Solidarity – Page 21 – free them all

Fight to clear Fr Stan Swamy’s name ‘will continue’ / Activists Call for Release of Accused

24/12/2022 Asha

The death of Fr. Stan Swamy was finalised the day he was arrested: Senior Advocate Mihir Desai

26/12/2022

Sabrang / by Sabrangindia

A Press Conference discussing the recent Arsenal report, and the tampering of evidence in Late Fr. Stan Swamy’s Case
A press conference was organised by the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh in Mumbai on December 22, 2022. The aim of this press conference was to discuss the issue of reports recently released suggesting fabrication of evidence on the computer of Father Stan Swamy. The speakers at this conference were Fr. Joe Xavier, Fr. Frazer Mascarenhas, Senior Advocate Mihir Desai and Former Professor Nagarjuna G. There were almost 30-40 journalists present in the audience.
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‘Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy’

23/12/2022

Rediff.com / by Neeta Kolhatkar

The State has played with their lives.’
‘Arsenal proved the machines were hacked and false evidence implanted with false files and letters.’
An independent organisation, ‘Mumbai Rises To Save Democracy’, called upon the public and media to raise their voices against the authoritarian State.
This call comes after the United States-based digital forensics firm Arsenal Consulting revealed that several incriminating documents were planted on the computers of the late Father Stan Swamy, Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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‘Fr Stan Swamy did not even access plants on his computer’

23/12/2022

Hindustan Times / by Gautam S Mengle

Mihir Desai, Senior Advocate at High Court of Bombay, Fr. Joe Xavier, Convenor of Fr. Stan Swamy Legacy Committee of the Jesuits, Fr. Frazer Mascarenhas, Former Principal of St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai along with Nagarjuna G., Former Professor of Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR, during the press conference on “Fabricating Evidence Against Life & Liberty: Tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer and its implications for Bhima Koregaon case, at Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh (MMPS), near Azad Maidan, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, December 22, 2022.
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Stan Swamy didn’t access files used against him, evidence fabricated: US-based forensics firm

22/12/2022

India Today / by Mustafa Shaikh

Evidence against Late Father Stan Swamy in the Bhima Koregaon case was planted and fabricated, US-based digital forensics firm, Arsenal Consulting, stated in a report.
Evidence against Late Father Stan Swamy in the Bhima Koregaon case was planted and fabricated. His computer was compromised by the same attacker who hacked the computers of co-accused Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling, US-based digital forensics firm, Arsenal Consulting, stated in a report.
Swamy’s lawyer and friends revealed details of the report and their further course of action on Thursday.
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‘Stan Swamy was jailed as he used law to help adivasis’

22/12/2022

Times of India / by TNN

Why did Fr Stan Swamy, an 80-year-old Jesuit and tribal rights activist, find himself in the crosshairs of the investigating agencies? At a news meet on Thursday, a panel comprising close associates claimed it was because Swamy had used the legal system to help tribals, whose lands were illegally grabbed. “Stan worked for justice and paid the price for it,” said Fr. Joe Xavier, ex-executive director of Indian Social Institute.
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Activists Call for Release of Accused in Elgar Parishad Case, Probe into ‘Fabrication’ of Evidence

22/12/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

There is a fresh demand for an impartial probe from activists in the wake of a recent report by a US-based digital forensics firm stating that ‘incriminating evidence’ was ‘planted’ on the laptop of activist Stan Swamy, an accused in the case.
Human rights activists, lawyers and academicians on Thursday, December 22, called for the release of the accused persons in the Elgar Parishad case and an impartial probe into the allegations of tampering of electronic devices and fabrication of evidence of all those accused in the case.
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Fight to clear Fr Stan Swamy’s name ‘will continue’

23/12/2022

UCA News / by UCA News reporter

A recent report by US digital forensics firm reveals how the late Jesuit priest was implicated by planted false evidence
Friends and colleagues of a dead Jesuit Indian priest have pledged to continue the fight “to clear his name from the false cases” that led to his arrest, imprisonment and death in custody.
Father Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old priest and indigenous rights activist died on July 5, 2021, after being denied timely medical treatment for Parkinson’s disease and other age-related ailments.
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NIA may be suppressing probe findings: Stan Swamy’s lawyer Mihir Desai

23/12/2022

Midday.com / by Nascimento Pinto

The participants called for the release of the remaining co-accused in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case, along with an independent impartial investigation into the tampering of electronic devices and fabrication of evidence of all those accused in the case.
Almost a week after American digital forensics firm ‘Arsenal Consulting’ revealed in a detailed report that tribal rights activist Father Stanislaus Lourdes Swamy’s computer was tampered with and ‘evidence’ was planted on it, human rights activists, lawyers and academicians vowed to secure justice for the late Ranchi-based priest and those accused of terror links in Bhima-Koregaon case.
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Video: Press Conference by Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy (MRSD)

22/12/2022

en | 1:31 | 2022
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Press Conference / Statement by MRSD: Fabricating Evidence – Tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer

22/12/2022 Asha

By Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy (MRSD)

In wake of the recent Arsenal report which exposes the malicious tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer, MRSD* organized a press conference on “Fabricating Evidence Against Life and Liberty: Tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer and its implications for Bhima Koregaon case” on December 22, 2022.
Speakers:
Fr. Joe Xavier, Convenor of Fr. Stan Swamy Legacy Committee of the Jesuits and Former Executive Director of the Indian Social Institute.
Fr. Frazer Mascarenhas, Former principal of St Xavier’s College in Mumbai and the Parish Priest of St Peter’s Church.
Mihir Desai, Senior Advocate at High Court of Bombay.
Nagarjuna G., Former Professor, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

*MRSD is a forum constituted by several democratic rights, civil society and people’s organisations to campaign for the release of human rights defenders falsely charged and imprisoned in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case, the repeal of UAPA and for upholding the citizens’ right to dissent.

en | 1:31 | 2022
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Press Statement

22/12/2022

By Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy*

Fabricating Evidence Against Life and Liberty: Tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer and its implications for Bhima Koregaon case

The latest report released by Arsenal Consulting, a Massachusetts-based digital forensics firm- proves that Father Stan’s computer was infiltrated by hackers since October 19th 2014, and more than 40 documents were planted in it. In his last video statement before his arrest, Stan had asserted that documents shown to him by the NIA were fabricated. Inspite of the same he was arrested on 8th October 2020 and subsequently died on 5th July 2021 in custody. Stan’s case represents not just grave injustice to the 84-year-old, but also the deep denigration of basic humanity by the system.
Fr. Stan was incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon (BK) conspiracy case which has come to represent a major conspiracy against human rights defenders in India. Including Stan, 16 activists, lawyers, academicians have been arrested since 2018 in the case filed by the Pune police (later on transferred to NIA) following caste violence that broke out against Dalit visitors on January 1, 2018, in Bhima Koregaon village near Pune. Ironically, the police invoked UAPA, a law that Stan vehemently resisted, to arrest the BK-16 activists, and brand them as anti-nationals, urban naxals and members of a banned political party and even alleged involvement in a purported assassination plan on the Prime minister. The long list of allegations in the case is meant to arouse the deepest suspicion against these 16 accused, and against their work of defending democracy and people’s struggles.
Fr. Stan worked tirelessly especially for Adivasis in Jharkhand, their rights to land, forest, and against their false incarceration. Apart from being an activist, he also documented many instances of injustices in an impeccable manner. He also raised objections to instances of illegal mining and other supposed development projects which had the impact of displacing people from their home and hearths.
Fr. Stan’s arrest in the middle of COVID-19 pandemic, despite his ill-health and age, is a proof of the system’s apathy to human rights defenders. During his last months in prison, he repeatedly requested to be shifted to his residence in Ranchi. A patient of the Parkinson’s disease, Stan faced multiple challenges during his incarceration. Inspite of having contracted Covid and taking seriously ill, he was denied timely medical treatment and care in prison. However, no cognizance of this was taken, and the situation deteriorated resulting in the death of Fr. Stan, even while his application for bail was pending. His untimely and tragic death is a result of the sheer negligence of the jail authorities, NIA and failure of the entire criminal justice system to protect a defender of justice. Such denial of rights becomes even more stark with emerging documentary proof that the evidence presented in the case were fabricated. It must be noted that in April 2021, Arsenal consulting had already released a report proving the malicious hacking and planting of documents in computers of co-accused, Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling.
The fact that Fr. Stan died before he could get a chance to prove his innocence is jarring. This case shows the extent to which illegal cyber-attacks are being used in Digital India to build false criminal cases against innocent citizens who can then be jailed indefinitely under the UAPA law. Such is the desperation of the system to incarcerate human rights defenders and dehumanize the society at large. At the same time, the real instigators of violence at Bhima Koregaon, Milind Ekbote of Samastha Hindu Aghadi and Sambhaji Bhide of Shiv Chhatrapati Pratishan are not being prosecuted and are instead being shielded politically.

We call for:
1. Immediate release of all remaining co-accused in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case and quashing of the case against them on the basis of fabricated evidence.
2. Reparations and justice for the wrongful incarceration of Fr. Stan Swamy that resulted in his death.
3. Impartial and independent investigation into the tampering of electronic devices and fabrication of evidence against the BK-16 accused in the case.
4. Impartial and independent investigation into the role of Milind Ekbote, Sambhaji Bhide and other right-wing leaders and outfits for planning and inciting violence on Dalits in Bhima Koregaon and their prosecution in the FIRs filed against them.
5. Repeal of draconian UAPA law used as a tool to curb dissent and political opposition.

*Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy: MRSD is a forum constituted by more than 20 democratic rights, civil society and people’s organisations to campaign for the release of those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case, repeal of UAPA and for upholding the citizens’ right to dissent.

Also read:
● Hackers Planted Files to Frame an Indian Priest Who Died in Custody (Wired / Dec 13, 2022)

Indian government asked to apologize for framing Stan Swamy / Govt to ‘take full responsibility’

15/12/2022 Asha

by Mary Lawlor UN Special Rapporteur HRDs / @MaryLawlorhrds (Dec 15, 2022):
Extremely distressing new report by @ArsenalArmed which finds that fake evidence was planted on Stan Swamy’s computer. Stan’s detention & death are a stain on India’s human rights record. Charges against the other HRDs in Bhima Koregaon case must be dropped

Indian government asked to apologize for framing Stan Swamy

15/12/2022

Matters India / by Matters India Reporter

Catholic Church leaders have sought an “unconditional apology” from the Indian government for the custodial death of Father Stan Swamy after a US based digital forensic firm has found that the late Jesuit was falsely implicated in a sedition case.
“At least at this stage, the government and its probe agency should tender an unconditional apology to people for the unjust arrest, inhuman incarceration and custodial death of Father Swamy for no fault of his,” says Jesuit Father A Santhanam, convener of the National Lawyers Forum of Religious and Priests (NLFRP).
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Planting of evidence against Stan Swamy ‘blot on justice system’, say politicians, social bodies

14/12/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

A news report claimed that a hacker planted evidence on a device owned by the tribal rights activist, who died in July last year.
Hours after a report claimed that a hacker planted evidence on a device owned by tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, several politicians, academics, activists and social organisations on Tuesday denounced the incident and described it as a “blot on the justice system”.
“Is this how a democratic country treats its own?” Congress leader Salman Anees Soz tweeted. “The courts must introspect. Is this the best they can do?
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Indian govt ‘must come clean on Fr Stan Swamy’s death’

14/12/2022

UCA News / by UCA News Reporter

Evidence ‘planted’ on the late Jesuit priest’s computer to ‘falsely’ implicate him in the Bhima-Koregaon case, US agency says.
Catholic activists and priests want the Indian government to “take full responsibility” for the custodial death of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy after latest findings by US-based digital forensic experts that false evidence was planted on the priest’s computer by hacking it.
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by CPI (M) @cpimspeak (Dec 14, 2022):
CPI(M) demands that all the Bhima Koregaon accused be immediately released from jail; NIA should not deny their bail applications and or discharge appeals; an expert, fair re-examination taking into account the forensic evidence available should be made in a timebound framework.

Click to enlarge

Also read:
● Hackers Planted Files to Frame an Indian Priest Who Died in Custody (Wired / Dec 13, 2022)
● Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

On Human Rights Day, a look at India’s surging human rights abuses / Personal liberty in India

10/12/2022 Asha

On Human Rights Day, a look at India’s surging human rights abuses

10/12/2022

National Herald / by NH Web Desk

The adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is marked as Human Rights Day on December 10, and December 2023 will mark the 75th anniversary of its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly.
… According to the Human Rights Watch, Indian authorities brought politically motivated cases, including under draconian sedition and terrorism laws, against human rights defenders, student activists, academics, opposition leaders, and critics, blaming them for the communal violence in February in Delhi as well as caste-based violence in Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra state in January 2018.
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Rights day: Call for release of Sikh political prisoners

11/12/2022

The Times of India / by TNN

Chandigarh/Jalandhar/Bathinda: Human rights activists, academicians and various religious activists on Saturday asked the Centre to release all political prisoners.
… In Faridkot, farmer body Kirti Kisan Union (KKU) along with Naujawan Bharat Sabha (NBS) and Punjab Students Union (PSU) took out a protest march and accused the BJP-led Centre of “not caring for the rights of protesting people and putting activists in jail on flimsy grounds”. They also accused the Centre of “mistreating activists” arrested for Bhima Koregaon and Delhi riots.
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The situation of personal liberty in India

11/12/2022

Indica News / by Justice Markandey Katju

Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman, Press Council of India.
In his Hamlyn Lecture, Lord Denning, the celebrated Judge of England, said, ” Whenever one of the King’s judges takes his seat in Court there is one application which by long tradition has priority over all others, and that is an application for a writ of habeas corpus. The counsel has only to say ‘My Lord, I have an application which concerns the liberty of a subject’, and forthwith the judge will put all other matters aside and hear it ”.
But what is the position in India?
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Amnesty International: Act now to demand the release of the BK16!

10/12/2022 Asha

By Amnesty International

Since 2018, Indian authorities have arrested 16 activists under a draconian anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case. 11 of them continue to languish in prison without trial.
The repression of activists must end. 
…
INDIAN AUTHORITIES MUST RELEASE ALL IMPRISONED ACTIVISTS IN THE BK16 CASE!
Act now to urge the Union Home Minister of India, Amit Shah to: 
► Drop all charges against the 16 activists and immediately release the 12 who remain in detention  
► Pending their release, ensure that they are granted prompt, regular, and unrestricted access to medical care and other basic necessities  
► Repeal or substantially amend the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. 
Read full statement / sign petition

Thousands gather at Chaityabhumi to pay homage to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

07/12/2022 Asha

Dalit women must fight for rights: Ambedkar’s granddaughter

07/12/2022

Deccan Herald / by DHNS

Referring to the Bhima Koregaon case, she said Dalits are steadily adopting a “silent stance,” despite being attacked regularly across the country
B R Ambedkar’s granddaughter Ramabai Anand Teltumbde on Tuesday appealed to women to ‘unite and fight’ for scholarships and employment opportunities, indirectly hitting out at the Modi administration.
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Thousands gather at Chaityabhumi to pay homage to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

07/12/2022

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

People of all ages, young and old, calling themselves ‘Ambedkar,’ gathered at Chaityabhumi, the cremation ground of the Father of the Indian Constitution.
Thousands of men, women and children from across Maharashtra came to Mumbai on Tuesday to pay homage to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on his 66th death anniversary.
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Public meeting ‘Thoughts Criminalised’ in Delhi

05/12/2022 Asha

By Campaign Against State Repression

Press Release

Click to enlarge

Also read/watch:
● Supreme Court’s suspension of Dr. G.N. Saibaba’s acquittal: ‘Technical grounds are also substantive’, says senior advocate, Mihir Desai (The Leaflet / Oct 2022)
● Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is Now the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)
● Pandu Narote’s Death: A Reminder of Stan Swamy’s Demise, GN Saibaba’s Struggles (The Quint / Sep 2022)

● Video: Personal Liberty and the Indian Courts

25/10/2022

en | 1h 42min | 2022
The discussion examines the recent three judgements relating to
► The denial of bail of Jyoti Jagtap by the Bombay High Court in the Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy case.
► The stay on the Bombay High Court judgement of acquittal/discharge of Dr. GN Saibaba and others by the Supreme Court
► The denial of bail by the Delhi High Court of Umar Khalid in the Conspiracy case of the Delhi Riots of 2020.
Watch video (PUCL fb page)

Will the bail granted to Anand Teltumbde help others in the case to get out of jail?

28/11/2022 Asha

Will the bail granted to Anand Teltumbde help others in the Bhima Koregaon case to get out of jail?

28/11/2022

Scroll.in / by Umang Poddar

This is the first bail in the case granted on merits. But experts say that the case of each Bhima Koregaon accused will have to be considered individually.
On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld Bombay High Court’s November 18 order granting bail to Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. Teltumbde is the first person accused in the matter to be granted bail on the merits of the case. Previously, others in the case have got bail only on medical grounds or due to procedural lapses by the investigating agency.
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Supreme Court’s Widely- Praised Bail for Anand Teltumbde should be Followed by Wider Justice in Elgar Case

28/11/2022

Countercurrents.org / by Bharat Dogra

Supreme Court’s firmness in upholding the Bombay High Court’s order granting bail to Anand Teltumbde has been widely appreciated. However, we must also listen to what this 73 year old distinguished scholar activist, coming out after spending 31 months in prison, had to stay regarding the case in which several other distinguished activists have also been implicated: “the sad thing is that this is the fakest case and it put us behind us behind bar for years.”
The reference here was of course to the notorious Elgar Parishad case which has been attracting strong criticism from several human rights and democracy activists during the last few years.
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Also read:
● Bhima Koregaon: Who’s who of those arrested and the developments in the case pertaining to each (The Leaflet / June 2022)

Anand Teltumbde’s SC Bail Hearing Is A Bellwether Case For Govt’s Use of India’s Anti-Terror Law

23/11/2022 Asha

A Professor’s Supreme Court Bail Hearing Is A Bellwether Case For Govt’s Use of India’s Anti-Terror Law

23/11/2022

article 14 / by Chitrangada Choudhury

When the Supreme Court considers the case for bail to management professor and writer Anand Teltumbde this week, it will be one of a handful since 2018 to evaluate the merit of a government allegation of terrorism in a case against 15 academics, intellectuals and artistes. The hectoring of judges and attempts by government lawyers to stop bail, even though the trial has not begun after more than four years, appears to indicate how important the Bhima-Koregaon case is to the State’s model of arrest and incarceration without trial using the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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Material does not inspire confidence that Teltumbde indulged in terrorist acts

23/11/2022

Citizens for Justice & Peace / by CJP Team

He has spent more than 2.5 years in prison under the stringent UAPA.
… CJP stands in solidarity with the human rights defenders targeted by a vindictive state. A healthy democracy needs voices of dissent. We also need human rights defenders and social activists to work tirelessly to uphold our shared values of equality, peace and justice.
The Case
The case against Teltumbde is that he was the convener of Elgar Parishad conference held on December 31, 2017 which led to clashes in Bhima Koregaon resulting in one person’s death. When the police probed further and the NIA took over the case, it was alleged that there was a conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister. The NIA also alleges that Teltumbde is an active member of CPI (Maoists) and also linked him to his late brother, Milind, who was the Secretary of the (Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh) unit of the banned CPI(M).
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Also read:
● The Security Playbook Used To Erode Democracy In Modi’s India & How The Tide Might Turn (article 14 / March 2022)
● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)

Download report

Prisoners of conscience / Court directs top cop to look into the mosquito menace in Taloja prison

16/11/2022 Asha

Prisoners of conscience

16/11/22

Deccan Herald / by Jyoti Punwani

Is it just their relentless opposition to State policies that gets the NIA’s goat, or is it also their privileged background?
Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. Sometimes they do, even for the most creative minds.
Take Maharashtra’s Taloja Jail, on the outskirts of Mumbai. For the last almost three years, it’s been home to some of the country’s most valuable public intellectuals, and also the site of their steady deterioration. The Bhima Koregaon trial is yet to begin, but the 16 accused have already been punished, by the NIA that’s handling their case and the jail authorities.
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Court directs top cop to look into the mosquito menace in Taloja prison

16/11/22

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

In his plea made on Tuesday, he said that there is no reply from the jail’s superintendent despite the court’s direction to the authority to file one.
Following an application by civil rights activist and accused in Bhima-Koregaon case, Anand Teltumbde, on Tuesday, a special court has directed the Deputy Inspector General of police (DIG, Prisons) to look into the mosquito menace in Taloja prison as the jail superintendent has not complied with previous orders to take precautions to control the situation despite repeated directions.
Read more

Also read:
● Two more accused move court seeking mosquito nets (Hindustan Times / Sep 2022)
● Gautam Navlakha approaches court again seeking mosquito net (Scroll.in / Sep 2022)
● Bhima Koregaon accused calls off hunger strike (The Hindu / May 2022)
● Hunger Strike unto death against the harassment from Taloja Central Jail’s apathetic administration (By Sagar Gorkhe / May 20, 2022)
● by PantherAjay (May 27, 2022):
Jailed Shahir Sagar Gorkhe is not the only under trail prisoner who has been continually harassed and whose ‘Machchhardani’ stolen by the insolent jail administration. This is an attempt to condemn the unlawful treatment meted against the under trial prisoners and to safeguard their rights. Following is the account of a similar incident that was faced by another imprisoned writer and poet Ramesh Gaichor translated from the original written in Marathi.