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Bombay HC seeks Hany Babu’s health report from hospital after lawyer says his eye condition better

Bombay HC seeks Hany Babu’s health report from hospital after lawyer says his eye condition better

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

The court was hearing a petition by Hany Babu’s wife Jenny Rowenna seeking that the DU associate professor be released on bail on health grounds.
The Bombay High Court Thursday directed Breach Candy Hospital in the city to provide the latest health report of Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case who is currently under treatment at a private hospital.
… The HC will consider the plea next on August 6.
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How 5 Reliance Workers Fighting For A Better Deal Found Themselves In Jail On Terrorism Charges

How 5 Reliance Workers Fighting For A Better Deal Found Themselves In Jail On Terrorism Charges

Article 14 / by Jyoti Punwani

For 15 years, these Mumbai contract workers struggled to be treated on par with regular workers and went from success to success, despite arrests and dismissals. Then the State used a law meant to be used against terrorists to incarcerate them with scant evidence of such crimes.
… So, long before the June 2018 arrests of six Left activists in what has come to be known as the Bhima Koregaon case, the Maharashtra Government’s narrative that the violence on 1 January 2018 was planned by “urban Naxals” was set into motion by the arrests of these workers. 
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Also read:
Bail After 3 Years for the Incarcerated Mumbai Electric Employees Union Workers (groundxero, June 2021)
Statement on release of four Reliance workers – First to be falsely implicated in Bhima Koregaon case (Sanhati India, January 2019)

Court asks NIA to submit draft charges in Elgar Parishad case

Court asks NIA to submit draft charges in Elgar Parishad case

Court asks NIA to submit draft charges in Elgar Parishad case

29/07/2021

India Today / by Vidya

The National Investigation Agency probing the Elgar Parishad case has been asked by a special court in Mumbai to submit draft charges against the accused on August 9.
The draft charges will be filed by the central agency against all the accused in the case before Special Judge Dinesh E Kothalikar.
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Teltumbde, Navlakha, Gonsalves approach special court, seek bail

27/07/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves sent their applications from Taloja Central Jail where they are lodged and sought to be released temporarily citing their age and vulnerability to Covid-19.
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Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves move NIA Court for temporary bail after HPC remommendation to decongest jails

27/07/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Special Judge DE Kothalikar has now directed NIA to file their responses to these applications.
Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves and Dr. Anand Teltumbde have moved the Special Court, which hears cases under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, for interim bail.
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Video: A letter poem to Professor Hany Babu

Video: A letter poem to Professor Hany Babu


en | 2.47min | 2021

Maktoob / by Shivangi Mariam Raj

Delhi University professor, scholar in linguistics, and noted anti-caste activist Hany Babu completes one year in prison under draconian UAPA in Elgar Parishad case.
Hany Babu’s student at Delhi University and an academic publishing professional Shivangi Mariam Raj wrote this poem “Dear Hany, This is just to say” in November last year, four months Hany’s arrest by NIA. (You can read the full poem here.)
Voice: Farzana Rowena, daughter of Hany Babu
Graphics: Shaheen Abdulla
Watch video

Political prisoners part of broader dissent against state excesses / The Future of Social Activism

Political prisoners part of broader dissent against state excesses / The Future of Social Activism


Poster, July 2020

Political prisoners part of broader dissent against state excesses

27/07/2021

The Leaflet / by Achintya Anita Gurumurthy

It has been over 500 days since Khalid Saifi’s incarceration and 300 for Umar Khalid in the northeast Delhi riots cases and almost three weeks since the custodial demise of Father Stan Swamy in the Bhima-Koregaon case – all arrested under the dreaded Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, (UAPA) 1967. The arrests have put the spotlight back on the category of ‘political prisoners’, who are imprisoned for opposing the government via their actions or beliefs.
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State and the Future of Social Activism

27/07/2021

EPW / by Gopal Guru

The death of Father Stan Swamy and several others as the tragic outcome of the arrest and detention without fair trial brings into critical focus the approach that the state has been adopting towards understanding social activism. In the ethics of democratic practice and constitutional morality, such an official approach would be evaluated as indiscrete, if not arbitrary, in comprehending the nature of social activism.
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Wilson, Sen ask Bombay HC to decide what is ‘legal electronic evidence’ under criminal law

Wilson, Sen ask Bombay HC to decide what is ‘legal electronic evidence’ under criminal law

Wilson, Sen ask Bombay HC to decide what is ‘legal electronic evidence’ under criminal law

27/07/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Their counsels, senior advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, also told a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar that there was no connection between the Elgaar Parishad event held on December 31, 2017, and the Koregaon Bhima violence that took place a day later.
Activists Rona Wilson and Shoma Sen, arrested in connection with the Elgaar Parishad case, urged the Bombay High Court on Monday to decide what was “legal electronic evidence” and stating the evidence relied upon by the probing agency was illegal as per law as it had been “planted”.
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Bhima Koregaon Violence Caused By Another Group: Jaising Argues Relying On Ex-CM’s Statements

26/07/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The caste violence at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018, was not caused by the “lawful” Elgar Parishad event held the previous day, and the case would not attract the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, researcher Rona Wilson told the Bombay High Court.
Senior Advocate Indira Jaising for Wilson submitted that she would be relying on two statements made by then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
… On Monday, a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar began physical hearings in Wilson and professor Shoma Sen’s petitions under section 482 of the CrPC, Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, challenging the sanction to prosecute them under the UA(P) Act.
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Also read: Bhima Koregaon Case: Where Are The Hindutva Leaders Accused of Violence? (The Quint, July 12, 2021)

This is no ordinary spying. Our most intimate selves are now exposed

This is no ordinary spying. Our most intimate selves are now exposed

The Guardian / by Arundhati Roy

The Pegasus project shows we could all soon be ruled by states that know everything about us, while we know less and less about them.
Here in India, the summer of dying is quickly morphing into what looks very much like a summer of spying.
… Consider this: there are 16 activists, lawyers, trade unionists, professors and intellectuals, many of them Dalit, who have been jailed for years in what is known as the Bhima-Koregaon (BK) case.
Read more


Also read: Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire, July 18, 2021)

161 Names Revealed On Snoop List So Far / Indian activists jailed on terrorism charges were on list

161 Names Revealed On Snoop List So Far / Indian activists jailed on terrorism charges were on list

161 Names Revealed By The Wire On Snoop List So Far

27/07/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Over the past few days, The Wire – in collaboration with 16 other media organisations – has been revealing the names of people who were either persons of interest or forensically identified as having been targeted by clients of the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.
Those on the list include heads of state, political figures, activists, students, lawyers and journalists, among others.
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Pegasus exposé raises unjust detention cry

20/07/2021

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

The leaked database showed that the mobile numbers of several accused were on a list of those selected for surveillance by an unidentified client of NSO.
The families of the Elgaar Parishad-Maoist links detainees and one of their lawyers have said the new revelations about targeted surveillance have vindicated their stand that the prolonged imprisonment of the 15 surviving accused is unjust.
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From Ambedkarites and Labour Activists to Umar Khalid and JNU Students, Snoop List Targets All

20/07/2021

The Wire / by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta, Sukanya Shantha and Kabir Agarwal

Leaked list of potential surveillance targets indicates attempt to keep tabs on critics of government policy.
The telephone numbers of an anti-caste leader and several prominent activists are part of a leaked database accessed by the Pegasus Project which includes individuals confirmed to have been targeted with the Israel based NSO group’s spyware.
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Indian activists jailed on terrorism charges were on list with surveillance targets

20/07/2021

The Washington Post / by Joanna Slater and Niha Masih

The Bhima Koregaon activists were also victims of an unidentified hacker who planted evidence on their computers, recent reports found.
When the Indian authorities began arresting lawyers and human rights activists in 2018, Sudha Bharadwaj did what she had done for more than three decades wherever she saw injustice. She organized. She spoke out. She asked courts to uphold the law.
Later that year, the police arrested her, too.
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Cops used Pegasus in Koregaon Bhima case, says Digvijaya Singh

20/07/2021

Times of India / by Suchandana Gupta

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Monday told TOI TOI that Pegasus was used by police in the Koregaon Bhima case, and even his name had surfaced, but he couldn’t be implicated because he had stopped using the phone that was mentioned in the ‘Naxalite letter’.
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Phones of ministers, journalists, lawyers and activists tapped by Pegasus spyware. Indians should worry

19/07/2021

The Leaflet / by Ramesh Menon

In the days ahead, we will know more about the investigations as they will be released in parts. Clearly, there is going to be a stormy monsoon session in Parliament as opposition members will question the government’s role in the snooping scandal. These revelations, if true, bode dangerously for the health of our democracy, writes Ramesh Menon as he recaps what we know about the Pegasus hacking allegations so far.
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HC Reserves Order On Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea To Attend Mother’s Death Anniversary

HC Reserves Order On Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea To Attend Mother’s Death Anniversary

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Monday reserved for orders the temporary bail appeal of Bhima Koregaon- Elgar Parishad Case accused – Advocate Surendra Gadling to perform his mother’s funeral rites on her first death anniversary on August 15, 2021.
A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar said they would pronounce the order on July 30 2021, after hearing submissions from Senior Advocate Indira Jaising for Gadling and advocate Sandesh Patil for NIA.
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The State Has Left My Mother To Die, Says Sudha Bharadwaj’s Daughter

The State Has Left My Mother To Die, Says Sudha Bharadwaj’s Daughter

Outlook / by Astha Savyasachi

As activist Sudha Bharadwaj’s health deteriorates inside prison, her friends and family speak to Outlook about her incarceration and work in Chhattisgarh.

‘Dedicated to those prisoners
in whose hearts the future shone like a pearl
But was burnt in the troubled nights of the prison
and diminished into a tiny flicker.’
(Translation of some lines from the poem ‘Intesaab’)

Smita Gupta took to Facebook and dedicated ‘Intesaab’, a famous poem penned by revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, to her dear friend Sudha Bharadwaj.
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