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
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. Read more
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
NIA wants to use witness statements from Elgar Parishad in Gadchiroli blast case
02/09/2022
Hindustan Times / by Charol Shah
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed that Rona Wilson, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, met with an accused who is wanted in the deaths of 15 police personnel in the Jamburkheda blast in Gadchiroli.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed that Rona Wilson, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, met with an accused who is wanted in the deaths of 15 police personnel in the Jamburkheda blast in Gadchiroli. Read more
Mumbai court allows NIA to file evidence from Elgar Parishad probe in Gadchiroli blast case
02/09/2022
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The judge allowed the agency to produce the statements of two witnesses and a photo identification panchnama.
… The National Investigation Agency, in an application before Special Judge Rajesh Kataria, said that some evidence needed to be brought on record in the Gadchiroli attack case. The court allowed the agency to produce the statements of two witnesses and a photo identification panchnama, according to The Times of India. Read more
Jyoti Jagtap moves Bombay HC challenging special court’s bail rejection order
NIA opposes bail plea of Elgar Parishad accused Jyoti Jagtap, says she received arms training
31/08/2022
India Today / by Vidya
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday opposed the bail plea of Jyoti Jagtap who is an accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday opposed the bail plea of Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) member Jyoti Jagtap, who is accused in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case. Jagtap was arrested on September 8, 2020 and a charge sheet was filed against her on October 9, 2020.
… A division bench of the High Court will hear the plea on September 13. Read more
Jyoti Jagtap moves Bombay HC challenging special court’s bail rejection order
30/08/2022
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
In the plea filed through advocate Kritika Agarwal, Jagtap said she is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the case. Jagtap said the special court erred in concluding that a prima facie case existed against her.
An accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, Jyoti Jagtap, recently approached the Bombay High Court challenging an order of a special court that denied her regular bail. A division bench of Justice Ajay S Gadkari and Justice Milind N Jadhav Tuesday posted hearing after two weeks. Read more
Of 16 Arrested Accused in Elgar Parishad Case, One Dead, Two Out on Bail and Rest in Jail
19/08/2022
The Wire / by pti
With the Supreme Court stipulating that charges in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case be framed within the next three months, the focus has shifted now to the status of the accused.
With the Supreme Court stipulating that charges in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case be framed within the next three months, the focus has shifted now to the status of the accused.
In the case that is being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), of the total 16 arrested accused, Jesuit priest Stan Swamy died at a private hospital here last year during judicial custody, while Telugu poet Varavara Rao is currently out on medical bail. Only one accused – Sudha Bharadwaj – is out on regular bail. Read more
Lyrics by Shahir Sagar Gorkhe, sung by Adv Surendra Gadling Watch video
PEN AMERICA, WITH 102 INTERNATIONAL WRITERS AND ARTISTS, CALLS FOR INDIA TO UPHOLD THE FREEDOM TO WRITE AHEAD OF 75TH INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION
15/08/2022
Pen.org / by PEN America
Raises Ongoing Concerns About Fraying of Free Expression and Jailing and Silencing of Writers
(NEW YORK)—As India marks 75 years of independence today, 102 notable U.S. and international writers and creative artists, including Marina Abramovic, Paul Auster, J.M. Coetzee, Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen, Azar Nafisi, and Orhan Pamuk, joined PEN America and PEN International in signing a letter to Indian President Droupadi Murmu, raising concern over the deterioration of free expression and calling for the release of imprisoned writers and dissident and critical voices…
Seven of the eight writers in prison in India during 2021 have been detained in connection with the ongoing Elgar Parishad case, concerning a deadly inter-caste altercation in the village of Bhima Koregaon in 2018. In response, state- and national-level authorities detained a broad swathe of leftist writers and intellectuals, accusing them of inciting the violence and of links to banned groups. Read full statement
INDIA AT 75 | CONTRIBUTORS S – Z
15/08/2022
PEN America / by Siddhartha Deb
…
Siddhartha Deb
I am not allowed to say the name of the person who told me, years ago: “India is not a nation. It is a prisonhouse of all possible nations.” Now this person is incarcerated, but I can’t describe the specifics of their suffering…
I can say the name of Stan Swamy, incarcerated and, eventually, killed by the Indian state on July 5, 2021. I can say his name because his life, if not his memory, is beyond the reach of the prisonhouse. Father Stan, dead at 84 because those running India are terrified of a Jesuit priest whose life was dedicated to working with indigenous people brutalized by Hindutva, the state, and the market. Read more
Our friend Mahesh is spending his 5th Independence Day in the prison with all the other activists in the Elgar Parishad case. They await their freedom. Please spare a thought for each one of them.
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. The song was recorded by one of Gadling’s colleagues and was made available to The Wire after obtaining his consent.
Varavara Rao is currently on bail on medical grounds, and had challenged in the Supreme Court the High Court order rejecting his appeal.
… Incidentally, the High Court had also noted the claims made by Rao’s counsel on the lack of medical facilities at the Taloja prison and the poor hygienic conditions there, saying there was substance in the argument.
In the trial in the case, the Elgar Parishad accused have repeatedly brought up the lack of facilities in prison, and denial of access to the same. Read more
‘You are immortalised in our hearts’: A cellmate’s letter to Stan Swamy on his death anniversary / Protest Fast by 11 Co-Accused
‘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. Read more
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. Read more
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
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. Read more
The dangerous Machchhardani (mosquito net) – Statement by Ramesh Gaichor
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.
#Machhardani #Freebk16 #gautammawlakha #Sagar #Ramesh
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
by Panther Ajay
