Posts – Page 15 – free them all

How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order

30/07/2024 Asha

Scroll.in / by Ajaz Ashraf

An excerpt from ‘Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste’, by Ajaz Ashraf.
Maharashtrian academic Amarnath Chandaliya founded the Kabir Kala Manch in the wake of the 2002 pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat. The troupe’s avowed mission was to use songs and skits to inoculate the lower classes and castes against the virus of communalism concocted by the votaries of Hindutva, or militant Hindu nationalism. Given the communal-caste linkages, the Kabir Kala Manch subsequently deployed its artistic oeuvre to sensitise its audiences to the oppression and violence built into the Hindu hierarchical social order.
Read more

▪ Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 496
Read more/order

▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)

Also read:
▪ How Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis encounter the State. ‘It has its boots on our necks’ (The Print / Jul 2024)
▪ Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
▪ Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

Bhima Koregaon Challenging Caste: Brahminism’s Wrath Against Dreamers Of Equality by Ajaz Ashraf

30/07/2024 Asha

Article 14 / by Ajaz Ashraf

Bhide would speak against Gandhi and Nehru, in decidedly abusive language, then switch to raising alarm over the rising population of Muslims. Did they know, he would ask his audience, that infants died of heart attack when loudspeakers came alive with the azan, or the Muslim call to prayer?
…
In Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste – Brahminism’s Wrath Against Dreamers Of Equality, journalist Ajaz Ashraf takes a close look at the performances and speeches at the Elgar Parishad in Pune on the eve of the Bhima Koregaon violence. These critiqued Brahminism, prime minister Narendra Modi and the ‘new peshwai’ or new age caste oppressors. It provides a rare glimpse into how a Hindutva leader in Maharashtra used the state’s widespread reverence for Maratha warrior king Shivaji to foment anti-Muslim feelings; and studies the impact that James Laine’s book on Shivaji had on Maharashtra’s anti-Brahmin consciousness.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 496
This book rips apart the Maoist conspiracy theory and the Urban Naxal narrative. It points out the ironies underlying the State’s charges against the sixteen, and the flimsiness of the evidence that is said to have been planted on their hacked computers. The conspiracy against the sixteen that inflicted untold miseries on their families is retold here in their voices.
Read more/order

Also read:
▪ Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
▪ Proposal to Chargesheet Hindutva Leaders in Bhima Koregaon Violence (Gauri Lankesh News / Jan 2021)
▪ On the trail of Sambhaji Bhide: Ahead of Bhima Koregaon riots’ 3rd anniversary, tracing the Hindutva leader’s rise (Firstpost / Dec 2020)

Hany Babu completes four years in prison without bail, trial

28/07/2024 Asha

by Progressive Students’ Association – JNU / @Psa_jnu (Jul 28):
Four Years of Wrongful Incarceration.
Release Prof. Hany Babu!
Repeal UAPA! Free BK15!
Free All Political Prisoners!
#freehanybabu #freebk16 #repealUAPA #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners

by Deepak Kumar / @rencho79130 (Jul 28):
End 4 Years Wrongful Incarceration in Bhima Koregaon case.
Release Professor Hany Babu Immediately
#Bhimakoregaon #bk16 #SupremeCourtOfIndia

by The Polis Project / @project_polis (Jul 28):

Actor, poet, and writer Danish Husain ( @DanHusain ) reads a poignant poem “For Sachidanandan” written by Professor Dr. Hany Babu, one of the prisoners in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case.
Today, 28 July 2024, marks four years of his incarceration under the draconian UAPA
Watch video

Hany Babu completes four years in prison without bail, trial

28/07/2024

Maktoob / by Maktoob Staff

Delhi University professor and noted academic Dr. Hany Babu, who is one of the UAPA prisoners in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, completed four years of incarceration on Sunday, 28 July, 2024.
On 28 July, 2020, the National Investigation Agency arrested Babu, an anti-caste activist and a staunch proponent of social justice.
Read more

Also read:
▪ BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: JENNY ROWENA ON THE FEAR OF PRISONS AND THE BRAHMINICAL SYSTEM BEHIND IT (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
▪ Ex-DU prof Hany Babu withdraws bail plea in Supreme Court (Hindustan Times / May 2024)

‘The Incarcerations’: Alpa Shah’s book about the Bhima Koregaon-16 portrays faces of resistance

28/07/2024 Asha

Scroll.in / by Prerna Vij

Shah traces the trajectories of cartoonists, poets, writers, Jesuit priests, grassroots activists and English educators arrested under the UAPA law.
June 4 was a significant day for India. After ten years of unfettered access to power, the Bharatiya Janata Party lost its majority mandate, leading to another era of coalition politics. Liberal critics of the party published long articles on the scent of the renewed hope wafting over the country. The voters have spoken – they will not hand over custody of our nation’s values to one person or party.
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
▪ Book Excerpt: The story of an ‘Urban Naxal’ (Deccan Herald | by Alpa Shah | April 2024 )

Also read:
▪ Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 496
Read more/order
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)

▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)
▪ Explainer: Arsenal Report on Surendra Gadling (The Leaflet / Jul 2021)
▪ One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part I | History of a 200-year-old battle and why it still matters (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)
▪ One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part II | Why Elgar Parishad spooked Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, the alleged architects of January 1, 2018 anti-Dalit violence (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)

How Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis encounter the State. ‘It has its boots on our necks’

27/07/2024 Asha

The Print / by Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia

In ‘How Long Can The Moon Be Caged’, Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia look at present-day India through the lived experiences of political prisoners.
A Dalit activist we spoke to said that most people don’t encounter the state the way Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims do. She told us: ‘The state has always had a boot on our necks.’ Forget living; imagine what it takes to survive this. The boot is always pressed against minorities’ necks, making it hard to breathe, demanding that they beg for dignity every day. She added: ‘[For us] it doesn’t matter who is in power; oppression is the only thing that hasn’t changed.’
Read more

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
A powerful look at authoritarian India through the experiences of political prisoners
How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? includes visual testimonies and prison writings from those falsely accused of inciting the Bhima Koregaon violence, by student leaders opposing the new discriminatory citizenship law passed in 2020, and by activists from the Pinjra Tod’s movement. In bringing together these voices, the book celebrates the courage, humanity and moral integrity of those jailed for standing in solidarity with marginalised and oppressed communities.
Read more / order

How the State uses ‘national security’ to spellbind the process of justice

27/07/2024 Asha

The Leaflet / by Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

As the J&K High Court recently reiterated, allegations of ‘terrorism’ have become a copy-paste template that the State uses to muffle dissent, but why do courts freeze the process of criminal justice on hearing ‘national security’?
…
The jurisprudence has resulted in widening the coercive powers of the police and investigation agencies. Since the court only forms its assessment on broad probabilities, a pattern has emerged from the evidence submitted by the prosecution in a wide range of UAPA cases where there is a similarity in terms of enormous allegations running into thousands of pages, generalised testimonies of witnesses; most of which are protected witnesses, lack of incriminating evidence and heavy reliance on electronic evidence and literature.
There are similarities in three specific instances: those arrested in the backdrop of the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence, deoperationalisation of Article 370, and 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Article 21 ‘overturned’ by new criminal laws: Lawyers, activists remember Stan Swamy (Counterview / Jul 2024)
▪ Authorities must immediately repeal repressive new criminal laws (Amnesty International / Jul 2024)
▪ A New Bill Shows Maharashtra Wants to Become a Police State Before Combatting Left-Wing Extremism (The Wire 7 Jul 2024)
▪ AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)

HC Rejects Default Bail To Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawade & Rona Wilson

26/07/2024 Asha

Bombay HC rejects default bail of five accused in Bhima Koregaon case

26/07/2024

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The petitioners had moved the High court challenging special court orders in 2022 that denied them default bail.
The Bombay High Court on Friday rejected the default bail petitions of five persons accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, Bar and Bench reported.
A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Shyam C Chandak issued the order on petitions filed by lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist and researcher Rona Wilson, poet and political commentator Sudhir Dhawale, forest rights activist Mahesh Raut, and former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen.
Read more

Bombay High Court rejects default bail of five accused

26/07/2024

Bar & Bench / by Satyendra Wankhade

A Division Bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Shyam C Chandak passed the order on pleas filed by the five accused challenging 2022 special court orders that denied them default bail.
The Bombay High Court on Friday denied default bail to Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale and Shoma Sen in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
Read more

Bombay HC dismisses default bail pleas of 5 accused in Elgaar Parishad case

26/07/2024

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

The case dates back to the Elgaar Parishad event held in Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, following which violent clashes broke out the next day between Maratha and Dalit groups near Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra.
The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed default bail pleas by five Elgaar Parishad case accused Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen who were arrested by the Pune police in June 2018. The Supreme Court had granted regular bail to Sen in April.
Read more

Bombay High Court Rejects Default Bail To Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawade & Rona Wilson

26/07/2024

Live Law / by Narsi Benwal

The Bombay High Court today rejected the default bail to Dalit rights’ activist and advocate Surendra Gadling and co-accused Mahesh Raut, in the infamous Elgar Parishad case of 2018.
A division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Shyam Chandak pronounced the order in their chamber. Bail was also denied to Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawade and researcher Rona Wilson.
Read more

Also Read:
▪ Explained: The Shoma Sen bail judgment (The Leaflet / Apr 2024)
▪ 4 accused seek bail from Bombay HC on parity with Sudha Bharadwaj (India Today / March 2023)
▪ Bombay HC grants default bail to Sudha Bharadwaj, but declines the same to eight other accused (The Leaflet / Dec 2021)

Monsoons set to add the torment of high humidity to the woes of intense heat of prisoners

25/07/2024 Asha

The Leaflet / by Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

The much-discussed heatwaves that are sweeping across the subcontinent have a dark spot— prisons. As monsoons bring high humidity to the hot conditions inside Indian jails, where is the sympathy that will allow prisoners to breathe a sigh of relief?
… The medical health of prisoners is the responsibility of State as per Rule 24 of the Mandela Rules and it must be provided with the same standard as provided to anyone in the society and it should be free of cost to prisoners. However, political prisoners in India are treated with even greater hostility than other prisoners within the abysmal larger jail conditions.
In many of the instances in the Bhima Koregaon case alone, the accused undertrial prisoners have been denied adequate medical facilities, forcing the court to intervene.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)
▪ Relatives of BK16 Flag Prison Authorities’ ‘Criminal Negligence’ and Deteriorating Health of Undertrials (Newsclick / Sep 2022)
▪ Punished without trial: How India’s political prisoners are being denied basic rights in jail (Scroll.in / Aug 2022)

TODAY, is WORSE than the ‘EMERGENCY!’

24/07/2024 Asha

Countercurrents / by Cedric Prakash

India will and should never forget that infamous night of 25/26 June 1975, when, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared all over the country.
…
Just before his arrest on 8 October 2020, in a video-message that went viral, Jesuit Fr. Stan Swamy said, “What is happening to me is not something unique happening to me alone. It is a broader process that is taking place all over the country. We are all aware how prominent intellectuals, lawyers’ writers, poets, activists, students, leaders, they are all put into jail because they have expressed their dissent or raised questions about the ruling powers of India. We are part of the process. In a way I am happy to be part of this process. I am not a silent spectator, but part of the game, and ready to pay the price whatever be it.”
Read more

Also read:
▪ At UN Human Rights Review, PEN International Questions Crackdown on Dissent in India (The Wire / Jul 2024)
Read PEN International’s full report here
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS /Jul 2024)
▪ To Think of Modi 3.0 as Less Dangerous Would Be a Misreading (The Wire | by Anand Teltumbde | Jun 2024)
▪ 48 years since the Emergency (PUCL.org / 2023)
In this section of the PUCL website, find the testimonies and memories of those who were arrested, resisted and fought the emergency. Inevitably, we will reflect on today’s challenges to Indian democracy, Constitutional values and human rights.

Article 21 ‘overturned’ by new criminal laws: Lawyers, activists remember Stan Swamy

23/07/2024 Asha

Counterview / by Gova Rathod

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Gujarat, organised an event in Ahmedabad entitled “Remembering Fr. Stan Swamy in Today’s Challenging Reality” in the memory of Fr. Stan Swamy on his third death anniversary. The event included a discussion of the new criminal laws enforced since July 1, 2024.
At the start of the event Fr. Cedric Prakash spoke about Fr. Stan Swamy, a fearless defender of tribal rights in Jharkhand, who was arrested by the NIA in 2018 in the context of the Bhima Koregaon case.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Three years after Stan Swamy’s death in custody, activists recall his contributions to Adivasi cause (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ ‘Bhima Koregaon 16’ go on hunger strike to mark Stan Swamy’s death anniversary (Hindustan Times / Jul 2024)
▪ Authorities must immediately repeal repressive new criminal laws (Amnesty International / Jul 2024)