by Live Law / @LiveLawIndia (Jan 6, 2023):
[#BhimaKoregaon -Elgar Parishad Case]
#BombayHC is informed that DU Prof Hany Babu’s cataract surgery was successfully performed.
“We expect the jail officials to take the petitioner to the hospital for follow-up treatment. ” -J AS Gadkari.
Plea disposed of.
HC disposes of Hany Babu’s plea after being told about his cataract surgery
06/01/2023
Midday.com / by pti
The court had last month allowed Babu to undergo a cataract surgery and a medical check-up at a city-based hospital.
The Bombay High Court on Friday disposed of the plea by former Delhi University professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Elgar Parshad-Maoist links case, seeking medical care.
The court had last month allowed Babu to undergo a cataract surgery and a medical check-up at a city-based hospital. Read more
Electronic records relied on during probe dubious, says Gonsalves in discharge plea
05/01/2023
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Referring to multiple reports by US-based forensic consulting firm Arsenal Consulting, which said that malware was planted on the electronic devices of his co-accused, Gonsalves has said the main evidence in the case is ‘unworthy of credit’.
Vernon Gonsalves, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, filed his discharge application before the special court on Wednesday, stating that electronic records relied on by the investigators are dubious. Read more
Vernon Gonsalves cites Arsenal report to seek discharge
05/01/2023
Free Press Journal / by Bhavna Uchil
Accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, Vernon Gonsalves has sought a clean chit and cited the US forensics firm Arsenal Consulting’s report showing that incriminating evidence was planted on devices of the accused.
Accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, Vernon Gonsalves has sought a clean chit and cited the US forensics firm Arsenal Consulting’s report showing that incriminating evidence was planted on devices of the accused. The electronic evidence forms the foundation of the prosecution’s case. He has claimed that it’s dubious and has called into question the whole basis of the case. Read more
Activist Vernon Gonsalves files for discharge
04/01/2023
Hindustan Times / by Charul Shah
The activist has raised questions on the sanction given by the competent authorities to invoke charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. In the discharge plea, he has claimed that the sanctioning authority has to be independent and needs to evaluate evidence before granting sanction
Human rights activist Vernon Gonsalves has filed a plea before the special NIA court seeking discharge from the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon violence case, claiming that there was no evidence to proceed against him. Gonsalves, arrested in August 2018, is currently lodged in Taloja jail. Read more
Bombay High Court seeks response from NIA on plea by Varavara Rao to undergo cataract surgery at Hyderabad
05/01/2023
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
Justice RG Avachat directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to respond to the application filed by Rao seeking to quash the order of the special NIA court refusing him leave to go to Hyderabad for the surgery.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a plea filed by Telugu poet Varavara Rao, accused in Bhima Koregaon case of 2018, seeking permission to conduct his cataract surgery at Hyderabad. Read more
Bombay High Court Issues Notice To NIA In Bhima Koregaon Accused Varavara Rao’s Plea Seeking Permission To Go To Hyderabad For Cataract Surgery
05/04/2023
Live Law / by Amisha Shrivastava
Telugu poet Varavara Rao, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, has approached the Bombay High Court seeking permission to travel to Hyderabad to undergo cataract surgery in both his eyes.
Justice R. G. Avachat issued notice to NIA in the plea challenging trial court’s order rejecting his request to travel to Hyderabad and stay there for three months. The matter was posted on January 16, 2023. Read more
Bombay High Court is hearing the application filed by Surendra Gadling, accused in Bhima Koregaon, seeking default bail.
Advocate Yashodeep Deshmukh for Gadling: Gadling has moved an application before the High Court registrar seeking appearance in person. I thought it best to inform the court since I do not want allegations against me.
Deshmukh: If this goes in our favour then there will be no allegations. If not, then there might be allegations against me or the court. Adv Sandesh Patil for NIA: I do not have any documents. Court: Serve copy to the otherside. Place it after 2 weeks.
Got Certified Copy Of Bail Order To File Appeal After 55-Days: Bhima Koregaon Accused Surendra Gadling Justifies Delay In Default Bail Application
04/01/2023
Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim
Advocate Surendra Gadling an accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Caste violence case has approached the Bombay High Court against rejection of his default bail application by the Special NIA Court.
In the plea under Section 21(4) of the NIA Act Gadling has blamed the prison department for the delay of nearly two months in receiving certified copies of the order of the Special Court, to justify the delay in filing the appeal. Read more
Bhima Koregaon accused Surendra Gadling moves Bombay High Court for default bail
04/01/2023
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
The accused moved the High Court challenging an order of June 28, 2022 passed by a Special NIA Court rejecting his default bail plea.
Surendra Gadling, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence of 2018, has approached the Bombay High Court seeking default bail in the case.
Gadling, who is presently in judicial custody, moved the Court challenging an order of June 28, 2022 by the special court rejecting his default bail application. Read more
HC asks NIA to respond to Surendra Gadling’s default bail plea
04/01/2023
Hindustan Times / by K A Y Dodhiya
Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, has filed an application in the Bombay high court challenging the June 2022 rejection of his default bail plea by the special NIA (National Investigation Agency) court. Gadling has also sought condonation of the delay of ten days in filing the application, which, he said, was because of a delay on the part of the prison authorities in providing a certified copy of the order. The HC has asked NIA to respond to the issue of condonation of delay. Read more
Despite directions given by the special court to NIA to provide all the evidence, only 40% has been shared, says advocate for some of the accused in the case.
It is almost five years since caste-based violence broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune but more than 60% of ‘clone copies’ of the evidence against the 15 accused, who are activists, lawyers, journalists, and professors, have not been shared with them. Read more
Stan had, during interrogation, claimed that the evidence against him was ‘interpolated’, as he wrote in his book I Am Not A Silent Spectator; but NIA did not believe him. Now a forensic firm has confirmed it.
Late Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy wrote a slim book, I Am Not A Silent Spectator, before he was arrested on October 8, 2020. In the book, Stan details the questions sleuths from the National Investigation Agency asked him over 15 hours of interrogation spread over five days—and the answers he gave. He scoffed at the documents they said had been extracted from his computer, insisting these were “interpolations”. Read more
Legal experts say that this information becomes useful during the stage of the trial, which is yet to start.
A new report that says that “evidence” on Stan Swamy’s computer was planted would not be of much use to the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case until the trial starts, legal experts point out. Read more
In wake of the recent Arsenal report which exposes the malicious tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer, MRSD* organized a press conference on “Fabricating Evidence Against Life and Liberty: Tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer and its implications for Bhima Koregaon case” on December 22, 2022.
Speakers: Fr. Joe Xavier, Convenor of Fr. Stan Swamy Legacy Committee of the Jesuits and Former Executive Director of the Indian Social Institute. Fr. Frazer Mascarenhas, Former principal of St Xavier’s College in Mumbai and the Parish Priest of St Peter’s Church. Mihir Desai, Senior Advocate at High Court of Bombay. Nagarjuna G., Former Professor, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
*MRSD is a forum constituted by several democratic rights, civil society and people’s organisations to campaign for the release of human rights defenders falsely charged and imprisoned in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case, the repeal of UAPA and for upholding the citizens’ right to dissent.
Fabricating Evidence Against Life and Liberty: Tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer and its implications for Bhima Koregaon case
The latest report released by Arsenal Consulting, a Massachusetts-based digital forensics firm- proves that Father Stan’s computer was infiltrated by hackers since October 19th 2014, and more than 40 documents were planted in it. In his last video statement before his arrest, Stan had asserted that documents shown to him by the NIA were fabricated. Inspite of the same he was arrested on 8th October 2020 and subsequently died on 5th July 2021 in custody. Stan’s case represents not just grave injustice to the 84-year-old, but also the deep denigration of basic humanity by the system.
Fr. Stan was incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon (BK) conspiracy case which has come to represent a major conspiracy against human rights defenders in India. Including Stan, 16 activists, lawyers, academicians have been arrested since 2018 in the case filed by the Pune police (later on transferred to NIA) following caste violence that broke out against Dalit visitors on January 1, 2018, in Bhima Koregaon village near Pune. Ironically, the police invoked UAPA, a law that Stan vehemently resisted, to arrest the BK-16 activists, and brand them as anti-nationals, urban naxals and members of a banned political party and even alleged involvement in a purported assassination plan on the Prime minister. The long list of allegations in the case is meant to arouse the deepest suspicion against these 16 accused, and against their work of defending democracy and people’s struggles.
Fr. Stan worked tirelessly especially for Adivasis in Jharkhand, their rights to land, forest, and against their false incarceration. Apart from being an activist, he also documented many instances of injustices in an impeccable manner. He also raised objections to instances of illegal mining and other supposed development projects which had the impact of displacing people from their home and hearths.
Fr. Stan’s arrest in the middle of COVID-19 pandemic, despite his ill-health and age, is a proof of the system’s apathy to human rights defenders. During his last months in prison, he repeatedly requested to be shifted to his residence in Ranchi. A patient of the Parkinson’s disease, Stan faced multiple challenges during his incarceration. Inspite of having contracted Covid and taking seriously ill, he was denied timely medical treatment and care in prison. However, no cognizance of this was taken, and the situation deteriorated resulting in the death of Fr. Stan, even while his application for bail was pending. His untimely and tragic death is a result of the sheer negligence of the jail authorities, NIA and failure of the entire criminal justice system to protect a defender of justice. Such denial of rights becomes even more stark with emerging documentary proof that the evidence presented in the case were fabricated. It must be noted that in April 2021, Arsenal consulting had already released a report proving the malicious hacking and planting of documents in computers of co-accused, Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling.
The fact that Fr. Stan died before he could get a chance to prove his innocence is jarring. This case shows the extent to which illegal cyber-attacks are being used in Digital India to build false criminal cases against innocent citizens who can then be jailed indefinitely under the UAPA law. Such is the desperation of the system to incarcerate human rights defenders and dehumanize the society at large. At the same time, the real instigators of violence at Bhima Koregaon, Milind Ekbote of Samastha Hindu Aghadi and Sambhaji Bhide of Shiv Chhatrapati Pratishan are not being prosecuted and are instead being shielded politically.
We call for: 1. Immediate release of all remaining co-accused in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case and quashing of the case against them on the basis of fabricated evidence. 2. Reparations and justice for the wrongful incarceration of Fr. Stan Swamy that resulted in his death. 3. Impartial and independent investigation into the tampering of electronic devices and fabrication of evidence against the BK-16 accused in the case. 4. Impartial and independent investigation into the role of Milind Ekbote, Sambhaji Bhide and other right-wing leaders and outfits for planning and inciting violence on Dalits in Bhima Koregaon and their prosecution in the FIRs filed against them. 5. Repeal of draconian UAPA law used as a tool to curb dissent and political opposition.
*Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy: MRSD is a forum constituted by more than 20 democratic rights, civil society and people’s organisations to campaign for the release of those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case, repeal of UAPA and for upholding the citizens’ right to dissent.
Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaychor. Poster by #bakeryprasad
Court asks Taloja jail to follow order on tackling mosquito menace
22/12/2022
Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter
A special court has directed Taloja jail authorities to conduct periodic fumigation, spray insecticides and take necessary precautions to keep the jail premises free of mosquitoes.
A special court has directed Taloja jail authorities to conduct periodic fumigation, spray insecticides and take necessary precautions to keep the jail premises free of mosquitoes. The direction came in response to a plea by Bhima-Koregaon case accused Sagar Gorkhe who sought a mosquito net and an explanation by jail authorities for dereliction of duty in not following the court’s July order giving directions to tackle the mosquito menace. Read more
Court asks Taloja jail authorities again to take steps to keep prison mosquito-free
22/12/2022
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Rejects plea by Elgaar Parishad accused asking for mosquito net.
In a recent order, a special court again directed Taloja jail authorities to take necessary steps to keep the prison premises mosquito free. The court was responding to a plea by Sagar Gorkhe, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case. However, the court did not allow his plea for a mosquito net. Read more
The high court noted that the prosecution fails to show that the accused has been involved or has indulged in a terrorist act.
On November 18, a division bench of Bombay High Court, comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and Milind N. Jadhav, granted bail to Dr. Anand Teltumbde, the 73-year-old Dalit scholar, academic and activist charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (‘UAPA’) for allegedly being a senior member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) (‘CPI (Maoist)’). Read more
by Live Law / @LiveLawIndia (Jan 6, 2023):
