Background – free them all

Bhima Koregaon and Dalits’ search for remedies rooted in dignity, not dominance

24/03/2025 Asha

Frontline / by Tanvir Aeijaz

The book exposes the strategies of hate politics and violent populism and shows how democracy is being wrecked from within.
Hannah Arendt’s canonical exhortation for the persecuted Jew that “…if one is attacked as a Jew, one must defend oneself as a Jew” finds resonance in the Dalit’s resistance against Brahminism and caste atrocities in India. Articulating the political contestation, imbued with the concept of social justice, Dalits look forward not to a continued endurance of historical, or even day-to-day, injustice but to pursue both normative and strategic vindication of their rights and dignity.
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Also read:
▪ Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Pages: 496
Challenging Caste reads the violence at Bhima Koregaon as a clash between two worldviews – one striving to flatten the social hierarchy, the other justifying and perpetuating it. This book rips apart the Maoist conspiracy theory and the Urban Naxal narrative.
Read more/order
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)

NIA had no role in denying Stan Swamy sipper: Former chief blames Uddhav govt

21/03/2025 Asha

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Swamy, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, had filed bail pleas citing medical grounds which were rejected multiple times. While incarcerated, his health deteriorated and he died on July 5, 2021.
A day after TMC MP Saket Gokhale alleged that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) “denied even a straw” to Father Stan Swamy while he was in jail, former NIA Director General Y C Modi in a statement on Thursday dismissed the allegation and said that the central agency had no role in denying Stan Swamy a sipper.
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Also read:
▪ SC takes up the cause of disabled prisoners on the basis of a plea invoking Saibaba, Stan Swamy (The Hindu / March 2025)
▪ Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)
▪ Indian court again refuses to hear Stan Swamy case (UCA News / Sep 2024)
▪ Caged birds and prison songs: In chorus, Stan Swamy and the Bhima Koregaon accused kept hope alive (Scroll.in | by Vernon Gonsalves | Jul 2023)
▪ How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Aug 2021)

The Erosion Of Judicial Independence / Eternal Adjournments Undermine Constitutional Values

10/03/2025 Asha

The Erosion Of Judicial Independence: Is India’s Judiciary An Extension Of Hindutva?

11/03/2025

Eurasiareview / by Debashis Chakrabarti

Once the last bastion against executive overreach, India’s judiciary today stands accused of capitulating to the ideological project of Hindutva—an ethno-nationalist vision that seeks to establish India as a Hindu-first nation.
… While BJP-affiliated individuals find themselves exonerated, critics of the regime face relentless judicial harassment. Activists, journalists, and intellectuals have been imprisoned under draconian laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and sedition charges, with little to no judicial relief. The arrests of intellectuals like Anand Teltumbde, Sudha Bharadwaj, and Umar Khalid reflect how the judiciary has become a willing accomplice in the state’s crackdown on dissent.
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Eternal adjournments, impractical riders mar precious Constitutional values

10/03/2025

DT Next / by Justice K Chandru Retd

The case of Umar Khalid, a JNU student who was arrested in connection with the March 2020 Delhi riots, is more disconcerting. This month marks the fifth anniversary of the police filing a conspiracy case, but it is not even close to being tried.
… A classic example is the case of Bhima Koregaon (BK-16) – which became BK-15 after Fr Stan Swamy’s death. Though more than seven years have passed since the arrest of the accused, many are yet to get bail from the special court or the High Court.
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Also read:
▪ Bail for Bhima Koregaon accused highlights extraordinary delay in trial (Scroll.in / Jan 2025)
▪ Year after being granted bail, Mahesh Raut remains in jail as stay extended (The Indian Express / Sep 2024)
▪ Why the SC Judgment Granting Bail to Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira Is So Significant (The Wire / Jul 2023)
▪ The terror of an anti-terror law in India: A short story of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (The Polis Project / Feb 2023)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

Supreme Court to examine lack of facilities in jails for disabled prisoners after PIL cites Saibaba, Stan Swamy

08/03/2025 Asha

Govt gets SC notice on plea asking better facilities for disabled prisoners

11/03/2025

Business Standard / by pti

Citing instances of professor G N Saibaba and activist Stan Swamy to highlight the “severe neglect” of disabled prisoners, the plea said necessary provisions should be incorporated in Prisoners Act
The Supreme Court has sought a response from the Centre on a plea seeking adequate facilities for disabled prisoners in jails, and implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, in prisons across the country.
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Supreme Court to examine lack of facilities in jails for disabled prisoners after PIL cites Saibaba, Stan Swamy

08/03/2025

Bar & Bench / by Ummar Jamal

While Stan Swamy had passed away while lodged in jail as an undertrial prisoner, Saibaba had passed away last year a few months after he was acquitted and released from prison
The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Central government to a Public Interest Litigation(PIL) seeking adequate facilities for disabled prisoners in jails and and full implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act of 2016 in prisons across the country [Sathyan Naravoor v. Union of India & Ors.]
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SC takes up the cause of disabled prisoners on the basis of a plea invoking Saibaba, Stan Swamy

07/03/2025

The Hindu / by Krishnadas Rajagopal

Petition raised a “serious” issue about the lack of disabled-friendly accommodation and facilities in prisons across the country
The Supreme Court on Friday (March 7, 2025) said a petition highlighting the trauma and inhumane conditions suffered by Professor G. Saibaba and the elderly Stan Swamy raised a “serious” issue about the lack of disabled-friendly accommodation and facilities in prisons across the country.
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Also read:
▪ G.N. Saibaba’s Lifelong Campaign Was Against the Violence of Silencing (The Wire | by Rona Wilson | Oct 2024)
▪ Stan Swamy parallel in former DU professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba’s death after 10-year jail (The Telegraph / Oct 2024)
▪ Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry gets another extension till 31 May

04/03/2025 Asha

The Indian Express / by Chandan Shantaram Haygunde

It may be recalled that widespread violence took place in Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, during the 200th commemoration of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon
The Maharashtra government has granted yet another extension to the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry, which is probing into the causes of violence reported in Pune’s Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018.
An order in this regard was passed by Chetan Nikam, deputy secretary, home department, on Monday. As per this order, the commission has been granted an extension till May 31, 2025.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence (The Polis Project / Feb 2025)
▪ Bhima Koregaon violence probe: Maharashtra govt grants inquiry panel 15th extension, till Nov 30 (The Indian Express / Aug 2024)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire / June 2024)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

India’s Forgotten Country: How State Power & Capitalism Fuel The Totalitarian Temptation

03/03/2025 Asha

Article 14 / by Ashoka Mody

In this guest article, economist and writer ASHOKA MODY connects the dots from writer, activist and human rights lawyer Bela Bhatia’s account of her activism to state coercion, corporate interests and the erosion of Indian democracy.
… Bhatia had long campaigned for tribal rights and was frequently at the forefront of protests against police atrocities. By this time, she was likely already under surveillance through the Pegasus spyware—a glaring invasion of her privacy, as she later described to The Telegraph.
However, September 2019 was an especially dangerous moment to challenge India’s law enforcement. Starting in January 2018, after a violent clash between Dalits and Hindutva supporters in Bhima Koregaon (a historic village near Pune), Indian authorities had arrested about a dozen activists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.
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Also read:
▪ AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
▪ Statement against the drone bomb attacks in Chhattisgarh, India (India Matters / April 2023)
▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)
▪ They were Accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government – The evidence was planted, a new report says (Washington Post / Feb 2021)

Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence

27/02/2025 Asha

The Polis Project / by Prashant Rahi and Mouli Sharma

That chopper hasn’t gotten used to me yet
Its wound hasn’t gone deep enough as yet

That’s the commoners’ clarion call we hear
Not a mindless mob of elite nincompoops

These two couplets from a singular Marathi ghazal might feel a bit prickly to some, but they can touch an indignant chord among the oppressed. The first of the two couplets is the refrain, while the “clarion call” in the second gives the composition its name: Elgar.
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Also read:
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire / June 2024)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

Koregaon Bhima Commission: Lawyer calls Ambedkar’s letter ‘belated’ / Ex-Army Men Seek To Maintain Vijay Stambh

21/02/2025 Asha

Ex-Army Men Seek To Maintain Vijay Stambh

25/02/2025

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

The Mahars have a historical connection with this victory pillar.
An application filed on February 22, 2025 before the Bhima Koregaon Commission of Inquiry has put forward an interesting proposal. It asks the Commission to include in its recommendations that the supervision and upkeep of the victory pillar commemorating the battle of Bhima Koregaon be handed over to former soldiers of the Mahar Regiment. It was filed by senior advocate B G Bansode on behalf of the association of ex-servicemen of the Regiment.
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Koregaon Bhima violence: Lawyer calls Prakash Ambedkar’s letter on Sharad Pawar ‘belated’

23/02/2025

Hindustan Times / by Nadeem Inamdar

In the letter, Pawar had alleged that the violence was orchestrated by the then Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government under Devendra Fadnavis and that the state machinery, particularly the police, had been misused.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar has written to the Bhima Koregaon Commission, requesting that Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar be summoned on the violence that occurred here in 2018 and asked to furnish a letter he had written to then-chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on January 24, 2020.
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Koregaon Bhima Commission: Prakash Ambedkar seeks Pawar’s letter to Uddhav that blamed Fadnavis govt

21/02/2025

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

To support his claims, the VBA chief attached a news report with his application that stated Sharad Pawar’s letter to Uddhav Thackeray demanded the formation of an SIT to probe the Koregaon Bhima violence.
Senior politician Prakash Ambedkar on Friday filed an application before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry claiming that National Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar had around January 24, 2020, given a letter to then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, saying the violence (in Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 2018) was a conspiracy hatched by the previous government under leadership of Devendra Fadnavis.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire / June 2024)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ On the trail of Sambhaji Bhide: Ahead of Bhima Koregaon riots’ 3rd anniversary, tracing the Hindutva leader’s rise (Firstpost / Dec 2020)
▪ Casting a Veil – What we miss by ignoring Maratha caste politics in the Bhima Koregaon case (The Caravan / Dec 2020)
▪ One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part II | Why Elgar Parishad spooked Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, the alleged architects of January 1, 2018 anti-Dalit violence (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)
▪ Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati │ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)
▪ Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 2018)

BJP’s Binary Lens On Nationalism / Politics Of Division: Why Autocrats Foster Binary Thinking

21/02/2025 Asha

BJP’s Binary Lens On Nationalism

24/02/2025

Outlook India / by Shweta Desai

BJP’s ultranationalism is a strategy to make up for its absence during the freedom struggle, but the binary discourse on nationalism is being weaponised to make detractors fall in line
… Six months after Modi’s government took office, the term ‘anti-national’ emerged as a popular slur. Often used by BJP leaders and supporters, the phrase wields a strong rhetorical power in shaping the ‘nationalist’ public discourse. The binary label has since served as a weapon to silence critics, discredit dissent and marginalise opposition, reinforcing a divisive political narrative.
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Politics Of Division: Why Autocrats Foster Binary Thinking

21/02/2025

Outlook India / by Anand Teltumbde

Autocratic and fascist regimes consolidate power by reducing complex socio-political realities into rigid binary oppositions. Instead of addressing systemic economic inequalities, they redirect public anger toward scapegoats – immigrants, minorities and dissenting voices.
… A deadly consequence of this binary-driven autocratic politics is the erosion of democratic institutions. The judiciary, independent media and civil society organisations are labelled as enemies of the state if they challenge the ruling regime.
Read more

Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS / Jul 2024)
▪ To Think of Modi 3.0 as Less Dangerous Would Be a Misreading (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | June 12, 2024)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Narendra Modi’s Government Is Using False Charges of Terrorism to Repress Its Opponents (Jacobinmag / April 2022)

Why Double Standards of Justice in India?

15/02/2025 Asha

Mainstream Weekly / by Sumeet Singh

According to the Indian Constitution, both Central and State governments have a constitutional duty to guarantee the democratic rights of citizens, including their Freedom, Equality, Security, Prosperity, Development, Social justice, and Social protection. Although India claims to be the world’s largest democracy, recent actions by the Central government have raised concerns.
… Numerous Intellectuals, Lawyers, and Social activists have been detained for years on unproven charges of sedition, often without trial, indicating a failure to uphold constitutional rights to liberty. For the past six years, many prominent Intellectuals, Lawyers, and Social activists in the country have been languishing in jail without trial, under false charges of sedition in the alleged Bhima Koregaon violence case. No charges of sedition have been proven against them to date, yet the Judiciary, under pressure from the Central government, has repeatedly denied them bail.
Read more

Also read:
▪ ‘Provincial Convention against Repression’ in Barnala, Punjab (Countercurrents / Jan 2025)
▪ Fadnavis’ obsession with ‘urban naxals’, and a lawless Beed (National Herald / Dec 2024)
▪ The SC Is Making Bail Easier In Terrorism, Money Laundering Cases – Except When It Ignores Itself (article 14 / Sep 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)