New Delhi: The likes of Anurag Kashyap, Vishal Bhardwaj, Mahesh Bhatt and Ratna Pathak Shah urged Delhi Police “to stop abusing the lockdown” and put an “end to the witch-hunt against students and activists protesting against CAA.”
“To fight this pandemic, the citizens and authorities need to stand by each other. By targeting activists taking advantage of the lockdown, when there is hardly even any media coverage of its actions, the Delhi Police is betraying the civic rights of the citizens. We urge the Delhi Police to stop abusing the lockdown, respect the human rights of our fellow citizens and put an end to this witch-hunt. We demand the release of these students and activists”, the film personalities urged in a statement which they issued on Twitter on Sunday.
Among the 29 signatories are Mahesh Bhatt, Aparna Sen, Ratna Pathak Shah, Anurag Kashyap, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vishal Dadlani, Nandita Das, Konkona Sen Sharma, Hansal Mehta, Onir, Sushant Singh, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Ashwini Chaudhury, Ankur Tewari, Sandhya Mridul, Andre Borges, Vinta Nanda and Mallika Dua.
The artists’ call came in the wake of the arrest of two Jamia Millia Islamia University students recently.
“The country light now is reeling through a grave crisis as a result of the novel Coronavirus and nearly a month-long lockdown. We are all being asked to stay home and stay safe in order to break the chain of the deadly virus. We are shocked to know that in the midst of such a grave situation, the Delhi Police has arrested two students of Jamia Millia Islamia and several activists from localities of North-East Delhi who had participated in peaceful protests against the CAA,” the signatories said.
“Even as we write this, more students and activists are being called for questioning and interrogation by the police on a daily basis.”
“We condemn this witch-hunt of students and activists because they exercised their constitutional right to protest against CAA/NRC/NPR,” the statement read.
