Dear Sir,

We the undersigned demand the immediate release of Rona Wilson*-a prison rights activist who has been in jail since April 2018. The Pune Police raided his home on 17 April 2018 and arrested him for his alleged role in the Bhima Koregaon violence in January that year. A few months later, the police also accused him of being part of a larger naxal plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and overthrow the government. He has been in jail since then and denied bail several times. 

Rona Wilson is a member of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP). It provides legal aid to people accused in terrorism cases and booked under repressive laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Rona has been working with political prisoners since the early 2000s. In the words of Meena Kandasamy, a feminist writer and activist, “People like Rona represent the last frontier, the last line of defense that dissidents have. They could feel safe knowing that people like Rona will take up your cause; that they will campaign for your freedom.” Now with an ardent campaigner like Rona behind bars, Kandasamy questions if others will also be condemned to silence. 

Many activists and politicians have alleged that the government had framed these activists to shield the Hindutva leaders Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide who were accused of mobilizing the attack on the Bhima Koregaon memorial event, which attracts large Dalit crowds on January 1 every year to celebrate the anniversary of a stunning victory of a lower-caste Mahar regiment of the British army over the upper-caste Peshwas in 1818. Over the years this event has become a symbol of Dalit-Bahujan assertion against the draconian caste system of India.

Many who know Rona personally have been rankled to witness this deplorable attempt to harass a defender of the most vulnerable prisoners in India. In the opinion of renowned author Arundhati Roy, not much has been written about Rona as he is “low-key” in his disposition. Professor G. Haragopal described him as an erudite and hardworking scholar with a strong moral compass. Rona’s commitment towards his values is uncompromising, and the activist’s moral universe is based on the “larger concerns of the poor people, concerns of the prisoners, concerns of the tribals,” reports the Caravan. 

Before his arrest, Rona was in the process of heading abroad for his Ph.D. He had also applied to the University of Surrey and the University of Leicester to pursue his doctorate. Even in jail, his quest for further studies never got extinguished and is still alight with hope and optimism. He has urged his family members to remain in touch with the faculty-in-charge at both the foreign universities and to apprise them of his precarious situation in India. His letter in this regard also mentioned his proposed thesis: “The Fiction of the Muslim Other: State, Law and The Politics of Naming in Contemporary India” writes Aathira Konikkara. 

The imprisonment of this bright scholar of our country is condemnable. The state must either prove its grave charges against him conclusively or set him free along with all other political prisoners. The Socialist Party (India) demands Rona Wilson and other political prisoners be released and the charges against them dropped immediately. 

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*RONA WILSON

Designation: 

Public relations secretary, Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP)

Education

Bachelor of Science (Zoology), JNU

MA in political science and international relations from Pondicherry Central University

Masters in philosophy at the center for political studies of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi and his topic of study was a literature survey of the debate on the nature of India’s political economy between 1975 to 1995

Background

Rona Wilson is a native of Kollam, in Kerala. He spent his formative years in the state, before moving to Puducherry. Rona moved to Delhi in the early nineties and lived there until his arrest in April 2018.

Select Publications

Release GN Saibaba, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 49, Issue No. 22, 31 May 2014

Vilification Campaign, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 47, Issue No. 01, 07 Jan 2012

Homage to Gurusharan Singh, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 46, Issue No. 41, 08 Oct 2011

Geelani’s Detention, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 46, Issue No. 10, 05 Mar 2011

The Insurgent Jurisprudent, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 46, Issue No. 02, 08 Jan 2011

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Thank You

Yours Sincerely

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