Former judges and senior advocates have written to Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana urging him to take suo motu cognisance of alleged incidents of illegal detention, bulldozing of homes, and police action on protesters agitating against derogatory remarks made by now-suspended BJP spokespersons.

The signatories said: “The letter petition is being presented as an urgent appeal to the Supreme Court of India to take cognisance of the recent incidents of violence and repression by state authorities on citizens of Uttar Pradesh.”

It said the recent remarks made by the now-suspended BJP spokespersons on Prophet Mohammed had resulted in protests in multiple parts of the country, particularly in Uttar Pradesh.

The letter petition has been signed by former Supreme Court judges Justices B. Sudarshan Reddy, V. Gopala Gowda and A.K. Ganguly, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court A.P. Shah, former judge of Madras High Court Justice K. Chandru and former Karnataka High Court judge Justice Mohammed Anwar.

Among the senior advocates who have signed the letter petition are Shanti Bhushan, Indira Jaising, C.U. Singh, Sriram Panchu, Prashant Bhushan and Anand Grover.

The letter said: “Instead of giving protesters an opportunity of being heard and engaging in peaceful protests, the UP state administration appears to have sanctioned taking violent action against such individuals. The Chief Minister has reportedly officially exhorted officials to take such action against those guilty that it sets an example so that no one commits a crime or take the law into their hands in future.”

“Pursuant to this, the UP police have arrested more than 300 persons and registered FIRs against protesting citizens. Videos of young men in police custody being beaten with lathis, houses of protesters being demolished without notice or any cause of action, and protesters from the minority Muslim community are chased and beaten by police, are circulating on social media, shaking the conscience of the nation,” it said.

The letter said such a brutal clampdown by a ruling administration was an unacceptable subversion of the rule of law and a violation of the rights of citizens, and made a mockery of the Constitution and fundamental rights guaranteed by the State.