Human rights activists and
environment campaigners have criticized the government of Narendra Modi
saying their efforts have led to harassment and other reprisals since it took
power more than a year ago. The Narendra Modi government activities led a secular
state towards fascism.
Teesta
Setalvad
is a rights activist working with survivors of the 2002 religious riots
in Gujarat state, in which nearly 1,000
people, mostly Muslims, were killed. At the time, Modi was Gujarat's
chief minister.
After the riots, Setalvad
set up Citizens for Justice and Peace - a legal rights initiative to ensure
victims' stories were heard in Indian courts.
Setalvad's
organisation's legal aid to riot victims has led to the conviction of 126
perpetrators, including a minister of the former state government and some
Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party members.
But her work has come
at a price. Since 2004, she has been arrested 7 times, accused by
Indian police of fraud, kidnapping, and instructing witnesses - allegations she
denies.
Until 2014, she said, the charges against her were brought by Gujarat
state police, but the most recent run-ins with the law have involved India's
elite police agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
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