Asha – Page 101 – free them all

Jail Authorities Are Blocking Letters From Elgar Parishad Arrested to Their Loved Ones

06/10/2021 Asha

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

After Father Stan Swamy’s death in July, Sudhir Dhawale penned an emotional letter. But Taloja jail authorities decided nobody should read it.
When 84-year-old Jharkhand-based tribal rights activist and Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy passed away on July 5, one of his co-accused in the Elgar Parishad case, Sudhir Dhawale, penned an emotional poem. Dhawale, a writer and anti-caste activist from Mumbai who is currently jailed at the Taloja central prison, wrote an eight-page poem describing his first meeting with Swamy, their interactions in jail and Swamy’s contribution to the tribal rights movement in Jharkhand. He titled the poem Pathalgadicha Father or the ‘Father of Pathalgadi’.
Read more

Video: Freedom For Varavara Rao

05/10/2021 Asha

en | 1h 5min | 2021

By Irish PEN and Scottish PEN

Join Irish PEN, Scottish PEN, Wales PEN Cymru and guests as we share readings, translations and updates on the case of revolutionary Indian poet, Varavara Rao.
This event was chaired by Professor Ignatius McGovern and featured a rare opportunity to hear from Rao’s nephew, Venugopal Nellutla, who published ‘The Making of Varavara Rao: An Intimate Portrait by a Nephew’ in 2020. The event includes a variety of poetry and prose readings from Áine Ní Ghlinn, Professor Bashabi Fraser, Leela Soma, Ifor ap Glyn, June Considine and Kate Ennals.
Watch video

Bhima Koregaon: Outcome of a ‘Larger Conspiracy’?

05/10/2021 Asha

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

Testimony presented before the Bhima Korgaon Commission over the last two months reveals the background to the violence that broke out on January 1, 2018.
As the Bhima Koregaon accused continue to struggle for bail, important information about the violence that they are accused of instigating is emerging before the judicial commission that’s investigating the violence.
Read more

Sedition law: an imperial legacy, and a weapon of intimidation and subjugation by the regime

03/10/2021 Asha

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

The Leaflet / by Tushar Gandhi

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, TUSHAR GANDHI relies on Mahatma Gandhi’s defence during his 1992 sedition trial to make a case for the abrogation of the colonial-era law, as well as similar other laws that are used to stifle citizens’ democratic rights…
The Bhima Koregaon case is another case of blatant intimidation and punishment of dissent, a democratic right of citizens, in which intellectuals have been arrested and charged, and are being prosecuted.
Read more

Also read:
● The Definition of “Terrorist Act” in UAPA Is So Vague That It Is Susceptible To Misuse: Justice Anjana Prakash (Live Law / Jul 26, 2021)
● Seventeen proposed charges by NIA against accused (Bar & Bench / Aug 22, 2021)
● National Call: Defend Right to Dissent, Repeal Sedition Law, UAPA and Repressive State Laws (July 2021)

Mumbai: Release the Bhima Koregaon Prisoners

02/10/2021 Asha

By Dr Meena Kandasamy (Oct 1)
Rama Ambedkar at a gathering in Bombay today demanding release of #BhimaKoregaon prisoners. She spoke on the sudden change in the media narrative of the BK riots in 2018 and the conspiracy that ensued culminating in the arrest of Anand Teltumbde and 15 others.

Switzerland: Petition demands immediate release of political prisoners in India

01/10/2021 Asha

Berne; Oct 1, 2021 (Pic credits: Solifonds)

By SOLIFONDS and the Women’s Rights Group Zurich of Amnesty International Switzerland

Today, Friday 1 October, SOLIFONDS and the Women’s Rights Group Zurich of Amnesty International Switzerland handed over several hundred signatures for a petition for the release of political prisoners (BK16) to the Indian Embassy in Berne, Switzerland. However, no one from the embassy was willing to receive the petition.

Indian trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj has been in prison for over three years – without evidence and without a trial. Sudha Bharadwaj is also known in Switzerland because she struggled for the direct employment of contract workers at the Swiss cement company Holcim in India, as ruled by law. She and 15 other human rights defenders, intellectuals, lawyers and cultural workers were accused of being involved in the violence at Bhima Koregaon and of planning a conspiracy against the government. Forged documents, which forensic investigations revealed had been smuggled into the computers of accused persons by hackers, serve as “evidence”. A trial has not yet taken place.
…

Witness Accuses Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote Of Instigating Bhima Koregaon Riots

01/10/2021 Asha

Witness Before Probe Panel Accuses Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote Of Instigating Bhima Koregaon Riots

01/10/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Pune police “took away” research papers and evidence that revealed right-wing extremist leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote instigated and initiated the riots at Bhima Koregaon(BK) in Pune, on January 1, 2018, an anti-caste activist alleged before an inquiry panel, on Wednesday.
Harshali Potdar (33) said she managed to re-collect a chunk of the lost evidence after the Pune police searched her office along with the homes of other activists in April 2018. However, core material against the real culprits of the violence is still unavailable.
Read more

Samabhji Bhide, Milind Ekbote instigated Bhima Koregaon riots: Accused event organiser tells Inquiry Commission

30/09/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The accused in Bhima Koregaon case of 2018, Harshali Potdar, informed the Commission that she apprehended danger to her life for deposing the truth against Bhide and Ekbote in the Commission.
Harshali Potdar, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018 for her alleged links with banned organisation CPI -Maoist stated before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry that the violence was instigated by Samabhji Bhide, former RSS worker and Milind Ekbote, former BJP corporator.
Read more

Ekbote instigated Koregaon Bhima violence, Elgaar Parishad organiser tells panel

20/09/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Advocate Ashish Satpute, the lawyer representing the commission, started recording her examination in chief on Wednesday.
Harshali Potdar (33), who was named as an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case over her alleged links with the banned CPI-Maoist, deposed as a witness before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday.
Read more

Also Read: Casting a Veil – What we miss by ignoring Maratha caste politics in the Bhima Koregaon case (The Caravan, Dec 2020)

Teacher, companion, motivator: Adivasi-rights activist Dayamani Barla remembers Stan Swamy

29/09/2021 Asha

The Caravan / Dayamani Barla

To understand the life struggle of Stan Swamy, it is necessary to understand the history and struggle of the Adivasi community in Jharkhand and the country. There is a need to understand the traditional rights that Adivasis have on natural resources such as water, forest, and land. It is only then that we can appreciate what Swamy stood for and fought for.
Read more

Another COVID-19 Outbreak in Byculla Prison Highlights Lessons That Haven’t Been Learnt

28/09/2021 Asha

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Another COVID-19 Outbreak in Byculla Prison Highlights Lessons That Haven’t Been Learnt

28/09/2021

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Rights activists Shoma Sen and Sudha Bharadwaj are lodged in this prison.
On September 17, a local health post in Mumbai’s E ward was notified about a sudden increase in “fever” cases inside Byculla women’s prison. The cause of the fever was unknown, but the prison authorities had seen this pattern many times in the past year. The ward authorities set up a fever camp two days later, on September 19. The initial figures suggested three women were down with COVID-19. In subsequent camps, another 36 people – including six children under the age of six – tested positive. The jail, with close to 300 women prisoners, was soon sealed.
Read more

43 inmates, including at least four children, test positive in Mumbai’s Byculla prison

26/09/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The jail has not been declared a containment zone yet.
The number of inmates who contracted the coronavirus disease in Mumbai’s Byculla prison rose to 43 on Sunday. This includes at least four children, who continue to stay with their mothers…
The prison holds inmates like Elgar Parishad accused Sudha Bharadwaj, Jyoti Jagtap and Shoma Sen.
Read more

Also read: Amid pandemic, India’s political prisoners struggle with failing health in unequipped jails (the Caravan, June 22, 2021)

Increasing spread of virus infection in Byculla prison is worrisome: Friends & Family of Sudha Bharadwaj

26/09/2021 Asha

By Friends & Family of Sudha Bharadwaj

Press Release
Friends and Family of Sudha Bharadwaj are extremely worried over the alarming and disturbing news of the rising Covid-19 infection in Byculla women’s jail forcing the authorities to seal the premise.
Last week, in a prison supervised phone conversation Koel Sen had with her mother Shoma Sen, former professor of English from Nagpur University, arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case and incarcerated for the last three years in Byculla prison without trial, it was informed that 20 inmates from the prison were infected, which appears to have now risen to 39!
Three women political prisoners, Shoma Sen, Sudha Bharadwaj and Jyoti Jagtap, all arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case for the past three years without trial and bail, are housed in the women’s prison of Byculla jail. Alarmingly, two out of the 20 infected are from the barrack that houses 40 senior women inmates, including 61-year-old Shoma Sen and 59-year-old Sudha Bharadwaj. The barrack of 40 senior citizen women inmates is fully vaccinated, however the virus infection of the two fully vaccinated women has sent fear and concern to all the women inside the prison and their family waiting for them in their homes. …