Sudha Bharadwaj rubbishes Maha police claims

Activist-lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, who was arrested on charges of having links with Maoists, refuted fresh police claims on Saturday, saying various democratic activities are sought to be delegitimised by branding them Naxal funded.

As Maharashtra Police claimed about having "conclusive" evidence, including letters, connecting the arrested activists with Maoists, she said a number of human rights lawyers, activists and organisations have been "deliberately named to cast a stigma over them, to obstruct their work and incite hatred" against them.

She described the purported letter, which was claimed by police as evidence linking her and others to Maoists, as a "totally concocted letter fabricated to criminalize" her and other human rights lawyers, activists and organisations.

Bharadwaj and four others were arrested last week while five others were apprehended in June accusing them of inciting violence in Bhima Koregaon while celebrating a 200-year-old Dalit uprising against Peshwas.

"It is a mixture of innocuous and publicly available facts and baseless fabrication. Various legal and democratic activities such as meetings, seminars, protests have been sought to be delegitimised by alleging that they are funded by Maoists," Bharadwaj, who is under house arrest, said in a statement issued through her lawyer Vrinda Grover.

Bharadwaj claimed that there is an effort to "delegitimise" IAPL (Indian Association of People's Lawyers), an association of lawyers whose president is Justice (Retd) Hospet Suresh and which has been active in speaking up against attacks on lawyers.

On claims that she gave money to Maoists, she said, "I categorically state that I have never given Rs 50, 000 to hold any programme in Moga (in Punjab). Nor do I know any 'Ankit from Maharashtra' or 'Comrade Ankit' who is in touch with Kashmiri separatists."

She described Gautam Navlakha, who was also arrested last week, as a senior and respected human rights activist whose name has been mentioned in a manner to "criminalise and incite hatred against him".

She said she very well knew about Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group but never solicited any fund for them, "least of all from any banned organisation". She vouched for the group's activities saying, their work has been "absolutely legitimate and legal".

On Dalit lawyer-activist Durga Prasad, she said police have made baseless allegations against him. "There has been an effort to criminalise and incite hatred against various lawyers, activists and organisations who have exposed human rights violations in Bastar, Chhattisgarh," she said in the hand-written statement.