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Activists mark four years in jail under India’s UAPA without trial or bail

Activists mark four years in jail under India’s UAPA without trial or bail

Credits: @FreeUmarKhalid1

Activists mark four years in jail under India’s UAPA without trial or bail

20/09/2024

Peoples Dispatch / by Peoples Dispatch

Umar Khalid and more than a dozen activoists have spent four years in prison under India’s controversial Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), with no trial or bail. The cases are widely seen as politically motivated efforts to suppress dissent
… The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called for the scrapping of the UAPA, claiming it has been used by the Narendra Modi led-BJP government to silence the opposition and to put its critics behind bars in cases such as Bhima Koregaon and Delhi riots.
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Umar Khalid’s Father Lambasts Misuse of Laws to Silence Dissent

20/09/2024

Clarion / by Team Clarion

Calls for judicial accountability as Umar Khalid and others languish in jail without bail or proper trial
Anti-terror laws are being systematically used to silence the dissenting voices in the country, the father of incarcerated JNU student and activist, Umar Khalid, has said.
“Laws like UAPA, TADA, and POTA were meant to combat terrorism, but they have been weaponised against ordinary citizens and activists,” Khalid’s father, Dr Qasim Rasool Ilyas, said. He was addressing an event ‘Curtailed Freedoms: A Travesty of Justice’ hosted by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and Concerned Citizens Delhi at the Constitution Club of India here earlier this week.
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Also read:
Four Years of Injustice: Free Umar Khalid and All Political Prisoners (Hindus for Human Rights / Sep 2024)
Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

Video | Many Meanings of Bhima Koregaon: Ajaz Ashraf

Video | Many Meanings of Bhima Koregaon: Ajaz Ashraf

By Daanish Bin Nabi

en | 20:12min | 2024
Watch video:


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.
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Also read:
Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)
And the future of Stan Swamy (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / Oct 2022)
And a place Sudhir Dhawale calls home (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / Aug 2022)
And Ramesh Gaichor’s patriotic songs (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / Aug 2022)
And prayers to Lord for Arun Ferreira (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / Aug 2022)
And Vernon’s letters to his son (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / July 2022)
And comrades admire Jyoti Jagtap (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / July 2022)
And they wait for Mahesh Raut (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / Jun 2022)
And the letters of Rona Wilson (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / June 2022)
And Allah’s call to Hany Babu (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / June 2022)
And Ma died waiting for Surendra (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / Jun 2022)
And Ma can’t sing with Sagar (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / June 2022)
And he waits for Shoma Sen (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / May 2022)
And she waits for Gautam Navlakha (Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf / May 2022)

‘How Long Can the Moon Be Caged?’: An investigation of how the state can stifle dissent brutally

‘How Long Can the Moon Be Caged?’: An investigation of how the state can stifle dissent brutally

Scroll.in / by Shevlin Sebastian

Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia also write about those who are battling to uphold individual and human rights.

Vijayan and Recchia talk at length about the notorious Bhima Koregaon case, where 16 activists, teachers, intellectuals, university professors, writers, and lawyers were arrested and charged with arms smuggling, for allegedly helping Maoists, and for hatching a plan to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi, apart from waging war against the state – Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, and Father Stan Swamy (who died tragically while imprisoned).
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How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners

Authors: Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia
Publishing Date: Aug 2023
Publisher: Pluto Press
Pages: 247
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Also read:
Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)
Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Pages: 496
Read more/order
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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Video: UnPanel – Future of Dissent | Dr. Anand Teltumbde @ #PrivacySupreme

Video: UnPanel – Future of Dissent | Dr. Anand Teltumbde @ #PrivacySupreme

The Wire / by The Wire

In this UnPanel session, Dr. Anand Teltumbde joined us remotely for Future of Dissent to answer the question of what does it mean to dissent in digital India? We explore how core democratic virtues like protests, dissent, and rights advocacy have become prone to targeted surveillance and privacy intrusions by the State. Read more about Privacy Supreme 2024 here.


en | 23:21min | 2024
Watch video


Also read:
How the State uses ‘national security’ to spellbind the process of justice (The Leaflet / Jul 2024)
A New Bill Shows Maharashtra Wants to Become a Police State Before Combatting Left-Wing Extremism (The Wire 7 Jul 2024)
AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)

‘Communal riot script… but Dalits target’: Ajaz Ashraf on Bhima Koregaon ‘myth’ and media

‘Communal riot script… but Dalits target’: Ajaz Ashraf on Bhima Koregaon ‘myth’ and media

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

Newslaundry / by Aban Usmani

The author of ‘Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste’ spoke to Newslaundry about the Maoist links case, the violence, the role of the state, and Maharashtra’s contentious caste history.
From official history to popular culture, the Hindutva investment in remaking the past has been all too visible over the last decade. And this attempt to dominate history has opened new flashpoints, such as the one linked to the Battle of Bhima Koregaon.
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Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 496
This book rips apart the Maoist conspiracy theory and the Urban Naxal narrative. It points out the ironies underlying the State’s charges against the sixteen, and the flimsiness of the evidence that is said to have been planted on their hacked computers. The conspiracy against the sixteen that inflicted untold miseries on their families is retold here in their voices.
Read more/order


Also watch/read:
Video: Discussion on “Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste” (By Paranjoy Online / Aug 2024)
Bhima Koregaon Challenging Caste: Brahminism’s Wrath Against Dreamers Of Equality by Ajaz Ashraf (Article 14 / Jul 2024)
Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)

Learning Curve: Teachers Are Expected To Guide Us, But Are Themselves Under Fire

Learning Curve: Teachers Are Expected To Guide Us, But Are Themselves Under Fire

Free Press Journal / by Vrijendra

The state of our teachers in higher education continues to become more and more perilous each passing year
As I write this, one more Teachers’ Day (September 5) has gone. Sadly, there is little to celebrate as the state of our teachers at all levels (let me confine it to teachers in higher education: in our colleges and universities and other institutions of higher education) continues to become more and more perilous each passing year.
… Finally, Dr Hany Babu, a DU professor and an anti-caste activist, completed four years in jail on July 28, 2024, without bail and no signs of an early trial. He was arrested under the UAPA in the Bhima-Koregaon Elgar Parishad case, along with other leading activists and academicians.
Read more


Also read:
Hany Babu completes four years in prison without bail, trial (Maktoobmedia.com / Jul 2024)
Three years ago on this day Hany Babu was arrested in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case (Maktoobmedia.com / Jul 2024)

The SC Is Making Bail Easier In Terrorism, Money Laundering Cases – Except When It Ignores Itself

The SC Is Making Bail Easier In Terrorism, Money Laundering Cases – Except When It Ignores Itself

Article 14 / by Areeb Uddin Ahmed

11 Supreme Court rulings over 10 months appear to be reshaping bail jurisprudence in India, especially with regard to India’s terrorism and money laundering laws, often used to incarcerate many without bail for years. Despite these landmark judgements, the Supreme Court has also avoided deciding bail on high-profile cases important to the government, in so doing ignoring its own rulings.
At least 11 Supreme Court rulings over 10 months granting bail appear to be gradually reshaping bail jurisprudence in India, especially with regard to India’s terrorism and money laundering laws. 
The restrictive bail provisions of these laws have been frequently used to keep accused, mostly protestors, poets, Opposition politicians, dissidents, academics and artists, in jail with no sign of trial.
Read more


Also read:
SC adjourns hearing on bail plea of Bhima Koregaon case accused Jyoti Jagtap (Hindustan Times / Jul 2024)
Bombay HC rejects default bail of five accused in Bhima Koregaon case (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)
Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’

Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’

Counterview.net / by Campaign against State Repression (CASR)

The Campaign against State Repression (CASR) unequivocally condemns the arrest of human rights activist and Advocate Ajay Kumar by National Investigation Agency early morning 3 am from Chandigarh.

Ajay was actively involved in the Forum Against the War on People to oppose the attack by state forces and corporate-sponsored militia, Salwa Judum, on the Adivasi peasants of central India under Operation Green Hunt. He was also founding member of Vistapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (VVJVA), a conglomeration of more than 50 organisations from across the country seeking to challenge the forcible displacement of peasants particularly Adivasis, for the furtherance of corporate loot and land grab. VVJVA works against the forceful displacement of peasantry, particularly Adivasis for building big dams, industrial projects, mines, Special Economic Zones, highways, National Parks, Smart City projects etc. Ajay Kumar worked alongside the likes of Dr. B.D. Sharma (retired IAS officer), K.N. Pandit (trade union leader), Dr. B.P. Kesari, Father Stan Swamy, Sudha Bhardwaj, Dr. G.N. Saibaba and J. Madhuri in the formation of this forum in 2007.
Read full statement


Also read:
TU activist Anirudh Rajan, lawyer Ajay Kumar in custody: Wounded reputation of world’s largest democracy? (Counterview / Sep 10, 2024)
Student Activist’s Room Raided in Prayagraj by NIA Over Alleged Naxal Links (The Wire / Aug 2024)
Senior activist Ajay Kumar’s arrest ‘imminent’ in same vein as Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy (Counterview / Jan 2024)

Video: Ajaz Ashraf’s Book on Bhima Koregaon Unveiled at IIC

Video: Ajaz Ashraf’s Book on Bhima Koregaon Unveiled at IIC

Video: Discussion on “Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste”

By Paranjoy Online

en | 1:39:02 | 2024
On Thursday 30 July 2024 evening, a lively discussion took place at the India International Centre (Annexe), New Delhi, on the book written by journalist and author Ajaz Ashraf titled “Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste – Brahminism’s Wrath Against Dreamers of Equality” published by Paranjoy/AuthorsUpFront. The discussants were Manoj Kumar, Professor and Member of Parliament belonging to the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Subhashini Ali, member of the Communist Party of India – Marxist and Colin Gonsalves, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.
Watch video


Ajaz Ashraf’s ‘Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste’ sheds light on judiciary role in Elgaar Parishad case

31/08/2024

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves said the case had witnessed “the second biggest betrayal by the judiciary” following its “supine” role during the Emergency
Caste hatred and “State terrorism” came under the spotlight at the release of Ajaz Ashraf’s book, Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste, with speakers also questioning the judiciary’s role in the context of the long incarceration without trial of the Elgaar Parishad accused.
Read more


Ajaz Ashraf’s Book on Bhima Koregaon Unveiled at IIC

30/08/2024

Radiance News / by Radiance News Bureau

Senior journalist Ajaz Ashraf’s book, Bhima Koregaon: Challenging the Caste, was launched at India International Centre last evening. The book, published by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, delves into the enduring struggle against casteism, focusing on the events surrounding the Bhima Koregaon incident and its broader implications.
Read more


Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 496
This book rips apart the Maoist conspiracy theory and the Urban Naxal narrative. It points out the ironies underlying the State’s charges against the sixteen, and the flimsiness of the evidence that is said to have been planted on their hacked computers. The conspiracy against the sixteen that inflicted untold miseries on their families is retold here in their voices.
Read more/order


Also read:
Bhima Koregaon Challenging Caste: Brahminism’s Wrath Against Dreamers Of Equality by Ajaz Ashraf (Article 14 / Jul 2024)
Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)

Bhima Koregaon violence probe: Maharashtra govt grants inquiry panel 15th extension, till Nov 30

Bhima Koregaon violence probe: Maharashtra govt grants inquiry panel 15th extension, till Nov 30

Graphic by Arun Ferreira & Vernon Gonsalves

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

As per an order issued recently in this regard by the home department, the Bhima Koregaon Commission of Inquiry has been given an extension of another three months.
The Maharashtra government has granted yet another extension to the commission of inquiry, tasked with probing the Bhima Koregaon violence, till November 30. This is the fifteenth time that an extension has been granted to the commission since it was formed.
Read more


Also read:
Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)
One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part I | History of a 200-year-old battle and why it still matters (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)
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)
The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2018)
Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 2018)