Statements – Page 6 – free them all

‘UAPA must be scrapped’: Indira Jaising / How These Lawyers Worked To Free Saibaba

08/03/2024 Maya

by Indira Jaising / @Ijaising (March 7):
Finally free Saibaba outside the gates of prison , with his lawyers by his side

Supreme Court Refuses To Stay Acquittal Of GN Saibaba & 5 Others, Says HC Judgment Prima Facie Well Reasoned (Live Law / by Awstika Das, March 11, 2024)

GN Saibaba’s acquittal: Rights activists seeks compensation and reinstatement in DU

11/03/2024

The News Minute / by TNM Staff

The Committee for Defence and Release of GN Saibaba appealed to the Supreme Court to reject the appeal filed by the Maharashtra government against his release.
… They also asked the government to repeal the draconian UAPA law. “All charges against intellectuals and activists who have been similarly falsely detained under the UAPA in particular, such as those charged in the Bhima-Koregaon case, or those arrested during the anti-CAA/NRC struggle, should be dropped and they should be immediately released.
Read more

How These Lawyers Worked Tirelessly To Free Saibaba

08/03/2024

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

‘We were sure our appeal would succeed. We knew we could break down the evidence and show it was hollow.’
It took an army of lawyers.
Behind the successful battle to prove the innocence of Professor G N Saibaba and his co-accused, went years of preparation. The backbone of that preparation was the work put in by a group of lawyers, all of whom had been juniors to Advocate Surendra Gadling.
Read more

‘UAPA must be scrapped’: Indira Jaising

07/03/2024

Frontline / by Jyoti Punwani

Senior lawyer discusses what the acquittal of Prof. G.N. Saibaba and his fellow accused means for the country.
…
The judgment quotes the Supreme Court’s order granting bail to Vernon Gonsalves, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. Will this judgment in turn be helpful in the Bhima Koregaon case, especially with regard to the way police collect and present electronic evidence?
Yes, on electronic evidence, this judgment is a precedent. It lays down that not taking the hash value renders the evidence of no real value. This is also what happened in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Read more

Also read:
▪GN Saibaba’s long struggle for justice: Why the Bombay HC had to overturn his conviction – twice (Scroll.in / March 9, 2024)

‘Never Adjusted Your Stand’: 9 Elgar Accused Congratulate Anand Teltumbde From Jail

04/02/2024 Asha

‘Never Adjusted Your Stand’: 9 Elgar Accused Congratulate Anand Teltumbde From Jail

05/02/2024

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Their co-accused who is out on bail, Teltumbde has been conferred the Basava National Award – Karnataka’s highest honour.
… Although a few have been granted bail on medical and technical grounds, nine remain behind bars at Byculla and Taloja prisons in Maharashtra. The latter have written a congratulatory letter to co-accused Dr Anand Teltumbde, on his being given the Karnataka government’s highest award, the Basava Award.
The letter, which the prisoners released through their lawyers, is being produced below.
Read more

‘A small streak of light’: Seven BK prisoners congratulate Anand Teltumbde on award

04/02/2024

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The writer, who is on bail in the same case, was honoured with the Basava Award by the Karnataka government on January 31.
The seven people who are still in jail in the Bhima Koregaon case have congratulated their co-accused Anand Teltumbde for having been granted the Karnataka government’s Basava Award on January 31 and pushing “forward the wheel of democratic revolution of annihilating the caste system”.
Read more

Also read:
▪ ‘My state has done the greatest honour by putting me in jail’: Anand Teltumbde after receiving award (Indian Express / Feb 2024)

UAPA should be scrapped as 97 percent accused are aquitted, says Prof. Haragopal

28/01/2024 Asha

The Hindu / by Rajulapudi Srinivas

Calling UAPA ‘undemocratic’, the human rights activist says the State is leaning towards implementing more oppressive and repressive laws
“A person suffers in jail for three to four years and then gets acquitted after the prosecution fails to prove his guilt. This is happening in many cases now. About 97 percent of the arrests were made without any evidence, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) cases,” said G. Haragopal, human rights activists and retired professor from the University of Hyderabad.
Read more

Also read:
▪ The Govt is out to silence Dissenters through Arrests: Justice Hosbet Suresh (Sabrangindia / Oct 2018)

Staying a bail order in a UAPA matter where getting bail is already difficult is a travesty of justice

11/01/2024 Asha

The Leaflet / by Deeksha Dwivedi

The stay on the bail Orders of Gautam Navlakha and Mahesh Raut, incarcerated under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, creates an unconstitutional and unjust barrier for the fulfillment of their fundamental rights, laments the author.
Read more

Also read:
▪ The first week in the new year repeats the same old story of procedural grind (The Leaflet / Jan 2024)
▪ ‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)
▪ Bombay High Court grants, stays bail to Gautam Navlakha (The Leaflet / Dec 2023)
▪ Bhima Koregaon: Bombay High Court grants regular bail to Mahesh Raut (The Leaflet / Sep 2023)

PUDR: Remember Bhima Koregaon Case. Remember Shoma Sen. Release Shoma Sen.

06/01/2024 Asha

by Peoples Union for Democratic Rights @PUDR_Delhi (Jan 6):
#PeoplesUnionforDemocraticRights #PUDR #RepealUAPA
#StateOppression #democraticrights #BK16 #BhimaKoregaon16

Also read:
▪ Shoma Sen’s Bail Hearing in SC Adjourned Yet Again, Until January 10 (NewsClick / Dec 2023)
▪ Supreme Court quotes Watali judgment in Shoma Sen’s bail application (The Leaflet / Dec 2023)
▪ “Hopefully waiting” writes Shoma Sen from prison (InSAF India / Jul 2023)

Senior activist Ajay Kumar’s arrest ‘imminent’ in same vein as Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy

06/01/2024 Asha

Counterview / by Counterview Desk

The civil rights coalition, Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as condemning the “intensifying harassment” of activist, writer, lawyer and intellectual Ajay Kumar and is family by India’s investigative agencies, has said that “the arrest of Ajay Kumar under fabricated charges is imminent”, and may happen in the “similar vein” to that of his former associates like Prof GN Saibaba, activist Rona Wilson, late Father Stan Swamy, trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj, others.
Read more/full statement

Also read:
▪ Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud (SabrangIndia / Jan 2024)

After 1 week of interim bail Surendra Gadling returns to Taloja jail

03/01/2024 Asha

by Indira Jaising / @Ijaising (Jan 3)

After 1 week of interim bail, in the Bhima Koregaon case.

Surendra Gadling returns to Taloja jail.
We
The stuggle for freedom will prevail. But look at that smile , that victory sign , that good cheer after over 5 years in Taloja jail.

Disclaimer , I am one among many of his lawyers.

Also read/watch:
▪ NIA court gives temporary bail to Surendra Gadling to attend wedding in Nagpur (Hindustan Times / Dec 2023)
▪ Surendra Gadling’s Computer Was Attacked, Incriminating Documents Planted: Arsenal Consulting (The Wire / July 2021)
▪ Video: The Prison Song of Surendra Gadling (The Wire / lyrics by Ramesh Gaychor)

hindi | 11min | 2021
51- year-old Gadling, a well-known criminal lawyer in Nagpur, was once a cultural activist, who sang songs of political resistance. The 11- minutes- long rendition tells you what it means to be incarcerated in Indian prisons. From food, water, to medical care, everything is a struggle, Gadling narrates. The song was recorded by one of Gadling’s colleagues and was made available to The Wire after obtaining his consent.
Watch video / Listen to the song

Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud

02/01/2024 Asha

Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud

03/01/2024

SabrangIndia / by SabrangIndia

The open letter has alleged that peaceful protests were met with fake encounters, abductions and demolition of houses belonging to the protesters by police and other government instrumentalities
…
Text of the Open Letter:

To D.Y. Chandrachud,
The Chief Justice of India,
Supreme Court of India
2nd January 2024

Dear Justice Chandrachud,

We write this letter to you as a members of democratic-minded civil society and activists who are working on issues concerning democratic ethos of the people and the protection of their civic, democratic, and constitutional rights.
Read more / full letter

Open letter from civil rights activists to CJI Chandrachud on freedom curbs

03/01/2024

The Telegraph online / by R. Balaji

The letter alleged that peaceful protests were met with fake encounters, abductions and demolition of houses belonging to the protesters by police and other government instrumentalities
A group of civil rights activists and organisations on Tuesday wrote an “open letter” to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on the alleged suppression of free speech, peaceful protests and rallies by police, leading to the stifling of democratic dissent in the country.
Read more

Open Letter to CJI Chandrachud highlights Concerns Over Erosion of Democratic Rights

03/01/2024

The Mooknayak / by The Mooknayak English

The letter questions India’s commitment to being the world’s largest democracy and refers to the words of jurist John Rawls, stressing the importance of justice and the need to reform or abolish unjust laws and institutions. The plea is for the judiciary to uphold equal liberties and protect rights secured by justice, emphasizing that such rights should not be subject to political bargaining or social interests.
Read more

Unjust detention: Gautam Navlakha’s bail victory highlights insufficient evidence

29/12/2023 Asha

Sabrang India / by Sabrang India

Granting bail to writer and activist, Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case (Bhima Koregaon case), the Bombay High Court, found insufficient evidence to prima facie indicate Navlakha’s involvement in conspiring or executing terrorist acts
… The court’s assessment in the Gautam Navlakha bail hearing highlighted the lack of substantial material linking Navlakha to terrorist activities. It emphasized that his alleged membership with CPI (Maoist) could, at most, implicate him under sections 13 and 38 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, carrying a maximum punishment of ten years.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Charges for Navlakha’s protection under house arrest exceed ₹1 crore (Hindustan Times / Dec 2023)
▪ PUDR welcomes the Bombay High Court order granting regular bail to Gautam Navlakha (PUDR / Dec 2023)
▪ ‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)
▪ Bombay High Court grants, stays bail to Gautam Navlakha (The Leaflet / Dec 2023)

PUDR welcomes the Bombay High Court order granting regular bail to Gautam Navlakha

21/12/2023 Asha

pudr.org / Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

PUDR welcomes the Bombay High Court order granting regular bail to Gautam Navlakha, a well-known civil rights activist, author, and journalist, on December 19, 2023. The two-member bench comprising Justices AS Gadkari and Shivkumar Dige ruled that based on a perusal of the documents presented, there was no material evidence to infer Gautam Navlakha’s involvement in terrorist acts as shown in the chargesheet against him under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the National Investigating Agency (NIA).
Read full statement

Also read:
● PUDR welcomes the release on bail of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira today, but protests onerous bail conditions (PUDR / Aug 2023)
● Five years behind bars for five activists – Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice! (PUDR / June 2023)