Facing communal slurs, mental harassment in jail
Student activist Gulfisha Fatima, arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), alleged before a Delhi court on Monday that she was being subjected to communal slurs and mental harassment by jail authorities.
“I have a problem in jail,” she told Additional Sessions, Judge Amitabh Rawat, via videoconferencing. “Ever since I was brought here, I have been constantly facing discrimination by the jail staff. They called me an educated terrorist and hurled communal slurs at me. I am facing mental harassment here. If I hurt myself, only jail authorities will be responsible for it.”
After Fatima made her submissions directly to the court, the judge asked her lawyer to file an application regarding this.
To this, her counsel Mehmood Pracha said he will do the necessary in the case.
The court had earlier taken cognisance of the charge sheet filed in the case related to the conspiracy in the riots and summoned all the 15 accused to appear before it.
Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi February 24 after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.
