Gautam Navlakha – Page 11

Are prisoners entitled to make phone calls? Bombay HC asks prison authorities in Navlakha’s plea

08/07/2022 Asha

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Why can telephone conversations not be reintroduced, might reduce footfall in prison, the division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and NR Borkar mused.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked Maharashtra prison authorities to clear their stand on whether Bhima Koregaon violence accused Gautam Navlakha is entitled to make telephonic and/or video conference calls from prison.
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Update by Bar & Bench (Jul 13, 2022)
+++ Bombay High Court adjourns hearing on the application filed by Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha seeking access to telephonic facilities in prison by a week +++

Also read:
● ‘Emotional Torture’: Why Don’t Indian Jails Give Inmates a Right to Phone Calls? (The Quint / Nov 2021)
● Kin of jailed activists write to authorities to not discontinue telephone calls (Sabrangindia / Oct 2021)

‘You are immortalised in our hearts’: A cellmate’s letter to Stan Swamy on his death anniversary / Protest Fast by 11 Co-Accused

05/07/2022 Asha

‘You are immortalised in our hearts’: A cellmate’s letter to Stan Swamy on his death anniversary

05/07/2022

Scroll.in / by Vernon Gonsalves

The Jesuit priest, who had been arrested in the Bhima Koregoan case, died in custody on July 5, 2021, at the age of 84.

Dear Stan,
It’s now around a year to the day they said you went away. But it doesn’t seem as if you’ve gone. Guys like you can hardly just go away. Not from me at least, not from many many more you worked with and amongst. Actually you haven’t gone, in fact you’ve come. You’ve come to the lakhs who’ve come to know you over the last year and you’ll continue coming, down the ages, to millions more. You can’t go away, you won’t go away.
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On Father Stan Swamy’s Death Anniversary, Elgar Parishad Activists Observe Protest Fast in Prison

05/07/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Activists and lawyers have accused the jail administration of inhuman treatment towards and lack of adequate medical care for the priest and other accused in the case.
On July 5, last year, 84-year-old Jharkhand-based tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy died in judicial custody in Mumbai.
Swamy was the 16th and last person to be arrested in the highly controversial Elgar Parishad case. He, like his co-accused in the case, suffered from prolonged and serious health complications while in custody. Swamy passed away after testing positive for COVID-19. His co-prisoners and lawyers have blamed the state for not allowing adequate medical help to reach him on time.
A year later, protesting against alleged state apathy and lack of accountability, 11 of his co-prisoners have decided to observe a day-long fast on the day of Swamy’s passing.
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Eleven activists accused in Elgar Parishad case observe day-long fast in Taloja prison on 1st death anniversary of Stan Swamy

05/07/2022

Midday.com / by pti

The protesting activists alleged that the death of Father Stan Swamy (83) was “brutal assassination by the prison administration, the NIA, and the government.” Swamy’s co-accused and activist Sudhir Dhawale, in a letter written to the Taloja prison superintendent and the case lawyers, claimed there has been no change in the jail condition, including general apathy among the prison administration and lack of medical facilities, which were among the several causes that led to Swamy’s death.
Read more

Also read
● How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison (Scroll.in / Aug 2021)

Bombay HC bench recuses from hearing pleas of Hany Babu and Gautam Navlakha

08/06/2022 Asha

Bombay HC bench recuses from hearing pleas of Hany Babu and Gautam Navlakha

09/06/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

Babu had filed a bail application while Navlakha requested access to phone calls in the Taloja prison.
A Bombay High Court bench on Wednesday recused itself from hearing two separate petitions filed by former Delhi University professor Hany Babu and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, both accused in the Elgar Parishad case, PTI reported.
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Bombay HC Judge Justice Revati Mohite Dere recuses from hearing plea by accused

08/06/2022

Bar & Bench / by Narsi Benwal

Justice Dere is not the only judge to recuse from hearing Bhima Koregaon cases. Previously, Justices Sadhana S Jadhav, PB Varale and SS Shinde had recused from hearing cases related to Bhima Koregaon.
Bombay High Court’s Justice Revati Mohite Dere on Wednesday recused herself from hearing two applications, one by Delhi University’s Prof. Hany Babu and the other by rights’ activist Gautam Navlakha, both accused in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case.
Read more

Also read:
● 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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Sagar Gorkhe announces fast unto death, Gautam Navlakha approaches NIA court seeking mosquito net

24/05/2022 Asha

File pic: Sagar Gorkhe

Accused Sagar Gorkhe goes on hunger strike against jail authorities

25/05/2022

Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia

Accused alleges harassment by jail authorities and denial of basic facilities, Co-accused Gautam Navlakha seeks special court’s permission to use a mosquito net
Sagar Gorkhe, a cultural activist who has been locked up in the Taloja Central Jail since September 2020 as a virtual political prisoner in the Elgar Parishad Bhima Koregaon case, has now gone on hunger strike to protest his inhuman treatment in jail. Gorkhe has written to Maharashtra’s Home Minister, informing him about his decision that he was forced to take due to Taloja Central Jail allegedly harassing him and denying him his basic human rights.
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As Sagar Gorkhe announces fast unto death, Gautam Navlakha approaches NIA court seeking mosquito net

25/05/2022

The Leaflet / by Sabah Gurmat

Gorkhe’s letter to Maharashtra Home Minister, Dilip Walse Patil, equates the conditions in Taloja jail to that of a “torture camp”.
SAGAR Gorkhe, an activist and performer with cultural troupe Kabir Kala Manch, accused of inciting violence in the Bhima Koregaon (Elgar Parishad) case, has written to Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil announcing his hunger strike in protest against the conditions at Taloja jail.
Meanwhile, septuagenarian activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha, who is a co-accused lodged in the same prison, approached the National Investigation Agency (‘NIA’) seeking a mosquito net.
Read more

Elgar Parishad accused alleges harassment by Taloja jail officer

25/05/2022

Mid-day.com / by Faizan Khan

Sagar Tatyaram Gorkhe has written to the state home minister Dilip Walse Patil, threatens to go on an indefinite hunger strike if action is not taken immediately.
Sagar Tatyaram Gorkhe, an accused in Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon accused, has written to Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil, alleging harassment by the Taloja Jail superintendent. He has threatened to go on a hunger strike until death.
“It is with extreme distress that I inform you that since the very beginning the prison administration has treated the Bhima Koregaon case accused with utmost prejudice. As a result, the prison has become a torture camp for my co-accused and me. As you must be aware that it was the maltreatment by the prison administration that led to the custodial death of Father Stan Swami last year,” his letter reads.
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Jail officials delaying treatment to all Elgar Parishad case accused: Sagar Gorkhe writes to HM

24/05/2022

Hindustan Times / by HT Correspondent

He has also urged the home minister to immediately stop the scanning of all incoming and outgoing mail by the jail officials.
Sagar Gorkhe, one of the accused in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon violence case, has written to state home minister Dilip Walse-Patil alleging that Taloja jail authorities are discriminating against several accused in the case and deliberately delaying medical treatment to them even though they are suffering from several serious ailments.
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Video Statement by Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor (Sep 5, 2020)

hindi/ english subtitles | 2:20min | 2020

Kabir Kala Manch activists Sagar Gorkhe & Ramesh Gaichor have alleged that they’re being forced by the NIA to give confessional statements, claiming they are a part of Maoist organization. The two refused, and were arrested in The Bhima Koregaon case.
Their statement was recorded on Sep 5, 2020.
Watch their statement

Also read/watch:
● Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
● Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

Jail officials took away mosquito net: Gautam Navlakha approaches NIA court

24/05/2022 Asha

Hindustan Times / by Charul Shah

Gautam Navlakha, who was arrested on August 28, 2018, from his residence in New Delhi, has been presently lodged in Taloja jail.
Human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, who has been arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon violence case, has approached the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court seeking a mosquito net, alleging that the net he was using was taken away by the prison authorities.
Read more

Also read:
● PUDR: WHEN THE PROCESS BECOMES THE PUNISHMENT (PUDR / April 2022)

And she waits for Gautam Navlakha

09/05/2022 Asha

mid-day.com / by Ajaz Ashraf

As draconian UAPA ensures freedom eludes the 69-year-old rights activist even after 2 years, Sahba Husain, his partner of 26 years, suffers immensely but keeps the flame of love and resistance burning.
Writer Sahba Husain rattles out from memory all the dates of twists and turns during her ongoing struggle to keep the flame of love and resistance burning. She remembers the date (August 28, 2018) when the Pune Police raided her home to arrest her partner and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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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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Bombay HC Dismisses Gautam Navlakha’s Plea To Shift Him To House Arrest [read judgement]

26/04/2022 Asha

Desolation of the anda cell / drawing by Arun Ferreira

Jail authorities should have considered books as an essential commodity during COVID: Bombay HC [read judgement]

27/04/2022

Bar & Bench / by Satyendra Wankhade

“During such terrible times, nothing more could have provided solace to a jail inmate than a book of his choice,” a Bench of Justices SB Shukre and GA Sanap said.
Jail authorities should have considered books as an essential commodity during COVID-19 pandemic, the Bombay High Court observed while dismissing a plea filed by Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha requesting to be transferred to house arrest from jail [Gautam Navlakha v. National Investigation Agency & Anr.]
Read more
Read judgement

Bombay High Court dismisses Gautam Navlakha’s plea seeking transfer from jail to house arrest

26/04/2022

The Indian Express / by Omkar Gokhale

A division bench of Justice Sunil B Shukre and Justice Govinda A Sanap also directed the Superintendent of Taloja central prison to ensure medical facilities are provided to the petitioner.
The Bombay High Court Tuesday dismissed a plea by Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, seeking transfer from the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai to judicial custody in the form of house arrest, alleging denial of basic medical care and other necessities.
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Bombay high court dismisses activist Gautam Navlakha’s plea of being shifted from jail to ‘house arrest’

26/04/2022

The Times of India / by Swati Deshpande

The Bombay high court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed filed by activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case, seeking that he be placed under house arrest instead of judicial custody in the Taloja Jail as it lacked basic facilities.
He had cited poor health and inadequate medical facilities and lack of basic necessities in prison, as grounds forseeking the shift.
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Bombay High Court Dismisses Gautam Navlakha’s Plea To Shift Him To House Arrest

26/04/2022

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition by senior journalist Gautam Navlakha seeking to shifted out of Taloja Prison and be placed under house arrest, instead, in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Caste violence case.
A division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and GA Sanap said that whatever grievances Navlakha had in prison could be placed before the trial court for appropriate action.
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Bombay High Court dismisses Gautam Navlakha plea to be moved from prison to house arrest

26/04/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Navlakha was granted liberty to bring to the attention of the Special NIA Judge all difficulties faced by him, which the judge was directed to redress as per law.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed the plea filed by Bhima Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha to be transferred from Taloja Prison and placed under house arrest instead.
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India among top 10 countries to jail writers, academics in 2021, shows Pen America’s report

16/04/2022 Asha

India figures on list of top 10 ten countries that jail writers, academics & intellectuals

16/04/2022

The Federal / by The Federal

The 2021 Freedom to Write report recently published by Pen America, an NGO, has detailed the arrests of eight people in the country, which includes comedian Munawar Faruqui and those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case.
India has the dubious distinction of figuring among the top ten list of countries that jail writers, academics and intellectual for their writings, works and advocacy.
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India among top 10 countries to jail writers, academics in 2021, shows Pen America’s report

15/04/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

This is ‘one element of the ruling party’s attempts to quash dissent and entrench political control’, the United States non-profit organisation said.
… According to the report published on Wednesday, 277 writers and academics were detained or in prison in 36 countries last year. Of them, eight are from India – comedian Munawar Faruqui and Bhima Koregaon accused persons Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Hany Babu, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira and Anand Teltumbde.
Read more

PEN America’s Writers at Risk Database (India, 2021)

Also read:
● International Mother Language Day: Take Action for Hany Babu (Pen International | Feb 2022)
● Joint Statement: Freedom for Varavara Rao (Pen International | Oct 2021)
● A Dark Day for Democracy and Freedom of Expression (Pen International | Aug 2018)