Jun 6 – free them all

From Bhima Koregaon to PMLA, Justice Khanwilkar’s Legacy Will Not Favour Liberty

30/07/2022 Asha

From Bhima Koregaon to PMLA, Justice Khanwilkar’s Legacy Will Not Favour Liberty

30/07/2022

The Quint / by Vakasha Sachdev

From his decisions on Bhima Koregaon in 2018 to PMLA in 2022, Justice Khanwilkar consistently enabled state power.
The legacy of Justice AM Khanwilkar, who retired as a Supreme Court judge on Friday, 29 July, can best be summed up by the first case where he came to prominence.
In August 2018, the Maharashtra Police made the second set of arrests in what would come to be known as the Bhima Koregaon case.
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Justice AM Khanwilkar’s Legacy: Regression of Fundamental Rights

30/07/2022

Live Law / by Manu Sebastian

When it came to the exercise of judicial review and protection of fundamental rights, Justice Khanwilkar displayed a narrow and technical approach.
… Here is a look at some judgments/orders authored by Justice Khanwilkar in cases relating to civil liberties.
Rejecting plea for SIT probe in Bhima Koregaon case.
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Also read
● The Executive(’s) Court: On the Legacy of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar (The Wire / July 2022)
● Not A Case Of Arrest For Dissent, SC Turns Down Plea For SIT In Bhima Koregaon Case By 2:1 Majority, Chandrachud Dissents [Read Judgment] (Live Law / Sep 2018)
● Justice Chandrachud dissents again: Bhima Koregaon case needs impartial investigation (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

Five Bhima Koregaon accused write open letter on four years of incarceration [read letter]

05/06/2022 Asha

click to enlarge posters

‘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]

05/06/2022

The Leaflet / by The Leaflet

As they complete four years in prison, those accused of instigating violence wonder how much more time the judiciary will take to digest that all the evidence fabricated against them is fake.
In a poignant letter from the prisons where they have been languishing for the past four years, those facing trial in the Bhima Koregaon case, have asserted that their suffering is nothing in comparison to many other prisoners, who have spent years altogether with a smile on their face. “Looking at them gives us some a different kind of energy. [sic] Even in these inhuman places, they live with great optimism….”
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Read their letter in full here

Five Bhima Koregaon accused write open letter on four years of incarceration

05/06/2022

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

Reiterate their commitment to fight for the underprivileged and downtrodden.
It has been four years since Prof Shoma Sen, advocate Surendra Gadling, activist Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhawale were arrested for the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad conference. They have written an open letter that they are still committed to take up the cudgels for the labourers, underprivileged and the downtrodden.
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siddhesh gautam (Jun 6):
Bhima Koregaon: four years of injustice, 2022
From 6th June 2018 to 6th June 2022, four years of imprisonment, four years of wrongful incrimination, four years of injustice and an eternity of separation and pain.

#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #freebk16

Also watch/read:

VIDEO: THE BHIMA KOREGAON CONSPIRACY CASE – THREE YEARS TOO MANY …

06/06/2021

By Family and Friends of BK16

Three years ago, on 6 June 2018, the first arrests of human rights activists in the Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case occurred. Today, 16 of the finest citizens of India face trumped up charges in this fabricated case.
Join the Family Members and friends of BK16 on a webinar and Book Release.
Book Release by Bhanwar Meghvanshi, leading writer and Dalit Intellectual

hindi + en | 4h 30min | 2021
Watch video at PUCL fb

SALAAKHON MEIN QAID AVAAZEIN (IMPRISONED VOICES)

06/06/2021

By Family Members and friends of BK16

“Salaakhon Mein Qaid Avaazein”
Edition: June 2021
Language: Hindi
Paperback: 69 pages
Access a PDF copy of the book here (15MB)

Immediate Justice needed in Bhima-Koregaon Conspiracy

12/06/2021 Rani

Music clip: The BK16

en | 30sec | 2021
Watch music clip

Immediate Justice needed in Bhima-Koregaon Conspiracy

12/06/2021

The Milli Gazette / by Fr Cedric Prakash SJ

It was the virtual ‘midnight knock’! The irony was that the knock took place in broad daylight, and expectedly in a blatantly unjust, uncivilised and unconstitutional manner. On 6 June 2018, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson were arrested from their residences in various parts of the country. The arrests of others then continued in a phased manner: on 28 August 2018, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao and Vernon Gonsalves; on 14 April 2020, Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha; on 28 July 2020, Hanybabu Tarayil; on 10 September 2020, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and (the next day) Jyoti Jagtap – all three from the Kabir Kala Manch were arrested from Pune; finally on 8 October 2020, Fr Stan Swamy was arrested from Ranchi.
It is three years now since the first arrests in the Bhima-Koregaon conspiracy case were made. Today, sixteen (referred to as the BK-16) of the country’s committed citizens continue to languish in jail, with bail being denied to them and with absolutely no signs of any trial beginning.
Read more

Video: The Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case – Three Years Too Many …

11/06/2021 Rani

By Family and Friends of BK16

Please join the Family Members and friends of BK16 on a webinar and Book Release.
Book Release by Bhanwar Meghvanshi, leading writer and Dalit Intellectual

hindi + en | 4h 30min | 2021
Watch video at PUCL fb

Read the book (Hindi): SALAAKHON MEIN QAID AVAAZEIN (IMPRISONED VOICES).

Three years after Bhima Koregaon: How criminal law was violated

09/06/2021 Rani

The Leaflet / by Nihalsing B Rathod

Recalling his bruising experiences with an unjust criminal justice system as part of the legal team of the activists arrested in the questionable Bhima Koregaon violence case three years ago, Nihalsing B Rathod, in this second of a three-part series, recollects how basic tenets of criminal law were violated by the Pune Police in arresting Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Arun Fereira, and Vernon Gonsalves at various points, and extending their detention, as well as that of Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale and Mahesh Raut. All this while, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde exhausted all legal options to evade arrest, as the judiciary looked on, condoning the deprivation of the activists’ liberty and denying their bail applications, sometimes making gestures that filled the activists’ legal team with hope but ultimately continuing the farce that is the Bhima-Koregaon travesty.
Read more

Also read part one: Bhima Koregaon: Marking three years since the first arrest (June 7, 2021)

Bhima Koregaon: Marking three years since the first arrest

07/06/2021 Maya

Click to enlarge posters

The Leaflet / by Nihalsing B Rathod

Recalling the first set of arrests made in the questionable Bhima Koregaon violence case almost exactly three years ago, Nihalsing B Rathod, in this first of a three-part series, recollects the personal horrors of trying to track Surendra Gadling in the immediate aftermath of his arrest, details the events leading to the arrest of five more activists in August 2018, and explains how basic tenets of criminal law were violated by the Pune Police in making these arrests.

The morning of June 6, 2018, gave me a horrific memory that perhaps will never fade. Early in the morning, I received a phone call that police were at the house of Advocate Surendra Gadling again. The memory of the raid of April 17, 2018, was still fresh.
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Video: Bhima Koregaon accused continue to wait for bail

30/03/2021 Maya

InOldNews / by InOldNews

Vira Sathidar, a poet, writer, activist, and also one of the editors of a radical Anti-Caste Marathi Magazine ‘Vidrohi’ talks about incarceration of Sudhir Dhawale, founder of Vidrohi. Sudhir Dhawale along with two other activists- Surendra Gadhling and Prof. Shoma Sen were arrested by Police from Nagpur and are still in jail. These were among the first few arrests of Human rights activists by Modi Government under charges of being involved in Bhima Koregaon Violence and in a plot to assassinate PM Modi. The magazine stopped its publication due to various reasons, one being the constant threat of police surveillance.
Watch video

From FIR to Malware Claims: A Timeline of the Bhima Koregaon Case

20/02/2021 Maya

The Quint / by Vakasha Sachdev

When exactly did the Bhima Koregaon case, as it has come to be known, begin?
Was it on the day the first set of activists were arrested, back in June 2018? Was it the day when malware was allegedly planted on the computers of at least one of the accused, two years before that? Or do we have to go all the way back to the Battle of Bhima Koregaon itself to understand what’s really going on with this case?
Here’s a complete timeline of this controversial case: from its origins in a dodgy FIR, to the moment the Supreme Court could have nipped all this in the bud; and from the filing of 3 charge sheets, to the 16 arrests made under its vague and dubious mandate.
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Video: Tracking India’s crackdown on dissent

06/06/2020 Rani

en | 5:04 min | 2020

Peoples Dispatch / by Peoples Dispatch

June 6 marks the second anniversary of the arrest of activists in India as part of the Bhima Koregaon or Elgar Parishad case. This case has become a prime example of the targeting of those who are critical of India’s current far-right wing government led by prime minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In this video, we look at the case and those who are being targeted.
Watch video

Travesty of Justice – Persecution of Human Rights Defenders

06/06/2020 Rani

By Civil Liberties Committee (AP &Telangana State)

We cannot forget 2018. In fact that the violence in Bhimakoregaon in Maharashtra on January 2018 was a planned and organized by the RSS and other Hindhutva outfits in order to foil Edgar Parishat, a conglomeration of dalits, bahujans and minorities who gathered in a single platform. The Parishad proclaimed to fight against fascist hindutva forces and reclaim Constitution and its ideals. In the months of June and August the Maharashtra Police raided selectively the houses of human rights and social activists across the country.
Read full statement