Persecution – Page 80 – free them all

VV’s Update from Hospital / Varavara Rao to remain at Nanavati hospital till Dec 21

16/12/2020 Rani

VV’s Update from Hospital

16/12/2020

Release the Poet / by N Venugopal

Prisoned Peoples’ Poet Varavara Rao is doing far better now. Hospital care, nursing, regular check-ups, medication have helped a lot. Meeting his own people everyday, even if for an hour a day, reading Telugu after two years added strength. Still physical weakness persists; post-covid issues are there. Sending back to jail might aggravate this again.
We have to see what happens on Dec 21 court hearing…

Varavara Rao’s health better, hospital stay to continue till Bombay HC decides on bail plea

16/12/2020

India Today / by Vidya

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has told the Bombay High Court that jailed activist Varavara Rao is fit enough to be sent back to jail. Varavara Rao was moved to a hospital over his ailing health.
During the hearing, Varavara Rao’s lawyers sought bail for him… While trying to emphasise that granting bail to Varavara Rao would not mean that he would run away from the trial, Anand Grover said, “He has been tried for 24 cases in his lifetime which is not a joke for anyone and he has been acquitted in all of them. He has been chargesheeted and acquitted. He never absconded and has stood trial and he will stand trial here as well and that should be considered while granting him bail.”
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Varavara Rao to remain at Nanavati hospital till Dec 21: Bombay HC

15/12/2020

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Varavara Rao, who is lodged at Taloja Central Jail, was shifted to the private hospital following a court order on November 18.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday allowed Telugu writer-poet Varavara Rao, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the Elgaar Parishad case, to remain at Nanavati hospital in Mumbai till the next hearing on December 21.
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Bombay HC extends Varavara Rao’s hospital stay, NIA says he is fit to go back to jail

15/12/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

During the hearing, Rao’s counsels pleaded that he be permitted to go back to his home in Hyderabad for treatment.
The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, was “fit enough” to be shifted back to the Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai from a private hospital where he is currently admitted, PTI reported.
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Should Gautam Navlakha’s House Arrest In 2018 Be Included For Computing Period For Default Bail?

16/12/2020 Rani

Live Law / by Live Law News Network

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reserved judgment on the appeal filed by Gautam Navlakha, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, challenging the order of NIA court granting extension of time under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act( UAPA) for filing chargesheet.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Navlakha, submitted that the extension application under Section 43D(2) of UAPA was filed by the NIA on the the 110th day of his custody. Since the application was filed beyond the period of 90 days, Navlakha was entitled to get default bail, Sibal submitted.
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Post unlockdown: Prison population increases to 31,000 in Maharashtra

16/12/2020 Maya

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

While at one point during the lockdown, the inmate population had reduced to nearly 24,000 – a little over its official capacity of 23,217 – nearly half of the state’s prisons are overcrowded again, some housing inmates more than double their capacities…
Five of the six prisons are overcrowded. At Taloja jail, which had fewer inmates than its capacity of 2,124 before the lockdown, now has 4,080 inmates. The jail, which has inmates including the 10 male accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, ICICI Bank-Videocon case’s Deepak Kochhar, continues to receive most of the new arrests from four districts.
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NIA opposes bail plea of Stan Swamy / Stan Swamy likely to be shifted to Arthur Road Jail

15/12/2020 Rani

NIA opposes Stan Swamy’s bail plea, claims he was part of ‘deep-rooted conspiracy’

15/12/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The central agency said Swamy cannot be given bail as it was yet to complete investigating emails and other digital evidence gathered at the time of his arrest.
The National Investigation Agency on Monday opposed the bail plea filed by tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, and alleged that the 83-year-old was part of the alleged conspiracy to instigate violence in 2017, PTI reported.
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NIA opposes bail plea of Stan Swamy

15/12/2020

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Father Stan Swamy had moved a plea seeking opportunity to be heard if a decision is taken to transfer him to any other prison. Swamy has been lodged in Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai since his arrest in October…
The court was also informed about the application by co-accused Gautam Navlakha seeking from jail authorities to provide him five books per month in Taloja prison. After hearing submissions, the court granted NIA to respond to the pleas and posted further hearings on December 21.
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Stan Swamy likely to be shifted to Arthur Road Jail

15/12/2020

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

Swamy’s advocate had made a plea on December 4, seeking that Swamy not be shifted from Taloja Jail without their being heard.
Octogenarian tribal rights activist Stan Swamy may be shifted out of the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai to Arthur Road Jail in the city. The Taloja jail superintendent, in a report, informed the court on Monday that while the jail authorities did not plan to shift him presently, considering his age and ailments, they were likely to move him to Arthur Road Jail, which had government hospitals nearby.
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NIA Cites Kabir Kala Manch’s Songs That Parody Modi, BJP to Oppose Bail to Arrested Singers

14/12/2020 Rani

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Along with the songs, the agency has also relied upon evidence from 2011 and 2012 and has claimed that the activists were in touch with absconding Naxal leader Milind Teltumbde.
Singing parodical songs against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been presented as one of the grounds for arresting singers and activists of the cultural troupe Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) in the Elgar Parishad case. In its response filed in the Bombay high court against the bail application moved by the vocalists of KKM, Sagar Gorkhe (32) and Ramesh Gaichor (38), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has cited their songs which critique Narendra Modi and certain BJP policies as one of the grounds for arrest.
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India’s 21st-century dungeons – Government is tardy with revealing jail data

14/12/2020 Maya

UCA News / by John Dayal

A little plastic hollow straw, much like the one you’d get with fresh tender coconut or cold drink at a roadside eatery, has gained much attention not just on the vagaries of the law of the land and its courts, but even more on the conditions in the prisons in India.
It took several weeks for 84-year-old Jesuit Father Stan Swamy–in prison as a mere suspect in a trumped-up conspiracy called the Bhima-Koregaon case–to get the plastic drinking straw, which he needs to take a sip of water or tea because his Parkinson’s disease afflicted hands can bare hold the cup. He is not yet an undertrial, and certainly not a convict.
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When saints are in prison: Custody as a form of torture

12/12/2020 Rani

The Quint / by Kaleeswaram Raj

Incarceration is not mere curtailment of freedom. It is a diminution of human dignity. And today, one is forced to think that individual dignity in India is in deep crisis.
It is amazing to watch the Supreme Court building that symbolises a wonderful architectural tradition. It is more so when one looks at the flock of birds that fly over the court’s tomb, epitomising universal liberty, a theme that the Constitution tried to imbibe. It contains provisions for certain fundamental rights even for non-citizens. Article 21 promises right to life and personal liberty to ‘any person’. The court has interpreted life to always mean dignified life.
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Organisers of Elgar Parishad say accused are denied basic human rights

11/12/2020 Rani

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

On Human Rights Day, retired judges say intellectuals have been implicated for speaking against the government.
It is close to three years that intellectuals, activists and lawyers were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. Retired judges, who organised the Elghar Parishad event, say, “All those accused in the case are not connected with it but they have been implicated because they have spoken against the government. They are denied basic human rights.”
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Taloja jail says new spectacles given to Navlakha; govt to probe / Making a spectacle

11/12/2020 Rani

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Taloja jail says new spectacles given to Navlakha; govt to probe

11/12/2020

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

Navlakha (69), who was arrested by the NIA, had told his partner Sahba Husain that his spectacles were stolen in the jail.
Taloja Central Jail authorities said a new pair of spectacles has been made and handed over to activist Gautam Navlakha, lodged in the prison in connection to the Elgaar Parishad case, on Thursday.
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Making a spectacle

11/12/2020

The Indian Express / by Indian Express Editorial

Bombay HC is right to underline the need for dignity for undertrials. Speedy justice must also be made a priority.
The weeks that it took for a straw and a sipper to reach an 83-year-old tribal rights activist afflicted with Parkinson’s; the time it took for authorities in a Mumbai jail to turn away a pair of spectacles meant for a civil rights activist — both, among many other instances, are a measure of the gap between human dignity and the justice system.
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From Segregation to Labour, Manu’s Caste Law Governs the Indian Prison System

10/12/2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

In several states, prison manuals still dictate that labour within the prison should be assigned on the basis of caste.
On his first day at the Alwar district prison, Ajay Kumar* was gearing up for the worst. Torture, stale food, biting cold and harsh labour – Bollywood had already acquainted him with the grisly realities of jails. “Gunah batao (Tell me your crime),” a police constable, placed at the undertrial (UT) section, asked him as soon as he was escorted inside a tall iron gateway.
Ajay had barely mumbled something, when the constable snapped, “Kaun jaati (Which caste)?” Unsure, Ajay paused and then hesitantly said, “Rajak”.
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Why were Activists Like Anand Teltumbde Who Work For the Disadvantaged Jailed?

10/12/2020 Maya

The Leaflet / by Niharika Ravi

The Human Rights Watch has called the detention by the Indian government of civil rights and Dalit rights activist, Anand Teltumbde as “wrongful” and “politically motivated”.
“Indian authorities are using draconian counterterrorism laws against activists simply for criticizing the government or raising their voices against injustice. The authorities should immediately release Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha and the other activists wrongfully detained in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of the Human Rights Watch.
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