The lawyer has already sent a letter to the Maharashtra chief minister and home minister, seeking an explanation for why he was placed on the list. I simply refused to respond to them,” Rathod shared. The local police persons who had visited me had no idea what that form meant. “These questions are meant for those with criminal antecedents. The list of 33 questions included details of educational qualifications, social media accounts, passport number, PAN and Aadhar card details, political leanings, names of family members, locations they visit regularly, physical appearance, birthmarks among others. Bizarre as they may be, these questions were all mentioned in the proforma that the officials had carried. The police personnel also wanted to find out if Rathod is or was likely to take an “anti-government stand”. Rathod was also asked about his work and his political and social views. Along with my documents, they also wanted me to hand over details of my friends and relatives,” Rathod told The Wire. Rathod says three constables had visited his office on July 7 and demanded all his legal documents, including his Aadhaar card and bank details. The ‘suspect list’ of the Union war book. These activists and lawyers have been added under ‘Category C’ of the Union War Book, which calls for “surveillance at all times for as long as may be necessary”. The lawyers have, however, denied the charges.
During the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, the organisation was accused of being a “Maoist front”. Most lawyers who were arrested and questioned in connection with the Elgar Parishad case are directly associated with the association. The list says the lawyers should be profiled for being associated with the Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL). Gadling’s co-accused and a former professor at the Nagpur University, Shoma Sen, also finds a mention in the list. Surendra Gadling, also a Nagpur-based lawyer who was arrested for his alleged role in the Elgar Parishad case, his wife Minal Gadling, his associate lawyer Harshal Lingayat are also mentioned under this category. Rathod, an established human rights lawyer who is representing several persons arrested in the ongoing Elgar Parishad case, was categorised as a “caste social conflict agents’ provocateurs”. The constabulary, directed by the Nagpur Special branch, had carried a pile of papers, which mentioned the names of several persons and the and categories under which they had to be evaluated. The profiling began early July, when a few junior officials from the Nagpur police came knocking on the door of city-based lawyer Nihalsing Rathod. While the exercise is carried out on the Union home ministry’s directive, the discretion of adding names and profiling people is entirely that of the state.
This document, maintained by the Union home ministry, dictates the exact role each government ministry, department and wing will play in times of war but also has a directory of sorts of those it considers to be “enemies of the state”. In a detailed district-wise operation, the state’s home department along with the intelligence department has identified many human rights activists, lawyers, and academics and has begun the work of profiling them, almost like criminals, adding them to the ‘Union War Book’. Mumbai: Even as several human rights activists and lawyers in Maharashtra face harassment, arrests and police cases, the state police has made things worse by adding them to the list of “enemies” as mentioned under the Union home ministry’s “Union War Book”.
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