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Protecting the Protectors: AILAJ Demands Advocates Protection Act

Protecting the Protectors: AILAJ Demands Advocates Protection Act

Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project

The Mooknayak / by Mooknayak English

Lawyers demand protection from harassment, sexism, and state repression as AILAJ finalizes draft Advocates’ Protection Bill after month-long campaign.
All India Lawyers Association of Justice (AILAJ) Delhi culminated its month-long campaign for the enactment of an Advocates’ Protection Act in a state-level consultation held on 12 April at the Press Club of India. …
Advocate Rohin Bhatt … urged that the Bill must have provisions that discourage the state from maliciously prosecuting lawyers, as it has done to lawyers like Sudha Bhardwaj and Surendra Gadling in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Read more

Also read/watch:
▪ How These Lawyers Worked Tirelessly To Free Saibaba (Rediff.com / March 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)
▪ Lawyers Withstood Pressures and Defended Activists in the Bhima Koregaon Case (The Leaflet / Jan 2021)

▪ Video: The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

By All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice – AILAJ / March 2022


en | 1:21:23 | 2022
The huge number of undertrials, the overcrowding, and the disproportional numbers of Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi prisoners are part of the prison problem in India.
We are joined by Adv. Sudha Bharadwaj for a discussion on the Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails.
Watch video

A caged bird can still sing – clearing Fr Stan’s name

A caged bird can still sing – clearing Fr Stan’s name

Illustration by #bakeryprasad

The Tablet / by Joseph Xavier SJ

The Indian Jesuit and human rights defender Fr Stan Swamy, who was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, died in custody, aged 84, in 2021. He would have been 88 on 26 April this year. Jesuits around the world are calling on the Government of India to declare him innocent of the crimes of which he was accused.
Fr Stan Swamy died as an “undertrial” at Holy Family Hospital, Mumbai on July 5, 2021. In 2023, I met Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Anand Teltumbde in Mumbai after they were released on bail. All three were implicated in the Bhima Koregaon case, popularly known as the BK16 or Elgar Parishad case, as there were 16 accused.
Arun Ferreira lived with Stan in the same prison cell and took care of Stan like a mother. Vernon and Anand became good friends discussing various socio-political issues. 
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Also read/watch:
▪ Caged birds and prison songs: In chorus, Stan Swamy and the Bhima Koregaon accused kept hope alive (Scroll.in | by Vernon Gonsalves | Jul 2023)
▪ How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Aug 2021)

▪ Video: Testimony of Stan Swamy, two days before his arrest on 8 October 2020.


en | 7:48 min | Oct 6, 2020
Watch video

Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

Poster by #bakeryprasad

India Has Second Highest Number of WhatsApp Victims Targeted With Pegasus: US Court Documents

11/04/2025

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The country with the most WhatsApp hacking victims is Mexico, which has 456 such people. India is second, with 100. In 2019, reports had said that WhatsApp had informed the Indian government that 121 Indian users were targeted by Pegasus.
Six years after WhatsApp told the Indian government that 121 Indian users were targeted by the Israeli spyware Pegasus, new documents exhibited in its lawsuit against malware makers NSO Group say that 100 Indians were impacted.
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Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

11/04/2025

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

WhatsApp users in 51 countries were targeted during a hacking campaign in 2019, a United States court document showed.
At least 100 of the 1,223 persons targeted using Israeli spyware Pegasus in a 2019 WhatsApp hacking campaign were located in India, Medianama reported on Thursday, citing a new legal filing in a United States court.
Read more

Also read:
▪ US Court Finds NSO Liable For Hacking Of WhatsApp Using Pegasus Malware (Live Law / Dec 2024)
▪ India: Damning new forensic investigation reveals repeated use of Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists (Amnesty.org / Dec 2023)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

Ambedkar said a Hindu Raj would be the biggest calamity to India: Anand Teltumbde

Ambedkar said a Hindu Raj would be the biggest calamity to India: Anand Teltumbde

Poster by #bakeryprasad

Frontline / by Amey Tirodkar

The leading scholar of the Dalit movement, explains how Hindutva parties use Babasaheb for political gains.
One of India’s leading public intellectuals and an authority on the Dalit movement, Anand Teltumbde, has been in the news across the country for his book on Ambedkar, Iconoclast: A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The book offers a deep analysis of not just Ambedkar’s philosophy, but also the man he was— complex, visionary and tenacious. In this interview with Frontline, Teltumbde, brings to life Babasaheb, an icon who is now worryingly “worshipped” by several political parties and ordinary people. 
Read more

Also read:
▪ NIA opposes Anand Teltumbde’s plea to travel abroad, cites risk of absconding (The Hindu / April 2025)
▪ Has India Ever Been a Democracy? (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | March 2025)
▪ In Maharashtra, Fadnavis’s Foray to Capture Bhima-Koregaon (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2025)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Case: A glaring example of Hindutva lies (Siasat.com / Jun 2020)

▪ Iconoclast. A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar
by Anand Teltumbde


Publisher: ‎Penguin Viking
Language: ‎English
Hardcover: 700 pages
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Father Stan Swamy Honoured Posthumously With Father Salvador Memorial Award

Father Stan Swamy Honoured Posthumously With Father Salvador Memorial Award

Free Press Journal / by FPJ News Service

Swamy, a priest from the Jesuit order, was arrested on October 8, 2020, and charged by the National Investigation Agency under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for an alleged role in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence and links to the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
Father Stan Swamy, the Roman Catholic priest who died on July 5, 2021, during arrest under charges of terrorism, was posthumously given the Father Salvador Memorial Award by the Bombay Catholic Sabha on ‘Sabha Day 2025’ on Saturday at the St Andrews Auditorium, Bandra.
Read more

Also read/watch:
▪ Jesuit Missions repeats call to clear Indian priest’s name (Indcatholic News / Jul 2024)
▪ Caged birds and prison songs: In chorus, Stan Swamy and the Bhima Koregaon accused kept hope alive (Scroll.in | by Vernon Gonsalves | Jul 2023)
▪ How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Aug 2021)
▪ Bandra’s St. Peter’s Church puts up signboard in support of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy (Midday / Jul 2021)

▪ Video: Testimony of Stan Swamy, two days before his arrest on 8 October 2020.


en | 7:48 min | Oct 6, 2020
Watch video

Rationality seems upside down: ‘Intellectuals’ who endorse state violence!

Rationality seems upside down: ‘Intellectuals’ who endorse state violence!

South First / by N Venugopal

The rationality that the Telugu society cultivated 50 years ago—rejecting state oppression and embracing humanistic values—now seems to have been turned upside down.
When an ordinary citizen commits murder, it is a punishable offense. But if the government itself, through the home minister, announcing deadlines for killing people, is that not a crime? And when so-called intellectuals clap and cheer for these murders, is that not a crime too?
Read more

Also read:
▪ Condemn the NIA’s raid in Andhra-Telangana to suppress democratic voices critical of war of corporate plunder ( Countercurrents / Oct 2023)
▪ AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
▪ The cost of protesting against mining in Gadchiroli (Scroll.in | by Nolina Minj | Sep 27, 2023)
▪ How Varavara Rao shaped Telangana’s sociopolitics: N Venugopal Rao interview (The Federal / Aug 2023)
▪ Statement against the drone bomb attacks in Chhattisgarh, India (India Matters / April 2023)

Learning About Strength, Solidarity and the Injustices of Incarceration / Voices from the Purgatory

Learning About Strength, Solidarity and the Injustices of Incarceration / Voices from the Purgatory

Learning About Strength, Solidarity and the Injustices of Incarceration

04/04/2025

The Wire / by Meenaz Kakalia

In ‘The Feared’, Neeta Kolhatkar interviews 11 political prisoners and their loved ones about their struggles, their resilience and their joys.
While memoirs of political prisoners are not uncommon, what one doesn’t often find is their stories told through interviews which probe the more intimate aspects of their lives and the enduring ways in which their incarceration has affected their families and loved ones.
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Voices from the Purgatory

04/04/2025

The Telegraph / by Kartik Chauhan

The Feared is not only an urgent call for prison reforms but it also reveals an alarming history of forced and/or false incarcerations of political dissenters, opponents and activists in India
… The opening interview with Sudha Bharadwaj revisits her days in Yerawada and Byculla prisons. Bharadwaj talks about her daughter and the complexity of mulaqat processes in Indian prisons — a recurring conversation in the book wherein the interviewees report arbitrary rules that the prison authorities impose with impunity, often in flagrant violation of the prescribed Prison Manual.
Read more

Also read:
▪ The Feared – Conversations with Eleven Political Prisoners

Author: Neeta Kolhatkar
Publishing Date: Dec 2024
Publisher: S&S India
Pages: 272
During long discussions, sometimes taking place over multiple meetings, Kolhatkar unearths personal anecdotes from the time her interviewees were incarcerated, bringing into focus the human face of prison inmates, while also detailing the wretched conditions relating to space, hygiene, medical attention, and food that they experienced.
Read more /order

▪ ‘The Message Is Loud & Clear.’ Author Of New Book On 11 Indian ‘Prisoners Of Conscience’ & The Costs Of Defiance (Article 14 / March 2025)
▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / 2024)
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)

Mahesh Raut gets interim bail for law exams

Mahesh Raut gets interim bail for law exams

PUDR campaign

Mahesh Raut gets interim bail to give LL.B exams

04/04/2025

Bar & Bench / Sahyaja MS

Raut has been behind bars since his arrest by Pune police in 2018 and is currently incarcerated in Taloja Central Jail. He has been pursuing law degree while in custody.
A special court in Mumbai on Thursday granted interim bail to Mahesh Raut, one of the accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case, to enable him to attend his second-semester LL.B examinations. [Mahesh Raut v Vishrambaug Police Station]
The court permitted Raut to be released on bail from April 20 to May 16 for preparing and attending his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) exams.
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Mahesh Raut gets interim bail for law exams

03/04/2025

Deccan Herald / by pti

Raut was arrested in 2018 for his alleged role in the case and is currently lodged in Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.
A special NIA court on Thursday granted interim bail to Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case accused Mahesh Raut from April 20 to May 16 to appear for his law degree exams.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Year after being granted bail, Mahesh Raut remains in jail as stay extended (The Indian Express / Sep 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Raising the bar from behind bars (Midday.com / May 2024)

NIA opposes plea by Anand Teltumbde to travel abroad, says he could abscond

NIA opposes plea by Anand Teltumbde to travel abroad, says he could abscond

NIA Opposes Dr Anand Teltumbde’s Plea To Travel Abroad, Citing Risk Of Absconding

04/04/2025

Free Press Journal / by Urvi Mahajan

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has opposed the plea by Dalit rights activist Dr. Anand Teltumbde.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has opposed the plea by Dalit rights activist Dr. Anand Teltumbde, one of the accused in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case, seeking permission to travel abroad, stating that there is a likelihood of him absconding.
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NIA opposes Anand Teltumbde’s plea to travel abroad, cites risk of absconding

04/04/2025

The Hindu / by Abhinay Deshpande

The accused scholar filed a plea to travel to the Netherlands and the U.K. for academic reasons; NIA denied on the grounds of his alleged involvment with CPI (Maoist).
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has opposed a plea by academician Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, seeking permission from the Bombay High Court to travel abroad for academic engagements. The agency argued that Mr. Teltumbde poses a flight risk and might seek asylum if allowed to leave the country.
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NIA opposes plea by Anand Teltumbde for foreign travel, says he could abscond

04/04/2025

Bar & Bench / by Sahyaja MS

Dr. Teltumbde, one of the accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking permission to travel abroad for academic engagements.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday opposed the plea filed by Dalit rights activist Dr Anand Teltumbde before the Bombay High Court seeking permission to travel abroad for academic purposes.
In an affidavit filed before the High Court, the NIA explicitly voiced its apprehension that Dr Teltumbde might abscond and take shelter in foreign countries to avoid the trial in the Bhima Koregaon case in which he is an accused.
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Anand Teltumbde’s Activities Threaten India’s Sovereignty; Must Not Be Permitted To Go Abroad, Can Give Lectures Virtually: NIA To Bombay HC

03/04/2025

Live Law / by Narsi Benwal

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that Dalit rights’ activist Dr Anand Teltumbde is an active member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) (CPI-M), and is allegedly involved in activities that pose a ‘threat’ to the ‘sovereignty, security and integrity’ of India and thus he should not be permitted to travel to Amsterdam and the United Kingdom to attend academic assignments.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Anand Teltumbde Moves Bombay HC For Permission To Travel Abroad On Academic Assignments (India Today / March 2025)
▪ Has India Ever Been a Democracy? (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | March 2025)
▪ In Maharashtra, Fadnavis’s Foray to Capture Bhima-Koregaon (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2025)
▪ Will the bail granted to Anand Teltumbde help others in the Bhima Koregaon case to get out of jail? (Scroll.in / Nov 2022)

Sudhir Dhawale: “This is a bigger prison”

Sudhir Dhawale: “This is a bigger prison”

Credits: Shahid Tantray / The Caravan

The Caravan / by Shahid Tantray

A Bhima Koregaon political prisoner reflects on his release.
The author and activist Sudhir Dhawale was released on 24 January, after six years and seven months in jail. Dhawale, who founded the anti-caste group Republican Panthers Jatiantachi Chalwal and publishes the Marathi magazine Vidrohi, was one of the organisers of the Elgar Parishad, on 31 December 2017, a day before caste violence broke out on the two-hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. …
Shahid Tantray, a multimedia reporter at The Caravan, spoke to Dhawale at his organisation’s Mumbai office.
Read more

Also read:
▪ BK-16 Prison Diaries: Sudhir Dhawale’s poem, “Prisoners of Consciousness” (The Polis Project / March 2025)
▪ Sudhir Dhawale interview: ‘The law remains blind to injustice even with the blindfold gone’ (Scroll.in / Feb 2025)
▪ Interview | Sudhir Dhawale’s Work Will Go on (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ Sudhir Dhawale: ‘Never Imagined Meeting Hardened Criminals’ (Rediff.com / Jan 2025)
▪ Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale released: Seven years of injustice by a state that punishes dissent [read order] (Sabrangindia / Jan 2025)
▪ Arun Ferreira: The government is muzzling people’s movement in the country (Midday / June 2018)