October 2019 – free them all

Bela Bhatia, Anand Teltumbde, Shalini Gera among Indians snooped on using Israeli spyware

31/10/2019 Maya

Newslaundry / by Prateek Goyal

WhatsApp has revealed that the messaging app was used to spy on at least two dozen journalists and human rights activists, likely by the Indian government.
In a bombshell revelation, WhatsApp has revealed that the messaging app was used to spy on at least two dozen Indian journalists and human rights activists earlier this year, The Indian Express reported on Thursday.
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Pegasus Spyware: Lawyer Defending Bhima-Koregaon Activists Received Warning from WhatsApp

31/10/2019 Maya

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Nihalsing Rathod says he was first contacted by CitizenLab researchers, who have done work on Pegasus, and then later by WhatsApp about his phone being compromised.
Mumbai: Over the last two years, Nagpur-based human rights lawyer Nihalsing Rathod has received receiving calls on WhatsApp from unknown numbers. These calls would be made from international numbers, and would invariably turn out to be a group call.
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WhatsApp spyware was used against Bhima Koregaon accused to plant evidence, claims Nagpur lawyer

31/10/2019 Maya

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Nihalsing Rathod and Adivasi rights activist Bela Bhatia were among the targets of the security breach notified about the problem by the messaging platform.
The incriminatory letters cited as evidence in the Bhima Koregaon case may have been planted by government agencies through a spyware that targeted Indian journalists and human rights activists on WhatsApp, Nagpur-based advocate Nihalsing Rathod told Scroll.in on Thursday.
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Punishing dissent: NCRB data shows why sedition must go

26/10/2019 Maya

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

The Financial Express / by The Financial Express

Cases recorded as offences against the state in the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB’s) latest Crime in India Statistics report (for 2017)—such offences were separately recorded by NCRB only since 2014—saw a jump of 23%, from 6,986 cases registered in 2016 to 9,013 registered in 2016.
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Interview with Justice Sawant: Trappings of a fascist regime

25/10/2019 Maya

Frontline / interview with P.B. Sawant by Lyla Bavadam

Justice (retired) P.B. Sawant served as a judge of the Supreme Court of India from 1989 to 1995. He also served as a judge in the Bombay High Court, before which he was an advocate practising all branches of law. Deeply involved in social activism after retirement, he is known to take an unequivocal position on human rights and civil rights and against communal forces.
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District Government Pleader: Accused were helping Maoists

24/10/2019 Maya

Times of India / by Vishwas Kothari

PUNE: District government pleader Ujjwala Pawar on Wednesday argued that the acts attributed to the accused arrested in the Elgar Parishad case should be seen with the objectives, strategies and tactics of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) outfit.
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Assets of Ranchi activist priest seized

23/10/2019 Maya

Asia News / by by Nirmala Carvalho

Fr Stan Swamy, 83, is a Jesuit who is fighting for the rights of tribals and against the expropriation of their forests. The confiscation order was justified for his absence at the hearing of the trial against him. Activists: “The government wants to quell dissent”.
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JJM condemns attachment of Stan Swamy’s belongings by Jharkhand police

22/10/2019 Maya

Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia

The Jharkand Janadhikar Morcha (JJM) has condemned the incessant harassment of human rights defender, Stan Swamy by the Jharkand police
On October 21, a team of Khunti police attached the belongings of 83-year old Stan Swamy, a well-known activist of Jharkhand, from his residence at the Bagaicha campus in Namkum, near Ranchi.
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District Government Pleader: Call records show Elgar accused kept in touch

22/10/2019 Maya

Hindustan Times / by Shalaka Shinde

PUNE: The activists and lawyers accused in the Elgar Parishad case were in touch with each other for at least a year before they were arrested, according to the call records presented in the court by Ujjwala Pawar, district government pleader (DGP) of Pune.
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Crimes Against Women, Dalits and Adivasis Surge

22/10/2019 Maya

News Click / by Subodh Varma

The much delayed NCRB report for 2017 shows that three-fourths of those accused of crimes against women are set free by courts. …
Crimes against the two most oppressed and exploited sections of Indian society – dalits (Scheduled Castes) and adivasis (Scheduled Tribes) – too showed increases by about 10% and 5%, respectively, over 2013.
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