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Month: July 2020

Special court extends Navlakha, Teltumbde, detention by 90 days

Special court extends Navlakha, Teltumbde, detention by 90 days

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

The NIA, probing the case, can now file a chargesheet against the two men in 180 days since their arrest on April 14.
Observing that due to the lockdown, the investigating officer in the Elgaar Parishad case could not “investigate the matter effectively”, a special court has extended the detention of academic Dr Anand Teltumbde and activist Gautam Navlakha by another 90 days. The NIA, probing the case, can now file a chargesheet against the two men in 180 days since their arrest on April 14.
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The ‘Encounter Raj’ mindset: Stop mocking those who stand for human rights

The ‘Encounter Raj’ mindset: Stop mocking those who stand for human rights

The Times of India / by Sagarika Ghose

… Today, as a result of mass celebration of rough and ready justice by police bullets on the streets, the notion of human rights has been gravely undermined, constricted and even mocked. So called ‘human rights wallahs’ are subject to shrill public vilification, lampooned, called ‘anti-nationals’ and repeatedly denounced by jingoist media.
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DU professor Hany Babu on being summoned by NIA

DU professor Hany Babu on being summoned by NIA

Edex / by Johanna Deeksha

Ten months ago, the professor’s house was searched by the Maharashtra police and he lost a lot of his academic work, books and research material. It’s trauma that he is simply not past yet.
Two days ago, Delhi University professor Hany Babu was visited at his house by two men who said they were from the local office of the National Investigation Agency. They served him a notice and asked him to appear on July 15 at the NIA’s Mumbai office.
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The extra-judicial punishment of jailing ailing activists during COVID-19

The extra-judicial punishment of jailing ailing activists during COVID-19

The Leaflet / by Indira Jaising

The Supreme Court of India has repeatedly held that imprisonment does not deprive a prisoner of other fundamental rights that can be exercised consistently with detention. This logic should apply with more force to undertrials and doubly during a pandemic.
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CRYING FOR JUSTICE – IMPLICATIONS FOR KEEPING POLITICAL PRISONERS LOCKED DURING A PANDEMIC

The Leaflet / by Megha Katheria

From the senior activists and lawyers to younger activists like Safoora Zargar, the state has walked at turtle space in granting bail or even protecting the health of the political prisoners during a pandemic. The state of our prisons and the necessity to decongest them is well known. The author explores the democratic and constitutional implications on keeping political prisoners, with comorbidities, locked during a pandemic.
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Alarming Reports of Attacks on Human Rights Defenders in India: UN

Alarming Reports of Attacks on Human Rights Defenders in India: UN

UN / By Mary Lawlor United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders

I continue to receive alarming and regular news about Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in India. The 79 year-old jailed Human Rights Defender Varavara Rao appears to have serious health concerns. He’s held in the overcrowded Taloja Prison in Mumbai.
We know that HRDs are at great risk in prisons, which are breeding grounds for the virus. His health is frail, and like all HRDs in jail he should be immeditaley released.
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Varavara Rao is in hospital today, but the risk to his life is not over: Family

Varavara Rao is in hospital today, but the risk to his life is not over: Family

Sabrang / by Sabrangindia

Rao’s s bail hearing is due on July 17, his family fears that police may get Rao certified ‘stable/normal’ and present this report to HC.
Noted Poet and activist Varavara Rao (79) was urgently shifted to JJ Hospital from Taloja Jail on Monday afternoon as his condition began worsening. However his family is still worried about the fact that the police may pressurise the hospital to discharge him once he stabilises and send him to jail.
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VARAVARA RAO TAKEN TO JJ HOSPITAL IN MUMBAI

13/07/2020

The News Minute / by TNM Staff

Earlier in the day, the decision to deny temporary medical bail to the revolutionary poet and Left ideologue was challenged by his lawyers.
Varavara Rao, the 81-year-old poet and activist lodged at the Taloja Jail in Maharashtra over his alleged role in the Bhima Koregaon violence in 2018, was taken to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai on Monday.
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Teltumbde files bail plea; Rao seeks early hearing of petition

Teltumbde files bail plea; Rao seeks early hearing of petition

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

Professor Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, filed an application before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Monday, the 91st day of his arrest, seeking to be released on default bail. Mr. Teltumbde has filed for bail for the first time…
Meanwhile, poet and activist Varavara Rao (81), another accused in the case, moved the Bombay High Court on Monday seeking that his interim bail application, which was listed on July 17, be heard on Tuesday.
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Chained Muse: Notes from Prison by Varavara Rao/ How To Read A Letter From Jail

Chained Muse: Notes from Prison by Varavara Rao/ How To Read A Letter From Jail

The Wire / by Varavara Rao

In November 2019, when the Bhima Koregaon accused were still housed in Yerawada Central Prison and their case had not yet been transferred to the NIA, the Telugu poet penned some thoughts about his experience there, and the carceral nature of the state.
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HOW TO READ A LETTER FROM JAIL


ARUN FERREIRA’S PRISON MEMOIR, 2014

08/06/2020

Bloomberg Quint / by Priya Ramani

“Read it not once, but many times,” says Mohammad Aamir Khan explaining the process clearly over the phone. “Each word has a story. Try to feel the pain behind each word.”
Khan, 39, should know. After he was “kidnapped” one night (he never uses the word arrested because he was snatched from the street, tortured, made to sign blank sheets of paper, and then produced in a court only a week later), Khan spent 14 years in prison, incarcerated for serious crimes he never committed, before being acquitted in 2012.
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Varavara Rao Challenges Spl Court Order Rejecting Bail On Medical Grounds Before Bombay HC

Varavara Rao Challenges Spl Court Order Rejecting Bail On Medical Grounds Before Bombay HC

Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap

Varavara Rao, the 81-year-old poet and literary critic from Telangana, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, challenged the order passed by a special court on June 26 rejecting temporary bail sought on medical grounds, before the Bombay High Court … Advocate R Sathyanarayanan moved an urgent praecipe on Sunday seeking hearing in Rao’s petition on Tuesday citing urgency, instead of its scheduled hearing on Friday.
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