Repression – Page 28 – free them all

5,128 Cases Under UAPA Since 2015, 72% Rise in Last Five Years

10/03/2021 Rani

5,128 Cases Under UAPA Since 2015, 72% Rise in Last Five Years

11/03/2021

News Click / by News Click

According to the data, 30 cases were lodged on charges of sedition in 2015 followed by 35 in 2016, 51 in 2017, 70 in 2018 and 93 in 2019.
As many as 5,128 cases under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA and 229 on charges of sedition have been lodged across the country in a five-year period from 2015, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
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UAPA: 72% Rise in Arrests Between 2015 and 2019

10/03/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Data revealed by the home ministry earlier showed that just 2.2% of the cases under the Act ended in court convictions.
There has been a 72% increase in the number of arrests made under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in 2019 in relation to those made in 2015, according to data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the Lok Sabha.
According to The Hindu, the MHA revealed that as many as 1,948 persons were arrested under the UAPA in 1,226 cases that were registered across the country in 2019. Between the years 2015 and 2018, 897, 922, 901 and 1,182 cases were registered and 1,128, 999, 1,554 and 1,421 people were arrested, Union minister of state for home G. Kishan Reddy said in a written reply.
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Over 72 per cent rise in UAPA cases since 2019, what does the Act entail?

10/03/2021

Edex Live / by Edex Live

In July 2019, the ambit of UAPA was expanded. It was amended allowing the government to designate an individual as a terrorist without trial.
The Ministry of Home Affairs told the Lok Sabha that there has been over 72 per cent increase in the number of persons arrested under the anti-terror law UAPA.
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The sad saga of Kanchan Nannaware who died waiting for justice (by Shoma Sen)

09/03/2021 Maya

The Leaflet / by Shoma Sen

While the High Court of Bombay granted medical bail to Varavara Rao who is now free for the next six months to be with his family and take care of his health, Kanchan has not been so lucky. Shoma Sen, an undertrial in the Bhima Koregaon case understands what it means as she is also battling with several ailments. Here, she explains how the husband of Kanchan’ Nannaware, her co-accused who was in the male section of the same Yerwada Jail was not consulted nor was his consent taken before her surgery. It ultimately proved fatal:
While the Elgar Parishad case received wide and detailed media coverage and many columnists, shocked by the Kafkaesque absurdities of this case were analysing and commenting on it, a political prisoner in Pune Women’s Central Jail was suffering immense hardship due to ill health, till she finally passed away in early February.
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The Contribution Of Dalit Women Shahir In Maharashtra’s Anti-Caste Movement

05/03/2021 Maya

Feminism India / by Guest Writer

… Shahirs talk about caste discrimination and Brahminism, they talk about Shivaji Maharaj and Mahatma Phule’s thoughts. They also talk about how Babasaheb fought against casteism and spread the awareness in the masses about the messages that Babasaheb wanted to convey to them. Shahiri troupes are important part of contemporary movement of Dalit women…
Sheetal Sathe in her interview to the Marathi news channel talks about her journey in the movement.
When she was in college, she came in contact with activists from Kabir Kala Manch and music for which she have had a liking towards since childhood.
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The Making Of Sharjeel Usmani and His Speech At Elgar Parishad

18/02/2021 Maya

The Wire / by Betwa Sharma

The 23-year-old former student of AMU is facing charges of sedition for his speech. He says he is fighting for his “fair share in Indian society”.
When Sharjeel Usmani was invited to speak at the Elgar Parishad event on January 30 in Pune, the 23-year-old did not think twice before saying yes. He was undeterred by the fact that over a dozen activists and thinkers had been jailed since the event was first held on December 31, 2017, to mark 200 years of the historic battle in which the Mahar regiment of Dalit soldiers defeated the Brahmin Peshwas. He was undeterred by the fact that he had already been charged for attempt to murder, rioting and promoting communal disharmony, following the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), and spent two months in jail last year.
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Also read: The Making Of Sharjeel Usmani and His Speech At Elgar Parishad (Feb 2021)

Colin Gonsalves interview: Policemen who pursue malafide cases should face crippling fines

15/02/2021 Rani

Scroll.in / by Smitha Nair

The noted lawyer speaks about the need for a legal framework to make the state pay for violating civil liberties by way of wrongful prosecutions.
The recent spate of FIRs invoking sedition charges against journalists for allegedly sharing unverified information on social media about the death of a protestor during the farmers’ tractor rally on January 26 has prompted a former Supreme Court judge to call for an interventionist approach by the apex court to deal with the “rampant abuse of the criminal justice system”.
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Have We Seen the Last of Conspiracies? / The Kashmir Model to Discipline Indian Media

13/02/2021 Rani

Have We Seen the Last of Conspiracies?

13/02/2021

Newsclick / by Ajay Gudavarthy

There is a need to now explain and create a sensible narrative about how conspiracies become narratives that favour the ruling dispensation.
The idea that “conspiracy theories” can explain politics is often rubbished, but now, after the recent revelations by Washington Post that a plot was allegedly hatched to compromise the laptop of jailed activist Rona Wilson, it has become imperative to see how conspiracies have been systematically used by the current regime.
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The Kashmir Model to Discipline Indian Media

13/02/2021

The Wire / by Pamela Philipose

What is striking about recent developments in India is the manner in which the media, both legacy and social, have become entangled with the politics of the day. In fact, they have become the site upon which politics plays out.
Whether it is the raid conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on the offices of NewsClick, the ongoing counter-narrative to the farmer protests conducted by the BJP’s troll armies, the spiriting away of journalists by the police, the battles against tweets put out by Greta and Rihanna, the Twitter spats, or the ever-tightening surveillance net cast by the government on media operations, what is at stake, as Shoshana Zuboff reminded us in a different context, is “sovereignty over one’s own life and authorship of one’s own experience.”
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Video: The Needle of Doubt is Now on All Matters, says Mihir Desai / India’s democracy in decline

12/02/2021 Rani

Video: Not Just Bhima Koregaon, the Needle of Doubt is Now on All Matters, says Mihir Desai

12/02/2021

hindi | 23:12min | 2021

Newsclick / Bhasha Singh in conversation with Mihir Desai

In a special offering by Newsclick, senior journalist Bhasha Singh spoke to Mihir Desai, a senior advocate at the Bombay High Court about the new revelation by The Washington Post in the Bhima Koregaon case which has revealed that offensive material was planted through a software on arrested political activist Rona Wilson’s laptop. The disclosure is important because it almost makes it clear that electronic evidence was planted in the Bhima Koregaon case and there is a strong sense of fear that it may happen in other cases as well.
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Also Read: Computer of Rona Wilson was compromised, malware planted from outside: US Forensic Firm report (Feb 10, 2021)

India’s democracy in decline

12/02/2021

Washington Post / by Joanna Slater and Niha Masih

The future of the world’s largest democracy is looking increasingly less democratic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most dominant Indian leader in five decades, while the country’s independent institutions have rarely appeared weaker…
One case in particular has become a litmus test for the rule of law and freedom of expression in India. Three years ago, police in a state controlled by Modi’s party began arresting activists under a stringent anti-terrorism law.
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After Washington Post Exposé India Needs to Amend Rules on Electronic Evidence

11/02/2021 Rani

After Washington Post Exposé India Needs to Amend Rules on Electronic Evidence

11/02/2021

The Leaflet / by Dushyant

The Washington Post newspaper has published a report in which Arsenal Consulting, a digital forensics firm, exposes the “extremely dark” and “very organised” hacking of activist Rona Wilson’s laptop to plant incriminating evidence related to the Bhima Koregaon incident. The revelations should trigger a rethink of how evidentiary value of electronic records, writes Dushyant.
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Also Read: Computer of Rona Wilson was compromised, malware planted from outside: US Forensic Firm report (Feb 10, 2021)

Activists and Politicians Demands Special Probe after Revelation

11/02/2021

Newsclick / by Amey Tirodkar

When Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh chaired a meeting to check whether they could reopen the case, the NIA took over it the very next day, on January 25, 2020.
On Wednesday, February 10, The Washington Post reported that the laptop of Rona Wilson, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, was attacked with “malware to infiltrate” prior to his arrest and that the software deposited at least ten incriminating letters on his computer.
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Also Read: Raid On NewsClick: An Attempt To Muzzle The Voices of Dissent (Feb 10, 2021)

To Be Punished Until Proven Innocent – Jails Are Full Of Undertrials

10/02/2021 Rani

Outlook / by Puneet Nicholas Yadav

Our jails are full of undertrials. Are they being punished before their guilt is established in court?
“There is no reason why these undertrial prisoners should be allowed to continue to languish in jail, merely because the State is not in a position to try them within a reasonable period of time. It is possible that some of them, on trial, may be acquitted of the offences charged against them and, in that event, they would have spent several years in jail for offences that they are ultimately found not to have committed. What faith would these people have in our system of administration of justice? Would they not carry a sense of frustration and bitterness against a society that keeps them in jail for so many years for offences they did not commit?”
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Elgar organisers back Usmani; BJP demands action against them / 3 SC Lawyers Cleared My Speech: Usmani on FIRs

08/02/2021 Rani

Elgar organisers back Usmani; BJP demands action against them

08/02/2021

Hindustan Times / by Shalaka Shinde

Elgar organisers on Sunday issued a statement showing vehement support to Usmani (23), an activist and a student of Aligarh Muslim University in light of two cases registered against him – one in Pune and one in Lucknow.
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We stand with Sharjeel, say Elgaar Parishad organisers

07/02/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

“Sangh Pariwar again provoked their castiest and communal hatred by targeting Sharjeel. The incident went on to charge Sharjeel for provoking religious sentiments and sedition. We as organizers of the Elgar Parishad are standing firmly with Sharjeel Usmani,” it stated.
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‘3 SC Lawyers Cleared My Speech’: Usmani on FIRs, Sedition Case

06/02/2021

The Quint / by Aishwarya S Iyer

I showed the transcript of my speech to three lawyers… three Supreme Court lawyers. All three of them said that not one word in the entire speech can be commissioned as an offence in any Indian court.”
Despite being cautious of the speech he was going to give at an Elgar Parishad event organised at Pune’s Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on January 30, 23-year-old Sharjeel Usmani has been booked for sedition, other than already being booked under charges of promoting enmity on grounds of religion, due to his ‘provocative’ statements from 30 January.
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Now, Bhujbal miffed at Usmani’s ‘anti-Hindu’ remarks

05/02/2021

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

Ambedkarite outfit backs student leader.
Maharashtra Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Thursday expressed anger over the alleged ‘anti-Hindu’ remarks of Aligarh Muslim University student leader Sharjeel Usmani in a speech at the second edition of the Elgaar Parishad on January 30 in Pune.
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Sedition Charges filed against Sharjeel Usmani in Lucknow

04/02/2021

The Leaflet / by Rhea Binoy

Days after an FIR was filed against former Aligarh Muslim University student Sharjeel Usmani in Pune, for ‘promoting enmity between different groups’, another FIR has been filed against Usmani in Lucknow, this time with charges of sedition included.
An FIR under few charges, including sedition, has been registered against former Aligarh Muslim University student, Sharjeel Usmani in Lucknow’s Hazratganj police station, in connection to his speech at the Elgar Parishad in Pune.
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What is Elgar Parishad 2021?

04/02/2021

Jagranjosh / by Arfa Javaid

On 30 January 2021, Elgar Parishad event was organised by ‘Bhima Koregaon Shourya Din Prerna Abhiyan’ at Ganesh Krida Kala Manch in Pune’s Swargate area. Two FIRs have been lodged against former AMU student Sharjeel Usmani over his objectionable comments at the Elgar Parishad conclave…
Reacting over the FIR, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh stated that Sharjeel Usmani will be arrested from wherever he is.
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We Pointed Out When Sharjeel Usmani Used Word ‘Hindu’ Instead Of ‘Manuwadi’: Organiser Of Elgar Parishad

04/02/2021

BW Busindessworld / by ANI

We pointed out when Sharjeel Usmani used word ‘Hindu’ instead of ‘Manuwadi’: Organiser of Elgar Parishad.
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], February 4 (ANI): After a case was registered against a former Aligarh Muslim University student in Maharashtra for allegedly delivering a controversial speech at a conclave in Pune, one of the organisers of the event, Retd Justice Kolse Patil said that they pointed it out on stage when the Sharjeel Usmani had used the word ‘Hindu’ instead of ‘Manuwadi’.
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FIR against Muslim student leader Sharjeel Usmani over Elgar Parishad speech

04/02/2021

The Siasat Daily / by Sreshta Ladegaam

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh said that Usmani will be arrested from wherever he is.
Student activist and alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University, Sharjeel Usmani has been booked for his speech at the Elgar Parishad 2021 held in Pune on January 30. The Pune Police registered an FIR against Usmani under Section 153 (A) of the Indian Penal Code at Swargate Police Station on Tuesday.
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Sharjeel Usmani booked by Pune Police over ‘provocative speech’ at Elgaar Parishad 2

03/02/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Usmani has been booked on charges of ‘promoting enmity between different groups’ following a complaint filed by a leader of the BJP’s youth wing.
Pune City police late on Tuesday registered an offence against Sharjeel Usmani, a student leader of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), for the alleged provocative speech delivered by him at ‘Elgaar Parishad 2021’, which was held in the city on January 30.
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