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Category: Fabricated facts

NIA to court: Report of digital consultant submitted by Teltumbde not authenticated

NIA to court: Report of digital consultant submitted by Teltumbde not authenticated

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

The report was submitted by Teltumbde’s lawyers last month to the court seeking permission to rely on it at the time of his bail application.
The NIA has said that the special court hearing the Elgar Parishad case should not rely on the report of a US-based digital consultant submitted by accused Anand Teltumbde during his bail hearing as it is not authenticated. The report prepared by Arsenal Consulting had said that incriminating evidence claimed to have been found on the electronic device of his co-accused Rona Wilson was planted.
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Nearing 180th day of incarceration, Stan Swamy carries cross, ‘awaits’ his Easter

Nearing 180th day of incarceration, Stan Swamy carries cross, ‘awaits’ his Easter

Counterview / by Fr Cedric Prakash SJ

April 4 was Holy Saturday 2021! Christians, in an age-old custom, waited devoutly, in patient silence but with deep hope: The tomb which contains the body of Jesus would be thrown wide open in a few hours, revealing the Resurrection of Jesus, his triumph over death and the promise to mankind of eternal life.
In some cell, in the Taloja jail (near Bombay), Jesuit Fr Stan Swamy nearing the 180th day of his incarceration, is still carrying his cross, still making that steep and difficult climb to Golgotha – but still in patience but with hope, awaiting his Easter!
On March 22, Sessions Judge Dinesh E. Kothalikar of the Special NIA Court, denied Fr Stan Swamy bail. In the detailed court order of 34-pages Justice Kothalikar said that based on the ‘material available on record’, Fr Stan seemed to be a member of a banned Maoist organisation:
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Also read: Bail denied to Fr. Stan Swamy SJ in India – A Statement from the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat, Rome (March 22, 2021). Read full statement (PDF): SJES-Rome March31

Why isn’t the government looking for the source of ‘Modi assassination’ malware on Wilson’s PC?

Why isn’t the government looking for the source of ‘Modi assassination’ malware on Wilson’s PC?

Scroll.in / by N Venugopal

It wants to trace the originator of unlawful messages on apps like WhatsApp, but isn’t doing the same in the Bhima Koregaon case.
On February 25, the Union government notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Unlike the IT Rules of 2011, the new regulations include video streaming platforms and online news portals within their ambit.
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Laws Around Electronic Evidence Compromise India’s Criminal Justice System

Laws Around Electronic Evidence Compromise India’s Criminal Justice System

article14 / by Mani Chander

Police and investigative agencies currently claim unfettered access to your WhatsApp, private emails or chats with your doctor, lawyer or psychologist. Can they force you to unlock your phone and disclose passwords? In the absence of clear laws, they do what they wish.
…
Seize All You Can? The Bhima-Koregaon Case
Recent cases indicate that investigating agencies often search and seize records without demonstrating probable cause, necessity or proportionality.
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Video: Bhima Koregaon accused continue to wait for bail

Video: Bhima Koregaon accused continue to wait for bail

InOldNews / by InOldNews

Vira Sathidar, a poet, writer, activist, and also one of the editors of a radical Anti-Caste Marathi Magazine ‘Vidrohi’ talks about incarceration of Sudhir Dhawale, founder of Vidrohi. Sudhir Dhawale along with two other activists- Surendra Gadhling and Prof. Shoma Sen were arrested by Police from Nagpur and are still in jail. These were among the first few arrests of Human rights activists by Modi Government under charges of being involved in Bhima Koregaon Violence and in a plot to assassinate PM Modi. The magazine stopped its publication due to various reasons, one being the constant threat of police surveillance.
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Government’s game of prosecution – prosecution as a tool to silence critics

Government’s game of prosecution – prosecution as a tool to silence critics

Frontline / by A.G. Noorani

(Print edition: March 26, 2021)
The present dispensation uses prosecution as a tool to silence critics and opponents in a way that makes the legal process a punishment in itself.
Julio Ribeiro, a prince among police officers of the highest rank, notable alike for his high integrity and superb efficiency, rendered a great service by bringing home to the Indian reader the allegations of manipulating and planting in the Bhima Koregaon case. He had heard Mark Spencer, head honcho of Arsenal Consulting, a private digital forensics company. Ribeiro had heard Spencer on an Indian national TV channel “certifying that the police in India had been taken for a ride by an extremely clever hacker”. His article in The Indian Express on February 22 is entitled “The truth is out there” under the sub-heading “Allegations of manipulating and planting evidence in Bhima Koregaon case must be investigated.
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Rona Wilson Moves Bombay High Court Seeking SIT Probe

Rona Wilson Moves Bombay High Court Seeking SIT Probe

Rona Wilson Moves Bombay High Court Seeking SIT Probe Into The Report That ‘Incriminating Materials Were Planted On His Laptop’

10/03/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Researcher Rona Wilson, the first person to be arrested in the Bhima Koregaon Case, on Wednesday, approached the Bombay High Court seeking the formation of a Special Investigation Team to inquire into the planting of fabricated documents in his computer over a course of around 22 months.
Wilson, as well as 15 other civil rights activists and academics, in India, are incarcerated, facing charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) based on letters primarily retrieved from his and co-accused Surendra Gadling’s computer, to claim a conspiracy to kill the Minister and overthrow the government.
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Case Updates

11/03/2021

by Bar & Bench:
Rao also filed an affidavit placing on record his place of residence, his contact numbers as also of those relatives residing with him in compliance with the #bombayhighcourt order +++

by Bar & Bench:
#VaravaraRao has filed an application for exemption from personal appearance in the Special NIA Court as permitted in the #bombayhighcourt court order granting him temporary bail of 6 months. NIA has sought time to respond to the same +++

by Bar & Bench:
The #bombayhighcourt’s order imposed a condition that the undertrial shall attend proceedings of trial before the NIA Court as and when summoned however he may apply for exemption +++

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

05/03/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Referring to reports that evidence may have been planted on activist Rona Wilson’s computer, the Constitutional Conduct Group said such “blatantly illegal practices” could sound the death knell of the criminal justice system.
The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), which comprises several former civil servants, has expressed concern that the criminal justice system is being ‘perverted’, referring to reports that false evidence may have been planted in the laptop of activist Rona Wilson, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
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‘Perversion of criminal justice’: Over 90 ex-bureaucrats raise concerns on action of probe agencies

05/03/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The signatories said that blatant illegal practices could be the ‘death knell’ for India’s criminal justice.
As many as 92 former bureaucrats on Friday condemned the “perversion of criminal justice” by investigative agencies. The Constitutional Conduct Group, a group of former civil servants belonging to the All India and Central Services, released a statement.
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Replug: Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Forensic Evidence

Replug: Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Forensic Evidence

Countercurrents / by Janta Ka Aaina

Press Release after the webinar: Decoding the Arsenal Report: The Curious Case of Questionable evidence in Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case
The NIA’s ’No Malware Found’ Response to New Forensic Report Points to Ineptitude:
On February 10, 2021 the Bhima Koregaon defense team filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking the release of Rona Wilson and the quashing of all charges against him.
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Bhima Koregaon case: planted evidence?

Bhima Koregaon case: planted evidence?

Frontline [print edition March 12] / by Anupama Katakam

Investigations by Arsenal Consulting, a global digital forensics consulting company, have revealed that evidence had been planted in the activist Rona Wilson’s computer, raising larger issues of unethical surveillance and motivated targeting of individuals.
Rona Wilson, the New Delhi-based activist who was arrested in June 2018 for his alleged connections with banned extreme Left organisations, has steadfastly maintained that the evidence against him is fabricated and the charges are false.
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