The Leaflet / by Nihalsing B Rathod
Lawyers who defended activists in the Bhima Koregaon case risked being branded anti-national, but they believed that they were innocent and it was necessary to uphold the rule of law and constitutional values, says Nihalsing B Rathod.
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The Times of India / by Bella Jaisinghani
As the Christian community returns to church at Christmas time after months of lockdown, parishes are devising topical cribs with themes ranging from Covid-19 and the vaccine to the imprisonment of Jesuit activist Fr Stan Swamy among others.
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16/12/2020
The Times of India / by Bella Jaisinghani
Mumbai: The Society of Jesus, which runs prominent schools and colleges in the city, has expressed solidarity with their jailed senior colleague Fr Stan Swamy and decried the “abuse” of the UAPA law. The ailing 83-year-old priest remains in Taloja Jail facing UAPA charges in the Bhima Koregaon case, and had to battle for basic amenities like straw and sipper.
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16/12/2020
Times of India / by TNN
A unit of NGO, Bombay Catholic Sabha (BCS), affiliated to St Peter’s Church, Bandra, urged citizens to signal support for jailed activists, including the elderly Fr Stan Swamy through their Christmas Star.
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16/12/2020
UCA News / by Saji Thomas
Federal probe agency opposes Father Swamy’s bail after claiming it has serious evidence against him.
An elderly Indian Jesuit priest remains in jail after a special court deferred hearing his bail plea for a fourth time following opposition from the federal probe agency that arrested him two months ago on charges of sedition and links to Maoist rebels.
The bail application of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy came up for hearing on Dec. 14 before the special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) based in Mumbai, capital of western India’s Maharashtra state.
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Also Read: NIA OPPOSES BAIL PLEA OF STAN SWAMY / STAN SWAMY LIKELY TO BE SHIFTED TO ARTHUR ROAD JAIL (Dec 15)
14/12/2020
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Carefully calibrating their distancing from the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), the joint resolution said: “The function organised by BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) has no relation with the farmers’ struggle. Their action has harmed the farmers’ struggle.”
With union ministers attributing ideological opposition to the farm protests and equating some of them with “Left and Naxal elements,” as many as 32 farmer unions passed a resolution Saturday making it clear that their only issue is the repeal of farm laws and nothing else.
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12/12/2020
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
‘It is important to build solidarities around people who are the target of sectarian and communal state policies.’…
A section of mainstream media had been quick to brand the demand a “hijacking” of the farmers’ movement by Leftist intellectuals. The following statement, released by the BKU (Ugrahan), offers an idea as to why the protesters decided to add another cause to their agenda.
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11/12/2020
The Wire / by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
“We are confronting a prime minister who is behaving like an exploitative king. All these activists and intellectuals have been arrested on false charges merely because they highlighted the plight of the poor,” said the head of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan).
A day after farmers’ unions rejected an elaborate proposal by the Union government to address multiple concerns related to the three contentious farm laws, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan), the biggest group among the 32 organisations, marked Human Rights Day by demanding the release of several democratic rights activists and intellectuals who are lodged in prison.
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Bharti Kisan Union – Ekta Ugrahan
10/12/2020
Free Press Journal / by FPJ Web Desk
Lawyer and coordinator of the BKU N K Jeet said the release of these activists has been part of their demands from the very first day.
As the farmers’ agitation in the national capital entered Day 15 on Thursday, the ongoing protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws also turned political with a farmer union body–Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan)–demanding the release of writers, intellectuals, rationalists mainly arrested in Elgar Parishad and Delhi Riots case.
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10/12/2020
The Indian Express / by Kamaldeep Singh Brar
Pictures of more than 20 accused, including Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, booked under the stringent UAPA, will be installed on a stage near the Tikri border.
Despite the farmer unions’ decision to keep their ongoing protest in Delhi against the farm laws “apolitical”, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) plans to use this platform to demand the release of several accused booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for allegedly having links with Naxals, on Human Rights Day, to be observed Thursday.
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10/12/2020
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The farmers’ protest against the agricultural legislations entered the 15th day on Thursday…
Live updates
2.18 pm: Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan observe human rights day at Tikri border, demanding release of writers, rationalists and intellectuals, mainly arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, including Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde, Sudha Bhardwaj, Varvara Rao and others, reports The Times of India.
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UCA / by Saji Thomas
A demand to release an elderly Jesuit priest and 15 other activists was prominent among calls made at programs marking international Human Rights Day in many parts of India.
Several rights groups joined with citizens to organize demonstrations, webinars and marches across the country on Dec 10, expressing their concern over what they said was a governmental attempt to throttle dissenting voices against its policies and programs.
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By Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha / @JharkhandJanad1 (Dec 12):
Rajesh Kachhap, @INCJharkhand MLA says that Stan Swamy’s arrest is an attack on freedom of expression by the dictatorial central govt. He demands Stan’s release and appeals to @HemantSorenJMM govt to write to the centre.
10/12/2020
CSW / by CWS
A protest has been held today, International Human Rights Day, outside the High Commission of India in London, organised by the UK-based Jesuit Missions, to mark the launch of an international campaign calling for the immediate and unconditional release from prison of Father Stan Swamy.
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10/12/2020
By Jesuit Mission UK
This Human Rights Day falls on the 10 December, and Jesuit Missions is inviting you to take action to help free Fr Stan Swamy SJ from prison.
What you can do
We want to raise awareness about what has happened to Fr Stan Swamy. This can be done in two ways.
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10/12/2020
09/12/2020
Right to Food and Work Campaign, West Bengal
National Level Postcard Campaign Takes Off on Human Rights Day On 10th December, 2020, International Human Rights Day, a nation-wide post card campaign asking the Prime Minister to repeal the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and to release all prisoners who have been incarcerated under this Act, is being inaugurated.
By PUCL-CG and CMM-MKS
People’s Union for Civil Liberties-Chhattisgarh & Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha-Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti had given the call to march in solidarity with Sudha Bharadwaj and other human rights activists on International Human Rights Day.
The yatra was planned from Bhilai Power House to the Chief Minister’s residence in Raipur to deliver a memorandum, demanding the release of Sudha Bharadwaj and her co-accused. But the padyatra was stopped by the police near Khursipar in Bhilai, violating the fundamental right of the citizens to protest peacefully.
They demanded:
Release Sudha Bharadwaj!
Release all Human Rights Activists!
Stop Human Rights Violations in Chhattisgarh!
29/11/2020
The Times of India / by Siva G
Andhra Pradesh: Various people’s organisations demanded the police to release the arrested people’s organisations leaders including adivasis, women, dalits and minorities unconditionally along with the 16 persons detained illegally in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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29/11/2020
The Wire / by Gali Nagaraja
Driven to a frenzy over purported statements given by Maoist sympathisers, Andhra police have arrested several human rights activists from Andhra Pradesh and Haryana.
Hyderabad: Athram Suguna, a 38-year old school teacher of the Gond tribe from Telangana’s Fakrigutta in Adilabad district, has been caught in a cat-and-mouse game with no end in sight.
Suguna works as a school assistant in a zilla parishad high school at Utnoor. After a group of suspected Maoist sympathisers supposedly spilled the beans on a network of Maoists to the police, the latter have framed her in a case under the draconian and stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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28/11/2020
Live Law / by Live Law News Network
After 83-year-old Father Stan Swamy moved the NIA Court seeking adequate facilities at the Taloja Jail as he is unable to drink water from glass due to medical reasons, a group of lawyers have sent straws and sippers for him. Stating that the authorities must ensure that the detention of persons at the jail must be ‘human’, the members of the Bar urged the Jail Superintendent of Taloja Jail to make arrangements for all inmates as per the jail manual who have special medical needs.
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28/11/2020
Outlook / by pti
NPRD also appeals all disability rights organisations, activists to join this campaign and send sippers to Swamy.
Tribal activist Stan Swamy’s painful wait for a sipper cannot be tolerated any longer, said a prominent disability rights organisation that is planning to send the drinking aid to the jailed octogenarian, who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
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27/11/2020
Newzhook / by Newshook
The plight of Father Stan Swamy continues to draw outrage among disability rights groups and ordinary citizens. Over 100 straws and sippers have been sent to the Taloja Jail where he is lodged in as well as the National Investigation Agency office. The 83-year-old activist has Parkinson’s disease, a condition recognised as disabling under RPWD Act 2016.
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27/11/2020
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The National Investigation Agency’s statement in court on Thursday that it would not be able to provide a sipper and straw to jailed activist Stan Swamy has prompted social media users around the country to take matters into their own hands and send these items to him themselves.
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27/11/2020
en | 53min | 2020
Mojo Story / by Barkha Dutt
A Special NIA Court in Mumbai denied 83-year old Stan Swamy, suffering from Parkinson’s, booked under the UAPA Act, of basic amenities like a straw and a sipper.
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22/11/2020
Catholic register / by Michael Swan
Canada’s Jesuit provincial superior Fr. Erik Oland has asked the Canadian government to intervene in the case of Fr. Stan Swamy, an 83-year-old Jesuit priest with Parkinson’s imprisoned in an Indian prison where he faces bizarre and vague charges under a new national security law.
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20/11/2020
Eastern Mirror / by Eastern Mirror Correspondent
Joining the countrywide protest, the Catholic community in Nagaland held a silent protest on the Theme, “Stand with Stan”, in Kohima on Tuesday to show their displeasure over the arrest of 83-year-old Fr. Stan Swamy.
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