ON December 30, Subhashini Ali, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) met with the families of some of the activists in jail: Sadaf Jafar, Robin Verma and Deepak Kabir in Lucknow.
Sadaf’s sister Naheed told her that she met her in jail on the 20th. Sadaf told her that she was badly beaten by policemen who also scratched her face. Her children are extremely brave and very proud of their mother.
Robin Verma’s wife has just delivered their child and his mother, a teacher and widow of a police constable, was very calm.
Deepak Kabir is a theatre worker and activist who went to the police station to enquire about Sadaf’s whereabouts and was arrested.
Very serious charges have been levelled against all of them and nothing can be said about them getting bail, etc.
She also spoke to some people from the Old City who are very afraid of repression. Even the family of Mohammad Wakeel who died on the spot on the December 19 is not prepared to speak. Many others in Khudra and Munshipurwa who faced lathis do not want to be identified. Women were also beaten and kicked.
Hundreds have been arrested including five young Bengali hotel workers from Malda. Most of them are very poor and many are orphans.
The CPI(M) has demanded compensation for all those killed and injured. The police had fired on innocent protestors, which was revealed by some of the police personnel. A judicial enquiry must be made into the entire sequence of events.