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No trial, no bail; no justice

No trial, no bail; no justice

Madhyamam / by Editorial Desk

The government is delaying the trial without even starting it, as there is no evidence to establish fabricated charges against the accused, and for buying time to produce false witnesses and false evidence.
… Dr Hani Babu, a Keralite professor at Delhi University, has been facing this kind of ‘punishment’ for more than five years. Hani Babu’s crime is that he campaigned against caste-based injustices and social inequalities. He has been arrested and sent to a Maharashtra jail in the Bhima-Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, which has implicated leading rights activists in the country, from Stan Swami to Sudha Bharadwaj.
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Also read:
▪ In Surendra Gadling’s case, adjournment becomes the verdict (Frontline / Aug 2025)
▪ Who Is a ‘Political Prisoner’? Rona Wilson Says Caste and Religion Are Key to the Answer (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ Many Prisoners at Taloja Jail Not Produced Before Court For Years, Reveals Survey by Surendra Gadling and Sagar Gorkhe (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ When Push Comes to Shove: Tracking Judicial Recusals and Transfers (The Wire / Apr 2023)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

Who is a ‘Naxal’?

Who is a ‘Naxal’?


CPI(M) poster campaign 2020

The Leaflet / by Justice K. Chandru (Retd.)

The home minister’s accusation against vice-presidential candidate Justice Sudarshan Reddy should make us reflect deeply on how certain terms have been weaponised to invalidate the lifeworks of public intellectuals, and how the higher judiciary itself has enabled this.
…
Who is a Naxal?: The attack on public intellectuals and the judiciary’s silent complicity
Of late, supporters of the ruling regime have weaponised the label of ‘Naxal’ and ‘urban Naxal’ to name-call public intellectuals who have opposed them. We saw similar allegations being deployed against intellectuals and social activists who have been imprisoned under the notorious Unlawful Lawful Activities (Prevention) Act (‘UAPA’) in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Also read:
▪ Don’t Distort SC’s Salwa Judum Ruling or Resort to Name Calling, Former Judges Tell Amit Shah (The Wire / Aug 2025)
▪ Fall of Democracy’s Last Bastion: Election Commission as the BJP’s Strategic Shield (The Wire | by Anand Teltumbde | Aug 2025)
▪ The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill Perpetuates India’s Banning Regime (The Wire / Aug 2025)
▪ Insecurity By Law: A Critique of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill in the Context of India’s Banning Regime (PUDR / Jul 2025)
▪ From ‘tukde tukde gang’ to ‘urban Naxal’: How media trials enable the government to stifle dissent (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

Stan Swamy Lecture Cancelled – A Case Study in India’s Shrinking Space for Dissent

Stan Swamy Lecture Cancelled – A Case Study in India’s Shrinking Space for Dissent

The Print / by Ranjan Solomon

St. Xavier’s bowed to ABVP pressure, cancelling a memorial for the late Jesuit activist, exposing the deepening crisis of free speech and academic courage in India.
The cancellation of the Stan Swamy Memorial lecture and the weaponisation of allegations, truth is obfuscated. 
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Also read:
▪ “Sorry, Stan!” (Countercurrents / Aug 2025)
▪ Daring, Fearless and Kind, Father Stan Swamy Remains a Beacon of Resistance (The Wire | by Hany Babu, Jyoti Jagtap, Mahesh Raut, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe, Surendra Gadling | Jul 2025)

▪ Video: Testimony of Stan Swamy, two days before his arrest on 8 October 2020.


en | 7:48 min | Oct 6, 2020
Watch video

Over 30 Organisations Condemn Arrest of Dalit Activist Rajat Kalsan

Over 30 Organisations Condemn Arrest of Dalit Activist Rajat Kalsan

The Mooknayak / by The Mooknayak English

Over 30 organisations and prominent individuals denounce the arrest of Dalit lawyer Rajat Kalsan, allege unlawful detention, torture, and fabricated charges.
More than 30 student groups, civil society organisations, and prominent individuals have issued a joint statement condemning the arrest of Dalit activist and lawyer Adv. Rajat Kalsan, who was allegedly abducted by men in plain clothes from the Auto Market in Hisar on July 30 without being shown an arrest warrant or legal documents.
… Drawing parallels with the Bhima Koregaon arrests and detentions during anti-CAA protests, the statement alleges that Kalsan’s arrest reflects a broader pattern of silencing voices that challenge caste domination, communalism, and authoritarianism.
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Full Statement

New Maharashtra Security Law Open To Abuse, Threatens Rights; Say ‘No’ To It

New Maharashtra Security Law Open To Abuse, Threatens Rights; Say ‘No’ To It

Pic credits: Amnesty International

New Maharashtra Security Law Open To Abuse, Threatens Rights; Say ‘No’ To It

18/08/2025

Deccan Chronicle / by Aakar Patel

The term “Urban Naxalism” has no legal definition in Indian law. With its vague language, discriminatory focus, absence of judicial oversight, and high potential for misuse, the bill risks criminalising of legitimate dissent in one of our largest states
We celebrated Independence Day earlier this month, to mark the culmination of our freedom struggle. Independence and freedom from what? From alien rule and from all oppressive laws — no matter who imposes them on us. The governor of Maharashtra is currently examining a law passed by the state Assembly called the “Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill”.
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Open letter: Withhold assent to the Maharashtra special public security bill

15/08/2025

Amnesty International / by Aakar Patel

Your Excellency Shri. Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, Governor of Maharashtra.
I write to you with grave concern regarding the recently passed Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, which now awaits your assent. Though presented as a tool to combat “urban naxalism,” The Bill introduces vague, overboard, and ideologically biased provisions that pose an immediate threat to international and constitutionally protected rights and will criminalize dissent in the state.
The Honorable Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, has asserted that the law will not be used to suppress government critics. However, the term “urban naxalism” has no legal definition in Indian law. It is a rhetorical and politically charged phrase – popularized in media and political discourse, not jurisprudence. Its vagueness allows it to be weaponized against civil society, often conflating peaceful dissent with sedition or terrorism. There is a troubling precedent. The Bhima Koregaon case, in which 16 activists were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act UAPA, demonstrates how this label has been used to detain individuals for years without trial.
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Also read:
▪ Opposition Did Not Deal Well Enough With Maharashtra Bill Against ‘Urban Naxalism’: Sharad Pawar (The Wire / Aug 2025)
▪ The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill Perpetuates India’s Banning Regime (The Wire / Aug 2025)
▪ Insecurity By Law: A Critique of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill in the Context of India’s Banning Regime (PUDR / Jul 2025)

The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill Perpetuates India’s Banning Regime

The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill Perpetuates India’s Banning Regime

Credits: Illustration by The Wire.

The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill Perpetuates India’s Banning Regime

01/08/2025

The Wire / by Harish Dhawan and Paramjeet Singh

The Bill strikes at the heart of the fundamental right to association.
The Maharashtra assembly has passed the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill (MSPSB), making it the latest addition to a growing arsenal of banning legislations that cloak sweeping state power to curb the fundamental right to freedom of association with the language of security.
From its title to its objective and provisions, the Bill is shrouded in layers of ambiguity.
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Insecurity By Law: A Critique of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill in the Context of India’s Banning Regime

July 2025

PUDR / by People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

The Maharashtra Bill, which has been designed specifically to target the ‘spread of Naxalism in urban areas,’ as evident in its ‘Object and Reasons’, is an offshoot of a popular narrative, a social media hashtag- the ‘Urban Naxal’, popularised by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri.
…
Particularly in the wake of Elgar Parishad in 2017, the term became a common political lexicon used to describe anti-establishment protesters and dissenting voices. The term ‘Urban Naxal’ formed the backstory for the FIR filed against the people implicated for the Bhima Koregaon case, it even became a synonym for the case itself.
Read full report

Also read:
▪ Maharashtra’s Urban Naxal Bill and its New War on Civil Society – Criminalizing Dissent (Countercurrents / Jul 2025)
▪ As Maharashtra Govt Brings Bill Against ‘Urban Naxalism’, Activists Fear Criminalisation of Dissent (The Wire / Jul 2025)
▪ Maharashtra Assembly passes bill to curb ‘left-wing extremism‘ (Scroll.in / Jul 2025)
▪ Maharashtra: Top Cop Accuses Decades-Old Cultural, Rights Orgs of Working as ‘Naxal Fronts’ (The Wire / Feb 2022)

Criminalizing Dissent: Maharashtra’s Urban Naxal Bill and its New War on Civil Society

Criminalizing Dissent: Maharashtra’s Urban Naxal Bill and its New War on Civil Society

Maharashtra’s Urban Naxal Bill and its New War on Civil Society -Criminalizing Dissent

23/07/2025

Countercurrents / by Dr Ranjan Solomon

“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, not silent submission.”
(Inspired by Thomas Jefferson)

The Maharashtra government’s Special Public Security Bill, 2024, introduced to counter so-called “urban Naxal” activities is a perilous milestone in India’s accelerating slide into authoritarianism.
… Activists like Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, and the late Fr. Stan Swamy were imprisoned for years without trial under charges of sedition and conspiracy. The Bhima Koregaon case was a dress rehearsal for exactly the kind of repression this bill now makes routine at the state level.
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‘Urban Naxal’ To Maharashtra’s New Bill Rekindles Fears Of Criminalised Dissent

17/07/2025

Outlook / by Pritha Vashisth

The Bhima Koregaon case returns to focus as the Supreme Court allows bail plea revival—while Maharashtra’s sweeping Jan Suraksha Bill raises alarms over civil liberties, ambiguous terms, and the creeping criminalisation of protest.
A tiny pore of blood rinsed down the alley until one among the several injured was dead. Around seven years ago, on January 1, 2018, silence hovered over the annual celebration as a Hindu mob allegedly attacked a gathering assembled to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. Decorated with plays, speeches, and songs, the state soon strangled this small village in Pune.
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Maharashtra just passed a law that could jail you for peacefully protesting

16/07/2025

Frontline / by Amey Tirodkar

BJP-led government says it’s fighting “Urban Maoists”, but critics say the MSPS Bill is the biggest threat to free speech since the Emergency.
Days after the ruling BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra observed the 50th anniversary of the Emergency and the curtailment of freedoms it entailed, the Maha Yuti government, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, passed the Maharashtra Special Public Security (MSPS) Bill, 2024, by voice vote in the Legislative Assembly on July 10.
Read more

Also read:
▪ As Maharashtra Govt Brings Bill Against ‘Urban Naxalism’, Activists Fear Criminalisation of Dissent (The Wire / Jul 2025)
▪ A New Bill Shows Maharashtra Wants to Become a Police State Before Combatting Left-Wing Extremism (The Wire / Jul 2024)

When the Law Becomes a Weapon: India’s Broken Promise of Justice

When the Law Becomes a Weapon: India’s Broken Promise of Justice

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Countercurrents.org / by  Dr Ranjan Solomon

“Innocence, once lost to the gallows or a prison cell, can never be returned. Who pays for that injustice?”
Today, the Bombay High Court overturned what had once been touted as a major victory in India’s fight against terror: the conviction of 12 men in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, in which 189 people died. Five had been sentenced to death. The other seven, to life in prison. They had already spent over 18 years behind bars.
The High Court has ruled that the prosecution “utterly failed” to prove its case.
…
We must ask: What kind of justice system jails people without trial for 5, 10, 15 years—and then quietly lets them go when the truth catches up?
Do we even pause to think of the lives destroyed?
– Father Stan Swamy, 84 years old, arrested under UAPA, denied a straw for his Parkinson’s, died in custody without trial.
– Professor G.N. Saibaba, wheelchair-bound, imprisoned for years, only recently acquitted.
– The Bhima Koregaon 16—intellectuals and lawyers framed with tampered evidence, still awaiting justice.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Supreme Court stays HC verdict acquitting 12 in 2006 Mumbai train blasts case (Scroll.in / Jul 24, 2025)
▪ 7/11 Judgment Fails to Hold Police Accountable For Custodial Torture, Lost Time of Those Acquitted (The Wire / Jul 2025)
▪ Police torture, ill-treatment make India ‘high risk’: Report (Newslaundry / June 2025)
▪ Read India report: INDIA – COUNTRY FACTSHEET 2025 (World Organization Against Torture / Jun 2025)
▪ G.N. Saibaba’s Lifelong Campaign Was Against the Violence of Silencing (The Wire | by Rona Wilson | Oct 2024)
▪ ‘It Is Only by Chance That I Came Out of Prison Alive’: G.N. Saibaba (The Wire / March 2024)

UN experts, Freedom House, USCIRF call to designate India as “Country of Particular Concern”

UN experts, Freedom House, USCIRF call to designate India as “Country of Particular Concern”

Mumbai, 2019.

Maktoobmedia.com / by Maktoob Staff

Senior officials from the United Nations and the United States, along with leading human rights experts, urged the US government to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) due to its serious and ongoing human rights and religious freedom violations.
…
Ed O’Donovan also spoke about arrests of activists, academics and lawyers in the Bhima Koregaon case, shuttering of thousands of NGOs by revoking their Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licenses “to stifle dissent and restrict civil society space.” 
Read more

Also read:
▪ Civil society group submits memorandum to Vatican on ‘targeted violence’ against Christians in India (Scroll.in / Jul 2025)
▪ Read India report: INDIA – COUNTRY FACTSHEET 2025 (World Organization Against Torture / Jun 2025)

▪ The State of Religious Freedom in India (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom / May 2025)
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS / Dec 2024)
▪ Pegasus Reports Highlight Need for Better Regulation of Spyware: UN Rights Chief (The Wire / Aug 2021)

As Maharashtra Govt Brings Bill Against ‘Urban Naxalism’, Activists Fear Criminalisation of Dissent

As Maharashtra Govt Brings Bill Against ‘Urban Naxalism’, Activists Fear Criminalisation of Dissent

Credits: MR online

As Maharashtra Govt Brings Bill Against ‘Urban Naxalism’, Activists Fear Criminalisation of Dissent

13/07/2025

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

None of the provisions under the newly introduced bill is not already covered under the existing UAPA or the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) or the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
Despite existing laws that comprehensively address the threat of terrorism in the country, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Maharashtra government last week introduced yet another bill – the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill – claiming it will tackle the “urban footprint of Naxalism” in the state.
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Maharashtra Public Security Bill: Vague and dangerous for civil liberties

11/07/2025

The Indian Express / by Rohin Bhatt

Instead of the word ‘abetting’, which is commonly used in criminal law, the new law uses the word ‘encouraging’. What amounts to abetting a crime is settled jurisprudence. But the word ‘encouraging’ is alien to criminal law
“When I use a word,” says Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carol’s Through the Looking Glass, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” However, when words are used in a piece of legislation, they cannot mean what the party in power wants them to.
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Maharashtra Assembly passes bill to curb ‘left-wing extremism‘

10/07/2025

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Opposition leaders expressed concern about its broad language, particularly the definition of the term ‘urban Naxal’.
… The term “urban Naxals” was first used by Union ministers and leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party after several activists and academics were arrested in the Elgar Parishad case in 2018. Since then, the term has often been used to describe some dissidents of the Narendra Modi government.
Read more

Also read:
▪ A New Bill Shows Maharashtra Wants to Become a Police State Before Combatting Left-Wing Extremism (The Wire / Jul 2024)
▪ What is Maharashtra’s new Bill to curb ‘Naxalism in urban areas’? (The Indian Express / Jul 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)