Withdraw case against Dalit activist Teltumbde: CPI(M) to govt

The CPI(M) on Thursday accused the government of "targeting dissenters" and demanded that the case against Dalit activist Anand Teltumbde to be dropped.

This comes days after Teltumbde, an IIM alumnus accused in the Bhima-Koregaon conspiracy case, launched a signature campaign petitioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have the charges quashed against him after the Supreme Court turned down his plea on Monday.

"The vicious targeting by the Modi government and BJP State governments of intellectuals and activists, who support the cause of Dalit and oppressed communities, is intensifying. This is confirmed from the treatment meted out to noted intellectual Anand Teltumbde in the Bhima-Koregaon case...Such attacks on those critical of its policies/activities and dissenting voices has happened earlier under the calumnious category of 'urban naxals'," a statement from the Polit Bureau said.

It also criticised the booking of intellectual Hiren Gogoi in Assam on charges of sedition for opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to quash the Pune police's FIR against Teltumbde in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon Bhima violence and for his alleged Maoist links.

The apex court also refused to interfere with the ongoing investigation in the case. However, it extended the interim protection from arrest granted to him by the Bombay High Court by four weeks. It said Teltumbde could seek regular bail from the competent trial court in the meantime.

"The CPI(M) condemns such harassment of public intellectuals and activists, the latest being Anand Teltumbde and demands that the false case against him be withdrawn," the statement said.

Last year, several other rights activists were arrested in a multi-state swoop on the charge of being involved in a Maoist conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among other allegations.

The Elgar Parishad event at Shaniwarwada in Pune was held on December 31, 2017.

Several activists had allegedly made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements at the event, leading to to the violence, the police had said.