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Withdraw scurrilous allegations: Sudha Bharadwaj files application against NIA

Withdraw scurrilous allegations: Sudha Bharadwaj files application against NIA

Withdraw scurrilous allegations: Sudha Bharadwaj files application against NIA and its lawyers

29/12/2020

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

She has stated that the Court should not be reduced to a forum of gossip and slander under the guise of legal arguments.
Bhima Koregaon case accused Sudha Bharadwaj has filed an application in the Special NIA Court at Mumbai praying for the withdrawal of the allegations made against her in the reply filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
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Sudha Bharadwaj requests NIA to withdraw ‘defamatory’ remark

29/12/2020

Free Press Journal / by Bhavna Uchil

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj made an application before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday, seeking that court direct the agency and its prosecutor withdraw their “defamatory” remark against her.
On December 10, Bharadwaj had made a plea seeking copies of witness statements in which the identities of witnesses and their addresses be protected as allowed by law, but the contents of the statements not be truncated in various portions. Her plea had said that the truncation is obstructing her defence as the statements are not making sense with the truncations.
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Special court directs NIA to supply statements of witnesses to Sudha Bharadwaj

29/12/2020

Goa Cronicle / by GC News Desk

The Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court at Mumbai directed the NIA to provide copies of the unredacted statements of the witnesses to Bhima Koregaon accused, Sudha Bharadwaj.
The Court said that the statements should be provided without truncation except for the identity and addresses of the witnesses which can be redacted.
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Sudhir Dhawale – Dalit leader remains in jail as government, court ‘wilfully’ disrespect previous judgments

Sudhir Dhawale – Dalit leader remains in jail as government, court ‘wilfully’ disrespect previous judgments

Counterview / by Surabhi Agarwal, Sandeep Pandey, Kushagra Kumar

Writer, poet, artist, perennial protestor and Dalit leader Sudhir Dhawale, arrested and jailed in mid-2018, remains incarcerated under charges of the controversial Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and assorted Indian Penal Codes. He has been accused of instigating violence at Bhima Koregaon event on January 1, 2018.
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Release the Poet – Convenors’ Statement on United Forum Against Fascism

Release the Poet – Convenors’ Statement on United Forum Against Fascism

By Release the Poet Committee

Comrades & Friends!
On the eve of the upcoming Bhima-Koregaon Day, this is our statement on behalf of ‘Release the Poet’ Committee to the anti-fascist people of West Bengal.
In this state as well as throughout the whole country, the danger of Hindutva-Manuvadi Fascists is no longer an impending possibility, it has become a burning truth. The BJP-RSS has reared its ugly aggresive head in West Bengal, taking full advantage of the mismanagement, corruption and dictatorship of the present and former governing parties in the state, and with the corporate-funded financial powers, the muscle power of the Brahmanical Saffron forces, the central judiciary and paramilitary forces. …

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Draconian Laws, Trumped-Up Charges: In India, 2020 Was a Year of Crushing Dissent

Draconian Laws, Trumped-Up Charges: In India, 2020 Was a Year of Crushing Dissent

Draconian Laws, Trumped-Up Charges: In India, 2020 Was a Year of Crushing Dissent

27/12/2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

The year, which kicked off with countrywide protests and riots in the capital, saw personal liberties take a big hit with anti-terror and defamation laws being used routinely to silence dissenters and human rights defenders.
Disproportionate application of draconian laws, divisive media reporting and jail terms for students and activists were some of the main highlights of 2020. Almost every month this year, several activists and academics have been either arrested or booked under counter-terrorism law, sedition and other laws, for merely expressing their discontent against the current dispensation.
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Year-Ender 2020: Historic Judgments, Observations By Mumbai Courts

28/12/2020

mid-day / by mid-day online correspondent

The coronavirus induced lockdown in 2020 made virtual court proceedings the new normal in India. The Bombay High Court and other special courts in Mumbai passed some historical judgments virtually this year. Here is a quick rewind.
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Gadling in jail. Reason? As lawyer-activist he has been ‘unpleasant’ to India’s topcops

Gadling in jail. Reason? As lawyer-activist he has been ‘unpleasant’ to India’s topcops

Counterview / by Nilkantha Mandal, Sandeep Pandey, Kushagra Kumar

Surendra Gadling, now in jail in the Bhima-Koregoan violence case, is a human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist based in Nagpur. He is known for taking up cases of extra-judicial killings, police excesses and atrocities against Dalits and Adivasis in Gadchiroli and Gondia districts of Maharashtra.
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The cost of voicing dissent: UAPA against G.N. Saibaba, Gautam Navlakha, Father Stan Swamy and others

26/12/2020

Countercurrents / by Kunal Pant

In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor G. N. Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”
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A top peace activist, Modi govt ‘equated’ Navlakha with a terrorist

A top peace activist, Modi govt ‘equated’ Navlakha with a terrorist

Counterview / by Priyanka Preet, Sandeep Pandey, Kushagra Kumar

Gautam Navlakha is a famed author, civil rights activists, human rights activist, journalist, an Editorial Consultant at the “Economic and Political Weekly”, probably the most internationally well known social sciences journal published out of India, the convenor of the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir and the Secretary of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights.
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On the trail of Sambhaji Bhide: Ahead of Bhima Koregaon riots’ 3rd anniversary

On the trail of Sambhaji Bhide: Ahead of Bhima Koregaon riots’ 3rd anniversary

Firstpost / by Parth MN

Tracing the Hindutva leader’s rise.
… Every year on 1 January, tens of thousands of Dalit-Bahujan pilgrims gather at the war memorial of Bhima Koregoan, about 40 km from Pune. It commemorates the historic battle won by the British Army, which had a significant contingent of Dalit soldiers, against the Peshwas. For the Dalit community, the battle signifies their fight against untouchability. Therefore, in 2018, at the 200th anniversary of the event, the crowd at Bhima Koregaon war memorial was larger than usual. However, the gathering was assaulted allegedly by upper caste mobs belonging to right-wing groups.
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The Dissenting and Defiant Citizen Is Indian of the Year / The Cost of Voicing Dissent

The Dissenting and Defiant Citizen Is Indian of the Year / The Cost of Voicing Dissent

The Dissenting and Defiant Citizen Is Indian of the Year

26/12/2020

The Wire / by Sidharth Bhatia

Whether at Shaheen Bagh or on the highways outside Delhi, Indians are standing up for dignity and rights for all.
In an environment where dissidence is considered an act of rebellion, even sedition, where people are thrown into jail for standing up for rights, and where even a cartoon or a joke can get the politicians riled up, some Indians have let it be known that they will not get cowed down. Especially when it comes to matters of dignity and livelihood.
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The cost of voicing dissent: UAPA against G.N. Saibaba, Gautam Navlakha, Father Stan Swamy and others

26/12/2020

Countercurrents / by Kunal Pant

… UAPA has been disproportionately targeted against minorities (Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis), activists, human rights defenders and political opponents… UAPA has been disproportionately targeted against minorities (Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis), activists, human rights defenders and political opponents… Cases in point are Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, and Rona Wilson – all Dalit activists – allegedly for being associated with the “Elgar Parishad.” (Bhima Koregaon).
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A Lookback At Arrests Made Under The UAPA

25/12/2020

Mumbai Live / by Mumbai Live Team

As 2020 nears towards the end, we look back at three of the arrests that have been made under the anti-terror law by the name Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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Why is India denying prisoners spectacles and straws?

Why is India denying prisoners spectacles and straws?

BBC News / by Geeta Pandey

Life in prison is expected to be tough.
But in recent weeks, jail authorities in India have been called out for being especially cruel to prisoners, particularly the government’s critics who are described as “human rights defenders” by international rights groups.
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