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Category: Persecution

We are only as free as those we love / K Satyanrayana on Varavara Rao

We are only as free as those we love / K Satyanrayana on Varavara Rao

The Hindu Business / by Shriya Mohan

For the families of political prisoners, daily life is an endless rigmarole of legal battles for the bail of their loved ones.
The pandemic and the resulting curfew on prison visits and postal delivery have exacerbated the isolation of political prisoners like GN Saibaba, Varavara Rao, Dr Kafeel Khan, Sudha Bharadwaj and others, cutting them off further from their families — the very people who are rooting for their innocence and freedom.
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When the moon slips into Darkness: K Satyanrayana on Varavara Rao

15/08/2020

Gauri Lankesh News / by K Satyanarayana

A popular public speaker with eloquent oration and elephantine memory is now reduced to searching for words, incoherent delirium.
Varavara Rao, 80-year old Telugu revolutionary poet, now incarcerated in Bhima Koregaon case and ailing in Nanavati Hospital, should not be left to die, as he is a symbol of people’s poetry, chronicler of people’s movements, upholder of popular democracy and rule of law, a teacher and a public speaker. One can gauge his popularity from the world-wide upsurge of expressions of protest against his imprisonment and solidarity with him, pouring in for the last ten days.
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DU Professors P.K. Vijayan, Rakesh Ranjan to be interrogated by NIA in Bhima Koregaon Case

DU Professors P.K. Vijayan, Rakesh Ranjan to be interrogated by NIA in Bhima Koregaon Case

Gauri Lankesh News / by Gauri Lankesh News Desk

Witchhunt of Professors and intellectuals continues. Both Vijayan and Ranjan have made important intellectual contributions to anti-caste and democratic thought.
P.K. Vijayan and Rakesh Ranjan were summoned for interrogation by the NIA in connection to the Bhima Koregaon case. The summon, which was dated August 13, has asked him to appear at the NIA headquarters in New Delhi on August 14. Vijayan and Ranjan are both professors at Delhi University and have been teaching for years. They have made important intellectual contributions to anti-caste and democratic thought.
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NIA Summons Two DU Teachers for Questioning

14/08/2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

One the faculty members being questioned, P.K. Vijayan, had been targeted in an alleged surveillance conspiracy last year.
Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), investigating the Elgar Parishad case, has issued summons to Prem Kumar Vijayan, who teaches English at Hindu College, Delhi University. Vijayan has been summoned to the agency’s Delhi office on August 14.
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DU professor PK Vijayan summoned by NIA in Delhi for questioning

14/08/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll staff

He is the second professor from the university to be questioned in the case in less than a month.
The National Investigation Agency on Friday summoned Prem Kumar Vijayan, a professor at the English department at Delhi University, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, The Times of India reported. He is the second professor from the university to be questioned in the case in less than a month.
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PK Vijayan is summoned by NIA to appear on Aug 14 in Bhima Koregaon case

13/08/2020

Asianspeaks.com / Statement by DSU_ Democratic Students’ Union – DU Unit

Stand in Solidarity with Prof. PK Vijayan, resist attack on our teachers
Prof. PK Vijayan, faculty at English Department in Hindu College, Delhi University is summoned by NIA under Amit Shah’s Home Ministry to appear before them on 14 August, in relation to Bhima Koregaon case. Recently, Prof. Hany Babu of DU was arrested in the case after an year of his witch hunting. Bhima Koregaon unveils the fascist face of the BJP-RSS state with all progressive voices being criminalized.
PK Vijayan is an eminent Marxist scholar and one of the foremost democratic voices in Delhi University. He have stood with the student movement all throughout. It is the duty of student movement to unite and resist the attack on our teachers and university spaces.
Stand with PK Vijayan, Resist fascist attack by Hindutva Brahminical forces!

Manufacturing Evidence: How the Police is framing and arresting constitutional rights defenders in India

Manufacturing Evidence: How the Police is framing and arresting constitutional rights defenders in India

By The Polis Project

An international coalition of human rights defenders, with evidence gathered by activists on the ground, compiled „Manufacturing Evidence: How the Police is framing and arresting constitutional rights defenders in India“ – a report that once again exposes the communal bias of the Indian Police.
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‘This government has tamed everyone’ – Interview with Rao´s Lawyer

‘This government has tamed everyone’ – Interview with Rao´s Lawyer

Rediff.com /by Vaihayasi Pande Daniel

‘The entire systems they are trying to change.’
Telugu poet, activist, critic and teacher Pendyala Varavara Rao, 79, has a new advocate.
Sudeep Ratnamberdutt Pasbola, who has represented/represents accused like activist Arun Ferreira, politician Rahul Gandhi, gangster Abu Salem, HR consultant Indrani Mukerjea, gangster Arun Gawli, 1993 and 2006 Mumbai blast accused, amongst many others, took on Professor Rao’s case in July… Pasbola spoke to Rediff.com’s Vaihayasi Pande Daniel about Professor Rao’s case and why bail is no longer being granted by courts for certain types of accused.
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Varavara Rao’s Family Awaits News On His Health, Writes Jailed Poet’s Nephew

Varavara Rao’s Family Awaits News On His Health, Writes Jailed Poet’s Nephew

Outlook / by N Venugopal

It has been eleven days since Varavara Rao’s family saw the physically weak and psychologically suffering poet on video conference and there is still no news from anywhere – hospital or jail.
It’s exactly one month since Varavara Rao’s family felt disturbed with his incoherent talk and began emergency efforts to bring the dreadful condition of his health to people’s notice, to appeal to all the systems of governance and to move judiciary seeking an immediate remedy to the risk to his life.
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Dr Jenny Rowena On Prof Hany Babu’s Arrest, House Raids And Casteism

Dr Jenny Rowena On Prof Hany Babu’s Arrest, House Raids And Casteism


Solidarity poster by @bakeryprasad

Huffpost / by Betwa Sharma

Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil is the 12th person to be arrested in the Elgaar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case.
New Delhi – “Day in and day out we are reminded that there is no justice in this country. And there is no peace without justice,” Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil, an associate professor of English at Delhi University tweeted one day in July this year. Babu is a vocal and influential voice against India’s discriminatory caste system.
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State to re-verify after medical reports of Anand Teltumbde, Mahesh Raut show identical details

State to re-verify after medical reports of Anand Teltumbde, Mahesh Raut show identical details

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Vijay Hiremath had pointed out that the health parameters mentioned on Mahesh Raut’s report were identical to the medical report of activist Anand Teltumbde (68), a co-accused in the case, who is also lodged in the Taloja jail.
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HC wants to know how Anand Teltumbde, Mahesh Raut have same BP, pulse and O2 levels, weight, height in jail reports

08/08/2020

Mumbai Mirror / by Sharmeen Hakim

HC seeks explanation after Taloja jail’s medical reports say hey are also identical in height, weight.
The Bombay High Court has sought an explanation from Taloja Prison officials following revelations that certain portions of academic Anand Teltumbde and activist Mahesh Raut’s medical reports, both accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, are exactly the same. The two approached the HC after co-accused Telugu poet Varavara Rao tested positive for the coronavirus last month.
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NIA Interrogates Father Stan Swamy in Bhima Koregaon Case

NIA Interrogates Father Stan Swamy in Bhima Koregaon Case

Gauri Lankesh News / by Rupesh Kumar Singh

Father Stan Swamy has been fighting for the issues of Adivasis and Mulnivasis in Jharkhand for almost 50 years.
On 6th August 2020, the NIA interrogated Father Stan Swamy, a prominent human rights activist from Jharkhand, for nearly two and a half hours in relation to the Bhima Koregaon case. This interrogation took place at his Ranchi residence in Bagaicha, Namkum.
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NIA questions social activist Stan Swami in Jharkhand

The Hindu / by pti

In 2018, a police team from Maharashtra had raided his residence and seized his computer in connection with the probe.
The NIA on Thursday questioned social activist Stan Swami at his residence in Ranchi in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence, an official said.
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Commercial mining – not a boon but a curse

23/06/2020

Gaon Connection / by Stan Swamy

On June 18, 2020, the central government released a list of 41 coal blocks from all over the country to be auctioned to private companies. Most of these mines are located in the predominantly Adivasi-inhabited areas. About 40 per cent of the 60 million people displaced by development projects in the past decades are Adivasis.
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