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Category: Persecution

Sudha Bharadwaj: ‘So Writing Was My Way Of Reaching Out To The Women I Saw’

Sudha Bharadwaj: ‘So Writing Was My Way Of Reaching Out To The Women I Saw’

Free Press Journal / by Anushka Jagtiani

The lawyer and activist talks about her time in prison and From Phansi Yard, her currently released book
Sudha Bharadwaj chose to surrender her US passport and dedicate her life to fighting the battles of exploited labourers in Chhatisgarh. Her activism led to her arrest in 2018 in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case along with 15 others, and she spent three years in jail — in Pune and Mumbai. She is currently out on bail and therefore cannot comment on the case as an under trial.
She speaks about her time in jail, the unlikely friendships she made, and how she became ‘vakeel aunty’ to many poor inmates and even helped get some out on bail. 
Read more


From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order


Also read:

● 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)

Fearing grant of medical bail to Shoma Sen, NIA pleads fast-tracking of hearing of regular bail

Fearing grant of medical bail to Shoma Sen, NIA pleads fast-tracking of hearing of regular bail

Poster by PUDR, June 2023

Fearing grant of medical bail to Shoma Sen, NIA pleads fast-tracking of hearing of regular bail

30/11/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

In a departure from what has become an unfortunate practice of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in bail matters, of seeking long adjournments from courts for various reasons, as soon as the Bench expressed an inclination to grant Shoma Sen medical bail, NIA counsel Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj said he is ready to argue the matter of the regular bail as soon as next Tuesday.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court allowed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to argue against the regular bail plea filed by women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen on Wednesday, December 6.
Read more


Supreme Court adjourned Shoma Sen’s bail plea yet again

28/11/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

In what has become an unfortunate repetition, a division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih today adjourned the hearing of the bail plea by Shoma Sen once more.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the bail plea filed by women rights activist and academic Shoma Sen once again.
A division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih allowed the adjournment sought by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Read more


Also read:
Since Evidence Tampering Not Ruled Out, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson Want Chargesheets Quashed (The Wire / Oct 2023)
“Hopefully waiting” writes Shoma Sen from prison (InSAF India / Jul 2023)

Shoma Sen moves Supreme Court seeking bail (The Leaflet / April 2023)

Supreme Court allows state time to file counter-affidavit in Surendra Gadling bail plea

Supreme Court allows state time to file counter-affidavit in Surendra Gadling bail plea

Poster by PUDR, June 2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing for Gadling, stated that evidence recovered from Gadling in the Bhima Koregaon case is being repurposed for use in the Gadchiroli arson case.
Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed the Maharashtra government time to file a counter-affidavit in the bail plea by human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist Surendra Gadling.
… The Bench directed the state government to file a counter-affidavit within one week and posted the matter for hearing in two weeks.
Read more


Also read:

Does opposing mines & protecting our forests mean we support “Maoists”, Adivasis protest mining in Gadchiroli (Sabrangindia / Nov 2023)
Supreme Court issues notice in bail plea of Surendra Gadling (The Leaflet / Oct 2023)
Surendra Gadling’s Computer Was Attacked, Incriminating Documents Planted: Arsenal Consulting (The Wire / July 2021)
Now Gadchiroli Police takes custody of Surendra Gadling, P Varavara Rao, prompting senior lawyers to say this is ‘ever-greening of charges’ (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)

NIA court allows Varavara Rao to travel to Hyderabad to undergo cataract surgery in his left eye

NIA court allows Varavara Rao to travel to Hyderabad to undergo cataract surgery in his left eye

VV Rao, Feb 2021

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

On October 23, the Bombay High Court had allowed Rao to travel to Hyderabad for surgery in his right eye. The high court had directed Rao to approach the National Investigation Agency court for surgery for the other eye, after returning to Mumbai following the first surgery.
Today, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria allowed activist, writer and teacher and poet Dr P. Varavara Rao to travel to Hyderabad to undergo cataract surgery on his left eye.
Read more


Bombay HC allows Varavara Rao to undergo cataract surgery in Hyderabad (The Indian Express / Oct 2023)
Supreme Court grants permanent medical bail to P. Varavara Rao in Bhima Koregaon case (The Leaflet / Aug 2022)
Varavara Rao granted six-month bail on medical grounds (The Leaflet / Feb 2021)

Fadnavis prepares to fight the phantom of ‘urban naxals’

Fadnavis prepares to fight the phantom of ‘urban naxals’

Campaign, 2020

Deccan Herald / by Jyoti Punwani

Maharashtra, under Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis, is set to have a new ‘public security’ law where even peaceful expressions of dissent will be targeted.
… ‘Urban Naxals’ has been a favourite bogey of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre, and was used as a label against the Leftist intellectuals arrested for the January 1, 2018 violence at Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra.
Read more


Also read:
‘Urban Naxal’ is a label to terrorise intellectuals: Prabhat Patnaik (The Telegraph / Feb 2023)
Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)
From ‘tukde tukde gang’ to ‘urban Naxal’: How media trials enable the government to stifle dissent (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

Supreme Court adjourns hearing of bail plea by Shoma Sen again

Supreme Court adjourns hearing of bail plea by Shoma Sen again

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing on behalf of Shoma Sen, emphasised that Sen has been lodged in jail for five and a half years without trial and the bail hearing before the Supreme Court has been pending for five and a half months.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the bail plea filed by women rights activist and academic Shoma Sen.
Read more


Also read:
Since Evidence Tampering Not Ruled Out, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson Want Chargesheets Quashed (The Wire / Oct 2023)
“Hopefully waiting” writes Shoma Sen from prison (InSAF India / Jul 2023)

Shoma Sen moves Supreme Court seeking bail (The Leaflet / April 2023)

NIA Court rejects plea of Sagar Gorkhe to continue medical treatment in Taloja Prison

NIA Court rejects plea of Sagar Gorkhe to continue medical treatment in Taloja Prison

You’re not of unsound mind, elaborate on med issues: Court to Elgar accused

16/11/2023

Times of India / by Rebecca Samervel

Even as an accused in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case sought continuation of his psychiatric treatment, saying he was suffering from depression and and excessive worry for two years, a special court said that considering the treatment papers received from the chief medical officer of Taloja prison and answers given by him the judge’s interaction, prima facie, there is no reason to believe that he has any sort of “unsoundness of mind” or mental illness.
Read more


‘No reason to believe accused is mental ill’: Court rejects plea of Elgaar Parshad accused to continue treatment

15/11/2023

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

The court directed jail authorities at Taloja Central Prison to submit his medical records. Referring to the reports, the court said that while the accused was referred to JJ Hospital and was on medication for depression and referred for counselling, the psychiatrist in October had advised that the medicines be stopped.
An accused in the Elgaar Parishad case told the court, on November 8, that although he has been suffering from depression for the past two years, the medicines prescribed to him have been discontinued from last month.
Read more


Also read:
NIA court directs prison authorities to provide Sagar Gorkhe treatment at J.J. Hospital (The Leaflet / Nov 2023)
Securing the right to health of political prisoners (The Leaflet / Oct 2022)
Relatives of BK16 Flag Prison Authorities’ ‘Criminal Negligence’ and Deteriorating Health of Undertrials (Newsclick / Sep 2022)
Hunger Strike unto death against the harassment from Taloja Central Jail’s apathetic administration (By Sagar Gorkhe / May 20, 2022)

From Phansi Yard: My Year With The Women Of Yerawada, by Sudha Bharadwaj (Book Excerpt) / Video

From Phansi Yard: My Year With The Women Of Yerawada, by Sudha Bharadwaj (Book Excerpt) / Video

From Phansi Yard: My Year With The Women Of Yerawada, by Sudha Bharadwaj (Excerpt)

14/11/2023

Artice 14 / by Samar Halarnkar | Sudha Bharadwaj

Arrested on 28 August 2018, human rights lawyer, teacher and IIT graduate Sudha Bharadwaj is among 16 accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, charged under  sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967.
Bharadwaj was arrested from her house in Faridabad, where she had moved in 2017 to teach law at the National Law University Delhi.

In From Phansi Yard: My Year With The Women Of Yerawada, Bharadwaj paints a vivid picture of life behind bars, discussing overcrowding, menstruation, sanitation, fights, health niggles and more.
Read more


Video: Barkha Dutt speaks to Sudha Bharadwaj on her book ‘From Phansi Yard’

10/11/2023


en | 21:03min | 2023

By Mojo Story

Barkha Dutt speaks to Trade Unionist, activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj on her book ‘From Phansi Yard’. The book records stories of her time in jail. She is out on bail after 3 years in the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence case.
Sudha speaks about her days in jail and how her time in a women’s prison made her aware of the gender gap in legal aid. “Many women are jailed- because their husband committed some crime and are now absconding- they don’t even know about the crime,” she says.
Sudha further says that she lives in the house of a friend, as she “can’t afford rent”. Trade unions support her, she does legal cases for them, she says.
Watch video


From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order


Also read/watch:

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

National Herald | by Sudha Bharadwaj | Oct 2023
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.

Read more

● 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


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)

NIA court directs prison authorities to provide Sagar Gorkhe treatment at J.J. Hospital

NIA court directs prison authorities to provide Sagar Gorkhe treatment at J.J. Hospital

Sagar Gorke. Pic: Kabir Kala Manch

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

An application was filed by Sagar Gorkhe, praying the court to direct urgent and necessary treatment for his mental and physical health. According to the application, the prison authorities have deprived Gorkhe of medicines and treatment for his psychiatric conditions.
Today, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria directed the jail superintendent of Taloja Central Prison to refer Sagar Gorkhe to J.J. Hospital, Mumbai to provide him with the required medical treatment.
Read more


Also read:
Securing the right to health of political prisoners (The Leaflet / Oct 2022)
Relatives of BK16 Flag Prison Authorities’ ‘Criminal Negligence’ and Deteriorating Health of Undertrials (Newsclick / Sep 2022)
Punished without trial: How India’s political prisoners are being denied basic rights in jail (Scroll.in / Aug 2022)
Hunger Strike unto death against the harassment from Taloja Central Jail’s apathetic administration (By Sagar Gorkhe / May 20, 2022)

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

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

Poster by #bakeryprasad

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.
Read more


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)