Rediff.com / by Prasanna D Zore
On August 28, 2020, the respected lawyer and human rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj will complete two years in jail …
“If somebody is working for poor people, then does it mean they are criminals?”, Maaysha, Bharadwaj’s daughter who got to speak with her mother after four months on June 9, asks Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com.
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Scroll.in / by Sruthisagar Yamunan
On Monday, an Amnesty International report, put together with digital activist group Citizens Lab, pointed to targeted spyware attacks last year against nine human rights defenders who were helping the people arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case in Maharashtra.
The report is the latest chapter in a case in which it seems an array of forces are at work to plant evidence against 11 human rights activists and lawyers arrested in connection with violence that erupted between Marathas and Dalits in the village of Bhima Koregaon outside Pune on January 1, 2018.
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Indian Cultural Forum / by ICF Team
We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the health of 11 respected fellow citizens:
1. Mr. Varavara Rao
2. Ms. Sudha Bhardwaj
3. Ms. Shoma Sen
4. Mr. Anand Teltumbde
5. Mr. Gautam Navlakha
6. Mr. Arun Ferreira
7. Mr. Vernon Gonsalvez
8. Mr. Surendra Gadling
9. Mr. Mahesh Raut
10. Mr. Sudhir Dhawale
11. Mr. Rona Wilson
These activists, many of them eminent scholars, writers and poets, have worked for the welfare of India’s poorest and most marginalised people over decades. Yet they have been turned into politcal prisoners and incarcerated. They have not been granted bail despite the fact that in the prisons of Maharashtra where they are being detained, some inmates have died and many others have tested positive for COVID-19.
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Newsclick / by Parth MN
Even after 2 deceased inmates were found COVID-19 positive, testing is not being done in Taloja where rights activists, mostly 60+, arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case have been lodged.
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The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
As of June 13, 17, 695 screenings and 1681 swab tests were conducted in 10 Central Prisons in Maharashtra and in the Additional Director General, Prisons (ADGP) office of which 269 tested positive, 115 recovered and four died, the Bombay High Court was informed on Monday.
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The Wire / by Susan Abraham
The police’s relentless pursuit of human rights activists in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence did not spare judges either.
The Bhima Koregaon case, in which 11 prominent human rights activists, lawyers and academics languish behind bars, that too during a pandemic, has now become the template for similar arrests taking place in different parts of the country 2014 under the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah regime.
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Amnesty International / By Amnesty Internatioanl & Citizen Lab
Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab have uncovered a coordinated spyware campaign targeting at least nine human rights defenders (HRDs) in India. Eight of the nine HRDs have been calling for the release of other prominent activists, popularly known as the Bhima Koregaon 11, most of whom have been imprisoned in Maharashtra, India since 2018.
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Also Read: Human Rights Defenders Targeted by a Coordinated Spyware Operation
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
New Delhi: Close to a 100 renowned intellectuals from across the world have appealed to President Ram Nath Kovind and Chief Justice of India (CJI) S.A. Bobde to release professor G.N. Saibaba and activist Varavara Rao, saying they have been imprisoned in ‘fabricated cases’ and that they are vulnerable to infection in the ‘overcrowded Maharashtra prisons’.
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The Times of India / by Vaibhav Ganjapure
Nagpur: The Gadchiroli sessions court has rejected the bail application of alleged Maoist Varavara Rao in the case of 39 trucks being burned by Naxalites on December 23, 2016. The 81-year-old applied for bail on the grounds of old age due to which he was a high risk for Covid-19 virus. He is currently in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.
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Update (June 12) regarding other bail hearing before special NIA Court
By Stand With Anand: Today judge and medical reports from Taloja jail & hospital were there. Time has been required by court to go through. Bail hearing is postponed to next Friday, 19 June.
The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
A special court on Friday directed Byculla jail authorities to submit, on June 19, the medical reports of professor Shoma Sen (61), an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case who is seeking interim medical bail.
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Update (June 12) by Stand With Anand: Today judge and medical reports from Taloja jail & hospital were there. Time has been required by court to go through.
Bail hearing is postponed to next Friday, 19 June.
News 18/ by Eram Agha
The statement accuses the central government of using the novel coronavirus pandemic as a cover to crush all forms of dissent. It also demands that all political prisoners be immediately released.
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