The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has sought the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission to stop the prosecution of human rights activists Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand of the Citizens for Peace and Justice.
In a petition filed before the NHRC on Tuesday, PUCL national president Prof. Prabhakar Sinha and National Secretary V. Suresh wanted the Commission to conduct an independent inquiry and review all the cases filed against Ms. Setalvad and Mr. Anand.
The petition urged the NHRC to recommend to the Gujarat government that pending such review, the State government should refrain from initiating any coercive action such as arrest, freezing of accounts or in any manner hindering the work of these human rights defenders. The petition stressed that the Citizens for Peace and Justice, its office-bearers and their team were human rights defenders.
