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Category: Repression

‘It Is Only by Chance That I Came Out of Prison Alive’ / GN Saibaba’s long struggle for justice / Video

‘It Is Only by Chance That I Came Out of Prison Alive’ / GN Saibaba’s long struggle for justice / Video

by Nihalsing / @Nihalsingrathod (March 7, 2024):
#GNSaibaba and #prashantrahi released

#hemmishra also released from Kolhapur jail

#prashantrahi with his daughter @shikharahi

And finally #maheshtirki also walks out


Injustice And Impunity: How The Justice System Failed G.N. Saibaba

19/03/2024

Feminism India / by Hajara Najeeb

A professor of the Department of English at Ram Lal College in New Delhi, G.N. Saibaba was incarcerated under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967, accusing him of having Maoist links
On March 8th, a frail G.N. Saibaba made his first public statement in ten years after a decade of torture and a lifetime of injustice. A professor of the Department of English at Ram Lal College in New Delhi, he was incarcerated under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967, accusing him of having Maoist links.
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“I Don’t Know How I Survived” Professor G. N. Saibaba says the reality of being free is yet to sink in

09/03/2024

The Citizen / by Nikita Jain

There was excitement and anticipation as former Delhi University Professor G. N. Saibaba entered the room in his wheelchair. Accompanied by his wife Vasantha Kumari, daughter, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja amongst others, Prof. Saibaba smiled and waved at a few friends he recognised in the audience.
… Speaking about one his lawyers, Surendra Gadling, who himself is in jail for another case related to Elgar Parishad, Prof. Saibaba said that it was because of him that his case became stronger and it breaks his heart to see him behind bars. “Surendra Gadling is languishing behind the bars only for one reason, he stood for me and he argued most effectively in the sessions court during the trial.
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It’s by chance I came out of prison alive: G N Saibaba after release from Nagpur jail

08/03/2024

Indian Express / by Express News Service

Saibaba also said he was “sad” that Surendra Gadling, his lawyer during the trial in the case, was behind bars in the Elgaar Parishad case.
Former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment over his alleged Maoist links, was released from Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday morning, two days after his acquittal by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.
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‘It Is Only by Chance That I Came Out of Prison Alive’: G.N. Saibaba

07/03/2024

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

“It is only by chance that I came out of prison alive,” 56-year-old former Delhi University professor S.N. Saibaba said in his first press briefing since his release from Nagpur Central jail on Thursday (March 7).
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on March 5 acquitted him and five others on “terrorism” charges.

The trial in the lower court was handled by Nagpur-based human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling. Soon after the trial was completed in the Gadchiroli sessions court, Gadling was arrested in the Elgar Parishad case. Saibaba, on Thursday, said that his lawyer Gadling was targeted only for handling his case.
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GN Saibaba’s long struggle for justice: Why the Bombay HC had to overturn his conviction – twice

09/03/2024

Scroll.in / by Vineet Bhalla

The former DU professor was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017. The High Court has now acquitted him, finding no evidence against him.
Human rights activist and former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba’s acquittal by the Bombay High Court for terror-related offences under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on Tuesday and release from the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday was the culmination of an arduous legal struggle.
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Saibaba Acquittal: From Lack of Sanction to Dodgy Evidence, HC Judgment Tears Into State’s Case

06/03/2024

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

‘The prosecution has failed to establish the seizure of incriminating material from the house search of G.N. Saibaba,” the judges said. “The prosecution has also failed to prove the electronic evidence in terms of the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act, and the Information Technology Act.”
In its detailed judgment acquitting former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba and five others of ‘terrorism’ charges, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court has virtually shredded the state’s case against the six to pieces.

Saibaba’s lawyer jailed in Bhima Koregaon case
Incidentally, Saibaba’s defence in the trial court was handled by the Nagpur-based human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling, who, soon after the completion of trial, was himself arrested in the Elgar Parishad case.
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Video: INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MEETING

en | 1:07 min | 2024

By INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN INDIA (InSAF)
Celebrating the Second Acquittal of Professor GN Saibaba, Prashant Rahi, Mahesh Tirki, Hem Mishra and Vijay Tirki and the late Pandu Narote
Years in solitary confinement Years of shuttling from one bail plea to another Endless health ordeals, systematic discrimination The custodial death of 32-year old co-accused Pandu Narote The shocking overnight reversal of an acquittal order The life and trials of GN Saibaba and his co-accused remind us of the extent the repressive Indian state will go to in order to silence voices of dissent But on 7 March 2024, they finally walked free, after being acquitted for the second time on 5 March 2024, exonerated of all charges On 10 March 2024, we came together to celebrate this overdue step
We will not be silenced

Co-sponsored by
International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (InSAF India) South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC) Indian Workers Association (Great Britain) (IWA-GB) India Labour Solidarity (UK) Foundation The London Story The Humanism Project, Australia Hindus for Human Rights Free Saibaba Coalition (USA) Boston South Asian Coalition (BSAC) India Civil Watch International (ICWI) South Asia Solidarity Group, London

Watch video


Also read/watch:
Wives of Khalid Saifi, Hany Babu, GN Saibaba demand release of ‘political prisoners’ (Maktoob / Jan 2023)

▪ Bombay High Court Refuses Bail To DU Professor Hany Babu

(Live Law / Sep 2022)
Delhi University Professor Hany Babu mobilising rallies and co-ordinating the defence of convicted professor GN Saibaba was not just helping a fellow academic, but prima facie following a leftist handbook, the Bombay High Court said in its order refusing him bail.
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▪ Video: Personal Liberty and the Indian Courts

25/10/2022


en | 1h 42min | 2022
The discussion examines the recent three judgements relating to
► The denial of bail of Jyoti Jagtap by the Bombay High Court in the Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy case.
► The stay on the Bombay High Court judgement of acquittal/discharge of Dr. GN Saibaba and others by the Supreme Court
► The denial of bail by the Delhi High Court of Umar Khalid in the Conspiracy case of the Delhi Riots of 2020.
Watch video (PUCL fb page)

▪ Rona Wilson’s iPhone Infected With Pegasus Spyware, Says New Forensic Report

(The Wire / Dec 2021)
Arsenal Consulting was engaged by Wilson’s defence lawyers to study the electronic evidence submitted against him in the Elgar Parishad case.
… Wilson, who was a core part of the 17- member Committee for Defence and Release of G. N. Saibaba, also received a message which said “Free Dr Saibaba and Oppose the suppression of Dissent in India. Please sign the petition here clicking [link]” on October 8, 2017.
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Surendra Gadling’s Computer Was Attacked, Incriminating Documents Planted: Arsenal Consulting (The Wire / July 2021)

Prakash Ambedkar walks out of Bhima Koregaon Commission probe

Prakash Ambedkar walks out of Bhima Koregaon Commission probe

National Herald / Nadeem Inamdar

Alleging govt lawyers are diverting the probe, the VBA chief said the Commission is “helpless” without judicial powers
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar on Monday, 13 February, walked out of the witness box of the Bhima Koregaon Commission, announcing that he quit the cross-examination.
Read more


Also read:
Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)

NIA raids residence of Varavara Rao’s nephew N Venugopal / A personal account of an NIA raid

NIA raids residence of Varavara Rao’s nephew N Venugopal / A personal account of an NIA raid

FIRST PERSON: A personal account of an NIA raid

16/02/2024

South First / by N Venugopal

Venugopal is a kin of Varavara Rao, a prominent Indian activist hailing from Telangana, also an accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
It was a morning when eight unknown persons, two of them holding ultra-modern lethal weapons like AK 47 and SLRs, invaded and kept my home hostage for four hours. It was a morning when I had to be a prisoner in my own house for four hours.
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NIA Raids Residences of Veekshanam Editor Venugopal and Civil Liberties Leader Ravi Sarma

08/02/2024

Deccan Chronicle/ by DC Correspondent

The NIA conducts raids linked to Maoist connections, targeting editor Venugopal and civil liberties leader Ravi Sarma, seizing materials and issuing notices for questioning
The National Investigation Agency on Thursday raided the residences of N. Venugopal, Editor of ‘Veekshanam’ magazine and son-in-law of revolutionary poet Varavara Rao, and civil liberties association leader Ravi Sarma here.
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NIA raids residence of Varavara Rao’s nephew and ‘Veekshanam’ editor N Venugopal

08/022024

The New Indian Express / by Express News Service

The raids were reportedly conducted based on information that he is connected with top CPI-Maoist leader Sanjoy Deepak Rao’s case.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at the house of Varavara Rao’s nephew and ‘Veekshanam’ editor N Venugopal early Thursday morning in Himayatnagar.
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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)