Posts – Page 42 – free them all

Anand Teltumbde: I never imagined I would have a jail life (Part 1)

25/07/2023 Asha

Rediff.com / by Neeta Kolhatkar

‘I was under the illusion that this could never happen to me because my background was such — corporate CEO, IIT professor, IIT alumnus, IIM…’
Anand Teltumbde was born into a family of Dalit labourers and excelled in his studies. He went on to get an MBA from one of the top IIMs in this country…
Anand Teltumbde, in an interview with Rediff.com Senior Contributor Neeta Kolhatkar, reveals, “I was made to stand naked and they took photos. This is the sort of humiliating experience you undergo at Taloja jail.”
The first of a multi-part interview.
Read more

Also Read:
● Rama Teltumbde: We struggled to see each day through (Part 3) (Rediff.com / by Neeta Kolhakar (Jul 31, 2023)
● Anand Teltumbde: If my mother knew of my arrest, she would have died of shock (Part 2) (Rediff.com /Jul 28, 2023)
● Why the Bombay High Court granted regular bail to Dr. Anand Teltumbde: An explainer (The Leaflet / Dec 2022)

When reading books is criminalised: Examining UAPA, sedition cases in India

25/07/2023 Asha

The News Minute / by Prajwal Bhat, edited by Vidya Sigamany

Among other things, books read by students and activists are increasingly part of chargesheets in sedition and terror cases.
In Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial, the protagonist is prosecuted by an unknown authority that drags him through opaque legal proceedings where the nature of his crime is not revealed, to him or the reader. Such legal bureaucracies that are seemingly far-fetched are not too dissimilar to the trials of students, activists, and academics in India who are charged with sedition or under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Perhaps the account that is most reminiscent of Kafka’s novel is Sagar Abraham-Gonsalves describing the police ransacking their home and confiscating books, computers, and hard drives before arresting Sagar’s father, activist Vernon Gonsalves, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Also read:

● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report
● Will SC’s Sedition Order Mean Relief for Delhi Riots, Bhima Koregaon Accused? (The Quint / May 2022)
● Explainer: How the Sedition Law Has Been Used in the Modi Era (The Wire / Mai 2022)

National Campaign to Defend Democracy: 5 years of unjust incarceration under fabricated evidence

24/07/2023 Asha

Counterview / by National Campaign to Defend Democracy

…
The National Campaign to Defend Democracy which is a coalition of over 100 organisations working on human rights issues would like bring to your attention the situation of five years of unjust incarceration under false and fabricated evidence of some of India’s finest intellectuals, thinkers, activists and lawyers.
This injustice which goes by the name of the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Conspiracy case – started its nightmarish journey five years ago. Even as of today, 16 noted academics, intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, stand charged with conspiring to overthrow the elected government, indulging in terrorist acts, sedition etc., although the evidence the back these tall claims of high treason is still absent.
Read full statement

Also read:
● NIA gets more time to reply to plea for furnishing copies of evidence to the accused (The Leaflet / July 2023)
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)
● Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
● Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)

Telangana turns into experimental theatre to misuse suppressive laws: CASR meet

24/07/2023 Asha

Counterview / by Our Representative

Speakers at a media conference, organised by the civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as discussing “suppression of democratic voices” using suppressive laws in the light of the Tadwai case, where 152 activists of Andhra-Telangana were named under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), have demanded repeal of the “draconian” law.
Read more

Also read:
● Blatant use of UAPA by Telangana Police to suppress dissenting voices (Countercurrents / June 2023)
● Telangana Govt to ‘Drop’ UAPA Case Against Prof Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, 150 Others (The Wire / June 2023)
● The Govt is out to silence Dissenters through Arrests: Justice Hosbet Suresh (Sabrangindia / Oct 2018)

Will India care for human rights by releasing undertrial activists ahead of G20 summit?

21/07/2023 Asha

Counterview / by Bharat Dogra

India has a very rich tradition of opposing wrongly arrested persons, going back to the days of the freedom movement…
Hence, ahead of the Independence Day, it would be a much appreciated gesture on the part of the government if it releases several dissenting activists, including distinguished scholars and lawyers, who are widely believed to have been wrongfully arrested or implicated in wrong cases. To give one often discussed example of what is widely believed to be a case of wrongful arrests, we may mention here the Elgar Parishad case.
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Also read:
● The Burgeoning Share of Undertrial Prisoners in India’s Jails (The Wire / Oct 2022)
● Punished without trial: How India’s political prisoners are being denied basic rights in jail (Scroll.in / Aug 2022)
● Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive (Scroll.in / Dec 2021)

NIA gets more time to reply to plea for furnishing copies of evidence to the accused

18/07/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

A few accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case have previously argued that their applications for cloned copies under Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure have been pending for more than five years.
On Tuesday, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria allowed the agency time to file an additional reply to the applications filed by accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
… The matter is posted for further hearing on the applications filed under Section 207 of the CrPC on July 28.
Read more

Also read:
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)
● Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
● Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)

Prakash Ambedkar to file affidavit before Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission, seek cross-examination of Fadnavis

18/07/2023 Asha

Koregaon Bhima case: VBA leader to submit affidavit on July 24

18/07/2023

Hindustan Times / by Nadeem Inamdar

The then assistant commissioner of police Shivaji Pawar, who was the investigating officer of the case till it was transferred to the National Investigating Agency (NIA).
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) founder Prakash Ambedkar reiterated his demand for cross-examination deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis during his Monday appearance before the Koregaon Bhima Enquiry Commission. He also stated that he planned to file an affidavit by July 24.
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Prakash Ambedkar to file affidavit before Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission by July 24, seek cross-examination of Fadnavis

18/07/2023

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was Maharashtra’s chief minister when violence was reported in Pune’s Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar said Monday that he would file an affidavit before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry by July 24 seeking a cross-examination of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Ambedkar appeared before the commission during its hearing in Pune on Monday and reiterated his call to Fadnavis and former chief secretary Sumit Mallick to depose before it.
Read more

Also Read:
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 27, 2022)
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)
● Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 30, 2018)

Verse, ablaze: Excerpts from ‘Varavara Rao: A Life in Poetry’

16/07/2023 Asha

Verse, ablaze: Excerpts from ‘Varavara Rao: A Life in Poetry’

16/07/2023

The Week / by Varavara Rao | Sajeesh Sankar

It is a collection of poems in English by the Telugu poet and activist
My first memory of encountering the name ‘Varavara Rao’ was in the newspapers. This was in the early 2000s, when warring guerrilla groups came to peace-talks tables. As a young Tamil woman, I consistently followed the Norway-brokered talks between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka. Likewise, I was fascinated by what was happening on home ground: the talks between People’s War and the Indian government. Perhaps because of the way in which the print media at that time both valorised and demonised the guerrilla fighters, I was fascinated that three people had dared to be emissaries between the governments and the fighters. One of the interlocutors was Varavara Rao, the other two were Gaddar and Kalyan Rao.
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Varavara Rao: A Life In Poetry

15/07/2023

The New Indian Express / by Shrimansi Kaushik

The book, ‘Varavara Rao: A Life In Poetry’ is a collection of English translations of poems of the eminent Telugu poet edited by N Venugopal and Meena Kandasamy.
Varavara Rao: A Life In Poetry, a collection of English translations of poems of the eminent Telugu poet was released yesterday at Lamakaan. The editors, N Venugopal and Meena Kandasamy highlighted the revolutionary and transformative potential of his poems Lamakaan reverberated with revolutionary, thought-provoking poetry as the English translations of the eminent Telugu poet Varavara Rao were released yesterday.
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‘Tomorrow there won’t be any classes’: Activist Varavara Rao’s poems get an English translation

05/07/2023

Scroll.in / by Varavara Rao, N Venugopal & Rohith

An excerpt from ‘Varavara Rao: A Life in Poetry’, edited by Meena Kandasamy and N Venugopal. Translated from the Telugu.
Read poems

Supreme Court directs respondents to file reply to Shoma Sen’s bail plea

14/07/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

A division Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Aniruddha Bode and Sanjay Kumar, permitted Sen to file an additional affidavit on her deteriorating health within two weeks.
On Friday, a division Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Aniruddha Bode and Sanjay Kumar, directed the respondents to file a reply affidavit to the bail application filed by women rights activist and academic Shoma Sen.
Read more

Also read:
● “Hopefully waiting” writes Shoma Sen from prison (InSAF India / July 7, 2023)

● Shoma Sen’s discharge application at NIA asserts discrepancies in evidence against her (The Leaflet / June 2023)
● Shoma Sen moves Supreme Court seeking bail (The Leaflet / April 2023)

Frivolous conspiracy cases on Jharkhand’s anti-displacement activists: FACAM

12/07/2023 Asha

Bacha Singh, Damodar Turi during protests

Counterview / by Counterview Desk / FACAM

Civil rights group Forum Against Corporatization And Militarization (FACAM), even as condemning the alleged harassment of Jharkhand activists by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), has said that they are being intimidated because they have “opposed corporate loot of people’s resources.”
…
It is a malicious plot of the state machinery to suppress democratic voice against corporate loot and displacement of adivasis
Among Bhima Koregaon political prisoners, most were actively opposing the state-corporate expropriation of people’s resources, displacement and state repression. Father Stan Swamy himself played an instrumental in formation of Visthapan Virodhi Janvikas Andolan (VVJA) and was active in Pathalgadhi Movement to ensure the autonomy and sanctity of gram sabha.
Read full statement

Also read
● Narendra Modi’s Government Is Using False Charges of Terrorism to Repress Its Opponents (Jacobinmag / April 2022)
● This Organisation In Jharkhand Is Holding The State Accountable (Youthkiawaaz / April 2022)
● NIA Opposes Stan Swamy’s Bail; Calls PUCL, Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan ‘Maoist Fronts’ (The Wire / Jan 2021)