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PUDR report: Framed to Die – The Case of Stan Swamy

PUDR report: Framed to Die – The Case of Stan Swamy

By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

Marking a month since Stan Swamy passed away in judicial custody in a private hospital, a month in which no official inquiry, even the mandated magisterial inquest, has not been initiated, Framed to die: The case of Stan Swamy documents the manner in which Stan Swamy was framed, fettered, and finally forced towards a fatal illness under due process of law called Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Framed to Die argues that Stan’s experiences of persecution provide an understanding of many others, including the 15 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. Beyond chronicling Stan’s persecution under law, Framed to Die documents why Comrade Stan was a dissenter and a true patriot and why the state feared and criminalized his dissent under the UAPA.

Download full report (45 pages) here

Pegasus Findings: Former Top Cops Call For Relook at Case Against Elgar Parishad / Press Note

Pegasus Findings: Former Top Cops Call For Relook at Case Against Elgar Parishad / Press Note

Senior Retired Police Officers Say Cyber Hacking Operations Revealed in Bhima Koregaon Case and Pegasus Attack Have Serious Implications

05/08/2021

By Family and Friends of BK16

PRESS NOTE
Senior Retired Police Officers Say Cyber Hacking Operations Revealed in Bhima Koregaon Case and Pegasus Attack Have Serious Implications for Police Functioning, Rule of Law
“[Such practices] give a very wrong message to the police leaders” – Julio Ribeiro, retired DGP, Punjab and Gujarat

On a day when the Supreme Court heard petitions against the government’s refusal to inquire into the use of Pegasus spyware, three senior retired police officers addressed an online press conference raising serious concerns about the impact of surveillance and evidence planting. In the wake of clear proof of evidence planting emerging in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad cases, as well as the ongoing Pegasus revelations, Julio Ribeiro (former DGP, Punjab), Vikash Narain Rai (former DGP, Haryana) and SR Darapuri (former IG Police, Uttar Pradesh), said such revelations have serious implications for the rule of law and for the functioning of the country’s police. They criticised the government’s failure to investigate these crimes, and also called for the release of those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case. …

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Book release: I am not a Silent Spectator. An Autobiographical Fragment, Memory and Reflection

Book release: I am not a Silent Spectator. An Autobiographical Fragment, Memory and Reflection

I am not a Silent Spectator – Why Truth has become so bitter, Dissent so intolarable, Justice so out of reach

An Autobiographical Fragment, Memory and Reflection

04/08/2021

Indian Social Institute, Bangalore / by Stan Swamy

Edition: Aug 2021
Publisher: Indian Social Institute, Bangalore
Language: English
Paperback: 149 pages

Access a free PDF copy of the book here

Video: Book release. I am not a Silent Spectator – An Autobiographical Fragment, Memory and Reflection

03/08/2021


en / hindi | 2h | 2021

By Jamshedpur Jesuits

Release of Fr Stan Swamy’s Memoir at XISS, Ranchi, Jharkhand
03 August 2021

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Bangalore Protests against Sedition, UAPA and demand Justice for Stan Swamy

Bangalore Protests against Sedition, UAPA and demand Justice for Stan Swamy

Gauri Lankesh News / by Gauri Lankesh News Desk

Father Stan Swamy is seen as a guiding figure who has served as an inspiration to many encouraging them to pick up and fight for good causes.
Bengaluru: Protests demanding repeal of regressive laws like UAPA, sedition and justice for Father Stan Swamy took place near the Gandhi Statue at Maurya Junction on Tuesday. The demonstration was organized by The National Action to Defend Democracy to protect the citizens’ right to dissent.
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They say, ‘Truth will finally prevail’. But how long is it going to take? – Anthology of writings by the late Stan Swamy

They say, ‘Truth will finally prevail’. But how long is it going to take? – Anthology of writings by the late Stan Swamy

Article14 / by Stan Swamy

Exclusive excerpts from ‘I Am Not A Silent Spectator’, an anthology of writings by the late Father Stan Swamy, Jesuit sociologist and at 84 the oldest accused, when he died on 5 July 2021 after nine months in custody in the Bhima-Koregaon case. He writes about his life with Adivasis & their struggles against injustice, & the case against him and more.
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I am not a Silent Spectator – Why Truth has become so bitter, Dissent so intolarable, Justice so out of reach.

An Autobiographical Fragment, Memory and Reflection


Edition: Aug 2021
Publisher: Indian Social Institute, Bangalore
Language: English
Paperback: 149 pages

Access a free PDF copy of the book here

Report: LRS Webinar on the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)

Report: LRS Webinar on the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)

By Lok Raj Sangathan

Over a hundred and fifty people from all over India, and a few Indians abroad too, participated in an online event organised by Lok Raj Sangathan on the pressing issue of the draconian UAPA.
It began with a presentation explaining the history of the UAPA and other similar laws like TADA and POTA. It showed how authoritarian laws were made more repressive over the years; explained the provisions in the UAPA at present which render it totally brutal and violative of basic human rights.
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India National Justice Day celebrates Father Stan Swamy

India National Justice Day celebrates Father Stan Swamy

India National Justice Day celebrates Father Stan Swamy

29/07/2021

Vatican News / by Vatican News staff

Indian citizens, concerned about values enshrined in the country’s Constitution, observed July 28 as National Justice Day in honour of late the Jesuit rights activist.
Christians and citizens of India joined hands on Wednesday to observe National Justice Day as an expression of their solidarity with late Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy, a human rights activist who died in custody.
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Justice for Stan Swamy: Candlelight march held

29/07/2021

The Hindu / by Staff Reporter

Participants urge Centre to free human rights’ defenders and undertrial prisoners
Bengaluru: Demanding justice for the late Fr. Stan Swamy and all unjustly accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, the faculty and students of various institutions and representatives of civil societies observed a silent candlelight march on Museum Road on Wednesday.
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Stan Swamy’s death another moment of awakening in journey to affirm faith in Constitution: Karnataka Jesuit provincial

29/07/2021

The Indian Express / by Express Web Desk

“Amidst growing inequalities, violence, atrocities, discrimination, and exclusion in our country, ‘not to be a silent spectator is the message that Father Stan left for us,” Fr Dionysius Vaz SJ, provincial of Karnataka Jesuit Province said.
Nearly a month after the death of Father Stan Swamy, a tribal rights activist arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case, the demand for justice to the late Jesuit priest continued in Bengaluru as members of various civil societies and faculty and students of several institutions carried out a silent candlelight march.
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Video: A letter poem to Professor Hany Babu

Video: A letter poem to Professor Hany Babu


en | 2.47min | 2021

Maktoob / by Shivangi Mariam Raj

Delhi University professor, scholar in linguistics, and noted anti-caste activist Hany Babu completes one year in prison under draconian UAPA in Elgar Parishad case.
Hany Babu’s student at Delhi University and an academic publishing professional Shivangi Mariam Raj wrote this poem “Dear Hany, This is just to say” in November last year, four months Hany’s arrest by NIA. (You can read the full poem here.)
Voice: Farzana Rowena, daughter of Hany Babu
Graphics: Shaheen Abdulla
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This is no ordinary spying. Our most intimate selves are now exposed

This is no ordinary spying. Our most intimate selves are now exposed

The Guardian / by Arundhati Roy

The Pegasus project shows we could all soon be ruled by states that know everything about us, while we know less and less about them.
Here in India, the summer of dying is quickly morphing into what looks very much like a summer of spying.
… Consider this: there are 16 activists, lawyers, trade unionists, professors and intellectuals, many of them Dalit, who have been jailed for years in what is known as the Bhima-Koregaon (BK) case.
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Also read: Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire, July 18, 2021)

The State Has Left My Mother To Die, Says Sudha Bharadwaj’s Daughter

The State Has Left My Mother To Die, Says Sudha Bharadwaj’s Daughter

Outlook / by Astha Savyasachi

As activist Sudha Bharadwaj’s health deteriorates inside prison, her friends and family speak to Outlook about her incarceration and work in Chhattisgarh.

‘Dedicated to those prisoners
in whose hearts the future shone like a pearl
But was burnt in the troubled nights of the prison
and diminished into a tiny flicker.’
(Translation of some lines from the poem ‘Intesaab’)

Smita Gupta took to Facebook and dedicated ‘Intesaab’, a famous poem penned by revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, to her dear friend Sudha Bharadwaj.
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