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PUDR: Release Vulnerable Prisoners Now!

PUDR: Release Vulnerable Prisoners Now!

By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

PUDR expresses apprehensions over the health status of Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha …
Both Prof. Anand Teltumbde and Mr. Gautam Navlakha were interrogated by the NIA and have been sent to judicial custody. It has come to light that one of the officers of the NIA, Mumbai has tested positive for Covid-19 in this period. Anand Teltumbde was subsequently tested for suspected exposure and his report is negative for Covid-19.
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IN PARALLEL WITH THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC, WE NOW HAVE A PANDEMIC OF ARRESTS

26/04/2020

The Wire/ by Pamela Philipose

Lockdown – the word that best describes our present physical and mental state – has now acquired a vicious new meaning. As if in parallel to the COVID-19 pandemic, we now have a pandemic of arrests, with prison gates clanging shut on those marked by the state as anti-nationals.
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Anand Teltumbde’s pursuit of Ambedkar’s radical civility

Anand Teltumbde’s pursuit of Ambedkar’s radical civility

Forward Press / by V. Geeta

On 14 April 2020, the 129th anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Prof Anand Teltumbde handed himself over to the custody of the National Investigation Agency as ordered by the Supreme Court in the Bhima Koregaon case. Drawing on Teltumbde’s writings, V. Geetha argues that it is the real, radical Ambedkar that he looks up to, not the toned-down version of Ambedkar that the civil order and the State is comfortable with.
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Why is India targeting writers during the coronavirus pandemic?

Why is India targeting writers during the coronavirus pandemic?


Pic published by kractivist.org

The Guardian / by Priyamvada Gopal and Salil Tripathi

Journalists, intellectuals and dissidents are being threatened by Modi’s government.
As a lethal virus scorches its way across continents, the leftwing Indian rights campaigner Gautam Navlakha has been reminding us of the words of Leonard Cohen, urging people to speak up for the right things: “There is a crack/a crack in everything, that’s how light gets in.” While many of us experience lockdown in varying degrees of constraint, Navlakha – who cited Cohen’s lyrics in a recent statement – faces actual incarceration as does another high-profile Indian, the eminent academic and Dalit intellectual Prof Anand Teltumbde.
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Hindi Newspapers Look Away as Anand Teltumbde Is Arrested

Hindi Newspapers Look Away as Anand Teltumbde Is Arrested

The Wire / by Aman Abhishek

In the aftermath of the Teltumbde’s arrest, his prescient comment calling media ‘subservient’ appears remarkably accurate.
Anand Teltumbde is a world-renowned public intellectual known for his rigorous analysis of the caste system in India. Perhaps one could have imagined, or at least hoped, that his arrest on the day of Ambedkar Jayanti would have generated a detailed coverage in the mainstream Hindi media, especially since the charges against him are very clearly directed at his intellectual work – he is accused of inciting caste-based violence and of being an “urban Naxal”.
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Release Those Charged Under Serious Offences – 130 Lawyers Make Recommendations [Read Letter]

Release Those Charged Under Serious Offences – 130 Lawyers Make Recommendations [Read Letter]

livelaw.in / by Nitish Kashyap

A total of 130 lawyers have written to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, State Home Minister and Chief Justice of Bombay High Court expressing grave concern regarding the safety of “thousands of individuals incarcerated in prisons and other settings of detention such as observation homes, special homes, children homes, detention centers, borstal homes, etc” in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.
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MHARASHTRA PRISONERS RELEASED SAYS JAIL UNPREPARED TO HANDLE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

31/01/2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

No transport has been arranged for those who are released, while inmates still in prison fear for their health.
Mumbai: Even as the Maharashtra state government has slowly begun releasing incarcerated persons on parole and interim bail as a safeguard against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, fear and desperation has gripped those languishing in the jail.
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COVID-19: Set Up Panel to Consider Release of Prisoners on Parole, says SC to States, Uts

COVID-19: Set Up Panel to Consider Release of Prisoners on Parole, says SC to States, Uts


Drawing by Arun Fereirra

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The apex court said the prisoners convicted of or charged with offences having jail term of up to seven years can be given parole to decongest jails.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed all states and Union Territories to set up high-level committees to determine the class of prisoners who could be released on parole for four to six weeks to avoid overcrowding in jails so as to safeguard against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
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An ‘Anthem’ for Our Troubled Times

An ‘Anthem’ for Our Troubled Times


Poster by Kabir Kala Manch

The Wire / by Monobina Gupta

… Last Monday, human and civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha reminded us of Cohen’s song. “Do please listen to Leonard Cohen sing the ‘Anthem’ and remember to: Ring the Bell/Which still can ring/Forget your perfect/ Offering/There is a crack/A crack in everything/ That’s how light gets in,” wrote Navlakha in a statement after the Supreme Court turned down the anticipatory bail petitions he had filed along with well-known academic, Anand Teltumbde, in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Landmark Judgments Of Justice Muralidhar In Delhi High Court

Landmark Judgments Of Justice Muralidhar In Delhi High Court

Live Law / by Live Law News Network

Justice Dr S Muralidhar received an astounding farewell from the members of the Delhi High Court Bar Association on Thursday, on the occasion of his transfer to Punjab and Haryana High Court …
In a judgment explaining the first principles of criminal procedure in relation to arrest and remand, a division bench led by Justice Muralidhar quashed the transit warrant issued by a Delhi Magistrate for the arrest of Gautam Navlakha by Maharashtra police in the sensational Bhima Koregaon case.
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The Right to Dissent is the Most Important Right Granted by the Constitution: Justice Gupta

The Right to Dissent is the Most Important Right Granted by the Constitution: Justice Gupta

The Wire / by Deepak Gupta

To question, to challenge, to verify, to ask for accountability from the government is the right of every citizen under the constitution. These rights should never be taken away otherwise we will become an unquestioning moribund society, which will not be able to develop any further.
Justice Deepak Gupta delivered a lecture at an event organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association on February 24, 2020. The following is the full text of that lecture.
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