Asha – Page 116 – free them all

Probe panel summons police officers Param Bir Singh, Rashmi Shukla as witnesses

22/10/2021 Asha

Probe panel summons police officers Param Bir Singh, Rashmi Shukla as witnesses

22/10/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Singh was additional director general (law and order) of the Maharashtra Police at the time of the violence, and Shukla was the Pune Police chief.
A judicial commission investigating the Bhima Koregaon case on Friday summoned former chiefs of the Mumbai and Pune Police, Param Bir Singh and Rashmi Shukla, to appear as witnesses in the matter, Live Law reported.
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Koregaon Bhima: Commission summons DCP (Crime) for police station records

22/10/2021

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

A two-member commission headed by retired judge justice J N Patel is probing into the causes of violence in Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, in which one person had died and several others were left injured.
Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Thursday issued summons to the deputy commissioner of police (crime) of the Pune city police asking for various records from Vishrambag police station between November 2017 and February 2018.
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Will Bhima Koregaon Commission wind up on December 31?

21/10/2021

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

‘Not giving the Commission space in Mumbai is an insult to Maharashtra’s Dalits who are waiting for the inquiry report.’ Jyoti Punwani reports.
Will the Bhima Koregaon Commission wind up by December, when the current extension granted to it expires?
That was suggested at Wednesday’s hearing by retired Justice J N Patel, who heads the two-member judicial inquiry into the violence that shook Maharashtra on January 1, 2018.
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Bhima Koregaon: Outcome of a ‘Larger Conspiracy’?

05/10/2021

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.
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Also read: Witness Before Probe Panel Accuses Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote Of Instigating Bhima Koregaon Riots (Live Law / Sep 2021)

Video: The Digital Surveillance Crisis and Threats to Human Rights Defenders

21/10/2021 Asha

By Access Now

This event discusses how states, facilitated by private companies, are unlawfully deploying targeted surveillance technologies against civil society around the world.
The biennial General Assembly resolution on human rights defenders that will be considered at its 76th session offers is an opportunity to discuss the effects of digital surveillance on the activities and safety of human rights defenders and their rights to privacy and freedom of expression, and to adopt measures that would allow defenders to continue exercise their human rights unhindered.

Video: UN General Assembly Side Event

en | 1h 33min | 2021

Watch at YouTube

Also read:
● Pegasus Project: 161 Names Revealed By The Wire On Snoop List So Far (The Wire, Aug 2021)
● Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / Jul 2021)

Bombay High Court Grants NIA Time To Respond In Anand Teltumbde’s Bail Appeal

20/10/2021 Asha

Bombay High Court Grants NIA Time To Respond In Anand Teltumbde’s Bail Appeal

20/10/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) two weeks to respond to Dalit scholar Anand Teltumbde’s bail appeal.
Teltumbde has filed two petitions; the first is an appeal against the special court’s order rejecting his bail application and the second is a petition challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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Bombay HC asks NIA to respond to Anand Teltumbde’s bail plea in two weeks

20/10/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The activist has filed another petition challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
… The central agency has accused Teltumbde of being the convenor of the Elgaar Parishad conference held on December 31, 2017, that led to Bhima Koregaon violence the next day. It has alleged that the activist was an active member of the CPI (Maoist) and was “deeply involved in furtherance of its furtherance of its agenda.”
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Also read: Anand Teltumbde Moves Bombay High Court Challenging Stringent Bail Conditions & ‘Vague Terminology’ In UAPA (Live Law, Sep 2021)

Bail is Not Impossible in UAPA Cases: Courts Can Shine a Path to Justice

19/10/2021 Asha

Bail is Not Impossible in UAPA Cases: Courts Can Shine a Path to Justice

19/10/2021

The Quint / by Vakasha Sachdev

Despite strict bail conditions & the SC’s Watali judgment, courts can still apply their mind to see if charges fit.
India has for many years had a major problem when it comes to pre-trial incarceration. 70 percent of prisoners in India are undertrials, according to the latest available NCRB data (from 2019) – that’s 3,28,000 people in jail without ever being convicted.
… The Bhima Koregaon accused are the best example of this, with bail denied to them despite incriminating evidence appearing to be planted on their computers (Rona Wilson), the material against them being dubious (Sudha Bhardwaj) and having severe illnesses (83-year-old Father Stan Swamy, who eventually died in jail).
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Kappan’s Chargesheet and Threat to Reporters Covering Minority Issues

19/10/2021

Newsclick / by Hana Vahab

An independent journalist in India has been behind the bars for one year. His crime, as per the chargesheet filed is, reporting and writing stories only for “inciting” the Muslim community.
… The number of journalists charged with UAPA in the past five years add up to over 5,000 with a hike of 162% in sedition cases between 2016- 2019 as per the National Crime Records Bureau. Those who were incarcerated under UAPA include … human rights lawyers Arun Ferreria and Surendra Gadling, Dalit rights activists Sudhir Dhawale and Mahesh Raut, women’s rights activist Shoma Sen among others.
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Human rights defenders don’t tarnish India’s image

19/10/2021 Asha

Human rights defenders don’t tarnish India’s image

19/10/2021

The Indian Express / by Kavita Krishnan

An event marking the 28th foundation day of India’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) revealed much about the current state of human rights in India.
… The fact is that India’s human rights defenders have held every shade of government responsible and accountable for human rights violations and infringement of civil liberties. Sudha Bharadwaj, a leading human rights defender who is in prison for the past three years thanks to flimsy charges under a draconian law, exposed rights violations in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar when the Union home ministry, then under the control of Modi’s rival, the Congress, unleashed “Operation Green Hunt” that resulted in the rape, massacre and displacement of Adivasi civilians in the name of combating Maoist insurgents.
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Mindset that harms human rights, writes P Chidambaram

17/10/2021

Indian Express / by P Chidambaram

In the last over three years, PM Modi has not uttered a word on the human rights of the prisoners in the Bhima Koregaon case nor on the prolonged delay in even framing the charges. I agree with the PM when he said “Such mindset harms human rights a lot.”
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Also read: Bhima Koregaon case: Three years of legal and rights violations (Newslaundry, Jan 2021)

Koregaon Bhima Inquiry Commission Witness from Vadhu Budruk questioned about village history

19/10/2021 Asha

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The village also has a disputed tomb-like structure, which, according to the Dalit Mahar community, is the samadhi of Govind Gopal Dhegoji Meghoji, a 17th-century Dalit figure.
The cross-examination of Sambhaji Shivale (51), a resident of Vadhu Budruk village in Pune district, continued before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Monday.
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The Prison Song of Surendra Gadling

17/10/2021 Asha

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

While out on temporary bail in August, the rights activist sang a song written by Kabir Kala Manch’s Ramesh Gaichor for his friends and colleagues about the sordid conditions in prison.
Mumbai: Surendra Gadling, a human rights lawyer from Nagpur, has always considered courtrooms his stage. Between serious arguments, he would casually break into songs of cultural and political resistance. He would be commonly found invoking political theories and remembering shahirs from the Dalit community amid serious legal arguments. His court appearances usually attracted an eager audience from among his peers and junior lawyers.
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Video: The Prison Song of Surendra Gadling

hindi | 11min | 2021

51- year-old Gadling, a well-known criminal lawyer in Nagpur, was once a cultural activist, who sang songs of political resistance. The 11- minutes- long rendition tells you what it means to be incarcerated in Indian prisons. From food, water, to medical care, everything is a struggle, Gadling narrates. The song was recorded by one of Gadling’s colleagues and was made available to The Wire after obtaining his consent.
Watch video

Also read: India’s Jail Stats: 7 In 10 Undertrials, 1 In 3 Dalit/Adivasi (IndiaSpend / Oct 2021)

Bombay HC extends temporary bail of Varavara Rao till Oct 28

14/10/2021 Asha

Varavara Rao need not surrender before jail officials until October 28, says HC

14/10/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Bombay High Court will hear Rao’s plea seeking extension of his medical bail for another six months on October 26.
Poet Varavara Rao need not surrender before the Taloja Jail authorities in Navi Mumbai until October 28, the Bombay High Court said on Tuesday, PTI reported.
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Bombay HC extends time to surrender for Varavara Rao

14/10/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

The octogenarian, arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case in 2018, was granted medical bail by the HC on February 22 for six months.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday extended till October 28 the time to surrender for Elgar Parishad accused Varavara Rao, who has sought extension of his medical bail and permission to shift to his residence at Hyderabad in Telangana, citing ill health and high expenses in Mumbai.
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Live Law (Oct 14):
+++ Bombay High Court will shortly hear Telugu poet PV #VaravaraRao(81)’s plea to extend the medical bail granted to him, in February, 2021.
He has also sought relaxation of his bail condition so that he can leave Mumbai and live at home in #Hyderabad +++
+++ Hearing before Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal
Sr Adv Anand Grover for Rao ASG Anil Singh for NIA +++
+++ Hearing begins +++
+++ Justice Jamdar – We can take it up sometime in the next week.
Desai requests for a Friday hearing.
J Jamdar – Adjourned to 26th. Time to surrender till 28th +++

Also read: Varavara Rao’s Plea For Extension Of Medical Bail; Bombay HC Adjourns The Matter, Grants Interim Protection (Live Law; Sep 24, 2021)

Will Provide Clone Copies Once Received From FSL, But Trial Shouldn’t Be Stayed: NIA

13/10/2021 Asha

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Four years after arrests in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case, the National Investigation Agency has said that it will provide remaining copies of electronic evidence seized, but the trial in the case should go on.
Responding to pleas by lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and journalist Gautam Navlakha to stay the proceedings or defer framing of charges until the clones copies are not provided, NIA claims they have yet to receive copies from the Forensic Science Laboratory.
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Also read: After Pegasus and Arsenal Reports, Can Bhima Koregaon Case Still Stand? (The Quint; July 21, 2021)

Silence from Maharashtra authorities on letter on Father Stan Swamy’s jail torment

12/10/2021 Asha

Silence on letter on Father Stan Swamy’s jail torment

12/10/2021

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

A three-month-old letter by three Elgaar Parishad co-accused alleging “institutional murder” of Father Stan Swamy and accusing then Taloja prison superintendent Kaustubh Kurlekar of mistreating him has yet to evoke any response from the Maharashtra authorities it was sent to.
The letter alleged the 84-year-old Jesuit and tribal rights defender from Jharkhand was strip-searched “in front of the entire staff” when he was brought to the jail, and was kept in isolation so the Parkinson’s patient could not receive any help from fellow prisoners.
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Stan Swamy’s Death was an Institutional Murder: Co-inmates write to Uddhav Thackeray

06/10/2021

NewsClick / by Parth M.N.

The letter holds the superintendent of Taloja Prison, Kaustubh Kurlekar, responsible for Swamy’s death, and accuses him of purposely emasculating Swamy’s physical health and mental resolve.
Three political prisoners arrested in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case have written a letter to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray. The letter claims that father Stan Swamy, a tribal rights activist based in Jharkhand, did not die a natural death. “It was an institutional murder,” says the letter, signed by human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling, and cultural activists Ramesh Gaichor and Sagar Gorkhe, who were eyewitnesses to the treatment meted out to Swamy in prison.
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