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The Message Is Loud & Clear. New Book On 11 ‘Prisoners Of Conscience’ & The Costs Of Defiance

The Message Is Loud & Clear. New Book On 11 ‘Prisoners Of Conscience’ & The Costs Of Defiance

‘The Message Is Loud & Clear.’ Author Of New Book On 11 Indian ‘Prisoners Of Conscience’ & The Costs Of Defiance

07/03/2025

Article 14 / by Zeyad Masroor Khan

Political prisoners are among the most discriminated against of India’s prisoners, says Neeta Kolhatkar, author of ‘The Feared’, a book that explores the lives of 11 such prisoners and their families. They talked to her about their experiences while incarcerated and—for those on bail—after. Kolhatkar tells us how she got access to India’s ‘prisoners of conscience’, and why she thinks they were arrested; how they struggle for basic facilities, including medical tests; the impact on their physical and mental health, on their spouses and children; and their survival strategies.

“I will not come out alive if I am jailed again.”
That is what Binayak Sen, 75, says in “The Feared”, a new book by Mumbai-based journalist Neeta Kolhatkar, chronicling the experiences of 11 Indian political prisoner. A medical doctor arrested in 2007 while working in the Adivasi lands of Chhattisgarh, Sen was convicted of sedition in 2010 before being granted bail in 2011.
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The Feared: A wake-up call to the gross human rights violations inflicted on thousands of undertrials

05/06/2025

Sabrang India / by Harsh Thakor

The Feared is a collection of interviews conducted by Neeta Kolhatkar with 11 political prisoners and, in some cases, their loved ones. Through these conversations, she vividly portrays their everyday lives within multiple prisons across India. This landmark work is a path breaking contribution to resurrecting the spirit of dissent and resistance at a time when proto-fascism is reaching unprecedented heights.
The book serves as a wake-up call to the gross human rights violations inflicted on thousands of undertrials. Kolhatkar’s detailed discussions – some spanning multiple meetings – reveal personal anecdotes from the prisoners’ time behind bars. She brings to light not only their experiences but also the deplorable prison conditions, including issues related to space, hygiene, medical care, and food.
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‘If I’m A Hindu, It Does Not Mean I’ll Put Non-Hindu Behind Bars,’ Says Retired Justice BN Srikrishna At Book Launch

27/02/2025

Free Press Journal / FPJ News Service

If I’m a Hindu, it does not mean that I hate a person who’s a non-Hindu or put him behind the bars for their religion or political ideology, said retired justice BN Srikrishna, who headed the Srikrishna Commission to investigate the Bombay Riots of 1992-93.
… The book includes conversations with political prisoners including Sudha Bharadwaj, Nilofer Malik and Sameer Khan, Koel Sen, Prashant Rahi and Shikha Rahi, Sanjay Raut, Kishorechandra Wangkhem, Anand Teltumbde and Rama Ambedkar, Binayak Sen, Kobad Gandhy, Muralidharan K and P Hemlatha.
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Also read:
▪ The Feared – Conversations with Eleven Political Prisoners

Author: Neeta Kolhatkar
Publishing Date: Dec 2024
Publisher: S&S India
Pages: 272
Read more /order

▪ Who Is a ‘Political Prisoner’? Rona Wilson Says Caste and Religion Are Key to the Answer (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ Journalist pens about the lives of political prisoners in India (Deccan Herald / Dec 2024)
▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / 2024)
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)

Journalist pens about the lives of political prisoners in India

Journalist pens about the lives of political prisoners in India

Deccan Herald / by Mrityunjay Bose

During the course of extensive research, Kolhatkar spoke to political prisoners and their family members.
Journalist and political analyst Neeta Kolhatkar has written about the life and struggles of the political prisoners in India. The prisoners include Dr Binayak Sen, paediatrician, public health specialist and social activist, and Prof Anand Teltumbde, eminent scholar, Dalit activist and management teacher.
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The Feared
Conversations with Eleven Political Prisoners
simonandschuster.co.in / by Neeta Kolhatkar
During long discussions, sometimes taking place over multiple meetings, Kolhatkar unearths personal anecdotes from the time her interviewees were incarcerated, bringing into focus the human face of prison inmates, while also detailing the wretched conditions relating to space, hygiene, medical attention, and food that they experienced. Apart from being an urgent call to action for prison reforms, The Feared is thus also an account of hope and strength, narrating unique stories of survival and solidarity, and the unexpected bonds and relationships formed in prison.
Author: Neeta Kolhatkar
Publisher: S&S India (December 20, 2024)
Length: 272 pages
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Also read:
▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / 2024)
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)
▪ From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada (Juggernaut │ Sudha Bharadwaj │ Oct 2023)

A Professor & A Singer, Both Accused In Bhima-Koregaon Case, Discuss Hopelessness & Hope In An Indian Prison

A Professor & A Singer, Both Accused In Bhima-Koregaon Case, Discuss Hopelessness & Hope In An Indian Prison

Article 14 / by Stuti Shah

English professor Shoma Sen and singer and activist Jyoti Jagtap, both accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, discuss the issues they experienced in prison, such as overcrowding, inadequate healthcare, and poor living conditions. They describe the lack of access to education, systemic inequalities, and the challenges faced by marginalised women and LGBTQ+ individuals in India’s prison system. Both women spoke of the importance of sisterhood and resilience and expressed hope for change.
Read more

Also listen / read:
▪ Episode 18 of CJP’s Podcast Series RightsCast

en/hindi | 13:18min | 2023
By Citizens for Justice and Peace (cjp)
How does the Indian Prison system strip the women inmates of their basic rights and dignity? In a patriarchal society, within a prison system that’s designed to focus on male inmates, how do female prisoners navigate their incarceration?
Listen to this in-depth podcast on the conditions of women inmates in India’s prisons where human rights activists, Adivasi leaders, student activists, lawyers and citizens-in-resistance share stories of horror and explore the plight of women in prison.
Listen to the podcast

▪ Video: Healthcare and Mental Health inside Prison | Sudha Bharadwaj | QUAID KE PARE
By Citizens for Justice and Peace
hindi | 5:51min
Watch video

▪ ‘Buzz of a Mosquito… But With the Sound of Grief’: The Lives of India’s Women Prisoners (The Wire / March 2021)

Explained: The Supreme Court’s judgment against 24/7 surveillance as a bail condition

Explained: The Supreme Court’s judgment against 24/7 surveillance as a bail condition

The Leaflet / by Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

In a significant judgment, the Supreme Court has held that a bail condition enabling police to monitor the movement of an accused out on bail through mobile phones is illegal and violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.
…
It remains to be seen whether this judgment of the Supreme Court will provide relief to the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad accused Shoma Sen, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, upon whom the judiciary has imposed similar bail conditions or whether this will be another case of a progressive Order in one case which is not followed by a similar Order in another case.
Read more

Also read:
▪ If those on bail are tracked 24/7, has their liberty really been (partially) restored? (The Leaflet / May 2024)
▪ Share Gps live location with nia 24×7: Supreme Court bail conditions for Shoma Sen (Bar & Bench / April 2024)
▪ Supreme Court grants bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, with tethers (The Leaflet / Jul 2023)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: STORIES OF LOVE, MURDER AND CHILD MARRIAGE FROM SHOMA SEN’S YEARS IN PRISONS

BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: STORIES OF LOVE, MURDER AND CHILD MARRIAGE FROM SHOMA SEN’S YEARS IN PRISONS

To mark six years of the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of political dissidents in the Bhima Koregaon case, The Polis Project is publishing a series of writings by the BK-16, and their families, friends and partners. By describing various aspects of the past six years, the series offers a glimpse into the BK-16’s lives inside prison, as well as the struggles of their loved ones outside. Each piece in the series is complemented by Arun Ferreira’s striking and evocative artwork.

BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: STORIES OF LOVE, MURDER AND CHILD MARRIAGE FROM SHOMA SEN’S YEARS IN PRISONS

16/06/2024

The Polis Project / by Shoma Sen

While we were in jail, Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, initiated a campaign (read: crackdown) against child marriage. Instead of formulating programmes to educate the community and facilitate social reforms, he used law enforcement to viciously subjugate the poor, minorities and rural residents, to superimpose modernism through fear and repression.
A large number of women living in prison had been married off between the ages of 12 and 14, and were being held for different crimes, from theft and murder to trafficking drugs and children.
Read more

Also read:
▪BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: ARUN FERREIRA ON THE FARCE AND TRAGEDY OF THE PANDEMIC IN PRISON (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
▪BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: VERNON GONSALVES ON THE STRUGGLE TO READ AND WRITE BEHIND BARS (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
▪INTRODUCING THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

Join Protest: June 6 Marks The Sixth Year Of Wrongful Incarceration In Bhima Koregaon Case

Join Protest: June 6 Marks The Sixth Year Of Wrongful Incarceration In Bhima Koregaon Case

by Campaign Against State Repression (May 27):
6 Years Of Wrongful Incarceration In Bhima Koregaon case
JOIN Demonstration at Jantar Mantar 6 June
Release All Political Prisoners !!
Repeal UAPA !!
Repeal NIA !!

Also read:
▪ CASR: Release activists incarcerated in Bhima Koregaon Case (Countercurrents.org / June 2023)
▪ Five years behind bars for five activists – Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice! (PUDR / June 2023)
▪ CDRO: Five Years Since The First Arrests In Bhima-Koregaon Case (Countercurrents.org / June 2023)


‘We are all prisoners of conscience’, say those facing trial in Bhima Koregaon case on the occasion of fourth anniversary of their arrests (The Leaflet / June 2022)

▪ IAPL: Unite against State Repression on Peoples Movements! (Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) / July 2018)
▪ IAPL press note about arrest of Advocate Gadling & other people’s activists (Sanhati / June 2018)
▪ PUCL Statement condemning Arrests of Activists in Maharashtra (Kractivist.org / June 2018)

Arrested: June 6, 2018

 

by Campaign Against State Repression

Release All Political Prisoners !!

JOIN Demonstration at Jantar Mantar 6 June
Release All Political Prisoners !!
Repeal UAPA !!
Repeal NIA !!


Also read:
▪ 7/16 Bhima Koregaon Accused Get Bail, Courts Raise Prima Facie Doubts About Evidence (Live Law / May 2024)
▪ SC grants bail to Gautam Navlakha: All about the Bhima Koregaon violence case, other accused (The Indian Express / May 2024)
▪ Bhima Koregaon: The process continues to clot as punishment as another year passes by (The Leaflet / Jan 2024)

If those on bail are tracked 24/7, has their liberty really been (partially) restored?

If those on bail are tracked 24/7, has their liberty really been (partially) restored?

The Leaflet / by Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

How does pairing mobile phones and using GPS trackers on persons on bail sit with settled jurisprudence and what do experts have to say on the issue? 
Last month, the Supreme Court granted the former head of the department of English at Nagpur University, Professor Shoma Sen, bail in the Bhima Koregaon case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA).
Read more

Also read:
▪ Share Gps live location with nia 24×7: Supreme Court bail conditions for Shoma Sen (Bar & Bench / April 2024)
▪ Supreme Court grants bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, with tethers (The Leaflet / Jul 2023)

Former professor Shoma Sen released from prison

Former professor Shoma Sen released from prison

by Nihalsing / @Nihalsingrathod (April 17):
#shomasen released

by Sushmita / @Sushmitav1 (April 17):
Prof Shoma Sen, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, arrested in the first round of arrests in June 2018, finally gets bail. Hope truth will prevail and all accused falsely incarcerated will be released soon!

Former professor Shoma Sen released from prison

17/04/2024

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

On April 5, the Supreme Court had observed that the allegations of terrorism against Sen were prima facie untrue.
Former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen was released from jail on Wednesday, days after she was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the Bhima Koregaon case. She had been in jail since June 6, 2018.
Sen’s lawyer, Indira Jaising, confirmed her release on X.
Read more

by Indira Jaising @Ijaising (April 17)
She is finally out , Shoma Sen wit her daughter outside Byculla jail

Former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen walks out of prison

17/04/2024

The Hindu / by The Hindu Bureau

On April 5, the Supreme Court had observed that the accusations of terrorism against Shoma Sen were prima facie untrue and granted her bail
The former Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen walked out from Byculla Jail on Wednesday. She was received by her daughter and a photograph of Sen’s reunion with her family was shared by lawyer, advocate Indira Jaising on X (previously Twitter) saying, “She is finally out. Shoma Sen with her daughter outside Byculla Jail.”
Read more

by CPIML Liberation / @cpimlliberation (April 17):
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners | Shoma Sen is out of jail after more than six years of unjust incarceration. Bhima Koregaon, 2018 saw planned attack on Dalits, as they gathered to uphold fight of the oppressed castes against Brahminical hegemony, by right wing groups close to BJP. While known masterminds of the anti Dalit attacks roam free under today’s Manuvadi regime, civil rights activists face persecution under UAPA.

Also read:
▪ Explained: The Shoma Sen bail judgment (The Leaflet / April 2024)

‘Pattern’ of UAPA Being Abused / You spent 10 years in jail for nothing. Who should pay for it?

‘Pattern’ of UAPA Being Abused / You spent 10 years in jail for nothing. Who should pay for it?

Elgar Parishad Case: Bail Orders Show ‘Pattern’ of UAPA Being Abused

14/04/2024

The Quint / by Rohit Khannna

The SC recently granted bail to activist Shoma Sen, stating the allegations against her were prima facie not true.
On 5 April 2024, the Supreme Court granted bail to former Nagpur University professor and activist Shoma Sen, stating that the allegations against her – of indulging in terrorist activities or working for a terror group – were prima facie “not true”, and that no case was made out against her for offences under the extremely stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA.
Shoma Sen is among the 16 accused in the Elgar Parishad case, all of whom were arrested under the UAPA.
Read more

Video: Elgar Parishad Case: Bail Orders Show ‘Pattern’ of UAPA Being Abused

By The Quint

en | 5:12min | 2024
Watch video

The Reichstag Fire & Prof Shoma Sen

14/04/2024

Newsclick / by Prabhat Patnaik

There’s a striking contrast between German judiciary stance during Hitler’s time and Indian judiciary’s on the executive’s trampling upon the Constitution.
… Professor Shoma Sen of Nagpur University was granted bail on Friday, April 5, by the Supreme Court, after she had spent six years in jail as an accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case. While granting her bail, the Supreme Court said in no uncertain terms that there was no prima facie case of her being associated with any acts of terrorism or being linked to any terrorist organisation. And yet she had to spend six years of her life in jail, which raises two fundamental questions: first, shouldn’t the government be held responsible, and hence be penalised in some way, for her extremely long incarceration without any trial, and that too on non-existent grounds according to the Supreme Court itself?
And, second, what were the various courts doing all these six years, letting her languish in jail, when they were duty-bound under the Constitution to protect her fundamental rights?
Read more

You spent 10 years in jail for nothing. Who should pay for it?

12/04/2024

Times of India / by Sunil Baghel

What connects three professors — from Delhi, Kolhapur and Nagpur — to 17 residents of a village in Madhya Pradesh? All of them spent time in jail as undertrials or convicts before they were either acquitted or granted bail due to lack of evidence, with the courts questioning the cases against them.
… Under the stringent UAPA — where getting bail is even harder than other criminal cases — more than 24,000 people were accused in 5,027 cases registered between 2016 and 2020.
The data revealed in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha showed that just 212 people had been convicted in these cases, and 386 were acquitted. As per the data, nearly 98% of those arrested under the law had been imprisoned for multiple years just awaiting trial or to get bail.
Read more

Also watch/read:

▪ Spotlight | How UAPA is Crushing Dissent in India

The Wire’s new show, ‘Spotlight’ / by Zeeshan Kaskar

en | 15:16min | 2024
In Episode 4 of The Wire’s new show, ‘Spotlight’, we understand the UAPA, its history and how the 2019 amendment of the law has pushed India’s legal justice system on the brink.
Watch video

▪ Explained: The Shoma Sen bail judgment (The Leaflet / April 2024)
▪ Can Father Stan Swamy’s PIL be the blueprint for justice to thousands of undertrials lodged under UAPA? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
▪ Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)

Download report
▪ Punished without trial: How India’s political prisoners are being denied basic rights in jail (Scroll.in / Aug 2022)
▪ A study of Undertrials in Jharkhand (Sanhati / by Bagaicha Research Team / Feb 2016)

Koel Sen: Why Are We Being Made To Suffer?

Koel Sen: Why Are We Being Made To Suffer?

Koel & Shoma (pic credits: Free Shoma Sen)

Rediff.com / by Jyoti Punwani

It’s been five days since Professor Shoma Sen, accused in the Elgar Parishad case, got bail from the Supreme Court, but she hasn’t managed to step out of Byculla Jail in central Mumbai. Nor has her daughter or husband been able to speak to her even on the phone, since they had finished their phone-call quota for last week before her bail order came.
Waiting to meet her mother, Koel Sen recalled the many frustrations she has experienced in the six years since her mother was suddenly arrested in June 2018. The 36-year-old independent film-maker spoke to Jyoti Punwani about how these years changed her.
Read more

Also read:
▪ ‘Shoma Sen should have been released in October 2018’ (Rediff.com / Apr 2024)
▪ And he waits for Shoma Sen (Midday.com / May 2022)
▪ Part 1: ‘It is very difficult to see my mother like this’ (Rediff.com / May 2022)
▪ Part 2: When Your Mother Is In Prison… (Rediff.com / May 2022)