Asha – free them all

Congress has a UAPAwakening: Law parent cries ‘dangerous misuse’ / The Opposition’s Silence

11/06/2025 Asha

Congress has a UAPAwakening: Law parent cries ‘dangerous misuse’

12/06/2025

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

Khera mentioned the Bhima Koregaon case, the Delhi riots conspiracy, and the action on web portal NewsClick and other instances of journalists and activists facing arrest under the UAPA
The Congress on Wednesday skewered the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, alleging that the Narendra Modi government had weaponised it to stifle dissent and deny justice, but in the process starkly bared the irony that the party had itself passed the law and inserted the provisions that it now finds “draconian” and vulnerable to “dangerous misuse”.
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Modi govt using laws like UAPA to stifle dissent: Congress

11/06/2025

Deccan Herald / by PTI

Anand Teltumbde, Nodeep Kaur, and Mahesh Raut were arrested under UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon case
The Congress on Wednesday accused the Modi government of stifling dissent and said the “dangerous misuse” of laws like the UAPA to threaten free expression is part of the BJP’s broader attack on the Constitution.
“Under the Modi government, law has increasingly been used to stifle dissent and delay justice. Between 2014 and 2022, 8,719 UAPA cases yielded only a 2.55% conviction rate, exposing its misuse to target critics, students, journalists, and activists,” Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said in a post on X.
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The Opposition’s Silence Has Let the BJP Diminish India’s Political Discourse

06/06/2025

The Wire / by Sarayu Pani

Today, the opposition faces a choice – they can either continue to allow the boundaries of political engagement in the country to be decided by the ruling party or they can ground their opposition in democratic principles.
… A vast majority of these instances have not been rhetorically resisted by the political opposition to the BJP. In 2019, for example, the Congress voted in favour of amendments that dangerously broadened the scope of the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in the Rajya Sabha. Few opposition political parties have stood in clear solidarity with the detainees of either the Bhima Koregaon case or the Delhi riots conspiracy case.
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Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS / Jul 2024)
▪ UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR – Study of UAPA Abuse in India, 2009-2022 (PUCL / Sep 2022). Download report
▪ India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobinmag / April 2021)
▪ A Dalit trade union activist and her fight for equal rights: A profile of Nodeep Kaur (The Polis Project / March 2021)

Will anti-Naxal drive pave way for mining giants?

27/05/2025 Asha

The New Indian Express / by Gurbir Singh

Is the government campaign aimed at ‘finishing off’ the extremists, or are the larger goals to open up central India’s mineral and natural resources for exploitation? Or both?
… Over the years, Maoists, NGOs and even priests like Stan Swamy have mobilized these tribal communities to resist corporate expansion. The state forces, on the other hand, have intervened to crush the protests.
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Also read:
▪ Three years after Stan Swamy’s death in custody, activists recall his contributions to Adivasi cause (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Jharkhand police to probe into Maoist links with Stan Swamy’s ‘Bagaicha’, 63 other frontal organisations (The New Indian Express / Sep 2023)
▪ Statement against the drone bomb attacks in Chhattisgarh, India (India Matters / April 2023)
▪ DISINHERITING ADIVASIS – THE GADCHIROLI GAME PLAN (KAFILA / June 2018)
▪ The legal face of corporate land grab in Chhattisgarh (India Environmental Portal | by Sudha Bharadwaj | Feb 2018)
▪ Mining In Gadchiroli – Building A Castle Of Injustices (Countercurrents | by Neema Pathak Broome and Mahesh Raut | June 2017)

Why Bela Trivedi retired from Supreme Court as a deeply unpopular judge

23/05/2025 Asha

Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project

Scroll.in / by Vineet Bhalla

Over her four-year tenure in the court, Trivedi developed a reputation for rarely granting bail, locking horns with lawyers, and favouring the BJP.
Trivedi was elevated to the Supreme Court from the Gujarat High Court in August 2021. According to a study by the Supreme Court Observer, till October 2024, almost 40% of the judgements authored by her as a Supreme Court judge were in criminal law matters – an unusually large number.
Her track record in many of these showed that she went against the oft-repeated adage by the Supreme Court that “bail is the rule, jail is the exception”.
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Also read:
▪ Ex-DU prof Hany Babu withdraws bail plea in Supreme Court (Hindustan Times / May 2024)
▪ Contrary To SC’s Rules Of Assignment, At Least 8 Politically Sensitive Cases Moved To One Judge In 4 Months (article 14 / Dec 2023)
▪ ‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)
▪ When Push Comes to Shove: Tracking Judicial Recusals and Transfers (The Wire / Apr 2023)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)
▪ Ten recusals in Bhima Koregaon raises the question: Should judges disclose reasons for withdrawal? (Scroll.in / May 2022)

Elgar Parishad case accused at event that attacked Maharashtra Public Security Bill

22/05/2025 Asha

Elgar Parishad case accused at event that attacked Maharashtra Public Security Bill, cops to seek bail review

22/05/2025

Times of India / by Soumitra Bose

The Elgar Parishad case accused, who are out on bail, had thronged the Veera Sathidar memorial event at Vidarbha Hindi Sahitya Sammelan on May 13, top security sources told TOI.
Though the event was organised as a memorial for the acclaimed filmmaker, security agency sources stated it turned into a platform for attacking the Maharashtra govt’s efforts to table the proposed Maharashtra Public Security Bill to rein in frontal organisations of alleged urban Maoists.
… Activists like Sudhir Dhawale and former Nagpur University professor Soma Sen, who are out on bail in the Elgar Parishad case, participated in the event
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Actor’s wife, 2 others booked for reciting Pak poet’s poem

21/05/2025

Rediff.com / by pti, edited by Hemant Waje

The recitation of Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s Hum Dekhenge poem at an event in Nagpur has led police to slap charges of endangering India’s unity and integrity, and promoting enmity against three persons, including late actor-activist Veera Sathidar’s wife Pushpa.
… Police said they are also looking into the activities and background of the Samata Kala Manch, whose head, Sudhir Dhawale, is currently out on bail in connection with another case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made during the Elgar Parishad event in Pune in 2017.
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Singing Faiz’s ‘Hum Dekhenge’ is ‘Sedition’: Nagpur Police Book Organisers of Vira Sathidar Memorial

19/05/2025

The Wire / by Sukanyana Shantha

Singing the revolutionary poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, once celebrated as a voice of resistance, now attracts sedition charges in India.
At an event organised last week in memory of actor and activist Vira Sathidar, a group of young cultural activists sang the lyrics of Faiz’s famous Hum Dekhenge.
… In October 2020, when the NIA filed a supplementary chargesheet in the Elgar Parishad case, Sathidar’s name appeared among the so-called “urban Naxals,” a term loosely used by the Devendra Fadnavis-led government to target dissenters. Now, with the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, the state government seeks to formalise the term “urban Naxal” within the legal framework.
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Also read:
▪ Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale released: Seven years of injustice by a state that punishes dissent [read order] (Sabrangindia / Jan 2025)
▪ Former professor Shoma Sen released from prison (Scroll.in / Apr 2024)
▪ A New Bill Shows Maharashtra Wants to Become a Police State Before Combatting Left-Wing Extremism (The Wire / Jul 2024)
▪ What is Maharashtra’s new Bill to curb ‘Naxalism in urban areas’? (The Indian Express / Jul 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)

HC questions maintainability of Hany Babu’s fresh bail plea

18/05/2025 Asha

HC questions maintainability of Hany Babu’s fresh bail plea

18/05/2025

Hindustan Times / by Karuna Nidhi

Additional solicitor-general Anil Singh, appearing for the NIA, raised preliminary objections over the maintainability of the application, citing a delay of more than two years and four months in its filing after the NIA court on February 14, 2022 rejected Babu’s bail application
The Bombay high court earlier this month questioned the maintainability of the fresh bail application filed on June 10, 2024, by former Delhi University (DU) professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
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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)

Inside Taloja Prison: A Study | By Mahesh Raut

17/05/2025 Asha

Outlook / by Mahesh Raut

Mahesh Raut, a TISS alumnus and rights activist working for Adivasis and marginalised communities, was arrested in June 2018 in the Bhima-Koregaon Maoist conspiracy case and has since been incarcerated in jail
Taloja Central Prison, located in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, houses primarily male undertrial prisoners under the jurisdiction of various courts in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (e.g., Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Panvel and Belapur Courts). Like many prisons across India, Taloja is severely overcrowded, accommodating thrice its sanctioned capacity. As an undertrial prisoner at Taloja, confined in Yard 03 (referred to as ‘Baba Barrack’), which includes separate barracks for male prisoners aged 18 to 23, my curiosity was stirred by the rising number of young inmates here and the socio-economic realities leading to their incarceration.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Year after being granted bail, Mahesh Raut remains in jail as stay extended (The Indian Express / Sep 2024)
▪ Many Prisoners at Taloja Jail Not Produced Before Court For Years, Reveals Survey by Surendra Gadling and Sagar Gorkhe (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)
▪ Gadchiroli’s 300 Gram Sabhas Pass Resolution in Support of Activist Mahesh Raut (The Wire / Oct 2018)

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

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

BK-16 Prison Diaries | The ‘ordinary’ in extraordinary times: A captive’s life in Covid-19

14/05/2025 Asha

To mark six years of the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of political dissidents in the Bhima Koregaon case, The Polis Project is publishing a series of writings by the BK-16, and their families, friends and partners. By describing various aspects of the past six years, the series offers a glimpse into the BK-16’s lives inside prison, as well as the struggles of their loved ones outside. Each piece in the series is complemented by Arun Ferreira’s striking and evocative artwork.

BK-16 Prison Diaries: The ‘ordinary’ in extraordinary times: A captive’s life in Covid-19

14/05/2025

The Polis Project / by Gautam Navlakha

My journey as a captive began in extraordinary circumstances. The Covid-19 pandemic had afflicted the world and, in India, a countrywide lockdown was imposed on March 24, 2020. Travel by rail, road or air was suspended. A climate of fear and uncertainty prevailed. However, the Supreme Court had asked Anand Teltumbde and me to surrender before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) by April 14—incidentally, Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary. Anand presented himself before the NIA in Mumbai, while I, a resident of Delhi, surrendered myself at the NIA headquarters in New Delhi.
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What NHRC’s Downgrade Means For Indian Masses?

12/05/2025 Asha

Newsclick / by Edgar Kaiser

The downgrading of NHRC captured perfectly the many qualms civil society has had with how the institution has been run for several years.
… A reflection on this sad status reminds us of NHRC’s screeching silence on the death of Fr. Stan Swamy and Prof. G.N. Saibaba, on the fate of hundreds of political prisoners incarcerated following the CAA protests and the Kashmir unrest and on the Manipur riots.
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Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS /Jul 2024)
Read/download full submission
▪ Why the NHRC is failing in the mother of democracy (National Herald / May 2024)
▪ Medical Negligence: NHRC Seeks Action Taken Report from Taloja Jail on Stan Swamy (The Wire / Jul 2021)
▪ Joint Letter to the NHRC of India: Request to raise serious concerns over the crackdown on human rights defenders in India (World Organisation Against Torture / Nov 2020)
▪ NHRC Asks Maharashtra Govt To Give Best Possible Treatment To Varavara Rao In A Reputed Private Super Speciality Hospital (Live Law / Jul 2020)
▪ NHRC issues notices to chief secretary, police chief of Maharashtra for arrest of activists (Scroll.in / Aug 2018)

WhatsApp wins Rs 1,400 crore as US Jury finds NSO Group liable for Pegasus spyware attacks

07/05/2025 Asha

India TV News / by Om Gupta

In 2019, WhatsApp informed more than 1,400 individuals across 20 countries after it discovered that these users were targeted by Pegasus spyware attacks. The list also included many victims in India.
… in 2019, WhatsApp alerted several individuals in India about possible monitoring of their devices. Among those notified were human rights activist Bela Bhatia and lawyer Nihal Singh Rathod, who is connected to the Bhima Koregaon case. Both confirmed that they received warnings from WhatsApp, indicating that their phones had been under surveillance with advanced technology for two weeks leading up to May 2019.
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Also read:
▪ US jury orders makers of Pegasus spyware to pay WhatsApp $168 million in damages (Scroll.in / May 2025)
▪ On Pegasus, SC Says ‘Nothing Wrong’ With Country Possessing Spyware, Question is Against Whom it is Used (The Wire / Apr 2025)
▪ 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)
▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

Caste census: A surgical strike on India

06/05/2025 Asha

Frontline / by Anand Teltumbde

Modi promised a strike on Pakistan. Instead, he turned the tools of the British empire inward—counting caste to divide, not to dismantle it.
After the Pahalgam terrorist attack of April 22, 2025, the mitti me mila denge threat from Narendra Modi seemed to imply that he would launch a big-bang, post-Pulwama-style surgical strike on Pakistan. But what came on April 30, 2025, after a week of quiet, was the declaration of a caste census.
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Also read:
▪ NIA opposes Anand Teltumbde’s plea to travel abroad, cites risk of absconding (The Hindu / April 2025)
▪ In Maharashtra, Fadnavis’s Foray to Capture Bhima-Koregaon (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2025)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Case: A glaring example of Hindutva lies (Siasat.com / Jun 2020)