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From Bhima Koregaon to NewsClick

From Bhima Koregaon to NewsClick

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.
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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’

Prakash Ambedkar questioned on funds used for ‘Elgaar Parishad’

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

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

Poster by #bakeryprasad

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

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

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.
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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.
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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

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

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

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

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)

Sudha Bharadwaj Unveiling The Reality Of Life Behind Bars / ‘It is difficult for me being ‘exiled’ from Chhattisgarh’

Sudha Bharadwaj Unveiling The Reality Of Life Behind Bars / ‘It is difficult for me being ‘exiled’ from Chhattisgarh’


It is difficult for me being ‘exiled’ from Chhattisgarh: Sudha Bharadwaj

21/10/2023

New Indian Express / by Paramita Ghosh

Well-known activist Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested in 2018 in Bhima Koregaon and released in 2021 on bail. Her book on life in Yerawada jail is an act of solidarity towards her former fellow inmates.
There was nothing inevitable about activist-lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj’s landing in Yerawada jail. But her conscience and outrage about injustices faced by working people, especially among whom she lived and worked in Chhattisgarh, made her interested in other fights; she would envision ways of resisting and challenging the state’s control over the lives and labour of workers.
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‘Women in jail need therapy, not punishment,’ says Sudha Bharadwaj

20/10/2023

The Print / by Manasi Phadke

Sudha Bharadwaj spent almost all her time at Mumbai Byculla Women’s Jail helping fellow prisoners with filing legal petitions and applications.
Bail should be the normal, jail an exception. And when the system puts a woman behind bars, it inadvertently affects an entire family, says lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj …
Sitting on the elegant white steps of Mumbai’s iconic Asiatic Library, a place where the city’s rich and poor, old and young have all left an imprint, Bharadwaj, on a humid Tuesday evening, talks about the world she saw inside prison, which she has captured in her book, From Phansi Yard.
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I wrote to tell of others’ sufferings. It helped me get through jail: Sudha Bharadwaj

16/10/2023

Deccan Herald / by Shree DN

“The only advantage of people like us going to jail is that at least we can bring out some of our experience. We can articulate it. Those who are suffering mostly can’t even articulate. So, hopefully, it will bring some attention to these issues,” says Sudha in a tete-e-tete with DH’s Shree D N about the book and beyond. Excerpts:
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Sudha Bharadwaj’s book records episodic stories of her time in jail

15/10/2023

MidDay / by Jane Borges

Lawyer-trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj, out on bail after three years in the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence case, says her time in Yerawada and Byculla women’s jail made her acutely aware of the gender gap in legal aid.
Mumbai was Bombay, when Sudha Bharadwaj first visited the city in her teens. This was in 1978, the trade unionist-activist-lawyer tells us. “My mother [an academic] had gone abroad for a year, so I moved here to do my Class XI. I lived with my mama in Prabhadevi, and I’d travel all the way to Navy Nagar to my school [Kendriya Vidyalaya]. I still remember that beautiful bus journey, passing by Worli seaface, Haji Ali and Mantralaya. I have such fond memories of that time.”
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Video: Activist & Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj Unveiling The Reality Of Life Behind Bars (By Midday India / Oct 15, 2023)


en | 2:23min | 2023
Watch video

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

It brought a whiff of freedom: Sudha Bharadwaj recalls celebrating Women’s Day in jail

11/10/2023

Scroll.in / by Sudha Bharadwaj

An excerpt from ‘From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada’, by Sudha Bharadwaj.
International Women’s Day, which falls on 8 March, is officially celebrated at the Yerawada Women’s Jail sometime during that month with a two-hour cultural programme. Prisoners show off their talents before senior jail officials, including the Director General of Prisons (who happens to be at the present time a woman). Very good performances can occasionally lead to a couple of months of remission in sentence. There are no speeches or talks, let alone debates and discussions, around women’s rights or laws relating to women. No one is going to be discussing patriarchy here, or the long struggle that women have waged and still wage for equality. Still, the very observance of 8 March does generate enthusiasm and a feeling of freedom.
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‘I saw brutality, but also solidarity,’ says Sudha Bharadwaj, author of From Phansi Yard, of her days in prison

11/10/2023

The Hindu / by Ziya US Salam

Arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, activist-lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj kept a diary of prison life. Released in 2021, she writes about her experience at Yerawada jail
Sudha Bharadwaj, an IITian, turned her back on American citizenship and chose to work instead with the faceless multitudes of Dalli Rajhara and Bhilai. A well-known trade unionist, she has concentrated her energies for the uplift of the poor in Chhattisgarh, and taken brave positions against concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. In 2018, Bharadwaj was arrested for allegedly inciting violence in Bhima-Koregaon. She was imprisoned for a year and three months at Pune’s Yerawada jail, and for another year at Mumbai’s Byculla jail. She was released in 2021. In jail, she lived amid women, and decided to write about the life of fellow prisoners in her book, From Phansi Yard.
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E-Book: From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada
By Sudha Bharadwaj (Author)

Publisher: Juggernaut (10 October 2023)
Language‏: English
Some prisoners pray, some weep, some just put down their heads and work themselves weary. Sudha Bharadwaj watched through the bars of her cell, and she wrote. This is her remarkably granular account of the world of women prisoners in Yerawada Jail in Pune. Bharadwaj was incarcerated here, in a high-security wing called Phansi Yard, from November 2018 to February 2020. She takes us through jail life, her own and the other women’s, from one season to the next, weaving in lively portraits of her fellow prisoners, their children and even their pets, and reflecting on everything from absurd rules, caste hierarchies, food, fistfights and friendships, to the dismal absence of legal aid for the most defenceless of women.
Order

Supreme Court Issues Notice on Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea in 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case

Supreme Court Issues Notice on Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea in 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case

by Bar & Bench / @barandbench (Oct 23, 2023):
Bombay High Court has condoned delay in filing of appeal of Bhima Koregaon accused Surendra Gadling seeking default bail.

Supreme Court Issues Notice on Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea in 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case

10/10/2023

Live Law / by Awstika Das

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on the bail plea of Dalit rights activist and advocate Surendra Gadling in the 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case. The Nagpur-based lawyer is also among the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case and is currently lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja prison.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela Trivedi was hearing Gadling’s 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.
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Gadchiroli arson case: Supreme Court issues notice in bail plea of Surendra Gadling

10/10/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Senior advocate Anand Grover, representing Gadling, stated that Gadling’s case is “less egregious” than the case of two other co-accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case— trade unionist and activist Vernon Gonsalves and lawyer and activist Arun Ferreira.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a notice in the bail plea by human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist Surendra Gadling.
A division Bench of the high court comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi was hearing the bail application filed by Gadling, challenging the Order of the Bombay High Court dated January 31.
Read more

Also read:
● HC upholds denial of bail to Nagpur lawyer Surendra Gadling (Nagpur Today / Feb 2023)
● Surendra Gadling’s Computer Was Attacked, Incriminating Documents Planted: Arsenal Consulting (The Wire / July 2021)
● 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)

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry gets extension till Feb 28

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry gets extension till Feb 28

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Violence was reported in Koregaon Bhima area in Pune district on January 1, 2018, when thousands of Ambedkarite Dalits gathered at the ‘Jaystambh’ at Perne Phata in Pune district to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle of Koregaon Bhima.
… As per an order issued by the state home department, the commission has been given an extension of another five months till February 28, 2024. This is the 13th time that an extension has been granted to the commission since it was formed.
Read more

Also Read:
● Top Investigating Officer Admits Elgar Parishad Event ‘Had No Role’ in Bhima Koregaon Violence (The Wire / Dec 2022)

NewsClick Raids and Arrests: Demolishing the Myth of the ‘Urban Naxal’ Nomenclature

NewsClick Raids and Arrests: Demolishing the Myth of the ‘Urban Naxal’ Nomenclature


Girish Karnad, Sep 2018 #MeTooUrbanNaxal

The Wire / Ajay K. Mehra

The current crackdown is transparently part of the same politics that resulted in the invention of ambiguous phrases like ‘tukde-tukde gang’ and ‘Urban Naxal’.
The search and seizure operation at the residences of 46 journalists associated with NewsClick and the arrests of two people are transparently part of the same politics that resulted in the invention of the still ambiguous phrases ‘tukde-tukde gang’ and ‘Urban Naxal’.
A new category of dissenters, deprecated as anti-nationals, is ‘Urban Naxal’.  This came into use since the Elgar Parishad case in 2018. A meeting of human rights activists, lawyers and others in Pune on December 31, 2017, known as the Elgar Parishad and meant to commemorate the bicentenary of the Bhima Koregaon battle, turned into a pretext to round up a number of ‘leftist’ activists under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Read more

Also read:
● From ‘tukde tukde gang’ to ‘urban Naxal’: How media trials enable the government to stifle dissent (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)