Browsed by
Tag: solidarity

Gautam Navlakha: Dare I hope to be freed from the burden of yet another conspiracy trial?

Gautam Navlakha: Dare I hope to be freed from the burden of yet another conspiracy trial?

Gautam Nov 2018

Pic: Gautam after his release 2018

The Caravan / by Gautam Navlakha

On 16 March 2020, a Supreme Court bench comprising the judges Arun Mishra and Mukeshkumar Rasikbhai Shah rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of civil-rights activists Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde, in relation to the violence at Bhima Koregaon in January 2018. Navlakha and Teltumbde were booked by the Pune Police under the draconian Unlawaful Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged Maoist links in 2018. The Supreme Court has asked Navlakha and Teltumbde to surrender within three weeks.
Gautam Navlakha released the following statement soon after being denied anticipatory bail:

International Women’s days: Let’s remember Sudha and Shoma

International Women’s days: Let’s remember Sudha and Shoma

Statement by Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy

On the International Women’s days let’s remember human rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj and Shoma Sen who along with 7 others have been behind bars since June-August 2018 in the fake Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case. Let’s strengthen the campaign for their release and demand prosecution of Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide who attacked dalit bahujans at Bhima Koregaon on 1st January 2018.

Who is Sudha Bharadwaj?
Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj is a 2019 honoree of the Harvard Law International Women’s day exhibition and is sitting in a jail cell in Pune. How did these conflicting positions come about?
Sudha spent the first part of her life as an American citizen. In the next 30 years of her life, she worked tirelessly in Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (CMM) as a trade unionist and eventually as a lawyer after the CMM, hamstrung in their legal battles by unscrupulous lawyers, found in her the courage and integrity needed to challenge powerful opponents in the courtrooms.
Read more

Who is Shoma Sen?
A reputed academician, a Dalit and Women’s Rights activist, a teacher and dissenter, Shoma Sen is all of the above and more. Born and raised in Mumbai, she moved to Nagpur with her partner and daughter with a strong resolve to protect and promote democratic rights of the most marginalised people in the society.
Read more


Pic: Raipur, March 8, 2020
Ambedkar Family on Anand Teltumbde: Extremely Concerned For His Life [Read Statement]

Ambedkar Family on Anand Teltumbde: Extremely Concerned For His Life [Read Statement]

Newsclick / by Newsclick

In a statement, the family expressed their solidarity with Dr. Anand Teltumbde, saying he was being hounded through the Elgar Parishad case.
The family of Babasaheb Ambedkar has issued a statement expressing concern regarding the “hounding” of Dr. Anand Teltumbde, saying that they are “extremely concerned for his life, and the suffering of his family if he is arrested and incarcerated like others.”
Read more

Sagar Abraham-Gonsalves: I had a premonition of the long struggle ahead

Sagar Abraham-Gonsalves: I had a premonition of the long struggle ahead


Photo (centre) taken minutes before Vernon was taken away from the Police in 2018

fb/ by Sagar Abraham-Gonsalves

Today the Bhima Koregaon arrestees were brought to the Sessions Court in Mumbai.
As I made my way to the court along with the daughter of another arrestee, I couldn’t help but notice a feeling of gloom come over me. Even as we spoke to each other in the cab, I had a premonition of the long struggle ahead for both our parents and us. In spite of it being more than a year and a half since these arrests happened, the end seems nowhere in sight. The proceedings in court further reinforced these feelings.
Read more

Stan Swamy: Six months of being hunted, yet not vanquished

Stan Swamy: Six months of being hunted, yet not vanquished

Counter Currents / by Stan Swamy

The second half of 2019 was both a very trying but sobering experience for me. Jharkhand police was after me and I was after the police! The difference was the police acted illegally and I acted legally …
An enduring pain within me has been whereas I have been privileged to have so many contacts where I could go, be protected and take on the State govt in court and get legal protection, whereas so many innocent persons who have been unjustly imprisoned and are still languishing in jails. And when I think of Bhima-Koregaon case, in which also I’m implicated as a “suspected accused”, so many eminent intellectuals, lawyers, poets, human rights defenders are still behind bars.
Read more

Front Line Defenders: Case transferred to NIA to compromise independent probe

Front Line Defenders: Case transferred to NIA to compromise independent probe

Sabrangindia.in / by Sabrangindia

Front Line Defenders, an international human rights organisation that highlights the plight of human rights activists and defenders facing persecution from hostile regimes, has come out in support of those facing vindictive and malicious prosecution in the Bhima Koregaon case. They have questioned the motives of the central government in transferring the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), especially given the timing of the transfer.
Read more

Why Modi and Shah Took the Bhima Koregaon Investigation Away From Maharashtra

Why Modi and Shah Took the Bhima Koregaon Investigation Away From Maharashtra


Pic: MRSD, Dec 2018

The Wire / by Prem Shankar Jha

A two decade-long history of using false allegations, faked evidence, videos and news to manipulate public sentiment proves that the BJP will stop at nothing to ensure its return to power.
At first sight, the Centre’s decision to whisk the case against nine well known and respected civil rights activists, of inciting rebellion against the Indian State at the 200th anniversary of the Bhima Koregaon battle on January 1, 2018, and give it to the National Investigation Agency looks like another high-handed act by a government that has shown little regard for the Constitution, the law, and due process so far.
Read more

Transfer of case to NIA to ‘cover-up’ falsehoods of previous BJP govt: CPI

Transfer of case to NIA to ‘cover-up’ falsehoods of previous BJP govt: CPI


Pic: Raipur, 2019

New Indian Express / by PTI

NEW DELHI: Condemning the transfer of the Bhima-Koregaon case from Pune police to NIA, the CPI on Monday alleged that the purpose of the move was to “cover up” the “falsehoods and wrongdoings” of the previous BJP government.
The case was being probed by the Pune police and the Centre’s decision to hand over the Koregaon-Bhima probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday came under severe criticism from both the Congress and the NCP.
Read more

Anyone Opposing Modi, Shah is an Urban Naxal: Rahul on Bhima Case

Anyone Opposing Modi, Shah is an Urban Naxal: Rahul on Bhima Case

The Quint / by The Quint

In a surprising development on Friday, 24 January, the central government transferred the Bhima-Koregaon case to the national investigating agency (NIA).
The move drew sharp reactions from the Maharashtra government who accused the Centre of taking the decision without the consent of the state government, adding that the decision was “against the Constitution”.
Read more