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Modi government’s actions against the Christian minority reveal a deep malaise within our society

Modi government’s actions against the Christian minority reveal a deep malaise within our society

Scroll.in / by Peter Ronald deSouza, The India Forum

Making Christmas Good Governance Day, harassing the Missionaries of Charity and Stan Swamy’s death in custody all go against the idea of decency.
The spate of attacks on churches in some states of India, even during the Christmas season of 2021, is not as disturbing to me as five other actions taken by the current political dispensation…The first is the incarceration and subsequent death of Stan Swamy, while still under custody as an undertrial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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India retains ‘partially free’ status for second year in Freedom House’s 2022 report

India retains ‘partially free’ status for second year in Freedom House’s 2022 report

India retains ‘partially free’ status for second year in Freedom House’s 2022 report

04/03/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The report from the US-based NGO attributed BJP government’s ‘discriminatory policies’ and persecution of Muslims for India’s standing in the report.
India was called a “partially free” country for the second year in a row in the 2022 report by the United States non-governmental organisation, Freedom House. India’s was 66th on the “Freedom of the World” rankings – a notch higher from last year’s 67.
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For the second consecutive year, India drops on freedom score

01/03/2022

The Hindu / by Parvathi Benu

The main pointers for the lower rankings include – politicians and journalists surveillance, activist Stan Swamy’s death, and the Lakshmipur Kheri incidents. 
India, for the second consecutive year, continues to not completely free country, according to the findings in the Freedom of the World report.
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Read full report: Freeedom in The World 2022: The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule

Bhima Koregaon Inquiry: Police evasive when questioned about its failure to prevent violence

Bhima Koregaon Inquiry: Police evasive when questioned about its failure to prevent violence

Bhima Koregaon Inquiry Commission: Police evasive when questioned about its failure to prevent violence

26/02/2022

Sabrang India / by Sabah Gurmat

The ongoing proceedings before the Bhima Koregaon Inquiry Commission took an interesting turn on Friday with the police giving evasive replies to the counsel, who posed probing questions on its role during the days leading to the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon (when the British aided by Mahar soldiers defeated the Peshwas) on January 1, 2018, which ended in violence, and subsequent arrests of activists.
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IPS officer Nangare Patil files affidavit on ‘security threat’ to ‘Jaystambh’ in- charge’s house, bandobast preparation

26/02/2022

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The current joint commissioner (law and order) of Mumbai Police, Nangare Patil, was the special inspector general of police, Kolhapur Range, at the time of the violence in Koregaon Bhima area (in the jurisdiction of Pune Rural Police), which was under his supervision.
IPS OFFICER Vishwas Nangare Patil submitted his affidavit before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry in Mumbai on Friday.
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Also read:
Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│by Sudhir Dhawale│March 2018)

‘Speeches were very provocative’: Police officer about the Elgar Parishad

‘Speeches were very provocative’: Police officer about the Elgar Parishad

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

The senior police officer, who deposed in such detail about the Elgar Parishad, however, claimed to know nothing about the opposition to it from organisations such as Milind Ekbote’s Samastha Hindu Aghadi as well as Pune’s then mayor Mukta Tilak.
The speeches made by Umar Khalid, Jignesh Mewani, Prashant Dhontha and Sudhir Dhawale at the Elgar Parishad were provocative, but the pledge administered at the end of the Parishad to the audience, to ‘protect the Constitution and never vote for opponents of the Constitution, the RSS and BJP’, was not objectionable.
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Also read:
Bhima Koregaon: Is Milind Ekbote Being Protected? (Rediff.com / Feb 2022)
Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│by Sudhir Dhawale│March 2018)

Lawyer seeks examination of cop who probed Elgaar Parishad case

Lawyer seeks examination of cop who probed Elgaar Parishad case

Lawyer seeks examination of cop who probed Elgaar Parishad case

24/02/2022

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Elgaar Parishad was a conclave held on December 31, 2017 ahead of the 200th commemoration of the battle of Koregaon Bhima.
Senior lawyer B A Desai on Wednesday asked the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry to call police officer Shivaji Pawar, who investigated the Elgaar Parishad case, to depose as a witness. The two-member commission headed by retired judge, Justice J N Patel, is probing the causes of violence in Koregaon Bhima area in which a person was killed and many others were injured.
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Sharad Pawar not to appear before probe commission on Feb. 23 and 24

22/02/2022

The Hindu / by Shoumojit Banerjee

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will not be able to appear before the commission appointed by the Maharashtra government to probe the 2018 Bhima Koregaon clashes on February 23 and 24. He has accordingly conveyed the same to the commission, Maharashtra Minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said on Tuesday.
Mr. Malik, who gave this information in a video statement, said the NCP chief would “definitely” appear before the probe panel in future to record his version of events.
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Also read:
The Mystery of Fadnavis’ Terms of Reference – Jyoti Punwani reports from the Bhima Koregaon Commission hearing (Rediff.com / Dec 2021)

How Modi has Depressed Indian Democracy

How Modi has Depressed Indian Democracy

Intpolicydigest.org / by Manas Nag

In July of last year, Stan Swamy, a prominent tribal rights activist, passed away at a hospital in Mumbai. The 84-year-old became India’s oldest political prisoner and remained in custody for eight months while his bail plea on medical grounds was repeatedly rejected. Riddled with Parkinson’s disease, Swamy’s health deteriorated to the point where he could not feed himself. He was eventually moved to a hospital in May where he contracted COVID-19. Swamy was charged and arrested in 2020 under a draconian anti-terror law called the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) – an accusation he categorically denied.
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Bhide’s role in Bhima-Koregaon violence case cannot be established, Pune cops tell MSHRC

Bhide’s role in Bhima-Koregaon violence case cannot be established, Pune cops tell MSHRC

Free Press Journal / by Narsi Benwal

The Pune police informed the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) on Thursday that for lack of evidence it hadn’t named right-wing leader Manohar Bhide alias Sambhaji Bhide in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case. The commission accordingly adjourned the matter for final hearing till March 29, when it is likely to decide the compensation to be paid to Bhide.
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Also read:
Bhima Koregaon: Is Milind Ekbote Being Protected? (Rediff.com / Feb 2022)

Activist Rona Wilson was targeted by two separate hacker groups, says report

Activist Rona Wilson was targeted by two separate hacker groups, says report

Rona Wilson Targeted in 10-Year Cyber Espionage Effort by Two Groups: Report

11/02/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Findings by US experts under the cybersecurity firm SentinelOne reveal that Wilson was targeted in a nearly decade-long effort – a time frame significantly longer than earlier realised.
A new report has found that activist Rona Wilson – incarcerated over what the Pune Police and NIA believe are his connections to the Elgar Parishad case – was targeted by two groups who took up cyber crime campaigns against him.
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Indian activist charged with terrorism was targeted by hackers linked to prominent cyber espionage attacks, new report finds

10/02/2022

The Washington Post / by Niha Masih and Gerry Shih

In early 2021, India was jolted by revelations that a jailed human rights activist and vocal government critic was targeted by hackers who planted incriminating evidence on his laptop before he was arrested on terrorism charges.
Now, a year later, a report by U.S. experts says the activist, Rona Wilson, was targeted by two separate groups, including one group that has been linked to widely documented cyberespionage campaigns against military targets in China and Pakistan, India’s top foreign adversaries.
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Activist Rona Wilson was targeted by two separate hacker groups, says report

10/02/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

One of the groups has reportedly been linked to cyberespionage efforts against military targets in China and Pakistan.
Activist Rona Wilson, who has been named as an accused person in the Bhima Koregaon case, was targeted by two separate groups of hackers before he was arrested, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
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Podcast: Disha Wadekar talks about Ambedkarite history in Pune City, Bhima Koregaon in 2018 …

Podcast: Disha Wadekar talks about Ambedkarite history in Pune City, Bhima Koregaon in 2018 …

By Anurag Minus Verma Podcast

en | 1h39min | 2022
Listen to the podcast

Anurag Minus Verma Podcast in Conversation with Disha Wadekar (#44 Disha Wadekar)
Disha is an advocate practicing in the Supreme Court. She has also headed a legal resource centre and is co-founder of CEDE.

Topics Discussed in the podcast:
– Rarely discussed Ambedkarite history about Pune City.
– What happened at the Bhim Koregaon in 2018.
– Vimukta identity and criminal act.
– Delta Meghwal rape case and struggle of the family for justice
Community for the Eradication of Discrimination in Education and Employment (CEDE), a network of lawyers, law firms, judges, and other organizations and individuals, who are committed to reforming the Indian legal profession.

Bhima Koregaon Commission: Startling Revelations!

Bhima Koregaon Commission: Startling Revelations!

Bhima Koregaon Commission: Startling Revelations!

08/02/2022

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

Maharashtra’s then home minister didn’t ever discuss the proceedings of the Elgar Parishad held on December 31, 2017, at Pune’s historic Shaniwarwada, with Pune’s police commissioner.
Nor did he discuss the violence that took place the following day at Bhima Koregaon with her.
In fact, no minister either at the Centre or state contacted Pune’s police commissioner over these two incidents.
This startling fact came to light in Rashmi Shukla’s testimony before the Bhima Koregaon Commission of Inquiry last week.
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NCP’s Sharad Pawar, IPS Suvez Haque summoned by Bhima Koregaon Inquiry Commission

09/02/2022

Hindustan Times / by Shalaka Shinde

The Bhima Koregaon Inquiry Commission will begin its next round of hearings on February 21 in Mumbai, with five people, including Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, and former Pune rural police superintendent Suvez Haque, scheduled to appear.
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Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission summons Sharad Pawar to depose before it as witness

10/02/2022

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

During an interaction with the media following the January 1 violence, Pawar had raised suspicion about the role of Hindutva groups in the riots.
The Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry Wednesday summoned Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to depose as a witness on February 23 and 24.
Read more


Also read:
Bhima Koregaon: Is Milind Ekbote Being Protected? (Rediff.com / Feb 2022)
Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote instigated the Bhima Koregaon Violence,” an accused deposes as witness before Inquiry Commission (LawBeat / Oct 2021)