en | 13:35 min | 2020
By Dalit Camera
In conversation with P Pavana, daughter of revolutionary writer Varavara Rao. She speaks to us about Varavara Rao’s health conditions amidst the Corona crisis and the court’s persistent refusal to grant bail.
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The Telegraph / by Special Correspndent
Outfits from US, UK, Canada, Japan want activists freed.
Twenty-one organisations working for the cause of social justice in the US, the UK, India, Canada and Japan have demanded immediate withdrawal of charges against civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde and 10 others in connection with the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence and alleged Maoist links.
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The Telegraph / by The Editorial Board
The European Parliament has reminded the Indian government that in times of a pandemic, “prisoners of conscience” should be released.
Who defends in India the rights of the defenders of human rights? Going by the incisively worded letter of the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights to the Indian home minister, no one.
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By Pen Delhi
PEN Delhi joins PEN International in expressing deep concern for the welfare of Indian poet P. Varavara Rao who has been in detention since November 2018. Aged 81 and in poor health, a bail hearing for Rao was due on 2 June 2020. He had been admitted into the hospital for his failing health last week, but was discharged one day before the hearing, on 1 June 2020, and sent back to jail. The bail hearing has now been postponed to 5 June 2020.
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01/06/2020
By Pen International
PEN International is deeply concerned for the welfare of Indian poet P. Varavara Rao who has been in detention since November 2018. Aged 81 and in poor health, a bail hearing for Rao is due 2 June 2020. Given his fragile state of health and questions surrounding the validity of the charges under which he is held, PEN is calling for him to be released on medical grounds.
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Samaj Weekly / by 21 Organizations
We, the undersigned twenty-one organizations, strongly condemn the shameful imprisonment of India’s finest public intellectuals and social justice defenders, Dr. Anand Teltumbde and Mr. Gautam Navalakha who’ve been in custody since April 14, 2020. Dr. Teltumbde & Mr. Nalvlakha join nine others – journalists, lawyers, writers, academics & organizers- Surendra Gadling, Arun Fereira, Vernon Gonsalves, Mahesh Raut, Sudha Bharadwaj, Dr. Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Varavara Rao- who have been imprisoned in the same fabricated Bhima-Koregaon case.
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Siasat.com / by Indian Americans Forum
Chicago: Indian Americans Forum is concerned about the recent news of renowned poet Varavara Rao’s health. Varavara Rao, age 81 who is a well known activist, writer, poet and lecturer got arrested 1.5 years ago in the alleged Elgar Parishad case which is still in trial.
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The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
‘In COVID-19 times, especially when Maharashtra has emerged as the State with the highest number of cases, differentially treating bail petitions by political prisoners is gross injustice’.
The denial of bail to all accused in the Elgaar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case was “patently callous”, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said on Monday, and urged that the health and safety of political prisoners be treated with the same urgency as other prisoners.
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01/06/2020
Kractivism / by PUDR
With the surrenders of Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha on April 14, 2020 in Mumbai and Delhi respectively, the NIA, the investigative agency, has ensured the arrest of all 11 prominent human rights activists in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case under the draconian UAPA. The recent rejection of the bail applications of Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Shoma Sen and Sudha Bharadwaj, and the sudden transfer of Gautam Navlakha by the NIA, raise significant questions about the rights of political prisoners amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
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National Herald / by NH Web Desk.
Shailesh Gandhi and Prof M Sridhar Acharyulu have written a letter to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray calling for 80-year-old P Varavara Rao’s release, pointing out several grounds to do so.
Two former Central Information Commissioners, Shailesh Gandhi and Prof M Sridhar Acharyulu have written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray calling for the release of renowned Telugu poet, journalist and lecturer P Varavara Rao, who is in judicial custody for the last 18 months in Bhima Koregaon case for an alleged attempt to murder Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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Counterview / by Vidya Bhushan Rawat
It is deeply disturbing that 81-year-old poet Varavara Rao has been denied bail and has now been admitted to a hospital in Mumbai. Reports suggest that the prison in Taloja, Navi Mumbai, where he was lodged, has several Covid-19 patient. The family and friends of Varavara Rao have protested in Hyderabad, as they were not even allowed to visit him.
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The New Indian Express / by IANS
Varavara Rao’s wife Hemalatha and daughter Pavana staged a three-hour-long protest at home, holding placards for release of the 80-year-old who was arrested in November 2018.
HYDERABAD: Revolutionary Telugu poet and writer Varavara Rao, who is in judicial custody in Maharashtra in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been admitted to JJ Hospital at Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
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Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
Taloja Jail authorities said Rao was being treated at the medical facility within the jail, but his condition did not improve for three days.
Varavara Rao, the 81-year-old Telugu poet and an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, was admitted to JJ Hospital in Mumbai on Thursday, the Hindustan Times reported. Taloja Jail authorities said Rao was being treated at the medical facility within the jail over the last three days, but was shifted to hospital after his condition did not improve.
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Scroll.in / by Malini Subramaniam
The subcommittee also questioned India’s use of UAPA to silence activists such as Safoora Zargar, Khalid Saifi, Meeran Haider and Sharjeel Imam, among others.
The European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressing concern about the recent arrests of activists Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha by the National Investigative Agency, and urged India to immediately release all political prisoners in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The activists are accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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