Sit-in Protest at Jantar Mantar Demands Release of MP Er Rashid

New Delhi, August 25: A sit-in protest was held at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, to mark six years of incarceration of Baramulla Member of Parliament, Engineer Rashid.

Supporters, activists, and sympathisers gathered with placards and banners demanding the release of AIP President and MP Baramulla Er Rashid, along with other individuals from Jammu & Kashmir lodged in different jails across the country.

Participants termed the detention of Er Rashid as a concern for democratic values, stating that keeping an elected MP in prison undermines the mandate of the people. Some carried posters reading “Prison walls cannot silence people’s mandate” and “When leaders are jailed, democracy fails.”

Civil society members from Delhi, including peace activist O.P. Shah, also joined the protest. Leaders addressing the gathering said that the continued incarceration of Er Rashid despite his parliamentary mandate raises questions of justice and urged the government to consider his release so he can represent his constituency in Parliament.

The sit-in reflected calls for the release of Er Rashid and others, with participants emphasising democracy, representation, and human rights.