[Reader-list] Appeal for Support - Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Association

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear All,

Please find below an appeal for support from the Jamia Teachers  
Solidarity Association for assistance with the costs of legal  
representation of the young people who have been charge-sheeted in  
the so called 'Batla House Encounter' Case, which, as you all may  
recall, has been discussed in detail on this list in the past.

regards

Shuddha
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JAMIA TEACHERS’ SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATION

APPEAL FOR SUPPORT

Dear Friends,
Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association has been running a campaign on  
the issue of Batla House ‘encounter’ and the subsequent arrests of  
youth whom the Delhi Police alleged to be terrorists. JTSA has  
exposed the various discrepancies and loopholes in the police  
version, compiled in its report, ‘Encounter’ at Batla House:  
Unanswered Questions (www.teacherssolidarity.org).

While we have been leading a public demand for judicial probe into  
the ‘encounter’, the UPA government at the Centre and the Congress  
government in Delhi have persistently stonewalled all such demands.  
Two years on, the trials in the Delhi Blasts Case—of the five  
arrested youth, two of them students of Jamia Millia Islamia—have  
recently begun. The process of framing of charges has ended and  
presently arguments on charges are underway in Tees hazari.

After the various state police departments cut a sorry figure when  
they came up with their own list of terror ‘masterminds’, the move  
has been to implicate these arrested youth in bomb blasts across the  
country. Moreover, separate FIRs and charge-sheets have been filed  
for every single bomb blast, even in the same city. This means that  
there will nearly 20 trials in Ahmedabad, five in Delhi and so on. In  
practical terms, it means that the trials will last for years. Worse  
still, the charge-sheets in Gujarat have been provided in Gujarati— 
thus placing the burden of translation on the families of the accused  
and escalating the legal expenses.

JTSA is committed to ensuring the best legal recourse to the accused,  
as indeed should all citizens who believe in justice, truth and  
democracy. We appeal to you to support JTSA’s public campaigns and  
assist in the legal battle by contributing to our STRUGGLE FUND.  
Contributions can be made through cheque/ Demand Draft drawn in  
favour of Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association.

Please call us on any of the numbers below if you wish to contribute,  
or write to us at: manisha.sethy at gmail.com; indianlit at yahoo.com;  
info.jtsa at gmail.com; sanghamitra.misra at gmail.com, sohaibnirvan at gmail.com

Manisha Sethi (9811625577), Adeel Mehdi (9990923027), Ahmed Sohaib  
(9899462042), Sanghamitra Misra (9910236948) on behalf of JTSA

Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net