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Newswire’s special issue dedicated to Father Stan Swamy / AILAJ’s August issue

Newswire’s special issue dedicated to Father Stan Swamy / AILAJ’s August issue

Newswire – A special issue dedicated to Father Stan Swamy

22/08/2021

By India Civil Watch

Here’s what you will find inside Newswire 9
1. Spotlight: South Asian Dalit Adivasi Network (SADAN), Canada
2. Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Interview with Rana Khan
3. The Compassionate Revolution of Saint Stan Swamy (1937 – 2021), Shaj Mohan and Divya Dwivedi
4. Under the Mango tree, Madhumita Dutta
5. Stan Swamy in the eyes of a Thirteen Year old, Ananya Mamatha Anil
6. This Month in History, Balmurli Natarajan
7. Poetry!
Download here


AILAJ’s August issue

19/08/2021

By All India Lawyers´Association for Justice (A)

AILAJ’s August issue is out! It has pieces on Pegasus, UAPA, Father Stan Swamy and the plight of prisoners in light of the pandemic. It also contains all the representations AILAJ has made to various judicial and state functionaries.

Download here

Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha move Bombay HC for clone copies of devices seized

Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha move Bombay HC for clone copies of devices seized

Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha move Bombay HC for clone copies of devices seized

20/08/2021

Bar and Bench / by Neha Joshi

The accused moved the High court challenging an order of the Special NIA Court refusing their application for cloned copies of the data seized by the NIA.
Bhima Koregaon accused Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha have approached the Bombay High Court seeking clone copies of all devices seized from them by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
NIA had submitted draft charges and the special court has kept the matter for framing of charges on August 23, 2021.
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Accused Approach Bombay HC To Stay Trial Till Clone Copies of Electronic Evidence Is Provided

20/08/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case have approached the Bombay High Court to stay the trial or defer the framing of charges until clone copies of all the electronic devices seized are provided to the defence.
Accused Sudha Bharadwaj and journalist Gautam Navalakha have sought HC’s indulgence after the National Investigation Agency submitted the draft charges before the Special NIA Court against the 15 accused on August 9.
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Father Stan Swamy Has Right To Have His Name Cleared: Jesuits Approach Bombay High Court

Father Stan Swamy Has Right To Have His Name Cleared: Jesuits Approach Bombay High Court

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The petitioners state that the Special NIA Court’s observations while refusing bail to Stan Swamy amount to preliminary findings of guilt, which the High Court can set aside.
Late tribal-rights activist Father Stan Swamy’s counsel and kin have urged the Bombay High Court to clear the odium attached to his name and reputation due to his arrest in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad caste violence case.
“Article 21 (Right to dignity) of the Constitution equally applies to deceased persons and just as the Appellant(Father Swamy) would have had a right o clear his name if he were alive, similarly those closest to him would have a similar right to clear his name,” Senior counsel Advocate Mihir Desai said on behalf of the Jamshedpur Jesuit Province, which is seeking to pursue Stan Swamy’s case as his next of kin.
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Bombay HC Directs Taloja Prison To Ensure Proper Medical Treatment For Prof Hany Babu

Bombay HC Directs Taloja Prison To Ensure Proper Medical Treatment For Prof Hany Babu

Bombay High Court Directs Taloja Prison To Ensure Proper Medical Treatment For Prof Hany Babu

17/08/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday ordered Delhi University Associate Professor Hany Babu to be re-lodged in Taloja Prison following the report of a private hospital that he is ‘fit for discharge’. He is accused in the caste-violence Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case.
On Tuesday, Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar disposed of Babu’s wife – Jenny Rowena’s plea – seeking interim medical bail for him after Breach Candy’s doctors certified that Babu’s had recovered from Covid-19 and orbital cellulitis, and he is fit for discharge.
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Independence Day / Resign Modi: Banner dropped from London’s Westminster Bridge

Independence Day / Resign Modi: Banner dropped from London’s Westminster Bridge


“Resign Modi”: Independence Day banner dropped from London’s Westminster Bridge

15/08/2021

The Caravan / by Diaspora Members and Friends of India in the UK

On the occasion of Indian Independence Day, a group of diaspora Indian activists in the United Kingdom dropped a banner from London’s Westminster Bridge, demanding Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resignation…

Press release issued by the group:
… The Modi regime has imprisoned thousands of people whose only ‘crime’ has been to dissent, to advocate for the most marginalised and oppressed groups, or to take part in nonviolent protests, under draconian laws like the UAPA. Elderly and vulnerable academics and lawyers, students and young activists, including thousands of Adivasi youth, are locked up in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions in the middle of a pandemic.
Read full statement


Demand Justice India: International protest


en | 10:34min | 2021

By International Coalition for Justice in India

They stood by the marginalised. They protected lands, hills and forests from mining companies. They stood up to protect minorities. They did not trust the Indian government”s false promises. They are students, academics, lawyers, journalists and social activists, in thousands, are imprisoned in over-crowded prisons. An 84-year old Jesuit priest and human rights defender, Father Stan Swamy, has passed away while waiting for trail.
Watch video


August 15: Zurich – Lotika for release of BK-16 – Berlin – Dundee


Lawyer Surendra Gadling released from jail after temporary bail from HC

Lawyer Surendra Gadling released from jail after temporary bail from HC


by Indira Jaising (Aug 13)
He’s out!



by Indira Jaising (Aug 13)
The legal team, courage and determination, Stubborn for justice


Lawyer Surendra Gadling released from jail after temporary bail from HC

13/08/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Lawyer Surendra Gadling was released from Taloja Central Jail on Friday morning after the Bombay High Court last month allowed him temporary bail to attend rituals on his mother’s first death anniversary.
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Surendra Gadling Granted Temporary Bail in 2016 UAPA Case For Performing Mother’s Funeral Rites

12/08/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Gadling’s counsel’s approached the Gadchiroli Sessions court seeking temporary bail soon after the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court disposed of his regular bail application.
Bhima Koregaon accused – Advocate Surendra Gadling – has been granted temporary bail in a 2016 case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, paving the way for his release from Taloja Prison tomorrow to perform his mother’s funeral rites. Gadling’s counsel’s approached the Gadchiroli Sessions court seeking temporary bail soon after the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court disposed of his regular bail application yesterday on the grounds that it was not maintainable.
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How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison

How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison

Scroll.in / by Arun Ferreira

Although we received news by late evening on October 8, 2020, of Father Stan Swamy’s arrest, we were quite shocked to see him the next morning in the adjourning barrack conversing with inmates in his impeccable Hindi.
I was at that time lodged in a cell at the prison hospital with my co- accused Varavara Rao (or VV) and Vernon Gonsalves. It was part of our daily routine for VV and I to do a couple of rounds in his wheelchair before the morning breakfast. The three of us had assumed that the National Investigation Agency would want Stan’s custodial interrogation and hence it would not be until a couple of days before he would be sent to judicial custody i.e. Prison.
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The unravelling of a conspiracy: were the 16 charged with plotting to kill India’s prime minister framed?

The unravelling of a conspiracy: were the 16 charged with plotting to kill India’s prime minister framed?

The Guardian / by Siddhartha Deb

In 2018, Indian police claimed to have uncovered a shocking plan to bring down the government. But there is mounting evidence that the initial conspiracy was a fiction – and the accused are victims of an elaborate plot
In April 2018, a large group of policemen arrived at the Delhi flat of Rona Wilson, a 47-year-old human rights activist. They had travelled from Pune in the western state of Maharashtra, and appeared, accompanied by Delhi police officials, at Wilson’s single-room flat at 6am. For the next eight hours, they scoured the modest premises, searching the files on Wilson’s laptop and rifling through his books.
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Mary Lawlor: Inhumane prison conditions for Bhima Koregaon Human Rights Defenders

Mary Lawlor: Inhumane prison conditions for Bhima Koregaon Human Rights Defenders

By Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

On 11 June 2021, I wrote a letter jointly with two other UN experts on the alleged inhumane prison conditions and deteriorating condition of 15 human rights defenders, as well as Varavara Rao who was granted medical bail.
Of pressing concern was the inhumane prison conditions and deteriorating health of the human rights defenders. The death of Fr. Stan Swamy shortly after this communication was written demonstrate the severity of the conditions in which the human rights defenders are being held. It is haunting to now read how Fr. Swamy’s requests to be transferred to hospital to receive treatment were initially denied repeatedly.
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Surendra Gadling Granted Temporary Bail in 2016 UAPA Case For Performing Mother’s Funeral Rites

Surendra Gadling Granted Temporary Bail in 2016 UAPA Case For Performing Mother’s Funeral Rites

Surendra Gadling Granted Temporary Bail in 2016 UAPA Case For Performing Mother’s Funeral Rites

12/08/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Gadling’s counsel’s approached the Gadchiroli Sessions court seeking temporary bail soon after the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court disposed of his regular bail application.
Bhima Koregaon accused – Advocate Surendra Gadling – has been granted temporary bail in a 2016 case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, paving the way for his release from Taloja Prison tomorrow to perform his mother’s funeral rites. Gadling’s counsel’s approached the Gadchiroli Sessions court seeking temporary bail soon after the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court disposed of his regular bail application yesterday on the grounds that it was not maintainable.
Read more


Bombay High Court refuses bail to Surendra Gadling in 2016 case

12/08/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court refused bail to Gadling in a case registered by the Gadchiroli police in 2016 under UAPA.
The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court refused bail to lawyer and activist Surendra Gadling in a case registered by the Gadchiroli police in 2016 under offences of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code (Surendra Gadling v. State of Maharashtra)
Gadling is also an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018 which is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
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