We, the undersigned, unequivocally condemn the efforts of the Ministry of Home Affairs to persecute the Lawyers Collective (LC), Indira Jaising and Anand Grover in order to obstruct the legal and human rights work being carried out by them.

We condemn the suspension of the FCRA registration of LC, as well as the mala fide and motivated manner in which the Ministry of Home Affairs, in a blatant violation of law, leaked the suspension notice to the press even before providing LC with a copy of the same.

There has been a systematic campaign and abuse of the legal process by the Central Government to malign Indira Jaising and Anand Grover as well as LC over the past six months. The suspension of LC’s FCRA registration is nothing but an escalation of the Government’s campaign to crush dissent and criminalise any person or organisation that questions or opposes the violation of fundamental rights and human rights by the State and its agencies.

The motivated campaign and actions against LC fit neatly into the present Government’s concerted campaign against marginalised and oppressed sections of society and any person, whether students, activists, academics or individuals who question the policies, actions and the abuse of power by the government.

Senior Advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover have an exceptional profile of public service, probity and personal and professional integrity as lawyers and as human rights activists. Their work has received global recognition.

Ms. Indira Jaising, has made an unparalleled contribution to law and jurisprudence on gender discrimination, whether relating to women’s right to property, sexual harassment at the workplace, domestic violence etc. She has also been a member of the CEDAW Committee. Anand Grover held the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Health between 2008 to 2014. He has made a tremendous contribution to the legal campaign against the criminalisation of homosexuality; rights of persons living with HIV; and access to medicine and healthcare. Ms. Jaising and Mr. Grover, through LC have and continue to advance the rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized sections of society, thereby upholding constitutional values. Instead of recognizing their invaluable contribution to the county and its people, the Government is making all efforts to obstruct their work.

Through the persecution and harassment of LC and Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, the present Government is sending a clear and chilling message to the citizens of this country that the inevitable consequence of questioning or criticising the present Government’s policies is repression and criminalisation.

LC has specifically and repeatedly countered and justified each of the bald allegations regarding misuse of funds that have been levelled by the MHA. However, the MHA has displayed an unusual vindictiveness by ignoring the official responses sent by LC and proceeding to suspend their FCRA registration.

The malafide and clear intention to malign and harass LC is evident from the fact that the MHA, in clear violation of procedure, allowed the notice of suspension of FCRA registration to be provided to the media before it was provided to LC, Ms. Jaising or Mr. Grover.

The MHA’s suspension of LC’s FCRA registration is based on the allegation that the FCRA has been violated on the following grounds: 

1. That the remuneration paid by LC to Ms. Jaising for certain services provided by her while she was also serving as a government servant (as the Additional Solicitor General of India) is a violation of the FCRA.

• LC in its response to the MHA has specifically stated that at this time Ms. Jaising was not a government servant. 

1. That the reimbursement of expenses for telephone and internet, incurred by Mr. Anand Grover while he was serving as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health were a violation of the FCRA.

• LC has denied the same and has specifically stated that the reimbursements pertained to expenses incurred for work done by Mr. Grover for LC itself. 

1. That LC has used funds it has received through the FCRA to organise dharnas and rallies which can be interpreted as political action in violation of the FCRA.

• This has been repeatedly denied by LC as being entirely false and baseless. LC has further stated that the only money it has spent on mobilizing communities was received from local sources or UN agencies, which is not illegal, moreover, the community mobilisation was restricted to organising people living with HIV/AIDS, which can be no means be considered a ‘political activity’

The allegations against LC are motivated, absurd and feeble, and display nothing but a desperate attempt by the Government and MHA to persecute persons who are able to challenge and highlight the egregious violation of human rights that the present Government is committing, condoning and is complicit in.

It is therefore no surprise that the targetting of LC and Ms. Jaising and Mr Grover began subsequent to their legal representation and intervention in certain cases. Ms. Jaising and Mr. Grover have legally challenged the discharge of BJP National President Mr. Amit Shah who was an accused in the fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati. Ms. Jaising has represented Priya Pillai who challenged the Central Government’s action of preventing her from attending a conference abroad and critiquing Government’s policies on allowing corporations to acquire and mine lands belonging to farmers and others. Mr. Grover had represented Yakub Memon in challenging the death sentence awarded to him before the Supreme Court.

We stand in solidarity with Indira Jaising, Anand Grover, and all their colleagues at LC.

We condemn all efforts to obstruct their work, and to harass and persecute them.

We are confident that LC, Indira Jaising and Anand Grover will not be deterred by the malicious and vindictive campaign unleashed by the Government and we are confident that they will continue to work to uphold Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.

We appeal to all those who support the right to dissent, question and criticize anti-people policies of the government to express their solidarity.

In Solidarity,