Browsed by
Category: Statements

Stan Swamy’s message and letter from Taloja prison

Stan Swamy’s message and letter from Taloja prison

By Fr. Stan Swamy SJ

“Dear friends,
Thank you so much for the solidarity support by so many, for me and my co-accused. I am really grateful.
The Prison administration provides breakfast, tea, milk, lunch and dinner. Any additional edibles are to be purchased from the prison canteen, twice a month. Also, newspapers, toiletries, stationary and other essentials can be purchased through the prison canteen.
My needs are limited. The Adivasis and the Society of Jesus have taught me to lead a simple life. bI had brought with me a “sipper-tumbler”, to drink tea and water. However, the same was disallowed at the prison gate, on entry on 9 October.
Now, I am using a baby-sipper mug, which I purchased through the prison hospital. I have communicated this need to our lawyers. I am still awaiting to receive the sipper-tumbler.
Varavara Rao is very sick. Kindly, pray for him. Listening to the life-narratives of the poor prisoners is my joy in Taloja. I see God in their pains and smiles.”
Fr. Stan Swamy SJ

Jailed Jesuit seeks prayers for seriously ill co-prisoner

20/11/2020

Matters India / by Matters India Reporter

Mumbai: Father Stan Swamy, who is in a Mumbai jail for more than one month, has sought prayers for a fellow prisoner who has become seriously ill.
“Varavara Rao is very sick. Kindly, pray for him,” the octogenarian Jesuit told confrere over phone…
Jesuit Father Arockiasamy Santhanam, secretary of the National Lawyers Forum of Religious and Priests, says they expected the prison authorities would give Father Swamy the sipper tumbler after P Chidambaram, a senior politician tweeted about his need. “He not received the same, at least till yesterday,” he told Matters India November 19.
Read more

Also read: ‘Humanity is bubbling in Taloja prison,’ Stan Swamy says in letter to friends (Nov 15)

PUDR: Case a conspiracy to undermine Varavara Rao’s right to life / Access to Healthcare in Prison

PUDR: Case a conspiracy to undermine Varavara Rao’s right to life / Access to Healthcare in Prison

Elgar Parishad case a conspiracy to undermine Varavara Rao’s right to life, says rights group

19/11/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Peoples Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR) pointed out that Rao has still not been granted bail, but was only allowed the right to proper medical care.
The Peoples Union of Democratic Rights on Thursday demanded the immediate release of Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao, who was arrested two years ago in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. The group said the Centre’s ongoing inquiry into the Elgar Parishad conclave of 2017 was a conspiracy that has sought to undermine the 80-year-old’s right to life and was “taking away his human right to dignity”.
Read more

Why did Varavara Rao Petition Courts for Access to Basic Healthcare in Prison?

19/11/2020

The Leaflet / by Megha Katheria

While state apathy and inefficiency may cost Varavara Rao his life, his shifting to Nanavati Hospital does little to assure that no other prisoner will meet the same fate in the future.
THE Bombay High Court has ordered the Maharashtra Government to shift the 81-year-old poet and activist Varavara Rao to Nanavati Hospital for treatment. The state has also been warned against shifting him out of Nanavati without informing the court. This comes at the end of a long legal battle fought by P Hemalatha, Rao’s wife, spanning over three months only to secure basic treatment for him as he is seriously ailing.
Read more

NPRD seeks NHRC Intervention on Stan Swamy

NPRD seeks NHRC Intervention on Stan Swamy

By National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD)

Press Release
Nov 17, 2020
The National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) has petitioned the National Human Rights Commission seeking its intervention to provide reasonable accommodations to Fr. Stan Swamy, who is lodged in the Taloja Jail, Maharashtra.
83-year old Stan Swamy is a person living with Parkinson’s, which is a condition recognised as disabling as per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. As per various laws and conventions to which India is a signatory, it is obligatory that Stan Swamy be provided with requisite age & disability appropriate accommodations, assistive aids including straws and sippers as also human care assistance as required.
The full text of the letter addressed to the NHRC Chairman yesterday is being released herewith.

(Muralidharan)
General Secretary, NPRD
…

Read More Read More

Appeal to the Civil Society of India on two years of Varavara Rao’s arrest

Appeal to the Civil Society of India on two years of Varavara Rao’s arrest

Release the Poet / by Release the Poet Committee

730 Days without ‘Personal Liberty’! Now the Supreme Court itself is in the People’s Courtroom.
Today, on 17th November 2020, it completes two years of Varavara Rao’s arrest in the alleged Bhima Koregaon case. Since then the people’s poet is in jail with alarming health adversities. His bail pleas or applications for a proper hospitalization were repeatedly opposed and rejected, making the situation worrying for his family, comrades & peoples at large.
Even prior to and after his arrest, the list of witch hunts was far from being short! …

Read More Read More

India’s Era Of Unequal Liberties / Protect our Republic, my lords

India’s Era Of Unequal Liberties / Protect our Republic, my lords

Arnab Goswami & India’s Era Of Unequal Liberties

16/11/2020

Article 14 / by Zaid Wahidi

On 11 November 2020, the Supreme Court granted bail to television show-host Arnab Goswami, who had been in judicial custody for seven days on an abetment to suicide charge related to a 2018 case. The merits aside, the manner in which the judicial machinery functioned to protect Goswami’s liberty was extraordinary… However, when the Supreme Court’s own approach to cases concerning personal liberty is tested on the touchstone of these observations, the reality could not be more of a contrast…
Sudha Bharadwaj: Imprisoned For 811 Days
Read more

Protect our Republic, my lords

16/11/2020

The Hindu / by Sriram Panchu

The judiciary’s quick intervention in the Arnab Goswami case turns the spotlight on other serious cases that languish.
The facts are brief. Mr. Arnab Goswami of Republic TV, a media group perceived to be supportive of the ruling party, was arrested by the Mumbai Police on November 4, 2020 on a charge of abetting the suicide of Anvay Naik … The High Court heard his case for five hours on a holiday, and said exactly this on November 9…
There is however the disturbing contrast between the breakneck speed of the Supreme Court in this case with other cases which involve large scale and serious violations of fundamental freedoms.
Read more

Five cases on personal liberty decided by Justice DY Chandrachud

15/11/2020

Bar & Bench / by Murali Krishnan

Supreme Court Bench headed by JusticeDY Chandrachud, on November 11 granted bail to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami in an abetment to suicide case against him…
Below are a few cases in which Justice Chandrachud was confronted with issue of personal liberty/ bail.
Bhima -Koregaon arrests
Read more

Jharkhand MP writes to President demanding Fr. Stan Swamy’s release

Jharkhand MP writes to President demanding Fr. Stan Swamy’s release

Jharkhand MP writes to President demanding Fr. Stan Swamy’s release

16/11/2020

Sabrang / by Sabrangindia

Alleging that the NIA was using under-handed methods to imprison innocent activists, MP Vijay Hansdak demanded the release and closure of the case against Fr. Stan.
“Father Stan Swamy’s arrest by the NIA [National Investigation Agency] is malicious and spiteful as he and his associates have been constantly denying any link with Maoists. The allegation against him about his links in the Bhima Koregaon case is also false and fabricated. I, on behalf of people of Jharkhand, would like to appeal to take immediate concrete action to stop the proceedings of all the false allegations against Father Swamy and release him. I also appeal to release all those innocent social activists and intellectuals who have been arrested on false allegations,” Hansdak wrote in his letter.
Read more

Jharkhand MP letter to Kovind for Stan Swamy release

15/11/2020

The Telegraph / by Animesh Bisoee

Rajmahal MP and JMM leader Vijay Kumar Hansdak has become the first parliamentarian from Jharkhand to come out in support of octogenarian Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy, who has been arrested and jailed for his alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon violence and Maoist links.
In a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind on November 10, Hansdak, son of former Congress MP Thomas Hansdah, has sought the immediate release of the elderly priest and closure of the “false” case lodged against Fr Swamy.
Read more

What About Personal Liberty Of Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, VV Rao & Stan Swamy?

What About Personal Liberty Of Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, VV Rao & Stan Swamy?

SC Protects Arnab’s Personal Liberty, Why Not Sudha Bharadwaj’s?

15/11/2020

Kashimir Pen / by Web Desk

Leading human rights and constitutional lawyer Karuna Nundy applauded the Supreme Court for acting out its self-professed role as ‘sentinel on the qui vive’ and protecting personal liberty when ordering Arnab Goswami’s release on interim bail – but had some tough questions about the consistency of the court’s approach.
She noted that even though the Republic editor-in-chief had not only damaged people’s reputations by calling them terrorists and anti-nationals, and actually influenced the taking of state action against them – from Umar Khalid to the Bhima Koregaon accused – it was still a good thing that his case was heard on a priority basis by the apex court.
Read more

Video: SC Protects Arnab’s Personal Liberty, But What About Sudha Bharadwaj’s?

13/11/2020


en | 7:32min | 2020

The Quint / by The Quint

Supreme Court advocate Karuna Nundy explains why there are concerns over the consistency with which the apex court will apply its order granting Arnab Goswami interim bail, with Sudha Bharadwaj’s case a prime example.
Watch video

Video: What About Liberty Of Anand Teltumbde, Varavara Rao, Stan Swamy, Asks Kapil Sibal

12/11/2020


en | 11:23min | 2020

NDTV / by NDTV

The Supreme Court’s order on Wednesday in the Arnab Goswami case has major implications beyond just this one instance. Justice Chandrachud observed, “Forget Arnab Goswami for a moment, we are a Constitutional court…. If we as a Constitutional Court do not lay down law and protect liberty, then who will?” He went on to add, “If we don’t interfere in this case today, we will walk on path of destruction. You may differ in ideology but Constitutional courts will have to protect such freedoms…” The remarks come at a time when thousands languish in jails in want of bail. These include the old and the infirm, like 81-year-old Varavara Rao accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case and Father Stan Swamy who suffers from Parkinson’s.
After the Supreme Court’s observations that ‘constitutional courts have to protect freedoms’, will this set a precedent in other pending cases as well? We speak to senior advocate and Congress MP Kapil Sibal who was in Supreme Court in connection with this case.
Watch video