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Category: Repression

What is Kabir Kala Manch, the cultural group accused of being a Maoist front?

What is Kabir Kala Manch, the cultural group accused of being a Maoist front?

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The KKM was formed by a Pune activist, Amarnath Chandaliya, after the Gujarat riots in 2002 for promoting unity.
An alleged operative of the banned CPI-Maoist, Santosh Vasant Shelar alias Vishwa alias Painter, who went missing from Pune in November 2010, returned home over a week ago in bad health.
… The KKM was among the outfits that organised Elgaar Parishad at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Koregaon Bhima, fought between Peshwas and Britishers on January 1, 1818.
Read more

Also read/watch:
▪ Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
▪ Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022
▪ The Security Playbook Used To Erode Democracy In Modi’s India & How The Tide Might Turn (article 14 / March 2022)
▪ Who are the three Kabir Kala Manch artistes arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case this week? (Scroll.in / Sep 2020)

UAPA should be scrapped as 97 percent accused are aquitted, says Prof. Haragopal

UAPA should be scrapped as 97 percent accused are aquitted, says Prof. Haragopal

The Hindu / by Rajulapudi Srinivas

Calling UAPA ‘undemocratic’, the human rights activist says the State is leaning towards implementing more oppressive and repressive laws
“A person suffers in jail for three to four years and then gets acquitted after the prosecution fails to prove his guilt. This is happening in many cases now. About 97 percent of the arrests were made without any evidence, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) cases,” said G. Haragopal, human rights activists and retired professor from the University of Hyderabad.
Read more

Also read:
▪ The Govt is out to silence Dissenters through Arrests: Justice Hosbet Suresh (Sabrangindia / Oct 2018)

Prison writing sheds harsh light on our states and societies

Prison writing sheds harsh light on our states and societies

Himalmag.com / Sharmila Purkayastha

‘For, In Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit’, an anthology of prison poems, testifies to the coercive nature of the state and society – yet its under-representation of regional poets speaks of wider exclusions.

My dangerous personality
That you do not understand:
The secret is poetry.

‘Poetry’ by Varavara Rao, 30 December 1987. Translated by N Venugopal

What is it about poetry that states and governments in power find difficult to accept? Varavara Rao, a well-known revolutionary poet and long-time detainee of the Indian government, writes in ‘Poetry’ about the enduring resilience and power of verse to voice people’s concerns in the face of surveillance and propaganda. He expands on the poet’s “dangerous personality”:

You go on about surveillance
Poetry gets ignited and continues to fire.
You go on about governance
Poetry talks about people even in sleep.

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Senior activist Ajay Kumar’s arrest ‘imminent’ in same vein as Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy

Senior activist Ajay Kumar’s arrest ‘imminent’ in same vein as Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy

Counterview / by Counterview Desk

The civil rights coalition, Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as condemning the “intensifying harassment” of activist, writer, lawyer and intellectual Ajay Kumar and is family by India’s investigative agencies, has said that “the arrest of Ajay Kumar under fabricated charges is imminent”, and may happen in the “similar vein” to that of his former associates like Prof GN Saibaba, activist Rona Wilson, late Father Stan Swamy, trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj, others.
Read more/full statement

Also read:
▪ Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud (SabrangIndia / Jan 2024)

Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud

Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud

Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud

03/01/2024

SabrangIndia / by SabrangIndia

The open letter has alleged that peaceful protests were met with fake encounters, abductions and demolition of houses belonging to the protesters by police and other government instrumentalities
…
Text of the Open Letter:

To D.Y. Chandrachud,
The Chief Justice of India,
Supreme Court of India
2nd January 2024

Dear Justice Chandrachud,

We write this letter to you as a members of democratic-minded civil society and activists who are working on issues concerning democratic ethos of the people and the protection of their civic, democratic, and constitutional rights.
Read more / full letter

Open letter from civil rights activists to CJI Chandrachud on freedom curbs

03/01/2024

The Telegraph online / by R. Balaji

The letter alleged that peaceful protests were met with fake encounters, abductions and demolition of houses belonging to the protesters by police and other government instrumentalities
A group of civil rights activists and organisations on Tuesday wrote an “open letter” to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on the alleged suppression of free speech, peaceful protests and rallies by police, leading to the stifling of democratic dissent in the country.
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Open Letter to CJI Chandrachud highlights Concerns Over Erosion of Democratic Rights

03/01/2024

The Mooknayak / by The Mooknayak English

The letter questions India’s commitment to being the world’s largest democracy and refers to the words of jurist John Rawls, stressing the importance of justice and the need to reform or abolish unjust laws and institutions. The plea is for the judiciary to uphold equal liberties and protect rights secured by justice, emphasizing that such rights should not be subject to political bargaining or social interests.
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Immediately withdraw pending Pathalgadi cases, including on late Stan Swamy: JJM

Immediately withdraw pending Pathalgadi cases, including on late Stan Swamy: JJM

Immediately withdraw pending pathalgadi cases, including on late Stan Swamy: JJM

02/01/2024

Countercurrents / by Representative

According to a recent RTI reply by the Superintendent of Police of Khunti, five pathalgadi cases of Khunti are yet to be withdrawn. It also includes the case registered against 20 activists and intellectuals, including Stan Swamy. Also, according to the RTI reply, another pathalgadi related case was registered in Khunti in March 2020 under the current Hemant Soren government. Of the total 21 cases registered by the Raghubar Das government in Khunti, 16 have been withdrawn.
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4 Years After Announcement, Govt Yet to Withdraw Cases Pending Against Pathalgadi Movement

30/12/2023

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The pending cases name Stan Swamy along with 20 other activists and intellectuals associated with the movement. On 29 December 2019, Hemant Soren soon after taking the oath as chief minister had announced the withdrawal of all Pathalgadi cases.
Five cases registered in connection with the Pathalgadi movement in Jharkhand’s Kunti district are still pending to be withdrawn. Four years ago, in December 2019, when Jharkhand’s current chief minister Hemant Soren took over, he vowed to withdraw all cases in connection with the movement, filed under his predecessor Raghubar Das’s government.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Jharkhand police to probe into Maoist links with Stan Swamy’s ‘Bagaicha’, 63 other frontal organisations (The New Indian Express / Sep 2023)
▪ Can Father Stan Swamy’s PIL be the blueprint for justice to thousands of undertrials lodged under UAPA? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
▪ In Jharkhand, Scheduled Tribes Still Battle Flimsy Criminal Cases Filed With Little Evidence (IndiaSpend / Oct 2021)

Bail not Jail, India’s constitutional courts’ bumpy ride towards personal liberty

Bail not Jail, India’s constitutional courts’ bumpy ride towards personal liberty

CJP / by CJP

A retrospective glance at 2023: Have courts effectively safeguarded the diminishing right to liberty for Indian citizens?

“The right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause is an essential element of an enlightened criminal justice system”

Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundaresh, Supreme Court July 11, 2022

India follows a reformative form of justice system. Our criminal system is founded on the belief of not curtailing the rights of a prisoner and under trial. The system, thus far, also empowers constitutional courts to protect the fundamental rights guaranteed to every citizen of our country.
Read more

Also read:
● Supreme Court directs high courts to expedite hearing of bail applications (The Leaflet / Dec 2023)

“Today If You’re Working With An NGO, You’re Either Anti-National Or Corrupt”

“Today If You’re Working With An NGO, You’re Either Anti-National Or Corrupt”

Youth Ki Awaaz / by Surbhi Singh

It was a normal day for Malika Shah, a social worker working in Bal Raksha Bharat. She woke up with the feeling of doing something for the children, motivating herself by saying that nothing can stop her and her team from doing good. As she exited the house, her neighbors stared at her and called her anti-national.
… In 2018, several activists from human rights NGOs were arrested and accused of being associated with Maoists and working against the state.
Read more

Also read:
● Chronology Samajhiye: 5 Days, 4 Agencies Under Modi Govt Control Target Opposition, Journalists, Activists (The Wire | Soumashree Sarkar | Oct 6, 2023)
● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022) Download report
● Narendra Modi’s Government Is Using False Charges of Terrorism to Repress Its Opponents (Jacobinmag / April 2022)

‘How Long Can the Moon be Caged?’ documents increasing suppression of free speech in India

‘How Long Can the Moon be Caged?’ documents increasing suppression of free speech in India

WBUR / Deepa Fernandes speaks with Suchitra Vijayan

Host Deepa Fernandes speaks with Suchitra Vijayan, co-author of the new book “How Long Can the Moon be Caged?,” which documents how people who speak in favor of Muslims and minority communities have increasingly been arrested and imprisoned by the Indian government.
Podcast
en | 9:45min | 2023
Listen to the podcast

Book excerpt: ‘How Long Can the Moon be Caged?’
By Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia
A Dalit activist we spoke to said that most people do not encounter the state the way Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims do. She told us: ‘The state has always had a boot on our necks.’ Forget living; imagine what it takes to survive this. The boot is always pressed against minorities’ necks, making it hard to breathe, demanding that they beg for dignity every day. She added: ‘[For us] it doesn’t matter who is in power; oppression is the only thing that hasn’t changed’.
Read more

Also read/watch:
● Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
● Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

State-sponsored attacks of surveillance reveal an erosion on Indians’ right to privacy

State-sponsored attacks of surveillance reveal an erosion on Indians’ right to privacy

Image Courtesy: commons.wikimedia.org

SabrangIndia / by Tanya Arora

Bringing back the ghost of Pegasus malware by the ruling regime, recent alerts from Apple throw up more instances of a state-sponsored surveillance attack on leaders of the opposition and journalists
On the morning of October 31, several journalists and politicians from the opposition parties in India woke up to alerts on their iPhones pertaining to a state-sponsored attack on their phones. The alerts were sent by Apple via message and email. The alert had also alleged that the reason behind the attempts to comprising the phones of the individuals might have something to do with who they are and what they do.
Read more

Also Read:
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)
● Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
● Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
● Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)