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4 years, 16 arrests and no framing of charges / Treatment, straw, books … things BK16 have asked courts for

4 years, 16 arrests and no framing of charges / Treatment, straw, books … things BK16 have asked courts for

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4 years, 16 arrests and no framing of charges: The many twist and turns of Elgaar Parishad case

10/11/2022

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

With trial yet to begin, the Supreme Court recently asked the NIA court to expedite framing of charges in 2018 case
Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, was allowed on Thursday to be shifted to house arrest after he filed a plea in the Supreme Court considering his health.
On August 18, the Supreme Court directed the special court in Mumbai conducting the trial in the Elgaar Parishad case to decide on framing of charges and discharge pleas of the accused within three months. The delay in the framing of charges has meant that four years after the Pune Police made nine arrests and the National Investigation Agency made seven arrests in the case, the trial in the 2018 case is yet to begin.
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Treatment, straw, books… things Bhima Koregaon accused have asked courts for

10/11/2022

The New India Express / by pti

In December 2020, Navlakha’s partner Sahba Husain said the former’s spectacles were stolen in jail and when his family sent him a new pair, the jail authorities refused to accept them.
The Supreme Court order permitting jailed activist Gautam Navlakha to be kept under house arrest for a month has brought to the fore several applications filed by the accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case lamenting lack of facilities in jail and denial of access to the same.
Besides seeking medical treatment, the accused in the case have time and again approached courts for permission to get books, chairs, drinking straws, spectacles and mosquito nets inside the prison have asked courts for.
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Supreme Court’s Concerns Regarding the Health of Gautam Navlakha Are Widely Shared

10/11/2022

Countercurrrents / by Bharat Dogra

The concerns expressed by a Supreme Court Bench on November 9 regarding the health of an elderly political prisoner Gautam Navlakha have been widely appreciated in the country. Justice Hrishikesh Roy found it disturbing that hardly any progress had been made since the charge-sheet against him was filed in October 2020 ( over two years ago). Justice K.M. Joseph stated, “ He is a 70 year old man. He is not in the best of health. We don’t know how long he will live.”
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Gautam Navlakha Shifted To House Arrest, Who Are The Other Bhima-Koregaon Accused?

10/11/2022

Outlook India / by Outlook Web Desk

Gautam Navlakha, 70, has been in custody since April 14, 2020, and was lodged in Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case.
Even as activists, civil society members friends and family of jailed activist Gautam Navlakha celebrated the Supreme Court order to allow his plea to be placed on house arrest, many of the 15 activists, teachers and social workers accused and arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case continue to languish in jail.
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Also read:
● Relatives of BK16 Flag Prison Authorities’ ‘Criminal Negligence’ and Deteriorating Health of Undertrials (Newsclick / Sep 2022)
● Stop Denying Political Prisoners the Right to Healthcare in Jails (Peoples Union for Democratic Rights / Sep 2022)
● Supreme Court directs trial court to expeditiously frame charges and decide discharge pleas (The Leaflet / Aug 2022)
● As Bhima Koregaon case completes its fourth anniversary, State reprisal is writ large in its twists and turns (The Leaflet / June 2022)

4 years, 16 arrests and no framing of charges: The many twist and turns of Elgaar Parishad case

4 years, 16 arrests and no framing of charges: The many twist and turns of Elgaar Parishad case

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

With trial yet to begin, the Supreme Court recently asked the NIA court to expedite framing of charges in 2018 case
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the special court in Mumbai conducting the trial in the Elgaar Parishad case to decide on framing of charges and discharge pleas of the accused within three months. The delay in the framing of charges has meant that four years after the Pune Police made nine arrests and the National Investigation Agency made seven arrests in the case, the trial in the 2018 case is yet to begin.
Read more

Also read:
● Supreme Court directs trial court to expeditiously frame charges and decide discharge pleas (The Leaflet / Aug 2022)

From Bhima Koregaon to PMLA, Justice Khanwilkar’s Legacy Will Not Favour Liberty

From Bhima Koregaon to PMLA, Justice Khanwilkar’s Legacy Will Not Favour Liberty

From Bhima Koregaon to PMLA, Justice Khanwilkar’s Legacy Will Not Favour Liberty

30/07/2022

The Quint / by Vakasha Sachdev

From his decisions on Bhima Koregaon in 2018 to PMLA in 2022, Justice Khanwilkar consistently enabled state power.
The legacy of Justice AM Khanwilkar, who retired as a Supreme Court judge on Friday, 29 July, can best be summed up by the first case where he came to prominence.
In August 2018, the Maharashtra Police made the second set of arrests in what would come to be known as the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Justice AM Khanwilkar’s Legacy: Regression of Fundamental Rights

30/07/2022

Live Law / by Manu Sebastian

When it came to the exercise of judicial review and protection of fundamental rights, Justice Khanwilkar displayed a narrow and technical approach.
… Here is a look at some judgments/orders authored by Justice Khanwilkar in cases relating to civil liberties.
Rejecting plea for SIT probe in Bhima Koregaon case.
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Also read
● The Executive(’s) Court: On the Legacy of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar (The Wire / July 2022)
● Not A Case Of Arrest For Dissent, SC Turns Down Plea For SIT In Bhima Koregaon Case By 2:1 Majority, Chandrachud Dissents [Read Judgment] (Live Law / Sep 2018)
● Justice Chandrachud dissents again: Bhima Koregaon case needs impartial investigation (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

As Bhima Koregaon case completes its fourth anniversary, State reprisal is writ large in its twists and turns

As Bhima Koregaon case completes its fourth anniversary, State reprisal is writ large in its twists and turns

The Leaflet / by Nihalsing Rathod

As we have completed four years since the first arrest in the Elgar Parishad case, a quick recap of how 16 renowned human rights activists were jailed may be useful.
There is much more than meets the eye. Maybe we will have a few answers after the trial ends, but not all. It would be difficult to say what exactly caused the arrest of these 16 eminent persons, but we can definitely relook at the turn of events and try to understand what really happened.
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Also read:
● ‘We are all prisoners of conscience’, say those facing trial in Bhima Koregaon case on the occasion of fourth anniversary of their arrests [read letter] (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● 3 years after Bhima Koregaon: How criminal law was violated (The Leaflet / June 2021)

Reflecting on the most poignant moments of last two years during Anand’s incarceration

Reflecting on the most poignant moments of last two years during Anand’s incarceration

The Leaflet / by Rama Teltumbde Ambedkar

This is part of a special issue on Ambedkar Jayanti 2022.

Anand and I concealed our pain before each other, at least during those ten minutes, writes Rama Teltumbde Ambedkar on the weekly mulaqat with her husband.
Anand and I were married on November 19, 1983. Ours was a typical arranged marriage – arranged through a common, well-meaning friend.
I played the role of a homemaker for 37 years, raising my two daughters, looking after their needs and managing our home. It was my way of supporting Anand, who could then freely and entirely focus on his professional life and social causes that he was devoted to. 
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The Bhima Koregaon Arrests and the Resistance in India

The Bhima Koregaon Arrests and the Resistance in India

Monthly Review / by Saroj Giri

It often happens: A murder takes place, an utterly foul one. But there is little outcry, no lasting sense of wrong in public memory. Deep down, everyone is aware of the gross violation that has taken place in their midst. Everyone is affected and silently appalled that there is no redress, no justice. Yet normal life and routine democracy continues—at the expense of a deep scar in the inner recess of society, unseen and perhaps illegible, best described as a void. Like an abyss that stares back, will this void come to haunt everyone later, in some possibly unrecognizable form?
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Bhima Koregaon: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight / Video: Four years after violence

Bhima Koregaon: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight / Video: Four years after violence

Video: 4 Years of Bhima Koregaon Violence – Stories of Loss, Fear, and Grief

01/01/2022

The Quint / by Himanshi Dahiya


hindi (english subtitles) | 10 min | 2022

Ground report: four years on, revisiting families who lost their homes in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence.
Watch video

4 Years After Bhima Koregaon, Caste Fault Lines Deepen In Neighbouring Village

01/01/2022

The Quint / by Himanshi Dhiya

An uneasy silence and a sea of policemen characterise Vadhu Budruk, the village at the heart of Bhima Koregaon case.
A police personnel accompanies 60-year-old Panduram Gaikwad everywhere he goes. “He is here for my protection, in case they come to kill me,” says Gaikwad. A Dalit Mahar farmer, he is the owner of the land which was at the heart of the controversy which allegedly led to the the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence in Pune.
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Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight

01/01/2022

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

From the Reliance Infrastructure workers’ arrest to the Naxalite angle, the Bhima Koregaon violence case is mired in multiple theories.
In 2018, months before the Pune police had launched a country-wide raid at the houses and offices of activists, academics and lawyers, the Maharashtra state Anti- Terrorism Squad (ATS) had had rounded up five men – all contractual workers at the Reliance Infrastructure Ltd – for their alleged involvement in the disruption caused at the anti-caste commemoration at Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1 that year.
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Bhima Koregaon: Four years after violence, cases registered by rural police await trial

31/12/2021

Hindustan Times / by Shalaka Shinde

In the aftermath of violence in Bhima Koregaon in January 2018, three major chains of investigation have emerged
Four years after the Bhima Koregaon violence that claimed one life and left multiple others injured with large scale damage to property, a chargesheet of at least 1,500 pages has been filed in the case against 41 people including Samasta Hindu Aghadi convener Milind Ekbote but excluding Sambhaji Bhide of Shiv Pratishthan in the case of attempted murder and rioting that was registered against them in January 2018.
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Pune Police books Kalicharan, Ekbote and four others for alleged hate speeches

29/12/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Pune Police have filed a first information report against seer Kalicharan Maharaj, Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote and four other persons for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at an event in the city, the officials said on Wednesday according to PTI…
One of the accused persons, Hindutva leader Ekbote, had allegedly made provocative speeches before the caste violence took place in Bhima Koregaon village in 2018. No action has been taken against him so far in this matter.
Read more

Also read:
● “Sambhaji Bhide & Milind Ekbote instigated the Bhima Koregaon Violence,” an accused deposes as witness before Inquiry Commission (LawBeat / Oct 2021)
● Casting a Veil – What we miss by ignoring Maratha caste politics in the Bhima Koregaon case (The Caravan / Dec 2020)
● Police Watered Down Case Against Milind Ekbote, Says Complainant (The Wire / Oct 2018)
● The Curious Case of Milind Ekbote – Prime accused in the attack on Dalits in Bhima Koregaon has a history of inciting violence (CJP / Aug 2018)

How lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj got bail after three years in jail / The Story of Her Incarceration

How lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj got bail after three years in jail / The Story of Her Incarceration

Scroll.in / by Umang Poddar

Still, it will take a week for her to be freed.
On Wednesday, a two-judge bench of the Bombay High Court granted bail to Sudha Bharadwaj, an activist-lawyer who has been jailed since August 2018 in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.
However, she will have to wait for a week until December 8 to appear before a special judge of the National Investigation Agency Court in Mumbai, who will decide the terms of the bail.
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Video: The Story of Sudha Bharadwaj’s Incarceration

en | 6:41min | 2021

By The Quint

Arrested on 28 August 2018, Bharadwaj has been in pre-trial detention for over three years.
Sudha Bharadwaj, a human rights lawyer, defending India’s indigenous communities, and a protector of worker’s rights, had been serving pre-trial detention since August 2018, until the Bombay High Court accepted her bail plea on 1 December.
Watch video

Podcast: The unravelling of a conspiracy: were the 16 charged with plotting to kill India’s prime minister framed? 

Podcast: The unravelling of a conspiracy: were the 16 charged with plotting to kill India’s prime minister framed? 


en | 35min | 2021

The Guardian / by Siddhartha Deb

In 2018, Indian police claimed to have uncovered a shocking plan to bring down the government. But there is mounting evidence that the initial conspiracy was a fiction – and the accused are victims of an elaborate plot.
Listen to the podcast