Varun Gandhis detention under the National Security Act,1980,for his alleged anti-Muslim hate speech by the Mayawati government may have got the BJP to cry foul. But in UP,few voices have been heard when the draconian law has been invoked against lesser-known people away from public glare by governments headed by BSP,SP and the BJP. Under the NSA,there is no provision for bail and the detainee can be held up to one year. The state government has to inform an advisory board normally headed by a sitting or retired judge of the High Court of the reasons behind invoking the Act within three weeks of the day of detention. The board has to evaluate the governments case,give the detainee an opportunity to be heard and then decide to either uphold or quash the detention. This has to be passed within seven weeks from the date of detention. Consider these: • On August 3,2007,under the current BSP regime,the Mirzapur police arrested and booked forest rights activist Roma under NSA. A leader of the Kaimur Kshetra Mahila Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Samiti,Roma was campaigning for the implementation of the recently passed Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act,2006. The police claimed I was misleading farmers when I was only apprising them of their rights, she said. The state government withdrew the NSA case after seven days. • Also,under the present BSP regime,a 14-year-old boy was arrested under the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act and booked under NSA last August to ostensibly prevent him from causing communal discord. Hes languishing in a Lucknow jail although the Juvenile Justice Board has declared him a minor and directed that he be moved to an observation home. The board arrived at the decision after examining the boys school record,said the boys lawyer Nusrat Jamal. The boy was arrested along with four others on August 12 in Kakori where,according to his lawyer,he had stopped on his way home from his madrasa to watch TV. The police conducted a raid on getting information that there were some people there indulging in cow slaughter. • Daya Shanker Dubey,president of the Northern Uttar Pradesh Chamber of Traders,was detained under NSA in 2007 during the Mulayam Singh regime. Official reason: he was a threat to communal peace and law and order. The police said that Dubey,a retired IAF officer,had threatened members of another community. They claimed they had caught him running away from a riot-hit area in Gorakhpur on January 28,2007. Dubey claimed he just happened to be there when trouble broke out. For over two months,Dubey remained behind bars until the NSA advisory board quashed his detention,accepting his contention that as a 65-year-old man,who had recently undergone heart bypass surgery,he could not have been caught running. • Also,in the Mulayam Singh regime,46-year-old Mohammad Qais,president of the Kushinagar Minorities Welfare Committee,was arrested from his Padrauna residence on January 30,2007,and booked under NSA to allegedly prevent him from inciting communal trouble. It was alleged that he incited violence,took part in a riot,destroyed government property on Moharram. Qais claimed that before the incident,police had sent three reports to the SDM listing persons who were likely to create trouble and his name didnt figure in any. Qais won his case and was freed that April. Actually,they arrested me just to make the number of Muslims arrested equal to the Hindus held, he said. • In June 1992,during the BJP government,headed by Kalyan Singh,the Sonbhadra police arrested Janata Dal MLA Vijay Singh Gond,who is now in the Samajwadi Party and eight others and booked them all under NSA to prevent them from for disturbing law and order by misleading farmers about land settlement. The police said they burnt government property and settlement records. I was not even present at the spot when the farmers created a ruckus alleging that their farms were being transferred to land-grabbers in the name of settlement, said Gond. The advisory board upheld his detention but the High Court quashed it after four months. • On December 30,1999,during the BJP government,headed by Ram Prakash Gupta,an Income Tax and Excise team raided a gutkha factory in Jalaun. There was a clash between factory staff and officials,leading to the registration of a criminal case. Pradeep Nagotia,Managing Director of the Ram Shri Steel Private Limited,was among those named. Since he was neither present at the site nor owned the gutkha factory,this led to protests by businessmen across the state. For three months,Nagotia was on the run. When he surrendered,the police booked him under NSA. My family approached the government and showed them documents that the factory was just one of our franchisees. It was then that the government withdrew the NSA,said Nagotia.
