Teesta Setalvad detained by police in Varanasi, her visit being wrongly linked to agitation at BHU https://t.co/ZZ8SLLeeeQ pic.twitter.com/TEPcvesiDI— Sabrang (@sabrangindia) September 25, 2017
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The Wire
Activist Teesta Setalvad Arrested in Varanasi
The civil rights activist has not been told the charges against her and has refused to go to the police station until a written order is presented.
Teesta Setalvad. Credit: Facebook/Teesta Setalvad
Her arrest assumes significance as Varanasi, also the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, has been in the news for the last two days because of a lathi charge by the UP police on protesting students from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). The students were protesting against the university administration for failing to act on a sexual abuse complaint by a woman student. The students have alleged that the university authorities, instead of bringing the culprits to task, tried to shift the blame on the student for being out of the hostel in the evening, at around 6 pm, before curfew.
Speaking to The Wire, Setalvad said, “I had come to Varanasi for a meeting which was planned one and a half months ago. But I was surprised to see local policemen accosting me quite rudely at the luggage counter of the airport. They did not let me out of the airport, following which I had an argument with them.”
She said that after an argument that lasted about 45 minutes, a sub-divisonal magistrate (SDM) of the Pindra area of Varanasi, Nagendra, intervened and gave an oral order to the police to let her go to Rajghat. “I told him categorically that I will not be going to the BHU,” she said.
But she alleged that soon after this order, as she was on her way to Rajghat, Sunil Verma, another SDM from a different jurisdiction, stopped her. Setalvad was later told that she had been arrested but the police did not confirm the charges against her.
“It was only verbally communicated to me that I have been arrested. The police did not specify any charges on me. So I have refused to go to a police station until I see a written order,” said Setalvad.
Currently, Setalvad is in the police lines where a few policemen are guarding her.
Meanwhile, activists across the country have condemned her arrest as high-handed action by the UP government. The organiser of the training camp, Aflatoon Afloo, confirmed her arrest and saw in her arrest an attempt by the Adityanath government to suppress any dissent. The training camp was attended by members of various civil rights organisations and has been going on for the last two days.
Satyendra Tiwari, circle officer in-charge of the BHU area, could not confirm Setalvad’s arrest. He, however, told The Wire that the police on Monday morning arrested a few Samajwadi Party activists who were trying to forcibly enter BHU premises without due permission. A Varanasi police official was also quoted by Scroll.in as saying, “No information has come to us from the central office about this (Setalvad’s arrest).”
