GN Saibaba – free them all

Scholars at Risk Report Details Bleak State of Academic Freedom in India

26/11/2020 Rani

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The SAR urged authorities to repeal the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act “to ensure compliance with obligations under its constitution and international human rights law”.
Scholars at Risk (SAR), an international network of higher education institutions that aims to defend academic freedom, in its Free to Think 2020 report, has called on authorities in India to “ensure the autonomy and functioning of higher education institutions”… In India, the Free to Think 2020 report, the arrest of activists, including students and scholars, amidst nationwide lockdowns raised concerns that the government was “taking advantage of the crisis in order to crack down on dissent”.
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Hyderabad actvist asks NHRC to look into Varavara Rao’s case

21/10/2020 Rani

The New Indian Express / by Express News Service

He requested the commission to take steps to provide medical care to Saibaba.
Hyderabad: MA Satyanarayana Rao, a city-based activist, has approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), requesting it to look into the alleged human rights violations to jailed Delhi University professor GN Saibaba and revolutionary poet Varavara Rao. He requested the commission to take steps to provide medical care to Saibaba.
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NIA Claims Arrested Accused Were Attempting to Create a ‘Dalit Militia’

21/10/2020 Rani

NIA Claims Arrested Accused Were Attempting to Create a ‘Dalit Militia’

21/10/2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

The NIA chargesheet has sidelined the Pune police’s earlier claim that the accused were plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mumbai: In the over 10,000-page chargesheet recently filed in the Elgar Parishad case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has stacked together statements by witnesses who have made claims ranging from arms training undertaken by a few arrested accused in the forests of central India to some trying to “reinvent Dalit militancy” in the country.
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Teltumbde brought Maoist literature, videos from abroad: NIA chargesheet

21/10/2020

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has alleged in its chargesheet filed in the Elgar Parishad case that former IIT professor Anand Teltumbde attended international conferences “under the guise of… academic visits abroad” and brought back Maoist literature and videos on “ideology, tactics, weapons” to show members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
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CPI(M) gets Rs 3 crore a year from Maharashtra, MP & Chhattisgarh zone, says NIA chargesheet

21/10/2020

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

The National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) 10,000-page chargesheet in the Elgaar Parishad case relies on witness statements to draw up details about the banned CPI (Maoist), including its means of funding, training and recruitment.
According to a witness, members of the organisation collect Rs 350 per bag of tendua leaves – containing 1,000 pouches – as tax.
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NIA chargesheet claims triangular links between Delhi student front, accused and CPI (Maoist)

21/10/2020

Free Press Journal / by Bhavna Uchil

The chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad case has claimed a “concrete triangular link between a student’s organization functioning in New Delhi, arrested accused and CPI (Maoist) operating from the deep forest”.
It states that the issues related with the student front at JNU DSU are highlighted with some of the communication made with Maoist.
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More than 400 students, faculty members sci-tech institutes demand bail for Varavara Rao, GN Saibaba

18/08/2020 Rani

Hindustan Times / by Priyanka Sahoo

More than 400 students, faculty members, and alumni from various science and technology institutes in the country have signed a petition to the Central government, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde, demanding bail and medical care for Varavara Rao and GN Saibaba, who are in jail for their alleged Communist Party of India (CPI)-Maoist links, and the release of other political prisoners.
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DU professor PK Vijayan says NIA questioned him on role in Saibaba committee

17/08/2020 Maya

Free Press Journal / by Bhavna Uchil

Delhi University’s Hindu College professor PK Vijayan has said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) questioned him last Friday regarding his role in the Saibaba Defence Committee.
Prof Vijayan who teaches English in the institution said he is not at liberty to speak on what happened during the questioning, as he has been advised by his advocates not to do so but described the session ‘cordial’ and ‘civil’. “We (he and Prof. Rakesh Ranjan) were kept waiting for about 5-6 hours and questioned for the rest,” he said.
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We are only as free as those we love / K Satyanrayana on Varavara Rao

14/08/2020 Maya

The Hindu Business / by Shriya Mohan

For the families of political prisoners, daily life is an endless rigmarole of legal battles for the bail of their loved ones.
The pandemic and the resulting curfew on prison visits and postal delivery have exacerbated the isolation of political prisoners like GN Saibaba, Varavara Rao, Dr Kafeel Khan, Sudha Bharadwaj and others, cutting them off further from their families — the very people who are rooting for their innocence and freedom.
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When the moon slips into Darkness: K Satyanrayana on Varavara Rao

15/08/2020

Gauri Lankesh News / by K Satyanarayana

A popular public speaker with eloquent oration and elephantine memory is now reduced to searching for words, incoherent delirium.
Varavara Rao, 80-year old Telugu revolutionary poet, now incarcerated in Bhima Koregaon case and ailing in Nanavati Hospital, should not be left to die, as he is a symbol of people’s poetry, chronicler of people’s movements, upholder of popular democracy and rule of law, a teacher and a public speaker. One can gauge his popularity from the world-wide upsurge of expressions of protest against his imprisonment and solidarity with him, pouring in for the last ten days.
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Committee condemns the raid on the house of Dr Hany Babu

04/08/2020 Rani

Countercurrents / by Committee for the Defence and Release of Dr G N Saibaba

We strongly condemn the unwarranted raid on 2nd August 2020 by officers of the National Intelligence Agency, on the house of Dr Hany Babu, a member of the Committee… The raid at his house, conducted on the 2nd morning, was ostensibly to collect material to corroborate the arrest. It defies all logic that the arrest of Dr Babu was made without sufficient basis, to the point that the NIA now finds itself searching for material to justify the arrest, post-facto and concocting false ”evidence” against him.
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PUCL criticises Hany Babu’s arrest, says NIA acted in `sheer spite´

03/08/2020 Rani

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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NIA Arrests Hany Babu, ‘Pressured Him to Implicate Others,’ Says Wife

28/07/2020 Rani

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

The DU academic’s wife, professor Jenny Rowena, told The Wire that the NIA has tried repeatedly to nudge him towards implicating others in the case, during questioning.
Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday, July 28, arrested Delhi University associate professor of English, Hany Babu M.T, in connection with the Elgar Parishad case. With Babu’s arrest, 12 people – all activists, lawyers and academics – have been arrested in the case.
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`A Pattern´: NIA Arrests DU Prof Hany Babu in Bhima Koregaon Case

The Quint / by Amita Nandy

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested Delhi University Professor Hany Babu on Tuesday, 28 July in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence probe. He was being interrogated at the NIA’s Mumbai office since 23 July.
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NIA arrests DU professor Hany Babu, say reports

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday arrested Delhi University professor MT Hany Babu in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, reported PTI.
Babu will be produced before a special NIA court in Mumbai on Wednesday, according to The Times of India.
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CLC & Left Parties Demand Unconditional Release of Public Intellectuals arrested in BK Case & Prof. Saibaba

17/07/2020 Rani

CDRO Online / by Coordination of Democratic Rights Organaisation

A round table meeting was held on 14th July 2020, at the Godavarikhani, Ambedkar Bhavan on the issue of arrested intellectuals in Bhima-Koregaon case. This meeting was attended by different public associations, Civil Liberties Committee (CLC), leftist parties like CPI, CPIM, CPI-ML New Democracy and Dalit groups like All India Ambedkar Youth Association (AIAYA), Madiga Reservation PorataSamithi (MRPS) and Mala Mahanadu.
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