Cancel false SC/ST charges against activist, public petition Collector
Activists and public demanding to revoke case filed against K. Selvaraj, an environmental activist based in Melur, under Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, submitted a petition with the District Collector M.S. Sangeetha here on Monday.
Gnanasekaran of Vadipatti, one of the petitioners, condemning the act of police, charged that it was an act of vengeance to silence Mr. Selvarajan who had been vocal against several issues like Tungsten mining project and had also been one of the reasons for shutting down several illegal quarries in the district.
'As he regularly voices out against such environmental exploitations and stage protests, and movements against projects affecting people and environment, the police had been targeting him for several years through various ways,' he added.
While their previous attempts to silence him through other charges had failed, this time, they used a false complaint from a SC youth, and had framed him under the SC/ST (POA) Act, 1989, which was non-bailable, Mr. Gnanasekaran noted.
'Mr. Selvaraj has been fighting against an individual who had encroached on government land and was enjoying the property was constantly opposing him,' he added.
Using the chance, the police, by claiming false charges that Mr. Selvaraj had attacked the encroacher, attempted to injure him and uttered abusive words against the person, had booked him under SC/ST Act, he noted.
People who knew him and had worked along with him for several years knew these charges were false and he was not such a person to have casteist view towards fellow human beings even if they were against him, he observed.
'This case against him is just another attempt to stop him from dissenting against the State and for various people-affecting projects,' he said.
Senior officials should immediately act to revoke the false charges framed against Mr. Selvaraj, the petitioners demanded.
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