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Category: Background

How the Right Is Starting a Psychological War by Targeting the Old and Ageing

How the Right Is Starting a Psychological War by Targeting the Old and Ageing

How the Right Is Starting a Psychological War by Targeting the Old and Ageing

13/10/2020

The Wire / by Ajay Gudavarthy

The right seems to believe that given the cultural codes of Hindu way of life, dispensing with the old will meet less protest and resistance from the society – creating a scope for more fear and less resistance.
… It began with the murders of Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar and Kalburgi – all of them into their 70s, and more recently the arrest of Varavara Rao, and now Stan Swamy, both into their 80s.
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There is an environment of fear in India. The State must renew the commitment to rights

12/10/2020

Hindustan Times / by Hindustan Times

The action against a range of intellectuals and activists and journalists – Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Stan Swamy, Apoorvanand, Harsh Mander are among the better-known examples – indicates that the space for free expression and dissent is jeopardised.
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NCRB 2019 data shows 165% jump in sedition cases, 33% jump in UAPA cases under Modi govt

12/10/2020

The Print / by Leah Verghese

In recent years, sedition and UAPA have been weaponised against critics of the govt. National Crime Records Bureau’s recently-released data confirms this.
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83-year-old Catholic priest’s arrest unlocks Church voice

83-year-old Catholic priest’s arrest unlocks Church voice

83-year-old Catholic priest’s arrest unlocks Church voice

11/10/2020

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

The Catholic Church has condemned the arrest of 83-year-old Catholic priest Stanislaus Lourduswamy (Stan Swamy) on sedition charges and demanded his immediate release.
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, economist Jean Dreze and several Christian groups have added their voice to the chorus of condemnation.
The statement from the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of the Catholic Church in the country, stood out for two reasons.
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‘Project to silence dissent’: All India Catholic Union demands activist Stan Swamy’s release

11/10/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The North East Catholic Research Forum said the 83-year-old’s arrest by the National Investigation Agency is ‘selective targeting’.
The All India Catholic Union on Saturday called for immediate release of 83-year-old Jesuit priest and human rights activist Stan Swamy from judicial custody in the Bhima Koregaon case and expressed concern over his poor health amid the coronavirus crisis.
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Mangaluru: AICU demands immediate release of Fr Stan Swamy

10/10/2020

Daijiworld / by AICU

Media Release
Mangaluru, Oct 10: The All India Catholic Union (AICU) has called for the immediate release of 83 year old Jesuit Fr Stan Swamy who was arrested from his Ranchi room in a night operation by the National Investigating Agency and is now in prison in Judicial Custody till October 23, 2020.
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The Indomitable Spirit of Father Stan Swamy

The Indomitable Spirit of Father Stan Swamy

The Wire / by Mari Marcel Thekaekara

Stan Swamy and the adivasis he supports in an impossible battle for their own ancestral lands are pawns pitted against mammoth mining companies. Falsely branding activists as Maoists is the easiest way to condemn to enable vested interests to finish them off.
“No, it’s not possible,” were my first thoughts when I heard that Father Stan Swamy, an 83-year-old Jesuit priest and activist had been arrested – for the second time. His crime? He defended the rights of adivasis being exploited in their homeland Jharkhand.
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Bhima Koregaon judicial panel requests state to put hearings on hold due to Covid

Bhima Koregaon judicial panel requests state to put hearings on hold due to Covid

Hindustan Times / by Nadeem Inamdar

The Bhima Koregaon judicial commission has written to the chief secretary, government of Maharashtra, requesting the state government to put the extension notification on hold at least till the end of the year due to the aggravating Covid-19 situation in the state.
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Who cares for Bhima Koregaon Commission?

07/10/2020

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

The government announced on October 6 the final extension to the Commission, asking it to submit its report by December 31, 2020.
The government knows meeting this deadline is an impossible task.
On February this year, the Commission had told the government it would need at least six months to complete its work, as reported by Rediff.com.
After the March 24 lockdown was announced, no hearings have been held.
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Oct 10 webinar: Descent From Democracy – Political Prisoners and the Stifling of Dissent

Oct 10 webinar: Descent From Democracy – Political Prisoners and the Stifling of Dissent

By All India Lawyers´ Association for Justice

The ever-increasing list of political prisoners put into jail for their acts of dissent is deeply alarming. Join us in this webinar on political prisoners and the undemocratic stifling of dissent with Advocate Bela Bhatia & Senior Advocate Colin Gonzalves
Oct 10, 2020
6 p.m. IST

Maharashtra grants `final´ extension to Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry till Dec 31

Maharashtra grants `final´ extension to Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry till Dec 31

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The commission, which is probing the reasons behind the violence that broke out in Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 2018, has been asked to submit its report to the government by that date.
Commission members, however, have sought a bigger site to conduct the hearings, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Arundhati Roy: Two conspiracies and a cremation

Arundhati Roy: Two conspiracies and a cremation

Scroll.in / by Arundhati Roy

As Diwali approaches and Hindus prepare to celebrate the triumphant return of Lord Ram to his Kingdom (and the spanking new temple that is being built for him in Ayodhya), the rest of us must be content to celebrate this season of serial triumphs for Indian Democracy…
The real purpose of the absurd police-manufactured 2020 Delhi conspiracy, and equally absurd 2018 Bhima-Koregaon conspiracy (the absurdity is part of the threat and the humiliation) is to imprison and pin down activists, students, lawyers, writers, poets, professors, trade-unionists and noncompliant NGOs.
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NHRC asks for home ministry’s reply over Amnesty India’s decision to halt operations

NHRC asks for home ministry’s reply over Amnesty India’s decision to halt operations


AI #FreeBK11 poster

NHRC asks for home ministry’s reply over Amnesty India’s decision to halt operations

30/09/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The NHRC referred to Amnesty India’s statement and said the group’s allegations were ‘serious in nature’ and have been strongly answered by the home ministry.
The National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday issued summons to Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and the Ministry of Home Affairs, in relation to Amnesty International India’s decision to stop operations in India as the government allegedly froze its bank accounts. The commission has sought the replies within six weeks.
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Amnesty International says work in India halted after govt freezes bank accounts

29/09/2020

Hindustan Times / by Arpan Rai

Amnesty further claimed that it has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all ongoing campaign and research work …
The government had declined permission to receive foreign funds to Amnesty International India Foundation Trust that has been critical of security agencies in several cases including the arrest of activists such as Sudha Bharadwaj, Rona Wilson and Varavara Rao, who was accused of being a Maoist ideologue.
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Amnesty International India Shuts Down, Blames Government’s ‘Reprisal’

29/08/2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

The decision, which will see close to 150 employees lose their jobs, came after the recent move by the Enforcement Directorate to freeze the organisation’s accounts.
Mumbai: After a successful eight-year run in India addressing several crucial human rights violations amid growing hostility and the government’s clampdown on civil liberties, Amnesty International (AI) India has decided to shut its operations in the country. The decision, which will see close to 150 employees lose their jobs, came after the recent move by the Enforcement Directorate to freeze the organisation’s accounts.
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Case Against Hindutva Leaders Ignored, No Justice in Sight for Bhima Koregaon Violence Victims

Case Against Hindutva Leaders Ignored, No Justice in Sight for Bhima Koregaon Violence Victims

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Even after the fall of the BJP government, the Sena-NCP-Congress coalition has also not shown any inclination to prosecute Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide.
Mumbai: On January 2, 2018, a day after a violent mob attack on Dalit community members visiting Bhima Koregaon, anti-caste activist Anita Sawale had filed a case accusing Samasta Hindu Aghadi president and Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote and Shiv Prathistan Hindustan leader Sambhaji Bhide as the “masterminds” of the attack.
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Stop the Incarceration and Targeting of Dissenters and Activists in India

Stop the Incarceration and Targeting of Dissenters and Activists in India

Statement by Progressive International

Members of the PI Council ring the alarm on arbitrary arrests and the breakdown of justice in India.
The conduct of the Indian Government is unacceptable in the international framework for the protection of human rights and runs counter to the Indian Constitutional framework.
The members of Progressive International call upon the Indian government to immediately stop persecuting non-violent protestors wrongly accused and booked by the police. 
Read full statement