Rights activists stage protests at home

Demand release of imprisoned rights activists Saibaba and Varavara Rao

Eight activists of Human Rights Forum on Friday staged black badge protests in their respective houses on a call given by convenor of Telangana unit of Forum Against Repression G. Haragopal, to expose the repression against rights activists in the State and elsewhere in the country.

The forum has demanded the immediate release of G.N. Saibaba and Varavara Rao who are lodged in Nagpur and Mumbai jails respectively and bail to accused in Bheema Koregaon case related to alleged assassination attempt on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. All cases foisted by Telangana government against democrats should be withdrawn, they demanded.

The forum highlighted that Mr. Saibaba was totally incapacitated and languishing in jail without an aid for past three years. His health had deteriorated badly but there was no way anyone could meet him to enquire about it. He was not even granted parole to visit his mother who suffered from cancer. Eighty-year-old revolutionary writer Varavara Rao was confined to a cell in Taloja jail in Mumbai which lacked basic facilities. He also suffered from health problems but his family members did not have access to him.