March 2021 – Page 4 – free them all

March 8: Solidarity with Shoma, Sudha & Jyoti & Other Women Human Rights Defenders

08/03/2021 Maya

by Smashboard

This International Women’s Day, back our right to peaceful protest! Stand with these brave women attacked & arrested on trumped up charges in India – only for defending democracy.

Click to enlarge

by Gabbar:
On the International Women’s day let’s remember human rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj, professor and activist Shoma Sen and Jyoti Jagtap, who along with 13 others are behind bars in the fake Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case +++

Click to enlarge

Rally against state violence against women in India held in Surrey

07/03/2021

Countercurrents / by Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI)

On the eve of International Women’s Day, South Asian activists came together to raise their voices against gendered repression in the world’s so called largest democracy.
Organized by the Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI) on Sunday, March 7, the rally was held outside the Indian Visa and Passport Application Center in Surrey (Canada).
Read more

VV Rao Released Finally / Free At Last: Poet Varavara Rao Released After Last Month’s Bail

07/03/2021 Rani

VV Rao walks out of Hospital on Saturday night. Pic: Indira Jaising

Varavara Rao Released Finally

07/03/2021

By N Venugopal @ fb

Two weeks after getting bail, after going through various hassles in bail sureties, at last VV was released around midnight on Saturday from Nanavati Hospital. The final release orders reached Taloja jail around 4 pm and the jail authorities reached the hospital around 11 pm to release him.
The release comes with a number of conditions that he should not leave the jurisdiction of NIA Special Court and reside there, that he should furnish the details and contact numbers of family members staying with him, that he should attend the court trial regularly, that he should be in touch with local police station on video conferencing every fortnight, that he should not talk to media and social media about the cases against him, that he should not repeat the activities mentioned in the FIR, that he should not meet his co-accused, that he should not tamper with evidence and influence witnesses, that visitors other than near family should not gather at his residence, that this bail is for only six months and he should surrender himself to jail authorities after that, that he should surrender his passport to NIA within a week, that the violation of any of these conditions will lead to cancellation of the bail.

“Free At Last”: Poet Varavara Rao, 81, Released After Last Month’s Bail

07/03/2021

NDTV / by Divyanshu Dutta Roy

Varavara Rao, the 81-year-old poet-activist who has been in jail for over two years in the Koregaon-Bhima case, walked out of the Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital late Saturday after being granted bail for six months by the Bombay High Court on medical grounds last month.
Read more

Free at last on medical bail; Telugu poet Varavara Rao is released from judicial custody

07/03/2021

The Leaflet / by The Leaflet

A week after he was granted medical bail by the Bombay High Court, Dr. PV Varavara Rao was set free from judicial custody late last night.
Rao, 82, was undergoing treatment at Nanavati hospital, Mumbai.
Rao is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act’ (UAPA).
Read more

‘Free at last’: Activist Varavara Rao discharged from hospital, released on interim bail

07/03/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Bombay High Court had on February 22 granted the 81-year-old activist bail on medical grounds for a period of six months.
Poet and activist Varavara Rao, who is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, was on Saturday released from a hospital, reported NDTV. The Bombay High Court had on February 22 granted the 81-year-old activist bail on medical grounds for a period of six months.
Read more

Church leaders told not to befriend RSS / Kerala Churches demand Stan Swamy’s release

06/03/2021 Rani

Church leaders told not to befriend RSS

06/03/2021

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

A central committee meeting of the reform-oriented Joint Christian Council (JCC) has warned Church leaders of backlash from the laity if they attempted to step into the RSS camp at a time “when the RSS and Sangh Parivar organisations are going ahead with the idea of a theocratic State and against Christians.”
Read more

Catholic weekly wants Kerala Churches to demand Stan Swamy’s release<

05/03/2021

Matters India / by Matters India

The release of an octogenarian Jesuit activist from jail is among several issues that a Catholic weekly wants the Church leaders in Kerala to raise with the BJP leaders who now woo the Christians in the southern Indian state.
“We should loudly ask the BJP state leaders who frequent the bishops’ houses the reasons for the delay in granting justice to the Kandhamal Christians or why innocent Stan Swamy continues to languish in jail,” says an editorial in the Sathyadeepam (lamp of truth), a weekly published by the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
Read more

High Court: Accept cash surety from Varavara Rao / Activist Varavara Rao’s release delayed

06/03/2021 Rani

HC: Accept cash surety from Varavara Rao

06/03/2021

Times of India / by Vaibhav Ganjapure

The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Friday directed release of poet PV Varavara Rao on cash surety of Rs 50,000. Justice Anuja Prabhudesai directed the Gadchiroli sessions court to send his release order to Taloja Central Jail, Mumbai, by email or any other electronic mode after he furnishes the surety amount.
Read more

Activist Varavara Rao’s release delayed

04/03/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Despite the Bombay High Court granting him interim bail, ailing revolutionary poet Varavara Rao’s release would be further delayed as a court in Gadchiroli has asked his family to file deposit papers in the format that they have specified.
Read more

Bombay High Court Relaxes Bail Condition To Facilitate Varavara Rao Release On Temporary Bail

01/03/2021

Live Law / by Shrmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court, on Monday, allowed 81-year-old Telugu poet – Dr Varavara Rao’s – plea for relaxation of his temporary bail condition and provisional release on furnishing a cash security of Rs 50,000.
A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale further granted the Bhima Koregaon – Elgaar Parishad accused time till April 5, 2021 to furnish solvent sureties. The octogenarian has been under custody awaiting trial since August 28, 2018.
Read more

Bombay HC Allows Varavara Rao’s Counsel to Visit Him to Complete Bail Formalities

25/02/2021

The Wire / by pti

Rao, 82, was on Monday granted interim bail for six months by the high court on medical grounds.
The Bombay high court on Thursday permitted a counsel of poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to visit him in the Nanavati Hospital here to obtain his signatures for completion of his bail formalities.
Read more

Varavara Rao’s kin seek relief from ‘difficult’ bail conditions set by Bombay HC

23/02/2021

The News Minute / by TNM Staff

The 81-year-old poet has been ordered to stay within the jurisdiction of the Mumbai NIA court.
Relatives of ailing revolutionary poet and activist Varavara Rao welcomed the Bombay High Court’s order granting interim bail to him, but said the conditions put forth by the court were difficult to be met. On Monday, the Bombay HC granted bail on medical grounds to the Telugu poet jailed in connection with the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case for six months. At the end of the six-month period, the court said that Varavara Rao must report back to Navi Mumbai’s Taloja jail, where he can either surrender or seek an extension.
Read more

Can’t afford Mumbai rent, says Varavara Rao’s family on court’s bail condition

22/02/2021

Hindustan Times / by Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

Varavara RAo’s brother-in-law said the poet has no relatives in Mumbai who could take care of him during the bail period.
The family of octogenarian Pendyala Varavara Rao, noted revolutionary poet, is relieved that the Bombay High Court on Monday granted medical bail to him in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, but it has another worry on its hands: where to house him in Mumbai. The court order said that the poet cannot go back to Hyderabad, his home.
Read more

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

05/03/2021 Rani

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

05/03/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Referring to reports that evidence may have been planted on activist Rona Wilson’s computer, the Constitutional Conduct Group said such “blatantly illegal practices” could sound the death knell of the criminal justice system.
The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), which comprises several former civil servants, has expressed concern that the criminal justice system is being ‘perverted’, referring to reports that false evidence may have been planted in the laptop of activist Rona Wilson, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Read more

‘Perversion of criminal justice’: Over 90 ex-bureaucrats raise concerns on action of probe agencies

05/03/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The signatories said that blatant illegal practices could be the ‘death knell’ for India’s criminal justice.
As many as 92 former bureaucrats on Friday condemned the “perversion of criminal justice” by investigative agencies. The Constitutional Conduct Group, a group of former civil servants belonging to the All India and Central Services, released a statement.
Read more

The Contribution Of Dalit Women Shahir In Maharashtra’s Anti-Caste Movement

05/03/2021 Maya

Feminism India / by Guest Writer

… Shahirs talk about caste discrimination and Brahminism, they talk about Shivaji Maharaj and Mahatma Phule’s thoughts. They also talk about how Babasaheb fought against casteism and spread the awareness in the masses about the messages that Babasaheb wanted to convey to them. Shahiri troupes are important part of contemporary movement of Dalit women…
Sheetal Sathe in her interview to the Marathi news channel talks about her journey in the movement.
When she was in college, she came in contact with activists from Kabir Kala Manch and music for which she have had a liking towards since childhood.
Read more

Supreme Court seeks response from NIA on plea for default bail by Gautam Navlakha

03/03/2021 Maya

Supreme Court seeks response from National Investigation Agency on plea for default bail by Gautam Navlakha

03/03/2021

Bar & Bench / by Dbayan Roy

Navlakha has sought default bail on the ground that the NIA failed to file its chargesheet within the prescribed upper-limit of 90 days as per Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the response of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the bail plea by Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha.
Read more

Supreme Court Issues Notice On Gautam Navlakha’s Plea Against Bombay High Court Judgment Denying Him Default Bail

03/03/2021

Live Law / by Radhika Roy

Supreme Court bench headed by Justice UU Lalit on Wednesday issued notice on a petition filed by activist and Journalist Gautam Navlakha challenging Bombay High Court’s recent order rejecting his bail application in the Bhima Koregaon (Elgar Parishad – Maoist links) case.
A three-judge Bench of Justices UU Lalit, Indira Banerjee and KM Joseph was hearing the plea against the Judgment of Bombay High Court which refused to interfere in his criminal appeal filed against an order of the special court, which rejected his application for default bail in June, last year. He is in prison since his surrender on April, 14 2020.
Read more

Supreme Court To Hear Gautam Navlakha’s Plea Against Bombay High Court’s Order Denying Him Bail On March 3

01/03/2021

Live Law / by Srishti Ojha

Activist and Journalist Gautam Navlakha who is an accused in the Elgar Parishad – Maoist links case has moved the Supreme Court challenging Bombay High Court’s recent order rejecting his bail application. A three-judge Bench of Justices UU Lalit, Indira Banerjee and KM Joseph is scheduled to hear his plea on Wednesday, 3rd March 2021.
Read more

Gautam Navlakha moves Supreme Court against rejection of default bail by Bombay High Court

01/03/2021

Bar & Bench

Gautam Navlakha, accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence, has approached the Supreme Court against the rejection of his plea for default bail by Bombay High Court…
Navlakha has sought bail on the ground that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) failed to file its chargesheet within the prescribed upper-limit of 90 days as per Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Read more

Replug: Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Forensic Evidence

02/03/2021 Rani

Countercurrents / by Janta Ka Aaina

Press Release after the webinar: Decoding the Arsenal Report: The Curious Case of Questionable evidence in Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case
The NIA’s ’No Malware Found’ Response to New Forensic Report Points to Ineptitude:
On February 10, 2021 the Bhima Koregaon defense team filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking the release of Rona Wilson and the quashing of all charges against him.
Read more

Society for the Inculcation of Values in Youth demands release of jailed activists

02/03/2021 Rani

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

The Central government must release committed social workers and intellectuals who were arrested on the basis of baseless allegations and fabricated evidence and were put in jail in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, the executive committee of city-based Society for the Inculcation of Values in Youth (SIVY) has demanded at its meeting held in Kochi.
Read more

Sudha Bharadwaj’s plea for NIA to withdraw ‘defamatory’ remark ‘not maintainable’ says court

01/03/2021 Rani

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

In a detailed order, a special NIA court which rejected on 12 February an application by Bhima-Koregaon accused activist Sudha Bharadwaj seeking that the NIA withdraw its ‘defamatory’ remarks against her, has said that her plea is ‘not maintainable’ as there is no such provision under the Criminal Procedure Code.
Read more