Browsed by
Tag: prison conditions

Legal Aid System In Prisons Ineffective; Many Languish In Jails Because Of This: Sudha Bharadwaj

Legal Aid System In Prisons Ineffective; Many Languish In Jails Because Of This: Sudha Bharadwaj

Live Law / by Mehal Jain

“I think that all of us must collectively fight for the stronger legal aid system. Without that, Article 21 and 39A do not exist for people in the jails”
Civil rights lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj in a recent webinar spoke about the lack of effective legal aid system in prisons.
Ms.Bharadwaj, who spent as undertrial in the Bhima Koregaon case for over three years before she was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in December 2021, recounted her experiences in prison. She gave a direct account of the difficulties faced by several prisoners, especially those hailing from marginalised sections, in availing legal remedies. She also said that during her custody period she personally wrote hundreds of bail applications for fellow prisoners.
Read more

Video: The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

26/03/2022


en | 1:21:23 | 2022

By All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice – AILAJ

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

Video: In Conversation with Sudha Bharadwaj – The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

Video: In Conversation with Sudha Bharadwaj – The Conditions of Prisoners in Indian Jails

By All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice – AILAJ

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.

en | 1:21:23 | 2022
Watch video

Activist Arun Ferreira alleges tampering with Covid certificate, seeks probe

Activist Arun Ferreira alleges tampering with Covid certificate, seeks probe

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Ferreira has annexed both the certificates with his plea. Lodged at Taloja central jail, Ferreira’s plea states that on January 4, he had made an oral request to the prison superintendent seeking a copy of both his Covid vaccination certificates.
Arun Ferreira, who was arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case, has filed an application before the special court seeking an inquiry over his claim that he was given a different Covid-19 vaccination certificate from the one accessed by his family from the CoWin app.
Read more

Also read:
● For the Government, COVID Is the Perfect Excuse to Worsen Conditions for Political Prisoners (The Wire / Jan 2022)
● Video: Jailed to die? India’s Incarcerated Human Rights Defenders and the Covid Ermergency (InSAF India / June 2021). Public Appeal Meeting with family members of The BK16, and legal and human rights experts.

‘Corporate is supporting communal agenda’: Sudha Bharadwaj

‘Corporate is supporting communal agenda’: Sudha Bharadwaj


hindi | 48:02min | 2022

By Satya Hindi

Was the corporate world the reason for the arrest of Sudha Bharadwaj, a social worker who fought for the underprivileged? Was there a conspiracy to implicate him in the Bhima Koregaon case? How was her experience during his three years in prison? How does she view the current times for socio-economic movements? Does she expect times to change? Dr. Mukesh Kumar talking to Sudha Bhardwaj.
Watch video

Exposing the machinations of authoritarian power: A profile of Vernon Gonsalves

Exposing the machinations of authoritarian power: A profile of Vernon Gonsalves

By The Polis Project

Profiles of Dissent is a series centered on remarkable voices of dissent and courage across the world. They are writers, poets, activists, human rights defenders and those who have been incarcerated for speaking truth to power.
Vernon Gonsalves is a human rights activist, writer and former professor in several colleges in Mumbai. As an advocate of the rights of marginalized communities, he is a vocal critic of India’s criminal justice system and of the State establishment. In 2007, he was imprisoned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Arms Act, but he was released in 2013 after most of the charges made against him were disproved in Court. 
Read more

Surendra Gadling permitted use of laptop in prison / Prosecution to hand over cloned copies

Surendra Gadling permitted use of laptop in prison / Prosecution to hand over cloned copies

Elgar Parishad case accused gets nod to use computer in jail

17/03/2022

Times of India / by TNN

The special NIA court on Wednesday allowed lawyer Surendra Gadling an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, to use a computer in jail for an hour, two days a week. Gadling had sought access to his laptop, submitting that he wanted to prepare his defence.
Meanwhile, the prosecution is to hand over the cloned copies of all the pieces of electronic evidence gathered in the case to the accused.
Read more

Surendra Gadling permitted use of laptop in prison

16/03/2022

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

A special court under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act has permitted the use of a laptop in Taloja jail for Bhima Koregaon accused and lawyer Surendra Gadling.
Gadling had sought to be allowed the use of the device as he is appearing in person in the case.
Read more

Court allows Elgar case accused Gadling to use jail computer

16/03/2022

The Print / by pti

A special NIA court here on Wednesday allowed advocate Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to use computer available in the prison where he is lodged, for an hour two days a week…
Meanwhile, the court allowed a plea of another accused, lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj who is currently on bail, to reside in Mumbai’s suburb of Oshiwara…
The court also granted a petition of Jyoti Jagtap, a co-accused, to receive a set of books.
Read more

Gautam Navlakha, in anda cell, permitted daily walk in prison

Gautam Navlakha, in anda cell, permitted daily walk in prison

Bhima-Koregaon accused Gautam Navlakha, in anda cell, permitted daily walk in prison

16/03/2022

Free Press Journal / by Bhavna Uchil

In a handwritten plea filed by Navlakha before the court on Dec 30 last year, he had sought that he be allowed an hour of fresh air and sun in the prison premises. He had submitted the plea when he was produced before the court that day along with his co-accused.
Read more

Gautam Navlakha allowed 30 min out of anda cell

16/03/2022

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Gautam Navlakha was arrested in April 2020 in connection with the case.
A special court on Tuesday allowed activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, to be taken outside the anda cell he is lodged in at Taloja Central Prison for 30 minutes. Navlakha in his plea filed last December had said that he is 70 and lodged in the prison as an undertrial.
Read more

Also read:
● All I ask is an hour to breathe in fresh air, soak in sun, rights activist Gautam Navlakha in plea (Free Press Journal / Dec 2021)
● How the ‘anda cell’ is used to discipline prison inmates (The Indian Express / Oct 2021)

Making legal aid effective for women prisoners / Sudha Bhardwaj on the time spent with women in prison

Making legal aid effective for women prisoners / Sudha Bhardwaj on the time spent with women in prison

Making legal aid effective for women prisoners

08/03/2022

The Leaflet / by Sudha Bharadwaj

If we are to do any justice to the Constitutional mandate of equality before law, and the right to legal representation, we must put in place a mechanism to provide competent and effective legal aid to all those who cannot afford it, particularly to those languishing in jail.
was in Byculla Jail, Mumbai, between February 2020 and December 2021. Prior to that, in Yerwada Jail, where I was lodged between November 2018 to February 2020, I had given an application to be permitted to help with legal aid, but that was refused, possibly since I and my co-accused Professor Shoma Sen, were lodged in separate cells in the Phansi Yard.
Read more

Lawyer activist Sudha Bhardwaj on the time spent with women in prison

08/03/2022

National Herald / by Sudha Bharadwaj

Legal aid is a right guaranteed by the Constitution but it is virtually nonexistent and ineffective, recalls the lawyer-activist, who spent three years in jail as an accused in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case. Many inmates cannot follow the language and are not even aware of the name of their lawyer despite having signed the Vakalatnama. The judiciary needs to take a good, hard look at those who are in ‘judicial custody’.
Read more

Also read:
● Sudha Bhardwaj and Shoma Sen extend solidarity to Women’s March from jail (Sabrang / March 2019)

Interim protection for Varavara Rao extended til March 8 / Why was bail granted only for 6 months?

Interim protection for Varavara Rao extended til March 8 / Why was bail granted only for 6 months?

Why was bail granted to Varavara Rao only for 6 months? Bombay High Court

03/03/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The High Court noted that the February 2021 order granting temporary medical bail to Rao contained strong observations about the inadequate medical facilities at Taloja Jail.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday mused as to why Varavara Rao, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, was only granted 6 months of bail despite its strong observations regarding medical conditions at Taloja prison [P Varavara Rao v. State of Maharashtra & Anr].
Read more

Varavara Rao’s medical bail extended till March 8

02/03/2022

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The Bombay High Court also asked if the condition of Taloja jail, where Rao will be sent, has improved.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday extended the duration of activist Varavara Rao’s medical bail till March 8, reported PTI.
Read more

Interim protection for Varavara Rao extended until March 8

01/03/2022

The Leaflet / by Sabah Gurmat

On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court heard a plea filed by poet and activist P. Varavara Rao – an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case – seeking extension of his interim bail and for being allowed to stay in Hyderabad while on bail. The division bench of Justices S.B. Shukre and G.A. Sanap decided to continue the hearing of arguments on March 8 and has granted interim protection from coercive action to Rao until then.
Read more

Also read:
● Telugu, Wheelchair & Blanket: How Prison Broke Poet Varavara Rao (The Quint / Feb 2021)
● Varavara Rao’s Bail: Leading Newspapers Urge Courts to Protect the Fundamental Right to Liberty (The Leaflet / Feb 2021)

Court allows Gadling access to ayurvedic medicines, table & chair / Surendra’s Prison Song

Court allows Gadling access to ayurvedic medicines, table & chair / Surendra’s Prison Song

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Gadling had submitted that his son had brought ayurvedic medicines for him in November but the Taloja Jail superintendent did not allow him access to those.
A special court has allowed lawyer Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, access to ayurvedic medicines as well as a table and chair to study for his defence.
Gadling had submitted that his son had brought ayurvedic medicines for him in November but the Taloja Jail superintendent did not allow him access to those. He submitted that the court had, in 2018, permitted him to carry the prescribed medicines to prison. 
Read more

Also watch:
Video: The Prison Song of Surendra Gadling

hindi | 11min | 2021
In August, when human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling was released on interim bail for a week, he made a quick visit to the Nagpur sessions court to meet his colleagues and friends. 51- year-old Gadling, a well-known criminal lawyer in Nagpur, was once a cultural activist, who sang songs of political resistance. The 11- minutes- long rendition tells you what it means to be incarcerated in Indian prisons. From food, water, to medical care, everything is a struggle, Gadling narrates.
Watch video