Background – Page 23 – free them all

Several retired bureaucrats recalled the custody death of Jesuit priest Stan Swamy

04/03/2023 Asha

By Constitutional Conduct Group

CCG OPEN LETTER TO THE HON’BLE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA – HARASSMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji,
… We write to you today because we are deeply perturbed by the continued harassment, through speech and criminal action, of minority groups in the country by persons associated with your government, your party, organisations connected to it, and by mischief makers from amongst the public.
… Jesuit priest, Father Stan Swamy, for no fault of his except that he was closely working with the Adivasis, Dalits and other underprivileged people of Jharkhand, was virtually driven to his death by no less than the State.
Read full statement

Also Read:
● Organisation named after Stan Swamy calls to free rights defenders (The Telegraph / March 2023)
● CCG OPEN LETTER TO CITIZENS OF INDIA (Constitutional Conduct Group / Nov 2021)

The ugly face of justice: Anand Teltumbde reviews Abdul Wahid Shaikh’s ‘Innocent Prisoners’

25/02/2023 Asha

Scroll.in / by Anand Teltumbde

The book exposes a sinister modus operandi of the police of charging innocent Muslims for terror acts, which is structurally made easier in India.
“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”

– Milan Kundera, ‘The Book of Laughter and Forgetting’.

What if the state that is supposed to have been created by the people, the real sovereign as the constitution proclaims, turns into a monster that devours them? What if the police, vested with the responsibility of protecting people with law and order, turns into an organised gang of criminals supported by the state, conspire against innocent people, arrest them, torture them, and kill them with impunity?
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Cop who received village ‘bandh’ letter deposes before Koregaon Bhima panel

11/02/2023 Asha

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Dattatraya Hole is being examined before the commission in connection with the Koregaon Bhima village “bandh” letter he had received from a gram panchayat staffer while performing his duty at the Shikrapur police station on December 31, 2017.
Head constable Dattatraya Hole of the Pune rural police deposed as a witness before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Friday.
The two-member commission, headed by retired judge Justice J N Patel, is probing into the causes of violence in Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, causing the death of one person and injuries to several others.
Read more

Also Read:
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 27, 2022)
● Saffron Conspiracy in Bhima Koregaon? – Fact finding report by Rashtra Seva Dal unearths insidious scheme to target Dalits (CJP / Jan 2018)

Anybody dissenting will be treated in this manner: Father Frazer Mascarenhas

09/02/2023 Asha

Rediff.com / by Neeta Kolhatkar

In November 2021, the Bombay High Court allowed Father (Dr) Frazer Mascarenhas, SJ, to approach the court to clear the name of Father Stan Swamy, the oldest of the 16 Bhima Koregaon accused, who died in hospital in July 2021 …
Known to speak freely and stand by his principles, Father Frazer, who is now the parish priest at a Mumbai church, tells Rediff.com Senior Contributor Neeta Kolhatkar, “It seems to be a culture now. Anybody dissenting will be treated in this manner. No human rights… It is not limited to any one political party. The evidence shows that a group of political parties seem to be using this in an extensive and deliberate manner.”

The first of a two-part interview
Read more

Also read:
● Fabricating Evidence Against Life and Liberty: Tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer and its implications for Bhima Koregaon case (Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy / Dec 2022)

How the Politics of Hate Unites South Asia

29/01/2023 Asha

The Wire / by Farahnaz Ispahani

Not just Indian, but Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka too appear to be well within an era of media incitement, orchestrated attacks on minority religious institutions, and identity politics.
The volume Politics Of Hate: Religious Majoritarianism in South Asia presents the research of noted scholars on the role of the media and political leaders in deploying hatred for political advantage.
… In July 2021, jailed tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy died in a prison in Mumbai, at the age of eighty-four. A Jesuit priest, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease, was arrested in October 2020 after being accused of terrorism along with sixteen other activists, academics and lawyers. Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, had referred to this detention as ‘inexcusable’.
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Officer who probed Elgaar Parishad questioned on FIR against Bhide, Ekbote / The strange deposition of Pawar

24/01/2023 Asha

Graphic by Arun Ferreira & Vernon Gonsalves

Officer who probed Elgaar Parishad questioned on FIR against Bhide, Ekbote

24/01/2023

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The two-member commission, headed by retired judge Justice J N Patel, is probing the causes of violence in Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, in which one person was killed and several others were left injured.
Police officer Shivaji Pawar, who had investigated the Elgaar Parishad case, was on Monday cross examined by the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry, by senior lawyer B A Desai, representing Harshali Potdar, an accused in the same case.
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The Strange Deposition Of Shivaji Pawar

24/01/2023

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

Shivaji Pawar made a startling revelation: Though the subject matter of his investigation was the January 1 violence, he had not examined any of the witnesses to that violence.
“I am not aware of the complaint filed by Mrs Anita Sawale.”
This was the statement of Assistant Commissioner of Police Shivaji Pawar, the officer in charge of the Elgar Parishad case in which 16 intellectuals stand charged under UAPA, with most of them having spent almost five years behind bars.
Read more

Also Read:
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 27, 2022)
● “Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote instigated the Bhima Koregaon Violence,” an accused deposes as witness before Inquiry Commission (LawBeat / Oct 2021)
● Casting a Veil – What we miss by ignoring Maratha caste politics in the Bhima Koregaon case (The Caravan / Dec 2020)
● Saffron Conspiracy in Bhima Koregaon? – Fact finding report by Rashtra Seva Dal unearths insidious scheme to target Dalits (CJP / Jan 2018)

India’s UAPA law: Curbing Terrorism or Stifling Democratic Dissent?

24/01/2023 Asha

The UAPA Law – Curbing Terrorism or Stifling Dissent?

24/01/2023

By Hindus for Human Rights

(DESH-VIDESH CONVERSATION SERIES – SPEAKING ACROSS THE DIVIDE)
Digital Evidence Planting: New Age Threat to Rights Defenders
Presented by Safa Ahmed of the Indian American Muslim Council on behalf of a broad coalition working to secure the release of all the Bhima Koregaon prisoners

WHY ARE MOST OF THE BHIMA KOREGAON DEFENDANTS STILL IN JAIL DESPITE FORENSIC FINDINGS THAT INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE HAD BEEN PLANTED ON SOME OF THEIR COMPUTERS?

Good evening. Digital forensics is a dry, technical field, but the consequences of digital attacks play out like a vivid, terrifying, and painful movie. With the help of technical experts, journalists, and activists, I have prepared for you this narrative of what was revealed in the forensic analysis of the hard drives of three of the BK-16 – Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, and Father Stan Swamy.
Read more

Invite: India’s UAPA law: Curbing Terrorism or Stifling Democratic Dissent?

20/01/2023

By Hindus for Human Rights / @Hindus4HR

The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and India’s Prisoners of Conscience (POCs): Targeting terrorism or stifling democratic dissent?
Saturday, January 21, 2023
6 pm PST,
7:30 am IST
The conversation will cover the history and the draconian provisions of the UAPA; how it compares to anti-terror laws in other democracies; the views of the State Department and USCIRF; what are some of the typical charges being made being under UAPA. Do they look unlawful to you? Some statistics: How many people arrested since the amended UAPA; Average time spent w/o trial or bail hearing; How many have gone to trial, etc.

Moderator: Govind Acharya, Amnesty International
Panelists:
Banojyotsna Lahiri, Activist, on Umar Khalid’s story and struggle
Yug Mohit Chaudhry, Author and Criminal Lawyer, on legal strategies on behalf of POCs and hurdles faced
Mihir Desai, Human Rights Lawyer, on the story and struggle of Bhima Koregaon 16 and what’s happening to lesser known detainees
Followed by a Q&A moderated by Govind Acharya
Register here

Elgaar activist Harshali Potdar questioned on historical references of battle of Koregaon

23/01/2023 Asha

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

A day before the violence, Elgaar Parishad had held a conclave at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Koregaon Bhima.
Activist Harshali Potdar, who is among the organisers of the Elgaar Parishad, was questioned Sunday on the history of battle of Koregaon Bhima of January 1, 1818, during her cross examination before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry.
Read more

Also Read:
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 27, 2022)
● 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 30, 2018)

Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission gets yet another extension, till March 31

18/01/2023 Asha

Five years and 10 extensions later, Bhima Koregaon inquiry goes on

22/01/2023

The Indian Express / by Chanda Haygunnde

The two-member inquiry commission has examined 48 witnesses so far, seven of them partly. More yet to be deposed.
Formed on February 9, 2018, the Commission was tasked with inquiring into the “exact sequence” of events that led to violence on the occasion of the 200th anniversary Battle of Koregaon Bhima.
Almost five years after it was constituted and after receiving 10 extensions, the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry has yet to complete its work.
Read more

Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission gets yet another extension, till March 31

18/01/2023

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The two-member commission was constituted by the Maharashtra government on February 9, 2018, to inquire into the “exact sequence” of events that led to violence on the 200th anniversary of Battle of Koregaon Bhima on January 1 that year.
The Maharashtra government Tuesday granted yet another extension to the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry. An order in this regard issued by the state home department on Tuesday stated that the commission has been given an extension of three months till March 31, 2023, to submit the report.
Read more

Also Read:
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 27, 2022)

Press Conference & Public Meeting: “Conspiracy of Conspiracy Cases”

12/01/2023 Asha

Poster by Campaign Against State Repression

Wives of Khalid Saifi, Hany Babu, GN Saibaba demand release of ‘political prisoners’

12/01/2023

Maktoob / by Maktoob Staff

Life partners of jailed human rights defenders Khalid Saifi, Hany Babu and GN Saibaba who gathered in national capital Delhi on Thursday under the banner of Campaign Against State Repression, demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners incarcerated under the Bhima Koregaon and CAA-NRC cases.
This event titled “conspiracy of conspiracy cases” was held to discuss the recent developments in Bhima Koregaon and CAA-NRC case where top intelligence officers have disclosed that there was no connection between the Elgaar Parishad event and Bhima Koregano violence, as well as multiple international forensic reports revealing that the evidence was planted on the BK accused.
Read more

Civil rights leaders allege corporate loot of resources, suppression of democratic rights

14/01/2023

Countercurrents / by Our Representative

Civil rights activists have alleged, quoting top intelligence officers as also multiple international forensic reports, that recent developments with regard to the Bhima Koregaon and the Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens (CAA-NRC) cases suggest, there was “no connection between the Elgaar Parishad event and the Bhima Koregaon violence.”
Activists of the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) told a media event at the HKS Surjeet Bhawan, New Delhi, that, despite this, several political prisoners continue to be behind bars on being accused under the anti-terror the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Read more

Also read
● Press Release by Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), Dec 5, 2022

Click to enlarge

● CASR meeting: GN Saibaba, others called new generation freedom fighters, victims of state terror (Countercurrents / Oct 2022)