A team of lawyers led by Supreme Court lawyer Ehtesham Hashmi documented attacks in Tripura on at least 12 mosques, nine shops and three houses that belonged to Muslim families. Photo: Ehtesham Hashmi
Lawyers in Hashmi’s team, too, were charged under the UAPA. “The idea behind charging us is to ensure lawyers are afraid to even consider such cases,” said Hashmi. “What message does this send to young students who want to pursue law? This is humiliating. Our families are scared for us and themselves.”When Hashmi and his colleagues visited Tripura, they encountered charred Qur’an copies, blackened walls of mosques, and Muslim establishments on fire. “A VHP mob even charged at us,” he said. “I was ready to get lynched. Thankfully, they only saw the identification cards of the two Hindu lawyers in our team.”“Our families are scared for us and themselves.”
A protest in New Delhi against violence targeting Muslim communities in the north-eastern state of Tripura, India on October 29, 2021. Photo by Mayank Makhija/NurPhoto via AP
“Unfortunately, Muslims are newsworthy only when they are villains, not victims.”
The Tripura police, for its part, still maintain that the “law and order situation in the state is absolutely normal,” and that owners of social media accounts spreading “malicious propaganda” will continue to be prosecuted. “There is no question of fake news. I’ve specified my sources everywhere,” Faisal told VICE World News. “Initially, when the violence and vandalism began, only a few of us were tweeting about it. We even tagged Tripura police in those tweets but got no response. It was only when mainstream news channels in India picked it up that the cops sprung into action and charged us instead of the rioters on the ground.”Singh, a journalist with NewsClick, is unfazed even after the UAPA charge against him. He was fired from his last job at a pro-government news channel in July, after he called the prime minister “shameless” in his tweets. “Even if we have a more draconian law than UAPA or a more fascist prime minister than Modi, I will still continue to do my job in sharing the truth,” Singh told VICE World News. “If a house is burning, won’t you bring attention to it? My own family wholeheartedly supports this regime and the hate it promotes. But my allegiance is only to India.”“It was only when mainstream news channels in India picked it up that the cops sprung into action and charged us instead of the rioters on the ground.”