Posts – Page 65 – free them all

Bombay High Court seeks NIA response on Gautam Navlakha plea for regular bail

12/06/2023 Asha

Bombay High Court seeks NIA response on Gautam Navlakha plea for regular bail

12/06/2023

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The special NIA court had rejected Navlakha’s plea for the second time, after re-hearing the same as directed by the High Court.
The Bombay High Court Monday issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a bail plea filed by activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon violence case of 2018.
Read more

Gautam Navlakha Again Moves Bombay High Court Seeking Bail In Bhima Koregaon Case, Notice Issued To NIA

12/06/2023

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Monday issued notice to the NIA on a fresh bail application filed by senior journalist Gautam Navlakha arrested in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad case and is accused of having CPI(Maoist) links.
The division bench headed by Justice AS Gadkari will now hear the matter on June 28, 2023.
Read more

Bombay High Court Issues Notice In Bhima Koregaon Accused Gautam Navlakha’s Bail Plea, NIA To File Reply In 2 Weeks

12/06/2023

Lawbeat / by Raj Bhojani

Navlakha has filed the appeal against the order of the special court which rejected his bail plea twice.
The Bombay High Court on Monday issued notice to the National Investigation Agency and sought its reply in the bail appeal filed by the Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha.
The division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and SG Dige asked the counsel for both parties to point out the order in which all the correct facts are recorded because there were multiple orders passed in the case.
Read more

Bombay HC issues notice to NIA in Gautam Navlakha’s fresh appeal against rejection of bail plea

12/06/2023

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

The Bombay High Court on Monday issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking its response to Elgaar Parishad case accused Gautam Navlakha’s fresh appeal challenging a special NIA court’s order that had rejected his bail application in April this year.
Read more

Also read:
● Gautam Navlakha moves HC against NIA court’s rejection of bail plea (The Indian Express / April 2023)
● Bombay HC quashes order rejecting bail plea of Navlakha by special court, orders expeditious rehearing (Sabrang / March 2023)

How an anonymous poetry page on Instagram is bringing hope to political activism

11/06/2023 Asha

Scroll.in / by Yamini Krishnan

Hamraaz is an anonymous poet on Instagram writing about instances of oppression.
When Varavara Rao was arrested in 2018, many of the demands for his release focused on his identity as a poet. “What kind of country are we,” a concerned citizen said in dismay, “when we put poets behind bars?” This, perhaps, is an indication of the revolutionary power that poetry can have.
Read more

Also read/watch:
● Writing as Righting: The Politics and Poetics of Varavara Rao (The Wire / July 2020)
● A POET AGAINST THE STATE : TALKING WITH VARAVARA RAO – Part 1 (Raiot.in / June 2016)
● THE POET AS THE REVOLUTIONARY – TALKING WITH VARAVARA RAO – Part 2 (Raiot.in / July 2016)

● Voices of poetry roar in solidarity with the call to release the poet Varavara Rao

By Release the Poet, Nov 3, 2020

Salute Comrade, a glorious birthday! Our tribute will be in poetry, throughout the day.

Aruna Nellutla, VV’s niece, reads out for the poet
Ilika reads out for VV
Kodam Kumar reads out for VV
Shovana Nath reads out for VV
Amita Shereen reads out for VV
Baby Sau reads out for VV
Samiran Ghosh reads out for VV
Ipsa Shatakshi reads out for VV
Nalluri Rukmini reads out for VV
Kaushal Kishore reads out a poem for VV
Rahul Purakaystha recites VV
SAHAJA recites VV’s ‘Companion´
… and numerous others read out for VV

Watch videos on `Release The Poet´ fb page

The Bhima Koregaon 16 Must Not Be Forgotten

11/06/2023 Asha

National Herald / by Aakar Patel

Independent agencies find evidence was planted. Yet the 16 accused remain in jail, denied basic health needs, denied bail to honour dead family members one last time
This month marks five years since the first arrests in the Bhima Koregaon case.
A total of 16 people were arrested in the case, including Father Stan Swamy, who died in custody. Most of them remain in jail. None has been convicted in the case, none has been connected with violence in the place for which the matter is named.
Read more

Also read:
● Five years behind bars for five activists – Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice! (Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) / June 6, 2023)
● Five Years Since The First Arrests In Bhima-Koregaon Case (Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO) / June 6, 2023)
● Release activists incarcerated in Bhima Koregaon Case (Campaign Against State Repression / June 7, 2023)

Thread by Amnesty India / @AIIndia (June 6, 2023):
In a series of arrests, 16 activists were imprisoned simply because they spoke up for the rights of the most marginalized in the country. Today, 5 years have passed since the first round of arrests of activists in the Bhima Koregaon case.

How & Why India’s Law Commission has urged a cap on Free Speech: Sedition

10/06/2023 Asha

Sabrangindia / by CJP Team

The 22nd Report of the Indian Law Commission flies in the face of serious judicial pronouncements, jurisprudence and modern thinking
Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned for sedition, because his speeches incited people to protest and caused an uprising against the government. While on trial he refers to Section 124-A of IPC as ‘Prince’ of all sections which try to supress the liberty of the citizens, as a classical law theorist he decides to disobey the law even if it is backed by sanctions because he believes the law and the larger system is not just and fair…
There have been multiple instances of misuse of sedition laws in India, to silence dissent and give greater power to the government. Here are some instances of the misuse of sedition laws in the country:
Read more

Also read:
● PUCL welcomes the initial step towards the complete repeal of the colonial law of Sedition (PUCL / May 2022)
● 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)
● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report

‘Half a decade of arrest, meet time cut to 10 mins’

08/06/2023 Asha

TOI / by Shishir Arya

A post on Tushar Kanti Bhattacharya’s Facebook page has a picture of his wife Shoma Sen, with the lines below reading: Five years of incarceration. Another post has pictures of her along with co-accused Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut. The lines read ‘Repeal UAPA: Behind bars five years and no charges framed, no bail’. A couple of likes can be seen in response.
Read more

Also read:
● 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 / Apr 2023)
● And he waits for Shoma Sen (Midday.com / May 2022)
● Part 1: ‘It is very difficult to see my mother like this’ (Rediff.com / May 2022)
● Part 2: When Your Mother Is In Prison… (Rediff.com / May 2022)

Five years behind bars for five activists – Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice!

06/06/2023 Asha

Five years behind bars for five activists – Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice!

06/06/2023

By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

Five years behind bars for five activists
Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice!
Release all 15-surviving accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
June 6, 2023 will mark five years that five activists are behind bars. They include Mahesh Raut, an anti-displacement campaigner, Rona Wilson, a political prisoners’ campaigner, Shoma Sen, a feminist activist and professor, Sudhir Dhawale, a Dalit rights activist and Surendra Gadling, a lawyer who takes people’s rights cases pro-bono.
Read full statement

Five Years Since The First Arrests In Bhima-Koregaon Case

06/06/2023

Countercurrents.org / by Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO)

6th June 2018. The nation’s conscience suffered yet another attack by the arrests of leading intellectuals and democratic rights activists by the Pune police in connection with the so-called Bhima-Koregaon (BK) case. These arrests snowballed into a series of arrests in subsequent months. Five years have passed, and barring a few activists out on bail, the arrested persons are still languishing in jail without a charge sheet being filed. Through this statement, the CDRO once again tries to remember the incidents leading to these arrests and subsequent events; so that people can unite in a struggle for the release of the BK-16 and the repeal of draconian laws.
Read full statement

Five years of Bhima Koregaon arrests: CDRO marks ‘black day’

06/06/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

It was on this day in 2018 that five activists were first arrested by the Pune police in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case. To mark this day, and by means of highlighting the plight of the arrested persons, the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation and People’s Union for Democratic Rights have issued press statements demanding the immediate release of all the persons behind bars in connection with the case.
Read more

CASR: Release activists incarcerated in Bhima Koregaon Case

07/06/2023

Countercurrents.org / by Campaign Against State Repression

June 6th became a day of one of the most audacious attack by the Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist state on the Democratic rights and political activists and began new era of rampant use of UAPA and conspiracy cases, which was, although known to the working class, the peasantry and the oppressed, have been largely unknown to the Urban democratic movement. June 6th, 2018 marks the first arrest in the infamous Bhima Koregaon ‘Conspiracy’ case, after series of raids in April 2018. The police arrested Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut.
Read full statement

Five years after arrest, Bhima Koregaon case accused yet to get copies of proof against them

05/06/2023

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

Special Public Prosecutor rubbished the allegation and said most of the material have been shared with them
It has been six years since Sudhir Dhawale, an activist; Surendra Gadling, a criminal lawyer practising in Nagpur; Shoma Sen, professor and Head of Department, English at Nagpur University; activists Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut were arrested in the caste-based violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune in 2017.
Read more

Also read:
● Bhima Koregaon: Who’s who of those arrested & the developments in the case pertaining to each (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● Marking three years since the first arrest (The Leaflet / June 2021)
● Two years of Bhima Koregaon Arrests (The Leaflet / June 2020)
● What has happened to the five activists who were arrested a year ago (Scroll.in / June 2019)
● IAPL press note about arrest of Advocate Gadling & other people’s activists (Sanhati / June 2018)

Shoma Sen’s discharge application at NIA asserts discrepancies in evidence against her

05/06/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Shoma Sen, an accused in the case along with 15 other activists and academics, has been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Sen has been incarcerated as an undertrial since June 6, 2018, and is lodged at the Byculla jail in Mumbai.
On Monday, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria continued hearing a discharge application filed by women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen, claiming discrepancies in the evidence against her in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case, and drawing a parallel with the allegations raised against Dalit scholar, academic activist and co-accused Dr Anand Teltumbde.
Read more

Also read:
● Shoma Sen moves Supreme Court seeking bail (The Leaflet / Apr 2023)
● Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is Now the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)
● US-based forensic analysis group finds incriminating documents “planted” in Rona Wilson’s computer; Wilson challenges his prosecution in Bombay HC (The Leaflet / Feb 2021)
● They were Accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government – The evidence was planted, a new report says (Washington Post / Feb 2021)

HC division bench to hear Varavara Rao’s plea for cataract surgery in Hyderabad

05/06/2023 Asha

Bombay High Court asks Varavara Rao to move division bench for permission to travel to Hyderabad for cataract surgery

05/06/2023

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Single-judge Justice SV Kotwal observed that the application by Rao amounted to seeking modification of his bail conditions as per which Rao cannot leave Mumbai during the trial.
The Bombay High Court on Monday directed P Varavara Rao, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, to approach a division bench of the High Court for permission to travel from Mumbai to Hyderabad to undergo cataract surgery.
Read more

HC division bench to hear Varavara Rao’s plea for cataract surgery in Hyderabad

05/06/2023

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

In his plea, Varavara Rao said the surgery was expensive in Mumbai and that he was entitled to free medical treatment up to Rs 2 lakh in Telangana as he is a pensioner.
The Bombay High Court on Monday directed Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao, who is an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, to approach a division bench of the high court with his plea to get cataract surgery done free-of-cost in Hyderabad, Telangana.
Read more

by Live Law / @LiveLawIndia (June 5, 2023):
Bombay High Court hearing octogenarian accused P Varavara Rao’s plea to undergo cataract treatment in Hyderabad asks his counsel to approach the division bench as it would require modification of his bail condition.

Also read:
● Can Varavara Rao get free cataract surgery in Hyderabad? HC seeks NIA response (The Indian Express / April 2023)
● Bombay High Court seeks response from NIA on plea by Varavara Rao to undergo cataract surgery at Hyderabad (Bar & Bench / Jan 5, 2023)
● Can’t Allow Varavara Rao To Stay In Hyderabad For Three Months For Cataract Treatment, Will Delay Framing of Charges: NIA Court (Scroll.in / Sep 2022)

Prakash Ambedkar asks Koregaon Bhima probe panel to summon Dy CM Fadnavis

05/06/2023 Asha

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Dalit activist Prakash Ambedkar recently told the Commission of Inquiry probing the 2018 Koregaon Bhima violence to first summon Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was chief minister at the time of the incident. Ambedkar said before asking him to depose, the probe panel should also ask its member Sumit Mallick, who was the state chief secretary in 2018, and former Pune Rural SP Suvez Haque to depose.
Read more

Also Read:
● Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry sends another ‘letter of request’ to Prakash Ambedkar to appear on June 5 (The Indian Express / May 2023)
● 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)

New democracy through Brecht’s lens

29/05/2023 Asha

Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf

The BJP, which strives to trip governments in Opp-ruled states, seems to be heeding playwright’s notion of dissolving the people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration of the new Parliament building reminded me of playwright Bertolt Brecht and his poem The Solution.
… At the Elgar Parishad, organised in Pune on December 31, 2017, activist Sudhir Dhawale began his speech thus: “What sort of a city is this? What sort of people/are you?/When injustice is done there should be a revolt in this city/And if there is no revolt, it were better that the/city should perish in fire before night falls.” The Pune Police claimed this verse proved Dhawale instigated the January 1, 2018 violence at Bhima Koregaon. He has been locked up for the last five years.
Read more

Also read:
● And a place Sudhir Dhawale calls home (Midday.com / Aug 2022)
● India’s Hindu Nationalist Project Relies on Brutal Repression (Jacobin / April 2021)
● Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi asserts basis of FIR is a translation of German playwright Bertolt Brecht’s poem! (The Leaflet / Sep 2018)