The Print / by Bhardra Sinha
NIA affidavits opposing the bail petitions of rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao and Shoma Sen had content similar to Pune Police’s findings in 2018 & 2019.
New Delhi: Six months after the National Investigative Agency (NIA) took over the probe in the Bhima-Koregaon violence, it does not seem to have made much headway in its investigation
Read more
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Sen, lodged in Byculla Women’s Jail, had filed an interim bail plea on medical grounds stating that she has a history of hypertension, osteoarthritis and other ailments which make her vulnerable to coronavirus.
In the detailed order rejecting interim bail to 62-year-old academic Shoma Sen a special court on Friday said the mere fact that she is suffering from “some diseases” cannot be a ground for release on interim bail.
Read more
The Lefaflet / by Nilima Dutta & Susan Abraham
The pandemic is worse showcased in the treatment meted to undertrials in our prisons. Despite guidelines directing granting of bail to undertrials with medical conditions and seniority in age, the courts have refused to grant bail to the accused in Bhima Koregaon activists. The authors here note the glaring blindness in the orders of the court denying bail, the dangers to Mr Varavara Rao and Ms Shoma Sen’s health in prison, and the blatant disregard for established principles of law.
Read more
Hindustan Times / by Charul Shah
The special National Investigating Agency (NIA) court on Friday rejected the interim bail plea filed by Telugu poet P Varavara Rao and activist Dr Shoma Sen, booked for their role in the Elgar Parishad case… Meanwhile, the special court on Friday heard arguments on the plea of civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha, one of the accused in the case, for bail, as the agency failed to submit charge sheet within a stipulated time frame… Another accused lawyer Arun Ferreira and human right activist Rona Wilson booked in the case too have approached the court for release from the jail.
Read more
LiveLaw / by Nitish Kashyap
A special court in Mumbai on Friday for the second time rejected the interim bail pleas filed by 81-year-old activist and poet Varavara Rao and academic 61-year-old Shoma Sen on medical grounds as they were suffering from multiple ailments or or comorbidities. The detailed order is yet to be made available.
Read more
+++ Varavara Rao and Shoma Sen will now have to proceed to Bombay High Court +++
By People’s Union for Civil Liberties – Chhattisgarh
Release All Political Prisoners!
Repeal Draconian Laws!
Stop Gagging the Media!
June 25th, 2020: On this day in 1975, the then-Indian Government imposed the State of Emergency in India, suspending all fundamental rights and commencing one of the darkest periods of Indian democracy. Today, after a span of forty-five years, we the people of India find ourselves in a similar situation, living in a de facto state of emergency, which has not been officially declared, where scores of ordinary citizens to who dared to criticize the government are being arbitrarily arrested under draconian laws meant only for rarest cases of international terror. The Chhattisgarh chapter of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties is observing this day as the Anti-Emergency Day –to demand the release of arrested human rights workers, and to renew our pledge to uphold the Constitution of India, with all its promises of freedom and equality, in its true spirit. …
cpim.org / by CPI(M) Central Committee Office
We are herewith releasing the full text of the letter addressed to the Home Minister, Amit Shah by CPI(M) Polit Bureau Member, Brinda Karat. This pertains to the inhuman treatment of human rights activists arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. The letter was sent today.
Read more
19/06/2020
Court Updates June 19: Hearing for VV Rao’s Bail Application further extended to 26 June. For Shoma Sen the court has granted permission to the lawyers to speak to her over a whatsapp call for 10 minutes to better understand her health condition. The court has scheduled the hearing for Sen’s plea on June 26 as well.
20/06/2020
Hindustan Times / by Charul Shah
Veteran Telugu poet P Varavara Rao’s plea for interim bail was heard on Friday by the special judge, almost a month after Rao moved the special court seeking interim bail on May 15 … Meanwhile lawyers for Dr Shoma Sen obtained permission to speak to her through video call before making submissions on the interim bail filed for her.
Read more
Indian Cultural Forum / by ICF Team
We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the health of 11 respected fellow citizens:
1. Mr. Varavara Rao
2. Ms. Sudha Bhardwaj
3. Ms. Shoma Sen
4. Mr. Anand Teltumbde
5. Mr. Gautam Navlakha
6. Mr. Arun Ferreira
7. Mr. Vernon Gonsalvez
8. Mr. Surendra Gadling
9. Mr. Mahesh Raut
10. Mr. Sudhir Dhawale
11. Mr. Rona Wilson
These activists, many of them eminent scholars, writers and poets, have worked for the welfare of India’s poorest and most marginalised people over decades. Yet they have been turned into politcal prisoners and incarcerated. They have not been granted bail despite the fact that in the prisons of Maharashtra where they are being detained, some inmates have died and many others have tested positive for COVID-19.
Read more
Newsclick / by Parth MN
Even after 2 deceased inmates were found COVID-19 positive, testing is not being done in Taloja where rights activists, mostly 60+, arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case have been lodged.
Read more
The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
As of June 13, 17, 695 screenings and 1681 swab tests were conducted in 10 Central Prisons in Maharashtra and in the Additional Director General, Prisons (ADGP) office of which 269 tested positive, 115 recovered and four died, the Bombay High Court was informed on Monday.
Read more