Dr. Ram Puniyani threatened
PRESS STATEMENT
Civil Society
strongly condemns the criminal intimidation and threats made to noted scholar
and ant-communalism activist Dr. Ram Puniyani and demand speedy and thorough
investigation into the crime
On 6th June 2019, Dr.
Ram Puniyani received a phone call at 8.30 p.m., when the caller who refused to
identify himself, started using abusive and filthy language towards him and
said that he should stop his activities and leave or else…. He was told that he
has time of 15 days to leave or suffer consequences of his failure. Five
minutes later, he received another phone call from a different number where in
an aggressive tone a male caller asked to give the phone to Doctor, and when
Dr. Puniyani replied in the negative, the caller cut the phone off.
Even earlier, on 9th
March 2019, three unidentified persons came to Dr. Puniyani’s residence on the
pretext of making enquiries for his passport application. However, Dr. Puniyani
had not even applied for any passport application. The visitors made general
enquiries about his family and his past affiliation with IIT Mumbai and left.
Dr. Puniyani filed a criminal complaint with Powai Police Station on this.
However, the police failed to take any real action to investigate into the
complaint or identify the visitors, although the CCTV footage and other details
had been provided to the police.
On 7th June 2019, Dr.
Puniyani has filed a criminal complaint in the matter of the threatening phone
calls received by him with the Powai police station. Dr. Puniyani has provided
details of the phone numbers as recorded in the caller ID of his residence
phone. Dr. Puniyani has also met the Joint Commissioner, Law and Order, Mr.
Vinoy K Choubey, on 7th June 2019, along with a delegation consisting of other
civil society activists to report this serious incident of intimidation and
demand speedy investigation into the crime and ensure safety of Dr. Puniyani.
The Joint Commissioner has assured the delegation that the incident will be
investigated seriously and measures taken to ensure Dr. Puniyani’s safety and
has instructed the Deputy Commissioner of Police, MIDC, Dr. Sangramsingh
Nishandar to look into the complaint.
These repeated threats
pose great risk and danger to Dr. Puniyani, who has been a strong secular voice
and crusader for communal harmony. This is nothing but an attempt to silence
his voice and curb his emphatic efforts towards spreading the message of peace
and harmony. Already we have witnessed grave attacks on and assassinations of
rationalists and secular thinkers, including Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, Prof.
Govind Pansare, Prof. Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh, amongst others.
Several writers, journalists, RTI activists, artists, lawyers etc. have been
under attack by right wing forces. In light of these recent attacks, it is
important that the police authorities and state administration takes serious
note of and prompt action in this case, and take all measures to ensure safety
of Dr. Puniyani and his family.
We, as members of
civil society, are extremely disturbed and strongly condemn these serious
threats to Dr. Ram Puniyani on 6th June 2019 and demand a speedy and thorough
investigation into the crime and safety of Dr. Puniyani.
Endorsed by
All India Secular
Forum
Anhad
Bharat Bachao Andolan
Centre for Justice and
Peace
Centre for Study of
Society and Secularism
Indian Christian
Women’s Movement - Mumbai
Indian Muslims for
Secular Democracy
Forum Against
Oppression of Women
Free Speech Collective
People’s Union for
Civil Liberties
Members of Delegation
to meet Joint Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, Mumbai : Feroze
Mithiborewala, Irfan Engineer, Sujata Gothoskar, Sandhya Gokhale, Geeta Seshu,
Lara Jesani, Dr. Smita Puniyani and Dr. Ram Puniyani
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