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Bombay HC Directs State & University To Pay Rs 5 Lakhs Each To Shoma Sen [Read Order]

Bombay HC Directs State & University To Pay Rs 5 Lakhs Each To Shoma Sen [Read Order]


Drawing by Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy

Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap

The Bombay High Court last Friday directed Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University and the State Government to pay Rs.5 lakh each to former Head Of Post Graduate Department Of English at Nagpur University Professor (retired) Shoma Sen towards payment of gratuity, which was withheld after Sen’s arrest in the Bhima Koregaon violence case in June 2018, a month before her retirement.
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The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Four & Five

The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Four & Five


Solidarity poster by PSO (Sep 2020)

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 … Here, I will attempt to paint the 80 years of his life in seven angles – a rainbow of seven colours that characterise him – a creative writer, teacher, editor, organiser, activist, and lastly, a victim of the state, yet a humane individual.
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Ludwig Lewisohn’s 1927 Book Has Lessons for Indian Minorities Today: A Review From Jail

Ludwig Lewisohn’s 1927 Book Has Lessons for Indian Minorities Today: A Review From Jail

The Wire / by Sudha Bharadwaj

An exploration of Jewishness written long before the Holocaust shows how fraternity and solidarity are required to overcome majoritarianism and fascism.
A month ago, Sudha Bharadwaj wrote the following review by hand in Mumbai’s Byculla Jail. While her friends and family typed the text for possible publication, Bharadwaj was diagnosed with a heart disease. As she remains incarcerated in an overcrowded prison on the basis of contentious charges for her alleged involvement in the Elgar Parishad case, appeals for her bail are ongoing.
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Incarcerated, ‘erudite’ scholar Rona Wilson worked for release of political prisoners

Incarcerated, ‘erudite’ scholar Rona Wilson worked for release of political prisoners

Counterview / by Atul, Sandeep Pandey

Rona Wilson is a prison rights activist who has been in jail since April 2018 and denied bail several times. The Pune Police raided his home in Delhi on April 17, 2018, and arrested him subsequently for his alleged role in the Bhima Koregaon violence in January that year. A few months later, the agencies also accused him of being part of a larger naxal plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a Rajeev Gandhi style and overthrow the current government.
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The Sudha Bharadwaj the Govt Doesn’t Want You To Know

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


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

The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Two & Three


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

Surendra Gadling – Arrested for defending Dalits and Adivasis

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

What We Can Learn from Varavara Rao’s Prison Diary

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

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


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

Shoma Sen: Teacher, Dissenter, and More


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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