[ad_1]

Madhya Pradesh Dwelling Minister Narottam Mishra on Tuesday demanded that the Padma Shri awarded to human rights activist Teesta Setalvad in 2007 must be withdrawn, PTI reported.

The Union authorities had honoured Setalvad with the Padma Shri, one of many highest civilian awards within the nation, in 2007.

“She was a member of the ‘award vapsi’ gang [those threatening to return awards],” Mishra mentioned on Tuesday. “The award must be taken again from folks like Teesta Javed Setalvad, within the wake of the Supreme Courtroom’s remarks towards such folks, whose conduct turns into questionable and have been arrested.”

Mishra’s assertion got here after Setalvad was arrested on Saturday for allegedly committing forgery and fabricating proof in a case associated to the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The Gujarat Police’s Anti Terror Squad had picked up Setalvad from her Mumbai dwelling to query her in reference to the statements she made concerning the violence at Ahmedabad’s Gulberg Society within the aftermath of the Godhra prepare burning in 2002.

A mob had gone on a rampage at Gulberg Society on February 28, 2002, setting fireplace to properties. Sixty-nine individuals died, together with former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was hacked to dying. The day earlier than, 59 individuals coming back from Ayodhya had died when a coach of the Sabarmati Specific was burnt in Godhra in Gujarat.

The motion towards Setalvad got here hours after Union Dwelling Minister Amit Shah in an interview with ANI had accused Setalvad of giving baseless data to the police concerning the 2002 Gujarat riots.

On Friday, the Supreme Courtroom had dismissed a plea filed by Zakia Jafri and Setalvad, difficult the report of a Particular Investigation Staff that had cleared Narendra Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister in 2002 when the riots passed off. Zakia Jafri is the spouse of Ehsan Jafri.

The courtroom had mentioned that the petition was filed “to maintain the pot boiling for ulterior design”.

The United Nations’ Particular Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, mentioned that the police motion towards Setalvad was deeply regarding.


Additionally learn:

  1. India, 12 different international locations signal assertion to guard civil society, freedom of speech
  2. Winter has come: The arrest of Teesta Setalvad

[ad_2]

Supply hyperlink