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Category: Persecution

Default bail arguments completed for Elgar Parishad accused

Default bail arguments completed for Elgar Parishad accused

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by Swati Deshpande (Jan 28, 2022)
Default bail arguments completed by defence lawyers for Elgar Parishad accused on Friday before Special UAPA court. The special Public prosecutor will now argue on February 14.


Bombay High Court Turns Down Plea By 8 Bhima Koregaon Accused For Factual Corrections In Order Denying Bail

23/12/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Court cited the bar under Section 362 CrPC in reviewing the order.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused a request by eight accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case for substantial factual corrections to the HC’s order denying them bail.
Through a precipice (application) for “speaking to minutes”, the accused claimed that just like Sudha Bharadwaj, who was granted bail, they had also filed their default bail pleas in the stipulated time.
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Indian Constitution Has No Remedy For Those Labelled Terrorists: Sudha Bharadwaj (video)

Indian Constitution Has No Remedy For Those Labelled Terrorists: Sudha Bharadwaj (video)


en | 14min | 2022

The Quint / by Nishtha Gautam

Exclusive interview with lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Sudha Bharadwaj, lawyer and activist, was granted bail in December 2021 after spending three years in Mumbai’s Byculla prison. One of the 16 accused people in what is being talked about as the Bhima Koregaon case, Bharadwaj is still awaiting a trial.
In this exclusive interview, she talks about freedom, justice, patriotism, constitution and a lot more.
Watch video

Patriotism of Social Activists is Increasingly being Punished: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj

Patriotism of Social Activists is Increasingly being Punished: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj

Newsclick / by Ajaz Ashraf

India is far from realising the promises of justice and equality made in the Constitution, says the well-known activist, citing her experiences in prison as an under-trial and as a lawyer representing workers.
After spending nearly three years in jail, Bharadwaj was released on bail last month. Her bail conditions proscribe her from speaking on the Bhima Koregaon case and leaving Mumbai, although she has now been allowed to live in Thane. NewsClick did not ask her any question on the case, and she politely refused to answer any question she thought was even remotely connected to it. In the first part of this interview, Bharadwaj speaks on the meaning that Republic Day, the Constitution, and the law have for jail inmates, based on her conversations with them.
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Also read
● Part 2: My Spirit has not Been Broken: Activist Sudha Bharadwaj (NewsClick / Jan 2022)

Sudha Bharadwaj: I hope I can begin practising in Mumbai / Prisoners are cut off from legal remedies

Sudha Bharadwaj: I hope I can begin practising in Mumbai / Prisoners are cut off from legal remedies

Sudha Bharadwaj interview: ‘I hope I can begin practising in Mumbai’

21/02/2022

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

Among the conditions set for Bharadwaj’s bail was that the 60-year-old would not make any statement on the proceedings of the case. Recently, she got permission to leave Mumbai limits for Thane. Excerpts from an interview:
Can you tell us about finding yourself in jail, first in the Yerwada Central Prison in Pune and then the Byculla Women’s Prison?
The first experience is quite frightening. It is an immediate loss of dignity, privacy and identity.
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Sudha Bharadwaj: ‘When inside, you see how cut off a prisoner is from legal remedies’

21/02/2022

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

Bharadwaj said one reason was that the remuneration given to lawyers on the legal aid panel was not sufficient.
Calling the experience of being in jail an eyeopener, trade unionist and human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj has said she hopes to work to improve legal aid for prisoners.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Bharadwaj, who was released on December 9 on bail, said she was considering filing a PIL on the matter.
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‘I Am Ready To Put On My Black Coat’: Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Out On Bail After 3 Years In Jail (article 14 │ Jan 2022)
Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism. (PUCL │ Jan 2021 │ 316 pages)

For the Government, COVID Is the Perfect Excuse to Worsen Conditions for Political Prisoners

For the Government, COVID Is the Perfect Excuse to Worsen Conditions for Political Prisoners

The Wire / by Allan Shuaib

Human rights abuses against imprisoned activists have been easy to cover up in the names of ‘quarantine’ and ‘isolation’.
To be jailed for political activity is an abomination. According to Luis Jiménez de Asúa, a Spanish jurist, “Political prisoners are people who have been incarcerated for working for revolutionary change and for the betterment of society.” Countless people have been imprisoned for criticising and working against governments.
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Also read:
CONDEMN THE SOLITARY CONFINEMENT AND CONTINUING HARASSMENT OF THE BHIMA KOREGAON ACCUSED (PUDR / Oct 2021)

‘I Am Ready To Put On My Black Coat’: Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Out On Bail After 3 Years In Jail

‘I Am Ready To Put On My Black Coat’: Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Out On Bail After 3 Years In Jail

Article 14 / by Chitrangada Coudhury

After three years and three months in prison, Bhima-Koregaon accused and undertrial Sudha Bharadwaj was granted bail in December 2021 by the Bombay High Court on a technical ground. The human rights lawyer and law professor talked to us about her time in prison, the state of legal aid for forgotten undertrials, the need for courts to address congested prisons, particularly in the pandemic, and her plans to rebuild her life as a lawyer and a mother, as she grappled with bail conditions which prevent her from leaving Mumbai and Thane.
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Physical meetings with family and lawyer stopped, but phone call facility yet to resume: Inmates to court

Physical meetings with family and lawyer stopped, but phone call facility yet to resume: Inmates to court

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

On Wednesday, undertrials in the Elgaar Parishad case – lodged in Taloja Central Prison – were produced before the special court via video conference.
With a surge in Covid-19 cases, while the prison department has stopped physical meetings again of inmates with relatives and lawyers, the phone and video call facility is yet to be resumed in many jails.
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Sudha Bharadwaj: The prison life of India’s best-known woman activist

Sudha Bharadwaj: The prison life of India’s best-known woman activist

BBC / by Soutik Biswas

After three years in prison, one of India’s best-known activists is trying to set up home in a new city and find work.
Bail conditions prohibit Sudha Bharadwaj from leaving Mumbai until the end of a trial in which she is accused of a role in a 2018 incident of caste-based violence and alleged links with Maoists. She is also not allowed to talk about the case.
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Also read:
‘The Point Is Not to Surrender’: The Sudha Bharadwaj I Know (The Quint / Dec 2021)

Bhima Koregaon Accused, Their Lawyers Write to SC’s Committee on Pegasus Spyware Targeting

Bhima Koregaon Accused, Their Lawyers Write to SC’s Committee on Pegasus Spyware Targeting

Elgar Parishad Accused, Their Lawyers Write to SC’s Committee on Pegasus Spyware Targeting

10/01/2022

The Wire / Sukanya Shantha

On January 3, the committee issued a public notice urging people to contact them in case they have reasons to believe that their phones were compromised using the malware.
Several human rights defenders and academics implicated in the Elgar Parishad case and their lawyers have sent their representation to the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Committee alleging that their phones were infected by the vicious Pegasus malware.
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Bhima Koregaon accused and their counsel write to SC’s Pegasus technical committee alleging snooping

08/01/2022

The Leaflet / by The Leaflet

On January 3, the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Committee (TC) to investigate the snooping allegations using Pegasus spyware had issued a public notice urging citizens to contact it if they felt that their mobile device had been infected…
The Leaflet learns that at least four accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, and their counsel, Nihalsing B. Rathod, have written to the committee separately alleging that their mobile devices had been infected with the Pegasus malware.
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Counsel Of Bhima Koregaon Accused Writes To SC-Appointed Technical Committee Suspecting Hacking Of His Device

09/01/2022

Live Law / by Srishti Ojha

A lawyer, who represented several persons implicated in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case has written to the Technical Committee appointed by the Supreme Court to probe into the allegations of snooping through Pegasus, suspecting compromise of his mobile device by Pegasus Malware.
Advocate Nihalsing B Rathod, a practicing lawyer based in Nagpur has argued that his phone was intercepted for accessing the privileged communication and legal strategies drawn on behalf of his clients in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad.
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Bhima Koregaon accused, counsel write to SC appointed Committee alleging phones were compromised

08/01/2022

Bar & Bench / by Abhimanyu Hazarika

Advocate Nihal Singh Rathod has offered to appear before the committee and submit his phone for probe.
A Nagpur-based lawyer on Friday wrote to the Supreme Court appointed Technical Committee probing the Pegasus spyware scandal, stating that he has reasons to believe his phone was hacked and compromised by the spyware.
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Also read:
Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

Can Varavara Rao Be Sent To Prison Amid Covid-19 Surge? Bombay HC Extends Time To Surrender

Can Varavara Rao Be Sent To Prison Amid Covid-19 Surge? Bombay HC Extends Time To Surrender


VV Rao, Feb 2021

Varavara Rao’s bail Extended due to Rising Covid Cases

07/01/2022

Gauri Lankesh News / by Gauri Lankesh News Desk

Varavara Rao is one of the accused in Bhima Koregaon case. Rao suffers from asymptomatic Parkinson’s disease, neurological ailments and severe abdomen pain, indicating evidence of umbilical hernia.
The Bombay High Court on Friday extended Elgaar Parishad case accused Varavara Rao’s bail till February 5. The octogenarian had been granted medical bail for six months on February 22 last year and was later allowed to extend it till January 7, 2022.
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Can Varavara Rao Be Sent To Prison Amid Covid-19 Surge? Bombay HC Extends Time To Surrender Till February 5

07/01/2022

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Friday extended Telugu poet Varavara Rao’s time to surrender before prison authorities till February 5, while posting his application for extension of medical bail for further consideration on February 4.
A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and NR Borkar expressed concern about the speed at which the third wave is spreading and inquired if Rao could be sent back to prison during this time.
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Should we send Varavara Rao to prison in third wave? Bombay High Court to NIA

07/01/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Justice SS Shinde remarked that the COVID-19 infection rate during the third wave was spreading rapid and fast, and had infected some of the judges in the High Court.
While hearing a plea by Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Rao seeking extension of medical bail granted to him by the High Court in February 2021, the Bombay High Court enquired with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on whether the octogenarian poet ought to be sent to prison amidst the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Varavara Rao’s bail extended till Feb 5

07/01/2022

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Varavara Rao’s plea said the six-month period following his release from jail had ended on September 5 and that he continues to suffer from various ailments that require treatment.
The Bombay High Court on Friday extended Elgaar Parishad case accused Varavara Rao’s bail till February 5. The octogenarian had been granted medical bail for six months on February 22 last year and was later allowed to extend it till January 7, 2022.
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