Persecution – Page 53 – free them all

CM’s Statement On Saffron Flags During Protest ‘Extraneous’: NIA Court While Rejecting Bail / Statement by Sagar & Ramesh

17/02/2022 Asha

Special NIA Court rejects former CM Fadnavis’ statement as evidence, denies bail to three Bhima Koregaon accused

19/02/2022

The Leaflet / by The Leaflet

A special National Investigative Agency (NIA) court denied bail on Monday to three persons accused in the Bhima Koregaon (Elgar Parishad) case and declined to consider former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ statement in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The court, while denying bail, maintained that the accused hatched a “serious conspiracy” to create unrest in the country.
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CM’s Statement On Presence Of Crowd With Saffron Flags During Bhima Koregaon Protest ‘Extraneous’: NIA Court While Rejecting Bail

17/02/2022

Live Law / by Sahrmeen Hakim

Fadnavis spoke about the unexpected presence of over 200-300 people holding saffron flags on the day of violence.
The NIA court has declined to consider Maharashtra’s ex-Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s statement in the State Legislative Assembly on the issue of caste violence at Bhima Koregaon while rejecting bail applications of three accused. The then Chief Minister had spoken on the floor of the house about the presence of around 200-300 people holding saffron flags, sloganeering at the place of the caste violence on January 1, 2018.
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Accused wanted to create unrest in country, says NIA court

17/02/2022

Hindustan Times / by Vinay Dalvi

Though the verdict was pronounced on Monday, the detailed order became available late in the evening on Wednesday.
“From the documents and letters placed on record, prima facie it can be gathered that the applicants along with other members of the banned organisation hatched a serious conspiracy to create unrest in the entire country and to overpower the government politically,” the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has said, while rejecting bail pleas of Kabir Kala Manch members Jyoti Jagtap, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor.
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Video Statement by Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor (Sep 5, 2020)

hindi (en subtitles) | 2:20min | 2020
Before arresting them, NIA allegedly offered to let off Kabir Kala Manch musicians Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor if they admitted to Maoist links, to indict activists arrested in the #BhimaKoregaon case.
Watch video

Also read:
● The unravelling of a conspiracy: were the 16 charged with plotting to kill India’s prime minister framed? (The Guardian / Aug 2021)
● They were accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government. The evidence was planted, a new report says (Washington Post / Feb 2021)
● The many plots to assassinate Narendra Modi (The Caravan / Sep 2018)

NIA Court refuses bail to Hany Babu, Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap and Sagar Gorkhe

14/02/2022 Asha

Mumbai Coourt rejects bail pleas of four accused

15/02/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Special Judge DE Kothalikar rejected bail applications of Kabir Kala Manch members Jyoti Jagtap, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor and associate professor Hany Babu.
A Special Court in Maharashtra on Monday rejected the bail plea of four accused in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018 being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The members of the allegedly banned organization Kabir Kala Manch along with Babu were arrested by the NIA in 2020.
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Special NIA Court Refuses Bail To DU Associate Prof Hany Babu And Three Kabir Kala Manch Members

14/02/2022

Live Law / by Sharmee Hakim

Special Judge DE Kothalikar refused bail to Delhi University associate professor – Hany Babu, and members of cultural group Kabir Kala Manch members – Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap. The National Investigation Agency arrested Babu in July 2020 and the remaining three in September 2020.
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Hany Babu, three Kabir Kala Manch members denied bail in Bhima-Koregaon case

14/02/2022

Free Press Journal / by Bhavna Uchil

A special court on Monday denied bail to four accused in the Elgar Parishad – Bhima Koregaon case – Delhi University associate professor Hany Babu and Kabir Kala Manch members Sagar Gorkhe, Jyoti Jagtap and Ramesh Gaichor.
Gorkhe and Gaichor had sought bail on the grounds that they had been prosecuted in a similar case in 2014, in which they had secured bail from the Supreme Court.
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3 years in jail have made me stronger, says lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj

13/02/2022 Asha

Times of India / by Priyanka Kakodkar

After being jailed for 3 years under the UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon case, human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj was released on bail on December 9, 2021. An IIT alumnus who gave up her US citizenship to work as a trade unionist among tribals in Chhattisgarh, she later qualified as a lawyer and was teaching at the National Law University in Delhi at the time of her arrest.
Bail conditions prevent her from speaking about the case but she speaks to Priyanka Kakodkar about her experiences in jail, the desperate condition of undertrials and life ahead.
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Also listen to podcast:

Interview With Sudha Bharadwaj, Bhima Koregaon Accused And Human Rights Lawyer

en | 30:48 min | 2022

Scroll.in / by Smitha Nair

In today’s episode we speak to Sudha Bharadwaj, human rights lawyer and trade unionist who has worked with the most marginalised in Chhattisgarh over the last three decades.
Listen to the podcast

Also read:
● Sudha Bharadwaj: My greatest strength were prison inmates (Rediff.com / Feb 2022)
● Sudha Bharadwaj: I was imprisoned in the phansi yard (Rediff.com / Feb 2022)

Anand Teltumbde moves Bombay High Court for temporary bail after brother’s death

11/02/2022 Asha

Bombay High Court adjourns bail plea of Anand Teltumbde to February 16

11/02/2022

Indialegallive.com / by India Legal

The Bombay High Court adjourned till February 16, the hearing in the temporary bail application sought by activist Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, to visit his nonagenarian mother.
A Division Bench of Justice S.S. Shinde and Justice N.R. Borkar on Friday passed the order after Senior Counsel Mihir Desai said the trial court had rejected Teltumbde’s application on the ground that his substantive/regular bail plea was pending before the High Court, before which he can seek relief temporary bail as well.
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Prof Anand Teltumbde Seeks Interim Bail To Visit Nonagenarian Mother Following His Brother’s Death In An Encounter

11/02/2022

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Professor Anand Teltumbde has approached the Bombay High Court seeking interim bail to visit his 92-year-old mother for 14 days following his brother – Milind’s – death in an encounter.
A division bench led by Justice SS Shinde sought details of Teltumbde’s interim application and listed the matter for hearing on Wednesday, February 16.
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Anand Teltumbde moves Bombay High Court for temporary bail after brother’s death

11/02/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Teltumbde’s brother, Milind Teltumbde was killed in a gun-battle that took place in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on November 13, 2021.
Anand Teltumbde has approached the Bombay High Court seeking interim bail to visit his mother and family, after the recent death of his brother Milind Teltumbde, also a wanted-accused in the 2018 case.
Milind Teltumbde was killed in a gun-battle that took place in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on November 13, 2021.
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Activist Rona Wilson was targeted by two separate hacker groups, says report

10/02/2022 Asha

Rona Wilson Targeted in 10-Year Cyber Espionage Effort by Two Groups: Report

11/02/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Findings by US experts under the cybersecurity firm SentinelOne reveal that Wilson was targeted in a nearly decade-long effort – a time frame significantly longer than earlier realised.
A new report has found that activist Rona Wilson – incarcerated over what the Pune Police and NIA believe are his connections to the Elgar Parishad case – was targeted by two groups who took up cyber crime campaigns against him.
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Indian activist charged with terrorism was targeted by hackers linked to prominent cyber espionage attacks, new report finds

10/02/2022

The Washington Post / by Niha Masih and Gerry Shih

In early 2021, India was jolted by revelations that a jailed human rights activist and vocal government critic was targeted by hackers who planted incriminating evidence on his laptop before he was arrested on terrorism charges.
Now, a year later, a report by U.S. experts says the activist, Rona Wilson, was targeted by two separate groups, including one group that has been linked to widely documented cyberespionage campaigns against military targets in China and Pakistan, India’s top foreign adversaries.
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Activist Rona Wilson was targeted by two separate hacker groups, says report

10/02/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

One of the groups has reportedly been linked to cyberespionage efforts against military targets in China and Pakistan.
Activist Rona Wilson, who has been named as an accused person in the Bhima Koregaon case, was targeted by two separate groups of hackers before he was arrested, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
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Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao & Arun Ferreira File Review Application, Seek Default Bail

09/02/2022 Asha

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court has directed the National Investigation Agency to respond to a review application filed by three accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case seeking bail and factual corrections in the order refusing them default bail.
A division bench led by Justice SS Shinde gave the agency two weeks to file their reply and posted the application filed by Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara and Arun Ferreira thereafter.
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Seized Devices Of Seven Accused To Be Submitted To Pegasus Committee

08/02/2022 Asha

Court permits NIA to submit seized mobile phones to the SC-appointed Committee probing Pegasus allegations

08/02/2022

The Leaflet / by The Leaflet

A special National Investigation Agency [NIA] Court in Mumbai, on Tuesday, allowed the application filed by the anti-terror agency to submit the seized mobile phones of the seven accused in the Bhima Koregaon case to the Supreme Court-appointed Techincal Committee which is probing the Pegasus spyware scandal.
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Seized Mobile Devices Of Seven Accused To Be Submitted To Pegasus Committee To Check For Possible Snooping

08/02/2022

Live Law / by Sharmee Hakim

Mobile devices of the seven accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case will be submitted to the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Committee (TC) probing allegations of snooping using Pegasus spyware, after the Special Court allowed the National Investigation Agency’s plea.
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Also read:
● Elgar Parishad Accused, Their Lawyers Write to SC’s Committee on Pegasus Spyware Targeting (The Wire / Jan 2022)
● Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

In Covid-hit India, where are the women? In Byculla Women’s Jail, awaiting trial, awaiting death

08/02/2022 Asha

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Women in and Beyond the Global / by Dan Moshenberg

When Covid hit India, the reports, and for some expectation, were that the State would consider pandemic measures, such as the need for social distancing, and would reduce the incarcerated populations. To no one’s great surprise, that did not happen generally, and in particular it did not happen in women’s jails and prisons. For example, the state of Maharashtra has 60 central and district jails. Of them, one, Byculla Women’s Jail, is the only one dedicated for women and children, but that doesn’t mean the conditions are in any way better. Byculla Women’s Jail has always been an overcrowded hellhole for women and children.
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Also read:
● Sudha Bharadwaj: My greatest strength were prison inmates (Rediff.com / Feb 2022)
● Another COVID-19 Outbreak in Byculla Prison Highlights Lessons That Haven’t Been Learnt (The Wire / Sep 2021)
● Coronavirus | 38 inmates of Byculla jail test positive (The Hindu / April 2021)

Opposition MPs urge Narendra Modi to free jailed activist / Full statement

06/02/2022 Asha

MPs write to PM, asking for immediate release of all arrested in Bhima Koregaon case

01/02/2022

By CPI (M)

click to enlarge

Bhima Koregaon case: Opposition MPs urge Narendra Modi to free jailed activists

07/02/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The MPs alleged that evidence was planted against the accused persons.
Members of several Opposition parties have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking immediate release of academicians, lawyers and activists detained in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Grant Bail to Activists Arrested in Elgar Parishad Case, MPs Say In Letter to Modi

07/02/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The letter, signed by 20 MPs, expresses “deep concern at the media and cyber-forensic expert reports indicating that Indian citizens have been attacked with illegal cyber weapons”
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Also read:
● Arsenal Report No. 4 Confirms Pegasus Attack on IPhone of Rona Wilson, Key BK Accused (PUCL / Dec 2021)

Gave up US citizenship because I wanted to work in India: Sudha Bharadwaj (video)

05/02/2022 Asha

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The first person to get bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, Sudha Bharadwaj talks about life in prison, the dire need for better legal aid for prisoners and more.
en | 24:33min | 2022
Watch video