By The Polis Project
An international coalition of human rights defenders, with evidence gathered by activists on the ground, compiled „Manufacturing Evidence: How the Police is framing and arresting constitutional rights defenders in India“ – a report that once again exposes the communal bias of the Indian Police.
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Rediff.com /by Vaihayasi Pande Daniel
‘The entire systems they are trying to change.’
Telugu poet, activist, critic and teacher Pendyala Varavara Rao, 79, has a new advocate.
Sudeep Ratnamberdutt Pasbola, who has represented/represents accused like activist Arun Ferreira, politician Rahul Gandhi, gangster Abu Salem, HR consultant Indrani Mukerjea, gangster Arun Gawli, 1993 and 2006 Mumbai blast accused, amongst many others, took on Professor Rao’s case in July… Pasbola spoke to Rediff.com’s Vaihayasi Pande Daniel about Professor Rao’s case and why bail is no longer being granted by courts for certain types of accused.
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Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Rajesh Deo and Vikram Khalate, Superintendent of Police, NIA, were among the 121 recipients of the award.
A senior Delhi Police officer probing the communal violence that broke out in the city in February and a National Investigation Agency officer leading the Bhima Koregaon case inquiry are among those who received the Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation on Wednesday.
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12/08/2020
Hindustan Times / by Jogesh Joshi
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Shivaji Pawar, who probed the Elgar Parishad case, has been awarded with the Union home minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation for the year 2020… “I am happy that all my efforts have been rewarded. The award is being given to me for the Elgar Parishad investigation,” said Pawar.
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Outlook / by N Venugopal
It has been eleven days since Varavara Rao’s family saw the physically weak and psychologically suffering poet on video conference and there is still no news from anywhere – hospital or jail.
It’s exactly one month since Varavara Rao’s family felt disturbed with his incoherent talk and began emergency efforts to bring the dreadful condition of his health to people’s notice, to appeal to all the systems of governance and to move judiciary seeking an immediate remedy to the risk to his life.
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The Telegraph / by Prabhat Patnaik
It is a common practice all over the world that when those incarcerated face a threat to life, the authorities send them home…
It is a sign of the times that our present Central government does not feel the need to follow this practice of releasing prisoners even when their lives are at risk. Varavara Rao, a 79-year-old accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, has been in jail for two years, where his health had broken down even before the pandemic; matters are worse now because he has tested positive for Covid-19. Yet the government has made no announcement till date about his release after he is discharged from hospital; and this is so notwithstanding the fact that he is merely awaiting trial and has not been convicted of any crime.
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Huffpost / by Betwa Sharma
Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil is the 12th person to be arrested in the Elgaar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case.
New Delhi – “Day in and day out we are reminded that there is no justice in this country. And there is no peace without justice,” Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil, an associate professor of English at Delhi University tweeted one day in July this year. Babu is a vocal and influential voice against India’s discriminatory caste system.
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25:08 min | 2020
A reading of poet Varavara Rao’s work in English, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi by Ajay Raj, Aravind Kuplikar, Kavitha Lankesh, Radhika Narayan, Sanchari Vijay, Sandhya Rani, Sandhya Reddy, Sudhanva Deshpande and Tina Shashikanth.
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National Herald / by NHS Bureau
She was a lawyer for the poor, a thorn in the side of big industry. Is that the reason why she has been implicated?
The noted human rights lawyer was born in Massachusetts in the United States but gave up her US citizenship at the age of 18 and returned to India. She studied at IIT-Kanpur and horrified at the condition of labourers in UP, Bihar and West Bengal, she decided to work for them and joined the Chhattisgarh Liberation Front in 1986 when it was still a part of Madhya Pradesh.
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The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Vijay Hiremath had pointed out that the health parameters mentioned on Mahesh Raut’s report were identical to the medical report of activist Anand Teltumbde (68), a co-accused in the case, who is also lodged in the Taloja jail.
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08/08/2020
Mumbai Mirror / by Sharmeen Hakim
HC seeks explanation after Taloja jail’s medical reports say hey are also identical in height, weight.
The Bombay High Court has sought an explanation from Taloja Prison officials following revelations that certain portions of academic Anand Teltumbde and activist Mahesh Raut’s medical reports, both accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, are exactly the same. The two approached the HC after co-accused Telugu poet Varavara Rao tested positive for the coronavirus last month.
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Civicus.org / by Alina Tiphagne / Human Rights Defenders Alert
There has been a huge displacement of Adivasis in Chhattisgarh due to businesses monopolising land and natural resources, and there has been rampant human rights abuses reported in the state. To add to this already complex situation, southern Chhattisgarh is the epicentre of a five decades-long insurgency between the Naxalite Maoist group and the Indian government which has affected the tribal population, densely forested districts and neighbouring states … The work of Sudha Bharadwaj, human rights lawyer and former General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh People’s Union for Civil Liberties, lies at this faught intersection.
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06/08/2020
Indian Cultural Forum / by Nandini Sundar, Archana Prasad, Manju Kawasi, Vineet Tiwari, Sanjay Parate and Mangla Ram Karma
They are demanding compensation “for the mental agony and violation of human rights” caused by false charges and arrests.
Press Release
On 5th November 2016, the Chhattisgarh police lodged an FIR against us under various sections of the IPC, Arms Act, and UAPA …
We are grateful to the PUCL for taking up the cases of all human rights defenders in Chhattisgarh and for informing us about the NHRC order. It is deeply distressing that PUCL Secretary and Advocate Sudha Bhardwaj who took up such cases in Chhattisgarh has herself been arrested under false charges. We trust that all human rights defenders who have been falsely accused will get justice.
Read full statement