The case arises out of their struggle against the illegal occupation of Gram Sabha land. Instead of acting against the influential encroachers, the police implicated the protesting villagers and CPI(ML) activists and subsequently invoked the Gangsters Act against them. Though the court has granted interim bail to all eight comrades, the conviction comes against the backdrop of increasingly vindictive targeting and repression of workers' and farmers' movements in Uttar Pradesh under the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government.
Such criminalisation of dissent and democratic voices, the imposition of draconian laws, and targeting of activists fighting for people's rights must be firmly resisted.
