Hany Babu – Page 4 – free them all

Bombay High Court allows Hany Babu to undergo cataract surgery at Mumbai’s Saifee hospital

16/12/2022 Asha

Bombay High Court allows Hany Babu to undergo cataract surgery at Mumbai’s Saifee hospital

16/12/2022

Bar & Bench / by Narsi Benwal

The Bench also allowed the accused to meet his family members while in hospital.
The Bombay High Court on Friday allowed Delhi University professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, to undergo cataract surgery at his own cost, in Mumbai’s Saifee Hospital.
A division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Prakash Naik while permitting him to undergo the surgery, ordered the Superintendent of the Taloja Central Prison to transfer him to Saifee hospital by Monday morning.
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Bombay High Court Permits Former DU Prof Hany Babu To Undergo Cataract Surgery At Private Hospital In Mumbai

16/12/2022

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Friday allowed Delhi University (DU) associate professor Hany Babu, accused in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgaar Parishad case to undergo cataract surgery at a private hospital in Mumbai.
A division bench led by Justice AS Gadkari directed Babu, currently lodged in Taloja Prison, to be escorted to the private hospital on Tuesday, further permitting hospitalisation for four days. During this time, he would also undergo diagnosis for upper abdominal pain and osteoarthritis.
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Hany Babu gets temporary bail to undergo cataract surgery

16/12/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Bombay High Court also allowed the former Delhi University professor to meet his close family members during his stay in the hospital.
The Bombay High Court on Friday granted a temporary bail to former Delhi University professor Hany Babu, one of the accused persons in the Elgar Parishad case, to undergo cataract surgery, PTI reported.
A bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Prakash Naik passed the order. They also directed the Superintendent of the Taloja Central Prison to transfer Babu to Mumbai’s Saifee Hospital by December 19, according to Live Law.
Read more

Also read:
● Relatives of BK16 Flag Prison Authorities’ ‘Criminal Negligence’ and Deteriorating Health of Undertrials (Newsclick / Sep 2022)

Hany Babu moves Bombay High Court seeking interim medical bail

10/12/2022 Asha

Hany Babu moves Bombay High Court seeking interim medical bail

09/12/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and PD Naik asked NIA to check the reports annexed to Babu’s petition and posted the matter for hearing on December 13.
Delhi University professor Hany Babu has approached Bombay High Court seeking interim medical bail in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018.
Babu who has spent over 2 years in judicial custody has sought release from custody for a cataract surgery, treatment of his upper abdominal pain and osteoarthritis in a private hospital in Mumbai and post treatment recuperation at his own expense.
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Elgar Parishad case: Hany Babu seeks medical bail in HC

10/12/2022

Hindustan Times / by K A Y Dodhiya

56-year-old Babu, a professor of English Literature, spent over two years in judicial custody. He has sought his release for cataract surgery, treatment of his upper abdominal pain and osteoarthritis in a private hospital in the city and post-treatment recuperation at his own expense.
Former Delhi University professor Hany Babu, who is currently lodged in Taloja jail, has approached the Bombay high court (HC) seeking interim medical bail in the Elgar Parishad case.
Read more

Also read:
● Bombay HC Denies Bail to Hany Babu in Elgar Parishad Case, Upholds Trial Court Verdict (The Wire / Sep 2022)
● Relatives of BK16 Flag Prison Authorities’ ‘Criminal Negligence’ and Deteriorating Health of Undertrials (Newsclick / Sep 2022)

Bhima Koregaon Accused (BK16) | 1 Dead, 1 on House Arrest, 3 on Bail: What of the Rest?

30/11/2022 Asha

The Quint / by Rohini Roy

The remaining 11 continue to languish in jail — Who are they and what is the status of the case against them?
Anti-caste writer Anand Teltumbde, who walked out of jail on Saturday, 26 November, after he was granted bail on merits in connection with the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case said:
“I am definitely happy. It has been 30 months that I have been in prison. The sad part, however, is that we had to spend time in jail after being booked in a fake case.”
In the same case, two others, poet Varavara Rao and lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj – were granted bail earlier due to different reasons, while academic Gautam Navlakha was allowed house arrest on health grounds by a 19 November Supreme Court order.
Read more

Also read:
● As Bhima Koregaon case completes its fourth anniversary, State reprisal is writ large in its twists and turns (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● Bhima Koregaon: Who’s who of those arrested and the developments in the case pertaining to each (The Leaflet / June 2022)

Will the bail granted to Anand Teltumbde help others in the case to get out of jail?

28/11/2022 Asha

Will the bail granted to Anand Teltumbde help others in the Bhima Koregaon case to get out of jail?

28/11/2022

Scroll.in / by Umang Poddar

This is the first bail in the case granted on merits. But experts say that the case of each Bhima Koregaon accused will have to be considered individually.
On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld Bombay High Court’s November 18 order granting bail to Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. Teltumbde is the first person accused in the matter to be granted bail on the merits of the case. Previously, others in the case have got bail only on medical grounds or due to procedural lapses by the investigating agency.
Read more

Supreme Court’s Widely- Praised Bail for Anand Teltumbde should be Followed by Wider Justice in Elgar Case

28/11/2022

Countercurrents.org / by Bharat Dogra

Supreme Court’s firmness in upholding the Bombay High Court’s order granting bail to Anand Teltumbde has been widely appreciated. However, we must also listen to what this 73 year old distinguished scholar activist, coming out after spending 31 months in prison, had to stay regarding the case in which several other distinguished activists have also been implicated: “the sad thing is that this is the fakest case and it put us behind us behind bar for years.”
The reference here was of course to the notorious Elgar Parishad case which has been attracting strong criticism from several human rights and democracy activists during the last few years.
Read more

Also read:
● Bhima Koregaon: Who’s who of those arrested and the developments in the case pertaining to each (The Leaflet / June 2022)

Prisoners of conscience / Court directs top cop to look into the mosquito menace in Taloja prison

16/11/2022 Asha

Prisoners of conscience

16/11/22

Deccan Herald / by Jyoti Punwani

Is it just their relentless opposition to State policies that gets the NIA’s goat, or is it also their privileged background?
Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. Sometimes they do, even for the most creative minds.
Take Maharashtra’s Taloja Jail, on the outskirts of Mumbai. For the last almost three years, it’s been home to some of the country’s most valuable public intellectuals, and also the site of their steady deterioration. The Bhima Koregaon trial is yet to begin, but the 16 accused have already been punished, by the NIA that’s handling their case and the jail authorities.
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Court directs top cop to look into the mosquito menace in Taloja prison

16/11/22

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

In his plea made on Tuesday, he said that there is no reply from the jail’s superintendent despite the court’s direction to the authority to file one.
Following an application by civil rights activist and accused in Bhima-Koregaon case, Anand Teltumbde, on Tuesday, a special court has directed the Deputy Inspector General of police (DIG, Prisons) to look into the mosquito menace in Taloja prison as the jail superintendent has not complied with previous orders to take precautions to control the situation despite repeated directions.
Read more

Also read:
● Two more accused move court seeking mosquito nets (Hindustan Times / Sep 2022)
● Gautam Navlakha approaches court again seeking mosquito net (Scroll.in / Sep 2022)
● Bhima Koregaon accused calls off hunger strike (The Hindu / May 2022)
● Hunger Strike unto death against the harassment from Taloja Central Jail’s apathetic administration (By Sagar Gorkhe / May 20, 2022)
● by PantherAjay (May 27, 2022):
Jailed Shahir Sagar Gorkhe is not the only under trail prisoner who has been continually harassed and whose ‘Machchhardani’ stolen by the insolent jail administration. This is an attempt to condemn the unlawful treatment meted against the under trial prisoners and to safeguard their rights. Following is the account of a similar incident that was faced by another imprisoned writer and poet Ramesh Gaichor translated from the original written in Marathi.

Securing the right to health of political prisoners

19/10/2022 Asha

The Leaflet / by Rohin Bhatt

It is time that the right to health becomes a reality, in letter and spirit to every person, irrespective of their incarceration status. This will have to be done through a wide scale, public health campaign, and rapid recruitment of qualified doctors with training in evidence-based medicine that can provide adequate care to prisoners.
It has been good law in India since Bandhua Mukti Morcha versus Union of India (1983) that the right to health is a fundamental part of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution…
However, what happens when you are a political prisoner in India? These rights are vitiated, and the process becomes the punishment.
Read more

Also read/watch:
● Relatives of BK16 Flag Prison Authorities’ ‘Criminal Negligence’ and Deteriorating Health of Undertrials (Newsclick / Sep 2022)
● Stop Denying Political Prisoners the Right to Healthcare in Jails (Peoples Union for Democratic Rights / Sep 2022)
● Hunger Strike unto death against the harassment from Taloja Central Jail’s apathetic administration (By Sagar Gorkhe / May 20, 2022)

● Video: The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

By All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice – AILAJ / March 2022

en | 1:21:23 | 2022
The huge number of undertrials, the overcrowding, and the disproportional numbers of Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi prisoners are part of the prison problem in India.
We are joined by Adv. Sudha Bharadwaj for a discussion on the Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails.
Watch video

Will rely on ‘historic’ verdict to secure release of Elgar Parishad case accused: Lawyer

14/10/2022 Asha

Pic credits: Committee for the Defence and Release of GN Saibaba

● Supreme Court Stays Release Of Prof GN Saibaba & Others In UAPA Case, Suspends Bombay HC’s Acquittal Order (Live Law / Oct 15, 2022)

Will rely on ‘historic’ verdict to secure release of Elgar Parishad case accused: Lawyer

15/10/2022

The Times of India / by Vaibhav Ganjapure

After securing acquittal for Prof GN Saibaba and four others primarily based on absence of sanction under UAPA’s Section 45 (1), his lawyers now have plan to rely on the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court’s verdict for securing the release of several accused who are also behind bars in the Elgar Elgar Parishad case.
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As GN Saibaba gets bail in Maoist link case, let’s recall the Elgar Parishad–Bhima Koregaon case

15/10/2022

Free Press Journal / by Urvi Mahajan

More than eight years after his arrest, the Bombay High Court on Friday acquitted former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case for want of valid sanction for prosecution under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA…
With GN Saibaba getting acquitted by the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench on Friday, here’s a look at the other Maoist-link case which is the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case.
In the Bhima-Koregaon case, the investigation was taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2020, the initial probe being done by the Pune police. Most of the accused have spent years in custody, being arrested in August 2018.
Read more

Bombay HC Frees Saibaba, Others in ‘Maoist Link’ Case

14/10/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The Nagpur bench of the high court allowed the appeal of all six convicted persons, including Pandu Narote who died in August this year.
Former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba and five others were acquitted in the Maoist links case by the Bombay high court, allowing their appeal against conviction and life sentence…
After Saibaba’s conviction, his lawyer in the lower court, Surendra Gadling; his colleague Hany Babu; and his close friend Rona Wilson were also arrested in years to come under the UAPA charges. While Gadling fought his case in court, Babu and Wilson had run a campaign for his release. All three are named as prime accused in the Elgar Parishad case of 2018.
Read more

Also read:

● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report
● Silencing critics: Apex Court view ‘brain is more dangerous’ revoking Saibaba acquittal (Counterview / Oct 16, 2022)
● “Urban Naxals” Are Making Frequent Requests For House Arrest: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta Tells Supreme Court [read order] (Live Law / Oct 15, 2022)

The plight of jailed activists in ‘police state’

09/10/2022 Asha

Delhi. Oct 8, 2022

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

Try hugging your child with one arm
Political leaders on Saturday shared the stage with relatives and friends of activists imprisoned in terror cases, listening to how bail remained a mirage for years and police prevented the accused even from hugging their children in court.
Besides the release of their loved ones, most of the speakers demanded a repeal of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) which made bail difficult to obtain, and alleged that an “undeclared emergency” had turned the country into a “police state”.
Read more

Also read:

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

Press Release: India Behind Bars – The Cost Of Free Speech

06/10/2022 Asha

by AILAJ (Oct 8, 2022):
AILAJ co-organised ‘India Behind Bars’ press conference in the Press Club of India with
@AISA_tweets and @ryaindia. Hundreds of students, teachers, activists and concerned citizens of Delhi joined us.

By AISA (Oct 8, 2022):
Despite heavy rains, students, citizens of Delhi flooded the Press Club of India in solidarity with different political prisoners incarcerated under acts like UAPA, PSA, NIA etc. #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #IndiaBehindBars

Recording by Millat Times: India Behind Bars: The Cost Of Free Speech (Excerpt)

En/Hindi/Urdu | 30min | 2022
Watch video

click to enlarge posters

by Akash (Oct 6, 2022):
To quote Com. Ravi Rai @ravirai2015: “Those behind bars spoke up for us, it’s time for us to speak up for them.” #DelhiPogrom #bhimakoregaon
Join the Press Conference on 8 October at the Press Club.
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #RepealUAPA

by AILAJ_HQ (Oct 5, 2022)
Join us on 8th Oct at 4 p.m. at the Press Club of India, New Delhi for a press conference on India Behind Bars: The Cost of Free Speech where we demand the scrapping of draconian laws and release of political prisoners.

click to enlarge poster

#ReleaseAllPoliticalPrisoners

click to enlarge posters

Also read:

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

Day to day hearing of discharge applications in Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad case begins

27/09/2022 Asha

Day to day hearing of discharge applications in Elgar Parishad case begins

28/09/2022

India Today / by Vidya

A special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai began a day-to-day hearing of four discharge applications filed by the Elgar Parishad.
Highlights
▪ Mumbai’s special National Investigation Agency court began a day-to-day hearing in Elgar Parishad case
▪ The court to hear four discharge applications filed by the accused
▪ Three more discharge applications were filed on Tuesday
… Procedurally, courts hear the discharge applications, and if it finds no material against the accused in the charge sheet filed by the investigators, it discharges the accused.
However, if the court finds substantial evidence, the discharge plea gets rejected, and a full-fledged trial ensues.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon case trial process begins over four years after case was registered

28/09/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

An NIA court started hearing a discharge plea filed by Sudhir Dhawale, one of the accused persons.
A Mumbai court on Tuesday started hearing the first of the seven discharge applications filed by accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case, Bar and Bench reported. The hearing marks the beginning of the trial process in the case four years after it was filed in 2018.
The development came after the Supreme Court, on August 19, ordered a National Investigation Agency court to decide on framing charges against the accused persons within three months.
Read more

Mumbai Court begins hearing discharge applications of accused

28/09/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The Court also rejected an application filed by octogenarian P Varavara Rao seeking permission to live in Hyderabad for 3 months in order to conduct cataract surgery.
A Mumbai court on Tuesday began hearing the first of the seven discharge applications filed by the accused in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018.
The hearing on discharge is the first step towards framing of charges, thus, kick-starting the trial in the case which has been pending in the pre-trial stage since 2018.
This development comes in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court in August asking the special court to decide on framing of charges within 3 months.
Read more

Three more accused, including activist Navlakha, seek discharge in Elgar case

27/09/2022

The New Indian Express / by pti

While Navlakha and Babu are currently in jail under judicial custody, Bharadwaj is out on bail.
Activists Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bharadwaj and Delhi University professor Hany Babu, all accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, on Tuesday moved discharge applications before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here …
Meanwhile, the court on Tuesday heard the arguments on the discharge plea of another accused, Sudhir Dhawale. The arguments will continue on Wednesday …
The discharge pleas of some other accused – Jyoti Jagtap, Anand Teltumbde and Mahesh Raut – were also pending before the court.
Read more