How Varavara Rao’s new book traces the political economy of capital punishment in India, and why his call for its abolition deserves renewed and urgent attention.
On November 30, 1975, prisoners at Musheerabad Jail were scrambling to find scraps of paper and pens to record news that had not yet reached the outside world. Desperate to get the information out, they devised a plan to throw the papers over the prison’s boundary wall.
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VV’s association with death is a history in itself. He has experienced what might be called social death through decades of arrests, incarceration, and legal persecution, beginning when he was 34. He has reportedly been implicated in 24 conspiracy cases and acquitted in all of them. Read more
Koregaon Bhima Commission Gets 24th Extension, Report Delayed Again
01/11/2026
Urban Acres / by Urban Acres
The Koregaon Bhima Commission’s 24th extension is not simply another administrative date change. It shows how a public inquiry constituted to establish the sequence of events behind the January 2018 violence in Pune district remains unfinished nearly nine years after the incident, despite the examination of 58 witnesses and the conclusion of witness hearings.
The Maharashtra government has extended the commission’s tenure until March 31, 2027. The state Home Department issued the letter on October 30, after the commission’s earlier extension was due to end on October 31. V V Palnitkar, the commission’s secretary, told The Indian Express that five more months were required to conclude pending arguments before the final report could be submitted to the government. Read more
Initially, the commission was given four months to submit its report, but its tenure had to be repeatedly extended to allow it to complete its work.
The Maharashtra government has granted yet another extension to the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry till March 31, 2027.
The Home Department of the state government issued a letter in this regard on October 30.
This is the 24th extension granted to the commission probing the causes for violence in Pune’s Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, in which one person died and several others were injured where lakhs of Ambedkarites had gathered to commemorate the 200th battle of Koregaon Bhima. Read more
Arun Ferreira was arrested in 2007 in multiple cases. Following acquittal in all the cases, the activist was to be released from Nagpur prison in September 2011
The Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench has held that the September 2011 arrest of activist Arun Ferreira was “illegal” and directed the Maharashtra government to pay him Rs 2 lakh in compensation.
… Ferreira is also an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case and is currently out on bail. Read more
Activist Arun Ferreira’s arrest illegal, give him Rs 2L: Bombay HC
31/10/2026
Times of India / by Vaibhav Ganjapure
Bombay HC has directed Maharashtra govt to pay Rs 2 lakh compensation to activist Arun Ferreira, ruling that his arrest outside Nagpur Central Prison in 2011 violated his fundamental rights under Articles 21 and 22. Partly allowing his 2012 plea, the Nagpur bench ordered the govt to deposit the amount in court within eight weeks. Read more
Bombay High Court grants ₹2 lakh compensation to Arun Ferreira for illegal arrest outside Nagpur Jail in 2011
30/10/2026
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
The Court slammed the police for branding an undertrial as ‘absconding’ while he was detained in jail, and held that the arrest in an unmarked car violated constitutional safeguards.
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has held the September 2011 re-arrest of activist Arun Thomas Ferreira illegal and directed the State of Maharashtra to pay him ₹2 lakh in compensation. [Arun Thomas Ferreira v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.] Read more
▪ Colours Of The Cage Author: Arun Ferreira Publishing Date: Sep 2014 Publisher: Aleph Book Company Pages: 176
In May 2007, human rights activist Arun Ferreira was picked up from the railway station and arrested by the Nagpur Police on charges of being a Naxalite. Over the next few months, he was charged with more crimes—of criminal conspiracy, murder, possession of arms and rioting, among others—and incarcerated in one of the most notorious prisons in Maharashtra, the Nagpur Central Jail.
This is an account of the nearly five years that Ferreira was imprisoned. Read more/order ▪ Video: Arun Ferreira speaks about Life in an Indian Prison en | 12:51 min | 2014 Watch video
India’s quest for a political alternative / The Modi-Shah-Doval nexus
India’s quest for a political alternative beyond the BJP and Congress
08/11/2026
Counterview / by Bhabani Shankar Nayak
The crisis in contemporary India is manufactured by a political duopoly: the arrogance of the Congress Party and the dominance of the BJP. Crony capitalists are the beneficiaries of both the economic crisis and the growth that accompanies it. A Hinduised Congress and a Congressised Hindutva represent the same bourgeois politics, in which corporate interests prosper at the expense of India and Indians.
… Both parties have also built legal structures that empower corporations while terrorising citizens. … Their targets include Binayak Sen, Umar Khalid, the late G. N. Saibaba and Stan Swamy, Soni Sori, Sudha Bharadwaj and many young idealists and students. Read more
The dark one’s due — the Modi-Shah-Doval nexus
31/10/2026
The Express Tribune / by Farrukh Khand Pitfafi
For 12 years the Modi-Shah-Doval nexus has left breadcrumbs mapping a creeping, hostile takeover of the republic
… Once the judiciary was tamed, the rot spread through the hard power structures. As early as 2015, prosecutor Rohini Salian told NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain of instructions from the National Investigation Agency leadership to go soft on right-wing terrorists in the Malegaon case.
… The soft power pipeline was choked as ruthlessly. The first move tested the waters with blatant appointments, packing historical research councils with revisionists. The state then installed RSS enforcers as university vice-chancellors to break student resistance. It weaponised anti-terror laws in the Bhima Koregaon case, inventing the phantom threat of the urban Naxal to criminalise scholars like Anand Teltumbde, Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen and Hany Babu. Read more
The crisis in contemporary India is a crisis manufactured by the political duopoly of the arrogance of the Congress Party and dominance of the BJP. Crony capitalists are the beneficiaries of today’s economic crisis and growth.
A Hinduised Congress and a Congressiesed Hindutva represent the same bourgeois politics, in which corporate crony capitalists benefit at the cost of India and Indians.
… Both the BJP and Congress Party have created legal structures for the empowerment of corporations and terrorise people with laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). These laws were created by the Congress Party and are used by the BJP to demonise democratic dissent and weaken constitutional democracy in India. They are used against people such as Binayak Sen, Umar Khalid, G. N. Saibaba, Stan Swamy, Soni Sori, Sudha Bharadwaj and many other idealist youths and students of India. Read more
Dominic F. Dixon, executive director of the United Nations Association for Development and Peace, received the International Human Rights Award at the International Convention for Human Rights 2026 in New Delhi.
The award was presented by the World Human Rights Research Council on Oct. 25 at the NDMC Convention Centre on Sansad Marg.
Accepting the prestigious accolade, Dixon dedicated the award to the memory of Father Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old Jesuit priest and human rights defender who spent his life standing alongside Adivasi communities and the marginalized. Read more
▪ 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
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.
Bhima Koregaon 2018. Graphic by Arun Ferreira & Vernon Gonsalves.
Credits: The Polis Project
aitimeline.in / by by Nazish Fatima
Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case timeline: the 2018 violence, 16 UAPA arrests, every bail order and the state inquiry report due by 31 October 2026.
The Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case timeline begins with the 200th anniversary of an 1818 battle: on 31 December 2017 activists held the Elgar Parishad at Pune’s Shaniwar Wada, and on 1 January 2018 violence near the Bhima Koregaon memorial left one man dead. Two separate investigations followed: one into the violence, and an anti-terror conspiracy case alleging that the conclave was backed by Maoists, in which 16 people were arrested. As of 27 October 2026, no one has been convicted, every surviving accused has been granted bail, and the state inquiry commission’s report is due by 31 October. This page keeps the two tracks apart and links each legal step to the report that recorded it. Read more
The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Indian National Congress, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) to furnish details of their registration, constitution and office-bearers before it proceeds to hear their petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Act (MSPSA).
… The State’s affidavit cited various instances particularly, the caste-based riots infamously known as the Bhima-Koregaon Violence which broke out across Maharashtra on January 01, 2018. It stated that the arrest of the ‘central committee’ members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) (CPI-M) in Elgar Parishad, brought national focus on ‘Urban Activities’ of ‘Urban Maoists.’ Read more
Surjagarh Arson Case: Supreme Court To Hear UAPA Accused Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea On November 4
15/10/2026
Law Beat / by Sukriti Mishra
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal on October 15, 2026 mentioned Surendra Gadling’s bail plea before a Supreme Court Bench including Justice Vikram Nath, which listed the matter for hearing on November 4
The Supreme Court on Thursday fixed Surendra Gadling’s plea for bail for hearing on November 4, after Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal urged the Court to fix a date, telling the Court that Gadling “has been inside for 7 years” and that the matter “is not being heard”.
Gadling’s plea was listed before a Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta. Read more
Supreme Court Lists Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea In Surjagarh Arson Case For November 4
15/10/2026
LawChakra / by LawChakra Desk
Years in custody and a plea that never seemed to reach the head of the cause list: the Supreme Court has now fixed November 4 to hear Surendra Gadling’s bail plea in the 2016 Surjagarh mine arson case, after Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned it.
Activist-lawyer Surendra Gadling, who remains in custody in the 2016 Surjagarh mine arson case in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, will have his bail plea heard on November 4, the Supreme Court decided on Thursday, although he has already secured bail in the Bhima Koregaon case [Surendra Pundalik Gadling v. State of Maharashtra]. Read more
UAPA’s vague provisions, stringent bail conditions and inconsistent judicial interpretations have enabled the prolonged imprisonment of activists, scholars and journalists without trial; Prof. G.N. Saibaba’s experience shows the urgent need to reform a legal regime that undermines civil liberties, due process and rule of law
… The anniversary of Professor Saibaba’s death is an occasion to reflect on a legal regime that is designed to — quite literally — imprison dissent and deny justice. Over the years, the UAPA has been used to criminalise political opposition. Following the violence at the Bhima Koregaon commemoration event in 2018, UAPA charges were brought against 16 scholars and activists, all of whom were jailed. Eight years later, the trial has yet to begin, and the court has yet to frame charges against the accused. Read more
