Persecution – Page 128 – free them all

Why Modi Government’s Persecution of Intellectuals Should Worry Us All

12/02/2019 Rani

The Wire / By Rohit Kumar

Intellectuals are imperative to a democracy and are connected closely with our right to think freely – which is why they figure high on an authoritarian regime’s list of targets.
The Assamese Sahitya Akademi awardee, Hiren Gohain has been charged with sedition, and Dalit scholar Anil Teltumbde is facing a prison sentence on charges of being part of an ‘urban Maoist’ plot to incite violence at Bhima Koregaon. Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves – some of the most respected voices in the field of tribal rights activism – were arrested last year on similar charges.
Read more

How one of five activists the Pune police sought to arrest in August avoided custody

11/02/2019 Rani

Scroll.in / By Sruthisagar Yamunan

The Delhi High Court acted almost immediately when Gautam Navlakha challenged his transit remand.
As the four weeks of protection given to Anand Teltumbde by the Supreme Court run out on Monday, the senior professor at the Goa Institute of Management faces the possibility of arrest in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Read more

Bombay High Court Grants Anand Teltumbde Protection From Arrest Till February 22

11/02/2019 Rani

The Wire / By The Wire Staff

Teltumbde has also been directed to appear before the investigating officer of the case on February 14 and 18.
The Bombay high court on Monday extended the interim protection granted to scholar Anand Teltumbde from February 11 to February 22 – the date it has set for the next hearing.
Read more

Hearing of Gadling’s cloned copies plea on February 15

09/02/2019 Rani

Times of India / By Vishwas Kothari TNN

PUNE: A special UAPA court in the city will hear on February 15 a miscellaneous matter arising from activist-lawyer Surendra Gadling’s plea to provide cloned copies of the 25 terabyte (TB) data, recovered by Pune police from the seized electronic devices of the activists held in the Elgar Parishad case, to all the accused.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon Case – Pune court remand hearing proceedings

08/02/2019 Rani

Kractivist.org/ By Kavita Srivastava

The court today was attended by a large number of friends from Pune and the rest of the country. From distinguished senior counsel Indira Jaising to law college students, the group included several representatives from unions, Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha and NTUI including its president Com. Vasudev, representatives from the PUCL, Bahujan Aghadi, and of other women and environmental were present in the court. All the lawyers including Siddharth Patil, Prakash, Nihal Singh Rathod, Shalini Gera, Barun Kumar, Sadiq, Sanobar Kishtewar were present.
Read more

From toilet breaks to cancer tests, Bhima Koregaon accused in Pune prison forced to fight for basics

08/02/2019 Rani

Scroll.in / By Mridula Chari

Yerawada Central Jail, Maharashtra’s largest prison, is notorious for its harsh treatment of prisoners.
Eighty-year-old Varavara Rao asked for a mattress to sleep on inside Pune’s Yerawada Central Jail last month. He was given extra blankets instead. When his lawyer challenged this in court, the authorities took back the blankets.
Read more

The forgotten of Bhima-Koregaon arrests: Ordeals of Dalit advocate Surendra Gadling and revolutionary poet Varavara Rao

07/02/2019 Rani

The Leaflet / By Nihalsing B Rathod

While there are many lapses, the malafide intentions of the police machinery at the behest of their political masters are writ large. Justice D Y Chandrachud was not at all mistaken to call Maharashtra police “untrustworthy” in this landmark dissenting judgment in the Bhima-Koregaon case.
Read more

Sudha Bhardwaj moves HC to seek bail

06/02/2019 Rani

Business Standard / By Press Trust of India

Human rights activist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj, arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, has moved the Bombay High Court to seek bail.
The plea was taken up for hearing on Wednesday by Justice N W Sambre.
Bhardwaj, through her lawyer Yug Chaudhary, challenged the decision of a Pune court that had rejected her bail plea in October last year.
Read more

The (lack of) case against Anand Teltumbde

06/02/2019 Rani

Newslaundry / By Prateek Goyal

The primary evidence of the Pune police is a clutch of letters, but it’s subject to too many flaws.
Nine activists and lawyers have been arrested till date by the Pune police in the Koregaon-Bhima case. They’ve been termed “Maoists” by the police on the basis of some letters produced by the police—the credibility of which are questionable.
Read more

Indian govt accused of war on activists ahead of election

05/02/2019 Rani

Asia Times / By Asia Times

The arrest of activists linked to the Bhima Koregaon violence continues amid fears case has been politicized.
The Bhima-Koregaon riots case in Maharashtra has taken multiple twists and turns over the past year, from arbitrary arrests to dubious evidence and delayed investigation to a conspiracy theory about a plot to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But recent developments show this has become a “state versus activists” case ahead of the election this year.
Read more