Is fighting for your rights an attack on the government?

THERE IS A difference between what happened during the NEET protests and what is happening now. During the former, there had been allegations of paper leaks and there was material available for people to examine.

In the current case, a lot of what is being discussed is still not completely available to the public. What is in the public domain is being challenged in the Supreme Court.

So, should Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign? I genuinely believe that there is an investigation underway and that it needs to proceed.

At the same time, I have questions about the institutions investigating these issues. I remember the concerns raised by senior Supreme Court lawyer Menaka Guruswamy about the judiciary—about vacancies, representation and questions of inclusivity and ideology.

If the Supreme Court is hearing something, we expect the process to be independent and fair. But citizens also have questions about the institutions themselves.

The larger concern remains the same: our rights are being violated again and again. The problem isn’t that people are protesting. The question is: why are they protesting?

Section 163 [of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita] cannot, in my understanding, be invoked casually by saying there is a threat. There has to be an order and there have to be reasons. If people are being detained, they should know on what grounds they are being detained. There should be a record of who has been detained.

There are reports of protesters being transported in tourist buses. Is there a proper record of the people being detained? Which police unit has taken responsibility for those buses? Who is accountable?

These are not accusations. These are questions that I believe the authorities have to answer.

I ask these questions because of what happened to me.

The police vehicle in which the students were being transported had an old number plate. (This was during the first CJP protest in Mumbai, where a photo of Ahir standing in front of a police van went viral). I had subsequently researched the requirements related to High Security Registration Plates and found that the vehicle did not have the required new plate. If you are carrying out law-and-order duties, you have to follow law and order yourself.

I struggle to understand how it is wrong to participate in a peaceful protest when the Constitution itself recognises the right to freedom of speech and expression and the right to assemble peacefully.

When the brutality happened, people didn’t necessarily become more frightened. In many cases, more people joined and said, “How dare you do this to us?”

That is significant. These protests are bringing people together and making them question those in power.

We are fighting for a basic constitutional right. We are not fighting the government. And if that is interpreted as an attack on the government, then perhaps some introspection needs to happen.

It is easy for people to attack, deflect and reduce everything to one protest or one person. But there are so many issues happening across this country. Teachers are affected. Students are affected. Farmers, drivers, sanitation workers are affected. Women are affected. Schools are affected. Dalits and minorities are affected.

It is, in many ways, a humanitarian crisis.

So, ultimately, I come back to one question: what is the price of democracy?

And perhaps an even more important question: what are we willing to pay to protect it?

—As told to Pooja Biraia