With having been accused of alleged Pakistan connection, Human Rights Activist and one of the women who rolled out Kolam protests in Chennai, Gayatri Khandhadai has opened up to rebut the accusations aired by Chennai City Police commissioner by citing that she has Pakistan link. 

On Wednesday, while addressing the reporters in a conference that was organized for highlighting Chennai police performance for the year of 2019, police commissioner Viswanathan had displayed Gayatri's Facebook profile and claimed that she had mentioned that she is researcher for Bytes For All, which is a part of the Association of All Pakistan Citizen Journalists based in Pakistan. 

Exactly a day after she was accused of Pakistan linkage, Gayatri opened up and she rebutted the accusations levied on her by the police department. On Thursday, she was speaking at the press conference in Madurai during which she tabled the research work she had done on the alleged religious and sexual persecution of the minorities in the countries including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. Her report that was titled 'Descrating Expression' was released in December 2016 and it has been published by multiple organizations including 'Bytes For All' in which, the police accused her of having alleged linkage.

She stated that ' when I asked the police about who has filed a complaint against me, the police didn't reveal the complainant by citing that the privacy would be affected' and she questioned that 'how the same police announce my Facebook profile at a press meet publicly?' and accused the Chennai police of compromising her security and privacy.

By citing that she has been fighting for the freedom of expression and religious rights, she said that the police had turned her into a Pakistani agent and claimed that her research work was filled with the chapters mostly covering the persecutions in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh and added that the Citizenship Amendment Act has been biased by granting the citizenship for the persecuted minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and the Act has excluded the Muslims.

On Sunday, Gayatri was one among five others who were detained by Chennai Police after organizing Kolam protests by drawing Kolams with anti CAA slogans in front of their residences and despite they were acquitted later, their arrest had spurred the similar protests across the state as the state opposition leaders had decorated their homes with anti CAA Kolams and the protesters criticized the Chennai police for barring the peaceful protests. In its official website, Bytes For All (B4A) describes it as a human rights organization and a research think tank with a focus on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the organization claims that it promotes the use of technology for sustainable development, democracy, and social justice.

Also read: https://www.thenewstuff.in/tn-kolam-protest-police-investigates-pakistan-link-behind-protester