Repression – Page 32 – free them all

On trail for thoughts – What is stopping the Elgaar Parishad activists from getting bail?

24/10/2020 Rani

Millenium Post / by Abhinay Lakshman

With three chargesheet now filed against them, what is stopping the Elgaar Parishad activists from getting bail? With evidence of their “provocative” speeches vague and questions being raised on the veracity of other evidence, is this what being tried for one’s thoughts feels like?
Some of the country’s pioneering rights activists, professors, lawyers and human rights advocates have been languishing in jail for years now by precisely this modus operandi – and their trial is yet to even begin.
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A citizen objects – On the arrests of men and women of conscience

23/10/2020 Rani

The Telegraph / by Shiv Visvanathan

My father was a brilliant metallurgist who worked for the Tatas. We lived in Jamshedpur and would go for long walks. He loved the forests around the city. I remember one evening as we walked, the Tata ‘mountains’ poured out their slag — molten and incandescent — as if the Tatas made sunsets. Then, a few minutes later, the Dalma hills lit up as the tribals burnt an area for jhum cultivation. Both were brilliant sights and my father watched entranced. He then said, almost cryptically, “Both have to survive. Justice is balance between the two.” For my father, Tata’s validity lay in the continuity of the tribe. It was a vision of a different world.
When I heard of the Jesuit Father, Stan Swamy, I sensed here was a man who understood that vision, grasped why the tribes and the tribal way of life had to survive.
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Jyoti Jagtap – The Young Woman Who Would Not Cry

23/10/2020 Maya

Article 14 / by Jyoti Punwani

Jyoti Jagtap sang against Hindutva, casteism, inequality. In September, unafraid and resolute, she became the third member of a cultural troupe to be arrested in the Bhima-Koregaon case and its youngest accused. Like 15 others, she faces charges of sedition and waging war against the government of India.
“You can counsel the other inmates in jail. That way your time inside won’t be wasted.”
With these words, Rupali Jadhav bid farewell to her Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) colleague Jyoti Jagtap in the Pune office of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on 8 September 2020.
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Report and Videos of the PUCL Press Conference: The Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case

21/10/2020 Rani

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

By People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)

Report of the Virtual Press Conference held on 21st October, 2020 organised by the PUCL

Opposition Leaders, Civil Society denounce arrest of Stan Swamy and other activists in Bhima Koregaon case;
Call for repeal of UAPA!

► The videos of speeches of speakers are available here
► The documents are available here

Introduction
PUCL organised a virtual Press Conference on 21st October, 2020 to condemn the illegal arrest of Fr. Stan Swamy of Jharkhand and 15 other activists in the Bhima Koregaon case. The Press Conference was to create a platform for different civil society groups and political parties to jointly condemn the brazen abuse of UAPA by the Central Government against dissenters and demand repeal of draconian anti-human rights laws like UAPA and anti-sedition law. The following is a summary of the speeches made by different speakers.
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UN High Commissioner Bachelet dismayed at restrictions on NGOs and arrests of activists in India

20/10/2020 Rani

By United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner

News Release
GENEVA: – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday appealed to the Government of India to safeguard the rights of human rights defenders and NGOs, and their ability to carry out their crucial work on behalf of the many groups they represent…
Read full statement

Suppressing Dissent / Who is Really the Enemy of the People?

20/10/2020 Rani

Suppressing Dissent

20/10/2020

Medium.com / by Arun Simon

Dissent is rarely welcomed in any society. As power increases, appreciation of dissent decreases. Innumerable examples can be seen with dictators or absolute powers. It is also possible in religion, culture, and other domains… My country India, with all its high democratic values, is no different. The officially declared emergency(1975) may be the worst period in that line. But there are many unofficial competitors for the same today. The recent arrest of many social activists (latest in that line being Fr. Stan Swamy, a tribal activist) under a draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with many contemporary events raises serious questions.
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Who is Really the Enemy of the People?

20/10/2020

NewsClick / by Suhit K Sen

India will have to look to forces within the country to steer back towards political processes that incorporate opposition, dissent and diversity.
Stan Swamy, a Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist, was arrested in Ranchi on 9 October. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which carried out the arrest, claimed he was a member of the CPI (Maoist) organisation. It appears that anyone who works for Dalit rights, or is not in full agreement with the toxic ideology of the Sangh parivar, must be a Maoist.
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Father Stan Swamy’s arrest ripples in Northeast

15/10/2020 Maya

The Telegraph / by Umanand Jaiswal

Guwahati-based social scientist Father Walter Fernandes on Wednesday said the arrest of tribal rights advocate Father Stan Swamy from Ranchi had “implications” for the Northeast, which too had witnessed arrests of rights activists and the displacement of tribal communities in the name of development.
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How the Right Is Starting a Psychological War by Targeting the Old and Ageing

13/10/2020 Rani

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

11/10/2020 Rani

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

10/10/2020 Maya

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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