January 2022 – free them all

Ex-Pune police chief submits affidavit to Bhima Koregaon commission; hearings from Jan 31

30/01/2022 Asha

Ex-Pune police chief submits affidavit to Bhima Koregaon commission; hearings from Jan 31

30/01/2022

Hindustan Times / by Shalaka Shinde

Senior IPS officer and former police commissioner Rashmi Shukla has claimed in her affidavit submitted before the Bhima Koregaon inquiry commission that the city police handled the situation “tactfully” during the 2018 Bhima Koregaon clashes, preventing a major untoward incident in the city.
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Pune Police took all possible measures to contain violence: IPS officer to Inquiry Commission

30/01/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The former Commissioner of Pune Police stated in her affidavit that because the police handled the situation, there was neither any loss of human life or major untoward incident during the Koregaon Bhima riots in Pune.
Senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla who was Commissioner of Pune Police, has filed an affidavit before the Bhima Koregaon Inquiry Commission probing the violent clashes between Dalit and Maratha groups on December 31, 2017 around the time of the Elgar Parishad event.
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Also read:
● “Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote instigated the Bhima Koregaon Violence,” an accused deposes as witness before Inquiry Commission (LawBeat / Oct 2021)

UAPA and the many victims of the Republic of India

29/01/2022 Asha

AskIndiaWhy / by AskIndiaWhy

January 26 is India’s Republic Day, when the government will conduct an elaborate parade under the vanity of national pride as the world’s largest democracy — supposedly guaranteeing liberty, equality and freedom of speech.
India’s Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was established in 1967 with the purpose of centralising political power to prevent “unlawful activities” and upkeeping the integrity of India’s sovereign democratic status.
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Also watch/read:
● Video: International Solidarity Statement, 73rd Republic Day of India (InSAF / Jan 2022)
● On R-Day, Diaspora Groups Call for Release of Anti-CAA Protestors Charged Under UAPA (The Wire / Jan 2022)

Pegasus Spyware: Fresh plea in Supreme Court seeks probe into 2017 India-Israel defence deal

29/01/2022 Asha

Pegasus case: Fresh plea in Supreme Court seeks probe into 2017 India-Israel defence deal

20/01/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The applicant has said the reported agreement with Israel was not approved by Parliament.
Advocate ML Sharma has filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking an investigation after The New York Times on January 28 said that the Narendra Modi-led government had purchased the Pegasus spyware from Israel in 2017, Live Law reported on Sunday.
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Pegasus Spyware: Supreme Court Urged To Take Cognisance Of New York Times Report Alleging Pegasus Purchase By Indian Government

30/01/2022

Live Law / by Srishti Ojha

While referring to the recent New York Times report that in July 2017 Modi government purchased Pegasus from an Israeli firm, Advocate ML Sharma has moved the Supreme Court of India seeking probe into the alleged Pegasus purchase.
Sharma, who is also one of the petitioners in the Pegasus case before the Supreme Court, has filed an application seeking directions to register F.I.R for investigation to recover public money paid for the impugned deal.
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India Bought Pegasus as Part of Larger $2 Billion Deal with Israel in 2017, Claims ‘NYT’ Report

28/01/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The media report notes that Pegasus was the ‘centrepiece’ of a 2017 deal between India and Israel.
India bought controversial spyware tool Pegasus in 2017 as part of a larger arms deal with Israel, according to a new report published by The New York Times.
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Also read:
● Bhima Koregaon accused and their counsel write to SC’s Pegasus technical committee alleging snooping (The Leaflet/ Jan 2022)
● Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

Book review: Stan Swamy’s voice for the voiceless

28/01/2022 Asha

Book review: A voice for the voiceless

28/01/2022

The Telegraph / by Mahtab Alam

Edition: Aug 2021
Publisher: Indian Social Institute, Bangalore
Language: English
Paperback: 149 pages
Stan Swamy was no silent spectator, his book makes it clear who he was.
Ever since the tragic death of the human rights activist, Father Stan Swamy, much has been written about him, including a few books. This is not surprising, given his contributions to human rights, especially the rights of indigenous people. However, what distinguishes this book is that it is a first-person account even though it is not an autobiography. Divided into 16 short chapters, including a Prologue and an Epilogue, it takes us on a journey where we are not just introduced to Stan’s personality and work but also get glimpses of the time period it covered.
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Download full book (pdf file)

Framed to Die – The Case of Stan Swamy

By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

Edition: Aug 2021
Publisher: Peoples Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi
Language: English
Paperback: 45 pages
Download full book (pdf file)

Default bail arguments completed for Elgar Parishad accused

28/01/2022 Asha

Click to enlarge

by Swati Deshpande (Jan 28, 2022)
Default bail arguments completed by defence lawyers for Elgar Parishad accused on Friday before Special UAPA court. The special Public prosecutor will now argue on February 14.

Bombay High Court Turns Down Plea By 8 Bhima Koregaon Accused For Factual Corrections In Order Denying Bail

23/12/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Court cited the bar under Section 362 CrPC in reviewing the order.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused a request by eight accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case for substantial factual corrections to the HC’s order denying them bail.
Through a precipice (application) for “speaking to minutes”, the accused claimed that just like Sudha Bharadwaj, who was granted bail, they had also filed their default bail pleas in the stipulated time.
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India’s government unleashing controversial UAPA as means of silencing civil rights activists

27/01/2022 Asha

Daily Maverick / By Anandaroop Sen

In this interview, Anandaroop Sen, a senior lecturer in history at the University of Cape Town, talks to Kavita Srivastava, the President of the Rajasthan Chapter of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and one of India’s most respected activists, about the clampdown and what it represents for the future of human rights in India.

Anandaroop Sen (AS): Could you begin by giving the context in which the 16 Indian academics, activists, lawyers, popularly known as the Bhima Koregaon 16 (BK 16) have been imprisoned by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government for the last three years.
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My Spirit has not Been Broken: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj

27/01/2022 Asha

NewsClick / by Ajaz Ashraf

When I turned 21, I was free to choose whether I wanted to be Indian or American. I chose to be Indian, basically, because I was already involved in social issues by then. At no point I wished I was in the United States.
This is the second part of the interview with Sudha Bharadwaj, who was arrested on 28 October 2018 for her alleged role in fomenting the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence. In this interview, she speaks on her privileged class background, why she gave up her American citizenship, what made her shift to Chhattisgarh, where she worked among industrial workers to better their lives, about how she spent time in jail, and her anxiety of being separated from her daughter. Bharadwaj discusses how she hopes to adjust to a life of limited freedom.
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Also Read
● Part 1: Patriotism of Social Activists is Increasingly being Punished: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj (Newsclick / Jan 2022)

Video: International Solidarity Statement, 73rd Republic Day of India

26/01/2022 Asha

Also read: On R-Day, Diaspora Groups Call for Release of Anti-CAA Protestors Charged Under UAPA (The Wire / Jan 2022)

Video: International Solidarity Statement, 73rd Republic Day of India

26/01/2022

en | 14:45min | 2022

By InSAF India

An International Solidarity Statement remembering the human rights defenders in jail in India who remain under trial for extended periods of time for speaking out against the injustices of the Indian State against its most vulnerable citizens. The meeting to record this statement was initiated by Amnesty International Germany India Coordination group, Amnesty Switzerland and InSAF India (International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India) on the occasion of India’s Republic Day for a collective reading of the preamble of the Indian constitution and saying the names of the BK16 and other imprisoned human rights defenders in India.
Watch video

Credits for images/quotes used in the statement …

Indian Constitution Has No Remedy For Those Labelled Terrorists: Sudha Bharadwaj (video)

25/01/2022 Asha

en | 14min | 2022

The Quint / by Nishtha Gautam

Exclusive interview with lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Sudha Bharadwaj, lawyer and activist, was granted bail in December 2021 after spending three years in Mumbai’s Byculla prison. One of the 16 accused people in what is being talked about as the Bhima Koregaon case, Bharadwaj is still awaiting a trial.
In this exclusive interview, she talks about freedom, justice, patriotism, constitution and a lot more.
Watch video

UAPA And The Authoritarian Tendencies Of A Democratic Government

25/01/2022 Asha

Youthkiawaaz / by Salim Usman

The Modi government has, over the years, used the UAPA to counter any narrative that goes against their views and uses the law to arbitrarily arrest those who have spoken against them.
The unprecedented rise in countries exhibiting authoritarian tendencies throughout the world in the past few years, and the large number of human rights violations committed by state actors, is a matter of concern not just for the particular country’s political, social and economic circles but also for the international political community.
… perhaps the starkest example of the weaponisation of the UAPA was its use against those accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case.
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