Petition to the Government of India: Mahesh Raut Needs to be Free

Image Credit: frontlinedefenders.org

33-year-old Mahesh Raut, champion of the democratic rights of the marginalised Adivasi people of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra has been in prison for 2 years. Why should you care? Because he is fighting for our right to free speech and democratic expression of dissent. In his case, and equally for us, that means the right to hold views and opinions against perceived injustices. You would think there should be nothing wrong with that. You’d want such a protection to be in place for yourself. The current government disagrees. They do not want Mahesh to speak up in support of the people of Gadchiroli.

You can read about Mahesh in this recent write-up.

You can also read about him and his work at the following links:  

PM’s Rural Development Fellows Come Out In Support Of Mahesh Raut (The Wire)

Another Birthday In Jail For Youngest Bhima-Koregaon Accused (Article 14)

Bhima Koregaon Accused Mahesh Raut Not a Maoist Claims His Friend (Daily Yo)

Watch for yourself what he says and stands for:

Mahesh was forced out of action so that any residual impedance against daylight robbery by big mining companies could be removed. These companies continue to exploit valuable minerals in the tribal areas where he helped people organise and stand up peacefully for their collective rights. How can speaking up and organising be a crime?  We, the people through our constitution have mandated the government to protect such rights in Article 19 (a-b-c).

Mahesh was about to use the judicial system to file a petition to help our fellow citizens from having their lands mined against their will. Our government, however, does not like the judicial system to be used when it is against their corporate overlords. There are now half a dozen corporate mining giants ravaging the natural environment of the region. How much of the Rs 4745 crores of the taxed revenue from mining companies in Gadchiroli in 2019-20 would you think is being transferred to the locals? Would you have guessed that their per capita monthly 2017-18 income was a mere Rs 7144 (§5, Pg. 20, Rs 85, 727)?  Mahesh was simply fighting for a more equitable economy. It is no surprise that after his arrest 300 gram sabhas passed a resolution in his support.

The police filed a 20,000 page chargesheet against Mahesh. They dusted off their SOP which was to throw at him everything they could think of –  Sections 121, 124A, 153,  121A, 117 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (Section 124A, “sedition”, a British era archaism, is a perennial authoritarian government move. But Mahesh is on hallowed ground here with the likes of Tilak, Gandhi and others). They have kept him jailed under UAPA  –  one of India’s several notoriously lawless laws and the government’s favourite go-to bogeyman.

Mahesh’s passport had been confiscated well before 2018 and his family is grounded in Maharashtra. In court, it was highlighted that Mahesh is an alumni of TISS and a fellow of the Prime Minister Rural Development Programme. That he is inside jail during a raging pandemic and that he has a debilitating medical condition, acute ulcerative colitis. The court still denied him his freedom, citing additional inability under Section 43D(5) of the UAPA (Ln.10, §80) and in rejecting his bail said – among other criminal things that he was accused of – that Mahesh was part of an organisation engaged in “managing affairs of funds, recruitments and deciding policies, which were anti-government…” (§77 Line 4). Anti-Government? That should make many of us and the entire political opposition very worried.

You do not have to agree with Mahesh to sign this petition. In fact, you should sign this petition especially if you do not agree with his views. After all, the right to free speech is only meaningful when the government protects the right of people to say things that others or the government itself does not agree with. What’s the point of the right to free speech (and peaceably assembling and organising) if the government only protects those whose opinions everyone and the government agrees with?.

Mahesh has chosen to dedicate his life towards improving the lives of the dispossessed people of the Gadchiroli region – arguing for their betterment by standing up to powerful unjust forces. Even if you personally do not intend to do such things today,  in the future you might want to state an unpopular opinion against the government or against a powerful company. Imagine if you were hauled off to jail, accused of evidence-free crimes (§33) and subjected to a law whose existence turns the principle of the presumption of innocence on its head (guilty until proved innocent), and no one spoke up for you?

So sign this to signal to each other who we are.  Sign this to send the government the message that we are angry. That we are watching them closely. That they cannot take their position for granted. And that Mahesh Raut needs to be released NOW, and all charges against him dropped.

Petition launched by Socialist Party (India)

Endorsed by:

1. Venkatesh Narayanan, Software Technology Management Professional; B.Tech IIT Bombay; MS Syracuse University, NY
2. Sandeep Pandey, PhD, UC Berkeley; Visiting Faculty, IIT Kanpur, IIT Gandhinagar, BHU Varanasi, IIM Ahmedabad
3. Lubna Sarwath, PhD and Former Visiting Lecturer, Trisakti University, Jakarta, Indonesia
4. Bobby Ramakant, Citizen News Service  
5. Shreekumar, PhD, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; taught at National Institute of Technology Karnataka
6. Surabhi Agarwal, MPhil, Hyderabad University
7. Disha Bhanot, Assistant Professor, SP Jain Institute of Management, Mumbai; PhD, IIT Mumbai
8. Romi Mahajan, Writer and Entrepreneur, Seattle, USA; BA, UC Berkeley; MA, University of Texas
9. Peehu Pardeshi, Assistant Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences; PhD, IIT Mumbai

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