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The Targeted Silencing of Thinker, Student, Reporter / Criminalisation of Anti-Cast Research

The Targeted Silencing of Thinker, Student, Reporter / Criminalisation of Anti-Cast Research

The Targeted Silencing of the Trinity of Thinker, Student, Reporter

28/03/2021

The Wire / by Pamela Philipose

Academia and journalism are intertwined. Both create and question knowledge, both demand a critical engagement with society, and both have a distinct interface with the public.
What is more, journalism and academia routinely draw from – and contribute – to the other. In a conversation carried by The Wire (‘Watch | The State of India’s Academic Freedom’, March 25), reference was made to the elements that constitute academic freedom…
Courageous individuals who stood up and spoke out felt the full force of a vengeful state machinery. If we are to consider the Bhima Koregaon arrests, four of the 16 people put behind bars were formally attached to universities. Anand Teltumbe, a former IIT professor, was a management professor at the Goa Institute of Management; Shoma Sen, the head of the English Literature department, Nagpur University; Sudha Bharadwaj, was visiting professor at the National Law School, Delhi; Hany Babu, was professor of language and linguistics at Delhi University.
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Criminalisation of Anti-Cast Research

27/02/2021

By International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (InSAF)

27 March
8pm IST
Register here: http://shorturl.at/hzHM5

Anti-caste academic research and activism in India are increasingly threatened with criminalisation and surveillance from the state: from the arrests of academics and students to the militarisation of campuses, from the banning of books, plays and film screenings to the censorship of activities deemed as detrimental to the reputation of the government. The persecution of academic-activists in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence is a case in point. …

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Is Ignoring Criticism of Human Rights Abuse Affecting India’s Image?

Is Ignoring Criticism of Human Rights Abuse Affecting India’s Image?

The Leaflet / by Arun Srivastava

The government’s intolerance of criticism by foreign institutions’ of its failure to listen to the global concern of the sharp rise in the violation of human rights and its persistent unwillingness to take action against the violators leading to the erosion of the democratic values in the country, has motivated lawmakers of western countries to push a bill in their respective parliaments decrying the claim of the Modi government of India being a democratic country.
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Artwork in Solidarity with Anand, Sudha, Rohit and all Political Prisoners (pics)

Artwork in Solidarity with Anand, Sudha, Rohit and all Political Prisoners (pics)

By Ashoka Students

Click to enlarge pics

Ashoka students call for class boycott next week, demand university reinstate Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Arvind Subramanian

20/03/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

In a statement issued late Friday night, the elected student body said that the two professors’ controversial exit had eroded their trust in the university administration to protect students from “external pressures”.
… “Here, it is crucial to acknowledge the socio-economic capital required to make these demands and protest for these changes given the larger political context of the country. The state crackdown on academics and activists has only worsened during the pandemic. We stand in complete solidarity with all the academics and activists who have resisted the state’s brutality, organized in support of targeted groups and been subject to imprisonment and torture for it including, but not limited to the Bhima Koregaon 16, peaceful anti-CAA protestors and most recently Nodeep Kaur and Shiv Kumar,” the statement reads further.
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Government’s game of prosecution – prosecution as a tool to silence critics

Government’s game of prosecution – prosecution as a tool to silence critics

Frontline / by A.G. Noorani

(Print edition: March 26, 2021)
The present dispensation uses prosecution as a tool to silence critics and opponents in a way that makes the legal process a punishment in itself.
Julio Ribeiro, a prince among police officers of the highest rank, notable alike for his high integrity and superb efficiency, rendered a great service by bringing home to the Indian reader the allegations of manipulating and planting in the Bhima Koregaon case. He had heard Mark Spencer, head honcho of Arsenal Consulting, a private digital forensics company. Ribeiro had heard Spencer on an Indian national TV channel “certifying that the police in India had been taken for a ride by an extremely clever hacker”. His article in The Indian Express on February 22 is entitled “The truth is out there” under the sub-heading “Allegations of manipulating and planting evidence in Bhima Koregaon case must be investigated.
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Former civil servants urge Govt to bring legislative changes to prevent “planting” of incriminating material

Former civil servants urge Govt to bring legislative changes to prevent “planting” of incriminating material

The Leaflet / by The Leaflet

A group of former civil servants has expressed concerns at reports alleging the planting of incriminating material in Rona Wilson’s computer, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
“The reports that the police and other investigative agencies may have violated constitutional guarantees and judicial pronouncements in the practices adopted in search and seizure operations, as well as the possibility that they may have been party to planting incriminating material in personal digital devices and harvesting evidence therefrom, have caused us grave concern”, the statement signed by former civil servants reads.
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Video: The case against the Bhima Koregaon political prisoners

Video: The case against the Bhima Koregaon political prisoners


en | 5:07min | 2021

By The Polis Project

Sixteen individuals across India have been arrested since 6 June 2018 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). They are human rights defenders working for the democratic rights of India’s poorest and most oppressed: Dalits, Adivasis, indigenous people, and women. All of them have been outspoken critics of Hindutva.
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Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Criminal Justice System Being Perverted, Requires Reform: Former Civil Servants

05/03/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Referring to reports that evidence may have been planted on activist Rona Wilson’s computer, the Constitutional Conduct Group said such “blatantly illegal practices” could sound the death knell of the criminal justice system.
The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), which comprises several former civil servants, has expressed concern that the criminal justice system is being ‘perverted’, referring to reports that false evidence may have been planted in the laptop of activist Rona Wilson, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
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‘Perversion of criminal justice’: Over 90 ex-bureaucrats raise concerns on action of probe agencies

05/03/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The signatories said that blatant illegal practices could be the ‘death knell’ for India’s criminal justice.
As many as 92 former bureaucrats on Friday condemned the “perversion of criminal justice” by investigative agencies. The Constitutional Conduct Group, a group of former civil servants belonging to the All India and Central Services, released a statement.
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Replug: Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Forensic Evidence

Replug: Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Forensic Evidence

Countercurrents / by Janta Ka Aaina

Press Release after the webinar: Decoding the Arsenal Report: The Curious Case of Questionable evidence in Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case
The NIA’s ’No Malware Found’ Response to New Forensic Report Points to Ineptitude:
On February 10, 2021 the Bhima Koregaon defense team filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking the release of Rona Wilson and the quashing of all charges against him.
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