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Organisers undecided on third edition of Elgar Parishad / Bhim Army chief to address rally on 1 Jan

Organisers undecided on third edition of Elgar Parishad / Bhim Army chief to address rally on 1 Jan

Organisers undecided on third edition of Elgar Parishad

20/12/2021

The Hindu / by Nadeem Inamdar

The Elgar Parishad organisers are undecided about holding another edition of the conclave, for them getting bail for artistes is top priority.
The Elgar Parishad organisers are undecided about holding another edition of the conclave, for them getting bail for artistes is top priority. The second edition of the Elgar Parishad was held at GaneshKala Krida manch on Jan 1, last year wherein academics, activists and writers from dalit, muslim and other social organisations addressed the thinly attended event.
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Anniversary of Bhima Koregaon; Bhim Army chief to address rally on 1 Jan

20/12/2021

Maktoobmedia / by Maktoob Staff

Azad Samaj Party has announced that its chief and Bhim Army supremo Chandrashekhar Azad will be visiting the ‘Jaystambh’ in Pune on January 1 to mark the anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon.
“This is the 200th year of the erection of Jaystambh. On this occasion, our party chief Chandrashekhar Azad and state president Rahul Pradhan would be visiting the Jaystambh on January 1,” Abhijit Gaikwad, Pune unit president of Azad Samaj Party said.
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Bhima Koregaon: The Mystery of Fadnavis’ Terms of Reference

Bhima Koregaon: The Mystery of Fadnavis’ Terms of Reference

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

No report of the violence was sent by Mumbai’s police commissioner to the government.
Why was the violence then considered serious enough to be included in the Terms of Reference? Was it a balancing act to counter the accusations that were then being made against Hindutva leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote?
Jyoti Punwani reports from the Bhima Koregaon Commission hearing.
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Also read:
● India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobinmag / April 2021)
● Casting a Veil – What we miss by ignoring Maratha caste politics in the Bhima Koregaon case (The Caravan / Dec 2020)
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati / March 2018)

There is no room for fake encounters, says NHRC chief Arun Mishra

There is no room for fake encounters, says NHRC chief Arun Mishra

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The head of the country’s statutory human rights body said that speedy justice was key to rule of law.
National Human Rights Commission chief Arun Mishra on Friday said that suspects in cases should not be jailed without trial and that there was no room for fake encounters. Mishra, a former Supreme Court judge, added that justice was the source of a peaceful society…
As recently as on Wednesday, South African non-profit organisation Civicus put India on a list of countries with “repressed” democratic values. The report had flagged the use of draconian anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against activists arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, repression of the farmers’ protest and the imposition of curfews in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Also read:
● In Jharkhand, Scheduled Tribes Still Battle Flimsy Criminal Cases Filed With Little Evidence (Indiaspend / Oct 2021)
● The ‘Encounter Raj’ mindset: Stop mocking those who stand for human rights. Demonising them endangers every citizen (Times of India / July 2020)
● Chhattisgarh: Story of another ‘encounter’ (The Indian Express / Dec 2019)
● Press Release Of The Joint Fact Finding in Gadchiroli by CDRO, IAPL and WSS (WSS / May 2018)

India among countries classified as ‘repressed’ in global report / 293 journalists imprisoned globally

India among countries classified as ‘repressed’ in global report / 293 journalists imprisoned globally

India among countries classified as ‘repressed’ in global civil ratings report

09/12/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

India features on the list of nations with “repressed” democratic values in a report released by South African non-profit organization Civicus ahead of the United States summit on democracy scheduled to start from December 9…
In India, the report noted, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, was abused by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep several people “in pre-trial detention on baseless charges and deny them bail”.
The report mentioned the detentions made under UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon case, including those of activists Sudha Bharadwaj and Stan Swamy.
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Record number of 293 journalists imprisoned globally in 2021, says report

09/12/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The data published by the Committee to Protect Journalists also said 24 journalists were killed this year till December 1 for their work….
The Committee to Protect Journalists report also showed that seven journalists were behind bars in India. These include Siddique Kappan, Manan Gulzar Dar, Aasif Sultan, Rajeev Sharma, Tanveer Warsi, and Bhima Koregaon case accused Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde.
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Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive

Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive

Scroll.in / by Riddhi Dastidar, IndiaSpend.com

While the fight has faltered, Swamy’s friends and colleagues are taking forward the work he had lived and died for.
“Until his last breath, Stan had hope in the judiciary,” recalled Sheela*, a Delhi-based lawyer who asked to be anonymous for fear of being targeted. “He was waiting for the July 3 hearing where his interim bail plea was to be taken up. I think when that did not happen, he finally lost hope.”
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Constitutional Conduct Group: Open Letter to Citizens of India

Constitutional Conduct Group: Open Letter to Citizens of India

Constitutionalconduct.com / by former civil servants of the All India and Central Services

Dear fellow citizens,
We are a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services who have worked with the Central and State Governments in the course of our careers. As a group, we have no affiliation with any political party but believe in impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Constitution of India…
It would be pertinent to recall here that the term “fourth-generation warfare” is normally employed in relation to a conflict where the state is fighting non-state actors, such as terror groups and insurgents. Civil society now finds itself placed in this company. Earlier, the term “Urban Naxal” was being used to denigrate individual human rights activists. Clearly, under the New Doval Doctrine, people like Father Stan Swamy would become the arch enemy of the Indian state and the prime concern and target of its security forces.
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What do Bhima Koregaon and Hathras have in common? Siddique Kappan, says UP police

What do Bhima Koregaon and Hathras have in common? Siddique Kappan, says UP police

Newslaundry / by Akansksha Kumar

UP police is convinced press releases on Siddique Kappan’s phone are proof of him ‘receiving instructions’ on behalf of PFI
Based on an examination of the chargesheet by defence lawyer Madhuvan Dutt Chaturvedi, Newslaundry has learnt that a series of WhatsApp messages, recovered from Kappan’s phone, have been interpreted by UP police’s special task force as evidence of the organisation Popular Front of India “trying to interfere” in the case of violence at Bhima Koregaon in 2018.
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NIA raids human rights activist’s Srinagar residence / Statement by PUCL

NIA raids human rights activist’s Srinagar residence / Statement by PUCL


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Release Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez

24/11/2021

Countercurrents / by PUCL

Press Statement
PUCL calls for the immediate release of Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez, who was arrested on 22nd November 2021, by the National Investigating Agency under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and Indian Penal Code…
PUCL firmly believes that the present action is one more attempt on part of the present establishment to silence peaceful, non violent dissenters. In the context of what has happened in recent times concerning cases of Bhima Koregaon, Delhi riots, Tripura violence, farmers protest, the tool kit case, Siddique Kappan case and various others across the country, Khurram’s arrest is one more instance of a brutalizing state machinery being used against human rights defenders.
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NIA raids human rights activist’s Srinagar residence over terror links

23/11/2021

Deccan Herald / by Zulfikar Majid, DHNS

The probe agency sleuths carried out searches at Khurram Parvez’s residence in Sonwar and office at Amira Kadal.
In an early morning swoop, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Monday carried out searches at the residence and office of human rights activist Khurram Parvez in Srinagar, in connection with a terror funding probe…
The NIA has reportedly found links between Parvez and charge-sheeted activist Gautam Navlakha, who was arrested by the probe agency last year.
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by Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur HRDs (Nov 22):
I’m hearing disturbing reports that Khurram Parvez was arrested today in Kashmir & is at risk of being charged by authorities in #India with terrorism-related crimes. He’s not a terrorist, he’s a Human Rights Defender

IPS officer appears before Koregaon Bhima panel, seeks time to file affidavit

IPS officer appears before Koregaon Bhima panel, seeks time to file affidavit

IPS officer appears before Koregaon Bhima panel, seeks time to file affidavit

19/11/2021

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The two-member commission headed by retired Justice J N Patel is probing the causes of the Koregaon Bhima violence of January 1, 2018, in which one person died and several were injured.
Former Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla on Thursday appeared before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry in Mumbai and sought time to file her affidavit, claiming that she is yet to receive certain documents from Pune City Police.
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Elgaar Parishad organiser questioned on presence at convicted Maoist’s death anniversary

17/11/2021

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

A two-member commission, headed by retired Justice J N Patel, is probing into the causes of the Koregaon Bhima violence of January 1, 2018.
As Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry restarted its hearings in Mumbai, witness Harshali Potdar, an organiser of the Elgaar Parishad, was questioned about her participation in a programme held in Mumbai to mark the death anniversary of convicted Maoist leader Sridhar Srinivasan.
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Also read:
● Bhima Koregaon: Outcome of a ‘Larger Conspiracy’? (Rediff.com / Oct 2021)
● Witness Before Probe Panel Accuses Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote Of Instigating Bhima Koregaon Riots (Live Law / Sep 2021)

Milind Teltumbde’s alleged Pune links / Elgar Parishad deny links with Maoists

Milind Teltumbde’s alleged Pune links / Elgar Parishad deny links with Maoists

Slain Maoist leader Milind Teltumbde’s Pune links include ‘organising Naxal camp’

16/11/2021

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Records with the Maharashtra Police also show that Milind Teltumbde was involved in recruiting city youths for the Maoist movement.
From organising a 15-day residential ‘Naxal camp’ in Pune, recruiting city youths for the Maoist movement and being named an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, top CPI-Maoist leader Milind Teltumbde, who was killed in an encounter with security forces in Gadchiroli, was known to be active in Pune and surrounding areas, as per Maharashtra Police records.
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Who was Milind Teltumbde, Maoist leader killed in Gadchiroli encounter

14/11/2021

The Indian Express / by Vivek Deshpande

“Teltumbde was the main financier of the Bhima-Koregaon programme organised in Pune three years ago,” said a former senior police officer.
Top Maoist leader Milind Teltumbde, who had a reward of Rs 50 lakh on his head, was among the 26 Naxals killed in a fierce encounter with the police in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district on Saturday.
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‘They want fascist forces to reign’: Retired judges who organised Pune’s Elgaar Parishad speak out

01/09/2018

Scroll.in / by Aarefa Johari

Justices BG Kolse-Patil and PB Sawant say they were the main organisers and sole funders of the event held a day before violence broke out at Bhima Koregaon.
According to the Pune police, the event was organised by members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), with the aim of “spreading rebellious thoughts”, instigating violence at Bhima Koregaon and establishing a nationwide “anti-fascist front” to “wage war against the government”.
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