Posts

Varavara Rao in Prison: Maoists and Other Enemies of the Indian State

Varavara Rao in Prison: Maoists and Other Enemies of the Indian State

VERSO / by Aditya Bahl

Aditya Bahl protests against the continued imprisonment of the Marxist poet, Varavara Rao, and examines how the current cycle of rightwing repression is part of a much longer political history, shaped by the changing relationship between the Indian state and capitalism.
In Captive Imagination, a collection of essays written in the prison during the late 1980s, Varavara Rao, the Telugu poet and a leading Maoist ideologue in India, narrates a rather uncanny state of affairs.
Read more

Rights award for jailed Stan Swam

Rights award for jailed Stan Swam

The Telegraph / by Animesh Bisoee

The award would be sent to the priest at Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai and the money to his organisation in Ranchi.
Father Stan Swamy, the 83-year-old jailed priest, has been selected for an award honouring the late Mukundan C. Menon, journalist and founder of the human rights organisation People’s Union for Civil Liberties.
Read more

VV’s Update from Hospital / Varavara Rao to remain at Nanavati hospital till Dec 21

VV’s Update from Hospital / Varavara Rao to remain at Nanavati hospital till Dec 21

VV’s Update from Hospital

16/12/2020

Release the Poet / by N Venugopal

Prisoned Peoples’ Poet Varavara Rao is doing far better now. Hospital care, nursing, regular check-ups, medication have helped a lot. Meeting his own people everyday, even if for an hour a day, reading Telugu after two years added strength. Still physical weakness persists; post-covid issues are there. Sending back to jail might aggravate this again.
We have to see what happens on Dec 21 court hearing…

Varavara Rao’s health better, hospital stay to continue till Bombay HC decides on bail plea

16/12/2020

India Today / by Vidya

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has told the Bombay High Court that jailed activist Varavara Rao is fit enough to be sent back to jail. Varavara Rao was moved to a hospital over his ailing health.
During the hearing, Varavara Rao’s lawyers sought bail for him… While trying to emphasise that granting bail to Varavara Rao would not mean that he would run away from the trial, Anand Grover said, “He has been tried for 24 cases in his lifetime which is not a joke for anyone and he has been acquitted in all of them. He has been chargesheeted and acquitted. He never absconded and has stood trial and he will stand trial here as well and that should be considered while granting him bail.”
Read more

Varavara Rao to remain at Nanavati hospital till Dec 21: Bombay HC

15/12/2020

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Varavara Rao, who is lodged at Taloja Central Jail, was shifted to the private hospital following a court order on November 18.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday allowed Telugu writer-poet Varavara Rao, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the Elgaar Parishad case, to remain at Nanavati hospital in Mumbai till the next hearing on December 21.
Read more

Bombay HC extends Varavara Rao’s hospital stay, NIA says he is fit to go back to jail

15/12/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

During the hearing, Rao’s counsels pleaded that he be permitted to go back to his home in Hyderabad for treatment.
The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, was “fit enough” to be shifted back to the Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai from a private hospital where he is currently admitted, PTI reported.
Read more

For those dividing Indians to rule them, adivasis are clearly not farmers / Video: Protesting farmers

For those dividing Indians to rule them, adivasis are clearly not farmers / Video: Protesting farmers


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

The Wire / by Nandini Sundar

The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) decided to mark December 10, International Human Rights Day, by remembering several prominent activists arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), especially those arrested in the name of Bhima Koregaon, and the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act…
Mahesh Raut, one of the youngest of those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, is a graduate of TISS and was a PM Rural Development Fellow in Gadchiroli.
Read more

Video: Protesting Farmers Demand Release of Arrested Intellectuals and Activists


hindi | 11:30min | 2020

The Wire / by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta

Why do farmers wish to broaden the scope of their protest?
Farmers protesting at the border on International Human Rights Day demanded the release of all activists who have been arrested. The Wire‘s Political Affairs Editor Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta spoke to the farmers to find out why they wished to broaden the scope of their protest.
Watch video

Jesuit priests voice active support for jailed senior Fr Stan Swamy / NGO urges ‘Star for Stan’

Jesuit priests voice active support for jailed senior Fr Stan Swamy / NGO urges ‘Star for Stan’

Jesuit priests voice active support for jailed senior Fr Stan Swamy

16/12/2020

The Times of India / by Bella Jaisinghani

Mumbai: The Society of Jesus, which runs prominent schools and colleges in the city, has expressed solidarity with their jailed senior colleague Fr Stan Swamy and decried the “abuse” of the UAPA law. The ailing 83-year-old priest remains in Taloja Jail facing UAPA charges in the Bhima Koregaon case, and had to battle for basic amenities like straw and sipper.
Read more

NGO urges ‘Star for Stan’ with straws and sippers, or banners

16/12/2020

Times of India / by TNN

A unit of NGO, Bombay Catholic Sabha (BCS), affiliated to St Peter’s Church, Bandra, urged citizens to signal support for jailed activists, including the elderly Fr Stan Swamy through their Christmas Star.
Read more

Elderly Indian Jesuit’s bail hearing postponed again

16/12/2020

UCA News / by Saji Thomas

Federal probe agency opposes Father Swamy’s bail after claiming it has serious evidence against him.
An elderly Indian Jesuit priest remains in jail after a special court deferred hearing his bail plea for a fourth time following opposition from the federal probe agency that arrested him two months ago on charges of sedition and links to Maoist rebels.
The bail application of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy came up for hearing on Dec. 14 before the special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) based in Mumbai, capital of western India’s Maharashtra state.
Read more

Also Read: NIA OPPOSES BAIL PLEA OF STAN SWAMY / STAN SWAMY LIKELY TO BE SHIFTED TO ARTHUR ROAD JAIL (Dec 15)

Should Gautam Navlakha’s House Arrest In 2018 Be Included For Computing Period For Default Bail?

Should Gautam Navlakha’s House Arrest In 2018 Be Included For Computing Period For Default Bail?

Live Law / by Live Law News Network

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reserved judgment on the appeal filed by Gautam Navlakha, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, challenging the order of NIA court granting extension of time under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act( UAPA) for filing chargesheet.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Navlakha, submitted that the extension application under Section 43D(2) of UAPA was filed by the NIA on the the 110th day of his custody. Since the application was filed beyond the period of 90 days, Navlakha was entitled to get default bail, Sibal submitted.
Read more

Post unlockdown: Prison population increases to 31,000 in Maharashtra

Post unlockdown: Prison population increases to 31,000 in Maharashtra


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

While at one point during the lockdown, the inmate population had reduced to nearly 24,000 – a little over its official capacity of 23,217 – nearly half of the state’s prisons are overcrowded again, some housing inmates more than double their capacities…
Five of the six prisons are overcrowded. At Taloja jail, which had fewer inmates than its capacity of 2,124 before the lockdown, now has 4,080 inmates. The jail, which has inmates including the 10 male accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, ICICI Bank-Videocon case’s Deepak Kochhar, continues to receive most of the new arrests from four districts.
Read more

NIA opposes bail plea of Stan Swamy / Stan Swamy likely to be shifted to Arthur Road Jail

NIA opposes bail plea of Stan Swamy / Stan Swamy likely to be shifted to Arthur Road Jail

NIA opposes Stan Swamy’s bail plea, claims he was part of ‘deep-rooted conspiracy’

15/12/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The central agency said Swamy cannot be given bail as it was yet to complete investigating emails and other digital evidence gathered at the time of his arrest.
The National Investigation Agency on Monday opposed the bail plea filed by tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, and alleged that the 83-year-old was part of the alleged conspiracy to instigate violence in 2017, PTI reported.
Read more

NIA opposes bail plea of Stan Swamy

15/12/2020

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Father Stan Swamy had moved a plea seeking opportunity to be heard if a decision is taken to transfer him to any other prison. Swamy has been lodged in Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai since his arrest in October…
The court was also informed about the application by co-accused Gautam Navlakha seeking from jail authorities to provide him five books per month in Taloja prison. After hearing submissions, the court granted NIA to respond to the pleas and posted further hearings on December 21.
Read more

Stan Swamy likely to be shifted to Arthur Road Jail

15/12/2020

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

Swamy’s advocate had made a plea on December 4, seeking that Swamy not be shifted from Taloja Jail without their being heard.
Octogenarian tribal rights activist Stan Swamy may be shifted out of the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai to Arthur Road Jail in the city. The Taloja jail superintendent, in a report, informed the court on Monday that while the jail authorities did not plan to shift him presently, considering his age and ailments, they were likely to move him to Arthur Road Jail, which had government hospitals nearby.
Read more

NIA Cites Kabir Kala Manch’s Songs That Parody Modi, BJP to Oppose Bail to Arrested Singers

NIA Cites Kabir Kala Manch’s Songs That Parody Modi, BJP to Oppose Bail to Arrested Singers

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Along with the songs, the agency has also relied upon evidence from 2011 and 2012 and has claimed that the activists were in touch with absconding Naxal leader Milind Teltumbde.
Singing parodical songs against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been presented as one of the grounds for arresting singers and activists of the cultural troupe Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) in the Elgar Parishad case. In its response filed in the Bombay high court against the bail application moved by the vocalists of KKM, Sagar Gorkhe (32) and Ramesh Gaichor (38), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has cited their songs which critique Narendra Modi and certain BJP policies as one of the grounds for arrest.
Read more

India’s 21st-century dungeons – Government is tardy with revealing jail data

India’s 21st-century dungeons – Government is tardy with revealing jail data

UCA News / by John Dayal

A little plastic hollow straw, much like the one you’d get with fresh tender coconut or cold drink at a roadside eatery, has gained much attention not just on the vagaries of the law of the land and its courts, but even more on the conditions in the prisons in India.
It took several weeks for 84-year-old Jesuit Father Stan Swamy–in prison as a mere suspect in a trumped-up conspiracy called the Bhima-Koregaon case–to get the plastic drinking straw, which he needs to take a sip of water or tea because his Parkinson’s disease afflicted hands can bare hold the cup. He is not yet an undertrial, and certainly not a convict.
Read more