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Bombay High Court Reserves Order On Default Bail Plea Of Eight Accused In Bhima Koregaon

02/09/2021 Asha

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Bombay High Court Reserves Order On Default Bail Plea Of Eight Accused In Bhima Koregaon

02/09/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reserved for orders a petition filed by eight accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad caste violence case challenging cognisance of the charge sheet by a sessions judge in Pune and seeking default bail.
The accused have filed the appeal against the Sessions court’s order rejecting the default bail application under Section 167(2) of the Code of of Criminal Procedure read with Section 43-D (2) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
… The HC is likely to pronounce its judgement along a similar plea made co-accused Sudha Bharadwaj, on which order was reserved on August 4.
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HC reserves order on plea by eight accused

01/09/2021

Hindustan Times / by KAY Dodhiya

The Bombay high court reserved its orders in the petition filed by the eight Elgar Parishad accused who challenged the cognizance taken by the sessions judge of the charge sheet filed by Pune Police in November 2018.
The counsel for the accused argued that as the sessions judge had passed orders and not the special NIA court or a magistrate court as stipulated by the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) under which the accused were booked, the orders passed by the sessions judge were not valid and they were eligible for default bail.
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Bombay HC reserves verdict in plea by 8 accused challenging cognizance taken by Pune Sessions Judge

01/09/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The eight accused who have moved the Court are Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, P Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict in the plea filed by eight of sixteen accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case challenging the decision of the Pune Sessions Judge to take cognizance of chargesheet against them.
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Also read:
● 8 accused move Bombay HC; claim chargesheet filed in haste only to defeat their right of bail (Bar & Bench, Aug 23)
● Is Cognizance By Pune Sessions Court In Bhima Koregaon Case Void? Bombay High Court Reserves Judgment In Sudha Bharadwaj’s Plea For Default Bail (Live Law, Aug 4)

Rona Wilson Approaches Court For Temporary Bail Following Father’s Demise

01/09/2021 Asha

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Researcher Rona Wilson, accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad caste violence case approached the Special NIA Court on Wednesday seeking temporary bail for two weeks following his father’s demise on August 18, 2021. Wilson’s father passed away at AT Neendakara, Kerala.
He was 84. Wilson had met his father in April 2018, months before his arrest in the case.
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Activists hold vigil for Fr. Stan, want stringent laws gone

29/08/2021 Asha

Activists hold vigil for Fr. Stan, want stringent laws gone

29/08/2021

The Statesman / by Sankha Ghosh

“Fr Stan had given his entire life to ensure the rights of the marginalized people, and he had been never silent for the rights of the poor people. But he had been arrested under false charges and he died in an inhuman, insensitive manner. We will carry forward his movement for social justice,”
Rights activists, civil society groups, mass organisations, tribal organisations and members of trade unions today vowed to continue their struggle to demand the abrogation of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), sedition law, and unconditional release of political prisoners.
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Father Stan Swamy’s struggle to be taken to panchayats

29/08/2021

The Telegraph / by Animesh Bisoee

One of the conveners of Shahid Father Stan Swamy Nyay Morcha said the awareness campaign will start on September 1 and continue till October 8
Members of trade unions, non-BJP parties and civil society organisations who have come together in the aftermath of the custody death of Father Stan Swamy have decided to take the Jesuit priest’s struggle for the rights of the oppressed and undertrials to the panchayat level in Jharkhand.
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CPM to organise block-level demonstrations across Jharkhand on Oct 8 to mark Swamy’s arrest

29/08/2021

Times of India / by Times of India

The state unit of CPM concluded its two-day state convention on Saturday where it decided that it will organise campaigns at the grass-root level to highlight issues such as civil liberties, the release of political prisoners and scrapping of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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NIA’s draft chargesheet against Elgar Parishad accused smells foul

28/08/2021 Asha

People’s Review / by People’s Review

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has submitted a draft chargesheet before a special court in Mumbai against 15 arrested and six absconding accused in the Elgar Parishad case. Surprisingly, the NIA has dropped the charge of conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the accused and replaced it with a conspiracy to kill a “public functionary”. The NIA’s draft chargesheet against Elgar Parishad accused isn’t merely gibberish but stinks of naked vengeance.
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National Day of Protest Against Draconian Laws

28/08/2021 Asha

Release Sudha Bharadwaj and other comrades

Raipur, August 28

Posters shared @ twitterstorm (August 27)

By National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners
#ScrapUAPA
Part of the Campaign Against Draconian Laws
Jan Azadi 75

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National Day of Protest Against Draconian Laws on 28th August, 2021

Aug 2021

By National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

Friends,
As you already know, NAPM is part of the ongoing joint national campaign against UAPA, sedition and all other draconian laws, which are threatening our right to democratic dissent.

The key demands of this campaign are:
1) Justice for Stan Swamy.
2) Repeal of UAPA, sedition and all other draconian Central and State laws.
3) Restore the Right to Bail.
4) Release all Political Prisoners.
5) Accountability for filing false cases and compensation to victims.
6) Stop illegal detentions and weaponizing the criminal justice system.
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Also read: OPEN NATIONAL CALL: DEFEND RIGHT TO DISSENT, REPEAL SEDITION LAW, UAPA AND REPRESSIVE STATE LAWS (Call issued by several organizations across the country, July 2021)

Bhima Koregaon accused languishing in jail for 3 years

28/08/2021 Asha

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

Plea challenging denial of bail being heard in Bombay HC
Saturday marks three years since trade unionist and human rights advocate Sudha Bharadwaj, columnist and activist Vernon Gonsalves, cartoonist and activist Arun Ferreira and poet and activist Varavara Rao were arrested by the Pune police some seven months after a mob attacked Dalits and Bahujans on January 1, 2018.
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by CIVICUS (Aug 28):
#India: Today marks exactly 3 years since human rights lawyer & activist Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested & subsequently detained under the anti-terror UAPA law on fabricated charges.
The state must #FreeSudhaBharadwaj immediately
http://web.civicus.org/Sudha | #StandAsMyWitness

Petition: Open an Investigation into NetWire attack on the computers of the Bhima Koregaon arrestees!

28/08/2021 Asha

India Civil Watch / By NET ALERT

To: Parliamentary Subcommittee on Information Technology
We, the undersigned, demand that the parliamentary subcommittee on Information Technology open an investigation into the NetWire attack on the computers of the Bhima-Koregaon arrestees. There is overwhelming evidence that a malware attack took place. One of the world’s leading digital forensic investigation agencies, Arsenal Consulting, has conducted a thorough investigation and brought to light crucial evidence confirming the attack and the planting of incriminating documents on the hard drives of the Bhima-Koregaon arrestees. Independent experts have verified Arsenal’s findings.
Read more /sign petition

Varavara Rao seeks extension of medical bail

27/08/2021 Asha

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

Plea before Bombay HC mentions adherence to all court directions despite multiple ailments
The 81-year-old poet Varavara Rao, accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case, has filed for an extension of his medical bail, which expires on September 5, before the Bombay High Court.
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Surveillance state: The Pegasus saga unravels in India

27/08/2021 Asha

Frontline / by Dviya Trivedi

As the Pegasus phone intrusion saga unravels, raising troubling questions over the government’s invasion of privacy, veteran journalists and civil rights activists turn the heat on the Centre by petitioning the Supreme Court for a probe into the matter.
… The phone numbers of several persons accused in the Elgaar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, who are now behind bars, figure in the snoop list. They include M.T. Hany Babu, Rona Wilson, Vernon Gonsalves, Anand Teltumbde, Shoma Sen, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, and Sudha Bharadwaj, along with the family members and friends of other co-accused persons.
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Also read: Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire, July 18)

10 prisoners accuse ex-jail superintendent of ‘political censorship’

27/08/2021 Asha

Prisoners accuse ex-jail superintendent of ‘political censorship’

27/08/2021

Sabrang / by Sabrangindia

The former Taloja Jail Superintendent Kaustubh Kurlekar has been allegedly saving copies of the letter exchanged between the accused and their family and lawyers
Ten activists, who have been falsely implicated in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, have written to the Home Minister of Maharashtra, alleging that Taloja Central Jail’s former Superintendent Kaustubh Kurlekar has been taking scans and saving copies of the letters exchanged between them and their family and advocates.
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10 Elgaar Parishad accused allege ‘political censorship’ by jail authorities

27/08/2021

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

Kaustubh Kurlekar of Taloja jail scans and saves letters, they have said in a letter to State Home Minister
Ten accused in the Elgar Parishad case have written a letter to Home Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday alleging that Taloja Central Jail’s Superintendent Kaustubh Kurlekar scans and saves copies of letters written by them to their family and advocates.
The letter written on Thursday has been signed by Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor.
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