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Author: Rani

Case against activist Sudha Bharadwaj – Why SC turned down her bail plea

Case against activist Sudha Bharadwaj – Why SC turned down her bail plea

The Indian Express/ by Sadaf Modak

On Thursday, the Supreme Court turned down activist Sudha Bharadwaj’s application for interim bail. The court said that since the plea was on medical grounds, it will not be able to entertain it as the medical report did not back her claims. It, however, said Bharadwaj has a “good case on merits”.
What is the case in which Sudha Bharadwaj and 14 others are arrested?
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+++ Correction: Letters implicating Sudha Bharadwaj were found on the computer of Rona Wilson. The Caravan conducted a cyber-forensic examination of the contents of Wilson’s hard disk, a copy of the disk that was presented in court by the Pune Police and supplied to all the accused. Our investigation revealed that the disk contained malware that can be used to remotely access the computer and plant files. We also found several other discrepancies, pointing towards manipulation of evidence in the case. +++

Case Against Hindutva Leaders Ignored, No Justice in Sight for Bhima Koregaon Violence Victims

Case Against Hindutva Leaders Ignored, No Justice in Sight for Bhima Koregaon Violence Victims

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Even after the fall of the BJP government, the Sena-NCP-Congress coalition has also not shown any inclination to prosecute Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide.
Mumbai: On January 2, 2018, a day after a violent mob attack on Dalit community members visiting Bhima Koregaon, anti-caste activist Anita Sawale had filed a case accusing Samasta Hindu Aghadi president and Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote and Shiv Prathistan Hindustan leader Sambhaji Bhide as the “masterminds” of the attack.
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Friends & family of Sudha Bharadwaj disappointed as no relief was granted by SC on medical grounds

Friends & family of Sudha Bharadwaj disappointed as no relief was granted by SC on medical grounds

Press Note by Friends and Family of Sudha Bharadwaj

Friends and family members of Sudha Bharadwaj disappointed
no relief was granted by Hon’ble Supreme Court on medical grounds

The hearing of Sudha Bharadwaj’s Special Leave Petition for medical bail in the Supreme Court on Thursday did not yield any relief for her, giving a big jolt to the immense faith vested by Bharadwaj’s friends and family members in the Apex Court’s humanitarian rationale.
Although the Apex Court advised filing a regular bail as this was a ‘good case on merits’, by denying medical bail to 58-year-old Sudha Bharadwaj, the Hon’ble Court is risking the possibility of Covid 19, given Bharadwaj’s serious comorbidities. …

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Stop the Incarceration and Targeting of Dissenters and Activists in India

Stop the Incarceration and Targeting of Dissenters and Activists in India

Statement by Progressive International

Members of the PI Council ring the alarm on arbitrary arrests and the breakdown of justice in India.
The conduct of the Indian Government is unacceptable in the international framework for the protection of human rights and runs counter to the Indian Constitutional framework.
The members of Progressive International call upon the Indian government to immediately stop persecuting non-violent protestors wrongly accused and booked by the police. 
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RBGs Of The World: 6 Women Who Pushed Progress Through The Law

RBGs Of The World: 6 Women Who Pushed Progress Through The Law

WORLDCRUNCH / BY Laure Gautherin and Anne-Sophie Goninet

From Rosa Parks and Malala Yousafzai to Golda Meir and Corazon Aquino, women activists and political leaders have led the fight for gender equality and human rights around the world over the past century …
Sudha Bharadwaj (India): Law was not this mathematics student’s first love, but after seeing the working conditions of certain minorities in India, Sudha Bharadwaj’s pursuit of justice, as described by an editor of The Wire, led her to obtain a late law degree.
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Rights bodies protest in Kolkata, alleges BJP govt trying to crush democratic movements

Rights bodies protest in Kolkata, alleges BJP govt trying to crush democratic movements

THE ROADS WERE NEVER QUIET!

By Release The Poet

CDRO called to observe Sept 22nd as a protest day countrywide against the ‘witch-hunts’ & undemocratic arrests of Bhima Koregaon-15 & others. The city of Kolkata reciprocated too.
Few glimpses of 22nd’s on-road protest, joined by 20+ organisations at Bowbazar, Kolkata.

Rights bodies protest in Kolkata, alleges BJP govt trying to crush democratic movements

Outlook / by pti

Kolkata, Sep 22 (PTI) Several Left-wing outfits and rights bodies staged a demonstration in Kolkata on Tuesday against the arrest of activists by the BJP-led government at the Centre, which they alleged was using the NIA to crush democratic movements.
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PUNISHED FOR SPEAKING UP – The ongoing use of restrictive laws to stifle dissent

PUNISHED FOR SPEAKING UP – The ongoing use of restrictive laws to stifle dissent

By CIVICUS

The Indian government is using a variety of restrictive laws – including national security and counter terrorism legislation – to arrest and imprison human rights defenders, peaceful protesters and critics, global civil society alliance CIVICUS said today in a new report.

The report covers:
– The judicial harassment of activists, targeting of journalists and crackdown on protesters;
– How rights violations have continued during President Modi’s second term and throughout the pandemic;
– Calls for the immediate release of arbitrarily detained activists, protesters and human rights defenders.
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Industriall Global Union: Calling for the release of sister Sudha Bharadwaj

Industriall Global Union: Calling for the release of sister Sudha Bharadwaj

By IndustriALL

Calling for the release of sister Sudha Bharadwaj, leader of Industriall Global Union affiliate Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh Union

Geneva, 28 August 2020

Honourable President,
I am writing to you on behalf of IndustriALL Global Union,, which represents more than 50 million workers in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors in 140 countries, including in India to call upon you to release our colleague and union activist, leader of Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh union affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, who is kept in prison based on arbitrary and unclear accusations for already two years in India.

Full statement – click to enlarge
Exception becomes the norm as special laws are misused

Exception becomes the norm as special laws are misused

Times of India Blogs / by Pankaj Butalia

Delhi Police’s framing and subsequent reframing of charges, using UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), against the young women of Pinjra Tod a few months ago is an example of the gross misuse of special laws enacted by the state for circumstances which lie outside the purview of ordinary laws. By definition such laws are meant to be temporary and exceptions but end up being permanent and the norm.
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Ominipotent state and impotent people: system weighed in favour of the ‘state’

20/09/2020

National Herald / by Aakar Patel

Indefinite ‘detention without trial’ is now the norm. The state is acquiring more power to crush the individual.
The criminal justice system everywhere is deliberately designed to protect the rights of the individual accused. And this is the correct way of seeing it although in our country it is the other way round.
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