adivasis – free them all

Video: Sudha Bharadwaj (Part 1 – Arrested Series)

16/08/2020 Maya

Solidarity program in Chhattisgarh, 2019

hindi | 4:29min | 2020

By #InBetweenNews

Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested by the Pune Police on suspicion of being involved in Maoist terror activities in August 2018, along with five other accused across the country.
An alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Bharadwaj has been living in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh for the last 29 years and has worked as trade unionist and civil rights activist for most of her life.
Having been exposed to horrific working conditions of labourers during her time as a student at IIT, she moved to work with the late Shankar Guha Niyogi’s Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha in 1986.
She fought passionately against corrupt bureaucrats to ensure proper wages were paid to the workers in the mines and plants located in Bhilai. She also engaged in issues of Dalit and Adivasi rights, specifically the right to land, the right to education, health and for security against corrupt landlords.
Here is #InBetweenNews ‘s special report on Sudha Bharadwaj’s overtly political arrest and her life as an activist.
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Mahesh Raut: The Beloved Brother of Adivasis in Gadchiroli

16/08/2020 Maya

Gauri Lankesh News / By Gauri Lanksh News Desk

Mahesh’s incarceration is a standing testament of the State’s repression of Rights’ activists who protect the values of the Constitution which the same State is trampling upon.
Hailing from Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, Mahesh Raut is a young prominent activist working for the rights of Adivasi communities in his district … He has tirelessly advocated for laws like The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and Forest Rights Act which protect the democratic rights of indigenous communities against unlawful land grabbing by large corporations.
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With Hany Babu’s arrest, 4 academics now in custody in Bhima Koregaon violence case

09/08/2020 Rani

The Print / by Sravasti Dasgupta

Hany Babu & 11 others are accused of attending the Elgar Parishad, which allegedly triggered violence in Bhima Koregaon on 1 January 2018 …
Babu is the fourth academic arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case — all four have been trenchant critics of the Modi government.
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Rich Land of Poor People – the work of imprisoned lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj

07/08/2020 Maya

Civicus.org / by Alina Tiphagne / Human Rights Defenders Alert

There has been a huge displacement of Adivasis in Chhattisgarh due to businesses monopolising land and natural resources, and there has been rampant human rights abuses reported in the state. To add to this already complex situation, southern Chhattisgarh is the epicentre of a five decades-long insurgency between the Naxalite Maoist group and the Indian government which has affected the tribal population, densely forested districts and neighbouring states … The work of Sudha Bharadwaj, human rights lawyer and former General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh People’s Union for Civil Liberties, lies at this faught intersection.
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Rs 1 Lakh each for Human Rights Defenders: NHRC Orders Chhattisgrah Govt

06/08/2020

Indian Cultural Forum / by Nandini Sundar, Archana Prasad, Manju Kawasi, Vineet Tiwari, Sanjay Parate and Mangla Ram Karma

They are demanding compensation “for the mental agony and violation of human rights” caused by false charges and arrests.
Press Release
On 5th November 2016, the Chhattisgarh police lodged an FIR against us under various sections of the IPC, Arms Act, and UAPA …
We are grateful to the PUCL for taking up the cases of all human rights defenders in Chhattisgarh and for informing us about the NHRC order. It is deeply distressing that PUCL Secretary and Advocate Sudha Bhardwaj who took up such cases in Chhattisgarh has herself been arrested under false charges. We trust that all human rights defenders who have been falsely accused will get justice.
Read full statement

NIA Interrogates Father Stan Swamy in Bhima Koregaon Case

07/08/2020 Maya

Gauri Lankesh News / by Rupesh Kumar Singh

Father Stan Swamy has been fighting for the issues of Adivasis and Mulnivasis in Jharkhand for almost 50 years.
On 6th August 2020, the NIA interrogated Father Stan Swamy, a prominent human rights activist from Jharkhand, for nearly two and a half hours in relation to the Bhima Koregaon case. This interrogation took place at his Ranchi residence in Bagaicha, Namkum.
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NIA questions social activist Stan Swami in Jharkhand

The Hindu / by pti

In 2018, a police team from Maharashtra had raided his residence and seized his computer in connection with the probe.
The NIA on Thursday questioned social activist Stan Swami at his residence in Ranchi in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence, an official said.
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Commercial mining – not a boon but a curse

23/06/2020

Gaon Connection / by Stan Swamy

On June 18, 2020, the central government released a list of 41 coal blocks from all over the country to be auctioned to private companies. Most of these mines are located in the predominantly Adivasi-inhabited areas. About 40 per cent of the 60 million people displaced by development projects in the past decades are Adivasis.
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Another Birthday In Jail For Youngest Bhima-Koregaon Accused

01/07/2020 Rani

Article 14 / by Chitrangada Choudhury

Adivasi rights defender, a former fellow of a prestigious prime ministerial programme, and son of a police official, Mahesh Raut is the youngest of the ‘Bhima-Koregaon 11’, accused of spreading Maoist ideology and encouraging ‘unlawful activities’. He’s been in jail without trial for two years.
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Condemn the SC’s denial of relief & stand in solidarity with all voices for peoples’ rights!

08/04/2020 Rani

CASR posters, 2018

By Campaign Against State Repression (CASR)

The Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) calls on all democratic organisations and individuals to come together and condemn the denial of relief for Prof. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha, stand in solidarity with all such voices of democracy and demand the immediate release of all political prisoners. Our unity at this time of crisis is all the more urgent and necessary for our silence in the time of injustice is bound to render us voiceless in the days to come. Let us unite and demand:
1. Immediate reprieve from arrest of Prof. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha.
2. Immediate release of all political prisoners lodged in jails all over the country, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Immediate release of all under-trial prisoners and persons convicted on minor charges to decongest prisons.
4. Action (with restraint in light of COVID-19) against the perpetrators of violence in the Bhima Koregaon case including Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote.
5. Repeal of all draconian laws like UAPA, NSA and PSA, among others.
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Pawar Vs Uddhav, NIA Vs Maharashtra Police: What’s Going On In The Bhima Koregaon Case?

18/02/2020 Maya

Huffpost / by Pavan Dahat

The Maharashtra government’s flip-flop over giving the Bhima Koregaon case to the National Investigation Agency suggests Union Home Minister Amit Shah has a lot of hide in this case.
Pune: The Maharashtra government refused to hand over the Bhima Koregaon case to the National Investigation Agency, until it did. The state home ministry under the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Anil Deshmukh was opposed to the NIA, but the Shiv Sena Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray wasn’t.
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Chhattisgarh: NHRC accuses state officials of ‘abetting’ crimes of Salwa Judum

11/02/2020 Maya

Pic: virasam.org

The Indian Express / by Gargi Verma

The commission made the comment while declaring an order on September 23, 2019, in the matter of the killing of seven people and burning of 95 huts in the Kondasawali, Karrepara and Kamaraguda villages of Sukma district in 2007 …
PUCL secretary Shalini Gera said, “The case was filed on a complaint by Sudha Bharadwaj, who is in Pune jail because she was working for the tribals and filing complaints like these.”
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Who is Sudha Bharadwaj?

25/12/2019 Rani

By Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy

Maaysha, Sudha’s daughter: “If fighting for the rights of adivasis, fighting for workers and peasants, fighting against repression and exploitation and giving up one s whole life for them is being a naxalite then I guess naxalites are pretty good.”

“The 6th Annual Harvard Law International Women’s Day Portrait Exhibit showcases the astounding contributions of women around the world to the areas of law and policy. The honorees — each of whom were nominated by HLS students, faculty or staff — are powerful voices in their respective fields, whether they are sitting on a high court bench, standing in front of a classroom, or marching in the streets.”

Or whether they are sitting in jail.

Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj is a 2019 honoree of the Harvard Law International Women’s day exhibition and is sitting in a jail cell in Pune. How did these conflicting positions come about? …