The Indian Express / by Pratap Bhanu Mehta
The orders passed by Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup J Bhambhani, granting bail to Asif Tanha, Devangana Kalita, and Natasha Narwal, have opened up the black box of the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) jurisprudence. The UAPA had become the black box of Indian jurisprudence for a number of reasons.
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The Tribune India / by Tribune News Service
Activists of the Jamhoori Adhikar Sabha and other like-minded organisations on Wednesday staged a protest and carried out a march while seeking immediate release of those who were booked and arrested for the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence.
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17/06/2021
The Leaflet / by Gahena Gambani
Earlier this year, the Bhima Koregaon case made international headlines, when The Washington Post reported that cybersecurity firm M/s Arsenal Consulting had analysed the laptops of some accused, and reached the conclusion that malware had been planted on the same, presumably with a view to frame the accused.
Soon after, Shoma Sen, an assistant professor and the head of the English Department at Nagpur University, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon matter, approached the Bombay High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution and Section 482 of the CrPC, praying for a quashing of the sanctions against her under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. A similar petition had also been filed by her co-accused, Rona Wilson.
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17/06/2021
FPJ / by Narsi Benwal
The Bombay High Court bench of Justices Sambhaji Shinde and Nizamoodin Jamadar on Thursday adjourned the hearing in the petitions filed by rights activists Rona Wilson and Shoma Sen till July 13. The bench has granted a last chance to the National Investigation Agency and Maharashtra government to file its response to the petitions by June 1.
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16/06/2021
Outlook India / by Preetha Nair
Kin and lawyers of imprisoned activists say the ruling will help in the delivery of justice.
For the past month, Jenny Rowena has been living in a hotel in Mumbai to attend to her husband Prof Hany Babu, who is undergoing treatment for a severe eye infection in a Mumbai hospital. Babu, a Delhi University associate professor was arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) in July 2020 in connection with Bhima Koregaon- Elgar Parishad violence and was lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja jail since then.
Babu is one of the 16 prominent activists, who are facing trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for their alleged role in the 2018 violence and links with the outlawed CPI (Maoist) outfit. One of the high-profile cases in the country involving eminent activists, lawyers, and academicians, the Bhima Koregaon case has invited criticism of international forums for the lack of due process.
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16/06/2021
Scroll.in / by Sruthisagar Yamunan
Despite the principles set by the Delhi High Court, bail under UAPA will remain discretionary.
On Tuesday, when the Delhi High Court granted bail to Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha in the Delhi riots cases in which the three activists have been charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, it was this simple exercise of “lifting the veil” thrown on the case by the prosecution that has led to a significant precedent.
… As seen in several recent cases, including those against activists in the Bhima Koregaon case in Maharashtra, the trial courts, more often than not, tend to agree with the prosecution on the prima facie truth of the case.
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16/06/2021
India Today / by Aneesha Mathur
Lawyers have welcomed the decision by Delhi High Court stating that protesters have the right to criticise the government. They also hailed the Court’s verdict defining the lines between criticism of the government and activities that destabilize the country.
… Lawyer Vrinda Grover also said the HC verdict was “significant” since there has been indiscriminate use of the law in recent years… He added: “In this context, we must raise the issue of incarceration of 16 human rights defenders in the Bhima Koregaon case under UAPA for almost three years and the trial is yet to commence. The judiciary must intervene and not allow the criminal legal machinery to be used by the State to suppress fundamental freedoms of citizens, otherwise democracy is in peril.”
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The Times of India / by Neel Kamal
Six months after being described as “urban naxals” and “Maoists” for demanding the release of activists arrested in cases of Bhima Koregaon Alghar Parishad and Delhi riots, farm organisation BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) reiterated its demand for unconditional release of writers, intellectuals and rationalists. They again displayed photos of Gautam Navlakha, Natasha Narwal, Soma Sen, Gautam Gilani, Rona Wilson and Umar Khalid. Members of Naujwan Bharat Sabha and Punjab Students Union (Shaheed Randhawa) released a poster depicting people in a cage. The protesters called for dedicating a fortnight to support jailed activists.
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en | 30sec | 2021
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12/06/2021
The Milli Gazette / by Fr Cedric Prakash SJ
It was the virtual ‘midnight knock’! The irony was that the knock took place in broad daylight, and expectedly in a blatantly unjust, uncivilised and unconstitutional manner. On 6 June 2018, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson were arrested from their residences in various parts of the country. The arrests of others then continued in a phased manner: on 28 August 2018, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao and Vernon Gonsalves; on 14 April 2020, Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha; on 28 July 2020, Hanybabu Tarayil; on 10 September 2020, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and (the next day) Jyoti Jagtap – all three from the Kabir Kala Manch were arrested from Pune; finally on 8 October 2020, Fr Stan Swamy was arrested from Ranchi.
It is three years now since the first arrests in the Bhima-Koregaon conspiracy case were made. Today, sixteen (referred to as the BK-16) of the country’s committed citizens continue to languish in jail, with bail being denied to them and with absolutely no signs of any trial beginning.
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Zurich, Switzerland: Solifonds in collaboration with the Frauenrechts Gruppe of Amnesty Zurich Chapter, held a demonstration to protest for the release of the 16 human rights activists in India. They also wrote a solidarity message for the prisoners signed by the people who participated at the activities.
Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany: IndienKoGruppe: Solidarity from Berlin and Frankfurt. Defending the Defenders of Indian Constitutional Values and Human Rights.
Freedom shall prevail, defend the defenders!
Cambridge, UK
Dundee, Scotland: Amnesty Dundee – The BK 16 are a group of human rights defenders who have been imprisoned indefinitely by the Indian Government for standing up for human rights.
Amnesty Kenya: #BK16 solidarity from Nairobi, Kenya. Our members, staff and Board stand with the 16 Human Rights Defenders incarcerated in India #FreeBK16 #FreeThemAll unconditionally now
Amnesty International UK South Asia Action, Minehead group: Today, 12 June 2021, is an Action Day across Europe to raise awareness of the BK16 Below are the AI Minehead group asking you to #FreeBK16 and #FreeThemAll
The Print / by Sravasti Dasgupta
The families and friends of Bhima Koregaon prisoners organised a webinar Friday to highlight the deteriorating health of the prisoners and unhygienic conditions in jails.
The family members of activists arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case demanded their immediate release, in view of the raging Covid-19 pandemic.
To mark three years since the first arrests in the case, the families and friends of the accused Friday organised a webinar — “Three Years Too Many…” — to highlight the deteriorating health of the prisoners, with many of them testing positive for Covid, and unhygienic conditions in jails.
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Watch video: THE BHIMA KOREGAON CONSPIRACY CASE – THREE YEARS TOO MANY … (June11)
Also read (Hindi): SALAAKHON MEIN QAID AVAAZEIN (IMPRISONED VOICES).
By Family and Friends of BK16
Three years ago, on 6 June 2018, the first arrests of human rights activists in the Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case occurred. Today, 16 of the finest citizens of India face trumped up charges in this fabricated case.
Please join the Family Members and friends of BK16 on a webinar and Book Release.
Book Release by Bhanwar Meghvanshi, leading writer and Dalit Intellectual
hindi + en | 4h 30min | 2021
Watch video at PUCL fb
Read the book (Hindi): SALAAKHON MEIN QAID AVAAZEIN (IMPRISONED VOICES).
By Family Members and friends of BK16
“Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein”
Edition: June 2021
Language: Hindi
Paperback: 69 pages
Access a PDF copy of the book here (15MB)
(Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein is free to download, but contributions are welcome!
Write to us at booksbywss(at)gmail.com if you would like to contribute.)
“Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein” is a book on the Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy case. It is a tribute to those individuals who, while fighting for truth and justice, have themselves become victims of a grave and flagrant injustice.
Sixteen sterling citizens of this country, all of them well-known dissidents and renowned human rights activists, have been arrested in this fictitious case, so far. They have been accused of conspiring with the banned Maoist party to cause violence in Bhima Koregaon on 1st January, 2018, by inciting the oppressed Dalit and Bahujan people against the government. Among the accused (known as BK-16) are professors, writers, lawyers, cultural activists, trade unionists, poets, etc.
The book, while providing a background of this fabricated case, gives a profile of each of the BK-16 and also carries original pieces of writing by them.
“सलाखों में कैद आवाज़ें” एक कोशिश है, भीमा कोरेगांव के षड़यंत्र को सामने लाने की। ये किताब एक कोशिश है उन्हें याद करने की जो न्याय और मानवता के लिए लड़ने के बावजूद आज खुद ‘न्याय के षड़यंत्र’ का शिकार बने हुए हैं।
पिछले तीन साल से इस देश के 16 ‘सच्चे नागरिक’ (जिन्हें बीके-16 भी कहा जाता है) सलाखों में कैद हैं, जिनमें जाने-माने मानवाधिकार व सांस्कृतिक कार्यकर्ता, प्रोफेसर, लेखक, कवि, वकील व ट्रेड यूनियन कार्यकर्ता शामिल हैं। उन पर आरोप है कि उन्होंने प्रतिबंधित माओवादी पार्टी के साथ मिलकर 2018 में भीमा कोरेगांव में हिंसा भड़काने और दलितों व बहुजनों को शासन के खिलाफ उकसाने की साजिश रची।
इस फर्जी केस पर रोशनी डालते हुए, यह किताब हमें बीके-16 से रूबरू कराती है और उन के लिखे हुए खत व रचनाओं को भी संकलित रूप से रखती है।