Solidarity – Page 79 – free them all

Release Those Charged Under Serious Offences – 130 Lawyers Make Recommendations [Read Letter]

31/03/2020 Maya

livelaw.in / by Nitish Kashyap

A total of 130 lawyers have written to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, State Home Minister and Chief Justice of Bombay High Court expressing grave concern regarding the safety of “thousands of individuals incarcerated in prisons and other settings of detention such as observation homes, special homes, children homes, detention centers, borstal homes, etc” in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.
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MHARASHTRA PRISONERS RELEASED SAYS JAIL UNPREPARED TO HANDLE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

31/01/2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

No transport has been arranged for those who are released, while inmates still in prison fear for their health.
Mumbai: Even as the Maharashtra state government has slowly begun releasing incarcerated persons on parole and interim bail as a safeguard against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, fear and desperation has gripped those languishing in the jail.
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Activists seek bail for political prisoners

30/03/2020 Maya

The Hindu / by Staff Reporter

“COVID-19 outbreak an occasion to look at overcrowded prisons in country.”
A group of activists and intellectuals has sought bail or parole for political prisoners lodged in various jails.
In a letter to the Central and State governments, eminent persons such as writers Arundhati Roy, K. Satchidanandan and Meena Kandasamy, journalist B.R.P. Bhaskar and academics Dilip Menon and Benjamin Zachariah pointed out that the COVID-19 outbreak was also an occasion to look at the overcrowded prisons in the country.
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INTELLECTUALS APPEAL FOR RELEASE OF PRISONERS

30/03/2020

Kashimr Times / by KT News Service

New Delhi: About two dozen intellectuals, writers and academics of the country have made an urgent appeal to the government to ease the over-crowded prisons in view of the outbreak of Covid19 and also in keeping with the recent Supreme Court directive. They have sought release on bail or parole of at least some of the prisoners including political detenues from across the country.
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ACADEMICS SEND OPEN LETTER SEEKING BAIL FOR VARAVARA RAO, SUDHA BHARADWAJ

31/03/2020

The New Indian Express / by Prajanma Das

The Supreme Court has already directed the state governments to consider granting bail to remand prisoners, accused of committing crimes punishable with a maximum of seven years imprisonment.
Former Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba, Poet Varavara Rao, Dr Shoma Sen, Sudha Bharadwaj and several others including Padma and Veeramony in Tamil Nadu are in prison — either awaiting trial or are political prisoners of the state.
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An open letter by Anand Teltumbde’s daughters

27/03/2020 Maya

The Caravan / by Prachi and Rashmi Teltumbde

“As we look into our parents’ eyes, we see only pain”

… On 16 March, our father’s fate for the next few years was decided by the Supreme Court of India. The state lays in wait to incarcerate him on 6 April—a fact that we never imagined we would be speaking or writing about.
Since we heard the verdict, it feels like life has come to a halt, even as each day whizzes by in a deluge of calls and visits from well-wishers offering their sympathies and support. Sleepless nights and tired eyes have become routine occurrences.
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Anand Teltumbde: “Plot to kill PM” was a deliberate ploy to sensationalise the case

26/03/2020 Maya

Asiavillennews.com / by Amit Bhardwaj

Teltumbde, accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case under the UAPA, claims that the entire case against him is fabricated. On March 16, the SC gave him three weeks to surrender. In conversation with Asiaville, the noted scholar said that the Bhima-Koregaon arrests are a deliberate attempt to trap noted civil rights activists opposed to the BJP’s ideology.
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CJI Urged to Change SC Orders on Teltumbde, Navlakha Amid COVID-19

26/03/2020 Maya

Solidarity banner by AISA

The Quint / by The Quint

… Teltumbde and Navlakha are among those academics, activists, and lawyers who have been accused of involvement in the Bhima Koregaon violence, and being Maoists.
Others who have been accused and arrested for this under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) include Sudha Bhardwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudhir Dhawale, Barbara Rao and Surendra Gadling.
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Sign Global Solidarity Statement for Dr. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha

25/03/2020 Maya

By India Civil Watch

Signatories include eminent public figures such as Noam Chomsky, Gayatri Spivak, Sukhadeo Thorat, Cornel West, Angela Davis, Kshama Sawant, Ramachandra Guha, Prakash Ambedkar and Arundhati Roy.
Sign statement here

Statement for Dr. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha:
We, the undersigned (organizations and individuals) protest the impending arrest of Professor Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha and strongly condemn the attempt to malign their status as two of India’s foremost civil rights activists and public intellectuals today. …

Forum for RTE ‘Disappointed’ by SC Decision on Teltumbde’s Anticipatory Bail

23/03/2020 Maya

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

It also demanded the repeal of the UAPA, which “allows the government to violate the constitutional rights of citizens with impunity”.
New Delhi: The All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE) has expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court’s decision to reject anticipatory bail to AIFRTE’s presidium member professor Anand Teltumbde for a case registered against him under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
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Writers and Activists Express Solidarity: Stand with Anand Teltumbde & Gautam Navlakha

22/03/2020 Maya

Documented by kractivist.org

In August 2018, the Pune Police implicated Prof. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha with other human right activists and lawyers in the now-infamous fabricated Elgar Parishad case. The police presented concocted theories since day one and these theories have not an iota of truth in them. Although the judiciary granted interim protection to Prof. Anand and Gautam, the supreme court on 16th March, 2020 rejected the pre-arrest bail and asked them to surrender by three weeks. …

An ‘Anthem’ for Our Troubled Times

22/03/2020 Maya

Poster by Kabir Kala Manch

The Wire / by Monobina Gupta

… Last Monday, human and civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha reminded us of Cohen’s song. “Do please listen to Leonard Cohen sing the ‘Anthem’ and remember to: Ring the Bell/Which still can ring/Forget your perfect/ Offering/There is a crack/A crack in everything/ That’s how light gets in,” wrote Navlakha in a statement after the Supreme Court turned down the anticipatory bail petitions he had filed along with well-known academic, Anand Teltumbde, in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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AIFRTE: The Impending Arrest of Prof. Anand Teltumbde Is Undemocratic

22/03/2020 Maya

Documented by Counter Currents

All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE) Statement on Supreme Court’s rejection of anticipatory bail to Prof. Anand Teltumbde.
AIFRTE is shocked, outraged and deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court’s rejection of anticipatory bail to its Presidium member Prof. Anand Teltumbde, an IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus, IIT Professor, and currently Senior Professor and Chair, Big Data Analytics at Goa Institute of Management (GIM). Prof Teltumbde is also a noted scholar of caste-class and public policy issues, and a Leading Public Intellectual and Democratic and Educational Rights Activist.
Read full statement