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Month: March 2021

In prison, waiting is a habit turning slowly into addiction: Varavara Rao’s older prison diaries

In prison, waiting is a habit turning slowly into addiction: Varavara Rao’s older prison diaries

Scroll.in / by Varavara Rao

An excerpt from Varavara Rao’s ‘Captive Imagination: Letters from Prison’, published in 2010.

A day without toil
A night without love
A waiting on the shores of history…

Of the four days of life for which we have begged, two are lost in hope and the rest in waiting, said Bahadur Shah Zafar. In life outside, there is action to separate the hope from the waiting. Action could, of course, lead you to more hope and more waiting. But, lost in activity, time seems to slip through your fingers, your toes, from before your very eyes. Life in prison is not like that.
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Also read: FRAME UP OF INDIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS REVEALED – New Edition of COLORS OF THE CAGE by Rao’s co-accused human rights activist Arun Ferreira (Feb 2021)

More Than 2,500 Activists, Academics, Others Issue Statement Demanding Stan Swamy’s Release

More Than 2,500 Activists, Academics, Others Issue Statement Demanding Stan Swamy’s Release

More Than 2,500 Activists, Academics, Others Issue Statement Demanding Stan Swamy’s Release

30/03/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

“Stan Swamy is a symbol of the plight of thousands of undertrial prisoners who languish in jail for years under fabricated UAPA charges.”
A group of more than 2,500 people from India and abroad have issued a statement demanding the release of 84-year-old Stan Swamy, whose bail was rejected by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on March 22.
Swamy, an Adivasi rights activist, is one of the 16 academics, lawyers and activists arrested in the Elgar Parishad case. He was arrested in October last year and suffers from acute Parkinson’s disease along with several other age-related ailments. Swamy had sought bail on the grounds that the prosecution has failed to establish his involvement with the ongoing investigation.
Read more / read the full text of the statement and the list of signatories.


Endorse: Appeal for Immediate Bail to 84-year Old Stan Swamy

28/03/2021

By various activists from Jharkhand

Please consider endorsing and circulating the attached statement against rejection of bail application of 84-year old Stan Swamy and appeal for his immediate bail. Endorsements (name, affiliation/organisation and place) should be sent before 8 am on Tuesday, 30 March 2021.

Appeal for Immediate Bail to 84-year Old Stan Swamy

We, the undersigned, are shocked by the rejection of a bail application filed by Stan Swamy in the Bhima Koregaon case by the special NIA (National Investigation Agency) court on 22 March 2021. He was arrested on 8 October 2021 and continues to languish in jail.

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Video: Bhima Koregaon accused continue to wait for bail

Video: Bhima Koregaon accused continue to wait for bail

InOldNews / by InOldNews

Vira Sathidar, a poet, writer, activist, and also one of the editors of a radical Anti-Caste Marathi Magazine ‘Vidrohi’ talks about incarceration of Sudhir Dhawale, founder of Vidrohi. Sudhir Dhawale along with two other activists- Surendra Gadhling and Prof. Shoma Sen were arrested by Police from Nagpur and are still in jail. These were among the first few arrests of Human rights activists by Modi Government under charges of being involved in Bhima Koregaon Violence and in a plot to assassinate PM Modi. The magazine stopped its publication due to various reasons, one being the constant threat of police surveillance.
Watch video

NIA takes over Andhra probe against activists

NIA takes over Andhra probe against activists

NIA takes over Andhra probe against activists

28/03/2021

Hindustan Times / by Neeraj Chauhan, New Delhi

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over an Andhra Pradesh police probe against 64 persons including known Adivasi, Dalit and human rights activists in southern India such as VS Krishna, Chiluka Chandrasekhar and Duddu Prabhakar for their alleged links with Maoists, people familiar with the development said…
Kavita Srivastava from the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said: “Human rights activists are being deliberately targeted and silenced in this country. Firstly, the FIR filed on the basis of fabricated allegations was uncalled for, and now the NIA taking over the case is really sinister. That’s not acceptable. We all know what NIA has done in Bhima-Koregaon case. PUCL demands that this FIR should be quashed.”
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The Targeted Silencing of Thinker, Student, Reporter / Criminalisation of Anti-Cast Research

The Targeted Silencing of Thinker, Student, Reporter / Criminalisation of Anti-Cast Research

The Targeted Silencing of the Trinity of Thinker, Student, Reporter

28/03/2021

The Wire / by Pamela Philipose

Academia and journalism are intertwined. Both create and question knowledge, both demand a critical engagement with society, and both have a distinct interface with the public.
What is more, journalism and academia routinely draw from – and contribute – to the other. In a conversation carried by The Wire (‘Watch | The State of India’s Academic Freedom’, March 25), reference was made to the elements that constitute academic freedom…
Courageous individuals who stood up and spoke out felt the full force of a vengeful state machinery. If we are to consider the Bhima Koregaon arrests, four of the 16 people put behind bars were formally attached to universities. Anand Teltumbe, a former IIT professor, was a management professor at the Goa Institute of Management; Shoma Sen, the head of the English Literature department, Nagpur University; Sudha Bharadwaj, was visiting professor at the National Law School, Delhi; Hany Babu, was professor of language and linguistics at Delhi University.
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Criminalisation of Anti-Cast Research

27/02/2021

By International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (InSAF)

27 March
8pm IST

Register here: http://shorturl.at/hzHM5

Anti-caste academic research and activism in India are increasingly threatened with criminalisation and surveillance from the state: from the arrests of academics and students to the militarisation of campuses, from the banning of books, plays and film screenings to the censorship of activities deemed as detrimental to the reputation of the government. The persecution of academic-activists in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence is a case in point.

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Supreme Court Reserves Order On Gautam Navlakha’s Plea For Default Bail

Supreme Court Reserves Order On Gautam Navlakha’s Plea For Default Bail

Supreme Court Reserves Order On Gautam Navlakha’s Plea For Default Bail

26/03/2021

Live Law / by Livelaw News Network

The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its order on a plea filed by senior journalist and activist Gautam Navlakha, against an order of the Bombay High Court denying him default bail in the Bhima Koregaon case.
The Bench comprising of Justice UU Lalit and Justice KM Joseph said that it will release the order after 7th April, as Justice Joseph is not available until then.
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Supreme Court To Hear Gautam Navlakha’s Plea For Default Bail As First Item Tomorrow

25/03/2021

Live Law / by Mehal Jain

On the request of the National Investigation Agency, the Supreme Court today adjourned the hearing on Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha’s bail plea to 10:30 a.m. on Friday as the first item on the board.
Appearing before a bench headed by Justice UU Lalit, ASG SV Raju advanced,
“I am seeking only one day’s accommodation. It is not a regular bail application. If it was regular bail, I would understand. It is a default bail application on some hyper technical grounds…”
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Supreme Court To Hear Gautam Navlakha’s Plea On March 22

15/03/2021

Live Law / by Livelaw News Network

Whether Period Of Unlawful Custody Should Be Considered For Default Bail?
The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will hear on March 22 the petition filed by activist Gautam Navlakha challengingthe Bombay High Court judgment which rejected his plea that he should be granted default bail by computing his 34-day period of house arrest in 2018.
A division bench comprising Justices UU Lalit and KM Joseph adjourned the hearing on Monday at the request of the National Investigation Agency for filing a counter affidavit to Navlakha’s plea.
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Is Ignoring Criticism of Human Rights Abuse Affecting India’s Image?

Is Ignoring Criticism of Human Rights Abuse Affecting India’s Image?

The Leaflet / by Arun Srivastava

The government’s intolerance of criticism by foreign institutions’ of its failure to listen to the global concern of the sharp rise in the violation of human rights and its persistent unwillingness to take action against the violators leading to the erosion of the democratic values in the country, has motivated lawmakers of western countries to push a bill in their respective parliaments decrying the claim of the Modi government of India being a democratic country.
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Artwork in Solidarity with Anand, Sudha, Rohit and all Political Prisoners (pics)

Artwork in Solidarity with Anand, Sudha, Rohit and all Political Prisoners (pics)

By Ashoka Students

Click to enlarge pics

Ashoka students call for class boycott next week, demand university reinstate Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Arvind Subramanian

20/03/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

In a statement issued late Friday night, the elected student body said that the two professors’ controversial exit had eroded their trust in the university administration to protect students from “external pressures”.
… “Here, it is crucial to acknowledge the socio-economic capital required to make these demands and protest for these changes given the larger political context of the country. The state crackdown on academics and activists has only worsened during the pandemic. We stand in complete solidarity with all the academics and activists who have resisted the state’s brutality, organized in support of targeted groups and been subject to imprisonment and torture for it including, but not limited to the Bhima Koregaon 16, peaceful anti-CAA protestors and most recently Nodeep Kaur and Shiv Kumar,” the statement reads further.
Read full article

Special NIA Court’s Reasons For Denying Bail To Father Stan Swamy [read order]

Special NIA Court’s Reasons For Denying Bail To Father Stan Swamy [read order]

Special NIA Court’s Reasons For Denying Bail To Father Stan Swamy [read order]

24/03/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

A Special NIA Court, in Mumbai, has held that a police officer’s internal report can be considered while rejecting the bail application of an accused even after a charge sheet has been filed, if the investigating agency was granted permission for further investigation.
Special judge DE Kothalikar cited a last-minute report by an Assistant Investigating Officer to the Superintendent of Police NIA while rejecting 83-year-old tribal rights activist, Father Stan Swamy’s bail application, on Monday.
Read more/read order


Collective interest of community outweighs right of personal liberty of Stan Swamy: Special NIA Court while rejecting bail to Swamy [read order]

23/03/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The material placed on record prima facie indicated that Swamy was carrying out activities to “overthrow the democracy of the nation”, the Court said.
Collective interest of community will outweigh the right of personal liberty, the Special Court observed on Monday in its order refusing to grant bail to Stan Swamy, accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence.
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Read order, documented by Bar & Bench (PDF): Fr__Stan_Swamy_v__State_of_Maharashtra


Stan Swamy had hatched a ‘serious conspiracy’ to overthrow government, says NIA court order

23/03/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The 83-year-old Jesuit priest was denied bail by the court on Monday in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
The special National Investigation Agency court that rejected the bail petition of 83-year-old Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy said that prima facie he had conspired with members of a banned Maoist organisation to create unrest in India and to overthrow the government, PTI reported.
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NIA Court Refuses Bail To Stan Swamy In Bhima Koregaon Case

22/03/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Special NIA Court Mumbai on Monday refused to grant bail to 83-year-old Father Stan Swamy, a tribal rights activist, from Ranchi, in Jharkhand, accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon – Elgaar Parishad case. Special Judge under the NIA Act DE Kothlikar passed the order dismissing the bail application, which had also cited medical grounds on account of Parkinsons disease of Stan Swamy.
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Stan Swamy’s bail plea rejected by NIA court

22/03/2021

Gauri Lankesh News / by Gauri Lankesh News Desk

… Swamy’s lawyer claimed that the evidence allegedly relied upon by the NIA was correspondence with various people to seek legal aid for Swamy’s organisation, Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC), which works for undertrial Adivasis and Dalits falsely accused as Maoists…
The NIA chargesheet filed against Swamy had claimed that he is a member of banned organization CPI (Maoist), and that he was given the responsibility of spreading its activities after the arrest of many party members. Purportedly, Swamy was a staunch supporter of organisations like Vistapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan and People’s Union for Civil Liberties involved in activities for CPI (Maoists), it was submitted.
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Special NIA court rejects Stan Swamy’s bail plea

22/03/2021

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

He has been working with tribals since decades and is currently lodged at Taloja Central Jail after being arrested from Ranchi on October 9, 2020.
The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Monday rejected the bail plea filed by Jesuit priest Stan Swamy in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case.
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