Asha – free them all

2016 Surjagarh arson case: Advocate Gadling can appear in person to argue his discharge plea, says court

17/10/2025 Asha

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

Observing that denying permission to advocate Surendra Gadling to argue his discharge application in person, pending for nearly three years in a case in Gadchiroli, would “compound the injustice already caused by the inordinate delay”, a special court in Aheri directed that arrangements be made for him to be produced before it on October 28.
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Also read:
▪ 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)

Review of The Cell and the Soul by Anand Teltumbde

17/10/2025 Asha

The Hindu / by G. Sampath

Teltumbde’s Taloja jail memoir is a pathology report on the cancerous rot eating away at the criminal justice system
What is the definition of a crime? “Crime is what the police think it is,” writes Anand Teltumbde, a scholar activist who spent 31 months in jail as an undertrial in connection with the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case. “By this definition, police are free to arrest you, slap whatever sections they like on you and put you behind bars. Yes, the Constitution gives you the remedy of approaching the courts. But that would take years to settle, whether you committed a crime or not. Until then, you are …a beggar for bail.”
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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.

Reading and writing kept my spirit unbroken: Anand Teltumbde

13/10/2025 Asha

Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project

Frontline / by Anand Teltumbde

The scholar and activist on the books that shaped his politics, how reading 179 books in jail kept him intellectually alive, and more.
Anand Teltumbde is a scholar, writer, and public intellectual whose work spans technology, management, and social justice. He has authored 33 books and contributed extensively to leading journals and periodicals, offering sharp theoretical insights on caste, oppression, and contemporary India. As a committed activist, he has played a significant role in India’s civil rights movement.
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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.

‘Can get treatment at Mumbai civic hospital’: Court declines travel nod to Varavara Rao

10/10/2025 Asha

Activist Varavara Rao’s request to travel for dental surgery rejected

10/10/2025

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The court said that adequate and affordable treatment was available in the city and found no satisfactory reason for the 85-year-old to travel to Telangana.
A special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected a plea by 85-year-old activist and poet Varavara Rao, who is out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, seeking permission to travel to Hyderabad for two months for a dental surgery, The Indian Express reported.
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‘Can get treatment at Mumbai civic hospital’: Court declines travel nod to Varavara Rao

10/10/2025

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

85-yr-old filed plea for travel to Hyderabad for dental operation
A special court on Thursday rejected a plea filed by Telugu poet 85-year-old Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, who had sought to travel to Hyderabad for two months for a dental operation.
The court said that the Supreme Court while granting him bail in its “magnanimous humanity” had given him the liberty to leave Mumbai if required with permission from the special court.
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Also read:
▪ SC refuses to hear plea of P Varavara Rao on bail modification (Hindustan Times / Sep 2025)
▪ For accused out on bail, Court’s condition to not leave city a further challenge (The Indian Express / Jan 2025)
▪ Supreme Court grants permanent medical bail to P. Varavara Rao in Bhima Koregaon case (The Leaflet / Aug 2022)

Supreme Court Extends Interim Bail Of Mahesh Raut Till November 26

09/10/2025 Asha

Live Law / by Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

The Supreme Court today (October 9) extended the interim bail granted to Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case accused Mahesh Sitaram Raut, arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, over alleged Maoist links, till November 26. Raut was granted bail on September 16 for a period of six weeks by a bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Satish Kumar Sharma on medical grounds. The same bench today extended his interim medical bail.
…
Along with Raut, co-accused Jyoti Jagtap’s matter is also listed before this bench.
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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)
▪ Supreme Court grants six-week interim medical bail to Bhima Koregaon accused Mahesh Raut (Sabrangindia / Sep 2025)
▪ Year after being granted bail, Mahesh Raut remains in jail as stay extended (The Indian Express / Sep 2024)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

On Living the Legacy of Fr. Stan Swamy

09/10/2025 Asha

Countercurrents / by Cedric Prakash

Late evening of 8 October 2020, Fr Stan Swamy was summoned from ‘Bagaicha’ in Ranchi (the Social Centre he founded in 2006 and where he lived) by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials, to their local headquarters in Ranchi city. He was immediately detained and kept in their custody the whole night. The next morning, he was flown to Bombay and unceremoniously thrown into Taloja Jail. His incarceration followed months of raids, interrogations, intimidation and harassment at the hands of the NIA. The treatment meted out to him in jail was even worse.
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Also read:
▪ Father Stan Swamy died of natural causes, Maharashtra government tells court (India Today / Oct 2025)
▪ Daring, Fearless and Kind, Father Stan Swamy Remains a Beacon of Resistance (The Wire | by Hany Babu, Jyoti Jagtap, Mahesh Raut, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe, Surendra Gadling | Jul 2025)
▪ Will anti-Naxal drive pave way for mining giants? (The New Indian Express / May 2025)
▪ Jharkhand police to probe into Maoist links with Stan Swamy’s ‘Bagaicha’, 63 other frontal organisations (The New Indian Express / Sep 2023)

▪ I am not a Silent Spectator – Why Truth has become so bitter, Dissent so intolarable, Justice so out of reach – An Autobiographical Fragment, Memory and Reflection (Indian Social Institute | by Stan Swamy | Aug 2021)

Edition: Aug 2021
Publisher: Indian Social Institute, Bangalore
Language: English
Paperback: 149 pages

‘Why truth has become so bitter, dissent so intolerable, justice so out of reach?’ because truth has become very bitter to those in power and position, dissent, so unpalatable to the ruling elite, justice, so out of reach to the powerless, marginalised, deprived people. Yet, truth must be spoken, right to dissent must be upheld, and justice must reach the doorsteps of the poor. I am not a silent spectator. This booklet is not my autobiography. It is rather a collation of some glimpses/episodes from my life that somehow made a difference for me, and possibly for my confrères, colleagues and the people with whom I have shared my life.

Access a free PDF copy of the book here

Delhi University Vice Chancellor’s speech criticising ‘urban naxals’ draws ire

08/10/2025 Asha

PUCL condemns regressive and defamatory views of DU Vice Chancellor Prof. Yogesh Singh: At odds with Constitutional values

09/10/2025

Countercurrents.org / by People’s Union For Civil Liberties

People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) India, is shocked at the troubling views expressed by Dr Yogesh Singh, professor and Vice Chancellor Delhi University on 28th September, 2025 in a speech titled “Naxal Mukt Bharat: Ending Red Terror Under Modi’s Leadership, Why Campuses are Targets?’
…
In the over 20 minute speech, replete with unsubstantiated and defamatory statements about alleged “urban naxals” on campus, Prof Singh named Delhi university’s professors and student activists charged and imprisoned under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, including members of the feminist student group Pinjar Tod (Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal), charged in the Delhi riots case and Prof Hany Babu and professors Dr Shoma Sen and Dr Anand Teltumbde (mispronounced by Prof Singh as Teltumbedke), charged in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Delhi University V-C’s speech criticising ‘urban naxals’, Pinjra Tod movement draws ire

08/10/2025

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh’s speech alleging the presence of “Urban Naxals” in universities and criticising movements like ‘Pinjra Tod’ has triggered protests from students and faculty.
… Referring to the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case, Singh named DU professor Hany Babu and academics Rona Wilson and Anand Teltumbde, saying, “And these are not isolated cases.”
Read more

Also read:
▪ As Maharashtra Govt Brings Bill Against ‘Urban Naxalism’, Activists Fear Criminalisation of Dissent (The Wire / Jul 2025)
▪ Insecurity By Law: A Critique of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill in the Context of India’s Banning Regime (PUDR / Jul 2025)
▪ McCarthyism in INDIA?: The Return of The Urban Naxal Bogey! (The Crossbill / Jul 2024)
▪ From ‘tukde tukde gang’ to ‘urban Naxal’: How media trials enable the government to stifle dissent (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

Video | Gautam Navlakha on India’s Prisons: Punishment Precedes Trial

08/10/2025 Asha

en | 30:21 | 2025

OutlookIndia / by OutlookIndia

“Indian jails have turned into a prison for people who are merely accused. It is unfortunate that political prisoners, get bail from the High court, but it is stayed by the Supreme Court and their bail arguments continue for months, even years.”

Human rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha offers a stark account of life inside India’s prisons, describing a system defined by deliberate neglect, overcrowding, and institutional apathy. Arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, Navlakha spent years in judicial custody as an undertrial, reflecting the plight of thousands of undertrials who remain in detention for years without bail.
Watch video

Also read:
▪ HC seeks NIA’s response to Navlakha’s plea to reside in Delhi during pendency of Elgaar Parishad case (Indian Express / Oct 2025)
▪ Taloja Jail: Lives Fading in Silence Behind Iron Walls (Outlook | by Sudhir Dhawale | Sep 2025)

Gautam Navlakha has a tremendous archive of writings from the 1980s to the present, documented by The Friends of Gautam Navlakha.
To read some of his recent writings and a full list of his articles with NewsClick, Economic & Political Weekly and the platform Sanhati visit: Gautam Navlakha – Journalist, Human Rights Defender, Political Prisoner

Bombay High Court seeks NIA’s response to Navlakha’s plea to reside in Delhi

07/10/2025 Asha

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

The special court designated under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act in June this year had rejected Navlakha’s plea, after which he approached the HC in July this year challenging the same.
…
A bench of Justices Gadkari and Ranjitsinha R Bhonsale on Friday issued notice to NIA seeking its reply by next hearing on November 7.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Gautam Navlakha cites Mumbai costs draining savings, seeks virtual hearing (India Today / Oct 2025)
▪ Mumbai court denies Elgar Parishad case accused’s plea to visit Delhi (India Today / Aug 2025)
▪ Bhima Koregaon case: Court rejects activist Gautam Navlakha’s plea to live in Delhi (Scroll.in / Jun 2025)
▪ Navlakha files application in court seeking permission to stay in Delhi (The Indian Express / Apr 2025)
▪ Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon accused struggle to find house in city (Hindustan Times / Nov 2022)

Father Stan Swamy died of natural causes, Maharashtra government tells court

06/10/2025 Asha

Father Stan Swamy died of natural causes, Maharashtra government tells court

07/10/2025

India Today / by Vidya

The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission found no foul play or medical negligence. The Bombay High Court is hearing a plea to clear his name, with further hearing on November 13.
The Maharashtra government on Monday submitted a magistrate’s enquiry report confirming that Father Stan Swamy’s death was due to natural causes. The report, prepared by Bandra Magistrate Komalsing Rajput following an enquiry on April 24, 2024, concluded that the 84-year-old activist, who was imprisoned in the Elgar Parishad case, died from “septicemia due to lobar pneumonia (natural).”
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‘Father Stan Swamy Died Natural Death, Was Provided Prompt Medical Treatment’: State Tells Bombay High Court

06/10/2025

Live Law / by Narsi Benwal

The Bombay High Court was informed on Monday that a mandatory Magisterial Inquiry report on Father Stan Swamy’s death was submitted before the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) earlier in May which concluded that he had died a ‘natural death.’
Read more

Also read:
▪ NIA opposes plea to clear Stan Swamy’s name, says it would set wrong precedent (India Today / Sep 2025)
▪ I saw firsthand how callous prison officials and their negligence led to Stan Swamy’s death (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Jul 2025)
▪ Daring, Fearless and Kind, Father Stan Swamy Remains a Beacon of Resistance (The Wire | by Hany Babu, Jyoti Jagtap, Mahesh Raut, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe, Surendra Gadling | Jul 2025)
▪ How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Aug 2021)