The court issued notices to MHA and several Indian banks calling on them to respond to Greenpeace India’s writ petition which is to be heard on Tuesday 26th May.
“We believe we have a strong case”, said Samit Aich, Executive Director, Greenpeace India. “We’re calling for the order to be quashed because of the arbitrary and unconstitutional way the MHA has acted. Freezing both our national and international bank accounts is beyond the scope of the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act and the jurisdiction of the MHA.”
In court today, the judge asked Greenpeace India to declare what resources it would need to continue to function normally until August. Greenpeace India is currently collating this information and will provide it imminently.
Aich continued: “Our national bank accounts contain donations from thousands of Indian citizens who give as little as 350 rupees a month. Because they’re blocked we’ve had to scale back our campaigns on things like air pollution and solar street lighting. Our staff and their families are facing an uncertain future, but are showing amazing passion and spirit.”
Greenpeace argues that the MHA’s actions show evidence of ‘bad faith’ and are an attempt to silence Greenpeace India because of its high profile campaigns in areas like coal mining, air pollution and the use of pesticides in agriculture.
The Delhi High Court has also called on three major Indian banks to respond - IDBI Bank, Yes Bank and ICICI Bank. Greenpeace India’s petition claims that these banks did not have the right to freeze the accounts without a court order and their actions represent a breach of trust.
In a separate case on January 20th 2015, the Delhi High Court ruled in favor of Greenpeace India, ordering the government to release €235,000 to Greenpeace India, which the court said had been blocked ‘arbitrarily and unconstitutionally’ in June 2014. In March, the court also overturned Priya Pillai’s travel ban, which was also orchestrated by the MHA.
“This is not about Greenpeace India alone. This is about the government trying to silence those who raise uncomfortable questions and shine a light on the destruction of India’s environment and the violation of Indian laws to benefit a powerful few. Greenpeace campaigns for a better, safer, just and more sustainable environment for Indians and people across the world.
We ask the Home Minister to address the issues we raise directly, instead of using these heavy handed measures that undermine the democratic values of our country.,” says Aich.
For a full copy of the writ petition visit: http://www.greenpeace.org/india/en/publications/Greenpeace-India-files-Writ-Petition-at-Delhi-High-Court/
ENDS
Contacts:
Anindita Datta Choudhury, Communication specialist, Greenpeace India: +919871515804; 
Avinash Chanchal, Communication specialist, Greenpeace India: +918359826363; 
Jitendra Kumar, Communication specialist, Greenpeace India: +919868167337;
Notes to editors:
The Writ Petition asks the High Court for:
1. An immediate stay on the MHA’s order and the unfreezing of Greenpeace’s accounts on the grounds that the MHA has acted illegally and unconstitutionally to damage Greenpeace India’s reputation, causing donations by more than 70,000 Indian supporters to ‘bounce’ by illegally blocking its accounts, inflicting damage of more than Rs 1.20 crore.
2. The other respondents to the case are - IDBI Bank, Yes Bank and ICICI Bank. The organisation holds accounts with these banks and is of the opinion that the Banks have no rights to freeze the balances in the accounts without a court order as this amounts to them seizing Greenpeace property which they have no authority to do.
3. Greenpeace is also demanding access to a report that appears to have been ‘leaked’ to the media titled ‘MHA inspection of Greenpeace India Society’ and has been reported widely. As it has not seen the report, Greenpeace has been unable to respond to any allegations made in it.