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Category: Solidarity

PUDR: Condemn the surreptitious transfer of Gautam Navlakha to Taloja Jail

PUDR: Condemn the surreptitious transfer of Gautam Navlakha to Taloja Jail

By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights

People’s Union for Democratic Rights is aghast at the National Investigating Agency (NIA) surreptitiously whisking away Gautam Navlakha from the Tihar Jail to Mumbai on 25 May 2020, without informing his lawyers or his family. 67-year old Gautam Navlakha was arrested by the NIA in the Bhima Koregaon matter, the infamous case that has become the vehicle to arrest human rights activists: journalists, academicians and lawyers critical of government actions.
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Scribes’ unions want Varavara Rao released on bail

Scribes’ unions want Varavara Rao released on bail

The New Indian Express / by Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Leaders of the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and Telangana State of Union of Working Journalists (TSUWJ) on Wednesday requested the Maharashtra government to consider releasing writer Varavara Rao on parole, keeping in mind his health condition and COVID-19 situation in the State.
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Appeal: Save our father Varavara Rao – Release him immediately from Taloja Jail

Appeal: Save our father Varavara Rao – Release him immediately from Taloja Jail


Varavara Rao greeting family members, 2018 (Photo: DC)

South Asia Citizens Web / by P Sahaja, P Anala, P Pavana

To
The Governor, Maharashtra,
The Chief Justice, High Court of Maharashtra,
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra,
We, P Sahaja, P Anala, P Pavana, daughters of the famous revolutionary poet P Varavara Rao, who is incarcerated in Maharashtra jails (in Yerawada, Pune jail till February 2020 and in Taloja, Navi Mumbai jail since then) in a fabricated case, are perturbed to see the news that a prisoner died in Taloja jail due to Covid-19, as admitted by the government in a PIL case in Mumbai High Court yesterday.
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CITING HEALTH, VARAVARA RAO’S DAUGHTERS URGE MAHARASHTRA CM UDDHAV THACKERAY FOR HIS PAROLE

The New Indian Express / by Express News Service

Earlier, at least 40 prominent writers had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the release of Rao amid the crisis.
MUMBAI: Family members of poet, writer and activist Varavara Rao, jailed in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon case, appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to release him on parole amid the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state and in its prisons.
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Open Letter: Release human rights defenders at risk in the context of COVID-19

Open Letter: Release human rights defenders at risk in the context of COVID-19


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

By International Federation for Human Rights

Dear Home Minister,
We, the undersigned organizations, write with great concern regarding the situation of student activists Safoora Zargar, who is four months pregnant, Meeran Haider, Shifa-Ur-Rehman and Sharjeel Imam, all detained under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). …
Their situation is not unique. For example, on 14 April 2020, the authorities also detained human rights activists Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha under the UAPA for allegedly inciting caste-based violence during a 2018 demonstration in Bhima Koregaon, Maharashtra state. Nine other activists have been detained since 2018 in relation to the same case. They are known for their work defending the rights of Adivasi and Dalit communities and should all be released immediately.
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Citizens Appeal: Release Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen From Covid-19 Hit Byculla Jail [read letter]

Citizens Appeal: Release Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen From Covid-19 Hit Byculla Jail [read letter]

Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen

The Citizen / by Concerned Citizen

660 concerned citizens from all walks of life have written to the High Powered Committee comprising Justice AA Sayed, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sanjay Chahande, Director General of Prisons SN Pandey, Maharasthra urging them to temporarily release Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj and Professor Shoma Sen from Byculla Jail, Mumbai, due to rampant COVID-19 spread within the prison.
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Media coverage of the letter

25/05/2020

Over 600 citizens call for temporary release of Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sena from jail

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

They have been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for their alleged role in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
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Over 600 Citizens Call for Temporary Release of Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen From Byculla Jail

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The signatories pointed out that Bharadwaj and Sen were suffering from multiple ailments, making them vulnerable to COVID-19.
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Video: Angela Davis in Solidarity with UAPA Prisoners

Video: Angela Davis in Solidarity with UAPA Prisoners


en | 4:32 min | 2020

By Collective Delhi

The COVID 19 Lockdown has exposed how the ruling regime considers repressing democratic voices as an ‘essential service’. UAPA and Sedition laws have been used to for a witch-hunt of those who stand by secular, progressive ideals. Peasant and working class organizers, democratic rights defenders, lawyers, journalists and others have also been arrested under these colonial-era laws.
Angela Davis, activist in prison abolition movement and anti-racism revolutionary, speaks in solidarity with those being targeted today under UAPA.
Watch video

Mumbai Police Quiz Jailed Activist’s Family About His Whereabouts

Mumbai Police Quiz Jailed Activist’s Family About His Whereabouts


Pic: Sagar, Vernon, Susan

The Quint / by Ankita Sinha

On 11 May 2020, two police officials with the Mumbai Crime Branch reportedly paid a visit to social activist Vernon Gonsalves’s home, with the intent of finding out Gonsalves’s whereabouts. They questioned his wife, Susan Abraham, who is also an advocate and his son Sagar.
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UN Bodies pass joint statement on Covid-19 in prisons and other closed settings

UN Bodies pass joint statement on Covid-19 in prisons and other closed settings


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

The Leaflet / by Ujjaini Chatterji

The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes, the World Health Organization, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have taken note of the spread of Covid-19 in prisons and other closed settings. In this regard, they have issued a statement urging political leaders to undertake the necessary public health measures to counter and mitigate this threat.
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MAHARASHTRA RELEASES 7,200 PRISONERS TO CURB OVERCROWDING

17/05/2020

The New Indian Express / by PTI

In a bid to decongest state jails due to coronavirus outbreak, the state prisons department has so far released over 7,200 prisoners across the state on either temporary bail or parole.
PUNE: Authorities in Maharashtra have released over 7,200 prisoners so far to check overcrowding in jails amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Sunday.
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INDIA DECONTESTS ITS JAILS TO CHECK CORONAVIRUS BUT POLITICAL PRISONERS ARE STILL LOCKED UP

14/05/2020

Quartz India / by Manavi Kapur

Overcrowded Indian prisons have become hotbeds of coronavirus cases.
In March, India’s supreme court recognised this risk—total occupancy of India’s jails standing at 115% —and set down guidelines for releasing some prisoners on parole and bail.
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Devanur Mahadeva: Release Anand Teltumbde immediately

Devanur Mahadeva: Release Anand Teltumbde immediately

Times of India / by TNN

Mysuru: Dalit writer and activist Devanur Mahadeva oined hundreds of activists and rationalists from across the country on Thursday, demandingthe immediate release of activist and writer Anand Teltumbde.
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DSS STAGES PROTEST, DEMANDS RELEASE OF DR ANAND TELTUMBDE

14/05/2020

City Today / by CTBUREAU_HS

Mysuru: Dalita Sangharsha Samiti (DSS) staged a silent protest alleging the government has arrested scholar Dr Anand Teltumbde purposefully and demanded his immediate release.
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