Posts – Page 49 – free them all

Will See If Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea Will Fit In Formula Of ‘Vernon’ Judgment, Says Supreme Court

01/11/2023 Asha

Will See If Jyoti Jagtap’s Bail Plea Will Fit In Formula Of ‘Vernon’ Judgment, Says Supreme Court

01/11/2023

Live Law / by Awstika Das

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 1) adjourned until November 30 the hearing of activist and Bhima Koregaon-accused Jyoti Jagtap’s bail application.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Karol was hearing Jagtap’s petition challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject her bail application. She has been lodged in jail since September 2020 for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 after being arrested in connection with the 2018 caste-based violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune, and for having alleged links with the proscribed far-left outfit, Communist Party of India (Maoists).
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SC says principles of Arun and Vernon bail judgment to apply to Jyoti Jagtap

01/11/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

A division Bench of the Supreme Court today observed that as per the parameters set in the bail judgment of co-accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, the contents of the recovered electronic evidence will be analysed to check whether it constitutes an offence under Chapters V and VI of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Today, the Supreme Court observed that the parameters set in the judgment granting bail to co-accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira will be applied to the bail plea of anti-caste activist and musical performer, Jyoti Jagtap.
Read more

Also read:
● Supreme Court allows Jyoti Jagtap time to file rejoinder in support of her bail plea (The Leaflet / Sep 2023)
● Supreme Court asks whether Gonsalves and Ferreira judgment “formula” can be applied to Jyoti Jagtap (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)

The first of a multi-part interview: ‘The 36 days in jail made Varavara Rao a star’

01/11/2023 Asha

Rediff.com / by Neeta Kolhatkar

‘I asked him why were he and other writers being targeted.’
‘I saw his point of view, that he and others being writers, their work was popular and well-appreciated by people, especially the youth.’
‘This made the State fear them.’

P Hemalatha, 74, is more comfortable speaking in Telugu and can converse in simple Hindi.
She met Neeta Kolhatkar outdoors, while we were on a video-call with N Venugopal, her younger brother and the nephew of Telugu poet Professor Varavara Rao, also called as VV.
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Also watch:

● Book Release: Varavara Rao – A Live in Poetry

By VIRASAM
Book Launch || Live Laamakan || 13-07-23 || VIRASAM

en / telugu | 2:16:35 | 2023
Watch video

Cross-examination of former Pune Rural SP Haque begins before Koregaon Bhima Commission

27/10/2023 Asha

Cross-examination of former Pune Rural SP Haque begins before Koregaon Bhima Commission

27/10/2023

The Indian Express /by Chandan Haygunde

The commission had then deferred Haque’s cross-examination as lawyers had sought certain videos pertaining to the Koregaon Bhima violence from the police.
The cross-examination of IPS officer Suvez Haque started before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Thursday.
The two-member commission headed by retired High Court Justice J N Patel is probing into the causes that led to the violence in Koregaon Bhima area in Pune on January 1, 2018, leaving one person dead and several others injured.
Haque was the Superintendent (SP) of Pune rural police at the time of Koregaon Bhima violence, which took place in his jurisdiction.
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Extension after Extension: Maharashtra’s inquiry commissions stretch for years bearing high cost and no sight of report implementation

27/10/2023

The Indian Express / by Mohamed Thaver

As per a simple assessment, so far, a bill of nearly Rs 1 crore has been raised by the commission, which is still ongoing. The Commission is hopeful that it will complete the hearings by the end of this five-month extension.
On October 9, the ongoing Bhima Koregaon inquiry commission received its 14th extension for aa period of five months from the state government. While the committee set up in February 2018 was initially formed for a four-month period, it is now in its sixth year – operational for at least 48 months apart from break during Covid lockdown – and has received an extension till Feb 28, 2024.
Read more

Also Read:
● Truth and dare in Bhima Koregaon (The Leaflet / Oct 2023)
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
● What is the Elgar Parishad and who Oganised It? (SabrangIndia / Sep 2018)
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)

Sudha Bharadwaj | From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

25/10/2023 Asha

A Cage with a View: Under-trial life in an Indian jail

25/10/2023

National Herald / by Sudha Bharadwaj

Human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj’s account of her time in Yerawada Jail is also a poignant lesson in keeping hope alive in the teeth of absurd injustice

The jottings that make up this book were my way of coping with incarceration. Some prisoners pray, some weep, some just put their heads down and work themselves weary. Some fight defiantly every inch of the way, some are inveterate grumblers, some spew gossip. Some read the newspaper from cover to cover, some shower love on children, some laugh at themselves and at others.
I watched through the bars, and I wrote.
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Nano tales from an Indian prison: From Phansi Yard – My Year with the Women of Yerawada

25/10/2023

Business Standard / by Vipul Mudgal

Sudha Bharadwaj’s book offers a thought-provoking glimpse into the lives of prisoners in a colonial-era prison in Pune, leaving readers to ponder why some of them are languishing behind bars
This is a book of human sketches from the world of an Indian prison. Call it casual ethnography or participant observation, it is the author’s labour of love, brought together with empathy and a touch of wit. You get a string of nano tales of human bondage and its myriad ironies, of love, betrayal, loyalty, desire, and momentary lapses of reason, followed by bouts of rage, remorse and self-pity. These are stories of remediable injustice.
Sudha Bharadwaj takes you on a tour of the colonial prison in Pune. But when she introduces you to the inmates, an absurdity hits you — that most of them have no business being there, the author included.
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`Being a dissident is not anti-democratic´

25/10/2023

Times of India / by Alka Dhupkar

Sudha Bharadwaj, who is out on bail in the Bhima Koregaon case, talks about her experience of being an undertrial, how it inspired a book and why democracy needs dissidents
Sudha Bharadwaj was born in 1961 in the US and spent the first 10 years of her life on the University of Cambridge campus in England. After her parents returned to India, she grew up on the then newly created Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus and then spent decades working as trade unionist and human rights lawyer in Chhattisgarh.
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Video: Dissent of All Forms Being Criminalised: Sudha Bharadwaj

11/10/2023

en | 14:51 | 2023

The Wire / by Sravasti Dasgupta

The lawyer and activist speaks to Sravasti Dasgupta of The Wire about her new book titled ‘From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada’.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Mumbai’s Byculla Prison in December 2021, three years after she was arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj was released from Mumbai’s Byculla Prison in December 2021, three years after she was arrested by the Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.
Watch video

From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada

Author: Sudha Bhardwaj
Publisher: Juggernaut
Pages: 216
Order

Also watch/read:

● Video: The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

By All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice – AILAJ / March 2022

en | 1:21:23 | 2022
The huge number of undertrials, the overcrowding, and the disproportional numbers of Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi prisoners are part of the prison problem in India.
We are joined by Adv. Sudha Bharadwaj for a discussion on the Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails.
Watch video

● 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)

From Bhima Koregaon to NewsClick

23/10/2023 Asha

Mid-day / by Ajaz Ashraf

From arrests based on complaints citing ‘secret inputs’ to the seizure of electronic devices without securing them, both cases reveal the malice of the gods of the hell named UAPA.
The Bombay High Court began hearing last week the petitions of professor-activist Shoma Sen and researcher-activist Rona Wilson, two among the 16 booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the Bhima Koregaon case. Their plea is that the chargesheets against them should be quashed as the prosecution evidence against them was fabricated and planted on electronic devices the police seized.
Read more

Also read:
● NewsClick Raids and Arrests: Demolishing the Myth of the ‘Urban Naxal’ Nomenclature (The Wire / Oct 2023)
● From ‘tukde tukde gang’ to ‘urban Naxal’: How media trials enable the government to stifle dissent (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

Prakash Ambedkar questioned on funds used for ‘Elgaar Parishad’

20/10/2023 Asha

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Ambedkar was a key speaker and president of the Elgaar Parishad, a conclave held at the Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, ahead of the 200th anniversary of the battle of Koregaon Bhima.
During his cross-examination before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry, senior Dalit leader and president of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Prakash Ambedkar, was on Thursday questioned about the funds used for organising the ‘Elgaar Parishad.’
Read more

Also Read:
● Truth and dare in Bhima Koregaon (The Leaflet / Oct 2023)
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)
● Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
● India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobinmag / April 2021)
● What is the Elgar Parishad and who Oganised It? (SabrangIndia / Sep 2018)
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)

NIA submits affidavit stating accused have been provided copies of all evidence

18/10/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The long-pending plea before the special court constituted under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, 2008 has been for the NIA to comply with Section 207 (supply of a copy of the police report and other documents to the accused) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed an affidavit stating that it has provided copies of all materials relied upon by it to the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
Read more

Also Read:
● Bombay High Court hears petition seeking quashing of chargesheets against Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson – searching and seizing allegedly incriminating electronic documents (The Leaflet / Oct 17, 2023)
● What is Section 207 CrPC, an essential piece of the Bhima Koregaon case puzzle? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)

Since Evidence Tampering Not Ruled Out, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson Want Chargesheets Quashed

16/10/2023 Asha

Since Evidence Tampering Not Ruled Out, Accused Want Chargesheets Quashed

19/10/2023

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson petitioned the Bombay high court alleging that norms were violated in searching and seizing electronic documents from them.
Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson, named as accused in the Elgar Parishad case, have alleged in their petition before the Bombay high court that the prosecution violated the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and Information Technology Act, 2000 in searching and seizing allegedly incriminating electronic documents from them.
They urged the division Bench of Justice A.S. Gadkari and Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh on Monday, October 17, to quash the chargesheets against them.
Read more

Bombay High Court hears petition seeking quashing of chargesheets against Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson

17/10/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing on behalf of Sen and Wilson, argued that the prosecution violated principles of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and Information Technology Act, 2000 in searching and seizing allegedly incriminating electronic documents.
On Monday, the Bombay High Court heard pleas by women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen, and activist and researcher Rona Wilson for quashing chargesheets filed against them.
… The matter is posted for further hearing on October 23.
Read more

Lawyer Raises Concerns Over Security Of Devices Seized In Bhima Koregaon Investigation: Report

17/10/2023

MediaNama / by Aarathi Ganesan

Lawyer Anand Grover argued that simply sealing electronic devices upon seizure did not ensure that the data within had been secured. He also noted that electronic devices could be easily tampered with, without any indication.
The electronic evidence recovered from activists Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson in the Bhima Koregaon investigation was improperly secured upon seizure, advocate Anand Grover alleged before the Bombay High Court yesterday, The Leaflet reported.
Read more

Also read:
● Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
● Cyber Attackers Who Targeted Rona Wilson Could Have Been Engaged by Same Entity: Report (The Wire / Feb 2022)

UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

13/10/2023 Asha

India: Arrests, Raids Target Critics of Government

13/10/2023

By Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Committee to Protect Journalists, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Watch, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Service for Human Rights, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

Indian authorities are misusing an abusive counterterrorism law, financial regulations, and other laws to silence journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and critics of the government, 12 international human rights groups said today.

… The Indian government also used UAPA to arrest 16 prominent activists who promoted the rights of India’s most marginalized communities, accusing them of inciting violence that occurred during a Dalit meeting in January 2018. Eight are still detained without trial, and seven eventually were granted bail, while one died in custody.
Read full statement

UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

13/10/2023

The Hindu / by The Hindu Bureau

The 12 human rights groups charged Indian authorities with carrying out an “escalating crackdown” on media and civil society since the Narendra Modi-led government came to power in 2014
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and 10 other international rights groups have jointly condemned what they termed as Indian authorities’ misuse of counter-terrorism laws, financial regulations, and other laws to “silence journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and critics of the government”.
Read more

Also read:
● AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report

Supreme Court extends stay on bail granted to Mahesh Raut till Nov 1

11/10/2023 Asha

Supreme Court extends stay on bail granted to Mahesh Raut again

11/10/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

A division Bench of the Supreme Court allowed adjournment sought by additional solicitor general S.V. Raju, appearing for the National Investigation Agency, and allowed the interim Order of stay to continue till the next date of hearing.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed a further extension on stay on the Order of the Bombay High Court that granted regular bail to forest rights activist Mahesh Raut by another week.
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SC extends Bombay HC stay on Mahesh Raut bail till Nov 1

11/10/2023

The Siasat Daily / by IANS

On September 21, a division bench of Justice A.S. Gadkari and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh of the High Court had granted bail to Raut, who has been in jail since June 6, 2018 for his alleged links with Maoists.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the order granting bail to the Bhima Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad conspiracy case accused Mahesh Raut will not be given effect till November 1.
Read more

Also read:
● Supreme Court extends stay on bail granted to Mahesh Raut (The Leaflet / Sep 27, 2023)
● Bhima Koregaon: Bombay High Court grants regular bail to Mahesh Raut (The Leaflet / Sep 21, 2023)