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. Read more
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 Read more
Dear Leaders of the Christian Community in India,
Greetings of peace, love, joy and hope- to each one of you, as you prepare to celebrate my birth once again!
I have just come across an invitation, that some of you are planning to celebrate my birthday on 23 December 2024, in Delhi. A great idea indeed – congrats!! My birth as the Saviour of the world must be celebrated!
…
For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest…the Human Rights Defender/ s. Umar Khalid, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and others. Read more
… On November 22 this year, the deportee from the Maoist heartland, Himanshu Kumar, now 60, completed a nearly 2,000-kilometre cycle march through western India…
The destination for the cycle march was a choice that emerged from a strong conviction. One of Kumar’s intentions was to prick the nation’s conscience over the languishing predicament, since early 2018, of “the 16 best minds of the country.” Of them, seven men and one woman still remain behind bars – the former in Taloja Central Jail and the latter in Byculla Women’s Jail. Read more
Video: Himanshu Kumar’s cycle march and advocacy against opression
hindi (english subtitles) | 40:06 | 2024
In this interview, senior reporter Prashant Rahi talks to Himanshu about his cycle march and history and future plans of advocacy against oppression. Watch video
Marking Human Rights Day, Students Gather At Jantar Mantar To Demand The Release Of Political Prisoners
11/12/2024
Outlook / Apeksha Priyadarshini
Led by the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union, the students came together to demand the release of various political prisoners—many of them students—who have been incarcerated for more than four years. Read more
Different memories: Editorial on a farmer’s fight to put up a memorial for Stan Swamy
Different memories: Editorial on a farmer’s fight to put up a memorial for Stan Swamy
30/11/2024
The Telegraph / by The Editorial Board
In the perception of the district authorities, the priest was marked as ‘anti-social,’ because the govt had arrested him in the Bhima-Koregaon case for his alleged link with extremists
Certain figures show up the widely varying perceptions between administrative authorities and the people. The Jesuit priest, Stan Swamy, who died in prison waiting for bail, is a striking example. A farmer from Tamil Nadu, engaged in teaching other farmers about sustainable practices and in cooperative watershed development, had wished to erect a pillar on his private land at his own cost in memory of the priest. He was an admirer of Stan Swamy’s work with tribal communities and considered the priest his mentor. Read more
Madras High Court removes government hurdle to Stan Swamy memorial in Tamil Nadu
28/11/2024
The Telegraph / by M.R. Venkatesh
The court ruled that the petitioner had decided to build the pillar in remembrance of Fr Stan as he was ‘impressed by the work done by him for the welfare of tribals’ and that the construction site was Sethia’s private land.
Madras High Court has allowed a farmer who reveres the life and work of Fr Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old tribal rights defender who died waiting for bail after spending nine months in jail, to erect a pillar in his memory in Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri district, overriding the district authorities’ contention that Fr Swamy was related to “Naxals and Maoists”. Read more
‘Father Stan Swamy Has Taken Efforts For Tribal Welfare’: Madras High Court Allows Installation Of His Statute In Private Land
26/11/2024
Live Law / by Upasana Sajeev
The Madras High Court has allowed a man to install a stone pillar containing Father Stan Swamy’s photo on his private land, honoring the work done by the latter for the Tribal persons.
Quashing a notice issued by the State authorities, Justice M Dhandapani remarked that Fr Stan Swamy had taken a lot of efforts for the welfare of the tribal persons. The court also noted that citizens had a right to install statues in their private property and the only restriction was that communal conflicts should not result from such erection. Read more
Madras High Court allows activist to install statue of Stan Swamy despite State opposition
26/11/2024
Bar & Bench / by Ayesha Arvind
The petition was opposed by the State and the district authorities who argued that the proposed memorial was to commemorate the work of a person “related to the Naxals and Maoists.”
The State cannot stop an individual from installing a memorial or a statue on his or her private land, the Madras High Court recently said while permitting a Salem-based activist to construct a memorial in honour of Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist late Stan Swamy. Read more
Madras HC quashes govt notice banning installation of memorial to Stan Swamy
24/11/2024
The News Minute / by Bharathy Singaravel
Contrary to the public stand taken by Chief Minister MK Stalin and his government, Dharmapuri district authorities claimed in court that Stan Swamy “had relations with Naxals and Maoists” and that “tribal villages are a paradise for the convergence and breeding of anti-social elements”.
The Madras High Court has quashed a notice from the tahsildar of Nallampalli in Dharmapuri district that banned an environmentalist from installing a memorial pillar for Stan Swamy on private land. Environmental activist Piyush Manush had been forced to approach the Madras High Court after the Dharmapuri Superintendent of Police (SP), district Collector and the Nallampalli tahsildar banned him from installing the memorial pillar on his own land. Read more
HC nod for statue of Stan Swamy on private land
22/11/2024
Times of India / TNN
Citizens have the right to install statues on their own private property. The only restriction is that such statues should not cause any conflicts between communities or in a way that would hurt the feelings of any segment of the society, Madras high court has said. Read more
Madras HC allows construction of memorial structure for Father Stan Swamy
21/11/2024
The New Indian Express / by R Sivakumar
The judge says that the government authorities can’t stop a person from raising statues on private land.
Holding that government authorities cannot stop a person from raising statues in private land unless it may cause serious issues, the Madras High Court has permitted a Salem-based activist to raise a memorial structure for late Father Stan Swamy who had rendered service for the upliftment of the highly oppressed tribal communities in Central India. Read more
Join us this Saturday for an online conversation with Ajaz Ashraf on his new book, Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste (2024).
Share widely, and we hope to see many of you there! You can register here
Also watch/read:
▪ Video | Many Meanings of Bhima Koregaon: Ajaz Ashraf
Elgaar Parishad case undertrials on protest path for not being produced in court for successive hearings
20/10/2024
The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent
Non-availability of police escorts is a common reason for undertrials not being produced in courts across India
Seven inmates at the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai, awaiting trial in the 2018 Elgaar Parishad case, on Saturday evening ended the hunger strike that they had started on Friday to protest against police who didn’t produce them in court for successive hearings. Read more
Update: The hunger strike has been called off for now.
The prison officials submitted an urgent application to the court & have assured them that they’ll be a produced before the NIA court on Oct 24.
If the seven men aren’t presented then, they plan to resume their hunger strike.
Not Produced in Court Despite Directions, Seven Elgar Parishad Accused Go on Hunger Strike
18/10/2024
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
The activists have not been produced before the court for the last three hearings in the case. Seven human rights defenders facing prolonged incarceration in the infamous Elgar Parishad case went on a hunger strike on Friday (October 18).
The activists have not been produced before the court for the last three hearings in the case. Today, despite a court order, the Navi Mumbai police failed to provide an escort team to take the incarcerated individuals from the Taloja central prison to the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court located in south Mumbai, prompting the activists to announce their hunger strike. Read more
Activists mark four years in jail under India’s UAPA without trial or bail
Activists mark four years in jail under India’s UAPA without trial or bail
20/09/2024
Peoples Dispatch / by Peoples Dispatch
Umar Khalid and more than a dozen activoists have spent four years in prison under India’s controversial Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), with no trial or bail. The cases are widely seen as politically motivated efforts to suppress dissent
… The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called for the scrapping of the UAPA, claiming it has been used by the Narendra Modi led-BJP government to silence the opposition and to put its critics behind bars in cases such as Bhima Koregaon and Delhi riots. Read more
Umar Khalid’s Father Lambasts Misuse of Laws to Silence Dissent
20/09/2024
Clarion / by Team Clarion
Calls for judicial accountability as Umar Khalid and others languish in jail without bail or proper trial
Anti-terror laws are being systematically used to silence the dissenting voices in the country, the father of incarcerated JNU student and activist, Umar Khalid, has said.
“Laws like UAPA, TADA, and POTA were meant to combat terrorism, but they have been weaponised against ordinary citizens and activists,” Khalid’s father, Dr Qasim Rasool Ilyas, said. He was addressing an event ‘Curtailed Freedoms: A Travesty of Justice’ hosted by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and Concerned Citizens Delhi at the Constitution Club of India here earlier this week. Read more
Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia also write about those who are battling to uphold individual and human rights.
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Vijayan and Recchia talk at length about the notorious Bhima Koregaon case, where 16 activists, teachers, intellectuals, university professors, writers, and lawyers were arrested and charged with arms smuggling, for allegedly helping Maoists, and for hatching a plan to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi, apart from waging war against the state – Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, and Father Stan Swamy (who died tragically while imprisoned). Read more
How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners
Authors: Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia
Publishing Date: Aug 2023
Publisher: Pluto Press
Pages: 247 Read more / order
He added that this was a failure on the part of courts, civil societies and the media to project what was right and truthful.
The three pillars of the Constitution – legislature, executive and judiciary – have lost their credibility, and their core ideas have been shaken, said former Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph on Friday. Read more
