PUCL Chhattisgarh welcomes the granting bail to Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj

01/12/2021

By PUCL Chhattisgarh

Press Release
PUCL Chhattisgarh welcomes the granting bail to Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj by the Bombay High Court and at the same time is dissapointed that the other 8 co-accused have been denied bail.
It should be mentioned that the violence inflicted by Hindu groups on and after the Bhima Koregaon celebrations in January 2018 have cost lives and resulted in several incarcerations. Including the 8 whose bail was rejected by the Bombay High Court, however, a total of 16 people have been falsely implicated in the Bhima Koregaon Case and have been in jail for years on fabricated charges under the draconian UAPA. Many others have been targetted, arrested and had their homes raided.
Father Stan Swami, one of the 16, aged 84, lost his life in custody while awaiting bail.
In Chhattisgarh there are hundreds of Adivasis who have been imprisoned under the UAPA and have been awaiting bail for years. On March 9 this year, at a program to mark International Womens Day and speak out against sexual violence inflicted on women by the police and paramilitary in Bastar, Human Rights Defender Hidme Markam was arrested and later jailed under the same draconian act.
While we eagerly await the release of Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj, and for her to return amongst us, we also pledge to strengthen the struggle for release of all those imprisoned under false charges, against the UAPA and against the countrys casteist carceral system.

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Bombay HC grants default bail to Sudha Bharadwaj, but declines the same to eight other accused

01/12/2021

The Leaflet / by Sabah Gurmaj and Paras Nath Singh

The Bombay High Court grants default bail to Sudha Bharadwaj in the Bhima Koregaon case on the ground that the court which took cognizance of the chargesheet against her was not competent, while it denied the same to the other accused in the case, because they did not claim their right to default bail in time. Paras Nath Singh and Sabah Gurmaj write about the High Court’s application of the principles of default bail in these cases.
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