knowledge রবি, ৯ মে, ২০২১ তারিখে ১০:৫৬ AM টায় এ Bodhisattwa Mandal < bodhisattwa.rg...@gmail.com> লিখেছেন: > Hi Praveenp, > > First of all, thanks for your courage to bring this incident openly in the > mailing list. This was one of the most disturbing news from last year. The > overall incident of how Siddique was arrested and charged for sedition > while trying to report a gang rape case, how he was treated in the prison > and in the hospital was extremely distressing. > > I personally always felt that individual Wikimedia volunteers are always > in an extremely vulnerable position. There is no legal support system > present in the Indian Wikimedia ecosystem to safeguard or prevent Wikimedia > volunteers from being harrassed by state or charged or arrested for any > controversial content present on Wikipedia. Although Sidheeq was not > charged for anything related to his Wikimedia work and to some people, > maybe his arrest has nothing to do with the Wikimedia community, but it > gives us a chance to think, what happens if this kind of incident happens > to any one of us with respect to any controversial content present on any > Wikimedia sites. I strongly feel that we need to build a good legal support > system sustainable enough to help volunteers in distress anytime anywhere > in India; the scope of such a support system can be defined or discussed, > but something should be there. > > At present, as volunteers, we are so helpless that we can only pray that > everything will be fine someday automagically, but that is just to console > ourselves. The fact is we are too powerless to condemn the incident or > issue a statement or even bring this topic to the mailing list. Personally, > I feel helpless like everyone else. I just hope that someday this > discussion will help build a legal support system whom we can approach > while in distress. > > Regards, > Bodhisattwa > > > On Sun, May 9, 2021, 08:56 Abhinav srivastava <abhinav...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> I pray for User:Sidheeq speedy recovery. Having known and worked with >> him. This is deeply concerning. >> >> >> >> On Sun, 9 May 2021, 01:36 praveenp, <me.prav...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Dear Indian Wikimedians, >>> >>> As many of you may have known, one of our fellow Wikimedian was arrested >>> by Uttar Pradesh Police in October 2020. His name is Siddique Kappan (His >>> wikimedia username is User:Sidheeq). He is from Kerala, and he was active >>> in Wikimedia projects (mainly in Malayalam Wikipedia) until his arrest. >>> >>> Incidently he is a journalist and he was arrested from the home of >>> Hathras rape and murder victim while reporting the victim Dalit girl's >>> family members. UP Police has slapped Sedition, Terrorism as well as UAPA >>> charges against him. >>> >>> Kappen is diabetic and now COVID positive. He was admitted to hospital >>> only after he collapsed in the jail cell. With his deteriorating health, it >>> was accused that Kappan was chained to hospital bed like an animal. Today's >>> news reports say that he is in critical condition. (You could always google >>> "Siddique Kappan") >>> >>> As a tone deaf people I don't expect anything from this mail, I just >>> wish to share the information. >>> >>> Stay Inside, Stay Complementary (non-critical), Stay safe, Stay healthy. >>> >>> >>> User:Praveenp >>> >>> ------------- >>> >>> Siddique's en.wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sidheeq >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list >>> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >>> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list >> Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >> >> _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >
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