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In Solidarity with Varavara Rao: Statements & Visuals

In Solidarity with Varavara Rao: Statements & Visuals


+++ Udpate: VV Rao has been moved to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai +++

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The PUDR said that it had become a standard procedure for the NIA to refuse bail to the poet as he did not suffer from a life-threatening disease.
The People’s Union for Democratic Rights on Monday expressed shock at the deteriorating health condition of poet Varavara Rao, and called for him to immediately be released. Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, is lodged in Taloja jail in Mumbai and his family has accused the authorities of neglecting his condition.
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AN APPEAL FROM PEN INTERNATIONAL AND PEN DELHI

By Pen International and Pen Delhi

Poet Varavara Rao has been held in jail since 2018 and has been consistently denied bail. Varavara Rao is 81 years old. His health is deteriorating. He is old. He is frail. He is ill. When he speaks with his loved ones what he says does not make much sense. Those taking care of him are concerned. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is raging and the government has ordered the decongestion of jails to prevent the infection from spreading, there is an even greater risk to Varavara Rao’s health.
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Video: Statement by Meena Kandasamy


en | 2:18 min | 2020
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RELEASE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS

By Communist Party of India (Marxist)

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) expresses grave concern over the deteriorating health condition of several jailed political and human rights activists. Some of them have been reported to have contracted Covid-19 in jail. The deplorable conditions in the overcrowded jails, which lack even basic facilities has contributed immensely to their deteriorating health condition. Many of them have co-morbidities and have been on medications since long.
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Letter by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury – Leader of Congress Party in the Lok Sabha

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Bhima Koregaon inmates can barely communicate, worried about their health: Families

Bhima Koregaon inmates can barely communicate, worried about their health: Families

The Caravan / by Nileena MS

On the evening of 11 July, the 81-year-old poet Varavara Rao called his wife, Hemalatha, from the overcrowded Taloja Central Prison in Maharashtra, sounding incoherent and delirious, according to a press release circulated by his family …
Families and lawyers of others who have been imprisoned in connection to the Bhima Koregaon case have pointed out they are barely able to communicate with the inmates during the pandemic. At least four of the 11 undertrial prisoners have pre-existing medical conditions that make them vulnerable to the novel coronavirus.
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Sign petition: Justice for the BK11 undertrials

Sign petition: Justice for the BK11 undertrials

By Counterview

This is the background note for signatures sought by July 15 10:00 p.m. for an online petition to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The Hon. Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Mantralaya, Mumbai
Respected Chief Minister,
We, the citizens of a democratic republic appeal to you regarding the eleven persons- Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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BACKGROUND NOTE: INDIA’S 11 ACTIVISTS FACE ‘MALAFIDE’ INTENTIONS, POLITICAL VENDETTA, EXTRANEOUS CONSIDERATION

The Constitution of India, Article 21, guarantees protection of life and personal liberty to every individual. Yet, the rights of activists and lawyers incarcerated under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) since 2018 in Maharashtra jails are at grave risk due to the delay and dragging of cases since the last 24 months.
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With no new evidence, NIA relies on Pune police case to oppose bail to Bhima-Koregaon accused

With no new evidence, NIA relies on Pune police case to oppose bail to Bhima-Koregaon accused

The Print / by Bhardra Sinha

NIA affidavits opposing the bail petitions of rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao and Shoma Sen had content similar to Pune Police’s findings in 2018 & 2019.
New Delhi: Six months after the National Investigative Agency (NIA) took over the probe in the Bhima-Koregaon violence, it does not seem to have made much headway in its investigation
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When Jail, not Bail, rules in a Pandemic

When Jail, not Bail, rules in a Pandemic

The Lefaflet / by Nilima Dutta & Susan Abraham

The pandemic is worse showcased in the treatment meted to undertrials in our prisons. Despite guidelines directing granting of bail to undertrials with medical conditions and seniority in age, the courts have refused to grant bail to the accused in Bhima Koregaon activists. The authors here note the glaring blindness in the orders of the court denying bail, the dangers to Mr Varavara Rao and Ms Shoma Sen’s health in prison, and the blatant disregard for established principles of law.
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R Thapar, Others Urge Uddhav Thackeray to Move Arrested Rights Activists Out of Jails

R Thapar, Others Urge Uddhav Thackeray to Move Arrested Rights Activists Out of Jails

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

New Delhi: Five renowned public intellectuals – Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Devaki Jain, Maja Daruwala and Satish Deshpande – have written to the chief minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, asking that the 11 rights activists who have been arrested in the Elgar Parishad case be moved to house arrest in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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LETTER TO THE HONOURABLE CHIEF MINISER OF THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

26/06/2020

Documented by Indian Cultural Forum

The Honourable Chief Minister of the State of Maharashtra
Mantralaya, Mumbai.
25 June 2020

Respected Chief Minister,

We are the five petitioners who had approached the Supreme Court regarding the so-called ‘Bhima Koregaon case’ in September 2018, requesting that if the charges against the accused were persisted with, then there should be a Court-monitored probe into the matter (Romila Thapar & Ors. Vs. Union of India & Ors., Writ Petition 32319 of 2018). However, our petition was rejected by the Court through a majority 2-1 verdict.
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Prisoners ‘dumped’ at quarantine facility: Nearly 300 Taloja jail inmates

Prisoners ‘dumped’ at quarantine facility: Nearly 300 Taloja jail inmates


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Mumbai Mirror / by harmeen Hakim & Shruti Ganapatye

Prisoners and rights activists say decongestion exercise an eyewash.
“We’re living like animals here.” Khyamuddin Sayyed minced no word in the letter he sent his lawyer, Amrish Salunkhe, on June 14 from his temporary prison in a Kharghar school.
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Open Letter to Maharashtra CM Seeks Interim Bail for Political Detenues

Open Letter to Maharashtra CM Seeks Interim Bail for Political Detenues


Bilaspur, June 25, 2020

Newsclick / by Newsclick Report

New Delhi: Marking the 45th year of the Emergency in India on June, civil rights groups have written an open letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, drawing his attention to the “deplorable and abysmal condition of jails and quarantine facilities in Maharashtra”, especially in the light of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, where several political activists are incarcerated.
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A Call to the Conscience of Citizens! Rise up against a `Situation Worse than the Emergency’!

A Call to the Conscience of Citizens! Rise up against a `Situation Worse than the Emergency’!

By PUCL

Mr Ravi Kiran Jain – President
Dr V. Suresh – Nat. Gen Secretary

25th June 2020 marks the 45th year of the Declaration of the infamous Emergency Declaration of Indira Gandhi. It is a day remembered as the day in 1975, when the Indian Government waged a war on its own people, suspending the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and turning India into an authoritarian country. …

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