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Immediate Transfer to a Hospital and Prompt Treatment for Varvara Rao

Immediate Transfer to a Hospital and Prompt Treatment for Varvara Rao

+++ Udpate June 13: VV Rao has been moved to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai +++

Counter Currents / statement by Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Devaki Jain, Maja Daruwala & Satish Deshpande

We appeal to the Government of Maharashtra and the National Investigation Agency to facilitate the immediate transfer of Mr. Varavara Rao to JJ Hospital where he can receive proper treatment. Mr Rao poses no flight risk and has voluntarily submitted to all investigations for the past 22 months. There is no reason in law or conscience to hold him in circumstances that increase risk to his fragile health.
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Bhima Koregaon case: NIA summons Delhi University professor Hany Babu to Mumbai

Bhima Koregaon case: NIA summons Delhi University professor Hany Babu to Mumbai


Solidarity with Hany Babu, Delhi 2019

Scroll.in / by Sruthisagar Yamunan

The National Investigation Agency inquiring into the Bhima Koregaon case in Maharashtra has summoned Delhi University associate professor MT Hany Babu to appear before it in Mumbai on July 15. The summons were delivered to him by an officer on Saturday. Babu described the agency’s move as “harassment”.
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Press Note from Vara Vara Rao’s Family

Press Note from Vara Vara Rao’s Family


VV Rao’s daughter Pavana and wife Hemalatha in May 2020

By Vara Vara Rao’s Family

DON’T KILL VARA VARA RAO IN JAIL !!
We, the family members of Varavara Rao, world-renowned Telugu revolutionary poet and public intellectual, who is incarcerated in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Jail, are very much worried about his deteriorating health. His health condition has been scary for over six weeks now, ever since he was shifted in an unconscious state to JJ Hospital from Taloja Jail on May 28, 2020. Even as he was discharged from the hospital and sent back to jail three days later, there has been no improvement in his health and he is still in need of emergency heathcare. …

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Varavara Rao health condition deteriorates, Family Alleges Severe Negligence by Authorities

Varavara Rao health condition deteriorates, Family Alleges Severe Negligence by Authorities

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Rao, who has been in jail for close to two years, has been unwell since the lockdown and his family claim that he is suffering from memory loss.
Mumbai: The health of 78- year-old political activist, poet and writer Varavara Rao, who has been in jail for close to two years, has worsened. His family has alleged that the prison department has been blocking information on his condition from reaching them.
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VARAVARA RAO NEEDS MEDICAL HELP: FAMILY

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

81-year-old famous poet not receiving any treatment inside jail, they say.
Varavara Rao, 81-year-old famous poet incarcerated at the Taloja jail, called his family after eight days on Saturday and spoke about his parents’ death, said his daughter Pavana …
Mr. Rao’s appeal against rejecting his bail is slated to be heard by the Bombay High Court on July 17.
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HC Directs NIA & State To Inform About Conditions In Byculla Jail Where Sudha Bharadwaj Is Lodged

HC Directs NIA & State To Inform About Conditions In Byculla Jail Where Sudha Bharadwaj Is Lodged

Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap

The Bombay High Court on Friday while hearing an appeal filed by lawyer and tribal rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj directed the National Investigation Agency and state government to take instructions regarding the prevailing conditions in Byculla jail and the social distancing measures being implemented in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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HC SEEKS DETAILS OF JAIL WHERE SUDHA BHARADWAJ IS LODGED

Hindustan Times / by KAY Dohiya

On Friday, while hearing the application of Bharadwaj, the bench of Justice SS Shinde and Justice Madhav Jamdar was informed by senior advocate Yug Choudhary that the conditions in Byculla women’s prison were deplorable due to congestion and as Bharadwaj suffered from co-morbidities there was a threat to her well-being and hence should be granted interim bail… The court directed the prison authorities and state to submit an affidavit regarding enlisting the condition of inmates in Byculla women’s prison and posted the matter for hearing on July 17.
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SC Adjourns State’s Appeal Seeking Setting Aside Of Gautam Navlakha’s Transit Remand Order

SC Adjourns State’s Appeal Seeking Setting Aside Of Gautam Navlakha’s Transit Remand Order

Live Law / by Sanya Talwar

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned an appeal moved by State of Maharashtra against the Delhi High Court order setting aside Gautam Navlakha’s transit remand.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S. Abdul Nazeer & Indira Banerjee allowed the State Government to file a compilation earmarking list of dates along with a convenience in the appeal which has contended that the habeas corpus petition filed by Navlakha before the High Court is not maintainable. For this purpose, the State Government has gone on to cite two Supreme Court judgements – State of Maharashtra v. Tanseem Rizwan Siddique and Saurabh Kumar v. Jailor, Koneil Jail.
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Sign petition: Justice for the BK11 undertrials

Sign petition: Justice for the BK11 undertrials

By Counterview

This is the background note for signatures sought by July 15 10:00 p.m. for an online petition to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The Hon. Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Mantralaya, Mumbai
Respected Chief Minister,
We, the citizens of a democratic republic appeal to you regarding the eleven persons- Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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BACKGROUND NOTE: INDIA’S 11 ACTIVISTS FACE ‘MALAFIDE’ INTENTIONS, POLITICAL VENDETTA, EXTRANEOUS CONSIDERATION

The Constitution of India, Article 21, guarantees protection of life and personal liberty to every individual. Yet, the rights of activists and lawyers incarcerated under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) since 2018 in Maharashtra jails are at grave risk due to the delay and dragging of cases since the last 24 months.
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Covid-19 in prison: Is India doing enough? / Gendering the Pandemic in the Prison

Covid-19 in prison: Is India doing enough? / Gendering the Pandemic in the Prison


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Live Mint / by Omkar Khandekar

Vijay Raghavan, professor of criminology at Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences, shares that Indian jails continue to be overcrowded despite efforts for decongestion…
Bail requests of those accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case have consistently been rejected, even when some of those accused are old and have co-morbid conditions.
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GENDERING THE PANDEMIC IN THE PRISON

10/07/2020

The India Forum / by Pratiksha Baxi & Navsharan Singh

The threat of mass contagion in prisons poses specific challenges to women, children and gender and sexual minorities in prisons and other custodial minorities. Older women prisoners, detenues and undertrials in overcrowded pandemic-struck prisons have been denied bail, while pregnant women, lactating mothers, and mothers and their children, women with disabilities, and women with co-morbidities continue to be incarcerated in overcrowded prisons.
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By failing to check NIA in Gautam Navlakha case, SC has undermined the Delhi HC

By failing to check NIA in Gautam Navlakha case, SC has undermined the Delhi HC

Scroll.in / by Sruthisagar Yamunan

The National Investigation Agency’s actions were designed to undermine the jurisdiction of the Delhi court.
For India’s higher judiciary, two elements of court proceedings have come to be regarded as sacrosanct. As courts of record, the High Courts and the Supreme Court pay close attention to precedent: rules established in previous legal cases play a strong role when a later case with similar circumstances is decided.
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