BK16 – Page 10 – free them all

From Bhima Koregaon to NewsClick

23/10/2023 Asha

Mid-day / by Ajaz Ashraf

From arrests based on complaints citing ‘secret inputs’ to the seizure of electronic devices without securing them, both cases reveal the malice of the gods of the hell named UAPA.
The Bombay High Court began hearing last week the petitions of professor-activist Shoma Sen and researcher-activist Rona Wilson, two among the 16 booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the Bhima Koregaon case. Their plea is that the chargesheets against them should be quashed as the prosecution evidence against them was fabricated and planted on electronic devices the police seized.
Read more

Also read:
● NewsClick Raids and Arrests: Demolishing the Myth of the ‘Urban Naxal’ Nomenclature (The Wire / Oct 2023)
● From ‘tukde tukde gang’ to ‘urban Naxal’: How media trials enable the government to stifle dissent (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

NIA submits affidavit stating accused have been provided copies of all evidence

18/10/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The long-pending plea before the special court constituted under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, 2008 has been for the NIA to comply with Section 207 (supply of a copy of the police report and other documents to the accused) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed an affidavit stating that it has provided copies of all materials relied upon by it to the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
Read more

Also Read:
● Bombay High Court hears petition seeking quashing of chargesheets against Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson – searching and seizing allegedly incriminating electronic documents (The Leaflet / Oct 17, 2023)
● What is Section 207 CrPC, an essential piece of the Bhima Koregaon case puzzle? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)

UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

13/10/2023 Asha

India: Arrests, Raids Target Critics of Government

13/10/2023

By Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Committee to Protect Journalists, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Watch, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Service for Human Rights, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

Indian authorities are misusing an abusive counterterrorism law, financial regulations, and other laws to silence journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and critics of the government, 12 international human rights groups said today.

… The Indian government also used UAPA to arrest 16 prominent activists who promoted the rights of India’s most marginalized communities, accusing them of inciting violence that occurred during a Dalit meeting in January 2018. Eight are still detained without trial, and seven eventually were granted bail, while one died in custody.
Read full statement

UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

13/10/2023

The Hindu / by The Hindu Bureau

The 12 human rights groups charged Indian authorities with carrying out an “escalating crackdown” on media and civil society since the Narendra Modi-led government came to power in 2014
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and 10 other international rights groups have jointly condemned what they termed as Indian authorities’ misuse of counter-terrorism laws, financial regulations, and other laws to “silence journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and critics of the government”.
Read more

Also read:
● AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report

NewsClick Raids and Arrests: Demolishing the Myth of the ‘Urban Naxal’ Nomenclature

09/10/2023 Asha

Girish Karnad, Sep 2018 #MeTooUrbanNaxal

The Wire / Ajay K. Mehra

The current crackdown is transparently part of the same politics that resulted in the invention of ambiguous phrases like ‘tukde-tukde gang’ and ‘Urban Naxal’.
The search and seizure operation at the residences of 46 journalists associated with NewsClick and the arrests of two people are transparently part of the same politics that resulted in the invention of the still ambiguous phrases ‘tukde-tukde gang’ and ‘Urban Naxal’.
A new category of dissenters, deprecated as anti-nationals, is ‘Urban Naxal’. This came into use since the Elgar Parishad case in 2018. A meeting of human rights activists, lawyers and others in Pune on December 31, 2017, known as the Elgar Parishad and meant to commemorate the bicentenary of the Bhima Koregaon battle, turned into a pretext to round up a number of ‘leftist’ activists under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Read more

Also read:
● From ‘tukde tukde gang’ to ‘urban Naxal’: How media trials enable the government to stifle dissent (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

Truth and dare in Bhima Koregaon

02/10/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Susan Abraham

The Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad ‘Maoist’ conspiracy case is a grand experiment with truth where the State is daring the people to stand up for justice.
‘TRUTH or dare’ is a mostly verbal party game requiring two or more players. Players are given the choice between answering a question truthfully, or performing a ‘dare’. The premise is simple: Players take turns asking one another ‘truth or dare?’ If they choose truth, they have to answer a question of the asker’s choosing. If they choose dare, the asker dares them to do something rather than make a confession.
Suppose the State were to subject its citizens to a macabre version of this game by cooking up a conspiracy case and locking up people behind bars. Then tell them that in order to win their freedom, they have to choose the ‘truth’ of the conspiracy or the ‘dare’ to dissent.
This is the absurd logic that plays out when you try to make sense of the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case.
Read more

Also read:
● Five years of Bhima Koregaon arrests: CDRO marks ‘black day’ (The Leaflet / Jun 2023)

AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society

26/09/2023 Asha

Amnesty.org / by Amnesty International

The Indian government has exploited the 2010 and 2013 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) assessment reports to supplement its arsenal of counterterrorism and money laundering laws, many of which are routinely used to target civil society organizations and human rights defenders. The briefing paper analyses the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act and highlights the emblematic cases of the crackdown suffered by journalists, academics, human rights activists, and students under these laws since 2010.
…

IMPACT OF UAPA ON INDIA’S NPO SECTOR
(Page 25) … Sections 17 and 40 of UAPA that relate to terrorist funding have also been arbitrarily invoked against 16 human rights activists (BK16) since 2018, nine of whom continue to be detained without trial in the Bhima Koregaon case…
India’s targeting of activists through the misuse of UAPA’s financial powers demonstrates the broader context of the crackdown on dissent in India. For example, in June 2020, after thorough and detailed research, Amnesty International and Citizen Lab uncovered that at least nine other activists who had been calling for the release of the BK16 activists were targeted through a coordinated spyware campaign. Three of them were also targeted with the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, a commercial product only sold to government entities.
Read full report

● Campaign by Amnesty International: Act now to demand the release of the BK16! (Dec 2022)

Also read:

● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report

Submission to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

20/09/2023 Asha

Hrw.org / by Human Rights Watch

“Religious Freedom in India” Submission by Sarah Yager, Washington director, Human Rights Watch
The commission’s focus on religious freedom in India is welcome and timely.
Over the last decade there has been an undeniable increase in the number and frequency of attacks against religious minorities in India, especially Muslims and Christians.
… We have also repeatedly flagged human rights consequences of the government’s 2019 revocation of the constitutional autonomy of India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir. Today, four years later, authorities there are still restricting free expression, peaceful assembly, and other basic rights, and regularly shut down the internet. Several journalists and human rights defenders have been arrested on spurious terrorism charges and authorities regularly harass critics, including through use of counterterrorism raids.
Read full submission

NIA asked to submit affidavit that cloned copies of all evidence have been supplied to the accused

18/09/2023 Asha

NIA asked to submit affidavit that cloned copies of all evidence have been supplied to the accused

17/09/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court also directed the NIA to state in its affidavit that the prosecution would not be relying on any documents other than those for which hard disks have been given to the accused.
On Monday, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria directed the NIA to file an affidavit stating that it has provided cloned copies of seized electronic evidence to the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
… The NIA is required to submit the affidavit on the next date of hearing, that is, October 5.
Read more

NIA told to affirm that it has provided cloned copies of evidence to accused persons

18/09/2023

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

A special court directed the agency to file an affidavit, stating that they would not use any electronic evidence except whose copies have been provided.
… the court directed the agency to file an affidavit by October 5 stating that they would not use any electronic evidence except that for which copies have been provided to the accused on hard disks.
Read more

Also Read:
● What is Section 207 CrPC, an essential piece of the Bhima Koregaon case puzzle? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)

The Bhima Koregaon Arrests: The Story So Far

13/09/2023 Asha

Supreme Court Observer / by Joyston D’Souza

Some of the accused activists have finally been granted bail. But charges have not been framed even five years after their arrests.
On 1 January 2018, protests and violence spread across Maharashtra following an attack on a gathering of Dalit persons at Bhima Koregaon. At least one person died and three others were injured. An investigation which began with FIRs lodged against pro-Hindutva leaders then took a baffling turn, with a number of renowned activists being arrested for instigating violence through inflammatory speeches at the event, which is also called Elgar Parishad.
Read more

Also Read:
● Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)
● Bhima Koregaon: Who’s who of those arrested and the developments in the case pertaining to each (The Leaflet / June 2022)

Amnesty International: Join The Vigil For Political Prisoners In India

06/09/2023 Asha

by Amnesty International UK South Asia Action / @AIUKSouthAsia (Sep 14)
16 lawyers, academics & activists were imprisoned for their criticism of the government and their work supporting the poorest people in #India, including those from low caste, ethnic and religious minority groups. See our Minehead local group supporting the #BK16 at the G20 vigil

India Labour Solidarity (ILS) / @IndLabSol (Sep 9)
Yesterday we took part in the protest in London to #FreeBK16
While world leaders meet in Delhi for the G20, Indian human rights defenders are in prison.

By Amnesty International India coordination group

Fri 8 September, 19.30-20.30hrs.
Behind Amsterdam central station, promenade next to bicycle parking and ferries

Amnesty International India coordination group invites you to join a vigil for political prisoners (BK16, GN Saibaba, Umar Khalid and co-accused). As India hosts G20 this weekend we call on world leaders to urge Indian government to free them all!
There will be parallel actions in Amsterdam, London, Zürich, Berlin and New York!

by Amnesty Bristol / @amnestybristol (Sep 6, 2023)
Bristol and Weston-super-Mare Amnesty group are hosting a vigil on Friday at 7pm for the Bhima Koregaon 16 political prisoners Join us at the Italian Gardens in Weston-super-Mare #FreeBK16

Statement by Amnesty International Switzerland:
G20 IN INDIEN – EIN AUFRUF ZUM GEMEINSAMEN ENGAGEMENT

Read full statement [Swiss-German]

Also read:
● Campaign by Amnesty International: Act now to demand the release of the BK16! (Dec 2022)

India: Arrests, Raids Target Critics of Government

UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

Girish Karnad, Sep 2018 #MeTooUrbanNaxal

NIA asked to submit affidavit that cloned copies of all evidence have been supplied to the accused

NIA told to affirm that it has provided cloned copies of evidence to accused persons

Statement by Amnesty International Switzerland: G20 IN INDIEN – EIN AUFRUF ZUM GEMEINSAMEN ENGAGEMENT

Statement by Amnesty International Switzerland:
G20 IN INDIEN – EIN AUFRUF ZUM GEMEINSAMEN ENGAGEMENT