The case of a group of writers and activists unjustly imprisoned in India starkly reveals the exploitative nature of Indian capitalism and its international connections, finds Nandita Lal
Alpa Shah’s The Incarcerations is an investigation into the imprisonment of the BK-16, a group of poets, lawyers, professors, and activists wrongfully incarcerated on the pretext of conspiring against the Indian state. Their stories unravel a vast web of transnational surveillance (including the Israeli spyware Pegasus), neoliberal repression through Financial Action Task Force mandates, the rise of Modi’s crony capitalism epitomised by the Adani empire, and ‘internal’ colonialism in Kashmir. Read more
▪ The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon And The Search For Democracy In India
Author: Alpa Shah
Publishing Date: March 2024
Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher
Pages: 672 Read more / order
Also read:
▪ Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality
Author: Ajaz Ashraf
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Pages: 496 Read more/order
▪ How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners
Authors: Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia
Publishing Date: Aug 2023
Publisher: Pluto Press
Pages: 247 Read more / order
Today, Emergency Rules! / Police torture, ill-treatment make India ‘high risk’: Report
It was fifty years ago! The nation will and should never forget that dark, infamous night of 25/26 June 1975, when, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, declared a state of emergency all over the country, citing internal and external disturbances! That terrible chapter of the country’s history lasted for a full twenty-one-month period till 21 March 1977. … Ironically and tragically, fifty years later…today, emergency still rules! Read more
India’s Social Regression Under Modi’s Eleven Years May Not Be Mendable
26/06/2025
The Wire / by Anand Teltumbde
While much has been written about the Modi regime’s economic failures and diplomatic missteps, the most insidious damage lies elsewhere – in the corrosion of India’s socio-cultural fabric.
… This damage is evident in the erosion of the country’s pluralistic ethos and the hardening of its deepest societal fault lines. A comparative glance at key social indicators from the pre-2014 era to the present reveals a sharp regression into communal majoritarianism, anti-intellectualism and institutionalised discrimination. Read more
Police torture, ill-treatment make India ‘high risk’: Report
25/06/2025
Newslaundry / by NL Team
India was among the 26 countries assessed by the World Organization.
India has been ranked a “high-risk” country for torture and ill-treatment in the World Organization Against Torture’s first Global Torture Index 2025 that was released on Wednesday.
… Prominent cases include the Bhima Koregaon trial and the continued incarceration of Kashmiri activist Khurram Parvez. The report also raises concern over reprisals against activists monitoring public protests, from anti-Sterlite demonstrators to farmers’ agitations. Read more
India among the eight worst countries in the world for torture
26/06/2025
Asia News / by Nirmala Carvalho
The report was presented in Geneva by the World Organisation Against Torture. There were 2,739 deaths in prison in 2024, an increase on the previous year.
… The report also highlights the persecution of human rights defenders as a major concern in India. ‘Torture is used as a weapon to silence them,’ Tiphagne said. He cited the case of Khurram Parvez, who has been in prison for over four years, and the defendants in the Bhima Koregaon case, who are still being held without trial. Read more
Supreme Court Refuses Urgent Listing For Hany Babu’s Application In Bhima Koregaon Case
The bench said that the applicant cannot seek urgent listing during the vacations when he could have approached the Court during the regular working days.
… Last month, the High Court observed that the Supreme Court’s order allowing the withdrawal did not reserve his liberty to approach the High Court. Hence, the High Court said that Babu was required to seek clarification from the Supreme Court. Read more
Special NIA Court Dismisses Gautam Navlakha’s Plea To Reside In Delhi
20/06/2025
Live Law / by Narsi Benwal
A special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday (June 19) rejected an application filed by human rights’ activist Gautam Navlakha, who sought permission of the court to leave Mumbai and reside in Delhi permanently till the culmination of the trial in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case. Special Judge Chakor Baviskar said traveling beyond the jurisdiction of the Court is one thing and residing permanently beyond the jurisdiction of the Court, is all together different thing. Read more [Read order]
Bhima Koregaon case: Court rejects activist Gautam Navlakha’s plea to live in Delhi
20/06/2025
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The 70-year-old activist was granted bail in May 2024, but was directed to reside in Mumbai.
A Mumbai court on Thursday rejected human rights activist Gautam Navlakha’s petition seeking permission to live in Delhi during the pendency of his trial in the Bhima Koregaon case, reported Live Law. Read more
Mumbai court rejects plea by Gautam Navlakha to relocate to Delhi
20/06/2025
Bar & Bench / by Sahyaja MS
Navlakha had filed an application requesting relief from the condition that restricts him from leaving the jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court.
A special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected a plea by activist and accused in Bhima Koregaon violence, Gautam Navlakha, seeking permission to permanently relocate to Delhi. [Gautam Navlakha v National Investigation Agency] Read more [Read order]
Court rejects journalist Gautam Navlakha’s plea, says he can’t permanently stay in Delhi
20/06/2025
The Times of India / by Rebecca Samervel
Observing that “permanently residing outside the court’s jurisdiction is a completely separate matter from merely travelling beyond it”, a special NIA court on Thursday rejected a plea by journalist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, seeking permission to permanently reside in Delhi.
Citing financial strain, unemployment, and an ailing 86-year-old sister, Navlakha moved the plea in April. “Since HC has not granted such liberty either to the accused or to this court as well, this unnecessary application deserves to be rejected,” the judge said. Read more
Court rejects Navlakha’s plea for nod to reside in Delhi during pendency of case
19/06/2024
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Elgaar Parishad accused had cited expenses in Mumbai
A special court on Thursday rejected a plea filed by journalist-activist Gautam Navlakha, booked in the Elgaar Parishad case, seeking permission to reside in New Delhi during the pendency of the case.
Navlakha was directed not to leave the jurisdiction of the Mumbai court without permission, as part of his bail conditions set by the Bombay High Court. Read more
Eleven years after Narendra Modi’s rise in 2014, with promises of “Achhe Din” and a transformed India, the nation stands at a crossroads. Expectations of a global powerhouse and inclusive democracy have been replaced by broken promises, manipulated data, and a Government obsessed with optics over outcomes.
…
Civil liberties have declined since 2014. Freedom House rated India “Partly Free,” and V-Dem calls it an “electoral autocracy.” The 2025 World Press Freedom Index ranks India 151st of 180, citing journalist harassment. The ED registered 193 cases against political leaders from 2015 to 2025, with 95 per cent of CBI probes targeting opposition figures. The NIA’s questionable evidence in Bhima Koregaon, coupled with low UAPA (3 per cent) and PMLA (0.4 per cent) conviction rates, shows detention over justice. Read more
Congress has a UAPAwakening: Law parent cries ‘dangerous misuse’
12/06/2025
The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent
Khera mentioned the Bhima Koregaon case, the Delhi riots conspiracy, and the action on web portal NewsClick and other instances of journalists and activists facing arrest under the UAPA
The Congress on Wednesday skewered the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, alleging that the Narendra Modi government had weaponised it to stifle dissent and deny justice, but in the process starkly bared the irony that the party had itself passed the law and inserted the provisions that it now finds “draconian” and vulnerable to “dangerous misuse”. Read more
Modi govt using laws like UAPA to stifle dissent: Congress
11/06/2025
Deccan Herald / by PTI
Anand Teltumbde, Nodeep Kaur, and Mahesh Raut were arrested under UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon case
The Congress on Wednesday accused the Modi government of stifling dissent and said the “dangerous misuse” of laws like the UAPA to threaten free expression is part of the BJP’s broader attack on the Constitution.
“Under the Modi government, law has increasingly been used to stifle dissent and delay justice. Between 2014 and 2022, 8,719 UAPA cases yielded only a 2.55% conviction rate, exposing its misuse to target critics, students, journalists, and activists,” Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said in a post on X. Read more
The Opposition’s Silence Has Let the BJP Diminish India’s Political Discourse
06/06/2025
The Wire / by Sarayu Pani
Today, the opposition faces a choice – they can either continue to allow the boundaries of political engagement in the country to be decided by the ruling party or they can ground their opposition in democratic principles.
… A vast majority of these instances have not been rhetorically resisted by the political opposition to the BJP. In 2019, for example, the Congress voted in favour of amendments that dangerously broadened the scope of the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in the Rajya Sabha. Few opposition political parties have stood in clear solidarity with the detainees of either the Bhima Koregaon case or the Delhi riots conspiracy case. Read more
Is the government campaign aimed at ‘finishing off’ the extremists, or are the larger goals to open up central India’s mineral and natural resources for exploitation? Or both?
… Over the years, Maoists, NGOs and even priests like Stan Swamy have mobilized these tribal communities to resist corporate expansion. The state forces, on the other hand, have intervened to crush the protests. Read more
Over her four-year tenure in the court, Trivedi developed a reputation for rarely granting bail, locking horns with lawyers, and favouring the BJP.
Trivedi was elevated to the Supreme Court from the Gujarat High Court in August 2021. According to a study by the Supreme Court Observer, till October 2024, almost 40% of the judgements authored by her as a Supreme Court judge were in criminal law matters – an unusually large number.
Her track record in many of these showed that she went against the oft-repeated adage by the Supreme Court that “bail is the rule, jail is the exception”. Read more
Elgar Parishad case accused at event that attacked Maharashtra Public Security Bill, cops to seek bail review
22/05/2025
Times of India / by Soumitra Bose
The Elgar Parishad case accused, who are out on bail, had thronged the Veera Sathidar memorial event at Vidarbha Hindi Sahitya Sammelan on May 13, top security sources told TOI.
Though the event was organised as a memorial for the acclaimed filmmaker, security agency sources stated it turned into a platform for attacking the Maharashtra govt’s efforts to table the proposed Maharashtra Public Security Bill to rein in frontal organisations of alleged urban Maoists.
… Activists like Sudhir Dhawale and former Nagpur University professor Soma Sen, who are out on bail in the Elgar Parishad case, participated in the event Read more
Actor’s wife, 2 others booked for reciting Pak poet’s poem
21/05/2025
Rediff.com / by pti, edited by Hemant Waje
The recitation of Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s Hum Dekhenge poem at an event in Nagpur has led police to slap charges of endangering India’s unity and integrity, and promoting enmity against three persons, including late actor-activist Veera Sathidar’s wife Pushpa.
… Police said they are also looking into the activities and background of the Samata Kala Manch, whose head, Sudhir Dhawale, is currently out on bail in connection with another case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made during the Elgar Parishad event in Pune in 2017. Read more
Singing Faiz’s ‘Hum Dekhenge’ is ‘Sedition’: Nagpur Police Book Organisers of Vira Sathidar Memorial
19/05/2025
The Wire / by Sukanyana Shantha
Singing the revolutionary poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, once celebrated as a voice of resistance, now attracts sedition charges in India.
At an event organised last week in memory of actor and activist Vira Sathidar, a group of young cultural activists sang the lyrics of Faiz’s famous Hum Dekhenge.
… In October 2020, when the NIA filed a supplementary chargesheet in the Elgar Parishad case, Sathidar’s name appeared among the so-called “urban Naxals,” a term loosely used by the Devendra Fadnavis-led government to target dissenters. Now, with the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, the state government seeks to formalise the term “urban Naxal” within the legal framework. Read more
HC questions maintainability of Hany Babu’s fresh bail plea
18/05/2025
Hindustan Times / by Karuna Nidhi
Additional solicitor-general Anil Singh, appearing for the NIA, raised preliminary objections over the maintainability of the application, citing a delay of more than two years and four months in its filing after the NIA court on February 14, 2022 rejected Babu’s bail application
The Bombay high court earlier this month questioned the maintainability of the fresh bail application filed on June 10, 2024, by former Delhi University (DU) professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. Read more
Bombay High Court Asks Hany Babu To Seek Clarification From SC Regarding Forum To Approach For Seeking Anticipatory Bail
03/05/2025
Live Law / by Narsi Benwal
The Bombay High Court on Friday asked former Delhi University Professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Bhima-Koregaon Elgar Parishad case, to seek clarification from the Supreme Court as to whether he should be approaching the HC or the Special Court for afresh bail.
This comes while the bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata commenced hearing Babu’s appeal challenging an order passed by the Special NIA court in February 2022, denying him bail. Read more
Thread by Live Law / @LiveLawIndia (May 2, 2025):
Bombay High Court has asked former Delhi University Professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Bhima-Koregaon Elgar Parishad case, to seek clarification from the Supreme Court as to whether he should be approaching either the HC or the Special Court for afresh bail. #BombayHighCourt #HanyBabu
This comes while the bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari & Kamal Khata commenced hearing his appeal challenging an order passed by the Special NIA court in February 2022, denying him bail.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh for the NIA raised a preliminary objection stating that if the SC has granted him liberty to seek afresh bail, then he must approach the Special Court and not the HC.
Dr Yug Chaudhary for Hany Babu, however, opposed the objection. He said that he is ready to give up his arguments on merits for the moment and would argue only on the point of delay since his client has been behind the bars for 4 years 9 months now.
“This is a constitutional court and nothing can stop it from hearing my plea for bail on point of delay since my right to life and liberty is being violated,” Chaudhary told the judges.
However, the judges too prima facie, opined that there is no liberty granted by the SC (by its April 3, 2024) order to Hany Babu to file an appeal before the HC. It therefore, asked Babu to seek clarification from the SC and has adjourned the hearing.
