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Rich Land of Poor People – the work of imprisoned lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj

Rich Land of Poor People – the work of imprisoned lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj

Civicus.org / by Alina Tiphagne / Human Rights Defenders Alert

There has been a huge displacement of Adivasis in Chhattisgarh due to businesses monopolising land and natural resources, and there has been rampant human rights abuses reported in the state. To add to this already complex situation, southern Chhattisgarh is the epicentre of a five decades-long insurgency between the Naxalite Maoist group and the Indian government which has affected the tribal population, densely forested districts and neighbouring states … The work of Sudha Bharadwaj, human rights lawyer and former General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh People’s Union for Civil Liberties, lies at this faught intersection.
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Rs 1 Lakh each for Human Rights Defenders: NHRC Orders Chhattisgrah Govt

06/08/2020

Indian Cultural Forum / by Nandini Sundar, Archana Prasad, Manju Kawasi, Vineet Tiwari, Sanjay Parate and Mangla Ram Karma

They are demanding compensation “for the mental agony and violation of human rights” caused by false charges and arrests.
Press Release
On 5th November 2016, the Chhattisgarh police lodged an FIR against us under various sections of the IPC, Arms Act, and UAPA …
We are grateful to the PUCL for taking up the cases of all human rights defenders in Chhattisgarh and for informing us about the NHRC order. It is deeply distressing that PUCL Secretary and Advocate Sudha Bhardwaj who took up such cases in Chhattisgarh has herself been arrested under false charges. We trust that all human rights defenders who have been falsely accused will get justice.
Read full statement

BK12 Solidarity in Kolkata + New York / Fast by Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham in Kerela

BK12 Solidarity in Kolkata + New York / Fast by Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham in Kerela

Fast by Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham in Kerela

05/08/2020


Pic Credit: Siddhesh Gautam

Dalit Camera / by Dalit Bahujans for Hany Babu

1000 cultural activists would fast under the banner of the Thrissur District Committee of the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham (Pu.Ka.Sa. – Progressive Association of Art and Literature) on Thursday, 6th of August, demanding that the life of revolutionary poet Varavara Rao be saved, and that he be released from jail immediately.
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KOLKATA: LET THE RAIN BE THERE! WE WILL SHIELD THE FIRE!

04/08/2020

By Release The Poet

SO, by the drizzling afternoon
On Central Kolkata road, WE uttered out loud …
“Varavara’s Comrade! Let’s build Barricade!”
“Soma’s Comrade! Build up Barricade!
“Sudha’s Comrade! Let’s build Barricade!”
“Rona’s Comrade! Build up Barricade!”
“Hanybabu’s Comrade! Let’s build Barricade!”
“GN’s Comrade! Build up Barricade!”

“Join Us Comrade! Let’s build Barricade!”

PUCL • CRPP • AIPF • FOD • PYL • BHIM ARMY • IFTU • AISA • NO NRC MOVEMENT • SANGHATI UDYOG • RSF •
BANDI MUKTI COMMITTEE • SARA BANGLA GANAPRATIRODH MANCHA •
RELEASE THE POET
PUCL criticises Hany Babu’s arrest, says NIA acted in `sheer spite´

PUCL criticises Hany Babu’s arrest, says NIA acted in `sheer spite´

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The human rights body said the government was resorting to ‘fabricated prosecutions’ using the UAPA to punish activists and academics.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties on Sunday criticised the arrest of Delhi University professor MT Hany Babu in the Bhima Koregaon case, calling it an attempt to criminalise and silence intellectuals in India.
Babu was arrested by the National Investigation Agency on July 28.
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1.000 Taloja Jail inmates, including some BK case prisoners, have COVID-like symptoms, say families

1.000 Taloja Jail inmates, including some BK case prisoners, have COVID-like symptoms, say families


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

COVID-19, Political Prisoners, and the Overcrowding of Prisons

03/08/2020

Jurist / by Abhishek Chakravarty and Abhijit Rajkhowa

Barely a few months after news broke about a novel virus with the potential for a global pandemic, COVID-19 brought the entire world to a grinding halt … The virus has mercilessly affected all sections of our society whether rich or poor, young or old. Now the virus knocks at the door of a highly vulnerable group of people whose choices are limited – prisoners.
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1.000 Taloja Jail inmates, including some BK case prisoners, have COVID-like symptoms, say families

02/08/2020

Firstpost / by Parth MN

Anand Teltumbde’s family is anxiously awaiting his test results. The high court directed the state to inform the family on 1 August.
When Monali Raut spoke to her imprisoned brother Mahesh last week, it got her a bit worried. “He said almost half the prisoners in Taloja Central Prison have been suffering from flu, cough or cold in the past week,” she said.
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Open Letter to Maharashtra CM Seeks Interim Bail for Political Detenues

Open Letter to Maharashtra CM Seeks Interim Bail for Political Detenues


Bilaspur, June 25, 2020

Newsclick / by Newsclick Report

New Delhi: Marking the 45th year of the Emergency in India on June, civil rights groups have written an open letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, drawing his attention to the “deplorable and abysmal condition of jails and quarantine facilities in Maharashtra”, especially in the light of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, where several political activists are incarcerated.
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Chhattisgarh PUCL Calls for the Immediate Roll Back of the Undeclared Emergency

Chhattisgarh PUCL Calls for the Immediate Roll Back of the Undeclared Emergency


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

By People’s Union for Civil Liberties – Chhattisgarh

Release All Political Prisoners!
Repeal Draconian Laws!
Stop Gagging the Media!

June 25th, 2020: On this day in 1975, the then-Indian Government imposed the State of Emergency in India, suspending all fundamental rights and commencing one of the darkest periods of Indian democracy. Today, after a span of forty-five years, we the people of India find ourselves in a similar situation, living in a de facto state of emergency, which has not been officially declared, where scores of ordinary citizens to who dared to criticize the government are being arbitrarily arrested under draconian laws meant only for rarest cases of international terror. The Chhattisgarh chapter of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties is observing this day as the Anti-Emergency Day –to demand the release of arrested human rights workers, and to renew our pledge to uphold the Constitution of India, with all its promises of freedom and equality, in its true spirit. …

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Denying bail in Elgaar Parishad case to political prisoners is callous: PUCL

Denying bail in Elgaar Parishad case to political prisoners is callous: PUCL

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

‘In COVID-19 times, especially when Maharashtra has emerged as the State with the highest number of cases, differentially treating bail petitions by political prisoners is gross injustice’.
The denial of bail to all accused in the Elgaar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case was “patently callous”, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said on Monday, and urged that the health and safety of political prisoners be treated with the same urgency as other prisoners.
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PUDR: The Lessons of Bhima Koregaon Case: No Bail, Only Jail

01/06/2020

Kractivism / by PUDR

With the surrenders of Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha on April 14, 2020 in Mumbai and Delhi respectively, the NIA, the investigative agency, has ensured the arrest of all 11 prominent human rights activists in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case under the draconian UAPA. The recent rejection of the bail applications of Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Shoma Sen and Sudha Bharadwaj, and the sudden transfer of Gautam Navlakha by the NIA, raise significant questions about the rights of political prisoners amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
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COVID-19: Jails turn into hotbeds of disease

COVID-19: Jails turn into hotbeds of disease


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

COVID-19: AT LEAST THREE DIE IN MAHARASHTRA PRISONS

26/05/2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

In an affidavit submitted to the Bombay high court in response to a PIL, the state government said that a prisoner each has died in the central prisons of Taloja and Yerwada, and in Dhule district prison. Maharashtra is the first state to have reported deaths in prisons so far.
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COVID-19: Jails turn into hotbeds of disease

25/05/2020

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

Judges withhold bail; several prison reforms recommended over the years have fallen through the cracks.
On May 5, two months after the Arthur Road jail superintendent warned that an outbreak of COVID-19 could not be contained in the jail due to overcrowding, his worst fears came true: the first positive case was discovered in the precincts.
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Maharashtra Prisoner Released on Parole Says Jails Unprepared to Handle COVID-19 Pandemic

30/03/2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

No transport has been arranged for those who are released, while inmates still in prison fear for their health.
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Chhattisgarh: NHRC accuses state officials of ‘abetting’ crimes of Salwa Judum

Chhattisgarh: NHRC accuses state officials of ‘abetting’ crimes of Salwa Judum


Pic: virasam.org

The Indian Express / by Gargi Verma

The commission made the comment while declaring an order on September 23, 2019, in the matter of the killing of seven people and burning of 95 huts in the Kondasawali, Karrepara and Kamaraguda villages of Sukma district in 2007 …
PUCL secretary Shalini Gera said, “The case was filed on a complaint by Sudha Bharadwaj, who is in Pune jail because she was working for the tribals and filing complaints like these.”
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