BK16 – Page 17 – free them all

As Bhima Koregaon case completes its fourth anniversary, State reprisal is writ large in its twists and turns

08/06/2022 Asha

The Leaflet / by Nihalsing Rathod

As we have completed four years since the first arrest in the Elgar Parishad case, a quick recap of how 16 renowned human rights activists were jailed may be useful.
There is much more than meets the eye. Maybe we will have a few answers after the trial ends, but not all. It would be difficult to say what exactly caused the arrest of these 16 eminent persons, but we can definitely relook at the turn of events and try to understand what really happened.
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Also read:
● ‘We are all prisoners of conscience’, say those facing trial in Bhima Koregaon case on the occasion of fourth anniversary of their arrests [read letter] (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● 3 years after Bhima Koregaon: How criminal law was violated (The Leaflet / June 2021)

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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Irony of Sharad Pawar’s support for Bhima Koregaon accused

09/05/2022 Asha

Irony of Sharad Pawar’s support for Bhima Koregaon accused

09/05/2022

Deccan Herald / by Vidya

That Pawar has done nothing is a testimony to the clout wielded in Maharashtra politics by ‘Bhide Guruji’
It took Delhi-based writer-activist Gautam Navlakha 75 days to get court permission to walk in the open in Taloja Jail and get the fresh air he’s deprived of in the high-security anda cell he’s been consigned to since October. Seventy-year-old Navlakha, one of 16 intellectuals arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been denied a chair despite developing back pain during his two-year-long incarceration. Last month, the Bombay High Court rejected his plea for house arrest and instead directed the Taloja Jail authorities to provide him with whatever medical care he needed.
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Why Sharad Pawar Is Against The Bhima Koregaon 16’s Arrests

06/05/2022

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

Despite Sharad Pawar’s assertion, the Maharashtra government has done nothing to ease the suffering of the Bhima Koregaon 16, who have been denied their basic rights to health and to communication with their families while in jail.
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Pune Police Evade The Law By Dodging Questions On Use Of Pegasus Spyware On Indian Citizens

03/05/2022 Asha

Pune Police Evade The Law By Dodging Questions On Use Of Israeli Spyware On Indian Citizens

03/04/2022

Artice 14 / by Saurav Das

Despite multiple right-to-information applications asking whether the Pune police purchased or used military-grade Pegasus spyware in the Bhima-Koregaon case, its information officer evaded an answer, refusing to admit the questions on technical grounds. Experts said the police replies were legally untenable and dismissive of a growing demand for greater transparency and accountability in India’s surveillance framework.
A Pune police refusal to reply to right-to-information (RTI) queries about the use of Israeli spyware Pegasus raise several questions about whether the military-grade hacking weapon was deployed in implicating lawyers, activists, and academics in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad (BK-EP) case, which invokes India’s draconian counter-terrorism law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.
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Media in India: Shackled and spied on

03/05/2022

The Leaflet / by Sukumar Muralidharan

Early in April, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting [MIB] ordered 22 YouTube channels blocked, 18 based in India and four in Pakistan. Also blocked were four social media accounts and one news website. Later in the month, another 16 YouTube channels were blocked, ten in India and all others in the neighbouring State, alongside one Facebook account.
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Also read:
● Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

US panel on religious freedom flags India as ‘country of particular concern’ for third time

25/04/2022 Asha

‘Religious Freedom Worsened’: US Body Names India as ‘Country of Particular Concern’

26/04/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

This is the third consecutive year when United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has designated India as such.
… The latest report, in a section devoted to India, has accused the Narendra Modi government of muzzling dissenting voices, misusing UAPA and sedition laws, allowing illegal arrests of rights’ activists, carrying out violent attacks against Muslims and Christians and creating “hurdles” for NGOs to receive funds from abroad for charity work.
It has also prominently discussed the arrest and custodial death of Father Stan Swamy.
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US panel on religious freedom flags India as ‘country of particular concern’ for third time in a row

25/04/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Other countries recommended for this designation by the USCIRF in its annual report are Pakistan, China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, among others.
… “The UAPA and sedition law have been invoked to create an increasing climate of intimidation and fear in an effort to silence anyone speaking out against the government,” it said.
The report specifically mentioned the treatment meted out to 84-year-old Stan Swamy, a Jesuit priest who was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Read full report

Charges to be framed next week, all accused asked to remain present in court

20/04/2022 Asha

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

The NIA had submitted draft charges in August last year based on which the court will decide on the charges to be framed against the accused.
The special court hearing the Elgaar Parishad case on Tuesday directed both the accused and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take steps to proceed with the case and asked all accused to remain present for the hearing next week, on April 27, for framing of charges.
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Also read
● Cyber Attackers Who Targeted Rona Wilson Could Have Been Engaged by Same Entity: Report (The Wire / Feb 2022)
● Accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad case have approached the Bombay High Court to stay till clone copies of electronic evidence is provided (Live Law / Aug 2021)
● NIA files draft charges against accused in Elgar Parishad case (India Today / Aug 2021)

PUDR: When The Process becomes The Punishment

13/04/2022 Asha

Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) / by PUDR

Tomorrow, 14th April 2022 marks the completion of two years of PUDR activist Gautam Navlakha’s surrender before the NIA. One of sixteen accused in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case, Gautam has been imprisoned in Taloja Central Jail, Navi Mumbai since 25 May 2020. For more than six months now, since 12 October 2021, the nearly 70 years old Gautam, an undertrial suffering from multiple health problems has been in solitary confinement in one of 33 cells in the ‘anda’ circle, the High Security Area of Taloja Jail, a space meant to segregate those guilty of heinous crimes.
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Also read:
● How the ‘anda cell’ is used to discipline prison inmates (The Indian Express │ Oct 2021)
● System of solitary confinement, ‘Anda Cell’, inside the jail be stopped (Groundxero │ Oct 2021)

US Departments 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: India

13/04/2022 Asha

US Department’s 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: India

13/04/2022

US Department of State / by Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

… Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful and arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings by the government or its agents; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by police and prison officials; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention by government authorities; political prisoners or detainees; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, or unjustified arrests or prosecutions against journalists …
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US government report says Indian Muslims are vulnerable to communal violence, discrimination

13/04/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The report also flagged extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests and detentions by government authorities.
… The report specifically mentioned the treatment meted out to 84-year-old Stan Swamy, a Jesuit priest who was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case. The case pertains to caste violence in a village near Pune in 2018. Sixteen people were arrested for allegedly plotting the violence.
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The Bhima Koregaon Arrests and the Resistance in India

01/04/2022 Asha

Monthly Review / by Saroj Giri

It often happens: A murder takes place, an utterly foul one. But there is little outcry, no lasting sense of wrong in public memory. Deep down, everyone is aware of the gross violation that has taken place in their midst. Everyone is affected and silently appalled that there is no redress, no justice. Yet normal life and routine democracy continues—at the expense of a deep scar in the inner recess of society, unseen and perhaps illegible, best described as a void. Like an abyss that stares back, will this void come to haunt everyone later, in some possibly unrecognizable form?
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India added to human rights watchlist as government blocks funding of NGOs and keeps activists behind bars

10/03/2022 Asha

By CIVICUS

● Government raids offices of NGOs and blocks foreign funding
● Journalists and activists targeted by Pegasus Spyware
● Activists in detention under draconian laws

India is currently rated Repressed by the CIVICUS Monitor. There are a total of 49 countries in the world with this rating (see all). This rating is typically given to countries where civic space is heavily contested by power holders, who impose a combination of legal and practical constraints on the full enjoyment of fundamental rights (see full description of ratings).

Read CIVICUS Press Release

Download India Country Research Brief