The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches at premises linked to bureaucrat-turned-activist Harsh Mander, a vocal critic of the Narendra Modi government, in a money laundering case hours after he left for Germany for a fellowship programme.
The ED action invited sharp criticism from Opposition leaders, intellectuals and activists, as they described Mander as a "tireless crusader for justice" who is facing "malafide and outrageous" action. They said it was a "systematic attempt" at abusing probe agencies to "target and disable public interest activists and organizations".
The investigators searched the former IAS officer's residence in Vasant Kunj, office of Centre for Equity Studies (CES) in Adchini and children's home 'Umeed Khar' run by CES in Mehrauli – all located in South Delhi – in connection with the case filed on the basis of an FIR registered by Delhi Police's Economic Offence Wing.
Mander, who left for Germany at around 4 am on Thursday for a fellowship programme at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, has been a vocal critic of Modi and was one of the prominent supporters of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests.
Delhi had filed the case against the Mander-led CES in February following a complaint by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), accusing it of violations in two children's homes 'Umeed Aman Ghar' and 'Khushi Rainbow Home'. Political scientist Zoya Hassan, activist Bezwada Wilson, and economist Dipa Sinha are among the board members of CSE.
The NCPCR had claimed that it had found financial and administrative irregularities in the running of the children's homes and also alleged in court that they were informed by the children that they had been taken to protest sites. However, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) had contradicted NCPCR claims and had supported Mander's claim that CES was facing trouble because of political vendetta.
In a statement, the CES described the searches as a "continuation of harassment and coercion of CES and Harsh Mander for being an outspoken and passionate defender of human rights".
Over the last several months, it said, the CES has been subjected to raids and investigations by different agencies including Delhi Police and NCPCR. "The entire set of organisational documents and records have been submitted more than once to the government agencies," it said.
'Karwan e Mohabbat', an organisation in which Mander is an active participant, tweeted, "Harsh Mander has been invited to Berlin for a prestigious international fellowship to foster dialogue, debate and cooperation...In solidarity with Harsh Mander, a tireless crusader for justice."
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh strongly condemned the ED action, saying he knew Mander for the past 40 years. "One of the most conscientious and honest officers I have worked with. Extremely sensitive to the cause of poor underprivileged. He prematurely resigned from IAS to work among the poor," he said.
CPI(M) also denounced the searches and said, "This is a blatant misuse of state institutions to muzzle dissent".
Senior activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan tweeted, "malafide and Outrageous! We are seeing a systematic attempt to abuse agencies like ED to target and disable public interest activists and organizations."
The National Federation of Indian Women said that the ED action was a "new low" and it will "go down in history as the most repressive tool" used. "We stand in solidarity with Harsh Mander and his honesty. What is happening to him and other civil society activists is shameful," it said.
In a joint statement, over 25 intellectuals and activists, including Aruna Roy, Jean Dreze, Dr Syeda Hameed and Indira Jaising, condemned the searches claiming that it was to "harass and intimidate a leading human rights and peace activist who has done nothing but work for peace and harmony, consistently upholding the highest moral standards of honesty and probity".
"Over the past year, Harsh Mander and the CES have been subjected to continued harassment by multiple state agencies. The false and malicious allegations by the NCPCR were definitively countered by the DCPCR, a statutory body, which has filed a strong affidavit in the Delhi High Court, putting an end to the false allegations against CES. CES has also been subjected to harassment by the ED and IT Department," it said.
"All these vindictive efforts combined, have shown neither diversion of money nor any violation of the law. The current raids are to be viewed in this context, as part of a continuing chain of abuse of state institutions to threaten, intimidate and try to silence every critic of the present government...The Constitution of India and the law of the land shall prevail, exposing these intimidatory tactics exactly for what they are – an abuse of state institutions to try and curtail all our rights," it added.
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