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Month: September 2024

Learning Curve: Teachers Are Expected To Guide Us, But Are Themselves Under Fire

Learning Curve: Teachers Are Expected To Guide Us, But Are Themselves Under Fire

Free Press Journal / by Vrijendra

The state of our teachers in higher education continues to become more and more perilous each passing year
As I write this, one more Teachers’ Day (September 5) has gone. Sadly, there is little to celebrate as the state of our teachers at all levels (let me confine it to teachers in higher education: in our colleges and universities and other institutions of higher education) continues to become more and more perilous each passing year.
… Finally, Dr Hany Babu, a DU professor and an anti-caste activist, completed four years in jail on July 28, 2024, without bail and no signs of an early trial. He was arrested under the UAPA in the Bhima-Koregaon Elgar Parishad case, along with other leading activists and academicians.
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Also read:
▪ Hany Babu completes four years in prison without bail, trial (Maktoobmedia.com / Jul 2024)
▪ Three years ago on this day Hany Babu was arrested in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case (Maktoobmedia.com / Jul 2024)

The SC Is Making Bail Easier In Terrorism, Money Laundering Cases – Except When It Ignores Itself

The SC Is Making Bail Easier In Terrorism, Money Laundering Cases – Except When It Ignores Itself

Article 14 / by Areeb Uddin Ahmed

11 Supreme Court rulings over 10 months appear to be reshaping bail jurisprudence in India, especially with regard to India’s terrorism and money laundering laws, often used to incarcerate many without bail for years. Despite these landmark judgements, the Supreme Court has also avoided deciding bail on high-profile cases important to the government, in so doing ignoring its own rulings.
At least 11 Supreme Court rulings over 10 months granting bail appear to be gradually reshaping bail jurisprudence in India, especially with regard to India’s terrorism and money laundering laws. 
The restrictive bail provisions of these laws have been frequently used to keep accused, mostly protestors, poets, Opposition politicians, dissidents, academics and artists, in jail with no sign of trial.
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Also read:
▪ SC adjourns hearing on bail plea of Bhima Koregaon case accused Jyoti Jagtap (Hindustan Times / Jul 2024)
▪ Bombay HC rejects default bail of five accused in Bhima Koregaon case (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ ‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’

Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’

Counterview.net / by Campaign against State Repression (CASR)

The Campaign against State Repression (CASR) unequivocally condemns the arrest of human rights activist and Advocate Ajay Kumar by National Investigation Agency early morning 3 am from Chandigarh.
…
Ajay was actively involved in the Forum Against the War on People to oppose the attack by state forces and corporate-sponsored militia, Salwa Judum, on the Adivasi peasants of central India under Operation Green Hunt. He was also founding member of Vistapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (VVJVA), a conglomeration of more than 50 organisations from across the country seeking to challenge the forcible displacement of peasants particularly Adivasis, for the furtherance of corporate loot and land grab. VVJVA works against the forceful displacement of peasantry, particularly Adivasis for building big dams, industrial projects, mines, Special Economic Zones, highways, National Parks, Smart City projects etc. Ajay Kumar worked alongside the likes of Dr. B.D. Sharma (retired IAS officer), K.N. Pandit (trade union leader), Dr. B.P. Kesari, Father Stan Swamy, Sudha Bhardwaj, Dr. G.N. Saibaba and J. Madhuri in the formation of this forum in 2007.
Read full statement

Also read:
▪ TU activist Anirudh Rajan, lawyer Ajay Kumar in custody: Wounded reputation of world’s largest democracy? (Counterview / Sep 10, 2024)
▪ Student Activist’s Room Raided in Prayagraj by NIA Over Alleged Naxal Links (The Wire / Aug 2024)
▪ Senior activist Ajay Kumar’s arrest ‘imminent’ in same vein as Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy (Counterview / Jan 2024)