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Tag: BK12

Activists protest arrest of rights defenders, say: Centre plans majoritarian rule in India

Activists protest arrest of rights defenders, say: Centre plans majoritarian rule in India

Jharkhand, Sep 5, 2020

Counterview / by Counterview Representative

Culminating into mass protests across the state against “growing attacks” on civil liberties, the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM)-supported eight-day long campaign which ended on September 5 has seen activists carrying out several activities, including distributing parcha, social media campaign, public action, submitting memorandum to the President and so on.
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Background: Organizations from All Over India Issue a call for a Protest Week, Aug 28 — Sep 5

Over 70 organizations and several individuals from around the country endorsed the call initiated by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties to conduct protest actions from August 28 to September 5, considering the deterioration in Civil Liberties in the recent past. This call was given marking August 28 as the day when two years ago, 5 human rights activists — Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferriera and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case.
Read more/ call

Solidarity Program in Chhattisgarh: Stand Up for Civil Liberties (pictures)

Solidarity Program in Chhattisgarh: Stand Up for Civil Liberties (pictures)

Click to enlarge pictures. Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) Sep 5, 2020

#FreeSudhaBharadwaj /#FreeBhimaKoregaon12

Bilaspur: Organizations demand the release of advocate and human rights activist Sudha Bhardwaj – The voice of the poor in Chhattisgarh.
Read report (hindi)

Video: Workers in Chhattisgarh demand the release of Sudha Bhardwaj and all political prisoners

28/08/2020

By India Crisis

Slogans in hindi | 1:10min | 2020

Background: Organizations from All Over India Issue a call for a Protest Week, Aug 28 — Sep 5

Over 70 organizations and several individuals from around the country endorsed the call initiated by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties to conduct protest actions from August 28 to September 5, considering the deterioration in Civil Liberties in the recent past. This call was given marking August 28 as the day when two years ago, 5 human rights activists — Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferriera and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case.
Read more/ call

Judicial probe into Bhima Koregaon caste violence stalls, while NIA makes arrests in conspiracy case

Judicial probe into Bhima Koregaon caste violence stalls, while NIA makes arrests in conspiracy case

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Maharashtra government has not renewed the tenure of a judicial commission examining the riots of January 1, 2018.
A raging pandemic and nationwide lockdown this year did not stop the National Investigation Agency from making more arrests in the controversial Bhima Koregaon case of 2018. Academic Anand Teltumbde and journalist Gautam Navlakha were arrested in April, and Delhi University professor MT Hany Babu was arrested in July.
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PUCL and other National Organizations Call for a Week of Protest

PUCL and other National Organizations Call for a Week of Protest

Mainstream Weekly / by Mainstream

Organizations from All Over India Issue a call for a Protest Week (Aug 28 – Sep 5), Urging People to Stand Up for Civil Liberties
Over 70 organizations and several individuals from around the country endorsed the call initiated by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties to conduct protest actions from August 28 to September 5, considering the deterioration in Civil Liberties in the recent past. This call was given marking August 28 as the day when two years ago, 5 human rights activists — Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferriera and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case.
Read more/ full call with signatories

Rights Bodies Urge President Kovind to Note Several Blatant Human Rights Violations

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

New Delhi: The PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties), Janhastakshep and Citizens for Democracy have collectively authored a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, urging the release of intellectuals, writers, professors, students, anti-CAA activists implicated in the Elgar Parishad case and for the February Delhi violence. The signatories have also requested the repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, along with the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir.
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NAPM stands in solidarity against state repression of activists, lawyers and progressive persons

NAPM stands in solidarity against state repression of activists, lawyers and progressive persons

By National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

Release all political prisoners, including Sudha Bharadwaj who has been imprisoned for 2 years!
Arrest the real criminals of ‘Bhima Koregaon’!
Repeal the UAPA Law!

28th August 2020: In India’s dark history of human rights violations, 28th August 2018 has become a very important day. On this day, Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested by Pune police from her home in Faridabad. On the same day, Gautam Navlakha from Delhi, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves from Mumbai and Varavara Rao from Hyderabad were also arrested. Although Gautam Navlakha was granted relief from arrest for a while by the Delhi High Court, he was also arrested a few months ago. In the ‘Bhima Koregaon case’, baseless and false facts have been used to fabricate a criminal case. …

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Prisons become breeding grounds for the coronavirus

Prisons become breeding grounds for the coronavirus


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Frontline / by Divya Trivedi

Overcrowded prisons across India have become fertile breeding grounds for the coronavirus.
As early as May, the International Legal Foundation, which has two decades of experience in protecting detainees impacted by infectious diseases, warned that it was not a question of if, but when, COVID-19 would overwhelm incarceration facilities.
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CASR: Condemn NIA summons to DU professors Dr. PK Vijayan and Rakesh Ranjan

CASR: Condemn NIA summons to DU professors Dr. PK Vijayan and Rakesh Ranjan

Counter Currents / by Campaign Against State Repression

Stop the witch-hunt of academics and activists in the name of Bhima Koregaon!
Immediately release all political prisoners!
The Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) condemns the summons by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to Dr. PK Vijayan and Rakesh Ranjan, faculty members in Delhi University, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad case yesterday.
Read full statement

A test case – Detainees during the pandemic

A test case – Detainees during the pandemic

The Telegraph / by Prabhat Patnaik

It is a common practice all over the world that when those incarcerated face a threat to life, the authorities send them home…
It is a sign of the times that our present Central government does not feel the need to follow this practice of releasing prisoners even when their lives are at risk. Varavara Rao, a 79-year-old accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, has been in jail for two years, where his health had broken down even before the pandemic; matters are worse now because he has tested positive for Covid-19. Yet the government has made no announcement till date about his release after he is discharged from hospital; and this is so notwithstanding the fact that he is merely awaiting trial and has not been convicted of any crime.
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