The Times of India / by Jaideep Deogharia
US representative Juan Vargas has urged US secretary of state Antony J Blinken to take up the matter of octogenarian Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy, who is in Tajola jail in Maharashtra on charges of terrorism, with the Indian government as part of US foreign policy. Blinken has assured the Congressman to look into the matter.
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The News Minute / by Balakrishna Ganeshan
Varavara Rao, who was released on conditional bail, was discharged from Nanavati Hospital on March 6.
82-year-old Varavara Rao, who lost about 20 kgs in prison, according to family members, is slowly recovering from physical weakness. Rao, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, who was discharged from hospital on March 6, is out on interim-bail for six months considering his frail health.
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10/03/2021
Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim
Researcher Rona Wilson, the first person to be arrested in the Bhima Koregaon Case, on Wednesday, approached the Bombay High Court seeking the formation of a Special Investigation Team to inquire into the planting of fabricated documents in his computer over a course of around 22 months.
Wilson, as well as 15 other civil rights activists and academics, in India, are incarcerated, facing charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) based on letters primarily retrieved from his and co-accused Surendra Gadling’s computer, to claim a conspiracy to kill the Minister and overthrow the government.
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11/03/2021
by Bar & Bench:
Rao also filed an affidavit placing on record his place of residence, his contact numbers as also of those relatives residing with him in compliance with the #bombayhighcourt order +++
by Bar & Bench:
#VaravaraRao has filed an application for exemption from personal appearance in the Special NIA Court as permitted in the #bombayhighcourt court order granting him temporary bail of 6 months. NIA has sought time to respond to the same +++
by Bar & Bench:
The #bombayhighcourt’s order imposed a condition that the undertrial shall attend proceedings of trial before the NIA Court as and when summoned however he may apply for exemption +++
11/03/2021
News Click / by News Click
According to the data, 30 cases were lodged on charges of sedition in 2015 followed by 35 in 2016, 51 in 2017, 70 in 2018 and 93 in 2019.
As many as 5,128 cases under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA and 229 on charges of sedition have been lodged across the country in a five-year period from 2015, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
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10/03/2021
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
Data revealed by the home ministry earlier showed that just 2.2% of the cases under the Act ended in court convictions.
There has been a 72% increase in the number of arrests made under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in 2019 in relation to those made in 2015, according to data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the Lok Sabha.
According to The Hindu, the MHA revealed that as many as 1,948 persons were arrested under the UAPA in 1,226 cases that were registered across the country in 2019. Between the years 2015 and 2018, 897, 922, 901 and 1,182 cases were registered and 1,128, 999, 1,554 and 1,421 people were arrested, Union minister of state for home G. Kishan Reddy said in a written reply.
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10/03/2021
Edex Live / by Edex Live
In July 2019, the ambit of UAPA was expanded. It was amended allowing the government to designate an individual as a terrorist without trial.
The Ministry of Home Affairs told the Lok Sabha that there has been over 72 per cent increase in the number of persons arrested under the anti-terror law UAPA.
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The Caravan / by Anand Teltumbde
Anand Teltumbde, a professor and writer, is currently incarcerated in the Taloja prison in Maharashtra, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He is awaiting trial in what is broadly termed the Bhima Koregaon case.
The ongoing debate on the Narendra Modi government’s programme to privatise public sector enterprises, or PSEs, has a certain ring of déjà vu. The proponents of privatisation argue, in support of the government, that private sector has always been more efficient than the public sector. Unbeknownst to them, this argument in its logical extension might lead to a preposterous but valid question: Why not privatise the government itself?
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by Bar & Bench (March 11):
Anand Teltumbde, accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence, has produced before the Special NIA Court, Mumbai the report filed by the Massachusetts-based firm Arsenal Consulting in his pending bail application +++
The Leaflet / by The Leaflet
A group of former civil servants has expressed concerns at reports alleging the planting of incriminating material in Rona Wilson’s computer, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
“The reports that the police and other investigative agencies may have violated constitutional guarantees and judicial pronouncements in the practices adopted in search and seizure operations, as well as the possibility that they may have been party to planting incriminating material in personal digital devices and harvesting evidence therefrom, have caused us grave concern”, the statement signed by former civil servants reads.
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09/03/2021
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
Usmani is accused of making hateful speeches before a gathering organised on January 30, 2021 to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon at Pune.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed activist Sharjeel Usmani to appear before the Pune Police after being assured by the State that no coercive steps will be taken against him if he appears for interrogation.
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05/03/2021
Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim
Former Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) student leader, Sharjeel Usmani (23) has approached the Bombay High Court for quashing the FIR registered against him, in Pune, for his speech at the Elgaar Parishad.
On February 2, 2021, the Swargate Police station, Pune, registered an FIR against Usmani under section 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place..) of the IPC on a complaint by the secretary of the Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha, Pradeep Gawade. Gawde is a former member of ABVP.
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07/03/2021
Two weeks after getting bail, after going through various hassles in bail sureties, at last VV was released around midnight on Saturday from Nanavati Hospital. The final release orders reached Taloja jail around 4 pm and the jail authorities reached the hospital around 11 pm to release him.
The release comes with a number of conditions that he should not leave the jurisdiction of NIA Special Court and reside there, that he should furnish the details and contact numbers of family members staying with him, that he should attend the court trial regularly, that he should be in touch with local police station on video conferencing every fortnight, that he should not talk to media and social media about the cases against him, that he should not repeat the activities mentioned in the FIR, that he should not meet his co-accused, that he should not tamper with evidence and influence witnesses, that visitors other than near family should not gather at his residence, that this bail is for only six months and he should surrender himself to jail authorities after that, that he should surrender his passport to NIA within a week, that the violation of any of these conditions will lead to cancellation of the bail.
07/03/2021
NDTV / by Divyanshu Dutta Roy
Varavara Rao, the 81-year-old poet-activist who has been in jail for over two years in the Koregaon-Bhima case, walked out of the Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital late Saturday after being granted bail for six months by the Bombay High Court on medical grounds last month.
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07/03/2021
The Leaflet / by The Leaflet
A week after he was granted medical bail by the Bombay High Court, Dr. PV Varavara Rao was set free from judicial custody late last night.
Rao, 82, was undergoing treatment at Nanavati hospital, Mumbai.
Rao is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act’ (UAPA).
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07/03/2021
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The Bombay High Court had on February 22 granted the 81-year-old activist bail on medical grounds for a period of six months.
Poet and activist Varavara Rao, who is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, was on Saturday released from a hospital, reported NDTV. The Bombay High Court had on February 22 granted the 81-year-old activist bail on medical grounds for a period of six months.
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06/03/2021
The Hindu / by Special Correspondent
A central committee meeting of the reform-oriented Joint Christian Council (JCC) has warned Church leaders of backlash from the laity if they attempted to step into the RSS camp at a time “when the RSS and Sangh Parivar organisations are going ahead with the idea of a theocratic State and against Christians.”
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05/03/2021
Matters India / by Matters India
The release of an octogenarian Jesuit activist from jail is among several issues that a Catholic weekly wants the Church leaders in Kerala to raise with the BJP leaders who now woo the Christians in the southern Indian state.
“We should loudly ask the BJP state leaders who frequent the bishops’ houses the reasons for the delay in granting justice to the Kandhamal Christians or why innocent Stan Swamy continues to languish in jail,” says an editorial in the Sathyadeepam (lamp of truth), a weekly published by the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
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06/03/2021
Times of India / by Vaibhav Ganjapure
The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Friday directed release of poet PV Varavara Rao on cash surety of Rs 50,000. Justice Anuja Prabhudesai directed the Gadchiroli sessions court to send his release order to Taloja Central Jail, Mumbai, by email or any other electronic mode after he furnishes the surety amount.
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04/03/2021
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Despite the Bombay High Court granting him interim bail, ailing revolutionary poet Varavara Rao’s release would be further delayed as a court in Gadchiroli has asked his family to file deposit papers in the format that they have specified.
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01/03/2021
Live Law / by Shrmeen Hakim
The Bombay High Court, on Monday, allowed 81-year-old Telugu poet – Dr Varavara Rao’s – plea for relaxation of his temporary bail condition and provisional release on furnishing a cash security of Rs 50,000.
A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale further granted the Bhima Koregaon – Elgaar Parishad accused time till April 5, 2021 to furnish solvent sureties. The octogenarian has been under custody awaiting trial since August 28, 2018.
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25/02/2021
The Wire / by pti
Rao, 82, was on Monday granted interim bail for six months by the high court on medical grounds.
The Bombay high court on Thursday permitted a counsel of poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to visit him in the Nanavati Hospital here to obtain his signatures for completion of his bail formalities.
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23/02/2021
The News Minute / by TNM Staff
The 81-year-old poet has been ordered to stay within the jurisdiction of the Mumbai NIA court.
Relatives of ailing revolutionary poet and activist Varavara Rao welcomed the Bombay High Court’s order granting interim bail to him, but said the conditions put forth by the court were difficult to be met. On Monday, the Bombay HC granted bail on medical grounds to the Telugu poet jailed in connection with the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case for six months. At the end of the six-month period, the court said that Varavara Rao must report back to Navi Mumbai’s Taloja jail, where he can either surrender or seek an extension.
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22/02/2021
Hindustan Times / by Srinivasa Rao Apparasu
Varavara RAo’s brother-in-law said the poet has no relatives in Mumbai who could take care of him during the bail period.
The family of octogenarian Pendyala Varavara Rao, noted revolutionary poet, is relieved that the Bombay High Court on Monday granted medical bail to him in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, but it has another worry on its hands: where to house him in Mumbai. The court order said that the poet cannot go back to Hyderabad, his home.
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