Protests by college students and various organisations in Pollachi
Students protest against incidents of rape (Representational Image) | PTI
Text Size:

New Delhi: Activist Harsh Mander, Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav, former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan and the Pinjra Tod collective were among many who took to Twitter Friday to demand the release of activists Kalyani Badola and Tanmay Nivedita who have been in jail for the past 15 days in Bihar’s Araria district.

Badola and Nivedita, from Araria-based NGO Jan Jagran Shakti Sanghtan (JJSS), had accompanied a gang rape survivor to record her statement in a civil court of the district. All three women were arrested and sent to jail on charges of obstructing court proceedings while recording the statement.

While the 22-year old gang rape survivor was granted bail on 17 July, Araria Chief Judicial Magistrate Anand Kumar Singh refused bail to the two social workers. The duo has since been lodged at a prison in Samastipur, around 225 km away from Araria.

Soon after tweets demanding their release started circulating Friday, the hashtag #FreeTanmay #FreeKalyani began trending on Twitter.

“It’s 15 days in jail for Tanmay and Kalyani for standing with a gang rape survivor. Shouldn’t the High Court ask: why no hearing for them so far? Shouldn’t the Supreme Court worry: what message does it give to everyone? (sic),” Yadav wrote.

Gopinathan similarly tweeted saying, “Two young idealistic volunteer friends are languishing in jail for over two weeks now. For the crime of raising their voice for a gangrape victim. Even the gangrape victim was sent to jail. Don’t you dare seems to be the message to citizens. #FreeTanmay #FreeKalyani #Araria.”

We are deeply grateful to our readers & viewers for their time, trust and subscriptions.

Quality journalism is expensive and needs readers to pay for it. Your support will define our work and ThePrint’s future.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Mander, meanwhile, said, “Outrageous that 2 activists support a gangrape survivor, & all are arrested. When outrage breaks out, the gangrape survivor is freed. But for 2 weeks, the activists who stood in her defence still behind bars. Is this what justice looks like in Bihar?.”

Pinjra Tod also demanded “justice” for the two activists.

Many others also tweeted, asking authorities to release the two women.

Days after their arrest, 376 lawyers from across the country had written a letter to Patna High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and other judges, demanding “urgent and systematic changes in the treatment of survivors of violent sexual crimes in the Araria district court”.

Arrest & FIR

The FIR lodged against the three women states that they had “misbehaved” with the presiding officer. The three were booked under IPC sections 353 (assault or criminal force to stop public servant from doing their duty), 228 (attempting to insult and disturb judicial proceedings) and under sections 188, 180, 120 (B) of the Contempt of Court Act.

The complainant had reportedly shown dissent, insisting that one of the activists first read out the statement to her, when the magistrate asked her to sign it. According to the police, no one can accompany a complainant while recording her or his statement in front of a magistrate.

“While recording their statement, the accused trio insulted the presiding officer by misbehaving with him and tried to obstruct the proceedings of the court. The survivor refused to sign the written statement saying that she would not sign until Kalyani and Tanmay have read it,” FIR read.

The FIR further states that the activists had asked for a copy of the survivor’s “recorded statement from the presiding officer and also threatened that they belonged to JJSS”.

The survivor had on 7 July filed a complaint at the Araria women’s police station alleging that she was gang raped on 6 July. She was called to record her statement before the magistrate on 10 July after an FIR was lodged.

Pushkar Kumar, sub-divisional police officer, Araria, told ThePrint, “The one accused whom the girl had properly identified and given the details of has been arrested. She couldn’t provide details on the other four. It is unknown where the other four can be found, and there is also lack of evidence against them.”

Kumar also said the two activists will be released soon after the lockdown ends.

 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube & Telegram

News media is in a crisis & only you can fix it

You are reading this because you value good, intelligent and objective journalism. We thank you for your time and your trust.

You also know that the news media is facing an unprecedented crisis. It is likely that you are also hearing of the brutal layoffs and pay-cuts hitting the industry. There are many reasons why the media’s economics is broken. But a big one is that good people are not yet paying enough for good journalism.

We have a newsroom filled with talented young reporters. We also have the country’s most robust editing and fact-checking team, finest news photographers and video professionals. We are building India’s most ambitious and energetic news platform. And we aren’t even three yet.

At ThePrint, we invest in quality journalists. We pay them fairly and on time even in this difficult period. As you may have noticed, we do not flinch from spending whatever it takes to make sure our reporters reach where the story is. Our stellar coronavirus coverage is a good example. You can check some of it here.

This comes with a sizable cost. For us to continue bringing quality journalism, we need readers like you to pay for it. Because the advertising market is broken too.

If you think we deserve your support, do join us in this endeavour to strengthen fair, free, courageous, and questioning journalism, please click on the link below. Your support will define our journalism, and ThePrint’s future. It will take just a few seconds of your time.

Support Our Journalism