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Truth and dare in Bhima Koregaon

Truth and dare in Bhima Koregaon

poster by @/bakeryprasad

The Leaflet / by Susan Abraham

The Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad ‘Maoist’ conspiracy case is a grand experiment with truth where the State is daring the people to stand up for justice.
‘TRUTH or dare’ is a mostly verbal party game requiring two or more players. Players are given the choice between answering a question truthfully, or performing a ‘dare’. The premise is simple: Players take turns asking one another ‘truth or dare?’ If they choose truth, they have to answer a question of the asker’s choosing. If they choose dare, the asker dares them to do something rather than make a confession.
Suppose the State were to subject its citizens to a macabre version of this game by cooking up a conspiracy case and locking up people behind bars. Then tell them that in order to win their freedom, they have to choose the ‘truth’ of the conspiracy or the ‘dare’ to dissent.
This is the absurd logic that plays out when you try to make sense of the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case.
Read more

Also read:
● Five years of Bhima Koregaon arrests: CDRO marks ‘black day’ (The Leaflet / Jun 2023)

A Discussion with Sudha Bharadwaj: Learning from the Trade Unionist Shankar Guha Niyogi

A Discussion with Sudha Bharadwaj: Learning from the Trade Unionist Shankar Guha Niyogi

by Akash | @akash_falaq (Sep 29)


Do join this fascinating conversation on 30 September, with trade unionist and advocate Sudha Bhardwaj, organized by #Spark.
#ShankarGuhaNeogi #BhagatSingh

Also read:
● Whither Contract Labour Abolition? From Rise to Repeal – A Paper By Sudha Bhardwaj (Workers Unitiy / May 2023)

● Statement by CMM-MKC and other workers unions: On the granting of bail to advocate Sudha Bharadwaj (Dec 2021)
● Sudha Bharadwaj To Be Released After NIA Court Sets Bail Conditions (The Wire / Dec 2021)


E-Book: From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada
By Sudha Bharadwaj (Author)

Publisher : ‎ Juggernaut (10 October 2023)
Language‏ : ‎ English
Some prisoners pray, some weep, some just put down their heads and work themselves weary. Sudha Bharadwaj watched through the bars of her cell, and she wrote. This is her remarkably granular account of the world of women prisoners in Yerawada Jail in Pune. Bharadwaj was incarcerated here, in a high-security wing called Phansi Yard, from November 2018 to February 2020. She takes us through jail life, her own and the other women’s, from one season to the next, weaving in lively portraits of her fellow prisoners, their children and even their pets, and reflecting on everything from absurd rules, caste hierarchies, food, fistfights and friendships, to the dismal absence of legal aid for the most defenceless of women.
Pre-order

SC Extends Stay Granted By Bombay HC On Mahesh Raut’s Bail Till Oct 5, Admits NIA’s Appeal

SC Extends Stay Granted By Bombay HC On Mahesh Raut’s Bail Till Oct 5, Admits NIA’s Appeal

Supreme Court extends stay on bail granted to Mahesh Raut

27/09/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

On September 21, Bombay High Court had granted bail to Raut and allowed a stay on the Order for one week to enable the National Investigation Agency to appeal in the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court extended the stay on the Order of the Bombay High Court that granted regular bail to forest rights activist Mahesh Raut by another week.
On September 21, a division Bench of the high court comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and Sharmila U. Deshmukh had granted bail to Raut and allowed a stay on the Order for one week to enable the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to appeal in the Supreme Court.
Today, a division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi heard the special leave petition filed by the NIA challenging the Order of the high court.
Read more

Supreme Court Extends Stay Granted By Bombay HC On Mahesh Raut’s Bail Till Oct 5, Admits NIA’s Appeal

27/09/2023

Live Law / by Awstika Das

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (September 27) admitted the appeal by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) challenging the bail granted to tribal rights activist Mahesh Raut in the Bhima Koregaon case over alleged maoist list.
The Court also extended the stay, which was granted by the Bombay High Court itself on the bail order, till the next date of hearing October 5.
Read more

Supreme Court extends Bombay High Court stay on bail to Mahesh Raut

27/09/2023

Bar & Bench / by Abhimanyu Hazarika

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi admitted the NIA’s appeal against the High Court’s order granting Raut bail and listed the case on October 5. The stay on Raut’s bail order will continue until then.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended till October 5 the stay imposed by the Bombay High Court on its order granting bail to Mahesh Raut, one of the accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case. [National Investigation Agency v. Mahesh Sitaram Raut and anr]
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi passed the order on the appeal filed by National Investigation Agency (NIA) before the apex court challenging the High Court’s bail order.
Read more

Also read:
▪ The cost of protesting against mining in Gadchiroli (Scroll.in | by Nolina Minj | Sep 27, 2023)
▪ Bhima Koregaon: Bombay High Court grants regular bail to Mahesh Raut (The Leaflet / Sep 21, 2023)
▪ No Materials Prima Facie Indicating UAPA Offences Against Mahesh Raut: Bombay High Court [read order] (Live Law / Sep 21, 2023)
▪ Encountering Resistance – State Policy for Development in Gadchiroli (Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO / June 2018)
▪ Mining In Gadchiroli – Building A Castle Of Injustices (Countercurrents | by Neema Pathak Broome and Mahesh Raut | June 2017)

AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society

AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society

Amnesty.org / by Amnesty International

The Indian government has exploited the 2010 and 2013 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) assessment reports to supplement its arsenal of counterterrorism and money laundering laws, many of which are routinely used to target civil society organizations and human rights defenders. The briefing paper analyses the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act and highlights the emblematic cases of the crackdown suffered by journalists, academics, human rights activists, and students under these laws since 2010.
…

IMPACT OF UAPA ON INDIA’S NPO SECTOR
(Page 25) … Sections 17 and 40 of UAPA that relate to terrorist funding have also been arbitrarily invoked against 16 human rights activists (BK16) since 2018, nine of whom continue to be detained without trial in the Bhima Koregaon case…
India’s targeting of activists through the misuse of UAPA’s financial powers demonstrates the broader context of the crackdown on dissent in India. For example, in June 2020, after thorough and detailed research, Amnesty International and Citizen Lab uncovered that at least nine other activists who had been calling for the release of the BK16 activists were targeted through a coordinated spyware campaign. Three of them were also targeted with the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, a commercial product only sold to government entities.
Read full report


● Campaign by Amnesty International: Act now to demand the release of the BK16! (Dec 2022)

Also read:

● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report

Bhima Koregaon Commission Term Expires

Bhima Koregaon Commission Term Expires

Graphic by Arun Ferreira & Vernon Gonsalves

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

If an extension is granted, the Commission’s next hearing will be a long one: From October 16-28, so as to complete the cross-examination of all remaining witnesses.
As the Bhima Koregaon Commission of Inquiry comes close to finishing its hearings, it faces a familiar roadblock: the end of its current term. September 30 is the last day of its functioning, till it gets another extension.
Read more

Also Read:
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
● India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobinmag / April 2021)

Jharkhand police to probe into Maoist links with Stan Swamy’s ‘Bagaicha’, 63 other frontal organisations

Jharkhand police to probe into Maoist links with Stan Swamy’s ‘Bagaicha’, 63 other frontal organisations

The New Indian Express / by Mukesh Ranjan

A delegation of these organisations met Special IG Prabhat Kumar demanding to clear their stand on the issue. They also demanded immediate rejection of any such list if it has been issued.
Jharkhand police has ordered its Special Branch to probe the Maoist links with some of the frontal organizations like Stan Swamy’s ‘Bagaicha,’ ‘Stan Swami Nyay Manch’ and several
others active in the state and submit a report.
Read more

Also read:
● Can Father Stan Swamy’s PIL be the blueprint for justice to thousands of undertrials lodged under UAPA? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive (Scroll.in / Dec 2021)
● Justice for Stan Swamy! Drenched supporters carry on his legacy (SabrangIndia / Jul 2021)
● NIA Opposes Stan Swamy’s Bail; Calls PUCL, Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan ‘Maoist Fronts’ (The Wire / Jan 2021)
● A study of Undertrials in Jharkhand (Sanhati / by Bagaicha Research Team / Feb 2016)

Supreme Court allows Jyoti Jagtap time to file rejoinder in support of her bail plea

Supreme Court allows Jyoti Jagtap time to file rejoinder in support of her bail plea

Jyoti Jagtap

Supreme Court allows Jyoti Jagtap time to file rejoinder in support of her bail plea

21/09/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The matter is posted for further hearing after three weeks.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court granted three weeks time to anti-caste activist and musical performer, Jyoti Jagtap, to file a rejoinder in support of her bail plea.
A division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi was hearing Jagtap’s plea for grant of regular bail.
Read more

Supreme Court adjourns hearing on activist Jyoti Jagtap’s plea against HC order

21/09/2023

The Telegraph / by pti

Jagtap has moved the apex court challenging the October 17, 2022 order of the high court that refused to grant her bail
The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned for four weeks a plea moved by activist Jyoti Jagtap, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, challenging a Bombay High Court order denying her bail.
Read more

Also read:
● Supreme Court asks whether Gonsalves and Ferreira judgment “formula” can be applied to Jyoti Jagtap (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Hany Babu, three Kabir Kala Manch members denied bail in Bhima-Koregaon case (Free Press Journal / Feb 2022)

In Jail for 5 Years, Activist Mahesh Raut Gets Regular Bail in Bhima Koregaon Case [read order]

In Jail for 5 Years, Activist Mahesh Raut Gets Regular Bail in Bhima Koregaon Case [read order]

In Jail for 5 Years, Activist Mahesh Raut Gets Bail in Elgar Parishad Case

21/09/2023

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

The 36-year-old tribal rights activist is one of the first five persons to have been arrested in the controversial case, on June 6, 2018.
Five years after 36-year-old tribal rights activist Mahesh Raut was arrested for his alleged role in the Elgar Parishad case, the Bombay high court on Thursday, September 21, granted him bail.
The National Investigating Agency (NIA), which is handling the investigation in the case, sought two weeks’ time to appeal in the Supreme Court. The HC, however, granted a week’s time.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon: Bombay High Court grants regular bail to Mahesh Raut

21/09/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The operation of the Order granting bail to Mahesh Raut is, however, directed to remain in suspension for a week to enable the NIA to appeal.
On Thursday, the Bombay High Court granted regular bail to forest rights activist Mahesh Raut.
A division Bench of the high court comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and Sharmila U. Deshmukh, however, has stayed the Order for one week.
Read more

Bombay High Court grants bail to Mahesh Raut; sixth accused to get bail [read order]

21/09/2023

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Raut is the sixth person to get bail in the Bhima Koregaon case after Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Mahesh Raut, one of the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon riots case of 2018.
A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Sharmila Deshmukh passed the order.
The Court stayed its order for a week after the National Investigation Authority (NIA) sought time to file appeal against the same before the Supreme Court.
Read more

Read order

No Materials Prima Facie Indicating UAPA Offences Against Mahesh Raut: Bombay High Court [read order]

21/09/2023

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Observing that the material against forest rights activist Mahesh Raut couldn’t lead to a prima-facie inference that he had indulged in a ‘terrorist act’ under Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, the Bombay High Court granted him bail in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad larger conspiracy case.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon Case: Bombay High Court Grants Bail To Mahesh Raut, Stays Bail For One Week At NIA’s Request

21/09/2023

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court granted bail to Mahesh Raut an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad larger conspiracy case making him the sixth person to get bail in this case. However, the High Court stayed the order granting bail for one week at the request of the National Investigating Agency (NIA), which sought for a stay of two weeks.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon Case: Mahesh Raut, youngest accused, granted bail by the Bombay HC!

21/09/2023

Sabrangindia.in / by SabrangIndia

After 5 years of incarceration, court grants bail as Section 16, 17, 18 of UAPA not made out, order stayed for one week as NIA seeks time to file appeal with the Supreme Court.
Mahesh Raut, the youngest accused in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad Violence case, has been granted bail by the Bombay High Court. On September 21, 2023, a division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh passed the bail order.
Read more

Elgaar Parishad case: Mahesh Raut sixth to secure bail; 8 others still in jail

22/09/2023

The Indian Express / by Omkar Gokhale

The High Court had initially allowed a regular bail plea of Mahesh Raut but stayed its order for a week after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought a stay for 14 days so that it can approach the Supreme Court.
… Of the total 16 accused who were held, six of them (including Raut) have received bails from either the High Court or the Supreme Court. Among the accused who are still in custody are Gautam Navlakha, who is under house arrest.
Read more

Who is Mahesh Raut? Bombay HC grants him bail in Elgaar Parishad Case

23/09/2023

The Statesman / by Statesman Web

The Bombay High Court has recently granted bail to Mahesh Raut in connection with the Elgaar Parishad case, with the condition that the order will be stayed for a week upon the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) request.
Raut, a dedicated land rights activist working in the Gadchiroli region of Maharashtra, had initially sought regular bail in 2022 after his bail plea was rejected by the special NIA court in November 2021. Let’s take a closer look at Mahesh Raut and his background.
Read more

Also read:
● Gonsalves and Ferreira bail judgment: A step in the right direction but where will we go from here? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Gadchiroli’s 300 Gram Sabhas Pass Resolution in Support of Activist Mahesh Raut (The Wire / Oct 2018)
● Mining In Gadchiroli – Building A Castle Of Injustices (Countercurrents / by Neema Pathak Broome and Mahesh Raut / June 2017)

Submission to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Submission to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Hrw.org / by Human Rights Watch

“Religious Freedom in India” Submission by Sarah Yager, Washington director, Human Rights Watch
The commission’s focus on religious freedom in India is welcome and timely.
Over the last decade there has been an undeniable increase in the number and frequency of attacks against religious minorities in India, especially Muslims and Christians.
… We have also repeatedly flagged human rights consequences of the government’s 2019 revocation of the constitutional autonomy of India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir. Today, four years later, authorities there are still restricting free expression, peaceful assembly, and other basic rights, and regularly shut down the internet. Several journalists and human rights defenders have been arrested on spurious terrorism charges and authorities regularly harass critics, including through use of counterterrorism raids.
Read full submission

NIA asked to submit affidavit that cloned copies of all evidence have been supplied to the accused

NIA asked to submit affidavit that cloned copies of all evidence have been supplied to the accused

poster by @/bakeryprasad

NIA asked to submit affidavit that cloned copies of all evidence have been supplied to the accused

17/09/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court also directed the NIA to state in its affidavit that the prosecution would not be relying on any documents other than those for which hard disks have been given to the accused.
On Monday, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria directed the NIA to file an affidavit stating that it has provided cloned copies of seized electronic evidence to the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
… The NIA is required to submit the affidavit on the next date of hearing, that is, October 5.
Read more

NIA told to affirm that it has provided cloned copies of evidence to accused persons

18/09/2023

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

A special court directed the agency to file an affidavit, stating that they would not use any electronic evidence except whose copies have been provided.
… the court directed the agency to file an affidavit by October 5 stating that they would not use any electronic evidence except that for which copies have been provided to the accused on hard disks.
Read more

Also Read:
● What is Section 207 CrPC, an essential piece of the Bhima Koregaon case puzzle? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)