Chicago – April 02, 2025
Gulfisha Fatima is detained for protesting religious freedom conditions.
On April 9, 2020, authorities arrested Fatima, a Muslim student activist, under first information report (FIR) 48/2020 for her involvement in the Jaffrabad protest. She was charged under multiple sections of the Penal Code, including rioting and assaulting a public servant. Fatima, however, was targeted for leading peaceful protests opposing the religiously discriminatory Citizen Amendment Act (CAA).
Later in April 2020, authorities charged Fatima under FIR 59/2020 with new offenses under the IPC, 1967 Arms Act, and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after authorities accused her of inciting communal violence during the 2020 Delhi riots. Charges include but are not limited to rioting (Sec. 147 IPC), rioting with a deadly weapon (Sec. 148 IPC), murder (Sec. 302 IPC), attempted murder (Sec. 307 IPC), sedition (Sec. 124A IPC), “promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony” (Sec. 153A IPC), unlawful activities (Sec. 13 UAPA), terrorist acts (Sec. 16 UAPA), raising funds for terrorist acts (Sec. 17 UAPA), and conspiracy (Sec. 18 UAPA).
In May 2020, Fatima was granted bail in the Jaffrabad protest case (FIR 48/2020). However, she was forced to remain in prison under FIR 59/2020.
On June 26, 2020, several UN experts called for the release of Fatima and other protestors, saying that their arrests seem “clearly designed to send a chilling message…that criticism of government policies will not be tolerated.”
To this day, Gulfishan is still in police custody and her pleas are not being heard. She deserves justice and needs to be realeased.
