Posts – Page 92 – free them all

Tributes to Stan Swamy / Video: Why Democracy and Human Rights matter?

03/07/2022 Asha

Alluri Sitarama Raju and Stan Swamy: Two Adivasi rights defenders – one praised, one persecuted

04/07/2022

Scroll.in / by Cedric Prakash

Prime Minister Modi unveiled a statue of Alluri in Andhra Pradesh one day before the first death anniversary of the Jesuit priest, who passed away in custody.
On a recent domestic flight, the head of the cabin crew made an announcement from the airlines informing passengers that July 4 was the birth anniversary of
Alluri Seethrama Raju.
“He led the ‘Rampa Rebellion’, the protest of tribal people against the British Raj,” the announcement said.
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Fr. Stan Swamy: his legacy lives forever!

03/07/2022

Countercurrents.org / by Cedric Prakash

A year ago, on 5 July 2021, when Father Stan Swamy left us, the world mourned the death of a great human being who epitomised compassion, courage, collaboration and commitment! ‘Stan’, as he was lovingly called by those close to him, died whilst he was still incarcerated. From the time he was illegally arrested on 8 October 2020, he languished in the Taloja jail; his deteriorating health conditions prompted the Special Court to direct the jail authorities to admit him to a private hospital in Bombay where he finally succumbed, despite the best possible medical treatment given to him at that time! It was indeed too little too late. For one, Stan should never have been arrested;
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‘Sad situation for human rights in India… Father Stan Swamy’s resolve inspires us’

04/07/2022

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

Father Frazer Mascarenhas, the former principal of St Xavier’s College in Mumbai and the Parish Priest of St Peter’s Church, in whose care Swamy was in his last days, in conversation with Sadaf Modak.
On July 5, it will be a year since the death of 84-year-old priest and Jharkhand-based activist Stan Swamy while in judicial custody. Swamy was arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in October 2020 and a chargesheet filed against him for his alleged links with banned CPI (Maoist). Swamy had denied the charges.
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Video: Why Democracy and Human Rights matter? – Stan Swamy Memorial Lecture

03/07/2022

hindi | 2h 48min | 2022

By PUCL Jharkhand

People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Jharkhand organized the Inaugural Lecture of ‘Stan Swamy Memorial Lecture’ series on 1st of July 2022. Prof. Faizan Mustafa, the Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad delivered the lecture.
Watch video

Essential to have defenders of rights in country

03/07/2022

The Telegraph / by Animesh Biosee

Activists pay tribute to Father Stan Swamy and criticise State’s tendency to crack down on dissent
India needs more human rights defenders, constitutional law expert Faizan Mustafa said in Ranchi on Friday as he paid tribute to the late Father Stan Swamy and criticised the State’s tendency to crack down on rights activists.
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XISS lecture to honour Stan Swamy

02/07/2022

Times of India / by Jaideep Deogharia

Ranchi: Vice-chancellor of National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad, Faizan Mustafa while addressing the first Stan Swamy memorial lecture here at XISS auditorium on Friday said that the activist believed in true spirit of human rights. “Swamy came from a different state to fight for the oppressed and people of a different state,” he said.
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Also read:
● Various Upcoming Events Commemorating Father Stan’s Death in Custody

How India has become a land of conspiracies that turns warriors battling injustice into villains

01/07/2022 Asha

Scroll.in / by Apoorvanand

From Bhima Koregaon to the Delhi riots, from the cases against Teesta Setalvad and Mohammed Zubair, reality has been inverted.
Conspiracy! The sinister word has reappeared with the arrest of human rights advocate Teesta Setalvad and former police officers Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt by the Gujarat police on the weekend. The arrests were prompted by the Supreme Court, which smelt something fishy about the case in which the petitioners contended that the conspiracy behind the 2002 Gujarat violence had not been investigated thoroughly.
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Bombay HC Grants NIA ‘Last Chance’ to File Reply to Hany Babu’s Bail Plea

01/07/2022 Asha

Bombay HC Grants NIA ‘Last Chance’ to File Reply to Hany Babu’s Bail Plea

01/07/2022

The Quint / by pti

On 8 June, the NIA had told another bench of Bombay HC it will file its reply to Babu’s plea within two weeks.
The Bombay High Court on Friday, 1 July, granted a week’s time to the National Investigating Agency (NIA) to file its reply to a bail plea filed by Delhi University associate professor and Elgar Parishad case accused Hany Babu.
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Also read:
● Supreme Court to hear Varavara Rao’s appeal against Bombay High Court’s refusal to extend his medical bail (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● NIA special court rejects default bail application of five accused (The Leaflet / June 2022)

SC to hear Varavara Rao’s appeal against Bombay HC’s refusal to extend his medical bail

30/06/2022 Asha

Varavara Rao’s regular bail plea to ‘stay alive’

01/07/2022

The Telegraph / by R. Balaji

Poet recalls how Stan Swamy had died in custody a year ago shortly before his bail application was to be heard.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a plea for regular bail from poet and Elgaar Parishad-Maoist links accused P. Varavara Rao, 81, who cited multiple ailments including Parkinson’s Disease and expressed fear that further imprisonment would kill him.
Rao, now out on interim bail, recalled how 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy, a fellow accused and Parkinson’s patient, had died in custody a year ago shortly before his bail application was to be heard.
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Supreme Court to hear Varavara Rao’s appeal against Bombay High Court’s refusal to extend his medical bail

30/06/2022

The Leaflet / by The Leaflet

Earlier today, a vacation bench of the Supreme Court directed its registry to list on July 11 the appeal filed by poet, activist and teacher P. Varavara Rao, accused of inciting violence in the Bhima Koregaon case, against the Bombay High Court’s order refusing to extend his medical bail.
Senior advocate Anand Grover mentioned the appeal before a vacation bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala, seeking an urgent listing of the appeal, given that the due time for Rao to surrender is expiring on July 13.
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Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Rao moves Supreme Court for bail

30/06/2022

Bar & Bench / by Abhimanyu Hazarika

The matter will be listed on July 11 after it was mentioned by Senior Advocate Anand Grover today before a vacation Bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala.
Telugu poet Varavara Rao, who is an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence, has approached the Supreme Court seeking permanent bail on medical grounds.
Rao has challenged an April 13 judgment of the Bombay High Court which had rejected his plea for bail.
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Further Incarceration Will Ring Death Knell For Him: Varavara Rao Moves Supreme Court Seeking Bail In Bhima Koregaon Case

30/06/2022

Live Law / by Srishti Ojha

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on 11th July a petition filed by Telugu poet and Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad accused P Varavara Rao challenging Bombay High Court’s order refusing to grant him permanent medical bail.
A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala issued the direction after the matter was mentioned by Senior Advocate Anand Grover.
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82-Year-Old Varavara Rao Moves Supreme Court for Bail in Bhima Koregaon Case

30/06/2022

The Quint / by The Quint

The matter has been listed for 11 July, after Rao’s plea was mentioned by his counsel before a vacation bench.
82-year-old Telugu poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, approached the Supreme Court seeking permanent bail on medical grounds on Thursday, 30 June.
The matter has been listed for 11 July, after Rao’s plea was mentioned by his counsel, senior advocate Anand Grover before a vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala, reported Bar and Bench.
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Also read:
● NIA special court rejects default bail application of five accused (The Leaflet / June 2022)

NIA special court rejects default bail application of five accused

28/06/2022 Asha

Poster campaign, 2019. Click to enlarge

Mumbai court rejects default bail to 5 accused

29/06/2022

Bar & Bench / by Satyendra Wankhade

The bail pleas had been pending since 2018 when accused, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut approached a Pune court challenging extension of time granted for filing of chargesheet.
The applications were filed in 2018 seeking default bail on the ground that the extension granted by the court to the investigating agency for filing chargesheet was in violation of law.
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NIA special court rejects default bail application of five accused

28/06/2022

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Earlier today, the default bail applications of human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist Surendra Gadling, activist and researcher Rona Wilson, women’s rights activist and professor Shoma Sen, activist Mahesh Raut, and activist, actor and publisher Sudhir Dhawale, co- accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, were rejected by a Special National Intelligence Agency (‘NIA’) court in Mumbai.
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NIA court rejects default bail of five accused in Bhima Koregaon case

28/06/2022

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

The grounds for filing the petition was that the 90-day extension that was granted to the prosecuting agency for filing the chargesheet was illegal
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday rejected the default bail plea of five accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case.
Special NIA judge Rajesh Katariya rejected the pleas of former professor of Nagpur university Shoma Sen, advocate Surendra Gadling, activist Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut. All of them were arrested on June 6, 2018 from different locations.
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Also read:
● Bhima Koregaon: Who’s who of those arrested & the developments in the case pertaining to each (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● Bombay High Court rejects default bail plea of Varavara Rao and seven other accused (The Leaflet / May 2022)

Zubair, Teesta, Bhima Koregaon ‘Evidence’: Why are India’s Institutions Silent?

28/06/2022 Asha

The Quint / by Seema Chishti

How much longer before the cloud hanging over India’s democratic record today morphs into a shroud?
A big tree fell in the forest a few days ago. A news report published on 16 June in WIRED, a renowned tech magazine, highlights the controversial detention of human rights activists in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. It revealed a very disturbing chain of events. The report was about the fabrication of evidence. How that story was treated by all institutions reveals reams about the institutional collapse in India. The noise of crumbling institutions is louder than if an edifice of brick and mortar was to actually come crashing down.
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Also read:
● Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired / June 16, 2022)

And Allah’s call to Hany Babu

27/06/2022 Asha

Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf

From being an atheist when he had enrolled for PhD at EFLU in 1992, he turned to Islam after his arrest and found that an imagined, one-way love, steeped in faith, too can heal wounds.
When Hany Babu was arrested, on July 28, 2020, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for his alleged role in the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence, his daughter Farzana seemed unflappable. Surprising for a Standard XI student? Well, one night three months later, Farzana could not go to sleep.
Read more

Also read:
● And Ma can’t sing with Sagar (Midday.com / June 2022)
● And he waits for Shoma Sen (Midday.com / May 2022)
● And she waits for Gautam Navlakha (Midday.com / May 2022)

The contemporary relevance of Internal Emergency 1975-77

25/06/2022 Asha

The Leaflet / by Arvind Narrain

On June 25, we mark the 47th anniversary of the declaration of Emergency by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The events of the emergency have long since faded into history, but there are uncanny resonances with the contemporary context…
The use of the UAPA and the NIA by the current regime is, in Vajpayee’s language, the ‘beginning of the police state’ and a ‘blot on democracy’. Advani’s warning of the use of MISA against the opposition finds a resonance in the use of UAPA and NIA against protestors, be it the Bhima Koregaon 16, anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protestors, Kashmiri protestors or a range of dissenters across the country.
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Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission gets another extension / Elgaar Parishad organiser questioned on her TISS research

23/06/2022 Asha

Koregaon Bhima inquiry commission gets another extension till December 31

25/06/2022

Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The commission was initially given four months to submit its report, but its tenure had to be repeatedly extended to allow it to complete its work.
Maharashtra government has granted yet another extension to the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry. An order to this effect has been issued by the home department on June 20. As per this order, the commission has been given an extension of six months till December 31, 2022.
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Elgaar Parishad organiser questioned on her TISS research related to Maoist movement

23/06/2022

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

During cross examination, Harshali Potdar claimed that she interacted with villagers, media persons, police and government officers, contractors and social activists in the Gadchiroli region for the purpose of her research.
The cross-examination of a witness, Harshali Potdar, who is among the organisers of the ‘Elgaar Parishad’ held in Pune on December 31, 2017, continued before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday. Potdar is an alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and an activist of the Republican Panthers Jatiantachi Chalwal, often referred to as RP.
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Elgar Parishad organiser questioned about her research on Maoist movement

23/06/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Pune Police had claimed that the 16 persons arrested in the case were conspiring with CPI (Maoist) members to overthrow the Narendra Modi government.
A judicial commission investigating the Bhima Koregaon violence case on Wednesday questioned Harshali Potdar, one of the organisers of the Elgar Parishad event in Pune held in December 2017, about her research on the Maoist movement, The Indian Express reported.
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Joint commissioner of police Nangre Patil, DIG, CBI Mohd Suvez Haque depose at Koregaon Bhima Inquiry commission

23/06/2022

The Times of India / by Swati Deshpande

Joint commissioner of police (Law and Order) Vishwas Nangre Patil, 48, and Mohd Suvez Haque, DIG, CBI, Mumbai– former superintendent of Police, Pune (rural)–, deposed on Thursday before the Koregaon Bhima commission of Inquiry
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And Ma died waiting for Surendra

20/06/2022 Asha

Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf

One of Nagpur’s most successful lawyers, Gadling took it upon himself to fight for the rights of Adivasis who were picked up and thrown inside jail after being tagged Maoists. Now he, too, is lodged in jail, without an end of his trial in sight.
There are many ways you could begin the story of lawyer Surendra Gadling, incarcerated in Mumbai’s Taloja Jail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for his alleged role in the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence. You could, for instance, leap over the events of June 6, 2018, the day he was arrested, to begin the story from June 11.
Read more

Also read:
● And Ma died waiting for Surendra (Midday.com / June 2022)
● And Ma can’t sing with Sagar (Midday.com / June 2022)
● And he waits for Shoma Sen (Midday.com / May 2022)
● And she waits for Gautam Navlakha (Midday.com / May 2022)