Persecution – Page 26 – free them all

Gonsalves and Ferreira application parses evidence supplied and not supplied per Section 207 CrPc

08/11/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

On May 23, 2022, a National Investigation Agency court had directed the agency to furnish a chart consisting of the details of electronic devices seized in the case to be supplied to accused persons, which has not been complied with.
On Wednesday, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira filed an application containing a chart on the electronic evidence relied upon by the prosecution.
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Also Read:
● What is Section 207 CrPC, an essential piece of the Bhima Koregaon case puzzle? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)
● Prison-rights activist Rona Wilson’s hard disk contained malware that allowed remote access (The Caravan / March 2020)

Supreme Court seeks guidelines for search and seizure of electronic devices

08/11/2023 Asha

Supreme Court calls for norms on seizure of devices by probe agencies

08/11/2023

Hindustan Times / by Utkarsh Anand

A 2-judge bench of the apex court is hearing a petition demanding regulation of the police’s power to search or seize digital devices.
… The issue of seizure of digital devices like phones and laptops has become a flashpoint in the Bhima-Koregaon caste violence case with the accused alleging that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) planted evidence on the laptop of Rona Wilson.
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‘Incomplete reports’, ‘financial toll’: The burden of digital device seizures on journalists, outlets

08/11/2023

Newslaundry / by Tanishka Sodhi

Be it the searches at NewsClick, BBC, the Wire, or at the homes of journalists in several states over the last few years, the seizures of journalist’s digital devices have often underlined two issues – pertaining to journalistic privilege and the fundamental right to privacy.
… The Bhima Koregaon case is another prominent example in which activists have alleged violation of due process.
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Supreme Court seeks guidelines for search and seizure of electronic devices

07/11/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The development gains significance in light of the crackdown on media such as Newsclick and the letter written by several journalists groups to the Chief Justice of India against it.
On Tuesday, a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court batted for having guidelines in place to govern the search and seizure of phones or other digital devices belonging to media personnel.
Read more

Also read:
● NewsClick raids: Indian law has few safeguards when electronic devices are seized (Scroll.in / Oct 2023)
● Fabricating Evidence Against Life and Liberty: Tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer and its implications for Bhima Koregaon case (Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy / Dec 2022)
● Incriminating document found in Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer ‘planted’; similar tampering found in other Bhima Koregaon accused: Reports American forensic firm (The Leaflet / Dec 2022)
● Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

Poet-activist Varavara Rao undergoes eye operation in Hyderabad

04/11/2023 Asha

Poet-activist Varavara Rao undergoes eye operation in Hyderabad

04/11/2023

Siasat.com / by News Desk

The Bombay High Court permitted him to travel to Hyderabad from Mumbai for the procedure last week.
Poet-activist Varavara Rao who was arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, successfully underwent intraocular lens implant (IOL) cataract surgery at Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital here on Saturday.
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Varavara Rao undergoes cataract surgery in Hyderabad

04/11/2023

Telegana Today / By Telegana Today

Surgeon and Superintendent, Dr V Rajalingam said Varavara Rao’s surgery was phaco with multifocal foldable IOL and it was successful
Poet-activist Varavara Rao underwent cataract surgery at Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital here on Saturday.
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Bombay HC allows Varavara Rao to undergo cataract surgery in Hyderabad

24/10/2023

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Varavara Rao had approached the high court with a plea to permit him to get cataract surgery in Hyderabad. He said he was entitled to free medical treatment of up to Rs 2 lakh in Telangana as he was a pensioner.
The Bombay High Court on Monday granted permission to Elgaar Parishad case accused Varavara Rao to visit Hyderabad for a week to undergo cataract surgery.
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Bombay High Court permits Varavara Rao to travel to Hyderabad for cataract surgery

23/10/2023

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The permission would be for a week for surgery for one eye, a division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and SC Chandak said. He can later approach the Court for permission for surgery to the second eye, the bench said.
The Bombay High Court Monday granted permission to Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Rao to travel from Mumbai to Hyderabad for a week to undergo cataract surgery.
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Bombay High Court Permits Accused Poet Varavara Rao To Travel To Hyderabad For Cataract Surgery

23/10/2023

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court has granted octogenarian Telugu poet Varavara Rao permission to travel to Hyderabad for seven days to undergo cataract surgery in one of his eyes.
Justices AS Gadkari and Shyam Chandak further asked Rao to seek permission afresh from the trial court to undergo surgery for the other eye.
Read more

Also read:
● Can Varavara Rao get free cataract surgery in Hyderabad? HC seeks NIA response (The Indian Express / April 2023)
● Can’t Allow Varavara Rao To Stay In Hyderabad For Three Months For Cataract Treatment, Will Delay Framing of Charges: NIA Court (Scroll.in / Sep 2022)

Supreme Court defers hearing on interim bail plea filed by Prof Shoma Sen

02/11/2023 Asha

The Siasat Daily / by IANS

It had said that it will proceed to hear both the applications seeking interim bail and the Special Leave Petition together on the next date of listing.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned, to November 24, the hearing of an interim bail application filed by Professor Shoma K Sen, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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by Bar & Bench – Live Threads / @lawbarandbench (Nov 2, 2023):
Supreme Court adjourns to November 24 bail hearing of accused in Bhima Koregaon violence case, Professor Shoma Sen.

Also read:
● SC adjourns hearing on bail plea by Bhima Koregaon case accused Prof Sen (Odishatv.in / Oct 2023)
● Shoma Sen moves Supreme Court seeking bail (The Leaflet / April 2023)

Sudha Bharadwaj | ‘A lot of democratic space has been lost’ / ‘Social contradiction get magnified inside prisons’

02/11/2023 Asha

Sudha Bharadwaj: ‘A lot of democratic space has been lost’

02/11/2023

Frontline / by Shreevatsa Nevatia

The human rights lawyer and activist says that while in jail, she saw the human cost of a dysfunctional justice system.
The lawyer and activist, spent three years and three months in jail following her arrest under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on August 28, 2018. Her book From Phansi Yard isabout her days in Pune’s Yerawada Jail.
As a trade unionist, Bharadwaj has seen police heavy-handedness up close, but she did “not envisage the kind of thing” that happened to her. The charges against Bharadwaj, one of the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, include a plot to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the 62-year-old is confident she will be acquitted; her bail conditions disallow her from saying anything more.
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Video: Sudha Bharadwaj: ‘A lot of democratic space has been lost’

By Frontline

en | 1:05:41 | 2023
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Video: Sudha Bharadwaj interview: ‘Social contradiction get magnified inside prisons’

By The Federal

en | 37:33 | 2023
Sudha Bhardwaj (62), trade-unionist, human rights activist and lawyer, lived and worked in Chhattisgarh for over three decades. On August 28, 2018, she was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, and was released on bail in December 2021. Her book, From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada (Juggernaut Books), is an account of women prisoners (their suffering as well as the solidarities they have forged behind bars) in Pune’s Jail, where she was incarcerated in a high-security wing called Phansi Yard from November 2018 to February 2020. In this interview to The Federal, Bhardwaj, whose bail conditions do not allow her to talk about the case, and leave Mumbai, recounts her journey, and what gives her hope after a lifetime of struggle.
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Video: Sudha Bharadwaj on life in jail, importance of being a dissent and her hopes for justice

By Times of India

en | 4:20min | 2023

Sudha Bharadwaj was born in 1961 in the US and spent the first 10 years of her life on the University of Cambridge campus in England. After her parents returned to India, she grew up on the then newly created Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus and then spent decades working as trade unionist and human rights lawyer in Chhattisgarh. Bharadwaj is among the 16 persons arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case. She and the others were arrested for allegedly having links with Maoists, and for allegedly plotting to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They are accused of conspiring to spark caste-based violence that erupted at the Bhima Koregaon memorial in Maharashtra in 2018. Between 2018 and 2021, she was housed in the Yerawada and Byculla jails in the state. In this interview with TOI+, Bharadwaj who is out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, talks about her experience of being an undertrial, how it inspired a book and why democracy needs dissidents.
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From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order

● Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism

Publisher: Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
Edition: January 2021
Language: English
Sudha Bharadwaj’s interview by: Darshana Mitra and Santanu Chakraborty
Paperback: 316 pages
Access a free PDF copy of the book here:
Sudha_Bharadwaj_speaks (2,1 MB)

Will See If Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea Will Fit In Formula Of ‘Vernon’ Judgment, Says Supreme Court

01/11/2023 Asha

Will See If Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea Will Fit In Formula Of ‘Vernon’ Judgment, Says Supreme Court

01/11/2023

Live Law / by Awstika Das

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 1) adjourned until November 30 the hearing of activist and Bhima Koregaon-accused Jyoti Jagtap’s bail application.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Karol was hearing Jagtap’s petition challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject her bail application. She has been lodged in jail since September 2020 for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 after being arrested in connection with the 2018 caste-based violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune, and for having alleged links with the proscribed far-left outfit, Communist Party of India (Maoists).
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SC says principles of Arun and Vernon bail judgment to apply to Jyoti Jagtap

01/11/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

A division Bench of the Supreme Court today observed that as per the parameters set in the bail judgment of co-accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, the contents of the recovered electronic evidence will be analysed to check whether it constitutes an offence under Chapters V and VI of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Today, the Supreme Court observed that the parameters set in the judgment granting bail to co-accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira will be applied to the bail plea of anti-caste activist and musical performer, Jyoti Jagtap.
Read more

Also read:
● Supreme Court allows Jyoti Jagtap time to file rejoinder in support of her bail plea (The Leaflet / Sep 2023)
● Supreme Court asks whether Gonsalves and Ferreira judgment “formula” can be applied to Jyoti Jagtap (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)

Cross-examination of former Pune Rural SP Haque begins before Koregaon Bhima Commission

27/10/2023 Asha

Cross-examination of former Pune Rural SP Haque begins before Koregaon Bhima Commission

27/10/2023

The Indian Express /by Chandan Haygunde

The commission had then deferred Haque’s cross-examination as lawyers had sought certain videos pertaining to the Koregaon Bhima violence from the police.
The cross-examination of IPS officer Suvez Haque started before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Thursday.
The two-member commission headed by retired High Court Justice J N Patel is probing into the causes that led to the violence in Koregaon Bhima area in Pune on January 1, 2018, leaving one person dead and several others injured.
Haque was the Superintendent (SP) of Pune rural police at the time of Koregaon Bhima violence, which took place in his jurisdiction.
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Extension after Extension: Maharashtra’s inquiry commissions stretch for years bearing high cost and no sight of report implementation

27/10/2023

The Indian Express / by Mohamed Thaver

As per a simple assessment, so far, a bill of nearly Rs 1 crore has been raised by the commission, which is still ongoing. The Commission is hopeful that it will complete the hearings by the end of this five-month extension.
On October 9, the ongoing Bhima Koregaon inquiry commission received its 14th extension for aa period of five months from the state government. While the committee set up in February 2018 was initially formed for a four-month period, it is now in its sixth year – operational for at least 48 months apart from break during Covid lockdown – and has received an extension till Feb 28, 2024.
Read more

Also Read:
● Truth and dare in Bhima Koregaon (The Leaflet / Oct 2023)
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
● What is the Elgar Parishad and who Oganised It? (SabrangIndia / Sep 2018)
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)

Sudha Bharadwaj | From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

25/10/2023 Asha

A Cage with a View: Under-trial life in an Indian jail

25/10/2023

National Herald / by Sudha Bharadwaj

Human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj’s account of her time in Yerawada Jail is also a poignant lesson in keeping hope alive in the teeth of absurd injustice

The jottings that make up this book were my way of coping with incarceration. Some prisoners pray, some weep, some just put their heads down and work themselves weary. Some fight defiantly every inch of the way, some are inveterate grumblers, some spew gossip. Some read the newspaper from cover to cover, some shower love on children, some laugh at themselves and at others.
I watched through the bars, and I wrote.
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Nano tales from an Indian prison: From Phansi Yard – My Year with the Women of Yerawada

25/10/2023

Business Standard / by Vipul Mudgal

Sudha Bharadwaj’s book offers a thought-provoking glimpse into the lives of prisoners in a colonial-era prison in Pune, leaving readers to ponder why some of them are languishing behind bars
This is a book of human sketches from the world of an Indian prison. Call it casual ethnography or participant observation, it is the author’s labour of love, brought together with empathy and a touch of wit. You get a string of nano tales of human bondage and its myriad ironies, of love, betrayal, loyalty, desire, and momentary lapses of reason, followed by bouts of rage, remorse and self-pity. These are stories of remediable injustice.
Sudha Bharadwaj takes you on a tour of the colonial prison in Pune. But when she introduces you to the inmates, an absurdity hits you — that most of them have no business being there, the author included.
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`Being a dissident is not anti-democratic´

25/10/2023

Times of India / by Alka Dhupkar

Sudha Bharadwaj, who is out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, talks about her experience of being an undertrial, how it inspired a book and why democracy needs dissidents
Sudha Bharadwaj was born in 1961 in the US and spent the first 10 years of her life on the University of Cambridge campus in England. After her parents returned to India, she grew up on the then newly created Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus and then spent decades working as trade unionist and human rights lawyer in Chhattisgarh.
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Video: Dissent of All Forms Being Criminalised: Sudha Bharadwaj

11/10/2023

en | 14:51 | 2023

The Wire / by Sravasti Dasgupta

The lawyer and activist speaks to Sravasti Dasgupta of The Wire about her new book titled ‘From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada’.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Mumbai’s Byculla Prison in December 2021, three years after she was arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Mumbai’s Byculla Prison in December 2021, three years after she was arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Watch video

From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order

Also watch/read:

● Video: The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

By All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice – AILAJ / March 2022

en | 1:21:23 | 2022
The huge number of undertrials, the overcrowding, and the disproportional numbers of Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi prisoners are part of the prison problem in India.
We are joined by Adv. Sudha Bharadwaj for a discussion on the Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails.
Watch video

● Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism

NIA submits affidavit stating accused have been provided copies of all evidence

18/10/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The long-pending plea before the special court constituted under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, 2008 has been for the NIA to comply with Section 207 (supply of a copy of the police report and other documents to the accused) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed an affidavit stating that it has provided copies of all materials relied upon by it to the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
Read more

Also Read:
● Bombay High Court hears petition seeking quashing of chargesheets against Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson – searching and seizing allegedly incriminating electronic documents (The Leaflet / Oct 17, 2023)
● What is Section 207 CrPC, an essential piece of the Bhima Koregaon case puzzle? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)

Since Evidence Tampering Not Ruled Out, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson Want Chargesheets Quashed

16/10/2023 Asha

Since Evidence Tampering Not Ruled Out, Accused Want Chargesheets Quashed

19/10/2023

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson petitioned the Bombay high court alleging that norms were violated in searching and seizing electronic documents from them.
Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson, named as accused in the Elgar Parishad case, have alleged in their petition before the Bombay high court that the prosecution violated the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and Information Technology Act, 2000 in searching and seizing allegedly incriminating electronic documents from them.
They urged the division Bench of Justice A.S. Gadkari and Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh on Monday, October 17, to quash the chargesheets against them.
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Bombay High Court hears petition seeking quashing of chargesheets against Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson

17/10/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing on behalf of Sen and Wilson, argued that the prosecution violated principles of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and Information Technology Act, 2000 in searching and seizing allegedly incriminating electronic documents.
On Monday, the Bombay High Court heard pleas by women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen, and activist and researcher Rona Wilson for quashing chargesheets filed against them.
… The matter is posted for further hearing on October 23.
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Lawyer Raises Concerns Over Security Of Devices Seized In Bhima Koregaon Investigation: Report

17/10/2023

MediaNama / by Aarathi Ganesan

Lawyer Anand Grover argued that simply sealing electronic devices upon seizure did not ensure that the data within had been secured. He also noted that electronic devices could be easily tampered with, without any indication.
The electronic evidence recovered from activists Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson in the Bhima Koregaon investigation was improperly secured upon seizure, advocate Anand Grover alleged before the Bombay High Court yesterday, The Leaflet reported.
Read more

Also read:
● Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
● Cyber Attackers Who Targeted Rona Wilson Could Have Been Engaged by Same Entity: Report (The Wire / Feb 2022)