“The organisation has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work. This is latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organisations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations”, Amnesty International India said in a press statement on Tuesday.

Amnesty International India said its bank accounts were frozen on September 10. Amnesty said it had highlighted rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and riots in Delhi in recent days and the government had sought to punish it for that.

#NEWS: Amnesty International India Halts Its Work On Upholding Human Rights In India Due To Reprisal From Government Of Indiahttps://t.co/W7IbP4CKDq

— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) September 29, 2020

“The continuing crackdown on Amnesty International India over the last two years and the complete freezing of bank accounts is not accidental. The constant harassment by government agencies including the Enforcement Directorate is a result of our unequivocal calls for transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu and Kashmir. For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent,” said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India.

In 2019, Amnesty testified before the US Foreign Affairs Committee during a hearing on human rights in South Asia, where it highlighted its findings about the grave situation of Jammu and Kashmir, which includes arbitrary detentions and the use of excessive force and torture in Kashmir.

The group has faced scrutiny by different government agencies in the country over the past few years.

In August 2016, a case of sedition was filed against Amnesty India over allegations that anti-India slogans were raised at one of its events. Three years later, a court ordered the charges to be dropped.

In October 2018, the group’s offices in the southern city of Bangalore were raided by the Enforcement Directorate, which investigates financial crimes. Its accounts were frozen then too, but Amnesty says it was able to access them after seeking a court’s intervention.
In early 2019, the group says dozens of its small donors were sent letters by the country’s income tax department. And later in the same year, Amnesty’s offices were raided again, this time by the Central Bureau of Investigation, based on a case registered by India’s home affairs ministry.

The group said it will continue to fight its legal cases in India.

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Khurshid’s name appeared in the disclosure statements of accused Khalid Saifi as well as former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan

The 17,000-page chargesheet, filed on September 17, contains a statement from a witness saying: “Umar Khalid, Salman Khurshid, Nadeem Khan,Prashant Bhushan… they all used to give provocative speeches (at anti-CAA/NRC sit-ins in Delhi) and people used to get mobilised.”

The police have not mentioned the exact nature of the alleged provocative speeches. The identity of the witness has been concealed by the police (known as a protective witness). The police claims the witness was part of the core team of conspirators accused of plotting the riots.
The statement has been recorded before a Magistrate (under Section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure or CrPC), giving it greater legal weight.

“If you do garbage collection, you get a lot of filth. Any garbage can be put to support statements made by individuals. I would be intrigued to know what a provocative statement is,” the 67-year-old senior Congress leader said, responding to the allegations.

Mr Khurshid is the highest ranking politician named in police chargesheets so far. The police have come under criticism for using the riots probe to target critics of the government, as well as prominent figures from the anti-CAA/NRC movement.

Northeast Delhi saw violent communal clashes on February 24 between citizenship law supporters and protesters that lead to mass violence, leaving at least 53 people dead and at least 200 injured.

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He was arrested for his alleged role in the riots that broke in north-east neighbourhoods of the Delhi in February 2020.

Umar Khalid was earlier charged under the UAPA in another case related to the riots.

My son Umar Khalid has been arrested tonight at 11:00 pm by Special Cell, Delhi Police under UAPA. Police was questioning him since 1:00 pm. He has been implicated in Delhi Riots. #StandWithUmarKhalid

— Ilyas SQR (@Dr_SQRIlyas) September 13, 2020

In April, his name was recorded in the FIR registered in connection with the northeast Delhi riots that broke out in February following a series of protests held in favour and against the contentious citizenship amendment act (CAA). His mobile phone was also seized by the police.

“After 11 hours of interrogation, the Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested Umar Khalid as a conspirator in the Delhi Riots case. The fairy tale narrative that DP (Delhi Police) has been spinning and criminalising protests in the garb of investigating riots, finds yet another victim,” United Against Hate, an activist group whose member is Umar Khalid, said in a statement.

He will be produced to the court on Monday.

In August also, he was summoned by the Special Cell and faced grilling for three hours.
Violence in parts of north-east Delhi from February 23 to 26- after weeks of protests against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens- had left over 50 dead and hundreds injured, many with gunshot wounds.

Around 108 police personnel received injuries and two died.

The Delhi police said that it was investigating the role of all individuals who allegedly took part in the riots and were a part of a larger conspiracy in inciting communal violence and hatred among communities.

Umar Khalid’s arrest comes amid a political row over CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury and Swaraj Abhiyan chief Yogendra Yadav being named in a disclosure statement of an accused in the Delhi riots.

So far police have arrested 1,575 people in 751 cases.

Over 250 chargesheets have been filed in the riots related cases in which 1,153 accused have been charge-sheeted

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