Rona Wilson – Page 4 – free them all

After 5 benches recuse, Rona Wilson seeks suitable HC bench

30/09/2022 Asha

After 5 benches recuse, Elgaar case accused seeks suitable HC bench

30/09/2022

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

Wilson had, in February 2021, moved a petition before the high court citing the report of a US-based digital consultant which said that his computer was ‘infected with malware’ planted two years before his arrest in 2018. The last effective hearing before the high court on Wilson’s petition was on August 4, 2021.
Activist Rona Wilson, an accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, on Thursday told a special court that he has written to the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court seeking a suitable bench to hear and dispose of a petition filed by him in a time-bound manner, as five benches have, so far, recused themselves from hearings on the case.
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Rona Wilson writes to high court CJ for early hearing of discharge plea

30/09/2022

Hindustan Times / by Charul Shah

Rona Wilson, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon violence case, has requested the Chief Justice of Bombay high court to expedite the hearing of his discharge plea based on the report by an American digital consultancy firm.
He had approached the high court in February last year to quash the case against him and to issue directions for setting up a special investigation team headed by a retired supreme court or high court judge to conduct a forensic analysis of the electronic evidence the police claimed to have collected against the accused.
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Also read:
● Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
● In Bhima-Koregaon Case, More Damning Signs of Planted Evidence (article14 / March 2021)

NIA wants to use witness statements from Elgar Parishad in Gadchiroli blast case

02/09/2022 Asha

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.
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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.
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Jyoti Jagtap moves Bombay HC challenging special court’s bail rejection order

31/08/2022 Asha

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.
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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.
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Also read:
● Special NIA Court Refuses Bail To DU Associate Prof Hany Babu And Three Kabir Kala Manch Members (Live Law / Feb 2022)

Of 16 Arrested Accused in Elgar Parishad Case, One Dead, Two Out on Bail and Rest in Jail

19/08/2022 Asha

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

Arun Ferreira Claims NIA Intercepted Emails ‘Without Proper Authorisation’

30/07/2022 Asha

Arun Ferreira Claims NIA Intercepted Emails ‘Without Proper Authorisation’

30/07/2022

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The National Investigation Agency, however, contended that the emails were not intercepted, but were downloaded during the investigation by following due procedure.
Activist Arun Ferreira, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, told a special court here on Friday, July 29, that the electronic evidence (emails), relied on by the prosecution as evidence in the case, was obtained “without proper authorisation”.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), however, contended that the emails were not intercepted, but were downloaded during the investigation by following due procedure.
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Elgar Parishad case: Accused claims emails intercepted without valid authorisation

30/07/2022

Hindustan Times / by Charul Shah

While arguing his plea on Friday, Ferreira said that the court hast scheduled the case for framing of charges hence before trial began, the should be provided with a copy of the order.
Arun Ferreira, one of the accused in the Elgar Parishad case, on Friday alleged that the email recovered from the devices of accused Rona Wilson by the prosecutions was intercepted without any valid authorisation.
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ED moves NIA Court to question accused Surendra Gadling in money laundering case

30/07/2022

Bar & Bench / by Satyendra Wankhade

The Special NIA Court has granted time to Gadling to respond to ED’s application by August 10.
… Meanwhile Arun Ferreira – another accused in the Elgaar Parishad case – on Friday told a special court that certain emails relied upon by the prosecution as evidence were intercepted without authorisation as the National Investigating Agency (NIA) had not provided an order from a competent authority regarding their interception.
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Why did India´s media ignore Wired story on plice planting evidence against Bhima Koregaon activists?

14/07/2022 Asha

Newslaundry / by Kalpana Sharma

News is always “breaking” and stories are sometimes “broken”. But then you also have important stories that are “broken” but are quickly forgotten. Not always deliberately, although sometimes that is the case. Quite often because there is just too much news breaking all around us, genuine and fake. As a result, many important stories that need to be followed up are relegated to the archives.
… But first to an important investigative story that got barely reported in the Indian media.
I refer to the remarkable story broken by the Wired magazine on June 16. Headlined “Police linked to hacking campaign to frame Indian activists”, the story describes in some detail how the Indian police were able to plant evidence on the computers of some activists that ultimately led to their arrest.
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Also read:
● Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
● The unravelling of a conspiracy: were the 16 charged with plotting to kill India’s prime minister framed? (The Guardian / Aug 2021)
● Explainer: Arsenal Report on Surendra Gadling (The Leaflet / July 2021)
● They were Accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government – The evidence was planted, a new report says (Washington Post / Feb 2021)

Default bail pleas of five Elgaar accused: Matter already decided by Bombay HC, says NIA Court

08/07/2022 Asha

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

A special court that recently rejected the default bail pleas of five of the Bhima Koregaon – Elgaar Parishad accused, has said in its reasoned order for doing so, that the ground on which they were seeking bail was already considered and decided by the Bombay High Court and they had no right to raise it in their present pleas.
The applications were filed by Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhavale, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut.
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Also read:
● NIA special court rejects default bail application of five accused (The Leaflet / June 2022)

‘You are immortalised in our hearts’: A cellmate’s letter to Stan Swamy on his death anniversary / Protest Fast by 11 Co-Accused

05/07/2022 Asha

‘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.
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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.
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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.
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Also read
● How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison (Scroll.in / Aug 2021)

And the letters of Rona Wilson

04/07/2022 Asha

Midday.com / by Ajaz Ashraf

In his cell in Taloja jail, the activist now reads voraciously- from contemporary history to detective fiction – and writes, his reflections on the society and books; Malcolm X was right about living in jail.
Wilson Jacob’s memory began to fade around the time he turned 83, in 2020. He forgot his son Rona Wilson was arrested on June 6, 2018, booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for fomenting the Bhima-Koregaon violence, and denied his liberty since then.
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Also read:
● Pune Police allegedly planted fake evidence on devices of Bhima Koregaon accused, reports Wired (Scroll.in / June 2022)
● And Allah’s call to Hany Babu (Midday.com / June 2022)
● And Ma can’t sing with Sagar (Midday.com / June 2022)
● And he waits for Shoma Sen (Midday.com / May 2022)
● And she waits for Gautam Navlakha (Midday.com / May 2022)

NIA special court rejects default bail application of five accused

28/06/2022 Asha

Poster campaign, 2019. Click to enlarge

Mumbai court rejects default bail to 5 accused

29/06/2022

Bar & Bench / by Satyendra Wankhade

The bail pleas had been pending since 2018 when accused, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut approached a Pune court challenging extension of time granted for filing of chargesheet.
The applications were filed in 2018 seeking default bail on the ground that the extension granted by the court to the investigating agency for filing chargesheet was in violation of law.
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NIA special court rejects default bail application of five accused

28/06/2022

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Earlier today, the default bail applications of human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist Surendra Gadling, activist and researcher Rona Wilson, women’s rights activist and professor Shoma Sen, activist Mahesh Raut, and activist, actor and publisher Sudhir Dhawale, co- accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, were rejected by a Special National Intelligence Agency (‘NIA’) court in Mumbai.
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NIA court rejects default bail of five accused in Bhima Koregaon case

28/06/2022

The Hindu / by Special Correspondent

The grounds for filing the petition was that the 90-day extension that was granted to the prosecuting agency for filing the chargesheet was illegal
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday rejected the default bail plea of five accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case.
Special NIA judge Rajesh Katariya rejected the pleas of former professor of Nagpur university Shoma Sen, advocate Surendra Gadling, activist Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut. All of them were arrested on June 6, 2018 from different locations.
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Also read:
● Bhima Koregaon: Who’s who of those arrested & the developments in the case pertaining to each (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● Bombay High Court rejects default bail plea of Varavara Rao and seven other accused (The Leaflet / May 2022)