Prison conditions – Page 4

Notes from prison | Talk with Sudha Bharadwaj

19/01/2024 Asha

Notes from prison

19/01/2024

The Telegraph / by Lakshmi Subramanian

‘Phansi Yard’ is more than just jottings of a sensitive prisoner. Like all jail diaries, it documents the everyday — the quality of food, limited access to clothing, the absence of privacy — with great attention and, alongside, records individual stories with real sensitivity, framing them within a larger social context
The prison diary has remained an enduring genre in all societies with its extraordinary capacity to document the self and interrogate power structures.
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Lawyer’s ballad of Yerawada Jail reflects on the lives of 76 prisoners

13/01/2024

Deccan Chronicle / by Anand K Sahay

This resident of Phansi Yard has a writer’s sensibility, and says in a matter-of-fact way
This is a remarkable document of life observed from the Phansi Yard or Death Row of the Yerawada Women’s Jail in Pune by an extraordinary individual who made a conscious choice to be a trade union worker and human rights lawyer in order to stand with marginalised people, rather than build a career as a mathematician after emerging with a shining degree from IIT, Delhi.
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From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
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#keeptalking | Anuradha Sen Gupta talks to Sudha Bharadwaj

08/01/2024

en | 32:47min | 2024

By anuradhasays

Trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj is used to fighting rights battles. She started her career in Chhattisgarh in the late 1980s as a trade unionist and later studied law in order to fight legal cases directly. Even though she has been on the side of many losing battles, giving up or opting out has never been an option. Despite the setbacks and personal challenges, the biggest one being arrested in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, Sudha who is out on bail, retains her good cheer and optimism. In a wide ranging conversation with Anuradha SenGupta, Sudha talks of women who are incarcerated, the underbelly of capitalism, the rights of workers and her hope for the new year.
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Also watch/read:

■ Video – Book Release: Why is the state afraid of Sudha Bharadwaj?

By People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Jan 2021en + hindi | 2h 53min | 2021

Topic: Why is the state afraid of Sudha Bharadwaj?
A long interview conducted with Sudha over several days before she was arrested is now being published as an online book “Sudha Bharadwaj Speaks – A Life in Law and Activism”, and will be released at this webinar by the well-known writer, Nayantara Sahgal. Sudha’s daughter, Maaysha, her lawyer Yug Chaudhary, social activist Harsh Mandar, historian Uma Chakravarti amongst other coworkers & colleagues, will also share their experiences and memories of working with her.
Watch video @ PUCL Facebook (videos)

■ Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism

Publisher: Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
Edition: January 2021
Language: English
Sudha Bharadwaj’s interview by: Darshana Mitra and Santanu Chakraborty
Paperback: 316 pages
Access a free PDF copy of the book here:
Sudha_Bharadwaj_speaks (2,1 MB)

Excerpts from ‘From Phansi Yard: My Year with Women of Yerawada’ by Sudha Bharadwaj

26/12/2023 Asha

By People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)

Sudha Bharadwaj’s recently published book ‘From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada’ is a tenderly written collection of her memories, through which one gets to witness her resilient spirit, and yet, her vulnerabilities. In the book, she observes, reflects and chronicles stories of women prisoners, prison conditions and her own journey.
… The book begins with an interview, in which she narrates her story, her memories of the beginning of her activism, her relationship with her daughter and the work she did with the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha. Here are some excerpts from the book, that illustrate the warmth and compassion with which she wrote about her fellow prisoners (whom she has numbered and left anonymous), and her unyielding courage with which she survived incarceration.
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From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order

Also watch/read:

● Video – Book Release: Why is the state afraid of Sudha Bharadwaj?

By People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Jan 2021en + hindi | 2h 53min | 2021

● Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism

● Video: The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

By All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice – AILAJ | March 2022

en | 1:21:23 | 2022
The huge number of undertrials, the overcrowding, and the disproportional numbers of Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi prisoners are part of the prison problem in India.
We are joined by Adv. Sudha Bharadwaj for a discussion on the Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails.
Watch video

Sudha Bharadwaj: What I knew in the abstract I was now living, feeling and observing

17/12/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Freny Manecksha

In this interview, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, who was jailed in the Bhima-Koregaon matter and has just produced a book on From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada, tells Freny Manecksha how prison changes one for the worse, but also for the better.

“But the irony is on the day they (Adivasis of Sarkeguda, Chhattisgarh) are vindicated, seven years after they began their fight, I, their first lawyer, am in jail 1,000 kilometers away! Yet it is a happy day.”
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Also read:
● Prison Occupancy Rose In 2022, Despite Campaign To Release Undertrials. Three in four prisoners continue to be undertrials, a majority of whom belong to oppressed caste groups (Indiaspend.com | Shreehari Paliath | Dec 2023)

● Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism

“For the freedom to breathe” – Sudha Bharadwaj’s book: From Phansi Yard (pics)

05/12/2023 Asha

by PUCL India / @PUCLindia (Dez 5, 2023)
PUCL Maharashtra and Free Speech Collective invite you to a book reading and conversations at 6 pm on Dec 9, 2023 in Bandra, Mumbai, “For the freedom to breathe” On the occasion of 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 25 years of the UN Declaration on HRDs

by PUCL India / @PUCLindia (Dec 11):
‘For the Freedom to Breathe’ by PUCL Maharashtra & Free Speech Collective. Reading by Ratna Pathak Shah of excerpts from ‘Phansi Ward’, discussion between Freny Manecksha and author Sudha Bharadwaj, talk by Sukanya Shantha on ‘Criminal Justice and Prisons-the Media’s Blind Spots’

by naresh fernandes / @tajmahalfoxtrot (Dec 9)
Ahead of Human Rights Day, a reading and discussion about Sudha Bharadwaj’s searing, funny book about her time in jail in the farcical Bhima Koregaon case.

by Dilip D’Souza / @DeathEndsFun (Dec 9)
Commemorating 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Sudha Bharadwaj speaks about her book, “From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada”.

Sudha Bharadwaj’s book and the drama on a revolutionary on death row

10/12/2023

Countercurrents / by Vidyadhar Date

The reading by Ratna Pathak Shah last evening from Sudha Bharadwaj’s book about days in the death row in jail, reminded me of a thrilling Marathi play “Thank You Mr Glaad” about a Naxalite revolutionary. The movement has taken little note of the play written by Anil Barve. It was also a big popular hit and was produced by Prabhakar Panshikar, a very popular actor and producer, in the 1970s.
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Sudha Bharadwaj: ‘So Writing Was My Way Of Reaching Out To The Women I Saw’

02/12/2023 Asha

Free Press Journal / by Anushka Jagtiani

The lawyer and activist talks about her time in prison and From Phansi Yard, her currently released book
Sudha Bharadwaj chose to surrender her US passport and dedicate her life to fighting the battles of exploited labourers in Chhatisgarh. Her activism led to her arrest in 2018 in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case along with 15 others, and she spent three years in jail — in Pune and Mumbai. She is currently out on bail and therefore cannot comment on the case as an under trial.
She speaks about her time in jail, the unlikely friendships she made, and how she became ‘vakeel aunty’ to many poor inmates and even helped get some out on bail.
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From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order

● Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism

NIA Court rejects plea of Sagar Gorkhe to continue medical treatment in Taloja Prison

16/11/2023 Asha

You’re not of unsound mind, elaborate on med issues: Court to Elgar accused

16/11/2023

Times of India / by Rebecca Samervel

Even as an accused in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case sought continuation of his psychiatric treatment, saying he was suffering from depression and and excessive worry for two years, a special court said that considering the treatment papers received from the chief medical officer of Taloja prison and answers given by him the judge’s interaction, prima facie, there is no reason to believe that he has any sort of “unsoundness of mind” or mental illness.
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‘No reason to believe accused is mental ill’: Court rejects plea of Elgaar Parshad accused to continue treatment

15/11/2023

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

The court directed jail authorities at Taloja Central Prison to submit his medical records. Referring to the reports, the court said that while the accused was referred to JJ Hospital and was on medication for depression and referred for counselling, the psychiatrist in October had advised that the medicines be stopped.
An accused in the Elgaar Parishad case told the court, on November 8, that although he has been suffering from depression for the past two years, the medicines prescribed to him have been discontinued from last month.
Read more

Also read:
● NIA court directs prison authorities to provide Sagar Gorkhe treatment at J.J. Hospital (The Leaflet / Nov 2023)
● Securing the right to health of political prisoners (The Leaflet / Oct 2022)
● Relatives of BK16 Flag Prison Authorities’ ‘Criminal Negligence’ and Deteriorating Health of Undertrials (Newsclick / Sep 2022)
● Hunger Strike unto death against the harassment from Taloja Central Jail’s apathetic administration (By Sagar Gorkhe / May 20, 2022)

From Phansi Yard: My Year With The Women Of Yerawada, by Sudha Bharadwaj (Book Excerpt) / Video

10/11/2023 Asha

From Phansi Yard: My Year With The Women Of Yerawada, by Sudha Bharadwaj (Excerpt)

14/11/2023

Artice 14 / by Samar Halarnkar | Sudha Bharadwaj

Arrested on 28 August 2018, human rights lawyer, teacher and IIT graduate Sudha Bharadwaj is among 16 accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, charged under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967.
Bharadwaj was arrested from her house in Faridabad, where she had moved in 2017 to teach law at the National Law University Delhi.
…
In From Phansi Yard: My Year With The Women Of Yerawada, Bharadwaj paints a vivid picture of life behind bars, discussing overcrowding, menstruation, sanitation, fights, health niggles and more.
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Video: Barkha Dutt speaks to Sudha Bharadwaj on her book ‘From Phansi Yard’

10/11/2023

en | 21:03min | 2023

By Mojo Story

Barkha Dutt speaks to Trade Unionist, activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj on her book ‘From Phansi Yard’. The book records stories of her time in jail. She is out on bail after 3 years in the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence case.
Sudha speaks about her days in jail and how her time in a women’s prison made her aware of the gender gap in legal aid. “Many women are jailed- because their husband committed some crime and are now absconding- they don’t even know about the crime,” she says.
Sudha further says that she lives in the house of a friend, as she “can’t afford rent”. Trade unions support her, she does legal cases for them, she says.
Watch video

From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order

● A Cage with a View: Under-trial life in an Indian jail

National Herald | by Sudha Bharadwaj | Oct 2023
The jottings that make up this book were my way of coping with incarceration. Some prisoners pray, some weep, some just put their heads down and work themselves weary. Some fight defiantly every inch of the way, some are inveterate grumblers, some spew gossip. Some read the newspaper from cover to cover, some shower love on children, some laugh at themselves and at others.
I watched through the bars, and I wrote.
Read more

● Video: The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

● Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism

NIA court directs prison authorities to provide Sagar Gorkhe treatment at J.J. Hospital

08/11/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

An application was filed by Sagar Gorkhe, praying the court to direct urgent and necessary treatment for his mental and physical health. According to the application, the prison authorities have deprived Gorkhe of medicines and treatment for his psychiatric conditions.
Today, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria directed the jail superintendent of Taloja Central Prison to refer Sagar Gorkhe to J.J. Hospital, Mumbai to provide him with the required medical treatment.
Read more

Also read:
● Securing the right to health of political prisoners (The Leaflet / Oct 2022)
● Relatives of BK16 Flag Prison Authorities’ ‘Criminal Negligence’ and Deteriorating Health of Undertrials (Newsclick / Sep 2022)
● Punished without trial: How India’s political prisoners are being denied basic rights in jail (Scroll.in / Aug 2022)
● Hunger Strike unto death against the harassment from Taloja Central Jail’s apathetic administration (By Sagar Gorkhe / May 20, 2022)

Sudha Bharadwaj | ‘A lot of democratic space has been lost’ / ‘Social contradiction get magnified inside prisons’

02/11/2023 Asha

Sudha Bharadwaj: ‘A lot of democratic space has been lost’

02/11/2023

Frontline / by Shreevatsa Nevatia

The human rights lawyer and activist says that while in jail, she saw the human cost of a dysfunctional justice system.
The lawyer and activist, spent three years and three months in jail following her arrest under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on August 28, 2018. Her book From Phansi Yard isabout her days in Pune’s Yerawada Jail.
As a trade unionist, Bharadwaj has seen police heavy-handedness up close, but she did “not envisage the kind of thing” that happened to her. The charges against Bharadwaj, one of the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, include a plot to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the 62-year-old is confident she will be acquitted; her bail conditions disallow her from saying anything more.
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Video: Sudha Bharadwaj: ‘A lot of democratic space has been lost’

By Frontline

en | 1:05:41 | 2023
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Video: Sudha Bharadwaj interview: ‘Social contradiction get magnified inside prisons’

By The Federal

en | 37:33 | 2023
Sudha Bhardwaj (62), trade-unionist, human rights activist and lawyer, lived and worked in Chhattisgarh for over three decades. On August 28, 2018, she was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, and was released on bail in December 2021. Her book, From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada (Juggernaut Books), is an account of women prisoners (their suffering as well as the solidarities they have forged behind bars) in Pune’s Jail, where she was incarcerated in a high-security wing called Phansi Yard from November 2018 to February 2020. In this interview to The Federal, Bhardwaj, whose bail conditions do not allow her to talk about the case, and leave Mumbai, recounts her journey, and what gives her hope after a lifetime of struggle.
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Video: Sudha Bharadwaj on life in jail, importance of being a dissent and her hopes for justice

By Times of India

en | 4:20min | 2023

Sudha Bharadwaj was born in 1961 in the US and spent the first 10 years of her life on the University of Cambridge campus in England. After her parents returned to India, she grew up on the then newly created Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus and then spent decades working as trade unionist and human rights lawyer in Chhattisgarh. Bharadwaj is among the 16 persons arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case. She and the others were arrested for allegedly having links with Maoists, and for allegedly plotting to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They are accused of conspiring to spark caste-based violence that erupted at the Bhima Koregaon memorial in Maharashtra in 2018. Between 2018 and 2021, she was housed in the Yerawada and Byculla jails in the state. In this interview with TOI+, Bharadwaj who is out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, talks about her experience of being an undertrial, how it inspired a book and why democracy needs dissidents.
Watch video

From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order

● Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism

Sudha Bharadwaj | From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

25/10/2023 Asha

A Cage with a View: Under-trial life in an Indian jail

25/10/2023

National Herald / by Sudha Bharadwaj

Human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj’s account of her time in Yerawada Jail is also a poignant lesson in keeping hope alive in the teeth of absurd injustice

The jottings that make up this book were my way of coping with incarceration. Some prisoners pray, some weep, some just put their heads down and work themselves weary. Some fight defiantly every inch of the way, some are inveterate grumblers, some spew gossip. Some read the newspaper from cover to cover, some shower love on children, some laugh at themselves and at others.
I watched through the bars, and I wrote.
Read more

Nano tales from an Indian prison: From Phansi Yard – My Year with the Women of Yerawada

25/10/2023

Business Standard / by Vipul Mudgal

Sudha Bharadwaj’s book offers a thought-provoking glimpse into the lives of prisoners in a colonial-era prison in Pune, leaving readers to ponder why some of them are languishing behind bars
This is a book of human sketches from the world of an Indian prison. Call it casual ethnography or participant observation, it is the author’s labour of love, brought together with empathy and a touch of wit. You get a string of nano tales of human bondage and its myriad ironies, of love, betrayal, loyalty, desire, and momentary lapses of reason, followed by bouts of rage, remorse and self-pity. These are stories of remediable injustice.
Sudha Bharadwaj takes you on a tour of the colonial prison in Pune. But when she introduces you to the inmates, an absurdity hits you — that most of them have no business being there, the author included.
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`Being a dissident is not anti-democratic´

25/10/2023

Times of India / by Alka Dhupkar

Sudha Bharadwaj, who is out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, talks about her experience of being an undertrial, how it inspired a book and why democracy needs dissidents
Sudha Bharadwaj was born in 1961 in the US and spent the first 10 years of her life on the University of Cambridge campus in England. After her parents returned to India, she grew up on the then newly created Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus and then spent decades working as trade unionist and human rights lawyer in Chhattisgarh.
Read more

Video: Dissent of All Forms Being Criminalised: Sudha Bharadwaj

11/10/2023

en | 14:51 | 2023

The Wire / by Sravasti Dasgupta

The lawyer and activist speaks to Sravasti Dasgupta of The Wire about her new book titled ‘From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada’.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Mumbai’s Byculla Prison in December 2021, three years after she was arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Mumbai’s Byculla Prison in December 2021, three years after she was arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Watch video

From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order

Also watch/read:

● Video: The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

By All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice – AILAJ / March 2022

en | 1:21:23 | 2022
The huge number of undertrials, the overcrowding, and the disproportional numbers of Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi prisoners are part of the prison problem in India.
We are joined by Adv. Sudha Bharadwaj for a discussion on the Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails.
Watch video