Statements – Page 40 – free them all

Church leaders told not to befriend RSS / Kerala Churches demand Stan Swamy’s release

06/03/2021 Rani

Church leaders told not to befriend RSS

06/03/2021

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

A central committee meeting of the reform-oriented Joint Christian Council (JCC) has warned Church leaders of backlash from the laity if they attempted to step into the RSS camp at a time “when the RSS and Sangh Parivar organisations are going ahead with the idea of a theocratic State and against Christians.”
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Catholic weekly wants Kerala Churches to demand Stan Swamy’s release<

05/03/2021

Matters India / by Matters India

The release of an octogenarian Jesuit activist from jail is among several issues that a Catholic weekly wants the Church leaders in Kerala to raise with the BJP leaders who now woo the Christians in the southern Indian state.
“We should loudly ask the BJP state leaders who frequent the bishops’ houses the reasons for the delay in granting justice to the Kandhamal Christians or why innocent Stan Swamy continues to languish in jail,” says an editorial in the Sathyadeepam (lamp of truth), a weekly published by the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
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Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

05/03/2021 Rani

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

05/03/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Referring to reports that evidence may have been planted on activist Rona Wilson’s computer, the Constitutional Conduct Group said such “blatantly illegal practices” could sound the death knell of the criminal justice system.
The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), which comprises several former civil servants, has expressed concern that the criminal justice system is being ‘perverted’, referring to reports that false evidence may have been planted in the laptop of activist Rona Wilson, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
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‘Perversion of criminal justice’: Over 90 ex-bureaucrats raise concerns on action of probe agencies

05/03/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The signatories said that blatant illegal practices could be the ‘death knell’ for India’s criminal justice.
As many as 92 former bureaucrats on Friday condemned the “perversion of criminal justice” by investigative agencies. The Constitutional Conduct Group, a group of former civil servants belonging to the All India and Central Services, released a statement.
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Replug: Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Forensic Evidence

02/03/2021 Rani

Countercurrents / by Janta Ka Aaina

Press Release after the webinar: Decoding the Arsenal Report: The Curious Case of Questionable evidence in Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case
The NIA’s ’No Malware Found’ Response to New Forensic Report Points to Ineptitude:
On February 10, 2021 the Bhima Koregaon defense team filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking the release of Rona Wilson and the quashing of all charges against him.
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Society for the Inculcation of Values in Youth demands release of jailed activists

02/03/2021 Rani

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

The Central government must release committed social workers and intellectuals who were arrested on the basis of baseless allegations and fabricated evidence and were put in jail in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, the executive committee of city-based Society for the Inculcation of Values in Youth (SIVY) has demanded at its meeting held in Kochi.
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VV Rao’s Bail: Leading Newspapers Urge Courts to Protect the Fundamental Right to Liberty

27/02/2021 Rani

Varavara Rao’s Bail: Leading Newspapers Urge Courts to Protect the Fundamental Right to Liberty

27/02/2021

The Leaflet / by Manya Saini

Poet-Activist Varavara Rao’s extended judicial custody amid severe medical concerns has brought into question the rights of accused persons awaiting trial. Leading newspapers have pressed upon the need for judicial reform and argued that courts must come forward to protect the fundamental rights of citizens that are threatened by draconian laws like sedition and UAPA.
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Justice lives: Rao and Ravi granted bail

25/02/2021

The Telegraph / by editorial board

The momentum generated by these verdicts needs to be taken forward to kindle an informed debate on judicial reform.
A fair investigation is one of the prerequisites of justice. The infirmities in two separate investigations that were exposed and castigated by the courts in two recent judgments merit attention. The Bombay High Court granted conditional bail to the poet, Varavara Rao, infirm and an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, observing that the National Investigation Agency had kept him in custody without framing charges for an extended period of time.
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Bail as right: On bail to Varavara Rao

22/02/2021

The Hindu / editorial

Laws, however stringent, cannot be allowed to trump basic rights.
n granting bail for six months to poet Varavara Rao in the Bhima Koregaon case on medical grounds, the Bombay High Court has affirmed the principle that even the stringent provisions of an anti-terrorism law are not invincible before a prisoner’s constitutional rights.
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Statement by Pen International

23/02/2021

By Pen International

Sharper Fights Ahead – Statement in view of VV’s Interim Bail

22/02/2021

By Release the Poet Committee

People’s Poet Varavara Rao’s interim (medical) bail granted by Mumbai High Court is a small but vital breakthrough, which was long overdue, is indeed an outcome of people’s rejection of state atrocities – but leaves no space for any self-satisfaction for them, who are unceasingly fighting in defense of VV and other victims of Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case.
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Varavara Rao’s bail: Hope for other accused

22/02/2021

The Times of India / by Shruti Ganapatye

With the Bombay high court granting bail to ailing activist Varavara Rao in the Bhima-Koregaon case on Monday, there is a renewed hope among other accused about similar relief coming their way.
Top lawyers, some of them representing the accused in the case, said though bail is difficult to secure in Unlawful Activitities Prevention Act (UAPA) cases, Rao’s case, where bail was granted on health grounds, has set a precedent.
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Video: VV Rao – Poet, Activist, Political Prisoner

22/02/2021

en | 5:54 | 2021

By Karwan e Mohabbat

Varavara Rao is no stranger to being imprisoned, but the 82-year-old is also the conscience of our society-an intellectual we need to protect from the excesses of a state determined to destroy dissent.
Watch video

Allegations of planting evidence in Bhima Koregaon case must be investigated

22/02/2021 Maya

The Indian Express / by Julio Ribeiro

This is a fit case where the courts should intervene to ensure justice. If the charge of planting evidence is proved, then it is incumbent on the NIA to investigate and ascertain the identity of the culprit.
Boston is an American city that is known to numerous Indians. A degree from MIT is much sought after. A few years ago, my wife and I spent a few days there as my nephew, my sister’s son, was residing in that city. Police martyr Hemant Karkare’s daughter resides there now.
Soon, Boston will be known to policemen in India for something quite different.
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The Making Of Sharjeel Usmani and His Speech At Elgar Parishad

18/02/2021 Maya

The Wire / by Betwa Sharma

The 23-year-old former student of AMU is facing charges of sedition for his speech. He says he is fighting for his “fair share in Indian society”.
When Sharjeel Usmani was invited to speak at the Elgar Parishad event on January 30 in Pune, the 23-year-old did not think twice before saying yes. He was undeterred by the fact that over a dozen activists and thinkers had been jailed since the event was first held on December 31, 2017, to mark 200 years of the historic battle in which the Mahar regiment of Dalit soldiers defeated the Brahmin Peshwas. He was undeterred by the fact that he had already been charged for attempt to murder, rioting and promoting communal disharmony, following the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), and spent two months in jail last year.
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Also read: The Making Of Sharjeel Usmani and His Speech At Elgar Parishad (Feb 2021)

Video: Decoding the Arsenal Report – Curious Case of Questionable Evidence in the Case / Press Release

16/02/2021 Rani

Video: Decoding the Arsenal Report – Curious Case of Questionable Evidence in the Case

16/02/2021

en | 1h 36min | 2021

By Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy

PRESS CONFERENCE
Speakers
Jedidiah Crandall: Associate Professor, Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society; Associate Professor, School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University Sandeep Shukla: Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur
Adv. Mihir Desai: Senior Advocate Bombay High Court Lawyer, PUCL
Father Solomon: Director, Bagaicha, Ranchi, Fr Stan Swamy’s colleague
Sagar Abraham Gonsalves: Vernon Gonsalves’ son
Watch @ YouTube

The NIA’s ‘No Malware Found’ Response to New Forensic Report Points to Ineptitude
Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Explosive Forensic Evidence

16/02/2021

By Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy

PRESS RELEASE
On February 10, 2021 the Bhima Koregaon defense team filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking the release of Rona Wilson and the quashing of all charges against him. The petition was filed in light of startling new evidence of a forensic analysis that establishes that the top 10 files used to implicate Mr. Wilson with conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister and several other charges were fabricated and had been planted on Mr. Wilson’s hard drive by a cyber attacker using the NetWire malware. The forensic analysis was conducted by one of the world’s leading forensic analysis firms, Boston-based Arsenal Consulting and the story was first reported by The Washington Post on February 10. …

How UAPA curtails personal liberty, undermines fair trial

16/02/2021 Rani

Hindustan Times / by Gautam Bhatia

To stop UAPA from continuing to be the tool of repression that it has become, it is vital that the courts either strike down — or substantially read down — this section, and ensure that years in jail do not become an automatic consequence of the police’s (read: the State’s) decision to charge inconvenient opponents under this law.
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Put an end to using government agencies to stifle free press in India: All India Kisan Sabha

14/02/2021 Rani

Poster by BKU Ekta Ugrahan

The Caravan / by All India Kisan Sabha

On 14 February, the All India Kisan Sabha issued a statement condemning the raid on Newsclick. The statement is reproduced below.
… In the Bhima Koregaon case, evidences were manufactured to put innocent people in sedition cases and keep them in jail for years without trial.
Read full statement

Church leaders told not to befriend RSS

Catholic weekly wants Kerala Churches to demand Stan Swamy’s release<

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

‘Perversion of criminal justice’: Over 90 ex-bureaucrats raise concerns on action of probe agencies

Varavara Rao’s Bail: Leading Newspapers Urge Courts to Protect the Fundamental Right to Liberty

Justice lives: Rao and Ravi granted bail

Bail as right: On bail to Varavara Rao

Statement by Pen International

Sharper Fights Ahead – Statement in view of VV’s Interim Bail

Varavara Rao’s bail: Hope for other accused

Video: VV Rao – Poet, Activist, Political Prisoner

Video: Decoding the Arsenal Report – Curious Case of Questionable Evidence in the Case

The NIA’s ‘No Malware Found’ Response to New Forensic Report Points to Ineptitude Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Explosive Forensic Evidence

Poster by BKU Ekta Ugrahan

The NIA’s ‘No Malware Found’ Response to New Forensic Report Points to Ineptitude
Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Explosive Forensic Evidence