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Month: January 2022

Patriotism of Social Activists is Increasingly being Punished: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj

Patriotism of Social Activists is Increasingly being Punished: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj

Newsclick / by Ajaz Ashraf

India is far from realising the promises of justice and equality made in the Constitution, says the well-known activist, citing her experiences in prison as an under-trial and as a lawyer representing workers.
After spending nearly three years in jail, Bharadwaj was released on bail last month. Her bail conditions proscribe her from speaking on the Bhima Koregaon case and leaving Mumbai, although she has now been allowed to live in Thane. NewsClick did not ask her any question on the case, and she politely refused to answer any question she thought was even remotely connected to it. In the first part of this interview, Bharadwaj speaks on the meaning that Republic Day, the Constitution, and the law have for jail inmates, based on her conversations with them.
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Also read
● Part 2: My Spirit has not Been Broken: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj (NewsClick / Jan 2022)

The lightness and laughter of Sudha Bharadwaj

The lightness and laughter of Sudha Bharadwaj

Mid Day / by Ajaz Ashraf

I Spoke to Sudha Bharadwaj for two hours over the phone. Out on bail after spending over three years in jail, where she had been packed off for her alleged role in the 2018 Koregaon Bhima violence, I presumed a mournful, weary voice would narrate her experiences during incarceration. Or a voice raging against those who scripted her arrest on October 28, 2018. But Bharadwaj can laugh as few can.
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Video: Bhima Koregaon Case: Sudha Bharadwaj Released After 3 Years In Jail


en | 4:53min | 2021

By MidDay

Activist #SudhaBharadwaj accused in the #BhimaKoregaon case has been released from Byculla prison on Thursday. The court had directed that she be released on a bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties. However, the court has set some other stringent conditions similar to those set for co-accused #VaravaraRao who was granted bail on medical grounds.
Watch video

Also read:
● HC disposes plea of eight accused seeking rectification in order denying them bail (Scroll.in / Dec 2021)

Fr Stan Swamy, Khurram Parvez, Siddique Kappan on Freedom of Religion or Belief victims list

Fr Stan Swamy, Khurram Parvez, Siddique Kappan on Freedom of Religion or Belief victims list

Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has listed 1309 victims from across the world on this FoRB victims list.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has listed Human Rights Martyr Fr Stan Swamy, human rights defender Khurram Parvez, journalist Siddique Kappan as Freedom of Religion or Belief victims.
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CJP demands action against Milind Ekbote, main accused in the Bhima Koregaon riots

CJP demands action against Milind Ekbote, main accused in the Bhima Koregaon riots

CJP / by CJP Team

The plea highlights the many cases of rioting and hate crimes pending against Ekbote.
JP has sent a plea to the Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil seeking stringent action against Milind Ekbote, a repeat hate offender and main accused in the Bhima Koregaon riots of January 2018. On January 12, 2022, Ekbote was granted bail in a case of hate speech by a Sessions Court in Pune despite being a repeated offender in hate crimes.
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Read CJP plea

Also read:
● “Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote instigated the Bhima Koregaon Violence,” an accused deposes as witness before Inquiry Commission (LawBeat / Oct 2021)
● India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobinmag / April 2021)

Sudha Bharadwaj: I hope I can begin practising in Mumbai / Prisoners are cut off from legal remedies

Sudha Bharadwaj: I hope I can begin practising in Mumbai / Prisoners are cut off from legal remedies

Sudha Bharadwaj interview: ‘I hope I can begin practising in Mumbai’

21/02/2022

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

Among the conditions set for Bharadwaj’s bail was that the 60-year-old would not make any statement on the proceedings of the case. Recently, she got permission to leave Mumbai limits for Thane. Excerpts from an interview:
Can you tell us about finding yourself in jail, first in the Yerwada Central Prison in Pune and then the Byculla Women’s Prison?
The first experience is quite frightening. It is an immediate loss of dignity, privacy and identity.
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Sudha Bharadwaj: ‘When inside, you see how cut off a prisoner is from legal remedies’

21/02/2022

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

Bharadwaj said one reason was that the remuneration given to lawyers on the legal aid panel was not sufficient.
Calling the experience of being in jail an eyeopener, trade unionist and human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj has said she hopes to work to improve legal aid for prisoners.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Bharadwaj, who was released on December 9 on bail, said she was considering filing a PIL on the matter.
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● ‘I Am Ready To Put On My Black Coat’: Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Out On Bail After 3 Years In Jail (article 14 │ Jan 2022)
● Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism. (PUCL │ Jan 2021 │ 316 pages)

For the Government, COVID Is the Perfect Excuse to Worsen Conditions for Political Prisoners

For the Government, COVID Is the Perfect Excuse to Worsen Conditions for Political Prisoners

The Wire / by Allan Shuaib

Human rights abuses against imprisoned activists have been easy to cover up in the names of ‘quarantine’ and ‘isolation’.
To be jailed for political activity is an abomination. According to Luis Jiménez de Asúa, a Spanish jurist, “Political prisoners are people who have been incarcerated for working for revolutionary change and for the betterment of society.” Countless people have been imprisoned for criticising and working against governments.
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Also read:
● CONDEMN THE SOLITARY CONFINEMENT AND CONTINUING HARASSMENT OF THE BHIMA KOREGAON ACCUSED (PUDR / Oct 2021)

PEGASUS SNOOPING: Bhima Koregaon’s Accused Write To SC’s Technical Committee

PEGASUS SNOOPING: Bhima Koregaon’s Accused Write To SC’s Technical Committee

PEGASUS SNOOPING: Bhima Koregaon’s Accused Write To SC’s Technical Committee

19/01/2022

Law Street Journal / by Komal Kinger

Pegasus is a type of spyware created by the Israeli cyberarms firm NSO Group that can be installed secretly on mobile phones (and other divices) running most versions of iOS and Android.
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Elgar Parishad Accused, Their Lawyers Write to SC’s Committee on Pegasus Spyware Targeting

10/01/2022

The Wire / Sukanya Shantha

On January 3, the committee issued a public notice urging people to contact them in case they have reasons to believe that their phones were compromised using the malware.
Several human rights defenders and academics implicated in the Elgar Parishad case and their lawyers have sent their representation to the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Committee alleging that their phones were infected by the vicious Pegasus malware.
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Bhima Koregaon accused and their counsel write to SC’s Pegasus technical committee alleging snooping

08/01/2022

The Leaflet / by The Leaflet

On January 3, the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Committee (TC) to investigate the snooping allegations using Pegasus spyware had issued a public notice urging citizens to contact it if they felt that their mobile device had been infected…
The Leaflet learns that at least four accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, and their counsel, Nihalsing B. Rathod, have written to the committee separately alleging that their mobile devices had been infected with the Pegasus malware.
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Also read:
● Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

‘I Am Ready To Put On My Black Coat’: Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Out On Bail After 3 Years In Jail

‘I Am Ready To Put On My Black Coat’: Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Out On Bail After 3 Years In Jail

Article 14 / by Chitrangada Coudhury

After three years and three months in prison, Bhima-Koregaon accused and undertrial Sudha Bharadwaj was granted bail in December 2021 by the Bombay High Court on a technical ground. The human rights lawyer and law professor talked to us about her time in prison, the state of legal aid for forgotten undertrials, the need for courts to address congested prisons, particularly in the pandemic, and her plans to rebuild her life as a lawyer and a mother, as she grappled with bail conditions which prevent her from leaving Mumbai and Thane.
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Physical meetings with family and lawyer stopped, but phone call facility yet to resume: Inmates to court

Physical meetings with family and lawyer stopped, but phone call facility yet to resume: Inmates to court

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

On Wednesday, undertrials in the Elgaar Parishad case – lodged in Taloja Central Prison – were produced before the special court via video conference.
With a surge in Covid-19 cases, while the prison department has stopped physical meetings again of inmates with relatives and lawyers, the phone and video call facility is yet to be resumed in many jails.
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India: Dangerous Backsliding on Rights – Activists, Critics Targeted

India: Dangerous Backsliding on Rights – Activists, Critics Targeted

By Human Rights Watch

Activists, Critics Targeted: Growing Attacks on Muslims, Groups at Risk
Indian authorities intensified their crackdown on activists, journalists, and other critics of the government using politically motivated prosecutions in 2021, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2022. Tens of thousands of people died during a surge in Covid-19 cases, with the government failing to provide adequate health care to those in need.
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