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What NHRC’s Downgrade Means For Indian Masses?

What NHRC’s Downgrade Means For Indian Masses?

Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project

Newsclick / by Edgar Kaiser

The downgrading of NHRC captured perfectly the many qualms civil society has had with how the institution has been run for several years.
… A reflection on this sad status reminds us of NHRC’s screeching silence on the death of Fr. Stan Swamy and Prof. G.N. Saibaba, on the fate of hundreds of political prisoners incarcerated following the CAA protests and the Kashmir unrest and on the Manipur riots. 
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Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS /Jul 2024)
Read/download full submission
▪ Why the NHRC is failing in the mother of democracy (National Herald / May 2024)
▪ Medical Negligence: NHRC Seeks Action Taken Report from Taloja Jail on Stan Swamy (The Wire / Jul 2021)
▪ Joint Letter to the NHRC of India: Request to raise serious concerns over the crackdown on human rights defenders in India (World Organisation Against Torture / Nov 2020)
▪ NHRC Asks Maharashtra Govt To Give Best Possible Treatment To Varavara Rao In A Reputed Private Super Speciality Hospital (Live Law / Jul 2020)
▪ NHRC issues notices to chief secretary, police chief of Maharashtra for arrest of activists (Scroll.in / Aug 2018)

WhatsApp wins Rs 1,400 crore as US Jury finds NSO Group liable for Pegasus spyware attacks

WhatsApp wins Rs 1,400 crore as US Jury finds NSO Group liable for Pegasus spyware attacks

Illustration credits: The Wire

India TV News / by Om Gupta

In 2019, WhatsApp informed more than 1,400 individuals across 20 countries after it discovered that these users were targeted by Pegasus spyware attacks. The list also included many victims in India.
… in 2019, WhatsApp alerted several individuals in India about possible monitoring of their devices. Among those notified were human rights activist Bela Bhatia and lawyer Nihal Singh Rathod, who is connected to the Bhima Koregaon case. Both confirmed that they received warnings from WhatsApp, indicating that their phones had been under surveillance with advanced technology for two weeks leading up to May 2019.
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Also read:
▪ US jury orders makers of Pegasus spyware to pay WhatsApp $168 million in damages (Scroll.in / May 2025)
▪ On Pegasus, SC Says ‘Nothing Wrong’ With Country Possessing Spyware, Question is Against Whom it is Used (The Wire / Apr 2025)
▪ Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally (The Wire / Apr 2025)
▪ India: Damning new forensic investigation reveals repeated use of Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists (Amnesty.org / Dec 2023)
▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

‘Maoist’ from Pune, known as ‘laptop’, arrested 15 yrs after he went missing

‘Maoist’ from Pune, known as ‘laptop’, arrested 15 yrs after he went missing

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Prashant Jalinder Kamble, an expert with computers, was arrested in Pune
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) nabbed a Pune resident, who was reported “missing” 15 years ago, for allegedly being an active member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
… A graduate from a college in Pune, he was allegedly associated with the city-based cultural outfit Kabir Kala Manch (KKM), which according to the police is a “frontal organisation of Maoists”.
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Also read:
▪ Poetic License: Outside of Village Periphery – Artists in Kabir Kala Manch struggle to earn a living due to censorship (Outlook / Aug 2024)
▪ How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Top Cop Accuses Decades-Old Cultural, Rights Orgs of Working as ‘Naxal Fronts’ (The Wire / Feb 2022)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)
▪ Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

Alternative reading of Bhima Koregaon: A Maharashtra outfit is trying to advance Dalit cause from Hindutva orbit

Alternative reading of Bhima Koregaon: A Maharashtra outfit is trying to advance Dalit cause from Hindutva orbit

Booklet: “Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein” (Access PDF)

The Indian Express / by Vikas Pathak

While Dalit activism is generally understood as resistance to “Brahmanical Hinduism”, the Vivek Vichar Manch’s goal is to foster Hindu unity, something which is also a core ideological goal of the BJP and the Sangh
At a time when the Opposition, particularly the Congress, has made caste census, the representation of marginalised classes in structures of power, and their share in welfare benefits its key political planks, a recent initiative of Dalits subscribing to Hindutva and seeking to resolve caste faultlines is active in Maharashtra, with some support from the RSS and the BJP.
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Also read:
▪ Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence (The Polis Project / Feb 2025)
▪ On the trail of Sambhaji Bhide: Ahead of Bhima Koregaon riots’ 3rd anniversary, tracing the Hindutva leader’s rise (Firstpost / Dec 2020)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)
▪ 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)
▪ The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2018)

SC Says ‘Nothing Wrong’ With Country Possessing Spyware, Question is Against Whom it is Used

SC Says ‘Nothing Wrong’ With Country Possessing Spyware, Question is Against Whom it is Used

Poster by #bakeryprasad

On Pegasus, SC Says ‘Nothing Wrong’ With Country Possessing Spyware, Question is Against Whom it is Used

29/04/2025

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Justice Kant said that the report of the Committee is lying sealed and even he has not seen its contents.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday (April 29) made the oral observation that there is nothing inherently wrong with a country possessing spyware for security purposes; the real concern lies in against whom it is used.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh made the observations while hearing a batch of writ petitions that were filed in 2021 seeking an independent probe into allegations of targeted surveillance of journalists, activists and politicians by using the Israeli spyware Pegasus.
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SC says use of spyware not illegal, but expresses concern over alleged misuse of Pegasus

29/04/2025

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that ‘terrorists cannot claim privacy rights’.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said there was nothing wrong with India possessing spyware for national security purposes, but expressed concern about its alleged misuse against private individuals, reported Bar and Bench.
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Also read:
▪ Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally (The Wire / Apr 2025)
▪ India: Damning new forensic investigation reveals repeated use of Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists (Amnesty.org / Dec 2023)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

Podcast: Alpa Shah on the Bima Koregaon case and India’s democratic decline

Podcast: Alpa Shah on the Bima Koregaon case and India’s democratic decline

Himal Southasian / by The Editors

The BK-16 case links India’s harmful neoliberal policies, state authorities abuse of laws, and the collapse of institutions, says the social anthropologist
… In this episode of State of Southasia, Shah speaks to Nayantara Narayanan about the work of the BK16 with indigenous communities and other minorities, their pushback against neoliberal policies and why they were seen as threats by the Indian state, and how and why they were implicated in the Bhima Koregaon case. The case shows a “very direct link between the kinds of interests of the state and corporate powers in accessing resources that lie under [Adivasi] lands and the fight for justice of those people who those lands belong to,” she says.


en | 47:09 min | 2025
Read more / Listen to the podcast

▪ The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon And The Search For Democracy In India
Author: Alpa Shah
Publishing Date: March 2024
Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher
Pages: 672
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Also read:
▪ The Feared – Conversations with Eleven Political Prisoners

Author: Neeta Kolhatkar
Publishing Date: Dec 2024
Publisher: S&S India
Pages: 272
Read more /order
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry: State opposes plea to have Sharad Pawar depose again

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry: State opposes plea to have Sharad Pawar depose again

Graphic by Arun Ferreira & Vernon Gonsalves

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Ambedkar’s plea an attempt at political sensationalisation: State
Special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray opposed an application filed by senior politician Prakash Ambedkar before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry to call NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar again, if required, to depose as a witness.
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)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)
▪ Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
▪ India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobinmag / April 2021)
▪ 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)
▪ Saffron Conspiracy in Bhima Koregaon? – Fact finding report by Rashtra Seva Dal unearths insidious scheme to target Dalits (CJP / Jan 2018)

Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

Poster by #bakeryprasad

India Has Second Highest Number of WhatsApp Victims Targeted With Pegasus: US Court Documents

11/04/2025

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The country with the most WhatsApp hacking victims is Mexico, which has 456 such people. India is second, with 100. In 2019, reports had said that WhatsApp had informed the Indian government that 121 Indian users were targeted by Pegasus.
Six years after WhatsApp told the Indian government that 121 Indian users were targeted by the Israeli spyware Pegasus, new documents exhibited in its lawsuit against malware makers NSO Group say that 100 Indians were impacted.
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Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

11/04/2025

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

WhatsApp users in 51 countries were targeted during a hacking campaign in 2019, a United States court document showed.
At least 100 of the 1,223 persons targeted using Israeli spyware Pegasus in a 2019 WhatsApp hacking campaign were located in India, Medianama reported on Thursday, citing a new legal filing in a United States court.
Read more

Also read:
▪ US Court Finds NSO Liable For Hacking Of WhatsApp Using Pegasus Malware (Live Law / Dec 2024)
▪ India: Damning new forensic investigation reveals repeated use of Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists (Amnesty.org / Dec 2023)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

Ambedkar said a Hindu Raj would be the biggest calamity to India: Anand Teltumbde

Ambedkar said a Hindu Raj would be the biggest calamity to India: Anand Teltumbde

Poster by #bakeryprasad

Frontline / by Amey Tirodkar

The leading scholar of the Dalit movement, explains how Hindutva parties use Babasaheb for political gains.
One of India’s leading public intellectuals and an authority on the Dalit movement, Anand Teltumbde, has been in the news across the country for his book on Ambedkar, Iconoclast: A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The book offers a deep analysis of not just Ambedkar’s philosophy, but also the man he was— complex, visionary and tenacious. In this interview with Frontline, Teltumbde, brings to life Babasaheb, an icon who is now worryingly “worshipped” by several political parties and ordinary people. 
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Also read:
▪ NIA opposes Anand Teltumbde’s plea to travel abroad, cites risk of absconding (The Hindu / April 2025)
▪ Has India Ever Been a Democracy? (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | March 2025)
▪ In Maharashtra, Fadnavis’s Foray to Capture Bhima-Koregaon (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2025)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Case: A glaring example of Hindutva lies (Siasat.com / Jun 2020)

▪ Iconoclast. A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar
by Anand Teltumbde


Publisher: ‎Penguin Viking
Language: ‎English
Hardcover: 700 pages
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Rationality seems upside down: ‘Intellectuals’ who endorse state violence!

Rationality seems upside down: ‘Intellectuals’ who endorse state violence!

South First / by N Venugopal

The rationality that the Telugu society cultivated 50 years ago—rejecting state oppression and embracing humanistic values—now seems to have been turned upside down.
When an ordinary citizen commits murder, it is a punishable offense. But if the government itself, through the home minister, announcing deadlines for killing people, is that not a crime? And when so-called intellectuals clap and cheer for these murders, is that not a crime too?
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Also read:
▪ Condemn the NIA’s raid in Andhra-Telangana to suppress democratic voices critical of war of corporate plunder ( Countercurrents / Oct 2023)
▪ AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
▪ The cost of protesting against mining in Gadchiroli (Scroll.in | by Nolina Minj | Sep 27, 2023)
▪ How Varavara Rao shaped Telangana’s sociopolitics: N Venugopal Rao interview (The Federal / Aug 2023)
▪ Statement against the drone bomb attacks in Chhattisgarh, India (India Matters / April 2023)