by Live Law / @LiveLawIndia (Aug 21):
#SupremeCourt to soon hear Dalit rights’ activist and advocate Surendra Gadling’s bail plea in the 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case. The Nagpur-based lawyer is also among the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. Bench: Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar Gadling filed a special leave petition challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject his bail application in the Gadchiroli arson case, which involved around 80 vehicles transporting iron ore from Surjagarh mines in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district from allegedly being set on fire by Maoists in December 2016.
Elgaar Parishad accused seeks jail reforms, action against ‘corrupt’ officer
15/08/2024
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Gorkhe’s letter also called for better regulation of the prices for vegetables and chicken provided to prisoners, and requested that access to the canteen be increased from twice to four times a month.
Elgaar Parishad case accused Sagar Gorkhe wrote a letter to the DIG, Prisons requesting better access to jail canteen and action against a jail officer who was accused of corruption. Read more
Exorbitant Prices of Food, Corrupt Officials Divert Ration to VIP Prisoners: Jailed Activists
14/08/2024
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
Earlier this month, Gadling sent his complaint letters to the prison authorities and the local Panvel police station, under whose jurisdiction Taloja Prison falls, naming senior jailor Sunil Patil as the person behind the rampant corruption.
In a detailed complaint to the police and the court, human rights defenders Surendra Gadling and Sagar Gorkhe, both arrested for their alleged role in the Elgar Parishad case, have exposed the ongoing corruption in the functioning of the canteen facility inside Taloja Central Prison on the outskirts of Mumbai. Read more
Special food for the rich, infested curries for others: Lawyer on graft in Taloja canteen
08/08/2024
Hindustan Times / by Revu Suresh
Sumit Gadling, lawyer and son of Surendra Gadling, said that they are planning to move the Bombay high court for a larger investigation into the matter
Surendra Gadling, a human rights lawyer and activist arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, has complained to the state anti-corruption bureau regarding widespread graft in the functioning of the canteen at Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai. Read more
New complaint alleges Taloja prison underbelly: ‘Mutton meals for RS 8.000 per kg, 40% cuts, zero record’
06/08/2024
Newslaundry / by Prateek Goyal
Surendra Gadling’s complaint comes a month after Bhima Koregaon co-accused Sagar Gorkhe raised similar concerns in a letter to authorities.
Fried chicken for Rs 2,000, Hyderabadi-Muradabadi biryani for Rs 1,500, Schezwan rice for Rs 500, prawns biryani for Rs 2,000, mutton masala for Rs 8,000, and mutton curry for Rs 7,000.
This may sound like an egregiously overpriced menu of a five-star hotel, but these are prices per kilogram offered allegedly through VIP canteen services for wealthy prisoners lodged at Maharashtra’s Taloja central prison. Read more
What Freedom Means For India’s Political Prisoners
15/08/2024
Outlook / by Apsksha Priyadarshini
For political prisoners, freedom becomes a longing for small mercies that make us human
Maryam was six—the youngest of three siblings—when her father, Khalid Saifi, was arrested following the sectarian violence in northeast Delhi in February 2020. The violence took place against the backdrop of months of protests led by Muslim women at several sites across the national capital and in the country, against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposed updates to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). Maryam’s mother Nargis recalls the day as the beginning of “a dark, endless night” that has been written into their fates. Read more
The Freedoms Our Martyrs Won Are Under Seige
15/08/2024
Outlook / by Anand Teltumbde
This Independence Day, we are in an age in which we need assurances from our leader that the Constitution will survive
Seventy-seven years ago, our martyrs won freedom from British colonial rule. Three years later, we gave ourselves a Constitution that guaranteed a plethora of freedoms, inspired not by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) but the indigenous ethos of our own freedom movement. Today, having traversed into the Amrit Kaal, these guarantees appear to have expired, needing a new guarantee from our supreme ruler that the Constitution itself will survive. If the likes of Bhagat Singh were to see the state of India’s freedom today, they would certainly ask themselves what was wrong with the British rule that they went to the gallows fighting them. Read more
India Cries for Freedom!
13/08/2024
Countercurrents / by Cedric Prakash
India cries for Freedom: Thanks to the relentless struggles and sacrifices of our freedom fighters, on 15 August 1947, India made her tryst with destiny! After years of colonial rule, she finally became an independent nation. Ever since (during these past 77 years), India has made rapid strides in every sphere, and this fact must be applauded; however, one must also humbly admit that, India still has an unimaginable long way to go in the internalisation and actualisation of her freedom!
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India cries for Freedom for Human rights defenders (HRDs), right to information seekers and others who take a stand for truth, justice and human rights. They are at the receiving end of a vicious and vindictive system. The are intimidated, incarcerated and even killed! These include those in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case; Jesuit Father Stan Swamy is a case in point. Read more
Subcategorisation verdict: India needs a reservation model solving the problem of caste, not perpetuating it
For reservation benefits to accrue equitably to all people, families that availed themselves of reservation and its benefits should experience a proportionate suppression of their chances the next time they attempt to get reservation, writes Anand Teltumbde.
The recent verdict of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court upholding the legality of the sub-classification of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) for the purpose of reservations has already created an avalanche of reactions, both positive and negative, most groping like the proverbial blind man describing an elephant. Read more
On July 15, a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar stated that they were not inclined to grant her interim bail. Senior Advocate Mihir Desai (appearing for Jagtap) told the bench that the case erroneously listed for interim bail as she is challenging the order of the Bombay HC refusing to grant her regular bail.
As the J&K High Court recently reiterated, allegations of ‘terrorism’ have become a copy-paste template that the State uses to muffle dissent, but why do courts freeze the process of criminal justice on hearing ‘national security’?
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The jurisprudence has resulted in widening the coercive powers of the police and investigation agencies. Since the court only forms its assessment on broad probabilities, a pattern has emerged from the evidence submitted by the prosecution in a wide range of UAPA cases where there is a similarity in terms of enormous allegations running into thousands of pages, generalised testimonies of witnesses; most of which are protected witnesses, lack of incriminating evidence and heavy reliance on electronic evidence and literature.
There are similarities in three specific instances: those arrested in the backdrop of the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence, deoperationalisation of Article 370, and 2020 Northeast Delhi riots. Read more
Bombay HC rejects default bail of five accused in Bhima Koregaon case
26/07/2024
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The petitioners had moved the High court challenging special court orders in 2022 that denied them default bail.
The Bombay High Court on Friday rejected the default bail petitions of five persons accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, Bar and Bench reported.
A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Shyam C Chandak issued the order on petitions filed by lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist and researcher Rona Wilson, poet and political commentator Sudhir Dhawale, forest rights activist Mahesh Raut, and former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen. Read more
Bombay High Court rejects default bail of five accused
26/07/2024
Bar & Bench / by Satyendra Wankhade
A Division Bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Shyam C Chandak passed the order on pleas filed by the five accused challenging 2022 special court orders that denied them default bail.
The Bombay High Court on Friday denied default bail to Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale and Shoma Sen in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case. Read more
Bombay HC dismisses default bail pleas of 5 accused in Elgaar Parishad case
26/07/2024
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
The case dates back to the Elgaar Parishad event held in Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, following which violent clashes broke out the next day between Maratha and Dalit groups near Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra.
The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed default bail pleas by five Elgaar Parishad case accused Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen who were arrested by the Pune police in June 2018. The Supreme Court had granted regular bail to Sen in April. Read more
Bombay High Court Rejects Default Bail To Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawade & Rona Wilson
26/07/2024
Live Law / by Narsi Benwal
The Bombay High Court today rejected the default bail to Dalit rights’ activist and advocate Surendra Gadling and co-accused Mahesh Raut, in the infamous Elgar Parishad case of 2018.
A division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Shyam Chandak pronounced the order in their chamber. Bail was also denied to Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawade and researcher Rona Wilson. Read more
The much-discussed heatwaves that are sweeping across the subcontinent have a dark spot— prisons. As monsoons bring high humidity to the hot conditions inside Indian jails, where is the sympathy that will allow prisoners to breathe a sigh of relief?
… The medical health of prisoners is the responsibility of State as per Rule 24 of the Mandela Rules and it must be provided with the same standard as provided to anyone in the society and it should be free of cost to prisoners. However, political prisoners in India are treated with even greater hostility than other prisoners within the abysmal larger jail conditions.
In many of the instances in the Bhima Koregaon case alone, the accused undertrial prisoners have been denied adequate medical facilities, forcing the court to intervene. Read more
McCarthyism in INDIA?: The Return of The Urban Naxal Bogey!
17/07/2024
The Crossbill / by Subbhash Gatade
Does the ruling dispensation feels that since Naxals are seen as violent gangs who claim to work for people this bogey of Urban Naxal facilitates it to target anyone who refuses to play ball.
1. ‘India Will Awake to Police Raj’!
““I am reminded of Pandit Nehru ‘s speech “At the stroke of midnight India will awake to freedom.” At the stroke of midnight night 1st July 2024 India will awake to police raj,”
There are rare occasions when a simple tweet underlines the unfolding reality in stark terms.
… Any concerned citizen can look dispassionately at the Bhima Koregaon Case (12) or the way the accused in the NE Delhi riots have been languishing in jail – and are not even getting bail – and infer where things have reached. Read more
A New Bill Shows Maharashtra Wants to Become a Police State Before Combatting Left-Wing Extremism
15/07/2024
The Wire / by Ajay K. Mehra
The proposed legislation will authorise state police and other security agencies to arrest an accused person without warrant and by extension, without letting them know of their offence.
As soon as the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, 2024, tabled in the state legislative assembly on July 11 this year, becomes a law, the state government will have another draconian legal instrument to use against protesters, dissenters, critics and opponents. Like other such laws, this one too has strict provisions making an individual’s arrest non-bailable.
Since the need for such a law is being justified on the grounds that the “menace of Naxalism is increasing in urban areas… through Naxal frontal organisations”, dissenters being framed up as ‘urban Naxals’ is imminent. Read more
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.
Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project
THE POLIS PROJECT / by TATYARAM GORKHE AND SUREKHA GORKHE
We were at our village for Sagar’s grandmother’s funeral rites on the day of his arrest, in September 2020. Sagar received a call and had to leave for Mumbai immediately. He did not tell us what was going on. Later, we called his friends, who told us that he had been arrested. Like others, Sagar was offered the opportunity to become a state witness and escape arrest. But he didn’t take up the offer, insisting that he had not done anything wrong. Read more
by Live Law / @LiveLawIndia (Aug 21):
