Persecution – free them all

NIA making malicious and false allegations to delay trial: Sudha Bharadwaj

11/07/2026 Asha

NIA making malicious and false allegations to delay trial: Sudha Bhardwaj

11.07.2026

Hindustan Times / by Vikrant Jha

Bharadwaj told a special court that the agency’s allegations that a gathering on January 19 at the Mumbai Press Club was convened to propagate the ideology of the banned CPI (Maoist) and further the “Urban Naxal” movement were “wholly false and malicious” and “no documents or evidence of any kind supporting these” had been supplied to her by the NIA.
Activist-lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, on Friday opposed the National Investigation Agency (NIA)’s plea seeking cancellation of her bail.
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Mere communication with co-accused can’t warrant bail cancellation, court told

11.07.2026

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

The agency claims that they have violated a bail condition, by communicating with each other. The court will hear arguments by the lawyers of the other two accused, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, whose bails are sought to be cancelled by the NIA on July 20.
In the Elgaar Parishad case, lawyer activist Sudha Bharadwaj told a special court on Friday that mere communication between co-accused cannot be a ground to cancel bail. The court was hearing arguments on the National Investigation Agency’s plea seeking cancellation of bail to Bharadwaj and three other accused, over a meeting at the Mumbai Press Club in January.
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Also read:
▪ Charge of Maoist link in Press Club meet ‘mere assumption’ – Varavara Rao opposes NIA bail repeal plea (The Print / Jul 2026)
▪ NIA Moves to Cancel Bails of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Elgar Parishad Case (The Wire / Jun 2026)
▪ Activist Sudha Bharadwaj Seeks All Evidence Cited By NIA In Bail Cancellation Plea (Times of India / Jun 2026)
▪ NIA Seeks Cancellation of Activists Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj Bail Over Mumbai Press Club Meet (The Wire / May 2026)
▪ Mumbai Press Club Suspensions Over Elgar Parishad Accused Visit Spark Row; NIA Inquiry Raises Stakes (The Wire / May 2026)

Mahesh Raut moves Bombay High Court for permission to travel to Kerala for Ayurvedic treatment

07/07/2026 Asha

Mahesh Raut moves Bombay High Court for permission to travel to Kerala for Ayurvedic treatment

07/07/2026

Bar & Bench / by Bar & Bench

The Bhima Koregaon accused has sought permission to visit Kerala’s Ayurvedasram for rheumatoid arthritis treatment.
Mahesh Raut, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case of 2018, has moved the Bombay High Court after a special court rejected his plea to travel to Kerala for Ayurvedic treatment in January 2026. [Mahesh Raut v. NIA & Ors.]
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Accused Mahesh Raut Moves Bombay High Court Seeking Permission To Travel To Kerala For Treatment

07/07/2026

Live Law / by Narsi Benwal

One of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, Mahesh Raut has moved a plea before the Bombay High Court seeking permission to travel to Kerala for Ayurvedic treatment after a special NIA court turned down his plea for the same in January this year.
Raut has challenged the January 21, 2026 order of a special NIA court in the city, which had rejected his plea to travel to Poonthottam Ayurvedasram in Kerala from January 29 to February 7. He had sought to travel to the Ayurvedic Ashram for treating his rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren’s syndrome. He had urged the court to relax the condition in his bail order, which mandated him not to leave Mumbai.
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Also read:
▪ NIA court denies Mahesh Raut permission to travel to Kerala for medical treatment (Hindustan Times / Jan 2026)
▪ Mahesh Raut | A Broken Prison System Is In Dire Need Of Critical Care (Outlook / Jan 2026)
▪ Year after being granted bail, Mahesh Raut remains in jail as stay extended (The Indian Express / Sep 2024)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Case: Mahesh Raut, youngest accused, granted bail by the Bombay HC! (SabrangIndia / Sep 2023)

Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira oppose NIA’s plea to cancel their bail

03/07/2026 Asha

Charge of Maoist link in Press Club meet ‘mere assumption’ – Varavara Rao opposes NIA bail repeal plea

07/07/2026

The Print / by Mayank Kumar

Seeking cancellation of bail to Elgar Parishad accused, NIA alleges that January meeting at Mumbai Press Club was intended to discuss ways to spread the ‘Urban Naxal’ movement.
Poet-activist Varavara Rao has opposed the National Investigation Agency’s plea to cancel his bail in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case, saying he was merely an invitee to a Mumbai Press Club dinner and was unaware that other co-accused had also been invited, countering the NIA’s argument that they had violated bail conditions.
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Elgar Parishad Case: Varavara Rao Opposes NIA’s Bid To Revoke Bail, Denies Violating Court Conditions

04/07/2026

Free Press Journal / by Charul Shah Joshi

Poet-activist Varavara Rao has opposed the NIA’s plea seeking cancellation of his bail in the Elgar Parishad case, denying he knowingly met co-accused at a Mumbai Press Club event. Rao said there is no evidence of communication with co-accused or Maoist propaganda, asserting the meeting focused on prisoners’ issues and legal matters. The NIA court will hear arguments on July 10.
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3 accused oppose NIA’s plea to cancel their bail for attending press club event

03/07/2026

Hindustan Times / by Vikrant Jha

Poet-activist Varavara Rao, activist Vernon Gonsalves and activist-lawyer Arun Ferreira filed separate replies before Special Judge Chakor S Baviskar, opposing the NIA’s applications seeking cancellation of their bail. The court took the replies on record and adjourned the matter to July 10 for hearing
Three accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case on Thursday opposed the National Investigation Agency (NIA)’s plea seeking cancellation of their bail. They told a special court that they were unaware they had been invited together to a January event at the Mumbai Press Club, that they had merely attended it as invitees, and that bail could not be cancelled lightly in the absence of any deliberate or substantial breach of its conditions.
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NIA records statement of 6 over Mumbai Press Club meet cited in Elgaar bail plea

02/07/2026

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

The agency has argued that the accused violated bail conditions prohibiting them from establishing communication with co-accused or persons allegedly involved in similar activities by attending the gathering together.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has recorded the statements of six persons, including three journalists expelled from the Mumbai Press Club and three office-bearers of the club, as part of its probe into the January 19 gathering at the club that has become central to its bid to cancel the bail of several accused in the Elgaar Parishad case.
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Also read:
▪ Court dismisses notice of motion filed by journalist expelled for press club (The Hindu / Jul 2026)
▪ NIA Moves to Cancel Bails of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Elgar Parishad Case (The Wire / Jun 2026)
▪ Activist Sudha Bharadwaj Seeks All Evidence Cited By NIA In Bail Cancellation Plea (Times of India / Jun 2026)
▪ NIA Seeks Cancellation of Activists Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj Bail Over Mumbai Press Club Meet (The Wire / May 2026)
▪ Mumbai Press Club Suspensions Over Elgar Parishad Accused Visit Spark Row; NIA Inquiry Raises Stakes (The Wire / May 2026)

Disabled inmates must be allowed to self-identify: plea

02/07/2026 Asha

Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project

The Hindu / by Krishnadas Rajagopal

The submissions recommend that prison records must identify every person with disability individually to make reasonable adjustments for them, while respecting their confidentiality.
A Kerala-based activist, whose petition highlighting the traumatic prison days of the late Professor G.N. Saibaba and Stan Swamy led the Supreme Court to form a high-powered committee to free Indian jails from the colonial yoke, suggested bringing in a mechanism to allow disabled prisoners/detainees to self-identify and declare their disabilities.
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Also read/watch:
▪ Lives Lost: How Prolonged Incarceration Failed Pandu Narote, Kanchan Nanaware, Stan Swamy (Frontline / Jan 2026)
▪ Video | Sudhir Dhawale Spoke With Outlook About Mental Health Crisis in Indian Prisons (Outlook / Oct 2025)
▪ An Imprisoned Mind | Mental Health Challenges Among India’s Political Prisoners (Outlook / Sep 2025)
▪ I saw firsthand how callous prison officials and their negligence led to Stan Swamy’s death (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Jul 2025)
▪ BK-16 Prison Diaries: Sagar Gorkhe on his battle to survive Taloja jail’s brutality (The Polis Project | by Sagar Gorkhe | Feb 2025)
▪ Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | by Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)
▪ ‘It Is Only by Chance That I Came Out of Prison Alive’: G.N. Saibaba (The Wire / March 2024)

The ‘Natural Death’ Problem in Indian Jails / Our Criminal Justice System Overlooks Victims of Police Torture

26/06/2026 Asha

The ‘Natural Death’ Problem in Indian Jails

26/06/2026

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

When prisoners die after allegedly being denied timely medical care, are those deaths truly natural? And is it fair that the very people who are accused of not providing timely medical care get to decide this?
… According to the latest NCRB data (for the year 2024), 1,960 persons died in Indian jails. Of these, 1,737 deaths were attributed to “natural causes”. When reading these figures, one must keep in mind cases like those of Basha and Khadar. Unless a judicial magistrate diligently inquires into their deaths, they too will be categorised as ‘natural deaths’ in upcoming NCRB reports.
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Our Criminal Justice System Overlooks Victims of Police Torture

26/06/2026

The Wire / by Edgar Kaiser and Grace Anu

The Global Torture Index 2025 classifies India as a country with “high risk” of torture and ill treatment, and the signed UN Convention Against Torture is yet to be ratified.

Today, June 26 is observed as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Particularly for human rights defenders, targeted reprisal killed the lives of Fr. Stan Swamy in Bhima Koregaon (BK-16), due to refusal of medical treatment, and Prof. Saibaba, a 90% disabled activist had to face the same fate as his health started deteriorating when he was confined to an ‘anda cell’. These figures are just the tip of the iceberg of a staggering number of survivors and victim families who are systemically denied medical, psychological and social assistance.
Read more

Also read:
▪ ‘No one dies in prison, They die on the way to hospital’ (Times of India / Jan 2026)
▪ Read India report: INDIA – COUNTRY FACTSHEET 2025 (World Organization Against Torture / Jun 2025)

▪ I saw firsthand how callous prison officials and their negligence led to Stan Swamy’s death (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Jul 2025)
▪ BK-16 Prison Diaries: Sagar Gorkhe on his battle to survive Taloja jail’s brutality (The Polis Project | by Sagar Gorkhe | Feb 2025)
▪ Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | by Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)
▪ 4,484 People Died in Police Custody Since 2020: Govt Data (The Swaddle / Jul 2022)

What the recent Bombay HC ruling on compensation for custodial death means for victims and their families

15/06/2026 Asha

The Leaflet / by Nihalsing Rathod

In a case arising from a death in a State-run mental health facility, a bench led by Justice Manish Pitale has laid down that compensation for custodial deaths must follow a logical, statutory formula and that the State’s existing policy of paying a fixed sum is woefully inadequate.
…
In our prisons, we lose around two thousand lives annually. Deaths to due to various ailments and importantly due to lack of medical staff, including assault by co-prisoners and even due to torture of police is not new. Once a person is sent in judicial custody, it becomes the duty of the State to ensure that the person is provided with all such facilities as would require him to retain the same health he was in prior to his admission.
In the case of Varavara Rao, the Court had held that prison is not conducive to deteriorating health of the octogenarian and granted him bail. However, Father Stan Swamy in the same case, who was suffering from Parkinson’s died in custody, allegedly due to lethargic medical attention.
Read more

Also read:
▪ I saw firsthand how callous prison officials and their negligence led to Stan Swamy’s death (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Jul 2025)
▪ Side-effects of conscience: An account of prison medical care (The Leaflet / Apr 2024)
▪ Was the trial judge who convicted G.N. Saibaba biased? We will never know, and that is part of the injustice (The Leaflet / March 2024)
▪ Relatives of BK16 Flag Prison Authorities’ ‘Criminal Negligence’ and Deteriorating Health of Undertrials (Newsclick / Sep 2022)
▪ Jailers’ apathy? Political prisoners’ right to life in India is ‘almost non-existent’ (Countercurrents / Sep 2022)
▪ 4,484 People Died in Police Custody Since 2020: Govt Data (The Swaddle / Jul 2022)
▪ Poor Medical Care for Prisoners Explains Why Number of Custodial Deaths Is Only Rising (The Wire / Jan 2020)

Bombay High Court Seeks NIA Response On Varavara Rao’s Plea To Shift To Hyderabad

12/06/2026 Asha

Bombay High Court seeks NIA’s reply to Varavara Rao’s plea to permanently reside in Hyderabad

13/06/2026

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

A special NIA court rejected Varavara Rao’s plea in March this year.
The Bombay High Court Friday sought the National Investigation Agency (NIA)’s reply to an appeal by poet-activist Varavara Rao, who is an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, seeking permission to permanently live in his hometown Hyderabad, citing financial hardship and age-related constraints.
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Bombay High Court Seeks NIA Response On Varavara Rao’s Plea To Shift To Hyderabad

12/06/2026

Live Law / by Narsi Benwal

The Bombay High Court on Friday (June 12) issued notice on petition by 85-year-old Telugu Poet P Varavara Rao, accused under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in the Bhima Koregaon case, seeking permission to move to Hyderabad stating that living in Mumbai is not affordable for him. Rao, has challenged a March 16 order passed by a special NIA Court, which dismissed his application to reside in Hyderabad.
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Bombay HC seeks NIA response to Varavara Rao’s plea for leave to shift to Hyderabad

12/06/2026

Bar & Bench / by Bar & Bench

A bail condition imposed on Rao is that he cannot leave the jurisdiction of an NIA court in Mumbai without permission. Rao has now sought permission to shift to Hyderabad.
Activist-poet P Varavara Rao, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking permission to permanently shift his residence from Mumbai to Hyderabad [P Varavara Rao v. National Investigation Agency & Ors.].
A Division Bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata has sought the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) response to the plea and posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.
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HC seeks NIA response on Varavara Rao’s plea to move to Hyderabad

12/06/2026

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The activist’s bail conditions mandate that he obtain permission from the National Investigation Agency court to travel outside Mumbai.
The Bombay High Court on Friday sought the National Investigation Agency’s response to a petition by activist-poet Varavara Rao, who is out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, seeking permission to permanently relocate from Mumbai to Hyderabad, Live Law reported.
Read more

Also read:
▪ NIA Seeks Cancellation of Activists Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj Bail Over Mumbai Press Club Meet (The Wire / May 2026)
▪ NIA court rejects Varavara Rao’s plea to permanently relocate to his hometown of Hyderabad (Times of India / March 2026)
▪ Bombay High Court allows Gautam Navlakha to return to Delhi, relaxes restrictive bail condition in Bhima Koregaon Case (Sabrang India / Dec 2025)
▪ Varavara Rao told to remain in Mumbai, not to make statement on case to media (The Indian Express / Aug 2022)

NIA Moves to Cancel Bails of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Elgar Parishad Case

11/06/2026 Asha

NIA Moves to Cancel Bails of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Elgar Parishad Case

11/06/2026

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

It had, last month, moved a similar application seeking the cancellation of Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj’s bails.
After their prolonged incarceration and subsequent release on bail, the National Investigating Agency is eager to send the rights defenders held in the Elgar Parishad case back to jail.
The agency (NIA) had, last month, moved an application seeking cancellation of the bail of Telugu poet-activist Varavara Rao and lawyer-academic Sudha Bharadwaj. On June 10, Wednesday, the agency moved a fresh application seeking cancellation of the bails of two more activists, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
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NIA seeks bail cancellation of Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira over violation of bail conditions

11/06/2026

Bar & Bench / by Bar & Bench

The agency alleged before the special court in Mumbai that Ferreira and Gonsalves attended a January 19 gathering at the Mumbai Press Club where other accused persons were present.
A Mumbai special court on Wednesday directed accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira to respond to the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) pleas seeking cancellation of their bail in the Bhima Koregaon case over alleged violations of bail conditions.
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NIA moves to cancel Gonsalves, Ferreira bail in Elgar Parishad case

11/06/2026

Hindustan Times / by Vikrant Jha

Special Judge Chakor S Baviskar directed Gonsalves (68) and Ferreira (53) to file their replies to the applications, which have been posted for further consideration on June 19.
Weeks after seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Varavara Rao and Sudha Bharadwaj, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday moved a special court seeking revocation of the bail granted to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, alleging that they violated the conditions of their release by attending a gathering at the Mumbai Press Club earlier this year.
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NIA seeks bail cancellation of 2 more Elgar case accused | Mumbai News

10/06/2026

The Times of India / by Rebecca Samervel

Nearly a month after seeking cancellation of the bail granted to two 2018 Elgar Parishad case accused—activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and poet Varavara Rao—NIA on Wednesday moved moved a similar plea in a special court against two co-accused, activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, citing wilful violation of the bail conditions.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Activist Sudha Bharadwaj Seeks All Evidence Cited By NIA In Bail Cancellation Plea (Times of India / Jun 2026)
▪ NIA Seeks Cancellation of Activists Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj Bail Over Mumbai Press Club Meet (The Wire / May 2026)
▪ Anand Patwardhan: The taming of the Mumbai Press Club (Scroll.in / May 2026)
▪ Mumbai Press Club Suspensions Over Elgar Parishad Accused Visit Spark Row; NIA Inquiry Raises Stakes (The Wire / May 2026)
▪ Supreme Court grants bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, with tethers (The Leaflet / Jul 2023)
▪ ‘No Material’ to Demonstrate Terror Link, Yet Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferriera Spent 5 Years in Jail [Read judgment] (The Wire / Jul 2023)

Hany Babu: “I was determined not to be broken”

03/06/2026 Asha

The Polis Project / by Md Imran Raza

Hany Babu, a 59-year-old professor in the English department of Delhi University and an anti-caste activist, was arrested on July 28, 2020, charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). He was incarcerated in Taloja Jail, Mumbai for 1,955 days without trial and eventually granted bail by the Bombay High Court on December 4 last year.
… Even after his release, Babu remains confined to Mumbai and has to take permission from the court even to visit his old mother in Kerala. Visibly unwell and with multiple health issues, Babu, in this interview with Md Imran Raza, opens up about his days in the prison.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Me Coming Out Alive Is A Miracle: Hany Babu, Bhima-Koregaon Accused, On Life Behind Bars (Outlook / Jan 2026)
▪ Prison, Pandemic and Survival: How Hany Babu’s Freedom Was Curtailed Long Before His Arrest (The Wire / Dec 2025)
▪ After five years behind bars, Bombay High Court grants bail to Prof. Hany Babu (CJP / Dec 2025)

▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

To mark six years of the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of political dissidents in the Bhima Koregaon case, The Polis Project is publishing a series of writings by the BK-16, and their families, friends and partners. By describing various aspects of the past six years, the series offers a glimpse into the BK-16’s lives inside prison, as well as the struggles of their loved ones outside. Each piece in the series is complemented by Arun Ferreira’s striking and evocative artwork.

INTRODUCING THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj Seeks All Evidence Cited By NIA In Bail Cancellation Plea

28/05/2026 Asha

Submit proof of bail rider violation: Elgar case accused Sudha Bharadwaj to NIA

28/05/2026

Times of India / by Rebecca Samervel

Sudha Bharadwaj asks court to order NIA to disclose witness statements and documents after agency seeks bail cancellation over alleged Elgar Parishad case, sought directions to the prosecution to furnish all the statements of witnesses recorded during an in-house inquiry and all the relevant documents cited by the agency.
The court directed the prosecution to submit its reply and posted the matter for June 10.
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Sudha Bhardwaj seeks material relied upon by NIA in bail cancellation plea

The Print / by pti

Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case accused Sudha Bhardwaj has sought the material relied upon by the prosecution while seeking cancellation of her bail.
The probe agency on May 15 moved the special NIA court for cancellation of bail of Bhardwaj and Varavara Rao, alleging they attended a gathering at Press Club here with the intention to propagate Maoist ideology in “blatant and wilful disregard”. …
The court on Thursday said the material be supplied to the accused only after due verification in the court. The matter will be next heard on June 10.
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Elgar Parishad Case: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj Seeks All Evidence Cited By NIA In Bail Cancellation Plea

28/05/2026

Free Press Journal / by Charul Shah Joshi

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj, accused in the Elgar Parishad case, sought all material relied upon by the NIA in its plea seeking cancellation of her bail and that of Varavara Rao. A Mumbai court directed verification of a pen drive containing evidence before handing it over. The NIA alleged the duo violated bail conditions by attending a January meeting with co-accused members.
Activist Sudha Bharadwaj, booked in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, has sought all the material relied on by the prosecution while seeking cancellation of bail.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Bombay HC Judge Recuses From Hearing Mumbai Press Club Plea, Cites His Appearance As Prosecutor In Bhima Koregaon Case (Live Law / May 2026)
▪ NIA Seeks Cancellation of Activists Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj Bail Over Mumbai Press Club Meet (The Wire / May 2026)
▪ Anand Patwardhan: The taming of the Mumbai Press Club (Scroll.in / May 2026)
▪ Mumbai Press Club Suspensions Over Elgar Parishad Accused Visit Spark Row; NIA Inquiry Raises Stakes (The Wire / May 2026)