JOIN USPUCL panel to study Muzaffarnagar violence
The People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) has decided to constitute a national fact finding committee to study the outbreak of communal violence in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
In its two-day National Council meeting held in Mangalore on Saturday and Sunday, the office-bearers of the PUCL national committee raised the issue of increased communal violence in the nation in general and Muzaffarnagar issue in particular and decided to form the fact finding committee to examine the communal violence incident by visiting the spot.
Briefing mediapersons about the two-day meeting on Sunday, PUCL National General Secretary Dr V Suresh said there has been an increasing trend of communal violence as election is round the corner. There is a need to expose such incidents and promote secularism, he said.
Signature campaign
Responding to a query on the rise in number of cases of activists made to face charges of sedition, Dr Suresh said that PUCL has begun a signature campaign to create awareness among general public about the misuse of sedition laws and demand the government to repeal them.
The PUCL has been working towards creating a mass movement against sedition laws and as a part of the movement, it has taken up the task of collecting 10 lakh signatures of common citizens, demanding the government to repeal sedition laws, he said.
“It is unfortunate that, despite living in a democratic set up, the Indian government has not yet repealed sedition laws. In contrary, the British who introduced sedition laws in India, have already repealed sedition laws back in their country. The PUCL has played a major role in the government repealing POTA and not extending TADA and we are hopeful that our attempt to urge the government to repeal sedition laws too will bear fruit. PUCL along with several other organisations, has begun the process of accumulating data on sedition cases in the country,” Suresh said.
Four major issues
The PUCL General Secretary also said that in the meeting, it was decided that the organisation will take up four major issues bothering the nation.
It includes, bringing awareness among people to reclaim the democracy which is under peril, address the issues of communal violence, human rights and to demand the government to set right the loopholes in Food Security Bill.
People’s Union of Civil Liberties National President Prof Prabhakar Sinha, Activist and PUCL National Vice President Binayak Sen, activist Kavita Srivastav and others were present.