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Category: Statements

Remembering Shoma Sen on the third anniversary of her incarceration – A HEROINE IN OUR HEARTS

Remembering Shoma Sen on the third anniversary of her incarceration – A HEROINE IN OUR HEARTS

By Release Rof Shoma Sen

A HEROINE IN OUR HEARTS

In these sanitized times
Of death-tainted rivers
And doom-scented air,
When that which we
Cannot even see
Has brought us to our knees,
When falsehood rules
And each passing day
In every possible way,
Turns us into curtsying fools,
Dancing in a living hell,
We think of you, in your tiny cell,
Still unbowed, still full of grace,
Raising your maskless face
To watch a small bird fly
Free across a stillblue sky.

And although our facile arts
Can no longer comfort us,
This treasonous vision does,
Of you, the heroine in our hearts.

Com. Ganpat Bhise writes to Sudhir Dhawale

Com. Ganpat Bhise writes to Sudhir Dhawale

Dalit Camera / by by Com. Ganpat Bhise

A letter sent on May 23, 2021 to poet Sudhir Dhawale, editor of the “Vidrohi”, who has been in prison in Taloja jail. Five revolutionaries including Sudhir were arrested today three years back, initiating the beginnings of BK-16 case, as we know it today.

Dear Sudhir,
Jai Bhim!
Lal Salaam!After you were jailed, there has not been much uprising in Maharashtra and the rest of the country. I don’t think many others have suffered much except some of us who have been close to you.
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Bombay HC Faults Lawyer’s Article Critical of Judiciary in Stan Swamy’s Bail Case

Bombay HC Faults Lawyer’s Article Critical of Judiciary in Stan Swamy’s Bail Case

Bombay HC Faults Lawyer’s Article Critical of Judiciary in Stan Swamy’s Bail Case

04/06/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The article by one of the lawyers appearing for Hany Babu, another accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, severely criticised the Bombay high court for refusing to grant bail to Stan Swamy.
The Bombay high court on Thursday, June 3, took exception to a lawyer writing an opinion piece in a newspaper criticising the handling of the bail plea of Father Stan Swamy by the court, and instead asked lawyers to repose faith in the judiciary.
A bench headed by Justice S.S. Shinde, while hearing Hany Babu’s interim medical bail plea in relation to the Bhima-Koregaon case, instructed lawyers not to write opinion pieces in cases in which they appear. Both Hany Babu and Stan Swamy are undertrials in the case.
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‘Keep Faith In Us’: Bombay High Court Takes Objection To Lawyer’s Article Criticizing Handling Of Stan Swamy Bail Case

04/06/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court, while hearing a plea for interim medical bail for DU Associate Professor Hany Babu, took an exception to a recent editorial written by a lawyer criticizing the Court’s handling of the bail plea of octegenarian Father Stan Swamy. Both Hany Babu and Stan Swamy are undertrials in the Bhima Koregaon case.
The court witnessed dramatic scenes on Thursday after Justice SS Shinde, heading the division bench exchanged words with Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry regarding the editorial written by his junior.
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Stan Swamy, The Majesty Of Law And The Tenets Of Justice

Stan Swamy, The Majesty Of Law And The Tenets Of Justice


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Outlook / by Puneet Nicholas Yadav

At 84 years of age, Stan Swamy is the oldest among the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case and, arguably, the oldest prison inmate across the country facing non-bailable charges under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Eight months after he was arrested and locked up in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Jail, Stan Swamy – octogenarian Jesuit priest, tribal rights activist, public intellectual, Parkinson’s patient; and in the eyes of the BJP-led central government, an enemy of the State – is now undergoing treatment at Mumbai’s Holy Family Hospital for Covid.
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German Human Rights Commissioner Says Stan Swamy Should Be Released

German Human Rights Commissioner Says Stan Swamy Should Be Released

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

“Given his age and health condition, I urgently appeal to the relevant authorities to consider his release on humanitarian grounds!” Bärbel Kofler has said.
Bärbel Kofler, the German Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Assistance, has expressed concern about the continued incarceration of Adivasi rights activist and Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy and said that he should be released on humanitarian grounds.
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Stan Swamy case shows why bail on medical grounds remains highly discretionary

Stan Swamy case shows why bail on medical grounds remains highly discretionary

Scroll.in / by Sruthisagar Yamunan

The 84-year-old social activist, arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, is currently in hospital with a Covid-19 infection.
On May 21, when the Bombay High Court took up for hearing a bail application from human rights activist Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old Jesuit priest made an emotional plea that he be allowed to go back to Ranchi, his home town, given his medical condition.
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Webinar on the Bhima Koregaon Case with Adv. Mihir Desai and Adv. Yug Chaudhry on May 30

Webinar on the Bhima Koregaon Case with Adv. Mihir Desai and Adv. Yug Chaudhry on May 30

Lawctopus.com / by Sonali Chugh

May 30
6:30-8:00PM (IST)
Lawctopus and Academike (Lawctopus’ Law Journal) are organising a talk on Bhima Koregaon with Senior Advocate and activist Mihir Desai and Yeats Scholar and Senior Advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhry on the Bhima Koregaon case. Both of them represent several accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. In this session, we intend to unfold the many layers of the Bhima Koregaon case. We hope to analyse the many trials of Sudha Bharadwaj, Hany Babu, Anand Teltumbde and Stan Swamy.
Read more / Register for the webinar

Bandra’s St. Peter’s Church puts up signboard in support of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy

Bandra’s St. Peter’s Church puts up signboard in support of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy


Outside St Peter’s Church in Bandra. Photo: Keenan Burroughs

Mid-day-com / by Nascimento Pinto

St. Peter’s Church in Bandra put out a message recently in support of Elgar Parishad-accused Father Stan Swamy on its board facing Hill Road. The message on the board, which was spotted and shared online by several locals reads, “We pray for Jesuit Fr Stan Swamy in jail for two thirty three days and counting”. The 84-year-old Jesuit priest is soon going to be shifted to Holy Family Hospital, which is near the church, for 15 days, according to an order by the Bombay High Court on Friday.
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Statement of ABA President Patricia Lee Refo Re: Detention of minority-rights advocates in India

Statement of ABA President Patricia Lee Refo Re: Detention of minority-rights advocates in India

By American Bar Association

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2021 — The American Bar Association is deeply concerned about the continued pretrial detention of minority-rights advocates in the Bhima Koregaon case in India. As many of the accused are over the age of 65 and have serious medical conditions, these activists are at high risk for contracting COVID-19 as India deals with a substantial surge in cases.
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Also read: Should the Bhima Koregaon 16 be left to die? (By Jyoti Punwani, May 17)