Press Statements
PUCL statement on premature release of Veerappan case prisoners in Karnataka
01 Mar, 2016We welcome the decision of Karnataka govt for premature release of life convict who had served more than 14 years in jail. But four detenues in the Veerappan case Meeesai Mathaiyan, Pelaventhran, Simon, Gnanapragasam are languishing in Karnataka prisons for more than 21years under TADA case conviction. Two years back the SC commut...
Statement of Solidarity with the lawyers and activists who are being prevented from working for legal rights of tribal undertrial prisoners of Bastar on behalf of the civil society of West Bengal
01 Mar, 2016The Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JAGLAG) was established by three freshly graduate lawyers and one young activist in 2013 with the purpose of representing tribal under trial prisoners who have been charged with sedition, often under the UAPA, the NIA, the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and such other draconian ‘counter-t...
How Democracy ‘Uses’ a Colonial Law
16 Feb, 2016PUDR has continually critiqued the existence of the colonial law of sedition and its unconstitutional application at the behest of those who hold state power, in cases that do not stand the test of law. The arrest of SAR Geelani, Professor at the University of Delhi, on charges of sedition on 16th February 2016, is yet again a cas...
Condemning the Vigilante Action at the Patiala House Courts, Delhi
15 Feb, 2016PUDR strongly condemns the shocking acts of physical violence and abuse perpetrated by 40 advocates and BJP MLA OP Sharma against students and faculty of the Jawaharlal Nehru University and media persons today, at the Patiala House court, in full presence of the police. Students, teachers and media persons had gathered as arrested...
PUCL Delhi Condemns the Action of Delhi Police in Arresting JNUSU President on Charges of Sedition.
12 Feb, 2016It is shocking that the Delhi Police has arrested the President of the Jawahar Lal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) on the charges of ‘sedition’ –a provision of law about which Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, had said in 1951, “Now, as far as I am concerned, that particular Section is highly ob...
The Police must be held Answerable for the Sangam Park Riot of 31st January
03 Feb, 2016People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) strongly condemns the police’s role in the outbreak of riots between members of the Valmiki and Muslim communities, in the Sangam Park area in North West Delhi, on 31st January, 2016. PUDR’s investigation into the incidents of 30th and 31st January, and meetings with residents and ...
Rohith Vemula, A Scholar of Hyderabad University, Committed Suicide
01 Feb, 2016On 17th January, 2016, a Dalit Ph.D. scholar of Hyderabad University, Rohith Vemula committed suicide in one of the hostel rooms. He was one of 5 research scholars who had been suspended in August, 2015 for allegedly attacking a student leader of the Akhil Baharathi Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and later forced to vacate the hostel. ...
Amnesty International Human Rights Award 2016 goes to Henri Tiphagne Award ceremony to be held on April 25 at the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin, Germany
25 Jan, 2016Indian lawyer and human rights defender Henri Tiphagne will be awarded the 8th Human Rights Award by Amnesty International Germany. The award, which will be presented at an official ceremony on April 25 at the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin, is a recognition of Henri Tiphagne’s exceptional commitment to human rights. “For many ...
PUCL TN & Pondicherry
20 Jan, 2016PUCL – Tamil Nadu state unit views with serious concern the alarmingly rampant caste and communal discrimination prevalent at the Institutes of higher learning in India. The poignant suicide note of Rohith Chakravarthy Vemula – a Ph.D. scholar of Life sciences at University of Hyderabad has sent shock waves across the Coun...
PUCL Chhattisgarh severely condemns the incident of sexual violence against adivasi women of Village Kunna, Pedapara, Block Chhindgarh, District Sukma during searching operations on 12th January.
18 Jan, 2016Chhattisgarh PUCL severely condemns the incident of sexual violence against adivasi women of Village Kunna, Pedapara, Block Chhindgarh, District Sukma during searching operations on 12th January. It expresses serious concern at the increasing incidents of sexual violence against women becoming a part of the anti-Naxal operations i...