A division Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Aniruddha Bode and Sanjay Kumar, permitted Sen to file an additional affidavit on her deteriorating health within two weeks.
On Friday, a division Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Aniruddha Bode and Sanjay Kumar, directed the respondents to file a reply affidavit to the bail application filed by women rights activist and academic Shoma Sen. Read more
In a Letter From Jail, Stan Swamy’s Co-Accused Ask President Murmu to Stand Up for What Is Right
05/07/2023
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
Today is Father Stan Swamy’s second death anniversary.
Two years ago on this day, 84-year-old Jharkhand-based tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy breathed his last while in custody. His death exposed the state’s negligence and inability to protect prisoners. Swamy, a Parkinson’s patient, spent close to a year in jail, deprived of the most basic facilities – one of which was a sipper to drink water from.
On his second death anniversary, 11 of his co-accused (Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Hany Babu, Ramesh Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe and Jyoti Jagtap) – all human rights activists and academics – write a letter to President of India Draupadi Murmu, who belongs to the tribal community that Swamy worked very closely with. Murmu, who recently spoke passionately about the conditions of Indian prisoners, was the governor of Jharkhand when Swamy’s organisation, Bagaicha, was raided and eventually he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency.
Along with the letter, the still-arrested human rights defenders also announced their one-day symbolic hunger strike in Mumbai’s Taloja and Byculla jails, where they are presently lodged.
The full text of their letter to the president is below. Read more
Caged birds and prison songs: In chorus, Stan Swamy and the Bhima Koregaon accused kept hope alive
05/07/2023
Vernon Gonsalves
Scroll.in / by Vernon Gonsalves
A fellow prisoner’s recollections of the Jesuit priest, who died on July 5, 2021.
“…I am ready to pay the price, whatever be it. But we will sing in chorus. A caged bird can still sing.”
– Father Stan Swamy
When Stan Swamy, in his last message before landing in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Central Prison in October 2020, declared that a “caged bird can still sing”, he was not talking about the tunes prisoners sing in jail. He had then not been imprisoned before that and was probably not acquainted with prison-singing in its various forms. Read more
On Father Stan Swamy’s second death anniversary, two letters, a painting and the triumph of memory against forgetting
05/07/2023
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
Father Stan Swamy’s death was an international shock the ripples of which can still be felt, and a blot on the record of a State that treats criminal justice as its plaything. His legacy is treasured by his co-accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case inside the prison, and everyone who stands for justice and democracy outside the prison.
… The 11 incarcerated accused persons in the Elgar Parishad case are set to go on a day-long hunger strike today. They pen an imaginary letter from Swamy to the President of India Droupadi Murmu, terming it “Prayers that never came to be”. Read more
“Hopefully waiting” writes Shoma Sen from prison
07/07/2023
InSAF India / by Shoma Sen
This handwritten note by Shoma Sen marks five years in prison for the activist and academic.
As we enter the sixth year of our incarceration the predominant feeling over the last five years is that of waiting. From waiting for default bail in the seventh month of our imprisonment, most of us are still waiting. In jail, we sit there waiting for court dates, waiting for mulakaat, waiting for the newspaper, waiting for bail and for the jail God called Memo. In jail, our sense of time itself gets warped. When a lawyer tells a prisoner that she will get bail in one or two days, it may actually mean one or two years. 24 hours of clock time could mean 24 months in judicial time. Read more
Who are the acclaimed ‘BK-16’? / HRDs and families await justice, five years down
Faulty investigation and severe loopholes in investigation, surrounds the controversial BK-16 case. International outcry has not helped move the trial five years down even while the targeted languish, families await the return of their loved ones
In June 2021, European Union parliamentarians, Nobel Laureates, renowned academics, and internationally known figures wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, the then Chief Justice of India as well as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and other authorities in India, demanding to the release of political prisoners arrested with relation to the Elgar Parishad and Bhima Koregaon incident.
Amidst contested accusations of an anti-India conspiracy, militancy, and violence, five long years have passed since the BK-16 have been imprisoned without trial. Read more
Who are the acclaimed ‘BK-16’?
22/06/2023
cjp / by CJP Team
Five years have passed, and human rights defenders (HRDs) and their families continue to await justice.
Surendra Gadling
Status: Detained without trial
Charges:Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) since June 2018
Location: Taloja Central Prison, Mumbai
Gadling is a human rights lawyer and a Dalit activist. Over time, Gadling established himself as a keen advocate and a key figure in cases related to extrajudicial killings, police misconduct, false accusations, and injustices against Dalits and Adivasis in the region… Read more
A post on Tushar Kanti Bhattacharya’s Facebook page has a picture of his wife Shoma Sen, with the lines below reading: Five years of incarceration. Another post has pictures of her along with co-accused Surendra Gadling, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut. The lines read ‘Repeal UAPA: Behind bars five years and no charges framed, no bail’. A couple of likes can be seen in response. Read more
Five years behind bars for five activists – Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice!
06/06/2023
By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)
Five years behind bars for five activists
Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice!
Release all 15-surviving accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
June 6, 2023 will mark five years that five activists are behind bars. They include Mahesh Raut, an anti-displacement campaigner, Rona Wilson, a political prisoners’ campaigner, Shoma Sen, a feminist activist and professor, Sudhir Dhawale, a Dalit rights activist and Surendra Gadling, a lawyer who takes people’s rights cases pro-bono. Read full statement
Five Years Since The First Arrests In Bhima-Koregaon Case
06/06/2023
Countercurrents.org / by Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO)
6th June 2018. The nation’s conscience suffered yet another attack by the arrests of leading intellectuals and democratic rights activists by the Pune police in connection with the so-called Bhima-Koregaon (BK) case. These arrests snowballed into a series of arrests in subsequent months. Five years have passed, and barring a few activists out on bail, the arrested persons are still languishing in jail without a charge sheet being filed. Through this statement, the CDRO once again tries to remember the incidents leading to these arrests and subsequent events; so that people can unite in a struggle for the release of the BK-16 and the repeal of draconian laws. Read full statement
Five years of Bhima Koregaon arrests: CDRO marks ‘black day’
06/06/2023
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
It was on this day in 2018 that five activists were first arrested by the Pune police in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case. To mark this day, and by means of highlighting the plight of the arrested persons, the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation and People’s Union for Democratic Rights have issued press statements demanding the immediate release of all the persons behind bars in connection with the case. Read more
CASR: Release activists incarcerated in Bhima Koregaon Case
07/06/2023
Countercurrents.org / by Campaign Against State Repression
June 6th became a day of one of the most audacious attack by the Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist state on the Democratic rights and political activists and began new era of rampant use of UAPA and conspiracy cases, which was, although known to the working class, the peasantry and the oppressed, have been largely unknown to the Urban democratic movement. June 6th, 2018 marks the first arrest in the infamous Bhima Koregaon ‘Conspiracy’ case, after series of raids in April 2018. The police arrested Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut. Read full statement
Five years after arrest, Bhima Koregaon case accused yet to get copies of proof against them
05/06/2023
The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
Special Public Prosecutor rubbished the allegation and said most of the material have been shared with them
It has been six years since Sudhir Dhawale, an activist; Surendra Gadling, a criminal lawyer practising in Nagpur; Shoma Sen, professor and Head of Department, English at Nagpur University; activists Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut were arrested in the caste-based violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune in 2017. Read more
Shoma Sen, an accused in the case along with 15 other activists and academics, has been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Sen has been incarcerated as an undertrial since June 6, 2018, and is lodged at the Byculla jail in Mumbai.
On Monday, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria continued hearing a discharge application filed by women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen, claiming discrepancies in the evidence against her in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case, and drawing a parallel with the allegations raised against Dalit scholar, academic activist and co-accused Dr Anand Teltumbde. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
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
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
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
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
