Persecuted – Page 28 – free them all

The Sudha Bharadwaj the Govt Doesn’t Want You To Know

28/08/2020 Maya

Pic by www.karinscheidegger.ch

Article 14 / by Chitrangada Choudhury

India’s National Investigative Agency describes her as the shadowy leader of the banned Maoist party, smuggling arms, planting booby traps and guiding strategy on armed operations. That contrasts sharply with her life of public service among some of India’s most exploited people.
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Why the State Fears My Friend, Sudha Bharadwaj

28/08/2020

The Wire / by Smita Gupta

They cannot fight her in court, so they are calling her a Maoist. They don’t have any real evidence against her, so they are converting the process itself into punishment.
Exactly two years ago, Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case.
It is very painful for me to read about her declining health and the several serious ailments she has been suffering from during her imprisonment – heart disease, arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, depression. Even after two years, she has been denied bail and is being held without a trial.
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‘Maa chose to serve her people. Is that anti-national?’ Sudha Bharadwaj’s daughter

28/08/2020

Maaysha and Sudha Bharadwaj

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

Daughter pens heartfelt note as Sudha Bharadwaj completes two years in prison.
Noted human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested by the Pune police from her residence in Faridabad in August 2018 in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case.
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The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Two & Three

27/08/2020 Maya

Pic: Rao with K Balagopal, Gaddar, and Vangapandu / ICF

Indian Cultural Forum / by N Venugopal Rao

I wouldn’t have been who I am without Varavara Rao, and it is true for the generation I come from and the one that followed. Today’s Telangana wouldn’t have been what it is without him. I have written and spoken about him and his poetry in the past, but now he is on the deathbed, in a faraway hospital, being subjected to retributive torture by the powers that be. Now, with a never-before urgency, I want to speak and write about him, through an interminable torrent of words.
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Surendra Gadling – Arrested for defending Dalits and Adivasis

24/08/2020 Rani

The Polis Project / By The Polis Project and maraa

Surendra Gadling began his career almost two decades ago in Nagpur, fighting cases for those arrested under the draconian Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) 1985, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) 1967. He also worked as a special public prosecutor on dowry-related cases and was one of the leading lawyers in connection with the Khairlanji agitation—a protest movement launched after the gruesome caste-murders of a Dalit family in Maharashtra.
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What We Can Learn from Varavara Rao’s Prison Diary

22/08/2020 Rani

News Click / by Shoili Kanungo

When all relations are defined by oppression and subjugation, and human relationships vanish, the oppressor fears the future.
… Captive Imagination is Varavara Rao´s prison journal from the 1980´s. It is a manual of life infused with love, longing, and the power of dreams and imagination – which he says are the limbs that support every prisoner and cannot be taken away.
Read and see

Sudha Bharadwaj: Defender of the People, Nuisance to the State

22/08/2020 Rani

Pic: www.karinscheidegger.ch

Gauri Lankesh News / By Gauri Lankesh News Desk

“If fighting for the rights of Adivasis, fighting for workers and peasants, fighting against repression and exploitation and giving up one’s whole life for them is being a Naxalite then I guess Naxalites are pretty good,” Maaysha, Sudha´s daughter.

Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj is a 2019 honoree of the Harvard Law International Women’s day exhibition and is sitting in a jail cell in Pune. How did these conflicting positions come about?
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Shoma Sen: Teacher, Dissenter, and More

22/08/2020 Rani

Pic: Koel Sen / Gauri Lankesh News

Gauri Lankesh News / By Gauri Lankesh News Desk

Shoma Sen’s exemplary contributions to the field of education and her prolific ability to mobilize people and especially women from across locations had brought her under the State’s scrutiny.
A reputed academician, a Dalit and Women’s Rights activist, a teacher, and dissenter, Shoma Sen is all of the above and more. Born and raised in Mumbai, she moved to Nagpur with her partner and daughter with a strong resolve to protect and promote the democratic rights of the most marginalized people in society.
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The Making of Varavara Rao: Part One

21/08/2020 Rani

Newsclick / by N Venugopal Rao

Varavara Rao’s life as a man of letters started at a very early age.
Varavara Rao is someone I have known ever since I opened my eyes to the world around me. In the 80 years of his life, he has lived around 21 years more than me. I came to know of his life in the years I missed through our conversations, family-legends, his writings and speeches. Initially, he was only an uncle who played with me; my mother’s youngest brother and just that. However, over the 50 years from then, I grew up in the kaleidoscopic shadow of his thoughts-praxis — conversations, writings, speeches, rebuttals, inspiration, rage, consolation and reconciliation.
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Video: Sudha Bharadwaj (Part 1 – Arrested Series)

16/08/2020 Maya

Solidarity program in Chhattisgarh, 2019

hindi | 4:29min | 2020

By #InBetweenNews

Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested by the Pune Police on suspicion of being involved in Maoist terror activities in August 2018, along with five other accused across the country.
An alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Bharadwaj has been living in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh for the last 29 years and has worked as trade unionist and civil rights activist for most of her life.
Having been exposed to horrific working conditions of labourers during her time as a student at IIT, she moved to work with the late Shankar Guha Niyogi’s Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha in 1986.
She fought passionately against corrupt bureaucrats to ensure proper wages were paid to the workers in the mines and plants located in Bhilai. She also engaged in issues of Dalit and Adivasi rights, specifically the right to land, the right to education, health and for security against corrupt landlords.
Here is #InBetweenNews ‘s special report on Sudha Bharadwaj’s overtly political arrest and her life as an activist.
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Mahesh Raut: The Beloved Brother of Adivasis in Gadchiroli

16/08/2020 Maya

Gauri Lankesh News / By Gauri Lanksh News Desk

Mahesh’s incarceration is a standing testament of the State’s repression of Rights’ activists who protect the values of the Constitution which the same State is trampling upon.
Hailing from Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, Mahesh Raut is a young prominent activist working for the rights of Adivasi communities in his district … He has tirelessly advocated for laws like The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and Forest Rights Act which protect the democratic rights of indigenous communities against unlawful land grabbing by large corporations.
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Surendra Gadling: One who gave Legal Aid Even When In jail

16/08/2020 Maya

Gauri Lankesh News / by Gauri Lankesh News Desk

Gadling had conducted fact-finding in Chhattisgarh and brought out a report about persecution and harassment of lawyers who take up cases pertaining to tribals trapped in UAPA cases.
Surendra Gadling holds significant knowledge in special laws such as MCOCA, POTA, TADA, UAPA has handled many cases before various forums, including before hon’ble high court for the last 24 years. His professional work, which is his fundamental duty and is part of ensuring the fundamental rights of the accused person has brought him many enemies within the Police Machineries.
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