Arun Ferreira – free them all

Bhima Koregaon: Who’s who of those arrested and the developments in the case pertaining to each

07/06/2022 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanwala

In the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, leading activists, lawyers, scholars and artists have been arrested without trial under the charges of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (‘UAPA’). According to the police, allegedly provocative statements and speeches made at the Elgar Parishad meeting in Pune on December 31, 2017, instigated the violence at Bhima Koregaon the following day on January 1, 2018 that led to death of one and injuries to several others …

The Leaflet brings to its readers a brief profile of each of the arrested persons, and the developments in the case pertaining to each.
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Bombay High Court rejects default bail plea of Varavara Rao and seven other accused

04/05/2022 Asha

Bombay High Court rejects default bail plea of Varavara Rao and seven other accused

04/05/2022

The Leaflet / by Sabah Gurmat

The Bombay High Court earlier today dismissed a petition filed by eight activists, academics and lawyers accused in the Bhima Koregaon (Elgar Parishad) violence case, who sought review of an earlier order which dismissed their appeal for default bail.
A plea seeking default bail was filed by P. Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut and Surendra Gadling.
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Bombay HC Says Won’t Review Refusal of Default Bail to 3 Activists

04/05/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves’ petition said the high court’s previous order was based on a “factual error”.
The Bombay high court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by Varavara Rao and two other activists, arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, seeking a review of an earlier order of the high court which refused them default bail.
The high court said it finds it difficult to hold there was any factual error in its earlier judgement and requires a review.
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Bombay HC Rejects Review Plea Seeking Default Bail To Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira

04/05/2022

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court has rejected a review application filed by three accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case seeking bail and factual corrections in the order refusing them default bail.
The court disposed of a review application filed by the three, seeking factual corrections in the order refusing them default bail and subsequently release.
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Bombay High Court rejects default bail plea of Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves

04/05/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The review application by Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves claimed there was factual error in the High Court’s December 2021 judgment, which if not rectified, will lead to “gross miscarriage of justice”.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected the plea filed by three accused Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves in the Bhima Koregaon case seeking review of the High Court’s December 2021 judgment refusing them default bail. [P Varavara Rao & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra & Anr.]
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Also read:
● Eight Accused Approach HC, Say Denial of Default Bail Based on ‘Factual Error’ (The Wire / Dec 2021)
● ‘Had Sought Default Bail Like Sudha Bharadwaj’: 8 Bhima-Koregaon Accused Approach Bombay HC Claiming ‘Factual Error’ In Judgment (Live Law / Dec 2021)

Water, please: Ferreira says life in jail worse than animal existence

29/04/2022 Asha

Times of India / by TOI

An accused in the Elgar Parishad case, Arun Ferreira, has moved a plea before the special NIA court seeking reasonable quantity of usable water in jail.
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Jadhav of Bombay HC, the third judge to recuse from hearing petitions in the case this year

19/04/2022 Asha

Justice Sadhana Jadhav Of Bombay High Court, The Third Judge To Recuse From Hearing Petitions In Bhima Koregaon Case This Year

19/04/2022

Live Law / Sharmeen Hakim

A third judge of the Bombay High Court, Justice Sadhana Jadhav, recused from hearing a clutch of petitions in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad case this year, including two petitions alleging the planting of electronic evidence through malware.
Justice Jadhav said no Elgar Parishad matters to be placed before her. the judge had earlier recused from hearing BK matters in 2019 and 2020, as well.
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Justice Sadhana Jadhav recuses herself from hearing pleas in Bhima Koregaon case

19/04/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

She is the third Bombay High Court judge to withdraw from hearing petitions in the caste violence case this year.
Justice Sadhana Jadhav of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday recused herself from hearing petitions filed in the Bhima Koregaon case, Live Law reported. Jadhav is the third Bombay High Court judge to withdraw from the hearing the petitions related to the case this year.
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Justice Jadhav recuses from Bhima Koregaon cases, third Bombay HC judge to recuse

19/04/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Earlier, Justices PB Varale and SS Shinde had also recused from the matter.
A third Bench of the Bombay High Court led by Justice Sadhana S Jadhav on Tuesday recused from hearing a clutch of petitions filed in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018.
Justice Jadhav is the third judge to recuse from the case. Earlier, Justices PB Varale and SS Shinde had also recused from the matter.
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Also read
● Judge recuses from Elgar Parishad cases, new bench to hear pleas (India Today / Feb 2022)

India among top 10 countries to jail writers, academics in 2021, shows Pen America’s report

16/04/2022 Asha

India figures on list of top 10 ten countries that jail writers, academics & intellectuals

16/04/2022

The Federal / by The Federal

The 2021 Freedom to Write report recently published by Pen America, an NGO, has detailed the arrests of eight people in the country, which includes comedian Munawar Faruqui and those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case.
India has the dubious distinction of figuring among the top ten list of countries that jail writers, academics and intellectual for their writings, works and advocacy.
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India among top 10 countries to jail writers, academics in 2021, shows Pen America’s report

15/04/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

This is ‘one element of the ruling party’s attempts to quash dissent and entrench political control’, the United States non-profit organisation said.
… According to the report published on Wednesday, 277 writers and academics were detained or in prison in 36 countries last year. Of them, eight are from India – comedian Munawar Faruqui and Bhima Koregaon accused persons Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Hany Babu, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira and Anand Teltumbde.
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PEN America’s Writers at Risk Database (India, 2021)

Also read:
● International Mother Language Day: Take Action for Hany Babu (Pen International | Feb 2022)
● Joint Statement: Freedom for Varavara Rao (Pen International | Oct 2021)
● A Dark Day for Democracy and Freedom of Expression (Pen International | Aug 2018)

Umar Khalid statement that he was invited to Elgar Parishad among additional evidence submitted by NIA

15/04/2022 Asha

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Umar Khalid Claims He Was Invited To Elgar Parishad By Former Judge Of Bombay High Court

17/04/2022

Live Law / by Live Law News Network

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) submitted a bunch of additional documents and witness statements to the court in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case, in which student rights activist Umar Khalid claims that he heard that BJP-RSS persons had attacked visitors at the Bhima-Koregaon, near Pune.
On January 1, 2018 several Dalit’s had gathered to commemorate a 200th anniversary of the battle in which the British, with the support of Dalits, defeated the Peshwa army.
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Former Bombay High Court judge Justice BG Kolse-Patil invited me to Elgar Parishad: Umar Khalid to NIA

15/04/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The statement by Khalid forms part of the additional documents which the central agency submitted to the Special NIA Court in Mumbai in the Bhima Koregaon riots case of 2018 allegedly linked to the Elgar Parishad event.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has recorded statement of former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student and member of Unite against Hate organisation Umar Khalid in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018 allegedly linked to the Elgar Parishad event of December 31, 2017.
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Umar Khalid statement among additional evidence submitted by NIA to court

15/04/2022

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

In the evidence submitted to the court, the NIA has included the statement of Khalid, recorded in the office of the deputy superintendent of Tihar jail in New Delhi, where he is lodged in connection with the Delhi riots case.
Nearly two years since the last arrests were made in the Elgaar Parishad case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) last week submitted before the special court additional evidence running into seven volumes, including the statement of student activist Umar Khalid and documents related to Stan Swamy, the Jesuit priest who passed away last year while in judicial custody.
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Heard of BJP-RSS attack day after being at Elgar Parishad, says Umar Khalid

15/04/2022

The Times of India / by Rebecca Samervel

Among the additional documents submitted as evidence against the accused in the Elgar Parishad case is the statement of former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, who said that a day after attending the Elgar Parishad meeting in Pune, where he delivered a speech, he came to know that BJP and RSS members attacked those who had come to visit Koregaon Bhima.
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Bombay High Court reserves order on default bail plea by Rao, Ferreira and Gonsalves

22/03/2022 Asha

Bombay High Court reserves order on default bail plea by Rao, Ferreira and Gonsalves

22/03/2022

The Leaflet / by Sabah Gurmat

On Tuesday, a division bench of the Bombay High Court constituting Justices S.S. Shinde and N.J. Jamadar decided to reserve its order on the application filed by three of the accused — poet and activist P. Varavara Rao, academic and activist Vernon Gonsalves, and human rights lawyer and activist Arun Ferreira — in the Bhima Koregaon (Elgar Parishad) case. Their plea sought a review of the court’s earlier judgement in December which refused them default bail while allowing the same for co-accused lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj.
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Bombay High Court reserves verdict in default bail plea by three accused

22/03/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The review application by Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves claimed there was factual error in the High Court’s December 2021 judgment, which if not rectified, will lead to “gross miscarriage of justice”.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict in the plea filed by three accused Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves in the Bhima Koregaon case seeking review of the High Court’s December 2021 judgment refusing them default bail [P Varavara Rao & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra & Anr.].
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Activist Arun Ferreira alleges tampering with Covid certificate, seeks probe

19/03/2022 Asha

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Ferreira has annexed both the certificates with his plea. Lodged at Taloja central jail, Ferreira’s plea states that on January 4, he had made an oral request to the prison superintendent seeking a copy of both his Covid vaccination certificates.
Arun Ferreira, who was arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case, has filed an application before the special court seeking an inquiry over his claim that he was given a different Covid-19 vaccination certificate from the one accessed by his family from the CoWin app.
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Also read:
● For the Government, COVID Is the Perfect Excuse to Worsen Conditions for Political Prisoners (The Wire / Jan 2022)
● Video: Jailed to die? India’s Incarcerated Human Rights Defenders and the Covid Ermergency (InSAF India / June 2021). Public Appeal Meeting with family members of The BK16, and legal and human rights experts.

Surendra Gadling permitted use of laptop in prison / Prosecution to hand over cloned copies

16/03/2022 Asha

Elgar Parishad case accused gets nod to use computer in jail

17/03/2022

Times of India / by TNN

The special NIA court on Wednesday allowed lawyer Surendra Gadling an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, to use a computer in jail for an hour, two days a week. Gadling had sought access to his laptop, submitting that he wanted to prepare his defence.
Meanwhile, the prosecution is to hand over the cloned copies of all the pieces of electronic evidence gathered in the case to the accused.
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Surendra Gadling permitted use of laptop in prison

16/03/2022

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

A special court under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act has permitted the use of a laptop in Taloja jail for Bhima Koregaon accused and lawyer Surendra Gadling.
Gadling had sought to be allowed the use of the device as he is appearing in person in the case.
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Court allows Elgar case accused Gadling to use jail computer

16/03/2022

The Print / by pti

A special NIA court here on Wednesday allowed advocate Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to use computer available in the prison where he is lodged, for an hour two days a week…
Meanwhile, the court allowed a plea of another accused, lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj who is currently on bail, to reside in Mumbai’s suburb of Oshiwara…
The court also granted a petition of Jyoti Jagtap, a co-accused, to receive a set of books.
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The Security Playbook Used To Erode Democracy In Modi’s India & How The Tide Might Turn

04/03/2022 Asha

article 14 / by Shamik Bag

By using security laws, deploying surveillance technology, and leveraging potent national interest narratives, Narendra Modi’s Hindu-first government has targeted critics and eroded the rule of law in India—often in violation of the Constitution, using legal loopholes and grey areas. Through the lens of the notorious Bhima Koregaon case, we investigate these tactics in-depth, and report how citizens are fighting to preserve the world’s largest democracy.
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