JOINT STATEMENT REGARDING THE ARREST AND ILLEGAL DETENTION OF SUDHA BHARADWAJ, VISITING PROFESSOR, NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, DELHI

We, the faculty, staff, students and alumni of National Law University, Delhi stand in solidarity with our colleague, professor, and friend, Sudha Bharadwaj who was arrested on 28th August 2018 allegedly in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence, and was held in illegal detention in contravention of the Constitution of India and in defiance of orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Sudha Bharadwaj is an embodiment of the best in our profession – a fearless critic of governmental lawlessness, an emphatic and empathetic advocate amplifying the voices of those who are rarely heard within the corridors of power, and a beacon for future generations of lawyers in this country. Through her advocacy, her teaching, and her life, Sudha Bharadwaj exemplifies the transformative roleofalawyerinasocietylikeours.Wecanonlyhopetobeasbrave,insightfulandconscientiousasher in our work and our daily lives. Citizens like Sudha Bharadwaj are the reason that our democracy lives andthrives.

Her extensive contributions to labour law, development, environment, women’s rights and access to justice has seen Sudha Bharadwaj being invited to the National Judicial Academy, state judicial academies, and also nominated to the governingbodyof the Chhattisgarh State Legal Services Authority. NLU Delhi has been exceptionally fortunate to have benefitted from her presence on the campusandinourclassrooms.IntheyearthatSudhaBharadwajhasbeenatNLU,Delhi,shehasbeen an inspiration for her students and colleagues. Despite her work on redressal of some of the gravest injustices in our country, she maintains an unwavering commitment to the vision of the Constitution and constantly emphasizes the use of constitutional methods in addressinginjustice.

We, law teachers, lawyers, law researchers, and law students, protest against the illegal detention of SudhaBharadwajindefianceoftheordersofthePunjabandHaryanaHighCourt.Yesterday,theHigh CourtorderedthatSudhaBharadwajbekeptatherhomependingthedecision,followingdueprocess, on her transit remand. However, till late in the evening, Sudha Bharadwaj was not taken home, and her whereabouts were not disclosed to her family or her legal team. This blatantly illegal action is evidenceofthevindictivenatureoftheentireexerciseofraidingandarrestinghumanrightslawyers, activists and defenders across thecountry.

We, citizens of India, vehemently oppose the use of the police, government resources and state institutions to systematically target and intimidate human rights defenders who have dedicated their livestoworkingforhumanrights.Thisflagrantabuseofstatepowertopersecuteandendangerthose who uphold the Constitution and its core values threatens the foundation of thisnation.

President Radhakrishnan had urged universities to not be prisoners of the past but to instead be pilgrims of the future. As those dedicated to the task of imagining a better future for this country, we condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the state’s systematic suppression of dissent and the shrinking space for contesting injustice. We demand that the government stop its vendetta against human rights defenders, and recognize the value of dissent in a vibrant democracy.

Signed

S. No.	Name	S. No.	Name	S. No.	Name
1	Aparna Chandra Assistant Professor	21	Saral Khandelwal Student	41	Shreyasi Tripathi Student
2	Chinmayi Arun Assistant Professor	22	Siddharth Gautam Student	42	Prashanth K P Student
3	Anup Surendranath Assistant Professor	23	Nidhi Pratap Singh Student	43	Kaushik Thanugonda Student
4	Mrinal Satish Professor	24	Devdutta Mukhopadhyay Student	44	Tushar Varma Student
5	Sophy Assistant Professor	25	Aditya Garg Student	45	Sahil Malhotra Student
6	Arul Scaria George Assistant Professor	26	Manisha Bhau Student	46	Vanya Bajaj Student
7	Daniel Mathew Assistant Professor	27	Mahima Jain Student	47	Shivkirpal Student
8	Jasper Vikas Assistant Professor	28	Preksha Sharma Student	48	Yashita Gour Student
9	Aadarsh Singh Student	29	Nitesh Mishra Student	49	Shreya Shree Research Fellow
10	Malavika Parthasarathy Research Fellow	30	Harikartik Ramesh Student	50	Tammana Malik Student
11	Garvit Chaudhary Student	31	Tejaswita Kharel Student	51	Surya Vasu Student
12	Kaali Prasad Student	32	Palash Srivastava Student	52	Oshika Student
13	Anuj Dubey Student	33	Akanshha Agrawal Student	53	Pragya Singh Student
14	Arpan Verma Student	34	Karthik Tayur Student	54	Vedangini Bisht Student
15	Priyanka Hazarika Alumnus	35	Animesh Chaudhary Student	55	Ashima Sharma Student
16	Kushaan Dosajh Alumnus	36	Rakesh Roshan Student	56	Saloni Ambastha Student
17	Sanchit Saluja Alumnus	37	Mohit Chawdhry Alumnus	57	Swagat Dash Student
18	Sanjana Ravjiani Student	38	Vanya Chhabra Alumnus	58	Akanksha Mathur Student
19	DVL Vidya Student	39	Mukul Raizada Assistant Professor	59	Madhav Nakra Student
20	Vasundhra Student	40	Gaurika Khandelwal Student	60	Prastuti Tiwari Student

S. No.	Name	S. No.	Name	S. No.	Name
61	Nikhitha Tadigoppula Student	81	Harsh Chaudhary Student	101	Atishay Dhaker Student
62	Kaustub Narendran Student	82	Kannan jhunjhunwala Student	102	Isha Gupta Student
63	Priyamvada Kaushik Student	83	Shubham Jain Student	103	Mukul Verma Student
64	Manav Dhanetiya Student	84	Nidhi Khandelwal Student	104	Nitisha Raj Student
65	Atulya Gupta Student	85	Karthik Inzamam Prasad Student	105	Sapna Sagar Student
66	Amit Verma Student	86	Manisha Kawat Student	106	Shreya Bhatnagar Student
67	Srikari Student	87	Padma Venkataraman Student	107	Anushka Pandey Student
68	Amay Bahri Student	88	Varsha Sharma Student	108	Aatman Shukla Student
69	Anant Sangal Student	89	Himaa Student	109	Devina Malaviya Alumnus
70	Abhishek Kumar Student	90	Aayushi Goyal Student	110	Subhro Prokas Alumnus
71	Nikita Agarwal Alumnus	91	Vidushi Student	111	Samith Sagaranahalli Alumnus
72	Shubham Chaudhary Student	92	Nidhi Kumari Student	112	Tia Majumdar Student
73	Riya Student	93	Prashasthi Bhat Student	113	Anupriya Dhonchak Student
74	Pragya Dwivedi Student	94	Pritam Raman Giriya Student	114	Lakshya Gupta Alumnus
75	Abhay Student	95	Aishwarya Gupta Student	115	Amber Tickoo Student
76	Shubhangi Agarwalla Student	96	Aastha Gangwal Student	116	Simran Jain Student
77	Pawani Mathur Alumnus	97	Ekta Tomar Student	117	Pratikshya Priyadarshini
78	Sanchita Bhat Student	98	Siddharth Gupta Alumnus	118	Anuj Manoj Bhave Student
79	Diksha Brahma Student	99	Shreyashi Ray Research Fellow (Law)	119	Preetam bharti Student
80	Priya Tyagi Student	100	Arshu John Alumnus	120	Alind Gupta Student

S. No.	Name	S. No.	Name	S. No.	Name
121	Aarushi Mahajan Alumnus	141	Maulshree Pathak Alumnus	161	Priyanka Choudhary Research Fellow (Law)
122	Anuna Tiwari Student	142	Hardeep Singh Alumnus	162	Sucheta Roy Alumnus
123	Shrinkhala Jaiswal Research Fellow	143	Chinmayi Shrivastava Student	163	Vaibhav Aggarwal Alumnus
124	Lakshana Ramakrishnan	144	Jeetu Tolani Student	164	Bharti Singh Student
125	Meghadarshini M S Student	145	Anshika Kesarwani Student	165	Devashish Godbole Alumnus
126	Nishtha Sinha Alumnus	146	Wangdi Tshering Bhutia Alumnus	166	Riddhi Jad Alumnus
127	Saumya Bhatt Alumnus	147	Anukriti Kudeshia Student	167	Nishant Badhran Student
128	Neeraj Nainani Student	148	Ishita Sharma Alumnus	168	Ninni Susan Thomas Research Fellow
129	Arpit Agarwal Student	149	Aditya Anand Student	169	Anshu Consultant Advocate
130	Jagata Swaminathan Alumnus	150	Abhinav Hansaraman Student	170	Medha Deo Programme Director
131	Kartikey Singh Student	151	Kashish Singhal Student	171	Amartya Kanjilal Research Associate
132	Gale Andrew Alumnus	152	Vandana Meena Student	172	Shuchita Goel Student
133	Anshul Gondale Student	153	Rum Shoute Student	173	Shweta Wankhede Associate
134	Shambhavi Singh Student	154	Divyansh Joshi Student	174	Mini Saxena Alumnus
135	Sarvjeet Singh Alumnus	155	Geetansh Agarwal Student	175	Shubham Gupta Alumnus
136	Neha Jha Student	156	Keerthana Medarametla Alumnus	176	Peter John Research Associate (2016- 18)
137	Akshat Agarwal Alumnus	157	Maloth Chandrashekhar Kumar Student	177	Devina Sikdar Research Associate
138	Astha Upadhyaya Student	158	Shreya Rastogi Alumnus & Research Associate	178	Raunaq Chandrashekar Alumnus
139	Nikhil Anand Student	159	Kuhuk Jain Alumnus	179	Devesh Saboo Alumnus
140	Karishma Padia Alumnus	160	Shweta Kabra Alumnus	180	Vaibhavi Shaunak Alumnus

S. No.	Name	S. No.	Name	S. No.	Name
181	Karan Vijay Student Student	201	Vaibhav Dutt Alumnus	221	Ayushi Agrawal Student
182	Damini Davinder Singh Alumnus	202	Himanshu Mishra Student	222	Prarthna sharma Student
183	Priya Student	203	Abhimanyu Yadav Student	223	Bhavya Phutela Student
184	Anurag Goswami Alumnus	204	R S Lakshman Alumnus	224	Sonal Sarda Alumnus
185	Meghna Bhaskar Student	205	Abhinav Srivastava Alumnus	225	Ravi Arora Alumnus
186	Neetika Vishwanath Research Associate	206	Raashi Pathak Student	226	Shubhi Khare Student
187	Saachi Agrawal Student	207	Shweta Venkatesan Student	227	Abhishek Mittal Student
188	Sanya Kumar Alumnus	208	Dr. Prem Chand Assistant Professor	228	Vikramaditya Alumnus
189	Prakhar Agarwal Student	209	Anshul Student	229	Divyanshu Chaudhary Student
190	Kumar Ritwik Student	210	Rahul Kawat Alumnus	230	Siddhant Sachdeva Student
191	Vaibhav Student	211	Monalisa Alumnus	231	Abhishek Sharma Student
192	Anuj Sharma Alumnus	212	Manaswini Singh Student	232	Rahul Kumar Student
193	Koirobi Biswas Student	213	Ipsita Pallavi Student	233	Siddhant Raj Student
194	Shivalik Chandan Student	214	Ayushi Pathak Student	234	Aradhana C.V. Alumna Alumnus
195	Rohan Andrew Naik Student	215	Akhil Bhardwaj Alumnus	235	Saral Minocha Alumnus
196	Diksha Mendiratta Student	216	Anupama Singh Student	236	Maitreyi Misra Research Associate
197	Chinmay Kanojia Alumnus	217	Prachi Tatiwal Student	237	Yashika Jain Alumnus
198	Pritika Malhotra Alumnus	218	Atharva Kotwal Student	238	Bhavna Jha Alumnus
199	Anugya Chauhan Student	219	Archita Srivastava Student	239	Aaditya Arora Student
200	Tijil Thakur Student	220	Aadya Antya Student	240	Sonal Bharti Student

S. No.	Name	S. No.	Name	S. No.	Name
241	Aaditya Gambhir Student	261	Asmita Verma Student	281	Gauri Soni Student
242	Devanshi Saxena Alumnus	262	Ravishankar M Alumnus	282	Aditya Mittal Student
243	Vivek Singh Alumnus	263	Anuradha Godrey Alumnus	283	Shivani Singh Student
244	Shubhi Khare Student	264	Nimit Rajesh Goyal Student	284	Tania Singla Alumnus
245	Monika Negi Assistant Professor	265	Shruti Srivastava Student	285	RBV Pratap Singh Student
246	Niranjan Student	266	Priyendra Vikram Singh Student	286	Sumon Sourabh Brahma Alumnus
247	Tanvi Agrawal Alumnus	267	Surbhi Student	287	Surbhi Karwa Student
248	Prashant Tahlani Alumnus	268	Rahil Chatterjee Research Fellow	288	Amita Punj Associate Professor
249	Aishwarya Kane Alumnus	269	John Sebastian Alumnus	289	Manas Student
250	Shrutanjaya Bharadwaj Alumnus	270	Tanaya Rajwade Student	290	Harsh Arya Student
251	Tishta Tandon Student	271	Sakshi Tikmany Student	291	Deepika Parya Student
252	Devashish Chauhan Alumnus	272	Abhishek Student Student	292	Parul Sharma Alumnus
253	Priyanka Goel Alumnus	273	Kriti Shrivastava Student	293	Shambhavi Singh Alumnus
254	Akhil Mallipeddi Alumnus	274	Aditi Sharma Student	294	AmardeepSinghSandhu Student
255	Akshay BD Alumnus	275	Isha Goel Student	295	Dedipyaman Shukla Student
256	Sarvatrajit Singh Alumnus	276	Shrey Patnaik Alumnus	296	Pundrikaksh Student
257	Akansha Seth Alumnus	277	Suneet Anand Student	297	Dona John Project 39A
258	Tarun Sundaram Student	278	Anmol Mittal Student	298	Palak Jawa Student
259	Nikhil Prasad Student	279	Bharat Student	299	Toshit Shandilya Alumnus
260	Saloni Jain Alumnus	280	Prakhar Ganguly Alumnus	300	Aviral Singhal Student

300	Aviral Singhal Student
301	Tanishka Goswami Student
302	Ambar Modi Student
303	Sucheto Chophy Student
304	Aasavri Rai Student
305	Mansi Relhan Student
306	Vandana Venkatesh Alumnus
307	Arshdeep Student
308	Vandana Venkatesh Alumnus
309	Nayantara Pande Alumnus
310	Mehak Bajpai Teaching Assistant
311	Rishika Sahgal Alumnus
312	Jagrit Vyas Student