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Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’

Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’

Counterview.net / by Campaign against State Repression (CASR)

The Campaign against State Repression (CASR) unequivocally condemns the arrest of human rights activist and Advocate Ajay Kumar by National Investigation Agency early morning 3 am from Chandigarh.
…
Ajay was actively involved in the Forum Against the War on People to oppose the attack by state forces and corporate-sponsored militia, Salwa Judum, on the Adivasi peasants of central India under Operation Green Hunt. He was also founding member of Vistapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (VVJVA), a conglomeration of more than 50 organisations from across the country seeking to challenge the forcible displacement of peasants particularly Adivasis, for the furtherance of corporate loot and land grab. VVJVA works against the forceful displacement of peasantry, particularly Adivasis for building big dams, industrial projects, mines, Special Economic Zones, highways, National Parks, Smart City projects etc. Ajay Kumar worked alongside the likes of Dr. B.D. Sharma (retired IAS officer), K.N. Pandit (trade union leader), Dr. B.P. Kesari, Father Stan Swamy, Sudha Bhardwaj, Dr. G.N. Saibaba and J. Madhuri in the formation of this forum in 2007.
Read full statement

Also read:
▪ TU activist Anirudh Rajan, lawyer Ajay Kumar in custody: Wounded reputation of world’s largest democracy? (Counterview / Sep 10, 2024)
▪ Student Activist’s Room Raided in Prayagraj by NIA Over Alleged Naxal Links (The Wire / Aug 2024)
▪ Senior activist Ajay Kumar’s arrest ‘imminent’ in same vein as Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy (Counterview / Jan 2024)

Video: Ajaz Ashraf’s Book on Bhima Koregaon Unveiled at IIC

Video: Ajaz Ashraf’s Book on Bhima Koregaon Unveiled at IIC

Video: Discussion on “Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste”

By Paranjoy Online

en | 1:39:02 | 2024
On Thursday 30 July 2024 evening, a lively discussion took place at the India International Centre (Annexe), New Delhi, on the book written by journalist and author Ajaz Ashraf titled “Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste – Brahminism’s Wrath Against Dreamers of Equality” published by Paranjoy/AuthorsUpFront. The discussants were Manoj Kumar, Professor and Member of Parliament belonging to the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Subhashini Ali, member of the Communist Party of India – Marxist and Colin Gonsalves, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.
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Ajaz Ashraf’s ‘Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste’ sheds light on judiciary role in Elgaar Parishad case

31/08/2024

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves said the case had witnessed “the second biggest betrayal by the judiciary” following its “supine” role during the Emergency
Caste hatred and “State terrorism” came under the spotlight at the release of Ajaz Ashraf’s book, Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste, with speakers also questioning the judiciary’s role in the context of the long incarceration without trial of the Elgaar Parishad accused.
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Ajaz Ashraf’s Book on Bhima Koregaon Unveiled at IIC

30/08/2024

Radiance News / by Radiance News Bureau

Senior journalist Ajaz Ashraf’s book, Bhima Koregaon: Challenging the Caste, was launched at India International Centre last evening. The book, published by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, delves into the enduring struggle against casteism, focusing on the events surrounding the Bhima Koregaon incident and its broader implications.
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Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 496
This book rips apart the Maoist conspiracy theory and the Urban Naxal narrative. It points out the ironies underlying the State’s charges against the sixteen, and the flimsiness of the evidence that is said to have been planted on their hacked computers. The conspiracy against the sixteen that inflicted untold miseries on their families is retold here in their voices.
Read more/order

Also read:
▪ Bhima Koregaon Challenging Caste: Brahminism’s Wrath Against Dreamers Of Equality by Ajaz Ashraf (Article 14 / Jul 2024)
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)

This new book on Indian political prisoners describes their agony and the state’s apathy

This new book on Indian political prisoners describes their agony and the state’s apathy

The Week / by Anjuly Mathai

The prisoners’ courage seems to grow the more it is quenched
… “The publication of 27 profiles made us understand how urgent it was to articulate a more complex and nuanced understanding of the situation of political prisoners,” Recchia tells THE WEEK over Zoom.
She is right, because the book truly is an eye-opener. One might have known the rough outline of what happened to these political prisoners, from the 16 accused of abetting the violence that broke out in Bhima Koregaon in 2018 to those arrested in the anti-CAA protests of 2019. Yet, the true extent of their agony is intricately fleshed out in the book.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)
▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

Bhima Koregaon violence probe: Maharashtra govt grants inquiry panel 15th extension, till Nov 30

Bhima Koregaon violence probe: Maharashtra govt grants inquiry panel 15th extension, till Nov 30

Graphic by Arun Ferreira & Vernon Gonsalves

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

As per an order issued recently in this regard by the home department, the Bhima Koregaon Commission of Inquiry has been given an extension of another three months.
The Maharashtra government has granted yet another extension to the commission of inquiry, tasked with probing the Bhima Koregaon violence, till November 30. This is the fifteenth time that an extension has been granted to the commission since it was formed.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)
▪ One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part I | History of a 200-year-old battle and why it still matters (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)
▪ One year of Bhima-Koregaon case: Part II | Why Elgar Parishad spooked Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, the alleged architects of January 1, 2018 anti-Dalit violence (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)
▪ Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati │ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)
▪ The Myth of Bhima Koregaon Reinforces the Identities It Seeks to Transcend (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2018)
▪ Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 2018)

‘The violence, to me, seemed scripted against Dalits,’ says Ajaz Ashraf

‘The violence, to me, seemed scripted against Dalits,’ says Ajaz Ashraf

Booklet: “Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein” (Access PDF)

Book Review: Bhima Koregaon – Challenging Caste

26/08/2024

BooksPoetry&More / by Manoj Payal

I heard about Bhima Koregaon when it was all over the news channels in January 2018. The only thing that I knew were the reports of violence after a clash between Dalit groups and Marathas in and around Bhima Koregaon village in Maharashtra. By 2018, the media had lost all its credibility and most of them were toeing the government line, so I was not sure what is shown on TV news is even correct. I tried to find more information about the Bhima Koregaon event, its history, and its significance. I found some, but it was still not enough and then the book “Bhima Koregaon – Challenging Caste” came out, which takes a deep dive into the whole event, its history, and what happened after the January 2018 violence. It dispelled a lot of doubts and half-truths.
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‘The violence, to me, seemed scripted against Dalits,’ says Ajaz Ashraf

23/08/2024

The Hindu / by Sobhana K. Nair

Different castes remember the incident on January 1, 2018, and the reasons for it differently
In Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste, senior journalist Ajaz Ashraf relooks the events that led to the Bhima Koregaon violence on January 1, 2018. Ashraf sees the incident as a clash between two worldviews, one striving to flatten the social hierarchy and the other perpetuating it, as he says in this interview.
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Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 496
This book rips apart the Maoist conspiracy theory and the Urban Naxal narrative. It points out the ironies underlying the State’s charges against the sixteen, and the flimsiness of the evidence that is said to have been planted on their hacked computers. The conspiracy against the sixteen that inflicted untold miseries on their families is retold here in their voices.
Read more/order

Also read:
▪ Bhima Koregaon Challenging Caste: Brahminism’s Wrath Against Dreamers Of Equality by Ajaz Ashraf (Article 14 / Jul 2024)
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)

Supreme Court To Consider Hearing Jyoti Jagtap & Mahesh Raut Matters Together

Supreme Court To Consider Hearing Jyoti Jagtap & Mahesh Raut Matters Together

Supreme Court to hear bail pleas of Jyoti Jagtap, Mahesh Raut together

22/08/2024

Bar & Bench / by Anadi Tewari

While Jagtap was arrested in 2020, Raut has been in jail since 2018.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said that it would hear the bail pleas of Jyoti Jagtap and Mahesh Raut, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, together. (Jyoti Jagtap v. National Investigation Agency and anr)
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Supreme Court To Consider Hearing Jyoti Jagtap & Mahesh Raut Matters Together

22/08/2024

Live Law / by Debby Jain

On being apprised that challenge to the bail granted to co-accused Mahesh Raut is pending before another bench, the Supreme Court bench dealing with the bail plea of activist and Bhima Koregaon case accused Jyoti Jagtap asked the Registry today to obtain orders for conjoint hearing of the two cases.
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SC adjourns hearing on bail plea of Bhima Koregaon case accused Jyoti Jagtap

22/08/2024

Hindustan Times / by Abraham Thomas

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned hearing on the bail plea of Bhima Koregaon accused Jyoti Jagtap upon request by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to have the matter heard with another pending bail plea pertaining to co-accused Mahesh Raut.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Supreme Court refuses to grant interim bail to jailed activist Jyoti Jagtap (The Hindu / Jul 2024)
▪ ‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Case: Mahesh Raut, youngest accused, granted bail by the Bombay HC! (SabrangIndia / Sep 2023)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

Activists and journalists continued to be targeted around elections despite UN Human Rights Committee scrutiny

Activists and journalists continued to be targeted around elections despite UN Human Rights Committee scrutiny

monitor.civicus.org / by CIVICUS

India’s civic space is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. In recent years, the government has misused the draconian anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other laws to keep activists behind bars and fabricate cases against activists and journalists for undertaking their work.
Read more

Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS / Jul 2024)
▪ CIVIC FREEDOMS IN INDIA ‘REPRESSED’: GLOBAL MONITOR CIVICUS (The Wire / March 2023)
Read full report „People Power Under Attack 2022“

Supreme Court to hear Surendra Gadling’s bail plea in the 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case

Supreme Court to hear Surendra Gadling’s bail plea in the 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case


by Live Law / @LiveLawIndia (Aug 21):
#SupremeCourt to soon hear Dalit rights’ activist and advocate Surendra Gadling’s bail plea in the 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case. The Nagpur-based lawyer is also among the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. Bench: Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar Gadling filed a special leave petition challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject his bail application in the Gadchiroli arson case, which involved around 80 vehicles transporting iron ore from Surjagarh mines in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district from allegedly being set on fire by Maoists in December 2016.

Also read:
▪ Was the trial judge who convicted G.N. Saibaba biased? We will never know, and that is part of the injustice (The Leaflet / March 2024)
▪ Gadchiroli arson case: Supreme Court issues notice in bail plea of Surendra Gadling (The Leaflet / Oct 2023)
▪ Now Gadchiroli Police takes custody of Surendra Gadling, P Varavara Rao, prompting senior lawyers to say this is ‘ever-greening of charges’ (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)

How SC has liberalised bail jurisprudence under anti-terror law UAPA in last three years

How SC has liberalised bail jurisprudence under anti-terror law UAPA in last three years

How Supreme Court has liberalised bail jurisprudence under anti-terror law UAPA in last three years

16/08/2024

The Print / by Akashat Jain

Section 43D(5) of the Act lays down stringent provisions for grant of bail, but there has been a gradual shift in giving bail to UAPA accused over past few years.
From bombing accused K.A. Najeeb to Bhima-Koregaon accused Vernon Gonsalves, the Supreme Court has allowed bail to many accused of terrorism in the last three years. It has allowed bail despite its 2019 order which pegged the standard for allowing bail under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967 to be higher, a decision which has rarely followed.
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UAPA no exception to the rule on bail

15/08/2024

Hindustan Times / by HT Editorial

Taken together, SC’s pronouncements underline the draconian nature of the law. It is time this is addressed by the legislature of a mature democracy.
Time and again, the Supreme Court (SC) has pronounced that bail is the rule and jail the exception. But Tuesday’s ruling, that this holds true for special statutes such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, is of special import. Not because the apex court reiterated its protection of the personal liberty of citizens, but because in ruling so, it implicitly outlined how the law lends itself to strategic misuse.
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Freedom Of Fantasy | Chinki Sinha In Conversation With Anand Teltumbde

Freedom Of Fantasy | Chinki Sinha In Conversation With Anand Teltumbde

Poster by Siddesh Gautam / #bakeryprasad

Outlook / by Outlook Web Desk

Anand Teltumbde’s room has a single bed, a large window and a bookshelf. This is where he lives and writes. The old building is inside the premises of the famous Rajgruha, a memorial and a museum dedicated to B. R. Ambedkar at Hindu colony of Dadar in Mumbai. Teltumbde, who was arrested in the Bhima-Koregaon violence that happened on January 1, 2018, was released jn November 2022. In an interview with Outlook, he talks about freedom of fantasy and class and caste in India.

en | 01:09:37 | 2024
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The Freedoms Our Martyrs Won Are Under Seige

15/08/2024

Outlook / by Anand Teltumbde

This Independence Day, we are in an age in which we need assurances from our leader that the Constitution will survive
Seventy-seven years ago, our martyrs won freedom from British colonial rule. Three years later, we gave ourselves a Constitution that guaranteed a plethora of freedoms, inspired not by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) but the indigenous ethos of our own freedom movement. Today, having traversed into the Amrit Kaal, these guarantees appear to have expired, needing a new guarantee from our supreme ruler that the Constitution itself will survive. If the likes of Bhagat Singh were to see the state of India’s freedom today, they would certainly ask themselves what was wrong with the British rule that they went to the gallows fighting them.
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