THE WIRE
Teesta Setalvad PHOTO/Facebook/Teesta Setalvad
Renowned civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad was reportedly arrested in Varanasi hours after she was first detained by the Uttar Pradesh police on Monday morning. Setalvad, who has often found herself in the Sangh parivar’s line of fire for her fiery anti-communal activism, told The Wire that she was first detained at the city’s airport while headed to attend a youth training camp organised by the Samajwadi Jan Parishad, a political party, and deliver a valedictory speech on “communalism and education.”
Her arrest assumes significance as Varanasi, also the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, has been in the news for the last two days because of a lathi charge by the UP police on protesting students from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). The students were protesting against the university administration for failing to act on a sexual abuse complaint by a woman student. The students have alleged that the university authorities, instead of bringing the culprits to task, tried to shift the blame on the student for being out of the hostel in the evening, at around 6 pm, before curfew.
Speaking to The Wire, Setalvad said, “I had come to Varanasi for a meeting which was planned one and a half months ago. But I was surprised to see local policemen accosting me quite rudely at the luggage counter of the airport. They did not let me out of the airport, following which I had an argument with them.”
She said that after an argument that lasted about 45 minutes, a sub-divisonal magistrate (SDM) of the Pindra area of Varanasi, Nagendra, intervened and gave an oral order to the police to let her go to Rajghat. “I told him categorically that I will not be going to the BHU,” she said.
But she alleged that soon after this order, as she was on her way to Rajghat, Sunil Verma, another SDM from a different jurisdiction, stopped her. Setalvad was later told that she had been arrested but the police did not confirm the charges against her.
“It was only verbally communicated to me that I have been arrested. The police did not specify any charges on me. So I have refused to go to a police station until I see a written order,” said Setalvad.
Currently, Setalvad is in the police lines where a few policemen are guarding her.
Meanwhile, activists across the country have condemned her arrest as high-handed action by the UP government. The organiser of the training camp, Aflatoon Afloo, confirmed her arrest and saw in her arrest an attempt by the Adityanath government to suppress any dissent. The training camp was attended by members of various civil rights organisations and has been going on for the last two days.
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