Posts – Page 27 – free them all

NIA says it has already supplied copies of all electronic evidence to the accused

25/01/2024 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Today, the National Investigation Agency informed the court that it has already supplied cloned copies of all electronic evidence it relies on in the Bhima Koregaon case with the accused.
It also sidestepped compliance with the previous Order of the court on providing a chart showing evidence shared and pending with the accused by stating that such a chart had already been furnished by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).
Read More

Also read:
▪ Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)
▪ Incriminating document found in Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer ‘planted’; similar tampering found in other Bhima Koregaon accused: Reports American forensic firm (The Leaflet / Dec 2022)

Anand Teltumbde: Of a frank and fearless mind

21/01/2024 Asha

The Indian Express / by Suraj Yengde

Teltumbde helped us to foreground the meaning of atrocity. Among his notable scholarly contributions to social sciences are his monographs covering the state and the political economy.
Anand Teltumbde is a rare intellectual, someone gifted with a versatility that cuts across disciplines. He’s among the top-ranking intellectuals of contemporary India. Much like the late British historian Eric Hobsbawm, he is someone who can easily play with multiple topics and engage intelligently.
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Prison writing sheds harsh light on our states and societies

19/01/2024 Asha

Himalmag.com / Sharmila Purkayastha

‘For, In Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit’, an anthology of prison poems, testifies to the coercive nature of the state and society – yet its under-representation of regional poets speaks of wider exclusions.

My dangerous personality
That you do not understand:
The secret is poetry.

‘Poetry’ by Varavara Rao, 30 December 1987. Translated by N Venugopal

What is it about poetry that states and governments in power find difficult to accept? Varavara Rao, a well-known revolutionary poet and long-time detainee of the Indian government, writes in ‘Poetry’ about the enduring resilience and power of verse to voice people’s concerns in the face of surveillance and propaganda. He expands on the poet’s “dangerous personality”:

You go on about surveillance
Poetry gets ignited and continues to fire.
You go on about governance
Poetry talks about people even in sleep.

19/01/2024 Asha

Notes from prison

19/01/2024

The Telegraph / by Lakshmi Subramanian

‘Phansi Yard’ is more than just jottings of a sensitive prisoner. Like all jail diaries, it documents the everyday — the quality of food, limited access to clothing, the absence of privacy — with great attention and, alongside, records individual stories with real sensitivity, framing them within a larger social context
The prison diary has remained an enduring genre in all societies with its extraordinary capacity to document the self and interrogate power structures.
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Lawyer’s ballad of Yerawada Jail reflects on the lives of 76 prisoners

13/01/2024

Deccan Chronicle / by Anand K Sahay

This resident of Phansi Yard has a writer’s sensibility, and says in a matter-of-fact way
This is a remarkable document of life observed from the Phansi Yard or Death Row of the Yerawada Women’s Jail in Pune by an extraordinary individual who made a conscious choice to be a trade union worker and human rights lawyer in order to stand with marginalised people, rather than build a career as a mathematician after emerging with a shining degree from IIT, Delhi.
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From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order

#keeptalking | Anuradha Sen Gupta talks to Sudha Bharadwaj

08/01/2024

en | 32:47min | 2024

By anuradhasays

Trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj is used to fighting rights battles. She started her career in Chhattisgarh in the late 1980s as a trade unionist and later studied law in order to fight legal cases directly. Even though she has been on the side of many losing battles, giving up or opting out has never been an option. Despite the setbacks and personal challenges, the biggest one being arrested in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, Sudha who is out on bail, retains her good cheer and optimism. In a wide ranging conversation with Anuradha SenGupta, Sudha talks of women who are incarcerated, the underbelly of capitalism, the rights of workers and her hope for the new year.
Watch video

Also watch/read:

■ Video – Book Release: Why is the state afraid of Sudha Bharadwaj?

By People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Jan 2021en + hindi | 2h 53min | 2021

Topic: Why is the state afraid of Sudha Bharadwaj?
A long interview conducted with Sudha over several days before she was arrested is now being published as an online book “Sudha Bharadwaj Speaks – A Life in Law and Activism”, and will be released at this webinar by the well-known writer, Nayantara Sahgal. Sudha’s daughter, Maaysha, her lawyer Yug Chaudhary, social activist Harsh Mandar, historian Uma Chakravarti amongst other coworkers & colleagues, will also share their experiences and memories of working with her.
Watch video @ PUCL Facebook (videos)

■ Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism

Publisher: Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
Edition: January 2021
Language: English
Sudha Bharadwaj’s interview by: Darshana Mitra and Santanu Chakraborty
Paperback: 316 pages
Access a free PDF copy of the book here:
Sudha_Bharadwaj_speaks (2,1 MB)

Mahesh Raut’s bail gets entangled in tagging of similar matters

18/01/2024 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

First Section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, then stay on bail, and now ‘tagging of similar matters’ means accused Mahesh Raut cannot liaison with life and liberty.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court extended the stay on the Order of the Bombay High Court granting regular bail to forest rights activist Mahesh Raut by two more weeks.
Read more

Also read:
▪ ‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)
▪ Bhima Koregaon: Bombay High Court grants regular bail to Mahesh Raut (The Leaflet / Sep 2023)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Case: Mahesh Raut, youngest accused, granted bail by the Bombay HC! (SabrangIndia / Sep 2023)

Jyoti Jagtap’s bail plea adjourned again, to be heard with Shoma Sen’s

17/01/2024 Asha

Jyoti Jagtap’s bail plea adjourned again, to be heard with Shoma Sen’s

17/01/2024

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

A division Bench of the Supreme Court observed that it was in the interest of justice to hear “part-heard” matters arising out of the same first information report together.
Today, the Supreme Court adjourned hearing of the bail application of anti-caste activist and musical performer Jyoti Jagtap again.
The court reasoned that it was better to hear “part-heard” matters pertaining to the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case together.
A division Bench comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Kumar directed Jagtap’s bail to be tagged along with the bail application of women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen.
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Supreme Court Directs Tagging Of Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea With Shoma Sen’s Appeal

17/01/2024

Live Law / by Awstika Das

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 17) directed the bail plea of activist and Bhima Koregaon-accused Jyoti Jagtap to be tagged with co-accused Shoma Kanti Sen’s appeal and heard together.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Kumar was hearing Jagtap’s petition challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject her bail application.
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Court pulls up NIA for not giving electronic evidence copies to Gautam Navlakha

16/01/2024 Asha

NIA court lambasts prosecution for not providing cloned copies of evidence to Gautam Navlakha

17/01/2024

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

During the previous hearing, journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha had filed an application seeking cloned copies of electronic evidence claimed by the investigating authorities.
On Tuesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) admitted to not having supplied cloned copies of all electronic evidence it relies on to journalist and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha.
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Court pulls up NIA for not giving electronic evidence copies to Gautam Navlakha

17/01/2024

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The activist’s lawyer said that the central agency earlier filed an affidavit claiming that it had provided the clones to all the accused persons.
A special court on Tuesday pulled up the National Investigation Agency for failing to provide cloned copies of the electronic evidence it is relying on in the Bhima Koregaon case to human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, the Leaflet reported.
Read more

Also Read:
▪ NIA submits affidavit stating accused have been provided copies of all evidence (The Leaflet / Oct 2023)
▪ Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)
▪ Incriminating document found in Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer ‘planted’; similar tampering found in other Bhima Koregaon accused: Reports American forensic firm (The Leaflet / Dec 2022)

Staying a bail order in a UAPA matter where getting bail is already difficult is a travesty of justice

11/01/2024 Asha

The Leaflet / by Deeksha Dwivedi

The stay on the bail Orders of Gautam Navlakha and Mahesh Raut, incarcerated under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, creates an unconstitutional and unjust barrier for the fulfillment of their fundamental rights, laments the author.
Read more

Also read:
▪ The first week in the new year repeats the same old story of procedural grind (The Leaflet / Jan 2024)
▪ ‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)
▪ Bombay High Court grants, stays bail to Gautam Navlakha (The Leaflet / Dec 2023)
▪ Bhima Koregaon: Bombay High Court grants regular bail to Mahesh Raut (The Leaflet / Sep 2023)

Supreme Court hears bail plea of Mahesh Raut

10/01/2024 Asha

Thread by Bar & Bench – Live Threads / @lawbarandbench (Jan 10)

Supreme Court hearing bail plea of Mahesh Raut, one of the accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case.
Matter before Justices Bela M Trivedi and Ujjal Bhuyan.

Counsel for Raut and ASG SV Raju for NIA point out recent order by bench hearing Gautam Navlakha bail plea that said Registry is to take a call on tagging and listing after orders from CJI.
Present bench defers matter by a week without expressing any opinion on merits.

Order: Interim order (of stay on bail) to continue.

Also read:
▪ Contrary To SC’s Rules Of Assignment, At Least 8 Politically Sensitive Cases Moved To One Judge In 4 Months (article 14 / Dec 2023)
▪ ‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)
▪ Bhima Koregaon: Bombay High Court grants regular bail to Mahesh Raut (The Leaflet / Sep 21, 2023)

PUDR: Remember Bhima Koregaon Case. Remember Shoma Sen. Release Shoma Sen.

06/01/2024 Asha

by Peoples Union for Democratic Rights @PUDR_Delhi (Jan 6):
#PeoplesUnionforDemocraticRights #PUDR #RepealUAPA
#StateOppression #democraticrights #BK16 #BhimaKoregaon16

Also read:
▪ Shoma Sen’s Bail Hearing in SC Adjourned Yet Again, Until January 10 (NewsClick / Dec 2023)
▪ Supreme Court quotes Watali judgment in Shoma Sen’s bail application (The Leaflet / Dec 2023)
▪ “Hopefully waiting” writes Shoma Sen from prison (InSAF India / Jul 2023)