Asha – free them all

Delhi University professor Hany Babu granted bail after 1,955 days in jail in Bhima Koregaon case [Read order]

04/12/2025 Asha

by Maktoob / @MaktoobMedia (Dec 4, 2025):

“I am happy but also angry and sad that an innocent professor (Dr. Hany Babu) was made to spend five years and four months in jail without even a trial, just for being socially conscious and working for the good of the university where he was employed,” said @jennyrowena , Delhi University professor and wife of Dr. Hany Babu, to Maktoob, reacting to the news that Babu was granted bail by the Bombay High Court after languishing in jail for nearly 2,000 days in the Bhima Koregaon case under UAPA charges.

After close to 2000 days in jail on a fabricated case concocted by the present BJP government, Professor Hany Babu will finally be released on bail that was granted by the Bombay HC.
SHAME on this govt and the judiciary for keeping him in jail for this long with NO TRIAL
Greeshma Kuthar
Independent journalist
Source: @jeegujja

Delhi University professor Hany Babu granted bail after 1,955 days in jail in Bhima Koregaon case

04/12/2025

Maktoob Media / by Maktoob Staff

The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Delhi University professor and noted academic Dr. Hany Babu, who was arrested in 2020 in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case and charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), his partner and fellow academic Jenny Rowena told Maktoob.
A division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale granted him bail.
Read more

Bombay High Court grants bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Hany Babu after 5 years in jail [Read order]

04/12/2025

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Babu was arrested on July 28, 2020, and has been in custody for over five years.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Delhi University professor Hany Babu arrested in 2018 for his alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon violence case [Hany Babu v. National Investigation Agency & Ors.].
The prosecuting agency sought a stay on the order to enable them to file an appeal against it before the Supreme Court.
Read more
Read order

After 5 Yrs In Jail, Bombay High Court Grants Bail To Former DU Professor Hany Babu

04/12/2025

Live Law / by LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK

The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to former Delhi University Professor Hany Babu, who has been booked for his alleged role in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case.
A division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale granted him bail. A detailed order in the matter is awaited.
Read more

Hany Babu Gets Bail After Five Years and Four Months in Jail Without Trial

04/12/2025

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Soon after the court granted him bail, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is handling the case sought a stay on the order to be able to appeal against it before the Supreme Court. The Bombay high court rejected it.
The Bombay high court today called the five-year-and-four-month-long incarceration without trial of Hany Babu an “inordinate delay” and granted bail to the Delhi university associate professor who had been arrested in the Elgar Parishad case.
The bail application moved early this year was kept for orders after the arguments were concluded on October 3. A division bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Ranjitsinha R Bhonsale pronounced the verdict today, December 4.
Read more

Hany Babu, accused in Elgaar Parishad case, gets relief after 5 years in prison without trial

04/12/2025

The Indian Express / by Omkar Gokhale

Hany Babu, accused in Elgaar Parishad case, has secured a bail from the Bombay High Court.
The Bombay High Court has granted bail to former Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu, accused in Elgaar Parishad case. Babu had sought bail on the ground of prolonged incarceration of over five years without trial.
Read more

Academic Hany Babu’s bail hearing to take place after five years in jail without trial

04/12/2025

Pen International / by Ross Holder

Update (4 December 2025): The Bombay High Court has granted bail to Hany Babu, following his application on the basis of his prolonged detention without trial. Following the completion of formalities by the court, Hany Babu is expected to be released in the coming days. PEN International welcomes the court’s decision and celebrates Hany Babu’s release. He should never have been detained, and his subjection to over five years’ detention without trial remains an appalling injustice and is a dark chapter for India’s legal system.
Read more

And then there were 3: One more granted bail, charges not framed yet, Elgaar Parishad case creaks

04/12/2025

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak and Omkar Gokhale

In several cases, such as in Hany Babu’s Thursday, courts have cited long incarceration to grant bail. They have also commented on poor evidence to substantiate terror charges
With former Delhi University professor Hany Babu granted bail by the Bombay High Court Thursday, only three of the 16 arrested by the Pune police and NIA in the Elgaar Parishad case remain behind bars.
Read more

Also watch/read:
▪ Video: Hany Babu’s story
By MaktoobMedia

en | 10:57 | 2025
Watch video

▪ Bombay High Court Reserves Order On Bail Plea Of Former DU Professor Hany Babu (Free Press Journal / Oct 2025)
▪ Why Hany Babu Writes From Prison (The Wire / Jul 2025)
▪ SC Allows Hany Babu to Approach Trial or High Court For Bail (The Wire / Jul 2025)
▪ How Long is Too Long? On the Maximum Period that an Undertrial Prisoner can be Detained (Constitutional Law and Philosophy | by Hany Babu & Surendra Gadling | Oct 2024)
▪ Why the SC Judgment Granting Bail to Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira Is So Significant (The Wire / Jul 2023)

‘A permanent surveillance backdoor’: Why Sanchar Saathi app order raises privacy fears

03/12/2025 Asha

Scroll.in / by Ratna Singh

Digital rights groups warn that forcing an app onto every device could allow the government to spy on Indians and even control their devices.
… On social media, founder and editor of technology policy website Medianama, Nikhil Pahwa, illustrated just what this ability to control a user’s mobile phone would look like. “A government application can also be used to implant files on your device,” he said. “[It] has happened before, in the Bhima Koregaon case where documents were allegedly put on laptops and used to frame a conspiracy.”
Read more

Also read:
▪ ‘Malware Evidence in Their Own Reporting?’ Global Experts Reiterate Bhima Koregaon Reports, Seek End to Injustice (The Wire / Nov 2025)
▪ How an unsophisticated malware attack became India’s biggest state-sponsored cybercrime (The Polis Project / Mar 2025)
▪ Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
▪ Hackers Planted Files to Frame an Indian Priest Who Died in Custody (Wired / Dec 2022)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)
▪ They were Accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government – The evidence was planted, a new report says (Washington Post / Feb 2021)

SC Questions 6-Year Delay in Surendra Gadling Case, Seeks Quick Decision on Key Bhima Koregaon Records

01/12/2025 Asha

2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case: SC Demands Improved Virtual Conferencing In Surendra Gadling’s Trial

02/12/2025

Free Press Journal / by FPJ News Service

The Supreme Court directed Maharashtra to ensure proper functioning of virtual conferencing during hearings in the 2016 Gadchiroli arson case after repeated technical failures. Hearing Surendra Gadling’s bail plea, the court urged expedited trial proceedings and re-listed the matter for January, addressing delays and pending applications in the case.
The Supreme Court, on Monday, told Maharashtra authorities to ensure that virtual conferencing facilities function properly during hearings in the 2016 Gadchiroli arson case, after Surendra Gadling’s counsel complained that the video conferencing (VC) system routinely fails when the lawyer-activist is produced before the trial court, reports legal portal livelaw.in.
Read more

Ensure Proper VC Facilities In Trial Of 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case : Supreme Court To Maharashtra

01/12/2025

Live Law / by Debby Jain

The Supreme Court on Monday told Maharashtra authorities to ensure that virtual conferencing facilities function properly during hearings in the 2016 Gadchiroli arson case, after Surendra Gadling’s counsel complained that the VC system routinely fails when the lawyer-activist is produced before the trial court.
The bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi was hearing Gadling’s bail plea. Gadling, who has spent 6 years and 10 months in custody, told the Court that he has been unfairly “branded” only because he appeared as counsel in certain Naxalite cases.
Read more

Supreme Court Questions 6-Year Delay in Surendra Gadling Case, Seeks Quick Decision on Key Bhima Koregaon Records

01/12/2025

LawChakra / by Hardik Khandelwal

The Supreme Court raised concerns over Surendra Gadling’s six-and-a-half-year custody without trial, directing a quick decision on pending applications. Gadling argued prolonged delays, missing electronic evidence, and unequal treatment as other accused are already on bail.
The Supreme Court of India today heard the bail plea of Surendra Gadling, who is an accused in the Elgar Parishad–Maoist links case.
The matter, titled Surendra Pundalik Gadling v. State of Maharashtra (Crl.A. No. 3742/2023), came before a Bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Supreme Court gives Maharashtra final chance to file affidavit on Surendra Gadling’s plea in 2016 Surjagarh mine arson case (The Leaflet / Oct 2025)
▪ 2016 Surjagarh arson case: Advocate Gadling can appear in person to argue his discharge plea, says court (The Indian Express / Oct 2025)
▪ Elgar Parishad case: HC questions Gadling’s plea, says accused can’t choose probe agency (Hindustan Times / Sep 2025)
▪ Supreme Court Seeks Explanation on Delayed Trial in 2016 Arson Case (Devdiscourse / Sep 2025)
▪ 6 yrs, no charges framed – Surendra Gadling stuck in trial limbo in 2016 Surajgarh arson case (The Print / Sep 2025)
▪ In Surendra Gadling’s case, adjournment becomes the verdict (Frontline / Aug 2025)
▪ Surendra Gadling’s Computer Was Attacked, Incriminating Documents Planted: Arsenal Consulting (The Wire / July 2021)

Teltumbde makes his voice heard online / NIA court refuses Anand Teltumbde’s request to travel to literary festival

27/11/2025 Asha

Teltumbde barred from attending Hortus, makes his voice heard online

28/11/2025

Onmanorama / by Team Onmanorama

At the Manorama Hortus, the stage was set for two speakers, but only one chair was occupied. Writer S Anand sat alone, while the face of renowned scholar and activist Anand Teltumbde looked down from a large screen behind him.
“He is everywhere, but not here,” S Anand told the audience, explaining the “unfortunate turn of circumstances.”
Read more

Out on bail in Bhima Koregaon case, academician Teltumbde’s request to attend lit fest rejected by court

27/11/2025

The Print / by Mayank Kumar

Mumbai court said invite to speak at Kochi festival was a ‘luxury’. The Dalit rights activist was set a pre-condition by Bombay HC in 2022 to take trial court’s nod for travel.
A Mumbai court has rejected the plea of academician Anand Teltumbde to attend a literature festival in Kochi organised by the media house, Malayala Manorama.
The court ruled that an invitation to speak at the festival was not an extreme circumstance that could fulfil the bail conditions imposed by the Bombay High Court in November 2022.
Read more

NIA court refuses Teltumbde’s request to travel for Kochi literary festival

27/11/2025

Hindustan Times / by Vikrant Jha

Teltumbde was arrested by the NIA in April 2020 for alleged involvement in the Elgaar Parishad event in Pune on December 31, 2017, which investigators claim fuelled caste violence near the Bhima Koregaon war memorial the following day
A special court constituted under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday rejected a plea by scholar and human rights activist Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the 2018 Elgar Parishad–Bhima Koregaon case, seeking permission to travel to Kochi later this week for an academic engagement.
Read more

Elgaar case accused’s plea rejected: Going to speak at literature event ‘sort of luxury’: Court to Teltumbde

27/11/2025

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

The court said that the Bombay High Court while granting bail to Teltumbde in November 2022 had imposed a condition with a specific intention, directing him not to go beyond local limits of the court.
Observing that travelling outside Mumbai to speak at a literature event for academic purposes is “sort of a luxury”, a special court Wednesday rejected permission to scholar Anand Teltumbde, booked in the Elgaar Parishad case, to travel to Kochi for two days.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Bombay HC refuses to allow Anand Teltumbde to travel abroad for lectures (Scroll.in / Oct 2025)
▪ Anti-terror agency seeks to seize Anand Teltumbde’s passport (India Today / Sep 2025)
▪ NIA opposes Anand Teltumbde’s plea to travel abroad, cites risk of absconding (The Hindu / April 2025)

‘Malware Evidence in Their Own Reporting?’ Global Experts Reiterate Bhima Koregaon Reports, Seek End to Injustice

26/11/2025 Asha

The Wire / by Mekhala Saran

Netherlands-based digital forensics expert Robert Jan Mora found “malware, not identified as such in the (RFSL) report, on an external pen drive that was seized from Mr. [Rona] Wilson”.
In 2022, when Netherlands-based digital forensics expert Robert Jan Mora was reviewing screenshots of Pune Police reports on some of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, he found something strange.
The Bhima Koregaon case has garnered international infamy for the prolonged persecution of 16 human rights defenders under terrorism-related charges, with individuals and organisations from across the world calling for the release of all accused.
Read more

Also read:
▪ How an unsophisticated malware attack became India’s biggest state-sponsored cybercrime (The Polis Project / Mar 2025)
▪ India: Damning new forensic investigation reveals repeated use of Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists (Amnesty.org / Dec 2023)
▪ Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
▪ Fabricating Evidence Against Life and Liberty: Tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer and its implications for Bhima Koregaon case (Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy / Dec 2022)
▪ Hackers Planted Files to Frame an Indian Priest Who Died in Custody (Wired / Dec 2022)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)
▪ Explainer: Arsenal Report on Surendra Gadling (The Leaflet / Jul 2021)
▪ They were Accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government – The evidence was planted, a new report says (Washington Post / Feb 2021)
▪ Why the letter about a ‘Rajiv Gandhi-type’ assassination plot to kill Modi is fake (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jun 11, 2018)

Welcome Comrade Jyoti Jagtap / In Jail For Over Five Years, Jyoti Jagtap Given Interim Bail by SC

22/11/2025 Asha

by Paras Nath Singh (Nov 24, 2025):

After more than five years of unjust incarceration as an undertrial in the Bhima Koregaon case, activist Jyoti Jagtap walked free from jail on interim bail.

by Anish (Nov 22, 2025):
Welcome Comrade Jyoti Jagtap.
Release All Political Prisoners !!

By Outlook India (Nov 22, 2025)

Activist Jyoti Jagtap being greeted by friends and relatives outside Byculla Jail after the Supreme Court granted her interim bail in the Bhima-Koregaon case, in Mumbai.

Elgar Parishad Case: In Jail For Over Five Years, Jyoti Jagtap Given Interim Bail by SC

19/11/2025

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Cultural activist Jagtap, who is the only woman to still be behind bars in the case, was given interim bail until February 2026.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 19) granted cultural activist Jyoti Jagtap interim bail in the Elgar Parishad case in which she has spent five years and six months in jail.
Her interim bail will continue until the next hearing, scheduled for February 2026. Her long-drawn struggle to secure regular bail has involved multiple petitions before various benches from the trial court up to the apex court.
Read more

Supreme Court Grants Interim Bail To Jyoti Jagtap In Bhima Koregaon Case

19/11/2025

Live Law / by Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

The Supreme Court today (November 19) granted interim bail to activist and member of cultural organisation Kala Kabir Manch, Jyoti Jagtap, in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad matter till the next date of hearing, which is in February 2026.
Read more

Supreme Court grants intrim bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Jyoti Jagtap

19/11/2025

Bar & Bench / by Debayan Roy

A Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order after it was brought to their notice that Jagtap has been in custody for nearly 5.5 years.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Jyoti Jagtap, one of the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
Read more

SC grants interim bail to Elgaar Parishad case accused Jyoti Jagtap

19/11/2025

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Jyoti Jagtap was the 15th person to be arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case. She was arrested in September 2020 by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, and handed over to NIA.
The Supreme Court Wednesday granted interim bail to Jyoti Jagtap, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case who was arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, for alleged links with banned Maoist outfits.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon case: Activist Jyoti Jagtap gets interim bail from Supreme Court

19/11/2025

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The court was informed that the activist had been in custody for over five years.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to activist Jyoti Jagtap, one of the 16 persons accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case, Bar and Bench reported.
Read more

Elgar Parishad Case: Supreme Court Grants Interim Bail to Jyoti Jagtap

19/11/2025

Outlook / by Priyanka Tupe

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to activist Jyoti Jagtap, who has spent over five years in jail in the Elgar Parishad case under UAPA.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to activist Jyoti Jagtap, who was arrested in 2020 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the Elgar Parishad–Bhima Koregaon case for alleged Maoist links.
Read more

Also read:
▪ SC Grants Interim Bail To Mahesh Raut On Medical Grounds For Six Weeks, Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea To Be Heard In October (The Commune / Sep 2025)
▪ SC adjourns bail pleas of Surendra Gadling, Jyoti Jagtap in Bhima Koregaon case (Scroll.in / Feb 2025)
▪ How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)
▪ The Young Woman Who Would Not Cry (article 14 / Oct 2020)

Jyoti Jagtap. Credits: Kabir Kala Manch / facebook

‘The Cell and the Soul’: The mirror to Indian democracy in Anand Teltumbde’s prison memoir

22/11/2025 Asha

Scroll.in / by Ankush Pal

The memoir transforms personal suffering into a forensic examination of institutional decay.
Anand Teltumbde’s The Cell and the Soul: A Prison Memoir stands as one of the most searing indictments of contemporary Indian democracy, transforming personal suffering into a forensic examination of institutional decay.
Read more

The Cell and the Soul – A Prison Memoir

Author: Anand Teltumbde
Publishing Date: Sep 2025
Publisher: Bloomsbury India
Pages: 256

Noted social activist Anand Teltumbde entered the Taloja Central Prison as accused number 10 in the Bhima Koregaon case and spent 31 months as an undertrial until he was released on bail. As an intellectual who was stripped of his freedom, he lays bares the chilling realities of India’s prisons in his gut-wrenching prison memoir. Part memoir, part diary, Cell and the Soul is a descent into the heart of India’s carceral state, ripping open the belly of the beast-the prison industrial complex-and exposing the brutal, pulsating injustice within.

Book review | Inside the walls: Stories of suffering, survival and systemic injustice

22/11/2025 Asha

The Hans India / by Matam Somasekhar Prasad

Born in 1961, Sudha Bharadwaj chose a life of service and struggle over one of comfort and professional prestige. After returning to India with her mother, who later joined Delhi University’s Economics Department, she completed her postgraduate studies at IIT-Kanpur and briefly taught at Delhi Public School. Instead of pursuing an academic or corporate career, she committed herself to working among industrial workers and tribal communities in Chhattisgarh as a trade unionist for nearly three decades and a human-rights activist for two.
Read more

▪ From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publishing Date: Oct 2023
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Read more / order

Also read:
▪ The Cell and the Soul – A Prison Memoir

Author: Anand Teltumbde
Publishing Date: Sep 2025
Publisher: Bloomsbury India
Pages: 256
Read more / order

▪ Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism

Publishing Date: January 2021
Interview: Darshana Mitra and Santanu Chakraborty
Publisher: Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
Pages: 316
Access a free PDF copy of the book here

▪ The Feared – Conversations with Eleven Political Prisoners

Author: Neeta Kolhatkar
Publishing Date: Dec 2024
Publisher: S&S India
Pages: 272
Read more / order

Special court grants bail to Sagar Gorkhe to appear for law exam

20/11/2025 Asha

Elgaar Parishad case: special court grants bail to accused Sagar Gorkhe to appear for law exam

20/11/2025

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

While NIA opposed Elgaar Parishad case accused Sagar Gorkhe’s plea, the special court noted that he had been released on interim bail in the past and that the agency had not reported any violations of his bail conditions.
A special court Wednesday granted interim bail to Sagar Gorkhe, a singer-performer booked in the Elgaar Parishad case, to be released from jail to prepare and attend his law examination.
Read more

Sagar Gorkhe gets temporary bail to write law exams

20/11/2025

India Today / by Vidya

A special NIA court in Mumbai has granted temporary bail to Elgar Parishad accused Sagar Tatyaram Gorkhe to allow him to appear for his law examinations from November 20 to December 16, 2025.
A special NIA court in Mumbai has granted temporary bail to Sagar Tatyaram Gorkhe, an accused in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case, to allow him to appear for his law examinations.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Special NIA court allows Sagar Gorkhe to use laptop in prison for case files (Times of India / Aug 2025)
▪ BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: Sagar Gorkhe on his battle to survive Taloja jail’s brutality (The Polis Project / Feb 2025)
▪ Maharashtra: Raising the bar from behind bars (Midday.com / May 2024)
▪ Bhima Koregaon case: Two prisoners pass law entrance test (Hindustan Times / May 2024)

Counting the Caged: What India’s prison data refuses to see

03/11/2025 Asha

Sabrang / by CJP Team

Two years after NCRB’s Prison Statistics India 2023 report was published, the numbers still read less like history and more like prophecy
The NCRB Prison Statistics Report, 2023, detailed an already stressed carceral system, housing 5.82 lakh inmates in a system sanctioned for 4.25 lakh, with undertrial prisoners making up almost 78% of all prisoners. Other than numbers and statistics being added to the data, nothing changed substantively between the original numbers and now.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Notes From Inside Taloja Prison (Outlook | by Mahesh Raut | Jun 2025)
▪ Inside Taloja Prison: A Study | By Mahesh Raut (Outlook / May 2025)
▪ Many Prisoners at Taloja Jail Not Produced Before Court For Years, Reveals Survey by Surendra Gadling and Sagar Gorkhe (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ How Long is Too Long? – On the Maximum Period that an Undertrial Prisoner can be Detained (Constitutional Law and Philosophy | by Hany Babu and Surendra Gadling | Oct 2024)