Agitating Farmer Union Demands Release Of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid And Alleged Urban Naxals

A farmer union body Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) in its agitation at Delhi's Tirki Border has demanded the release of Delhi Riots accused Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam along with alleged Urban Naxals namely Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and Varavara Rao.

In a photo of the agitation shared by Times of India, the protesting members of the farmer union can be seen holding posters of individuals like Umar Khalid (bottom left), Varavara Rao (center), Sharjeel Imam (centre) and others demanding their release.

As per reports, the farmer union as part of its International Human Rights day celebration demanded the release of at least 20 individuals who are jailed under the UAPA act over their alleged role in the Delhi Riots and Bhima Koregaon violence.

The report also quotes N K Jeet, lawyer and coordinator of the BKU (Ugrahan) as saying, "..Naxalism has helped tribal people claim their rights".

He also states that it has been his organisation's goal from Day 1 to secure the release of "human rights activists" currently behind bars.

"It is our conscious decision to support these accused. Khalistani were not part of this farmer movement. The Naxal movement was always a farmers’ movement all over India. Releasing these accused is a demand of BKU. We made it part of memorandum to government related to farm Bills", Jeet has been quoted as saying.