Legal Rights Observatory is an activist group which reportedly uses legal measures to take on people and organizations which they believe are indulged in anti-national works. The group has claimed to have taken action against media groups, journalists, and even bureaucrats.
In the past, some of the activism which the group has claimed to indulge in is:
- A legal complaint against journalist Rajdeep Sardesai for inviting a person named Nalini Sundar on his show while discussing about the Sukma attack in which 25 CRPF Jawans were martyred. Nalindi Sundar was introduced as activists fighting for tribal rights while she has been booked for murder of a tribal villager.
- The group has claimed to have filed a complaint against newspapers for carrying an unverified press release by Maoists, which had claimed that CRPF jawans were indulged in rape and sexual exploitation of tribal women.
- On 17th April, the group reportedly announced its intention to file a sedition case against NDTV allegedly for touting the Chinese line and calling Arunachal Pradesh a “disputed territory”.
- In March the group claimed to have filed a complaint against Sagarika Ghose for her malicious tweet against Yogi Adityanath accusing him of issuing a statement he never did.
Now the group has made a sensational claim that a “death warrant” has been issued against their members by Maoists. They put out pictures of the alleged death warrant and a newspaper clipping to further their claim.
The alleged death warrant dated 8th May has been issued by the South Sub Zonal Bureau of the banned CPI(Maoists). The alleged warrant states that after the Sukma attack, RSS backed elements were defaming the ‘revolution’ in the media and the social media. The alleged warrant further stated that the Legal Rights Observatory people while sitting inside the RSS headquarters in Nagpur were defaming Comrade Nalini Sundar, Comrade Kavita Krishnan and Comrade Bela Bhatia.
The alleged warrant then went on to claim that after a 9 day trial at the Maoist’s ‘court’ in Bastar, the Conveyor, General Secretary, Secretary and the spokesperson of the Legal Rights Observatory were sentenced to death. They were asked to appear before the ‘court’ by 31st May. This alleged warrant has been signed by a certain Ganesh Uike who is the Secretary Sub-South Zonal Bureau of CPI(Maoists).
The Legal Rights Observatory has put out a press release with regards to this alleged warrant. The release claimed that they won’t buckle under the pressure of Maoists and their terror threats. They claimed that as they had filed numerous cases against ‘Urban Naxals’ in the last 5 months, they were subjected to tremendous pressure.
The release also claimed that the influence of the Maoists is waning and that they are fighting their last battle for survival. The release also claimed that no office bearers of their organization would seek police protection. They also claimed that in response to the threat, they have resolved to intensify their legal campaign against the ‘Urban Naxals’ in the coming days.
This alleged death warrant was also circulating on social media and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri too shared the picture:
A death warrant issued by the Naxals in Defense of their Comrades Nandini Sunder @kavita_krishnan & Bela Bhatia. Wow pic.twitter.com/SL8gfPJjDX
— Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) May 10, 2017
This prompted Kavita Krishnan to threaten legal action for spreading what she called a ‘fake letter’:
Be warned @vivekagnihotri I am filing a criminal defamation case against you for circulating fake letter, spreading fake news https://t.co/2N2ss1xje6
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) May 10, 2017
Vivek Agnihotri then urged her to go ahead with the legal proceedings with a caution that it could expose her as well:
Pl do. Be careful, it shouldn’t expose the skeletons in your closet. https://t.co/WXki6N0Z7n
— Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) May 10, 2017
It is to be seen if Krishnan, known for her sympathies and support for various leftist groups, goes ahead with her legal threat and whether subsequent investigations throw up any active connections of people like her with the Maoists or expose the above ‘death warrant’ as fabricated.
Such death warrants are not rare though and Maoist groups are known to have issued them from time to time. They have not just issued such warrants but even killed people in kangaroo courts called ‘jan adalat’.
It should be noted that Buddha In A Traffic Jam, a movie directed by Vivek Agnihotri, had showcased how some people living in urban areas actively collaborate with Naxals and Maoists. Such collaborations and collusion has resulted in murders and other organised attacks against the state and people they disagree with. Sentencing of a DU professor had corroborated such links of Maoists with people who are termed “Urban Naxals“.
