Father Stan Swamy died on this day two years ago, while incarcerated in the Elgar Parishad case. His co-accused Rona Wilson writes about continuing oppression in the country – and where he finds hope.
To have spent more than five years in prison, for alleged offences under the most draconian acts of the Indian Penal Code, fully aware that the only ‘crime’ of you and your co-defendants is speaking truth to power, is an experience that is surreal. To live such a quotidian life in prison is a dystopia that stares at you. Yet you have little choice in prison but to engage with this audacity. It is through words that you confront this dystopia, name it.
Through words we name the world we confront/inhabit, and make sense of our existence. Read more
Karnataka High Court advocate says ‘legal system is under attack from fascism’
The legal system is under attack from fascism, and there is a need to recognise the pattern in which this is being done and fight it, says Clifton D’Rozario, an advocate from the Karnataka High Court.
Speaking at a seminar on ‘Protection of Constitutional Values – Role of State Lawyers’, organised by the All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice (AILAJ) in Vijayawada on June 25 (Sunday), Mr. Rozario, who is the general secretary of AILAJ, said the Babri Masjid case, the Justice Loya case, the Bhima Koregaon case point out to this pattern, where the judiciary seemed hesitant to go against the government. Read more
Six (of Many) Reasons Why PM Modi’s Words on Democracy in the White House Ring Hollow
There is a world of gap between what the prime minister preaches at global events and what his government practices. Although Modi has denied promoting any form of discrimination under his rule, it is evident that he is blatantly misleading the world.
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Here are a few instances which contradict the Prime Minister’s assertions in the White House.
The Elgar Parishad case
Five years have passed but most of the 16 arrested activists, all renowned for their life-long advocacy of civil liberties and opposition to any form of discrimination against people living on the margins, are still in jail. Read more
Who are the acclaimed ‘BK-16’? / HRDs and families await justice, five years down
Faulty investigation and severe loopholes in investigation, surrounds the controversial BK-16 case. International outcry has not helped move the trial five years down even while the targeted languish, families await the return of their loved ones
In June 2021, European Union parliamentarians, Nobel Laureates, renowned academics, and internationally known figures wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, the then Chief Justice of India as well as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and other authorities in India, demanding to the release of political prisoners arrested with relation to the Elgar Parishad and Bhima Koregaon incident.
Amidst contested accusations of an anti-India conspiracy, militancy, and violence, five long years have passed since the BK-16 have been imprisoned without trial. Read more
Who are the acclaimed ‘BK-16’?
22/06/2023
cjp / by CJP Team
Five years have passed, and human rights defenders (HRDs) and their families continue to await justice.
Surendra Gadling
Status: Detained without trial
Charges:Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) since June 2018
Location: Taloja Central Prison, Mumbai
Gadling is a human rights lawyer and a Dalit activist. Over time, Gadling established himself as a keen advocate and a key figure in cases related to extrajudicial killings, police misconduct, false accusations, and injustices against Dalits and Adivasis in the region… Read more
This is just another instance of the indifference with which the Commission has been treated by the government.
… None of the public witnesses have spoken of any link between the violence and the speeches made at the Elgar Parishad, held a day earlier on December 31, 2017 in Pune. This public meeting was organised by two retired judges and a range of Dalit organizations, to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon.
However, this alleged link forms the basis of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 intellectuals have been made accused and spent years in jail.
The ongoing depositions of policemen are therefore crucial to the task of the Commission. Read more
Bhima Koregaon commission to work only from Pune now
17/06/2023
India Today / by Vidya
The Maharashtra government had set up a commission in February 2018 to conduct an inquiry into the violence that broke out in Pune, claiming one life, after an Elgar Parishad meeting on December 31, 2017. Read more
Telangana Govt to ‘Drop’ UAPA Case Against Prof Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, 150 Others
17/06/2023
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
Chief minister of Telangana, K. Chandrashekar Rao, is said to have inquired about the case with the state police chief and asked him if it can be diluted.
The Telangana government is said to have decided not to pursue the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case filed against Prof Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, and 150 others after chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao directed the state police chief to “drop” the case, The Hindu reported. Read more
Work of fiction by police, says Professor Haragopal on UAPA charges against him, 151 others
17/06/2023
The News Minute / by IANS
The former professor of political science was reacting to the booking of a case under UAPA by Tadvai police of Mulugu district last year.
Human rights activist and former University of Hyderabad professor, G. Haragopal, who, along with 151 others, were booked by the Telangana Police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for alleged links with Maoists, said on Friday that they had no information why the action against them was taken. Read more
KCR intervenes to drop UAPA charges against rights activists
17/06/2023
The Statesman / by Statesman News Service
The move came in the wake of outrage of outrage over registration of cases against human rights activist Prof Haragopal and 151 others under the the draconian law.
Following an outrage over registration of cases against human rights activist Prof Haragopal and 151 others by Telangana Police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed the state DGP Anjani Kumar to withdraw the draconian law. Read more
Activists Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, 150 Others Booked Under UAPA Last August; Accused Unaware
16/06/2023
The Wire / by Sumit Jha
The Telangana Police had registered the case in August 2022 accusing them of conspiring to ‘take over the power of the democratically elected government at gunpoint’. The issue came to light only on Thursday, June 15.
… Prominent among those named in the FIR, apart from Prof Haragopal, Prof Padmaja Shaw of Osmania University (OU), Telangana Civil Liberties Committee President Prof Gaddam Laxman, Indian Association of People’s Lawyers’ Justice (Retd) H Suresh, activist Sudha Bharadwaj, human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling, and activist Arun Ferreira. Read more
Telangana Police filed charges under UAPA against 152
16/06/2023
The Statesman / by Statesman News Service
However, the people, including two professors, named in the FIR were unaware of the charges under UAPA until the matter came to light during another trial.
… The charges under the UAPA were brought against the 152 accused after the police carried out combing operations on 19 August, 2022 after receiving a tip off that the Maoists were holding a meeting at Berelli village. When the police reached a temporary shelter, the Maoists escaped into a dense forest. The police seized some Maoist literature and kit bags on the spot and the names of Prof Haragopal and Padmaja Shaw, Prof Gaddam Laxman, Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira were apparently found in the literature left behind. Read more
As part of a massive outreach programme planned in Maharashtra, both Union home minister Amit Shah and state home minister Devendra Fadnavis were in Nanded on June 10.
Only 10 days before their visit, the district had witnessed a dastardly incident in which a 24-year-old Dalit youth, Akash Bhalerao, was killed by a caste Hindu Maratha mob. The community and anti-caste activists had expected the two to visit the family. Instead, the police put an anti-caste leader under detention till Shah, Fadnavis and other BJP leaders had left the city.
… Following the Bhima Koregaon violence in Pune rural region on January 1, 2018, protests were carried out on a massive scale. In the Marathwada region, Pradhan was one of the leaders at the forefront, organising and mobilising the Bahujan youth to demand justice. Read more
Hamraaz is an anonymous poet on Instagram writing about instances of oppression.
When Varavara Rao was arrested in 2018, many of the demands for his release focused on his identity as a poet. “What kind of country are we,” a concerned citizen said in dismay, “when we put poets behind bars?” This, perhaps, is an indication of the revolutionary power that poetry can have. Read more
Salute Comrade, a glorious birthday! Our tribute will be in poetry, throughout the day.
Aruna Nellutla, VV’s niece, reads out for the poet
Ilika reads out for VV
Kodam Kumar reads out for VV
Shovana Nath reads out for VV
Amita Shereen reads out for VV
Baby Sau reads out for VV
Samiran Ghosh reads out for VV
Ipsa Shatakshi reads out for VV
Nalluri Rukmini reads out for VV
Kaushal Kishore reads out a poem for VV
Rahul Purakaystha recites VV
SAHAJA recites VV’s ‘Companion´
… and numerous others read out for VV
The 22nd Report of the Indian Law Commission flies in the face of serious judicial pronouncements, jurisprudence and modern thinking
Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned for sedition, because his speeches incited people to protest and caused an uprising against the government. While on trial he refers to Section 124-A of IPC as ‘Prince’ of all sections which try to supress the liberty of the citizens, as a classical law theorist he decides to disobey the law even if it is backed by sanctions because he believes the law and the larger system is not just and fair…
There have been multiple instances of misuse of sedition laws in India, to silence dissent and give greater power to the government. Here are some instances of the misuse of sedition laws in the country: Read more
Dalit activist Prakash Ambedkar recently told the Commission of Inquiry probing the 2018 Koregaon Bhima violence to first summon Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was chief minister at the time of the incident. Ambedkar said before asking him to depose, the probe panel should also ask its member Sumit Mallick, who was the state chief secretary in 2018, and former Pune Rural SP Suvez Haque to depose. Read more
