Video: Merry Xmas – Remember Hope, Struggle against Injustice in India
en | 2:17min | 2020
In solidarity with all unjustly incarcerated, charged under a terrorism law, imprisoned without trail.
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Section 144 to be invoked near Koregaon-Bhima war memorial ahead of January 1
Section 144 to be invoked near Koregaon-Bhima war memorial ahead of January 1
25/12/2020
The New Indian Express / by pti
Section 144 will be in force from the midnight of December 30 to January 2, 2021, and people from outside have been prohibited from entering the villages around the war memorial.
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Pune Police deny permission for Elgar Parishad event, cite coronavirus, law and order situation
24/12/2020
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
Retired judge BG Kolse Patil said the organisers will move the High Court against the decision.
The police in Maharashtra’s Pune city on Wednesday refused to give permission to retired judge BG Kolse Patil to organise Elgar Parishad conclave on December 31, PTI reported.
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Organizer of 2017 Elgar Parishad denied permission for event
22/12/2020
Outlook India / by Outlook News Scroll
Pune police has denied permission for an event that retired judge B G Kolse-Patil, one of the organisers of the December 2017 Elgar Parishad, had planned to hold in the city, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Kolse-Patil had sought to organize a cultural event at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on December 31.
“We have denied permission in view of the COVID-19 restrictions and law and order situation,” said city police commissioner Amitabh Gupta.
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How Does an 83-Year-Old Jesuit End Up in Prison? / Video: In Conversation with Fr Stan Swamy
Solidarity poster & Crib in Mumbai
Christmas message: Where are we heading to?
25/12/2020
The Telegraph / by Fr J Felix Raj, SJ
It is now a global festival that has transcended the perimeters of religion and symbolises different sentiments – love, friendship, hope, benevolence, forgiveness and amity.
This Christmas, I remember my fellow Jesuit, Fr. Stan Swamy. December 25 is his 79th day in jail. I wonder how he is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ at Taloja.
As a true Jesuit, I am confident that he is reaching out to the fellow prisoners and sharing with them the joy of the newborn divine Baby Jesus, and if the jail authorities do not ask him to appeal to the court for permission, he would distribute some sweets and wish them all a Feliz Navidad.
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How Does an 83-Year-Old Jesuit End Up in Prison?
24/12/2020
The New York Times / by Nikhil Kumar
Father Stan Swamy spent decades fighting for the rights of India’s marginalized people. In October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government imprisoned him under antiterrorism laws…
Before he was arrested in October under India’s antiterrorism laws, Father Swamy spent decades championing the welfare of the Indigenous tribespeople who account for around a quarter of the population in Jharkhand, one the country’s most resource-rich yet impoverished states.
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In Conversation with Father Stan Swamy
24/12/2020
Countercurrents / by Vidhya Bhusan Rawat
None would ever have imagined that an octogenarian Stan Swamy would face such a harsh treatment for his committed work for the Adivasis of Jharkhand. When the governments of the world over honor activists who work in tiring circumstances and devote their time to areas far away from their places than we must realise that it is not for money or fame but for pure committment and convictions. Father Stan Swamy was born in Trichy and as a Tamilian Christian he had enormous opportunities for him but he dedicated over thirty years of his life to the service of Adivasis in Jharkhand.
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Video: In Conversation with Father Stan Swamy
en | 34 min | 2017
This conversation was recorded about three years back at the Ranchi office of Father Stan Swamy when I visited Jharkhand. Hailing from Trichy district in Tamilnadu, Father worked tirelessly for the Adivasis in different parts of the country. He was also associated with Indian Social Institute, Banglore but his love was Jharkhand where he dedicated his entire life since 1990s.
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Prison life, a great leveller: Stan Swamy shares a poem from jail
Sabrang India / by Sabrangindia
Jesuit Priest Father Stan Swamy (83) writes he’s pained to see so many young inmates in Taloja Jail, shares a christmas message of compassion.
Jesuit Priest Father Stan Swamy, the 83-year-old human rights defender, who is lodged in Taloja Jail, has written a short poem in his latest communication from jail. As he prepares to spend Christmas in jail, instead with his beloved tribal community and his colleagues back home in Ranchi, Swamy shares thoughts on equality, compassion, and even of oneness with nature, that is perhaps what most inmates hold on to as they await justice.
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Bhima Koregaon anniversary: Govt urges Covid caution, plans for another Elgaar Parishad
Bhima Koregaon anniversary: As govt urges Covid caution, plans for another Elgaar Parishad
22/12/2020
The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde
Why is the Bhima Koregaon anniversary significant, what are the plans to observe it this year, and what happened during its 200th anniversary in 2018, which saw the arrests of activists and intellectuals?
As yet another anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon approaches, the Maharashtra government has urged for low-key celebrations, citing the coronavirus pandemic.
However, preparations for the anniversary are on in full swing, with Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad announcing he will visit Jaystambh – the battle war memorial – and the group Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyaan saying they will organise another Elgaar Parishad this year.
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Pune meet discusses plan to hold another Elgaar Parishad event
22/12/2020
The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde
“We are now organising Elgaar Parishad at the Ganesh Kala Krida Manch. We have already booked the premises and process is on for seeking permission from the police for holding the conference,” said Justice (retd) B G Kolse Patil, a former High Court judge who was a key person at the meeting.
Activists and retired officers held a state-level meeting under the banner of ‘Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyaan’ in Pune to plan another ‘Elgaar Parishad’ event on December 31, ahead of the anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon on January 1.
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COVID-19 in Maharashtra: Home Department urges people for a low key programmes at Bhima Koregaon
22/12/2020
The Free Press Journal / by Sanjay Jog
The Home Department, on Tuesday, appealed to the Ambedkarite Dalits not to gather in large numbers at the Bhima Koregaon war memorial to pay their respect at the Vijay Sthamb (victory pillar) on January 1 in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The department wants people to observe the day at low key on the lines of Ganapati, Navratri and Eid, amongst others. The programme should be symbolic.
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Varavara Rao to remain in hospital; Bombay HC to hear poet’s bail plea on Jan 7
P Varavara Rao to stay at Nanavati Hospital till January 7: Bombay HC
22/12/2020
Hindustan Times / by K A Y Dodhiya
The Bombay high court (HC) has directed the state government and National Investigation Agency (NIA) to let Telugu poet and accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, P Varavara Rao stay in Nanavati Hospital till the next hearing on January 7, 2021.
The court, while taking note of the 82-year-old’s current health status asked the hospital to submit the latest health report before the next hearing, and also announced that it would hear the pleas on the next date of hearing as the same was pending for some time now.
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Varavara Rao to remain in Nanavati hospital; Bombay HC to hear ailing poet’s bail plea on Jan 7
21/12/2020
The Leaflet / by The Leaflet
The Bombay High Court Monday directed the Nanavati hospital to submit a fresh report to the Court indicating the health status of Dr. PV Varavara Rao, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik also ordered Dr. Rao’s continued treatment at Nanavati hospital till the next date of hearing i.e. January 7, 2021.
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Varavara Rao to remain in Nanavati Hospital till January 7 as Bombay HC adjourns his bail plea
21/12/2020
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The Bombay High Court on Monday extended Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao’s stay at Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai till January 7, 2021, reported Bar and Bench. Rao, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been at the private medical facility since mid-November.
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Christmas crib themes revolve around hope amid Covid-19 and imprisoned activists
The Times of India / by Bella Jaisinghani
As the Christian community returns to church at Christmas time after months of lockdown, parishes are devising topical cribs with themes ranging from Covid-19 and the vaccine to the imprisonment of Jesuit activist Fr Stan Swamy among others.
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Shifting burden of proof
Orissa Post / by Aakar Patel
Uttar Pradesh´s law banning interfaith marriages also carries forward another innovative feature of India´s legal system in these present times. This is the shifting of burden of proof from the State to the accused. The `innocent until proven guilty´ maxim that under pins all law has been stood on its head and it is for the individual to prove their innocence to the State, which assumes that they are guilty…
Once the State has branded you a terrorist then UAPA requires you to prove your innocence even to secure bail.
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Joginder Ugrahan says ‘Naxal’ tag is only to divide farmers
The Print / by Fatima Khan
Joginder Ugrahan, 75, has been stationed at Tikri border since 28 November. His union’s protest demanding activists’ release created a row, but he says his words will be his legacy.
… On 10 December, the union marked the international human rights’ day by holding up posters of activists and scholars who have been arrested under stringent laws such as the UAPA in the last few years – Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, among others.
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Academic freedom is under attack in Modi’s India
Aljazeera / by Aman Abhishek
The ongoing unlawful imprisonment of Professor Anand Teltumbde and numerous other dissident scholars is a clear reflection of the bleak state of academic freedom in India.
Last year I had the opportunity to listen to the prominent Indian intellectual and author, Anand Teltumbde, speak at an academic conference in Delhi. At one point in his speech, he got teary-eyed and told the audience that he has lost all hope because India’s transformation into a “Hindu nation” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears complete.
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