Persecution – Page 32 – free them all

Can Varavara Rao get free cataract surgery in Hyderabad? High Court seeks NIA response

27/04/2023 Asha

Bombay HC asks NIA to verify claim by Varavara Rao that he will get free cataract treatment in Hyderabad

27/04/2023

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Rao made the claim in his application seeking permission to go to Hyderabad from Mumbai for three months to undergo cataract surgery.
The Bombay High Court Thursday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to verify the claim made by Bhima Koregaon violence accused Dr. P Varavara Rao that State of Telangana would provide free cataract treatment to him.
Single-judge Justice Amit Borkar opined that this was the crux of Rao’s plea, and if the claim made by Rao was factually incorrect, then the complexion of the matter would change.
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Can Varavara Rao get free cataract surgery in Hyderabad? HC seeks NIA response

27/04/2023

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

In February 2021, the HC granted Rao medical bail for six months. Though it was extended from time to time, the high court in April 2022 rejected his prayer for permanent bail and asked him to surrender within three months.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to respond to claims by Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao, who is an accused in Elgar Parishad case that he can get cataract surgery done free-of-cost in Hyderabad, Telangana.
Read more

Also read:
● Bombay High Court seeks response from NIA on plea by Varavara Rao to undergo cataract surgery at Hyderabad (Bar & Bench / Jan 5, 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)

Shoma Sen moves Supreme Court seeking bail

27/04/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The Bombay High Court, in its order dated January 17, had refused to examine the correctness of the order of the trial court that rejected her bail application.
A special leave petition, filed by women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen challenging the order of the Bombay High Court on her bail plea, is listed to be heard on May 4. The petition was mentioned by senior advocate Anand Grover before a division Bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India Dr D.Y. Chandrachud, on Wednesday.
Read more

Also Read:
● Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson seek bail from Bombay HC on parity with Sudha Bharadwaj (India Today / March 2023)
● Bombay HC asks Elgar Parishad accused Prof Shoma Sen to first approach trial court for bail (India Today / Jan 2023)

Gautam Navlakha moves HC against NIA court’s rejection of bail plea

27/04/2023 Asha

Gautam Navlakha moves HC against NIA court’s rejection of bail plea

27/04/2023

The Indian Express / by The Indian Express

Navlakha, who was arrested on April 14, 2020, has been incarcerated since then. Since November, he has been under house arrest in Navi Mumbai.
Elgaar Parishad case accused Gautam Navlakha recently approached the Bombay High Court with a fresh appeal challenging a special NIA court’s order that had rejected his bail application earlier this month. Navlakha’s previous bail plea, filed before the special court, was rejected last September. Following this, he had filed an appeal before the Bombay High Court.
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Gautam Navlakha moves HC for bail again

27/04/2023

Hindustan Times / by HT Correspondent

Last year, he had filed an appeal in HC when the special court rejected his bail application in September 2022.
Mumbai: Gautam Navlakha, one of the accused in the Elgar Parishad case has approached the Bombay high court for a second time and appealed against the rejection of his bail application by a special NIA court earlier this month. Last year, he had filed an appeal in HC when the special court rejected his bail application in September 2022.
Read more

Also read:
● Bombay HC quashes order rejecting bail plea of Navlakha by special court, orders expeditious rehearing (Sabrang / March 2023)
● Will the bail granted to Anand Teltumbde help others in the Bhima Koregaon case to get out of jail? (Scroll.in / Nov 2022)

Podcast: Living inside prison is a dehumanising experience | Sudha Bharadwaj

26/04/2023 Asha

en + hindi | 37:45min | 2023

CJP / by CJP Team

Episode 19 of CJP’s Podcast Series RightsCast
Over the past three decades, Sudha Bharadwaj has served the most marginalized sections of this country as a trade unionist, activist and lawyer. Among 16 activists and academics arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, she was the first to be granted default bail after more than three years in prison.
Listen to her about living in jail and discovering the harsh reality of women in Indian prisons on this exclusive podcast.
Listen to the podcast

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

● ‘Buzz of a Mosquito… But With the Sound of Grief’: The Lives of India’s Women Prisoners (The Wire / March 2021)

Gautam Navlakha moves SC seeking change of address for house arrest

21/04/2023 Asha

The Telegraph / by pti

The bench was told by counsel for the activist, that the place, where he is under house arrest, is a public library and needs to be vacated
Activist Gautam Navlakha Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking to be shifted from the public library in Mumbai, where he is under house arrest in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to some other place in the city.
Navlakha’s counsel told a bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna that the public library needed to be vacated.
Read more

Also read:
● Explainer: As activist Gautam Navlakha is allowed house arrest, what does this actually involve? (Scroll.in / Nov 2022)
● All I ask is an hour to breathe in fresh air, soak in sun, rights activist Gautam Navlakha in plea (Free Press Journal / Dec 2021)

Taloja prison authorities not complying with order allowing computer use, court told

21/04/2023 Asha

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

The accused, Surendra Gadling and Arun Ferreira, were permitted by the court on January 23 to use computers twice a week and software to view documents submitted by the National Investigation Agency as evidence.
Nearly three months after a special court directed authorities at Taloja Central Prison to permit two accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, who are lawyers representing themselves, use of computers twice a week and necessary software to view evidence, they informed the court on Thursday that prison officials had not complied with the order.
Read more

Also read:
● Provide access to computer, court tells jail authorities on plea made by Surendra Gadling and Arun Ferreira (The Indian Express / Jan 2023)
● Punished without trial: How India’s political prisoners are being denied basic rights in jail (Scroll.in / Aug 2022)

Gautam Navlakha was active member of banned terrorist says special court while rejecting bail plea [read order]

13/04/2023 Asha

Reasonable grounds for believing accusations about Gautam Navlakha being CPI-Maoist member: Court

14/04/2023

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Navlakha was arrested on April 14, 2020, by the NIA and has been under house arrest since November 2022.
IN ITS detailed order rejecting bail to 69-year-old Gautam Navlakha in the Elgaar Parishad case, the special court in Mumbai has said there is prima facie evidence of a nexus between him and Syed Gulam Nabi Fai, who was convicted by a US court in 2012 for links with Pakistani spy agency ISI. The court said there are reasonable grounds for believing accusations against Navlakha, including that he is a member of the banned organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist).
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Gautam Navlakha was active member of banned terrorist group involved in attacks against security forces: Mumbai court [read order]

13/04/2023

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Special judge Rajesh Katariya opined that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations against Navlakha are prima facie true.
Bhima Koregaon case accused Gautam Navlakha was a member of banned terrorist organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist), which attacked and killed many government security forces, a Mumbai court held while rejecting the activist’s bail plea.
In an order uploaded on Wednesday, Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge Rajesh Katariya opined that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations against Navlakha were prima facie true.
Read more
Read order

Also read:
● Bombay HC quashes order rejecting bail plea of Navlakha by special court, orders expeditious rehearing (Sabrang / March 2023)

Surendra Gadling’s plea to allow him to appear in person pending before the Bombay High Court

11/04/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

In the application, Gadling detailed his right to appear in person and the tedious process of in-person visits for undertrial prisoners.
On April 10, 2023, a division Bench of the Bombay High Court, comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Sharmila Deshmukh, recused itself from hearing an appeal by human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist Surendra Gadling for the grant of default bail. With its recent change in assignments, the high court is yet to decide on Gadling’s application to appear in person and allow his production before the high court, where his appeal for grant of default bail is pending. The application was sent by Gadling from Taloja jail in November 2022.
Read more

Also read:
● To allow or not allow Surendra Gadling to argue his own case, Bombay HC deliberates (India Today / March 2023)
● Explainer: Arsenal Report on Surendra Gadling (The Leaflet / July 2021)

Also watch:
● Video: The Prison Song of Surendra Gadling
hindi | 11min | 2021

The Wire / lyrics by Ramesh Gaichor

51- year-old Gadling, a well-known criminal lawyer in Nagpur, was once a cultural activist, who sang songs of political resistance. The 11- minutes- long rendition tells you what it means to be incarcerated in Indian prisons. From food, water, to medical care, everything is a struggle, Gadling narrates. The song was recorded by one of Gadling’s colleagues and was made available to The Wire after obtaining his consent.
Watch video

Special NIA Court rejects Gautam Navlakha bail plea after Bombay High Court directed re-hearing

06/04/2023 Asha

Mumbai court rejects Gautam Navlakha bail plea after Bombay High Court directed re-hearing

06/04/2023

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Special judge Rajesh Katariya passed the order today after re-hearing Navlakha’s bail plea, as directed by the Bombay High Court.
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Thursday rejected the regular bail plea of Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018.
Special judge Rajesh Katariya passed the order today after re-hearing Navlakha’s bail plea, as directed by the Bombay High Court.
A detailed order of the order is yet to be made available.
Read more

Special NIA Court Denies Bail to Gautam Navlakha

06/04/2023

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The Bombay high court had previously quashed the special judge’s order denying bail to the activist and instructed him to rehear Navlakha’s bail plea, citing the special court’s lack of analysis of the evidence presented by the prosecution.
Activist Gautam Navlakha was once again denied bail by a special NIA court on Thursday, April, in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
The Bombay high court had previously quashed the special judge’s order denying bail to the activist and instructed him to rehear Navlakha’s bail plea, citing the special court’s lack of analysis of the evidence presented by the prosecution.
Read more

Also read:
● Bombay HC quashes order rejecting bail plea of Navlakha by special court, orders expeditious rehearing (Sabrang / March 2023)

When Push Comes to Shove: Tracking Judicial Recusals and Transfers

04/04/2023 Asha

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Taking stock of some cases important for the right to life and liberty and freedom of expression where judges left mid-way.
… The Elgar Parishad case against 16 human rights defenders has gone through several twists and turns over the past five years. Both the state and the Central agency’s role, the subsequent investigations and the electronic evidence allegedly gathered from the accused have faced severe criticism. Even five years later, the trial is yet to commence and those imprisoned have been moving bail applications at different levels. In some of these matters, a number of judges from the Bombay high court and the Supreme Court have recused themselves.
Read more

Also Read:
● Justice Revati Mohite Dere of Bombay HC recuses from hearing bail plea of Mahesh Raut, others (India Legal / March 2023)