My friend Nisha

Nisha is currently in jail, with a 7yr sentence for ‘rioting’

“The local court in Chandigarh convicted 17 people including singh, adding that “there is reason to believe they cannot be reformed” & “likely to be threats to society” Link

I am shaking in anger as I type this and the last 2 days have been kind of dystopian since I heard - Legalities aside, how does one human get to decide whether another human is beyond reform!

Check out this video below - Does the lady in suit look like an ‘abettor of riots’ to you ?

She only reached after the altercations with the police had already started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pudaFiz_okc

I met Nisha 11 years ago - She had moved back from London after her MBA, and quit her job at Google to join grass roots politics - She contested for, and won the elections to become a Councillor.

We all cheered and then went back to our jobs and cushy lives - while she fought on the ground to change the system.

Even though I have never said it to her, I was incredibly proud of her and what she was doing - I thought she was very brave and was a constant reminder that there is hope - that maybe someday, I can find the courage to join politics and do my bit for our country.

In 2015, the government conduct an anti-encroachment drive. Except that it was approved as a ‘cleanliness drive’, so when the bulldozers started rolling to break houses and clear the occupants, they retaliated.

This happened in the ward where Nisha was a councillor - She reached the spot to find out what was happening. She was brushed off by the police so she started recording the incident on her phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLPLJ6VXPQ8

As you can see in the video above, the altercations with the villagers had already started. Nisha was there as a public representative of the people.

In your opinion, does she deserve to spend the next 7 years serving a rigorous imprisonment sentence for doing her job?

Over the last 7 years, she has been silently fighting a legal battle. I had assumed that the case had been resolved so it was a shock when I found out that she had been arrested along with 17 other villagers.

You might be wondering why am I writing to you.

For starters, I feel incredibly powerless to do anything to help her so I need to vent a bit.

Her family is in Chandigarh pursuing due legal process to apply for bail.

Rather than watch from the fence, I thought I would try and share her side of the story.

Here are some facts of the case as shared by her family.

1. The conviction of Nisha is based solely on the verbal accusation of Police and Administration, against whom Nisha is pursuing a case in the High Court
2. Not a single video/ photo has been provided by the Police that show Nisha sloganeering, giving speech, hitting someone, pelting stone etc. and this is despite Police legally required to videograph any activity like this (by a High Court order)
3. Videos, if any, we taken by bystanders and all these show Nisha making a video of the preceding on her phone
4. Prosecution has accepted that Nisha was not present when the stone pelting started and came 25-30min later but still decided to charge Nisha with abetment basis a speculative allegation that she may have abetted over phone. Are we not supposed to be innocent till proven otherwise. Police had all the resources to verify Nisha’s location and call details but they refused to do so (despite Nisha repeatedly and officially requesting for it) as it would have refuted their own theory
5. There was only one independent witness produced by witness who denied seeing anything and even denied giving any statement to the Police, as was mentioned in the charge sheet.
6. The person in whose name the FIR was registered was declared hostile
7. The Judge was transferred with orders to “relinquish charge from their current assignment immediately”. Instead she continues with her assignment, prepones Nisha’s case by 2 days and gives an order next day (when she was not even supposed to be in that Court and was supposed to be in the Family Court)

If Nisha had been your friend, what might you have done?

We are clear that we will pursue as per due process of the laws of India. At the same time, I would also like my friend to get out of jail so that she can continue the good fight.

If you can help spread the word among your like minded friends, or help in anyway that you can, it will be great. Here is the link - https://bit.ly/MyFriendNisha

Thank you for reading ?????

Abhik

If you would like to stay informed till Nisha is out, please click here

Here are some links to media articles and back ground information on Nisha.

Twitter

LinkedIn

Google

Who is Nisha Singh? - The Print

AAP stands with Nisha Singh - The Tribune

AAP removes profile of Nisha Singh - JantaKiReporter