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Month: October 2023

Cross-examination of former Pune Rural SP Haque begins before Koregaon Bhima Commission

Cross-examination of former Pune Rural SP Haque begins before Koregaon Bhima Commission

Cross-examination of former Pune Rural SP Haque begins before Koregaon Bhima Commission

27/10/2023

The Indian Express /by Chandan Haygunde

The commission had then deferred Haque’s cross-examination as lawyers had sought certain videos pertaining to the Koregaon Bhima violence from the police.
The cross-examination of IPS officer Suvez Haque started before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Thursday.
The two-member commission headed by retired High Court Justice J N Patel is probing into the causes that led to the violence in Koregaon Bhima area in Pune on January 1, 2018, leaving one person dead and several others injured.
Haque was the Superintendent (SP) of Pune rural police at the time of Koregaon Bhima violence, which took place in his jurisdiction.
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Extension after Extension: Maharashtra’s inquiry commissions stretch for years bearing high cost and no sight of report implementation

27/10/2023

The Indian Express / by Mohamed Thaver

As per a simple assessment, so far, a bill of nearly Rs 1 crore has been raised by the commission, which is still ongoing. The Commission is hopeful that it will complete the hearings by the end of this five-month extension.
On October 9, the ongoing Bhima Koregaon inquiry commission received its 14th extension for aa period of five months from the state government. While the committee set up in February 2018 was initially formed for a four-month period, it is now in its sixth year – operational for at least 48 months apart from break during Covid lockdown – and has received an extension till Feb 28, 2024.
Read more

Also Read:
● Truth and dare in Bhima Koregaon (The Leaflet / Oct 2023)
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
● What is the Elgar Parishad and who Oganised It? (SabrangIndia / Sep 2018)
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)

Sudha Bharadwaj | From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Sudha Bharadwaj | From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

A Cage with a View: Under-trial life in an Indian jail

25/10/2023

National Herald / by Sudha Bharadwaj

Human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj’s account of her time in Yerawada Jail is also a poignant lesson in keeping hope alive in the teeth of absurd injustice

The jottings that make up this book were my way of coping with incarceration. Some prisoners pray, some weep, some just put their heads down and work themselves weary. Some fight defiantly every inch of the way, some are inveterate grumblers, some spew gossip. Some read the newspaper from cover to cover, some shower love on children, some laugh at themselves and at others.
I watched through the bars, and I wrote.
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Nano tales from an Indian prison: From Phansi Yard – My Year with the Women of Yerawada

25/10/2023

Business Standard / by Vipul Mudgal

Sudha Bharadwaj’s book offers a thought-provoking glimpse into the lives of prisoners in a colonial-era prison in Pune, leaving readers to ponder why some of them are languishing behind bars
This is a book of human sketches from the world of an Indian prison. Call it casual ethnography or participant observation, it is the author’s labour of love, brought together with empathy and a touch of wit. You get a string of nano tales of human bondage and its myriad ironies, of love, betrayal, loyalty, desire, and momentary lapses of reason, followed by bouts of rage, remorse and self-pity. These are stories of remediable injustice.
Sudha Bharadwaj takes you on a tour of the colonial prison in Pune. But when she introduces you to the inmates, an absurdity hits you — that most of them have no business being there, the author included.
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`Being a dissident is not anti-democratic´

25/10/2023

Times of India / by Alka Dhupkar

Sudha Bharadwaj, who is out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, talks about her experience of being an undertrial, how it inspired a book and why democracy needs dissidents
Sudha Bharadwaj was born in 1961 in the US and spent the first 10 years of her life on the University of Cambridge campus in England. After her parents returned to India, she grew up on the then newly created Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus and then spent decades working as trade unionist and human rights lawyer in Chhattisgarh.
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Video: Dissent of All Forms Being Criminalised: Sudha Bharadwaj

11/10/2023


en | 14:51 | 2023

The Wire / by Sravasti Dasgupta

The lawyer and activist speaks to Sravasti Dasgupta of The Wire about her new book titled ‘From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada’.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Mumbai’s Byculla Prison in December 2021, three years after she was arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Mumbai’s Byculla Prison in December 2021, three years after she was arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Watch video

From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
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Also watch/read:

● Video: The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

By All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice – AILAJ / March 2022

en | 1:21:23 | 2022
The huge number of undertrials, the overcrowding, and the disproportional numbers of Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi prisoners are part of the prison problem in India.
We are joined by Adv. Sudha Bharadwaj for a discussion on the Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails.
Watch video

● Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism


Publisher: Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
Edition: January 2021
Language: English
Sudha Bharadwaj’s interview by: Darshana Mitra and Santanu Chakraborty
Paperback: 316 pages
Access a free PDF copy of the book here:
Sudha_Bharadwaj_speaks (2,1 MB)

From Bhima Koregaon to NewsClick

From Bhima Koregaon to NewsClick

Mid-day / by Ajaz Ashraf

From arrests based on complaints citing ‘secret inputs’ to the seizure of electronic devices without securing them, both cases reveal the malice of the gods of the hell named UAPA.
The Bombay High Court began hearing last week the petitions of professor-activist Shoma Sen and researcher-activist Rona Wilson, two among the 16 booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the Bhima Koregaon case. Their plea is that the chargesheets against them should be quashed as the prosecution evidence against them was fabricated and planted on electronic devices the police seized.
Read more

Also read:
● NewsClick Raids and Arrests: Demolishing the Myth of the ‘Urban Naxal’ Nomenclature (The Wire / Oct 2023)
● From ‘tukde tukde gang’ to ‘urban Naxal’: How media trials enable the government to stifle dissent (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

Prakash Ambedkar questioned on funds used for ‘Elgaar Parishad’

Prakash Ambedkar questioned on funds used for ‘Elgaar Parishad’

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Ambedkar was a key speaker and president of the Elgaar Parishad, a conclave held at the Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, ahead of the 200th anniversary of the battle of Koregaon Bhima.
During his cross-examination before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry, senior Dalit leader and president of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Prakash Ambedkar, was on Thursday questioned about the funds used for organising the ‘Elgaar Parishad.’
Read more

Also Read:
● Truth and dare in Bhima Koregaon (The Leaflet / Oct 2023)
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
● Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
● India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobinmag / April 2021)
● What is the Elgar Parishad and who Oganised It? (SabrangIndia / Sep 2018)
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)

NIA submits affidavit stating accused have been provided copies of all evidence

NIA submits affidavit stating accused have been provided copies of all evidence

Poster by #bakeryprasad

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The long-pending plea before the special court constituted under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, 2008 has been for the NIA to comply with Section 207 (supply of a copy of the police report and other documents to the accused) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed an affidavit stating that it has provided copies of all materials relied upon by it to the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
Read more

Also Read:
● Bombay High Court hears petition seeking quashing of chargesheets against Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson – searching and seizing allegedly incriminating electronic documents (The Leaflet / Oct 17, 2023)
● What is Section 207 CrPC, an essential piece of the Bhima Koregaon case puzzle? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)

Since Evidence Tampering Not Ruled Out, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson Want Chargesheets Quashed

Since Evidence Tampering Not Ruled Out, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson Want Chargesheets Quashed

Since Evidence Tampering Not Ruled Out, Accused Want Chargesheets Quashed

19/10/2023

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson petitioned the Bombay high court alleging that norms were violated in searching and seizing electronic documents from them. 
Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson, named as accused in the Elgar Parishad case, have alleged in their petition before the Bombay high court that the prosecution violated the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and Information Technology Act, 2000 in searching and seizing allegedly incriminating electronic documents from them.
They urged the division Bench of Justice A.S. Gadkari and Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh on Monday, October 17, to quash the chargesheets against them.
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Bombay High Court hears petition seeking quashing of chargesheets against Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson

17/10/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing on behalf of Sen and Wilson, argued that the prosecution violated principles of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and Information Technology Act, 2000 in searching and seizing allegedly incriminating electronic documents.
On Monday, the Bombay High Court heard pleas by women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen, and activist and researcher Rona Wilson for quashing chargesheets filed against them.
… The matter is posted for further hearing on October 23.
Read more

Lawyer Raises Concerns Over Security Of Devices Seized In Bhima Koregaon Investigation: Report

17/10/2023

MediaNama / by Aarathi Ganesan

Lawyer Anand Grover argued that simply sealing electronic devices upon seizure did not ensure that the data within had been secured. He also noted that electronic devices could be easily tampered with, without any indication.
The electronic evidence recovered from activists Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson in the Bhima Koregaon investigation was improperly secured upon seizure, advocate Anand Grover alleged before the Bombay High Court yesterday, The Leaflet reported.
Read more

Also read:
● Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
● Cyber Attackers Who Targeted Rona Wilson Could Have Been Engaged by Same Entity: Report (The Wire / Feb 2022)

UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

India: Arrests, Raids Target Critics of Government

13/10/2023

By Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Committee to Protect Journalists, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Watch, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Service for Human Rights, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

Indian authorities are misusing an abusive counterterrorism law, financial regulations, and other laws to silence journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and critics of the government, 12 international human rights groups said today.

… The Indian government also used UAPA to arrest 16 prominent activists who promoted the rights of India’s most marginalized communities, accusing them of inciting violence that occurred during a Dalit meeting in January 2018. Eight are still detained without trial, and seven eventually were granted bail, while one died in custody.
Read full statement

UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

13/10/2023

The Hindu / by The Hindu Bureau

The 12 human rights groups charged Indian authorities with carrying out an “escalating crackdown” on media and civil society since the Narendra Modi-led government came to power in 2014
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and 10 other international rights groups have jointly condemned what they termed as Indian authorities’ misuse of counter-terrorism laws, financial regulations, and other laws to “silence journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and critics of the government”.
Read more

Also read:
● AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report

Supreme Court extends stay on bail granted to Mahesh Raut till Nov 1

Supreme Court extends stay on bail granted to Mahesh Raut till Nov 1

Supreme Court extends stay on bail granted to Mahesh Raut again

11/10/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

A division Bench of the Supreme Court allowed adjournment sought by additional solicitor general S.V. Raju, appearing for the National Investigation Agency, and allowed the interim Order of stay to continue till the next date of hearing.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed a further extension on stay on the Order of the Bombay High Court that granted regular bail to forest rights activist Mahesh Raut by another week.
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SC extends Bombay HC stay on Mahesh Raut bail till Nov 1

11/10/2023

The Siasat Daily / by IANS

On September 21, a division bench of Justice A.S. Gadkari and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh of the High Court had granted bail to Raut, who has been in jail since June 6, 2018 for his alleged links with Maoists.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the order granting bail to the Bhima Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad conspiracy case accused Mahesh Raut will not be given effect till November 1.
Read more

Also read:
● Supreme Court extends stay on bail granted to Mahesh Raut (The Leaflet / Sep 27, 2023)
● Bhima Koregaon: Bombay High Court grants regular bail to Mahesh Raut (The Leaflet / Sep 21, 2023)

Sudha Bharadwaj Unveiling The Reality Of Life Behind Bars / ‘It is difficult for me being ‘exiled’ from Chhattisgarh’

Sudha Bharadwaj Unveiling The Reality Of Life Behind Bars / ‘It is difficult for me being ‘exiled’ from Chhattisgarh’


It is difficult for me being ‘exiled’ from Chhattisgarh: Sudha Bharadwaj

21/10/2023

New Indian Express / by Paramita Ghosh

Well-known activist Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested in 2018 in Bhima Koregaon and released in 2021 on bail. Her book on life in Yerawada jail is an act of solidarity towards her former fellow inmates.
There was nothing inevitable about activist-lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj’s landing in Yerawada jail. But her conscience and outrage about injustices faced by working people, especially among whom she lived and worked in Chhattisgarh, made her interested in other fights; she would envision ways of resisting and challenging the state’s control over the lives and labour of workers.
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‘Women in jail need therapy, not punishment,’ says Sudha Bharadwaj

20/10/2023

The Print / by Manasi Phadke

Sudha Bharadwaj spent almost all her time at Mumbai Byculla Women’s Jail helping fellow prisoners with filing legal petitions and applications.
Bail should be the normal, jail an exception. And when the system puts a woman behind bars, it inadvertently affects an entire family, says lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj …
Sitting on the elegant white steps of Mumbai’s iconic Asiatic Library, a place where the city’s rich and poor, old and young have all left an imprint, Bharadwaj, on a humid Tuesday evening, talks about the world she saw inside prison, which she has captured in her book, From Phansi Yard.
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I wrote to tell of others’ sufferings. It helped me get through jail: Sudha Bharadwaj

16/10/2023

Deccan Herald / by Shree DN

“The only advantage of people like us going to jail is that at least we can bring out some of our experience. We can articulate it. Those who are suffering mostly can’t even articulate. So, hopefully, it will bring some attention to these issues,” says Sudha in a tete-e-tete with DH’s Shree D N about the book and beyond. Excerpts:
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Sudha Bharadwaj’s book records episodic stories of her time in jail

15/10/2023

MidDay / by Jane Borges

Lawyer-trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj, out on bail after three years in the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence case, says her time in Yerawada and Byculla women’s jail made her acutely aware of the gender gap in legal aid.
Mumbai was Bombay, when Sudha Bharadwaj first visited the city in her teens. This was in 1978, the trade unionist-activist-lawyer tells us. “My mother [an academic] had gone abroad for a year, so I moved here to do my Class XI. I lived with my mama in Prabhadevi, and I’d travel all the way to Navy Nagar to my school [Kendriya Vidyalaya]. I still remember that beautiful bus journey, passing by Worli seaface, Haji Ali and Mantralaya. I have such fond memories of that time.”
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Video: Activist & Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj Unveiling The Reality Of Life Behind Bars (By Midday India / Oct 15, 2023)


en | 2:23min | 2023
Watch video

Video: Dissent of All Forms Being Criminalised: Sudha Bharadwaj

11/10/2023


en | 14:51 | 2023

The Wire / by Sravasti Dasgupta

The lawyer and activist speaks to Sravasti Dasgupta of The Wire about her new book titled ‘From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada’.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Mumbai’s Byculla Prison in December 2021, three years after she was arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Mumbai’s Byculla Prison in December 2021, three years after she was arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Watch video

It brought a whiff of freedom: Sudha Bharadwaj recalls celebrating Women’s Day in jail

11/10/2023

Scroll.in / by Sudha Bharadwaj

An excerpt from ‘From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada’, by Sudha Bharadwaj.
International Women’s Day, which falls on 8 March, is officially celebrated at the Yerawada Women’s Jail sometime during that month with a two-hour cultural programme. Prisoners show off their talents before senior jail officials, including the Director General of Prisons (who happens to be at the present time a woman). Very good performances can occasionally lead to a couple of months of remission in sentence. There are no speeches or talks, let alone debates and discussions, around women’s rights or laws relating to women. No one is going to be discussing patriarchy here, or the long struggle that women have waged and still wage for equality. Still, the very observance of 8 March does generate enthusiasm and a feeling of freedom.
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‘I saw brutality, but also solidarity,’ says Sudha Bharadwaj, author of From Phansi Yard, of her days in prison

11/10/2023

The Hindu / by Ziya US Salam

Arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, activist-lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj kept a diary of prison life. Released in 2021, she writes about her experience at Yerawada jail
Sudha Bharadwaj, an IITian, turned her back on American citizenship and chose to work instead with the faceless multitudes of Dalli Rajhara and Bhilai. A well-known trade unionist, she has concentrated her energies for the uplift of the poor in Chhattisgarh, and taken brave positions against concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. In 2018, Bharadwaj was arrested for allegedly inciting violence in Bhima-Koregaon. She was imprisoned for a year and three months at Pune’s Yerawada jail, and for another year at Mumbai’s Byculla jail. She was released in 2021. In jail, she lived amid women, and decided to write about the life of fellow prisoners in her book, From Phansi Yard.
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E-Book: From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada
By Sudha Bharadwaj (Author)

Publisher: Juggernaut (10 October 2023)
Language‏: English
Some prisoners pray, some weep, some just put down their heads and work themselves weary. Sudha Bharadwaj watched through the bars of her cell, and she wrote. This is her remarkably granular account of the world of women prisoners in Yerawada Jail in Pune. Bharadwaj was incarcerated here, in a high-security wing called Phansi Yard, from November 2018 to February 2020. She takes us through jail life, her own and the other women’s, from one season to the next, weaving in lively portraits of her fellow prisoners, their children and even their pets, and reflecting on everything from absurd rules, caste hierarchies, food, fistfights and friendships, to the dismal absence of legal aid for the most defenceless of women.
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Supreme Court Issues Notice on Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea in 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case

Supreme Court Issues Notice on Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea in 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case

by Bar & Bench / @barandbench (Oct 23, 2023):
Bombay High Court has condoned delay in filing of appeal of Bhima Koregaon accused Surendra Gadling seeking default bail.

Supreme Court Issues Notice on Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea in 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case

10/10/2023

Live Law / by Awstika Das

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on the bail plea of Dalit rights activist and advocate Surendra Gadling in the 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case. The Nagpur-based lawyer is also among the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case and is currently lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja prison.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela Trivedi was hearing Gadling’s special leave petition challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject his bail application in the Gadchiroli arson case which involved around 80 vehicles transporting iron ore from Surjagarh mines in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district from allegedly being set on fire by Maoists in December 2016.
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Gadchiroli arson case: Supreme Court issues notice in bail plea of Surendra Gadling

10/10/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Senior advocate Anand Grover, representing Gadling, stated that Gadling’s case is “less egregious” than the case of two other co-accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case— trade unionist and activist Vernon Gonsalves and lawyer and activist Arun Ferreira.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a notice in the bail plea by human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist Surendra Gadling.
A division Bench of the high court comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi was hearing the bail application filed by Gadling, challenging the Order of the Bombay High Court dated January 31.
Read more

Also read:
● HC upholds denial of bail to Nagpur lawyer Surendra Gadling (Nagpur Today / Feb 2023)
● Surendra Gadling’s Computer Was Attacked, Incriminating Documents Planted: Arsenal Consulting (The Wire / July 2021)
● Now Gadchiroli Police takes custody of Surendra Gadling, P Varavara Rao, prompting senior lawyers to say this is ‘ever-greening of charges’ (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)