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Category: Persecution

Video: The case against the Bhima Koregaon political prisoners

Video: The case against the Bhima Koregaon political prisoners


en | 5:07min | 2021

By The Polis Project

Sixteen individuals across India have been arrested since 6 June 2018 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). They are human rights defenders working for the democratic rights of India’s poorest and most oppressed: Dalits, Adivasis, indigenous people, and women. All of them have been outspoken critics of Hindutva.
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VV Rao Released Finally / Free At Last: Poet Varavara Rao Released After Last Month’s Bail

VV Rao Released Finally / Free At Last: Poet Varavara Rao Released After Last Month’s Bail


VV Rao walks out of Hospital on Saturday night. Pic: Indira Jaising

Varavara Rao Released Finally

07/03/2021

By N Venugopal @ fb

Two weeks after getting bail, after going through various hassles in bail sureties, at last VV was released around midnight on Saturday from Nanavati Hospital. The final release orders reached Taloja jail around 4 pm and the jail authorities reached the hospital around 11 pm to release him.
The release comes with a number of conditions that he should not leave the jurisdiction of NIA Special Court and reside there, that he should furnish the details and contact numbers of family members staying with him, that he should attend the court trial regularly, that he should be in touch with local police station on video conferencing every fortnight, that he should not talk to media and social media about the cases against him, that he should not repeat the activities mentioned in the FIR, that he should not meet his co-accused, that he should not tamper with evidence and influence witnesses, that visitors other than near family should not gather at his residence, that this bail is for only six months and he should surrender himself to jail authorities after that, that he should surrender his passport to NIA within a week, that the violation of any of these conditions will lead to cancellation of the bail.


“Free At Last”: Poet Varavara Rao, 81, Released After Last Month’s Bail

07/03/2021

NDTV / by Divyanshu Dutta Roy

Varavara Rao, the 81-year-old poet-activist who has been in jail for over two years in the Koregaon-Bhima case, walked out of the Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital late Saturday after being granted bail for six months by the Bombay High Court on medical grounds last month.
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Free at last on medical bail; Telugu poet Varavara Rao is released from judicial custody

07/03/2021

The Leaflet / by The Leaflet

A week after he was granted medical bail by the Bombay High Court, Dr. PV Varavara Rao was set free from judicial custody late last night.
Rao, 82, was undergoing treatment at Nanavati hospital, Mumbai.
Rao is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act’ (UAPA).
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‘Free at last’: Activist Varavara Rao discharged from hospital, released on interim bail

07/03/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Bombay High Court had on February 22 granted the 81-year-old activist bail on medical grounds for a period of six months.
Poet and activist Varavara Rao, who is an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, was on Saturday released from a hospital, reported NDTV. The Bombay High Court had on February 22 granted the 81-year-old activist bail on medical grounds for a period of six months.
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High Court: Accept cash surety from Varavara Rao / Activist Varavara Rao’s release delayed

High Court: Accept cash surety from Varavara Rao / Activist Varavara Rao’s release delayed

HC: Accept cash surety from Varavara Rao

06/03/2021

Times of India / by Vaibhav Ganjapure

The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Friday directed release of poet PV Varavara Rao on cash surety of Rs 50,000. Justice Anuja Prabhudesai directed the Gadchiroli sessions court to send his release order to Taloja Central Jail, Mumbai, by email or any other electronic mode after he furnishes the surety amount.
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Activist Varavara Rao’s release delayed

04/03/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Despite the Bombay High Court granting him interim bail, ailing revolutionary poet Varavara Rao’s release would be further delayed as a court in Gadchiroli has asked his family to file deposit papers in the format that they have specified.
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Bombay High Court Relaxes Bail Condition To Facilitate Varavara Rao Release On Temporary Bail

01/03/2021

Live Law / by Shrmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court, on Monday, allowed 81-year-old Telugu poet – Dr Varavara Rao’s – plea for relaxation of his temporary bail condition and provisional release on furnishing a cash security of Rs 50,000.
A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale further granted the Bhima Koregaon – Elgaar Parishad accused time till April 5, 2021 to furnish solvent sureties. The octogenarian has been under custody awaiting trial since August 28, 2018.
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Bombay HC Allows Varavara Rao’s Counsel to Visit Him to Complete Bail Formalities

25/02/2021

The Wire / by pti

Rao, 82, was on Monday granted interim bail for six months by the high court on medical grounds.
The Bombay high court on Thursday permitted a counsel of poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to visit him in the Nanavati Hospital here to obtain his signatures for completion of his bail formalities.
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Varavara Rao’s kin seek relief from ‘difficult’ bail conditions set by Bombay HC

23/02/2021

The News Minute / by TNM Staff

The 81-year-old poet has been ordered to stay within the jurisdiction of the Mumbai NIA court.
Relatives of ailing revolutionary poet and activist Varavara Rao welcomed the Bombay High Court’s order granting interim bail to him, but said the conditions put forth by the court were difficult to be met. On Monday, the Bombay HC granted bail on medical grounds to the Telugu poet jailed in connection with the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case for six months. At the end of the six-month period, the court said that Varavara Rao must report back to Navi Mumbai’s Taloja jail, where he can either surrender or seek an extension.
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Can’t afford Mumbai rent, says Varavara Rao’s family on court’s bail condition

22/02/2021

Hindustan Times / by Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

Varavara RAo’s brother-in-law said the poet has no relatives in Mumbai who could take care of him during the bail period.
The family of octogenarian Pendyala Varavara Rao, noted revolutionary poet, is relieved that the Bombay High Court on Monday granted medical bail to him in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, but it has another worry on its hands: where to house him in Mumbai. The court order said that the poet cannot go back to Hyderabad, his home.
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Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

05/03/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Referring to reports that evidence may have been planted on activist Rona Wilson’s computer, the Constitutional Conduct Group said such “blatantly illegal practices” could sound the death knell of the criminal justice system.
The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), which comprises several former civil servants, has expressed concern that the criminal justice system is being ‘perverted’, referring to reports that false evidence may have been planted in the laptop of activist Rona Wilson, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
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‘Perversion of criminal justice’: Over 90 ex-bureaucrats raise concerns on action of probe agencies

05/03/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The signatories said that blatant illegal practices could be the ‘death knell’ for India’s criminal justice.
As many as 92 former bureaucrats on Friday condemned the “perversion of criminal justice” by investigative agencies. The Constitutional Conduct Group, a group of former civil servants belonging to the All India and Central Services, released a statement.
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Supreme Court seeks response from NIA on plea for default bail by Gautam Navlakha

Supreme Court seeks response from NIA on plea for default bail by Gautam Navlakha

Supreme Court seeks response from National Investigation Agency on plea for default bail by Gautam Navlakha

03/03/2021

Bar & Bench / by Dbayan Roy

Navlakha has sought default bail on the ground that the NIA failed to file its chargesheet within the prescribed upper-limit of 90 days as per Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the response of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the bail plea by Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha.
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Supreme Court Issues Notice On Gautam Navlakha’s Plea Against Bombay High Court Judgment Denying Him Default Bail

03/03/2021

Live Law / by Radhika Roy

Supreme Court bench headed by Justice UU Lalit on Wednesday issued notice on a petition filed by activist and Journalist Gautam Navlakha challenging Bombay High Court’s recent order rejecting his bail application in the Bhima Koregaon (Elgar Parishad – Maoist links) case.
A three-judge Bench of Justices UU Lalit, Indira Banerjee and KM Joseph was hearing the plea against the Judgment of Bombay High Court which refused to interfere in his criminal appeal filed against an order of the special court, which rejected his application for default bail in June, last year. He is in prison since his surrender on April, 14 2020.
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Supreme Court To Hear Gautam Navlakha’s Plea Against Bombay High Court’s Order Denying Him Bail On March 3

01/03/2021

Live Law / by Srishti Ojha

Activist and Journalist Gautam Navlakha who is an accused in the Elgar Parishad – Maoist links case has moved the Supreme Court challenging Bombay High Court’s recent order rejecting his bail application. A three-judge Bench of Justices UU Lalit, Indira Banerjee and KM Joseph is scheduled to hear his plea on Wednesday, 3rd March 2021.
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Gautam Navlakha moves Supreme Court against rejection of default bail by Bombay High Court

01/03/2021

Bar & Bench

Gautam Navlakha, accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence, has approached the Supreme Court against the rejection of his plea for default bail by Bombay High Court
Navlakha has sought bail on the ground that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) failed to file its chargesheet within the prescribed upper-limit of 90 days as per Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
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Replug: Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Forensic Evidence

Replug: Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Forensic Evidence

Countercurrents / by Janta Ka Aaina

Press Release after the webinar: Decoding the Arsenal Report: The Curious Case of Questionable evidence in Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case
The NIA’s ’No Malware Found’ Response to New Forensic Report Points to Ineptitude:
On February 10, 2021 the Bhima Koregaon defense team filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking the release of Rona Wilson and the quashing of all charges against him.
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Sudha Bharadwaj’s plea for NIA to withdraw ‘defamatory’ remark ‘not maintainable’ says court

Sudha Bharadwaj’s plea for NIA to withdraw ‘defamatory’ remark ‘not maintainable’ says court

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

In a detailed order, a special NIA court which rejected on 12 February an application by Bhima-Koregaon accused activist Sudha Bharadwaj seeking that the NIA withdraw its ‘defamatory’ remarks against her, has said that her plea is ‘not maintainable’ as there is no such provision under the Criminal Procedure Code.
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Bhima Koregaon case: planted evidence?

Bhima Koregaon case: planted evidence?

Frontline [print edition March 12] / by Anupama Katakam

Investigations by Arsenal Consulting, a global digital forensics consulting company, have revealed that evidence had been planted in the activist Rona Wilson’s computer, raising larger issues of unethical surveillance and motivated targeting of individuals.
Rona Wilson, the New Delhi-based activist who was arrested in June 2018 for his alleged connections with banned extreme Left organisations, has steadfastly maintained that the evidence against him is fabricated and the charges are false.
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Telugu, Wheelchair & Blanket: How Varavara Rao slipped into dementia during his time in prison

Telugu, Wheelchair & Blanket: How Varavara Rao slipped into dementia during his time in prison

The Quint / by Nikhila Henry

The octogenarian slipped into dementia during his time in prison, thereafter believing that his wife was dead.
Varavara Rao was incoherent on the phone. The president of Viplava Rachayitala Sagham (Revolutionary Writers’ Forum) spoke in Hindi instead of Telugu, his mother tongue, in which he has penned many poems.
“Her body was taken to the mortuary. Many people visited,” Rao said.
P Hemalatha, his wife, patiently listened to him during the five-minute-long phone call in June 2020 from Taloja Central Prison, Maharashtra, even as she was unsure of what he meant.
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Video: VV Rao – Poet, Activist, Political Prisoner

22/02/2021


en | 5:54 | 2021

By Karwan e Mohabbat

Varavara Rao is no stranger to being imprisoned, but the 82-year-old is also the conscience of our society-an intellectual we need to protect from the excesses of a state determined to destroy dissent.
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Varavara Rao granted interim bail in Surajgar arson case [read order]

Varavara Rao granted interim bail in Surajgar arson case [read order]

Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia

Rao’s lawyers cited Bombay High Court’s judgement granting bail on medical grounds while securing bail in this case.
The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court has granted temporary bail to 82-year-old Telugu poet Varavara Rao for 4 weeks, following the Principal bench order granting him bail on medical grounds.
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