Shoma Sen – free them all

SC seeks response of NIA, Maharashtra government in bail pleas of Jyoti Jagtap, Shoma Sen

04/05/2023 Asha

Supreme Court Issues Notice On Bail Pleas Of Professor Shoma Sen & Jyoti Jagtap In Bhima Koregaon Case

04/05/2023

Live Law / by Sohini Chowdhury

The Supreme Court, on Thursday, issued notice in bail pleas filed by Jyoti Jagtap and Professor Shoma Sen, accused in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad Case under the anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
A Bench comprising Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia issued notice in both the Special Leave Petitions.
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Supreme Court seeks response of NIA, Maharashtra government in bail pleas of Jyoti Jagtap, Shoma Sen

04/05/2023

Bar & Bench / by Abhimanyu Hazarika

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the response of the Maharashtra government and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the bail pleas filed by, Jyoti Jagtap and Shoma Sen, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
A Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia issued notice to the State and NIA.
Sen, an English Literature professor and Dalit and women’s rights activist, was arrested on June 6, 2018.
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SC issues notice to Maha, NIA on activist Jyoti Jagtap’s plea for bail

04/05/2023

The Print / by pti

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the responses of the Maharashtra government and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a plea filed by activist Jyoti Jagtap, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, challenging a Bombay High Court order declining her bail.
Read more

Also read:
● Shoma Sen moves Supreme Court seeking bail (The Leaflet / Apr 2023)
● Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is Now the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)
● Kabir Kala Manch incited hatred, passion at Elgar Parishad: Bombay High Court (India Today / Oct 2022)
● The Security Playbook Used To Erode Democracy In Modi’s India & How The Tide Might Turn (article 14 / March 2022)

Shoma Sen’s discharge application at NIA court claims lack of incriminating evidence

03/05/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The matter will now be heard on May 17.
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, presided by special judge Rajesh Kataria, on Tuesday heard a discharge application filed by women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen, claiming lack of incriminating evidence against her in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
Read more

Also Read:
● Shoma Sen moves Supreme Court seeking bail (The Leaflet / Apr 2023)
● Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson seek bail from Bombay HC on parity with Sudha Bharadwaj (India Today / March 2023)
● Bombay HC asks Elgar Parishad accused Prof Shoma Sen to first approach trial court for bail (India Today / Jan 2023)

Shoma Sen moves Supreme Court seeking bail

27/04/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The Bombay High Court, in its order dated January 17, had refused to examine the correctness of the order of the trial court that rejected her bail application.
A special leave petition, filed by women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen challenging the order of the Bombay High Court on her bail plea, is listed to be heard on May 4. The petition was mentioned by senior advocate Anand Grover before a division Bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India Dr D.Y. Chandrachud, on Wednesday.
Read more

Also Read:
● Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson seek bail from Bombay HC on parity with Sudha Bharadwaj (India Today / March 2023)
● Bombay HC asks Elgar Parishad accused Prof Shoma Sen to first approach trial court for bail (India Today / Jan 2023)

Fourth Drone Bomb Attack on Indigenous People in Bastar, Chhattisgarh

18/04/2023 Asha

IndiaMatters UK / by over 60 international organisations and individual campaigners, activists and academics

Fourth Drone Bomb Attack on Indigenous People in Bastar, Chhattisgarh
Stop This State Terror Now!

Press Note

Indigenous (Adivasi) people in Bijapur district of Bastar, in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, have been traumatised by yet another aerial bomb attack from the security forces which have been using drones to carry out these operations. Although the Indian Air Force is not officially deployed for combat in Chhattisgarh, the repeated use of aerial bombardment on civilian populations suggests a new dimension to the state terror being inflicted on the Adivasi population of Bastar for years.
… Social activists who have been speaking out against this injustice have also ended up in prisons … there are the well known sixteen democratic rights activists falsely implicated in what has come to be known as the Bhima Koregaon case. These sixteen were locked in prison between 2018 and 2020 on the basis of an essentially fabricated case prepared by the notorious National Investigative Agency against them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Read full statement

Also read:
● Security forces’ operations in adivasi areas compared with Russia-Ukraine war (Counterview.net / April 2022)
● In Jharkhand, Scheduled Tribes Still Battle Flimsy Criminal Cases Filed With Little Evidence (Indiaspend.com / Oct 2021)
● Gadling in jail. Reason? As lawyer-activist he has been ‘unpleasant’ to India’s topcops (Counterview.net / Dec 2020)
● Gadchiroli’s 300 Gram Sabhas Pass Resolution in Support of Activist Mahesh Raut (The Wire / Oct 2018)
● Condemn the State Sponsored Massacre Scripted as ‘Encounter’ in Gadchiroli and Bijapur in Central India (wssnet.org / May 2018)
● How corporate land grab is sought to be legitimized in Chhattisgarh by misusing legal framework (Counterview.org / Feb 2018)

Podcast #2 | Ideas Behind Bars: Shoma Sen

16/04/2023 Asha

en | 18:01min | 2023

By InSAF India

This is a podcast in which we discuss the ideas, thoughts, and works of thinkers, activists, artist and scholars from India who have ended up behind bars for their work, or whose work has been censored or silenced. This podcast is produced by InSAF India in collaboration with nether quarterly.

Works by Shoma Sen discussed*:
“The Village and the City: Dalit Feminism in the Autobiographies of Baby Kamble and Urmila Pawar.” The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, vol. 54, no. 1, 2019, pp. 38–51., doi:10.1177/0021989417720251. “Class Struggle and Patriarchy: Women in the Maoist Movement.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 52, no. 21, 2017, pp. 56–56.
* Direct quotations have been shortened for clarity.

Sound Editor: Ashish Kumar
Voice: Divya Nadkarni
Listen to the podcast

Also Read:
● Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson seek bail from Bombay HC on parity with Sudha Bharadwaj (India Today / March 2023)

Justice Revati Mohite Dere of Bombay HC recuses from hearing bail plea of Mahesh Raut, 3 others

30/03/2023 Asha

By Bar & Bench (March 30):
Bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere of Bombay High Court recuses from hearing default bail pleas of Bhima Koregoan accused Mahesh Raut and 3 others.

Justice Revati Mohite Dere of Bombay HC recuses from hearing bail plea of Mahesh Raut, others

30/03/2023

India Legal / by India Legal

Justice Revati Mohite Dere of Bombay High Court on Thursday recused herself from hearing the default bail petitions of Mahesh Raut and three others, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the Elgar Parishad Maoists links case of 2018.
Earlier on March 1, the High Court had issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the default bail plea of Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson, who were arrested on June 6, 2018 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Read more

Also Read:
● 4 accused seek bail from Bombay HC on parity with Sudha Bharadwaj (India Today / March 2023)

Bombay High Court seeks NIA response to plea by Raut, Sen, Wilson and Dhawale for default bail

01/03/2023 Asha

Bombay High Court seeks NIA response to plea by 4 accused for default bail

01/03/2023

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The four accused have challenged an order of a special NIA court rejecting their default bail pleas. They sought parity with Sudha Bharadwaj, a co-accused who was granted default bail by the High Court in 2021.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a plea for default bail filed by four persons accused in the Bhima Koregaon case [Mahesh Raut & 4 others v. National Investigation Agency].
Read more

4 accused seek bail from Bombay HC on parity with Sudha Bharadwaj

02/03/2023

India Today / by Vidya

Four accused in the Elgar Parishad case sought bail in the Bombay High Court on parity with Sudha Bharadwaj, who was granted default bail in 2021 in the same case.
The Bombay High Court has issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and sought a reply to the bail petition of four Elgar Parishad accused – Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson.
… NIA will have to file their reply in three weeks.
Read more

Also read:
● NIA special court rejects default bail application of five accused (The Leaflet / June 2022)
● Bombay HC grants default bail to Sudha Bharadwaj, but declines the same to eight other accused (The Leaflet / Dec 2021)

Maharashtra: Top Cop Accuses Decades-Old Cultural, Rights Orgs of Working as ‘Naxal Fronts’

02/02/2023 Asha

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

At the recent police conference attended by PM Modi, Gadchiroli DIGP Sandip B. Patil claimed in a paper that 15 cultural and rights organisations are actually “active frontal organisations of Naxals.” Behind this claim is little evidence.
In 2017, the artiste couple Shital Sathe and Sachin Mali publicly announced their decision to split from the cultural outfit, Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) after 15 years of association.
Read more

Also read:
● UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR – Study of UAPA Abuse in India, 2009-2022 (PUCL / Sep 2022)
● Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
● The Security Playbook Used To Erode Democracy In Modi’s India & How The Tide Might Turn (article 14 / March 2022)
● Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)
● From ‘tukde tukde gang’ to ‘urban Naxal’: How media trials enable the government to stifle dissent (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

Shoma Sen files discharge plea / Targeted for activism, says Shoma Sen seeking clean chit

01/02/2023 Asha

Shoma Sen files discharge plea in court

01/02/2023

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Shoma Sen said in her discharge application that the “incriminating” evidence claimed to have been seized from her deals with information on social movements, all of which can be found in public domain.
… Meanwhile, the court on Tuesday heard the discharge application of activist Vernon Gonsalves. During the arguments, Gonsalves said that the accused in the case had not received some of the cloned copies presented by the NIA as evidence. … The co-accused in the case, lawyers Surendra Gadling and Arun Ferreira, informed the court that they had previously too sought cloned copies but have not received all.
Read more

Targeted for activism, says Shoma Sen seeking clean chit

01/02/2023

The Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

Professor Shoma Sen, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, on Tuesday filed a plea for getting a clean chit in the case. She claimed she has been falsely implicated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for her active role in the sphere of activism for human rights, Dalits and the marginalised sections of society.
Read more

Also read:
● Bombay HC asks Elgar Parishad accused Prof Shoma Sen to first approach trial court for bail (India Today / Jan 17, 2023)

Bombay HC directs Shoma Sen to first move special NIA court for bail in Bhima Koregaon case

17/01/2023 Asha

Bombay HC asks Elgar Parishad accused Prof Shoma Sen to first approach trial court for bail

17/01/2023

India Today / by Vidya

Sen claims she has been falsely arrested because she had exposed illegal arrests and torture.
The Bombay High Court has directed Elgar Parishad accused Professor Shoma Sen to approach the special NIA court for bail before coming to the high court on appeal.
Sen, behind bars since 2018, had applied for bail before the Pune Sessions Court in December 2018 prior to the filing of the chargesheet and another application after the filing of the chargesheet. Both the applications were rejected by the sessions court by way of common order in November 2019.
Read more

Bombay High Court directs Shoma sen to first move special NIA court for bail

17/01/2023

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and PD Naik reasoned that the special NIA court ought to be given an opportunity to consider the supplementary chargesheet first before Sen could approach High Court.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Bhima Koregaon accused Shoma Sen to approach the special NIA court for bail before coming to the High Court in appeal.
A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and PD Naik noted that the special NIA court has not had a chance to consider the bail application after the filing of chargesheet.
Read more

Bombay High Court Grants Liberty To Accused Professor Shoma Sen To Approach Special NIA Court For Bail

17/01/2023

Live Law / by Amisha Shrivastava

Bombay High Court on Tuesday disposed of Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad accused Professor Shoma Sen’s bail application with liberty to approach the trial court.
The division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice PD Naik took note of the chargesheet filed against Sen subsequent to the Pune sessions court order denying bail.
Read more