Asha – Page 85 – free them all

Punished without trial: How India’s political prisoners are being denied basic rights in jail

09/08/2022 Asha

Scroll.in / by Umang Poddar

They are often denied items of food and clothing that other inmates are allowed to access.
Over the past few weeks, prison authorities in Maharashtra have denied basic amenities such as mosquito nets and telephone facilities to undertrials in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case, which pertains to caste violence as well as an alleged attempt to assassinate the prime minister. Nearly five years later, even as independent reports have pointed to the fact that the electronic devices of the accused were hacked using military-grade spyware available only to governments, the trial in the case is yet to begin.
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Also read:
● Sipper and straw, to mosquito nets and phone calls: Elgar accused in court for relief (The Indian Express / Jul 2022)
● Hunger Strike unto death against the harassment from Taloja Central Jail’s apathetic administration (By Sagar Gorkhe / May 20)

“Free them all!” A call of solidarity with political prisoners in India, America, and beyond

08/08/2022 Asha

“Free them all!” A call of solidarity with political prisoners in India, America, and beyond

08/08/2022

SASW / by Padma B and Beena Sarwar

… Whereas ‘fascism’ isn’t a phrase to be taken evenly, it’s tough to keep away from given how political dissent is being crushed in numerous nations. This got here by in shows at a current seminar within the Boston space about political repression and incarceration in India and the USA.
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Video: Political Incarceration and Resistance in India and the United States

31/07/2022

en | 1h26min | 2022

By Boston South Asian Coalition & Jericho Boston

1. Resisting the Political Incarceration in India. Speakers: Kavita Srivastava is the national secretary of the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL). She is a dedicated human rights worker, working collectively towards restoring democracy, justice and ending inequalities. Prachi Teltumbde is a doctor and researcher based in London. She is also the daughter of Anand Teltumbde, a prominent public intellectual and one of the BK 15.
2. Mumia Abu Jamal’s Monumental Struggle Against Corruption and Empire. Speaker: JD

The demand to release incarcerated political activists in South Asia and the United States is gaining momentum. The incarceration of Bhima Koregaon 15 (BK 15), the institutional murder of Father Stan Swamy, and recent arrest of Teesta Setalwad and Mohammad Zubair has been condemned worldwide. In the US, the struggle continues to release the famous political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, well known for his powerful struggle against the Philadelphia political machine and analysis of current events. Boston South Asian Coalition’s (BSAC) and Jericho Boston are holding a joint event on July 30th (Saturday) 11:30am EST to discuss the state of political prisoners in India and the US.
Watch video

Supreme Court ticks off govt on seizure of personal devices

06/08/2022 Asha

The Telegraph / by R. Balaji

SC frowns on government’s cavalier dismissal of a PIL’s demand for guidelines on ‘seizure, examination and preservation’ of such gadgets
The Supreme Court on Friday said electronic devices seized by investigating agencies “have personal contents and we have to protect this”, frowning on the Centre’s cavalier dismissal of a PIL’s demand for guidelines on the “seizure, examination and preservation” of such devices.
… several accused in the Elgaar Parishad-Maoist links case have said — with support from forensic analysts — that false “evidence” was planted on their devices after their seizure by investigators.
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Also read:
● Despite the Evidence, Courts Yet to Take Note of Spyware Used Against Elgar Parishad Accused (The Wire / July 2022)
● Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)

The Importance of Anand Teltumbde’s Thoughts in a Republic of Caste

05/08/2022 Asha

The Wire / by M.S. Sriram

Anyone engaging seriously with Teltumbde’s work will know his beliefs are antithetical to the crimes he is being accused of.
As an email circulates to support a campaign to name Professor Anand Teltumbde in the list of world’s top thinkers to be listed in Prospect magazine, it is time to take note of his important work: Republic of Caste (2018) and put it in perspective. This is more important in the context of the campaign to have a “har ghar tiranga” for the Amrit Mahotsav of Azaadi. If the 75th year of this nation’s freedom cannot be celebrated with a free man and a free mind, the flying of the flag is but symbolic.
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Press Release / ‘Release of all accused in Bhima-Koregaon case’ / 3 Opposition MPs raise voice

04/08/2022 Asha

by VR Jayanthi (Aug 5):

3 Opposition MPs raise voice against continued imprisonment of undertrials

05/08/2022

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

CPI Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam hails Stan Swamy as ‘martyr’
Three Opposition MPs on Thursday spoke out against the continued imprisonment of the undertrials in the Elgaar Parishad case.
CPI Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam hailed Stan Swamy, the priest who died in custody after being arrested in the case, as a “martyr.”
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Press conference by CDRO: ‘Release of all accused in Bhima-Koregaon case’

04/08/2022

Times of India / by Mohua Chatterjee

Three members of Parliament from different states and across parties demanded the release of all the the accused of the Bhima-Koregaon case, who are in jail since June 2018.
Rajya Sabha MPs Binoy Viswam (CPI) who hails from Kerala and Ajit Bhuyan (Independent) who represents Assam and Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu Tholkappiyan Thirumavalavan (VCK) spoke at a press conference held by the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO).
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by Ajit Kumar Bhuyan (Aug 4):
We, the opposition MPs of Parliament addressed a press conference at Press Club of India today demanding- Immediate release of all the accused of the Bhima-Koregaon case. And repe of the NIA act and disbandment of the agency as it goes against the ethos of our federal nature.

On 5th birthday in jail, friends wish for Shoma Sen’s release

03/08/2022 Asha

Times of India / by Shishir Arya

“On your 5th birthday in incarceration, Shoma…we will fight for justice,” says a post by Tusharkanti Bhattacharya, for his wife who is one of the 16 accused in Bhima Koregaon case. With the message he also posted her picture that was published in a Bengali journal Azaadi which carried an article on various political prisoners.
On Monday, Shoma Sen, a Nagpur University professor when arrested five years ago, turned 64.
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Also read:
● Part 1: ‘It is very difficult to see my mother like this’ (Rediff.com / May 2022)
● Part 2: When Your Mother Is In Prison… (Rediff.com / May 2022)
● Part 3:’I have to get Ma out of prison’ (Rediff.com / June 2022)

The fight to save the earth / Sudha Bharadwaj on the Climate, Trade Unions and a Just Transition

02/08/2022 Asha

The fight to save the earth

02/08/2022

Dawn.com / by Jawed Naqvi

In her book This Changes Everything, Naomi Klein flags the most challenging threat humanity has ever faced: the war our economic model is waging against life on earth. Sudha Bharadwaj began translating the book in Pune’s Yerawada Jail. President Droupadi Murmu could gain useful insights from it. As a representative of India’s most exploited and threatened community of Adivasis, oldest inhabitants of the land, she could exchange notes with Bharadwaj in Mumbai.
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Interview: Sudha Bharadwaj on the Climate, Trade Unions and a Just Transition

29/07/2022

The Wire Science / by Nagraj Adve

Nagraj Adve spoke with trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj for The Wire Science.

While in Yerawada jail, you began to translate Naomi Klein’s book on global warming, This Changes Everything, into Hindi. What made you do it? And what were the challenges, in terms of doing it while in jail and in the translation?

I had always been concerned about ecological devastation in Chhattisgarh due to the limestone quarries and cement plants, vast coal mines, power plants and their ash dykes, sponge iron plants spewing black dust, and the rivers running red with iron ore – things that, as a trade unionist and later as a lawyer representing landowners fighting land acquisition, I had observed at close quarters. But I was always caught up with the battles of the present moment – the notices, the court cases, the jobs, the environmental hearings.
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by Naomi Klein / @NaomiAKlein (Jul 29, 2022)
Little in my writing life has moved me as much as trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj’s account of translating “This Changes Everything” into Hindi when she was in jail under horrific conditions as a prisoner of conscience.

Fridays For Future India / @fridays_india (Jul 30, 2022)
Lawyer & social activist, Sudha Bharadwaj in an interview with @nagrajadve on the #climatecrisis and the challenges facing a fair transition away from coal in India;
Must Read!

And prayers to Lord for Arun Ferreira

01/08/2022 Asha

Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf

He was not at Bhima Koregaon when violence occurred, and yet he is festering in jail. For his family, at the receiving end of the social stigma surrounding the ‘anti-national’ tag, the only balm is Him
The story of Arun Ferreira has four principal characters: Wife, Son, and Mother and Mother-in-law – both in their eighties. None of them will be named; their thoughts and emotions will be imagined from information gathered from diverse sources. The story has also a fifth character: Police.
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Also read:
● Colors of the Cage – A Memoir of an Indian Prison (Reprint by AK Press | by Arun Ferreira | Feb 2021)
● And Vernon’s letters to his son (Midday.com / July 2022)
● And comrades admire Jyoti Jagtap (Midday.com / July 2022)
● And the letters of Rona Wilson (Midday.com / June 2022)
● And Allah’s call to Hany Babu (Midday.com / June 2022)
● And Ma can’t sing with Sagar (Midday.com / June 2022)
● And he waits for Shoma Sen (Midday.com / May 2022)
● And she waits for Gautam Navlakha (Midday.com / May 2022)

Andhra Pradesh: Social activists demand repeal of UAPA

31/07/2022 Asha

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

Activists under the banner of the UAPA Repeal Agitation Committee(URAC) urged Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana to direct the Centre to repeal the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
… Speaking on the occasion, Organisation for Protection of Democratic Rights (OPDR) State president Ch. Sudhakar contended that the Act had been misused against activists in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Also read:
● UAPA Case Data Suggests That Process Is Indeed the Punishment (The Wire / July 2022)

From Bhima Koregaon to PMLA, Justice Khanwilkar’s Legacy Will Not Favour Liberty

30/07/2022 Asha

From Bhima Koregaon to PMLA, Justice Khanwilkar’s Legacy Will Not Favour Liberty

30/07/2022

The Quint / by Vakasha Sachdev

From his decisions on Bhima Koregaon in 2018 to PMLA in 2022, Justice Khanwilkar consistently enabled state power.
The legacy of Justice AM Khanwilkar, who retired as a Supreme Court judge on Friday, 29 July, can best be summed up by the first case where he came to prominence.
In August 2018, the Maharashtra Police made the second set of arrests in what would come to be known as the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Justice AM Khanwilkar’s Legacy: Regression of Fundamental Rights

30/07/2022

Live Law / by Manu Sebastian

When it came to the exercise of judicial review and protection of fundamental rights, Justice Khanwilkar displayed a narrow and technical approach.
… Here is a look at some judgments/orders authored by Justice Khanwilkar in cases relating to civil liberties.
Rejecting plea for SIT probe in Bhima Koregaon case.
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Also read
● The Executive(’s) Court: On the Legacy of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar (The Wire / July 2022)
● Not A Case Of Arrest For Dissent, SC Turns Down Plea For SIT In Bhima Koregaon Case By 2:1 Majority, Chandrachud Dissents [Read Judgment] (Live Law / Sep 2018)
● Justice Chandrachud dissents again: Bhima Koregaon case needs impartial investigation (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)