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HC Asks Hany Babu To Seek Clarification From SC Regarding Forum To Approach For Seeking Bail

02/05/2025 Asha

Bombay High Court Asks Hany Babu To Seek Clarification From SC Regarding Forum To Approach For Seeking Anticipatory Bail

03/05/2025

Live Law / by Narsi Benwal

The Bombay High Court on Friday asked former Delhi University Professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Bhima-Koregaon Elgar Parishad case, to seek clarification from the Supreme Court as to whether he should be approaching the HC or the Special Court for afresh bail.
This comes while the bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata commenced hearing Babu’s appeal challenging an order passed by the Special NIA court in February 2022, denying him bail.
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Thread by Live Law / @LiveLawIndia (May 2, 2025):
Bombay High Court has asked former Delhi University Professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Bhima-Koregaon Elgar Parishad case, to seek clarification from the Supreme Court as to whether he should be approaching either the HC or the Special Court for afresh bail.
#BombayHighCourt #HanyBabu

This comes while the bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari & Kamal Khata commenced hearing his appeal challenging an order passed by the Special NIA court in February 2022, denying him bail.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh for the NIA raised a preliminary objection stating that if the SC has granted him liberty to seek afresh bail, then he must approach the Special Court and not the HC.

Dr Yug Chaudhary for Hany Babu, however, opposed the objection. He said that he is ready to give up his arguments on merits for the moment and would argue only on the point of delay since his client has been behind the bars for 4 years 9 months now.
“This is a constitutional court and nothing can stop it from hearing my plea for bail on point of delay since my right to life and liberty is being violated,” Chaudhary told the judges.

However, the judges too prima facie, opined that there is no liberty granted by the SC (by its April 3, 2024) order to Hany Babu to file an appeal before the HC. It therefore, asked Babu to seek clarification from the SC and has adjourned the hearing.

Also read:
▪ How Long Is Too Long for an Undertrial Prisoner To Be Detained? (The Wire | by Hany Babu and Surendra Gadling | Oct 2024)
▪ Former Delhi University Professor Hany Babu Moves Bombay HC For Bail In Elgar Parishad-Maoist Links (Free Press Journal / Oct 2024)
▪ Ex-DU prof Hany Babu withdraws bail plea in Supreme Court (Hindustan Times / May 2024)

Gautam Navlakha files plea to shift to Delhi, says living in Mumbai is ‘burdensome’

29/04/2025 Asha

Bail ! Gautam with his partner Sabha Husain. May 2024.

Navlakha files plea to shift to Delhi, says living in Mumbai is ‘burdensome’

29/04/2025

Hindustan Times / by Revu Suresh

Gautam Navlakha seeks NIA court’s permission to live permanently in Delhi, citing financial struggles in Mumbai post-bail in Bhima Koregaon case.
Gautam Navlakha, a civil rights activist arrested in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case, has moved the special NIA court, seeking permission to permanently reside in Delhi. In his plea, Navlakha said it has become uneconomical and burdensome for him to live in Mumbai as he is a permanent resident of Delhi.
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Navlakha files application in court seeking permission to stay in Delhi

29/04/2025

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

In an application filed before the special court in Mumbai, 72-year-old Navlakha has sought relaxation in one of his bail conditions
Citing expenses and increasing finances in Mumbai, activist-journalist Gautam Navlakha, who was granted bail in the Elgar Parishad case in May 2024, has sought permission to reside in Delhi. In an application filed before the special court in Mumbai, 72-year-old Navlakha has sought relaxation in one of his bail conditions, which directed him to not leave the jurisdiction of the Mumbai court without the court’s permission.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Gautam Navlakha granted bail by Supreme Court; orders him to pay 20 lakhs for the expenses incurred during his house arrest (cjp / May 2024)
▪ Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon accused struggle to find house in city (Hindustan Times / Nov 2022)

Alternative reading of Bhima Koregaon: A Maharashtra outfit is trying to advance Dalit cause from Hindutva orbit

29/04/2025 Asha

Booklet: “Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein” (Access PDF)

The Indian Express / by Vikas Pathak

While Dalit activism is generally understood as resistance to “Brahmanical Hinduism”, the Vivek Vichar Manch’s goal is to foster Hindu unity, something which is also a core ideological goal of the BJP and the Sangh
At a time when the Opposition, particularly the Congress, has made caste census, the representation of marginalised classes in structures of power, and their share in welfare benefits its key political planks, a recent initiative of Dalits subscribing to Hindutva and seeking to resolve caste faultlines is active in Maharashtra, with some support from the RSS and the BJP.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence (The Polis Project / Feb 2025)
▪ On the trail of Sambhaji Bhide: Ahead of Bhima Koregaon riots’ 3rd anniversary, tracing the Hindutva leader’s rise (Firstpost / Dec 2020)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)
▪ Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati │ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)
▪ Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 2018)
▪ The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2018)

SC Says ‘Nothing Wrong’ With Country Possessing Spyware, Question is Against Whom it is Used

29/04/2025 Asha

On Pegasus, SC Says ‘Nothing Wrong’ With Country Possessing Spyware, Question is Against Whom it is Used

29/04/2025

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Justice Kant said that the report of the Committee is lying sealed and even he has not seen its contents.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday (April 29) made the oral observation that there is nothing inherently wrong with a country possessing spyware for security purposes; the real concern lies in against whom it is used.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh made the observations while hearing a batch of writ petitions that were filed in 2021 seeking an independent probe into allegations of targeted surveillance of journalists, activists and politicians by using the Israeli spyware Pegasus.
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SC says use of spyware not illegal, but expresses concern over alleged misuse of Pegasus

29/04/2025

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that ‘terrorists cannot claim privacy rights’.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said there was nothing wrong with India possessing spyware for national security purposes, but expressed concern about its alleged misuse against private individuals, reported Bar and Bench.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally (The Wire / Apr 2025)
▪ India: Damning new forensic investigation reveals repeated use of Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists (Amnesty.org / Dec 2023)
▪ 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)

Podcast: Alpa Shah on the Bima Koregaon case and India’s democratic decline

28/04/2025 Asha

Himal Southasian / by The Editors

The BK-16 case links India’s harmful neoliberal policies, state authorities abuse of laws, and the collapse of institutions, says the social anthropologist
… In this episode of State of Southasia, Shah speaks to Nayantara Narayanan about the work of the BK16 with indigenous communities and other minorities, their pushback against neoliberal policies and why they were seen as threats by the Indian state, and how and why they were implicated in the Bhima Koregaon case. The case shows a “very direct link between the kinds of interests of the state and corporate powers in accessing resources that lie under [Adivasi] lands and the fight for justice of those people who those lands belong to,” she says.

en | 47:09 min | 2025
Read more / Listen to the podcast

▪ The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon And The Search For Democracy In India
Author: Alpa Shah
Publishing Date: March 2024
Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher
Pages: 672
Read more / order

Also read:
▪ The Feared – Conversations with Eleven Political Prisoners

Author: Neeta Kolhatkar
Publishing Date: Dec 2024
Publisher: S&S India
Pages: 272
Read more /order
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)

Bombay HC Orders Maha Govt To Upload State’s Prison Manual & Police Manual On Internet

24/04/2025 Asha

Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project

Live Law / by Narsi Benwal

The Bombay High Court on Thursday ordered the Maharashtra Government to put up the State’s Prison Manual and also Police online so as to help prisoners and their relatives learn more about their rights, while in jail.
… The judges are presently hearing final arguments in the plea by senior advocate Gayatri Singh assisted by advocates Susan Abraham and Sudha Bharadwaj. Also tagged along is another petition wherein the primary focus is on the mental health of prisoners. This petition is being argued by advocate Vijay Hiremath.
The final hearing will continue on Monday (April 28).
Read more

Also read:
▪ India Justice Report 2025: Ranking States on the Capacity of Police, Judiciary, Prisons and Legal Aid (Sabrang India / Apr 2025)
▪ Many Prisoners at Taloja Jail Not Produced Before Court For Years, Reveals Survey by Surendra Gadling and Sagar Gorkhe (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ Stan Swamy parallel in former DU professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba’s death after 10-year jail (The Telegraph / Oct 2024)
▪ Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)
▪ Punished without trial: How India’s political prisoners are being denied basic rights in jail (Scroll.in / Aug 2022)

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

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

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry: State opposes plea to have Sharad Pawar depose again

22/04/2025 Asha

Graphic by Arun Ferreira & Vernon Gonsalves

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Ambedkar’s plea an attempt at political sensationalisation: State
Special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray opposed an application filed by senior politician Prakash Ambedkar before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry to call NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar again, if required, to depose as a witness.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence (The Polis Project / Feb 2025)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)
▪ Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
▪ India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobinmag / April 2021)
▪ Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati │ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)
▪ Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 2018)
▪ Saffron Conspiracy in Bhima Koregaon? – Fact finding report by Rashtra Seva Dal unearths insidious scheme to target Dalits (CJP / Jan 2018)

Protecting the Protectors: AILAJ Demands Advocates Protection Act

15/04/2025 Asha

The Mooknayak / by Mooknayak English

Lawyers demand protection from harassment, sexism, and state repression as AILAJ finalizes draft Advocates’ Protection Bill after month-long campaign.
All India Lawyers Association of Justice (AILAJ) Delhi culminated its month-long campaign for the enactment of an Advocates’ Protection Act in a state-level consultation held on 12 April at the Press Club of India. …
Advocate Rohin Bhatt … urged that the Bill must have provisions that discourage the state from maliciously prosecuting lawyers, as it has done to lawyers like Sudha Bhardwaj and Surendra Gadling in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Read more

Also read/watch:
▪ How These Lawyers Worked Tirelessly To Free Saibaba (Rediff.com / March 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)
▪ Lawyers Withstood Pressures and Defended Activists in the Bhima Koregaon Case (The Leaflet / Jan 2021)

▪ 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

A caged bird can still sing – clearing Fr Stan’s name

14/04/2025 Asha

The Tablet / by Joseph Xavier SJ

The Indian Jesuit and human rights defender Fr Stan Swamy, who was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, died in custody, aged 84, in 2021. He would have been 88 on 26 April this year. Jesuits around the world are calling on the Government of India to declare him innocent of the crimes of which he was accused.
Fr Stan Swamy died as an “undertrial” at Holy Family Hospital, Mumbai on July 5, 2021. In 2023, I met Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Anand Teltumbde in Mumbai after they were released on bail. All three were implicated in the Bhima Koregaon case, popularly known as the BK16 or Elgar Parishad case, as there were 16 accused.
Arun Ferreira lived with Stan in the same prison cell and took care of Stan like a mother. Vernon and Anand became good friends discussing various socio-political issues.
Read more

Also read/watch:
▪ Caged birds and prison songs: In chorus, Stan Swamy and the Bhima Koregaon accused kept hope alive (Scroll.in | by Vernon Gonsalves | Jul 2023)
▪ How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Aug 2021)

▪ Video: Testimony of Stan Swamy, two days before his arrest on 8 October 2020.

en | 7:48 min | Oct 6, 2020
Watch video

Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

11/04/2025 Asha

India Has Second Highest Number of WhatsApp Victims Targeted With Pegasus: US Court Documents

11/04/2025

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The country with the most WhatsApp hacking victims is Mexico, which has 456 such people. India is second, with 100. In 2019, reports had said that WhatsApp had informed the Indian government that 121 Indian users were targeted by Pegasus.
Six years after WhatsApp told the Indian government that 121 Indian users were targeted by the Israeli spyware Pegasus, new documents exhibited in its lawsuit against malware makers NSO Group say that 100 Indians were impacted.
Read more

Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

11/04/2025

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

WhatsApp users in 51 countries were targeted during a hacking campaign in 2019, a United States court document showed.
At least 100 of the 1,223 persons targeted using Israeli spyware Pegasus in a 2019 WhatsApp hacking campaign were located in India, Medianama reported on Thursday, citing a new legal filing in a United States court.
Read more

Also read:
▪ US Court Finds NSO Liable For Hacking Of WhatsApp Using Pegasus Malware (Live Law / Dec 2024)
▪ India: Damning new forensic investigation reveals repeated use of Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists (Amnesty.org / Dec 2023)
▪ 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)