Persecution – Page 71 – free them all

Mahesh Raut, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor test Covid positive at Taloja jail

03/06/2021 Maya

Bhima Koregaon case: 3 accused test Covid positive at Taloja jail

03/06/2021

Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia

Mahesh Raut, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor have tested positive after an RT-PCR drive was conducted at Taloja.
After Father Stan Swamy tested positive for Covid-19 at Holy Family Hospital, an RT-PCR test drive was conducted at Taloja jail for all inmates. The Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case accused Mahesh Raut, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor have tested positive.
According to Republican Panthers Jatiya Antachi Chalwal activist Harshali Potdar, who was also questioned by the NIA in the Bhima Koregaon matter, the three accused persons have been quarantined in a very congested room in the Central jail. Despite testing positive, neither medical treatment of any kind has started, nor they have been given a medical diet to follow.
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Co-inmates of Stan Swamy who attended to him test negative

03/06/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Stan Swamy, the 84-year old Jesuit priest arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case, requires assistance to complete his daily chores in jail.
Days after Father Stan Swamy tested positive for Covid-19, two of his co-inmates who were attending to him, tested negative at Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.
One of his co-accused, Arun Ferreira, and another inmate usually help him in jail.
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In Maharashtra, Prison Quarantine Centres Are More Harrowing than Main Jail Barracks

02/06/2021 Rani

The Wire / by Sukanya Shanta

While some have a crushing lack of space, others have no clean water or trained staff to take care of ill prisoners.
In the last two months, Shweta Salve*, a 42-year-old undertrial prisoner, fell ill three times.
Twice, because of a stomach infection – a severe yet common illness that most prisoners learn to live with – and then fever, which then led to a COVID-19 positive report. Each time she complained of ill health, her lawyer had to move court to ensure she could access medical treatment outside the Byculla women prisons.
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Two Days After HC Orders Hospitalisation, Stan Swamy Tests Positive for COVID-19

30/05/2021 Rani

Two Days After HC Orders Hospitalisation, Stan Swamy Tests Positive for COVID-19

30/05/2021

The Wire / by Sukanya Shanta

Swamy, who is suffering from advanced Parkinson’s disease, has been in jail since October last year.
Mumbai: Eighty-four-year-old Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist Stan Swamy has tested positive for COVID-19.
Swamy, one of the 16 persons to be arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, had been suffering from fever, severe cough, headache and upset stomach for the past few weeks. He was, however, finally hospitalised only two days ago following the Bombay high court direction to move him to a hospital for 15 days.
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Activist Stan Swamy tests positive for coronavirus after being moved to private hospital

30/05/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

On Friday, the Bombay High Court had ordered the 84-year-old to be moved to a hospital for 15 days.
Tribal rights activist and Jesuit priest Stan Swamy tested positive for the coronavirus infection after he was moved to a hospital, his friend and colleague Father Joseph Xavier said on Sunday.
Swamy, who is in custody in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case, is currently at the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai. On Friday, the Bombay High Court had ordered Swamy to be moved to a hospital for 15 days.
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Stan Swamy put on oxygen support

30/05/2021

The Telegraph / by Animesh Bisoee

The octogenarian was admitted to the hospital around 9.50pm on Friday.
Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy is on oxygen support at Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai.
Director of the Bangalore-based Indian Social Institute, Father Joe Xavier, who is coordinating with the Jesuits on Father Swamy, told The Telegraph that the octogenarian was admitted to the hospital around 9.50pm on Friday.
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Judiciary comes to the aid of Bhima Koregaon accused

29/05/2021 Rani

Deccan Herald / by Jyoti Punwani

Amid the spread of Covid in jails, it took a HC order to direct jail authorities to give all prisoners their hospital reports.
Imagine being taken to hospital and not being given your medical report by those who took you there. We are talking about adults, all of whom are currently in the custody of the State. Their lives are thus the responsibility of the State.
Without their medical reports, how can prisoners know whether they are being given the treatment recommended by the hospital? The 16 intellectuals accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, lodged in two Mumbai jails, have been forced to live in this state of helpless ignorance ever since the pandemic began.
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Also read:< a href="https://www.rediff.com/news/column/jyoti-punwani-should-the-bhima-koregaon-16-be-left-to-die/20210517.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Should the Bhima Koregaon 16 be left to die? (Rediff.com, May 17)

Bombay HC Orders Transfer Of Stan Swamy To Hospital [read order] / Poem by Stan

29/05/2021 Maya

He Needs Treatment: Bombay High Court Orders Transfer Of Stan Swamy To Private Hospital From Prison [read order]

28/05/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to transfer ailing Father Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old tribal rights activist – to the Holy Family Hospital from Taloja Central Jail for treatment. He is accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgaar Parishad case.
In an urgent hearing, a bench of justices SS Shinde and NR Borkar allowed Swamy hospitalisation and an attendant after Senior Advocate Mihir Desai submitted the Jesuit priest’s condition was not improving.
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Bombay HC sends Ft Stan Swamy to Holy Family hospital for medical treatment; brushes aside NIA’s objection

28/05/2021

The Leaflet / by Gahena Gambani

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to transfer Father Stan Swamy, 84, accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case, to Holy Family Hospital from Taloja Central Jail.
A vacation bench comprising Justices SS Shinde and NR Borkar heard the matter on an urgent basis and ordered the transfer.
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By Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha

The pandemic has put the spotlight on inhumane conditions in Indian prisons

26/05/2021 Rani

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

The Indian Express / by Teesta Setalvad

They are overcrowded, unhygienic and have little oversight. There’s a need to expand use of house arrest as punitive measure.
The prison, it is famously said, holds a mirror to society. The conditions within prisons, to stretch this analogy, reflect the quality of any democracy. By that yardstick, India needs soul-searching. Not only has our collapsing criminal justice system ensured a mockery of reasonably speedy trials but tardy and often skewed (if not biased) investigations and prosecutions have ensured that undertrials languish in jails for decades. Courts rarely step in to ensure a thorough investigation and robust prosecutions, or a time-bound conclusion to trials.
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► Also read/ watch: Bhima Koregaon, COVID-19 And Custodial Apathy In Jails / Video + Press Release (May 15)
► Also read: Crowded Jails & COVID: 16 Bhima Koregaon Accused’s Kin Share Fears (The Quint, May 18)

Chronology of harassment against human rights defender Sudha Bharadwaj

24/05/2021 Maya

CIVICUS / by CIVICUS

Today marks exactly 1000 days since human rights lawyer & activist Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested & detained on fabricated charges.
Sudha Bharadwaj, aged 59, is a human rights lawyer and activist who has spent her life defending Indigenous people in India and protecting workers’ rights. She has been in pre-trial detention since August 2018, when she was arrested under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on trumped up accusations of having links with Maoist terrorist organisations, based on evidence believed to be fabricated.
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Also read: The Sudha Bharadwaj the Govt Doesn’t Want You To Know (article14, Jan 2021)

Bombay High Court disposes of plea seeking medical bail for Sudha Bharadwaj

21/05/2021 Rani

All prisoners have right to get their medical reports, rules Bombay HC

21/05/2021

Free Press Journal / by Narsi Benwal

Sudha Bharadwaj says she got sufficient medical attention and thus doesn’t need bail on health grounds.
The vacation bench of the Bombay High Court led by Justice Shahrukh Kathawalla on Friday held that every prisoner has the right to their own medical records under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The HC made the observation while disposing of the medical bail application filed by daughter of jailed activist Sudha Bharadwaj, who told the bench that she has received the requisite medical attention and now doesn’t need bail on health grounds.
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Disposing of the medical bail application filed by daughter of jailed activist Sudha Bharadwaj

21/05/2021

Updates by Live Law (May 21)

+++ Her daughter Maaysha Singh approached court after three of her co-prisoners tested positive for Covid-19 +++
+++ Adv Yug Chaudhri – This is a petition for medical bail. The petitioner was taken for numerous medical tests after the petition was filed +++
+++ Yug – Prisoners have a right to their medical records under Article 21. Medical records should be provided to them. This will cut down a lot of litigation +++
+++ Yug – He should be allowed to talk to his family members & lawyer after a hospital visit +++
+++ Court Order — Prisoners have a right to their own medical records under Article 21. In view thereof all medical records including tests conducted and medicines prescribed should be given to the prisoner on request +++
+++ Court – Infact we would go a step further and say that this should be done for every prisoner +++
+++ The bench further said that a prisoner should be allowed to make a phone call to an approved family member after a hospital visit +++
+++ Chaudhry said that since Bharadwaj has received the necessary medical attention after they approached the court, he is not pressing for medical bail +++
+++ Petition disposed of with the above observations +++

Sudha Bharadwaj’s 3 Co-Prisoners Tested COVID Positive: Daughter Moves Bombay HC Seeking Release On Medical Grounds

14/05/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

It is said that Sudha Bharadwaj is kept in a barrack with 50-60 prisoners, sharing only 3 bathrooms, with no possibility of social distancing and sanitary co-existence.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday sought lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj’s latest medical report from the Maharashtra Government on a plea seeking her interim release on medical bail from Byculla women’s prison.
The petition filed by her daughter Maaysha Singh, invoking Article 226 of the Constitution, states that the sixty-year-old Bharadwaj, who has diabetes and a history of pulmonary tuberculosis, is very unwell.
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Bombay High Court calls for medical report of Bhima Koregaon accused Sudha Bharadwaj in plea seeking bail on medical grounds

13/05/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The vacation bench directed the Maharashtra government to produce Bharadwaj’s latest medical report by Monday. Bharadwaj is presently lodged at the Byculla women’s prison.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to submit by May 17, the latest medical report of Bhima Koregaon accused, advocate Sudha Bharadwaj in a plea seeking her release from prison on medical grounds (Maaysha Singh v. State of Maharashtra & Anr).
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HC asks Maharashtra to submit Bhima Koregaon accused Sudha Bharadwaj’s medical report

13/05/2021

The Print / by pti

According to her counsel, Sudha Bharadwaj was kept in a ward of the prison with 50 other women under extremely unsanitary conditions, and with just three toilets for all of them.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to produce the latest medical report of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Elgar-Parishad Maoists links case, who is is currently lodged at the Byculla women’s prison here.
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Can neither walk, write nor eat. Talojia jail has brought me to this situation: Fr Stan Swamy tells HC

21/05/2021 Rani

Can neither walk, write nor eat. Talojia jail has brought me to this situation: Fr Stan Swamy tells HC

21/05/2021

The Leaflet / by Gahena Gambani

The Bombay High Court Friday ordered the Taloja Jail authorities to follow the recommendations made by JJ hospital about the treatment and the facilities to be provided to octogenarian Father Stan Swamy, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
A vacation bench comprising Justices SJ Kathawalla and Surendra passed the order while hearing a bail application by Stan Swamy on medical grounds.
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I Would Rather Suffer, Possibly Die Very Shortly If This Were To Go On: Stan Swamy Pleads For Interim Bail In Bombay HC

21/05/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

“Only one thing that I would request the judiciary is to consider for interim bail. That is the only request”, he said.
Father Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old tribal rights activist, who is an undertrial in in the Bhima Koregaon- Elgar Parishad case, pleaded with the Bombay High Court to grant him interim bail to go back to his home in Ranchi.
He told a division bench led by Justice SJ Kathawalla that his health has progressively deteriorated in the eight months he has spent a Taloja Prison. Adding that being in Taloja has brought him to a situation where he can neither eat, write, bathe or go for a walk by himself.
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Hany Babu can be moved to another Mumbai hospital for treatment, rules Bombay HC

19/05/2021 Rani

Hany Babu can be moved to another Mumbai hospital for treatment, rules Bombay HC

19/05/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The professor had sought better medical aid as the hospital where he was admitted was not treating his acute eye infection.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday allowed Delhi University Professor Hany Babu to be moved to Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital for treatment, reported Live Law. The professor is an undertrial prisoner in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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“Nothing Wrong If This Becomes A Precedent In Present Times”: Bombay High Court Directs DU Prof Hany Babu To Be Shifted To Breach Candy Hospital By Tomorrow

19/05/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court has directed Delhi University Associate Professor Hany Babu, who is covid -19 positive and suffers from black fungus infection, be shifted to Breach Candy hospital by tomorrow.
Babu was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgaar Parishad case on July 28 2020, by the National Investigation Agency.
A division bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and SP Tavade observed that the patient deserves to be treated in a hospital of his choice in the current situation when NIA tried to oppose the plea saying it would become a precedent.
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