Background – Page 27 – free them all

CPJ calls on EU to hold India to account for media clampdown

13/07/2022 Asha

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) / by CPJ

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday called on the European External Action Service to hold Indian authorities accountable for widespread and severe press freedom violations when they meet for the annual India-EU Human Rights Dialogue on Friday, July 15 …
Gibson also called on the EU to press India for action on the following press freedom violations and attacks on journalists documented by CPJ:
▪ The ongoing pretrial detention of Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde, Siddique Kappan, and Manan Dar under India’s draconian anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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Also read:
● For the second consecutive year, India drops on freedom score (The Hindu / March 2022)
● Freeedom in The World 2022: The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule (Freedom House / Feb 2022, booklet)

Remembering Fr. Stan Swamy’s life and death

12/07/2022 Asha

The Leaflet / by Shrutika Pandey and Shamim Modi

The absence of legal refuge grants the State impunity and constrains effective legal argumentation, progressive judicial pronouncements, and public mobilization.
A year ago, the nation lamented the unfortunate death of Father Stan Swamy, an activist and a Catholic priest who dedicated his entire life to defending tribal rights. Fr. Stan died in custody at the age of 83 years on alleged terrorism charges in the frivolous Bhima Koregaon case, after contracting COVID-19 and exacerbating his Parkinson’s disease while lodged in Mumbai’s Taloja prison for nine months.
With an illustrious life of fighting for the oppressed, his custodial death brought attention to the targeted persecution of anyone who, through constitutional means, poses uncomfortable questions of the State’s self-serving narrative.
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How India has become a land of conspiracies that turns warriors battling injustice into villains

01/07/2022 Asha

Scroll.in / by Apoorvanand

From Bhima Koregaon to the Delhi riots, from the cases against Teesta Setalvad and Mohammed Zubair, reality has been inverted.
Conspiracy! The sinister word has reappeared with the arrest of human rights advocate Teesta Setalvad and former police officers Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt by the Gujarat police on the weekend. The arrests were prompted by the Supreme Court, which smelt something fishy about the case in which the petitioners contended that the conspiracy behind the 2002 Gujarat violence had not been investigated thoroughly.
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Zubair, Teesta, Bhima Koregaon ‘Evidence’: Why are India’s Institutions Silent?

28/06/2022 Asha

The Quint / by Seema Chishti

How much longer before the cloud hanging over India’s democratic record today morphs into a shroud?
A big tree fell in the forest a few days ago. A news report published on 16 June in WIRED, a renowned tech magazine, highlights the controversial detention of human rights activists in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. It revealed a very disturbing chain of events. The report was about the fabrication of evidence. How that story was treated by all institutions reveals reams about the institutional collapse in India. The noise of crumbling institutions is louder than if an edifice of brick and mortar was to actually come crashing down.
Read more

Also read:
● Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired / June 16, 2022)

The contemporary relevance of Internal Emergency 1975-77

25/06/2022 Asha

The Leaflet / by Arvind Narrain

On June 25, we mark the 47th anniversary of the declaration of Emergency by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The events of the emergency have long since faded into history, but there are uncanny resonances with the contemporary context…
The use of the UAPA and the NIA by the current regime is, in Vajpayee’s language, the ‘beginning of the police state’ and a ‘blot on democracy’. Advani’s warning of the use of MISA against the opposition finds a resonance in the use of UAPA and NIA against protestors, be it the Bhima Koregaon 16, anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protestors, Kashmiri protestors or a range of dissenters across the country.
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Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission gets another extension / Elgaar Parishad organiser questioned on her TISS research

23/06/2022 Asha

Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission gets another extension till December 31

25/06/2022

Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The commission was initially given four months to submit its report, but its tenure had to be repeatedly extended to allow it to complete its work.
Maharashtra government has granted yet another extension to the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry. An order to this effect has been issued by the home department on June 20. As per this order, the commission has been given an extension of six months till December 31, 2022.
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Elgaar Parishad organiser questioned on her TISS research related to Maoist movement

23/06/2022

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

During cross examination, Harshali Potdar claimed that she interacted with villagers, media persons, police and government officers, contractors and social activists in the Gadchiroli region for the purpose of her research.
The cross-examination of a witness, Harshali Potdar, who is among the organisers of the ‘Elgaar Parishad’ held in Pune on December 31, 2017, continued before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday. Potdar is an alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and an activist of the Republican Panthers Jatiantachi Chalwal, often referred to as RP.
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Elgar Parishad organiser questioned about her research on Maoist movement

23/06/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Pune Police had claimed that the 16 persons arrested in the case were conspiring with CPI (Maoist) members to overthrow the Narendra Modi government.
A judicial commission investigating the Bhima Koregaon violence case on Wednesday questioned Harshali Potdar, one of the organisers of the Elgar Parishad event in Pune held in December 2017, about her research on the Maoist movement, The Indian Express reported.
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Joint commissioner of police Nangre Patil, DIG, CBI Mohd Suvez Haque depose at Koregaon Bhima Inquiry commission

23/06/2022

The Times of India / by Swati Deshpande

Joint commissioner of police (Law and Order) Vishwas Nangre Patil, 48, and Mohd Suvez Haque, DIG, CBI, Mumbai– former superintendent of Police, Pune (rural)–, deposed on Thursday before the Koregaon Bhima commission of Inquiry
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Bhima Koregaon: If Collector Had Acted On Time …

09/06/2022 Asha

Bhima Koregaon: If Collector Had Acted On Time …

09/06/2022

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

‘This shows how casually these officials approached a dispute simmering for years which finally erupted into violence.’
„Nero fiddling while Rome burnt.”
That’s how Advocate B G Bansode described the actions of Saurabh Rao, who was collector of Pune district when the January 1, 2018 riot at Bhima Koregaon took place.
Rao is currently divisional commissioner, Pune.
Bansode’s remarks came as Rao was deposing on June 6 before the Bhima Koregaon Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice J N Patel in Pune.
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Bhima Koregaon Probe Panel Orders Summons to Chiefs of Six Political Parties in Maharashtra

09/06/2022

The Wire / by pti

The Koregaon Bhima Commission, probing the January 1, 2018 violence near a memorial in Maharashtra’s Pune district, has ordered to issue summons to heads of six political parties in the state, including the Shiv Sena, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on an application stating that their presence will be helpful to suggest measures to avoid incidents of violence in the future.
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Also read:
● Witness Before Probe Panel Accuses Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote Of Instigating Bhima Koregaon Riots (Live Law / Oct 2021)
● Casting a Veil – What we miss by ignoring Maratha caste politics in the Bhima Koregaon case (The Caravan / Dec 2020)

As Bhima Koregaon case completes its fourth anniversary, State reprisal is writ large in its twists and turns

08/06/2022 Asha

The Leaflet / by Nihalsing Rathod

As we have completed four years since the first arrest in the Elgar Parishad case, a quick recap of how 16 renowned human rights activists were jailed may be useful.
There is much more than meets the eye. Maybe we will have a few answers after the trial ends, but not all. It would be difficult to say what exactly caused the arrest of these 16 eminent persons, but we can definitely relook at the turn of events and try to understand what really happened.
Read more

Also read:
● ‘We are all prisoners of conscience’, say those facing trial in Bhima Koregaon case on the occasion of fourth anniversary of their arrests [read letter] (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● 3 years after Bhima Koregaon: How criminal law was violated (The Leaflet / June 2021)

‘Death of Imagination’ / Hindutva, Sangh Parivar, UAPA: Penguin Censors Words From VV Rao’s Book

03/06/2022 Asha

Penguin Random House Drops ‘Hindutva’, Other Words From Varavara Rao’s Latest Book: Report

05/06/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The said words, from the book which is yet to be released, have been removed by the publishers’ legal team purportedly to avoid attracting charges such as sedition or defamation.
Penguin Random House India’s legal team has allegedly removed words like ‘Hindutva’, ‘Sangh Parivar’ and ‘saffronisation’ from Telugu poet Varavara Rao’s latest book Varavara Rao: A Revolutionary Poet, the Quint has reported.
The book, which is yet to be released, will become the first English-translated collection of poems by the 81-year-old Rao, who was arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. He is at present out on medical bail.
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‘Death of Imagination’: Meena Kandasamy on Penguin Censoring Varavara Rao’s Book

04/06/2022

The Quint / by Nikhila Henry

Meena Kandasamy, an editor of Varavara Rao’s book, says climate of fear among publishers is real in India.
Penguin Random House (PRH), a leading publisher in India, has prescribed removal of several words including ‘Hindutva,’ ‘Sangh Parivar,’ and ‘Ayodhya,’ from Telugu poet Varavara Rao’s book – Varavara Rao: The Revolutionary Poet.
Poet, novelist, and translator Meena Kandasamy, who is one of the editors of the book, speaks to The Quint in an interview about the legal vetting.
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Hindutva, Sangh Parivar, UAPA: Penguin Censors Words From Varavara Rao’s Book

03/06/2022

The Quint / by Nkikhila Henry

References to ‘revolution,’ saffronisation’ and ‘Ayodhya’ in poet Varavara Rao’s poems were flagged by Penguin.
Penguin Random House India, a leading publisher in the country, has prescribed censorship of Telugu poet Varavara Rao’s poems for fear of being slapped with sedition and defamation charges, reveal comments from the legal team of the publisher, posted on the latest edit of the book Varavara Rao: A Revolutionary Poet.
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Also read:
● ‘Legal Row’: Penguin Censors Poems, Then Stalls Varavara Rao’s Book Indefinitely (The Quint / Nov 2021)

Koregaon Bhima Panel summons Pune divisional commissioner to appear as witness

28/05/2022 Asha

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The two-member commission, headed by retired judge Justice J N Patel, is probing into the cause of violence in the Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, in which one person had died and several others were left injured.
Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry has summoned IAS officer Saurabh Rao, who is currently the divisional commissioner of Pune, to appear as a witness during the hearings on June 6 and 7.
Read more

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)