Kozhikode: It was yet another sunny evening at Kozhikode beach, a favourite destination in northern Kerala for both domestic and foreign tourists. It has also been a cultural centre for several decades, with hundreds of public events hosted here.
On November 17, a group of civil rights activists, writers, lawyers, students, journalists and others gathered at the beach to listen to two young activists who breathed freedom after two years of imprisonment and uncertainty.
The programme was a welcome event organised for Allan Shuaib (22) and Thwaha Fasal (26), two students from the region who were recently released on bail in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act UAPA case. They were arrested in November 2019 for alleged links to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The Supreme Court granted them bail in a verdict that many say is significant beyond the case.
Among other observations, a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Abhay S. Oka made it clear that:
“…the offence under sub-section (1) of Section 38 [of the UAPA] of associating or professing to be associated with a terrorist organisation and the offence relating to supporting a terrorist organisation under Section 39 will not be attracted unless the acts specified in both the sections are done with the intention to further the activities of a terrorist organisation”.
‘Thanks for support, but…’
Both Fasal and Shuaib spoke for justice for “all UAPA accused” who they said are implicated and in jail.
Others who spoke at the event said the incarceration of Fasal and Shuaib was “unjustifiable”, about problems with UAPA and the “double standard” of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) on the use of UAPA.
Multiple speakers also remembered Siddique Kappan, a journalist from the state who has been in a UP jail for more than a year.
During his speech, Thwaha Fasal, who spent more than 572 days in jail since his arrest in Novemeber 2019, thanked all those who “extended their support” to him and Allan Shuaib. “But it’s not enough,” he said. “Two others – Vijith and Usman – arrested in the case are still in jail. We should speak for them too”.
Fasal said those in Kerala who demand justice for UAPA-accused outside the state, like Stan Swamy, do not raise their voice for similar undertrial prisoners in the state. “We demand justice for Stan Swamy, but will not speak up for our own Stan Swamys in Kerala,” he said.
Kerala has registered 145 UAPA cases in the past five years, with 18 fresh UAPA cases registered in 2020 alone, according to the latest data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Fasal also criticised the behaviour of Kerala jail authorities towards undertrial prisoners. “The situation in Kerala jails is not better than the jails in other states. We were even denied newspapers.”
Shuaib echoed Fasal’s sentiments. “Kerala is second to none when it comes to human rights violations. Many people are facing right abuses here too,” he said. Shuaib also said the solidarity with the UAPA accused needs to be unconditional. “Every [innocent] citizen charged under UAPA deserves our solidarity.”
Like Fasal, Shuaib also compared the case of Stan Swamy with some undertrial UAPA prisoners in Kerala. “We were concerned about Stan Swamy. But we are not talking about Ibrahim lodged at the Viyyur prison,” he said.
Shuaib, a fifth-semester law student, also said he will “firmly fight UAPA” and stand for human rights once he becomes a lawyer.
People hold posters and candles outside the church holding memorial for the human rights activist and Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy, in Mumbai, July 6, 2021. Photo: PTI/Kunal Patil
‘An unjustifiable incarceration’
The Thursday event, which was attended by around 150 people, was organised by a group of veteran activists, lawyers and writers in the city.
The gathering was called “Let’s Have Tea with Allan, Thwaha”.
While welcoming the participants, P.A. Pouran, a lawyer and civil rights activist, said the event was named after a ‘tea party’ because of the chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s sarcastic comment against the duo in the past. Vijayan had said the students were arrested “not when they went to have a tea”.
The chief minister’s earlier justification for invoking the draconian anti-terror law against the two youngsters had sparked controversy in the state.
Senior author Jamal Kochangadi, who presided over the event, said it was “unjustifiable” that Fasal and Shuaib had to spend a considerable period in jail. “It’s a failure of our system,” he said.
Kochangadi said he, as an author, is “worried” about the fact that among the reasons stated for the duo’s arrest was keeping some books. According to the Kerala police, they found, with Fasal, a book on “caste issues in India” and another book that discusses the views of Vladimir Lenin on ‘organisational democracy’, when they made the arrest.
Kochangadi also remembered Kappan, his “friend”. “Kappan went to Hathras to do his job, to report on the rape-and-murder of a young woman,” he said.
Vasu (GROW Vasu), a veteran human rights activist and trade unionist, criticised the Pinarayi government for arresting the two young men in 2019.
Advocate Jalaja, who handled some UAPA cases in the state, said the harsh anti-terror law has been invoked against several innocent people.
M.N. Ravunni, a senior political activist, said “every journalist” should read the Supreme Court verdict that granted bail to Fasal and Shuaib. “It is a judgment that can be used in other UAPA cases, including that of Siddique Kappan and the Bhima Koregaon case,” he said.
Also Read: Former Civil Servants Say UAPA’s ‘Flaws and Loopholes’ Allow Abuse, Call For Replacement
The background
Both Fasal and Shuaib were arrested by the Kerala police from Kozhikode, the native district of both the men, for alleged links with the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a group designated as a “terrorist organisation” under UAPA. They were arrested in November 2019.
At the time of the arrest, both the young men were active members of Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist). However, the party disowned them after the arrest.
The two students were booked under different provisions of UAPA and were mostly in jail since November 2019. The case was taken over by the National Investigation Agency a month after their arrests.
On October 28 this year, the Supreme Court granted bail to Fasal, who was a journalism student when he was arrested in 2019. The SC also upheld the bail granted earlier to Shuaib, a law degree student and Fasal’s co-accused, by the Kerala HC.
Both Fasal and Shuaib were first granted bail by an NIA special court in Kochi in September last year. In a widely reported order, the trial court judge Anil K. Bhaskar had said, “[The] right to protest is a constitutionally guaranteed right.”
However, in January this year, the Kerala high court had partly set aside the trial court order and cancelled the bail granted to Fasal.
Muhammed Sabith is a journalist and researcher. He can be reached at sabith.muhemmad@gmail.com