KANPUR: The Uttar Pradesh chapters of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) have welcomed the court's decision.
"We had full confidence in the judician system," said Vandana Mishra, secretary PUCL, UP. At the time of arrest, Seema was also state secretary of the PUCL and publishing a magazine, 'Dastak', in which she had written several articles on illegal mining.
The couple was also involved in sensitizing people on violation of their rights and raised human rights issues.The Special Task Force (STF) of UP had arrested the couple in February 2010 and had claimed to have recovered Maoist literature and huge amount of cash from their possession. They were charged with having association with a banned organization, the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
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After arrest, the STF handed them over to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of UP making it a case involving 'terrorist activity'. In its chargesheet submitted in the court, the ATS claimed that the couple was involved in inciting people through CD, laptops and books. The court held the couple guilty and awarded them life term.
After detaining the couple, the police had then said that the two activists were arrested at Allahabad railway station. However, in the FIR lodged later at the Khuldabad police station, police showed that they were arrested by the STF from Khuldabad in Allahabad.
The police had also claimed that it found incriminating material, including a detailed programme of Krantikari Jan Committee, pamphlets carrying message of CPI (Maoist), a pamphlet related to the arrest of Kobad Gandhi, pamphlet on arrest of Naxal and Maoist functionaries and members in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.