Statements – Page 78 – free them all

Full text: 82-year-old Stan Swamy, suspect in Bhima Koregaon case, ‘appeals to nation’s conscience’

25/01/2019 Rani

Scroll.in / By Scroll Staff

He criticised the government for targeting intellectuals working for the fundamental rights of the poor and labelling them ‘urban naxals’.
Jharkhand-based human rights activist and Catholic priest Stan Swamy, whose home was raided by the Pune police on August 28 in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, on Friday released a statement criticising the government for targeting intellectuals working for the fundamental rights of the poor, and labelling them “urban naxals”.
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Government will keep civil rights activists in jail till elections are over: Justice BG Kolse Patil

22/01/2019 Rani

Hindustan Times / By HT Correspondent

Retired Supreme Court judge and one of the organisers of Elgaar Parishad, Justice BG Kolse Patil speaks to HT regarding the arrests of civil rights activists.
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Charges against activist Anand Teltumbde a threat to ‘all of us’, say IIM-A alumni

20/01/2019 Rani

Scroll.in / By Scroll Staff

They said they were ‘alarmed’ at the action against a public intellectual who ‘has made selfless contributions to the nation’.
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4 Reliance Workers, First to be Falsely Implicated under UAPA for Bhima Koregaon Violence, Released on Bail

27/12/2018 Rani

Peoples Union of Democratic Rights / By PUDR

Press Release
PUDR welcomes the release on bail of four workers of Reliance Energy/ Infrastructure Ltd. (REIL) and trade union activists implicated under numerous sections of the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for alleged Maoist links. The workers were released today on default bail after the 17 December order of the Bombay High Court setting aside the extension of time granted to ATS Mumbai to file the chargesheet in April 2018. Months before 6 June and 28 August, when 10 rights activists were arrested under UAPA on fabricated connections to the Bhima Koregaon violence, workers at RIEL were the first to be targeted for alleged ‘Maoist’ links at Elgaar Parishad.
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UAPA: A frontal attack on democratic rights

14/12/2018 Rani

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Sanhati India / By Persecuted Prisoners’ Solidarity Committee

We are going through one of the most repressive times in post-Independent India where the fundamental rights of expression and the right to form any organization or association that can question government policies or fight for rights of the people have been criminalized. The government, armed with acts like Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), is coming down heavily on all those standing up for the rights of economically and socially marginalized sections of people.
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Activists of 35 countries stand with Bhima Koregaon arrestees!

15/11/2018 Rani

Documented by Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy

Today we live under a fascist state which kills with impunity and will go to any lengths to preserve existing structures of inequality fuelled by neoliberal, communal, capitalist, patriarchal and casteist forces, to protect the interests of the big corporations, the dominant classes and castes.
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Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha- Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti (CMM-MKS): A Political Engagement of Sudha Bharadwaj

11/11/2018 Rani

Countercurrents / By Dillip Kumar Dash

One can debate and dispute with the entire matrix of formulations, activities and experiments happening there. And, that constitutes the history of politics. But, narratives of violence attempt to create setbacks for peoples’ struggle by creating a legitimacy crisis. Such efforts fail. Today, even the kids from the workers’ families shout slogans identifying themselves with Didi, the way some others did when Niyogi was condemned. The very slogan they give is Sudha Didi Naxali hai to hum bhi Naxali hain (if Sudha Didi is a Naxalite, we are also Naxalites).
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False allegations against Degree Prasad Chouhan

09/11/2018 Rani

Statement by Frontline Defenders

Following the arrest of human rights defender Sudha Bharadwaj and four others on 26 October 2018, there is an imminent threat of false charges being brought against Dalit activist and human rights defender, Degree Prasad Chouhan. The police have already implicated the defender by name in a fake letter produced by them on 31 August 2018, which they claim was written by advocate Sudha Bharadwaj. There is a clear attempt by the police to smear the human rights defender as a Maoist militant and draw a false link between Degree Prasad Chouhan and the Bhima Koregaon violence which took place in January 2018.
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Ill-Treatment Of Arun Ferreira Shows How India Is Becoming A Dangerous Place For Human Rights Defenders

08/11/2018 Rani

By Amnesty International India

Bengaluru/New Delhi: Amnesty India calls on the Maharashtra government to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into activist, Arun Ferreira’s claims that he was beaten by the Maharashtra police in custody, on 4 November.
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JAGDALPUR LEGAL AID GROUP CONDEMNS THE ARREST OF ADVOCATE SUDHA BHARADWAJ

31/10/2018 Rani

SUDHA BHARADWAJ – AN INTIMATE FRIEND, ALLY, MENTOR AND AN INSPIRATION

PRESS RELEASE

The Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JagLAG) and Collective strongly condemns and mourns the incidents of arrest and police remand of Advocate, friend, mentor, and colleague Sudha Bharadwaj and calls upon a collective expression of solidarity and strength from all activists, students, lawyers, democratic rights and civil liberty communities, friends and the general public. We also denounce this ongoing onslaught on other activists, lawyers, writers and professors, including Advocate Surendra Gadling, Advocate Arun Ferriera, Professor Shoma Sen, Vernon Gonsalves, Mahesh Raut, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha, Sudhir Dhawale, Fr. Stan Swamy, Rona Wilson, Anand Teltumbe and several others who are being implicated by this mesh of lies and deceit spun by the Pune Police.