KL Report
New Delhi
The professors in the University of Delhi and some of its affiliated Colleges have condemned the gagging and harassment of professor SAR Geelani on Monday in Delhi.
“At about 11.00 a.m. personnel of the Delhi Police Special Cell who claimed to be acting under the oral instructions of their superior officers, forced their way into Geelani’s house, manhandled him and attempted to snatch his mobile phones, ” a statement, duly signed by about 26 professors, reads. It added, “When Geelani asked for the written orders, he was told that there were novwritten orders.”
The members of the Special Cell continued to occupy his residence and intimidate him and his family for five hours, the statement reads.
The personnel of special cell left his house only when journalists who learnt of this incident arrived at his residence. But the personnel have continued to loiter outside his house since then.
“We the undersigned teachers of Delhi University unequivocally and Vehemently condemn the attempt to gag, harass and intimidate Prof Geelani and his family. The harassment began on the February 9, 2013 after the hanging of Afzal Guru, when Prof Geelani was first illegally detained in the Special Cell office for a day, and then placed under house arrest. This harassment has only intensified since that day”, the statement reads.
Prof Geelani has been critical of the execution of Afzal Guru, and the teachers allege that ‘the police action is an undisguised attempt to censor and silence him.’
The teachers have demanded immediate removal of the Special Cell members from the vicinity of professor’s house and the discontinuation of all modes of harassment, intimidation and gagging by agencies of the Indian state.
