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UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

India: Arrests, Raids Target Critics of Government

13/10/2023

By Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Committee to Protect Journalists, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Watch, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Service for Human Rights, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

Indian authorities are misusing an abusive counterterrorism law, financial regulations, and other laws to silence journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and critics of the government, 12 international human rights groups said today.

… The Indian government also used UAPA to arrest 16 prominent activists who promoted the rights of India’s most marginalized communities, accusing them of inciting violence that occurred during a Dalit meeting in January 2018. Eight are still detained without trial, and seven eventually were granted bail, while one died in custody.
Read full statement


UAPA, financial regulations being misused to target scribes, activists, say international rights groups

13/10/2023

The Hindu / by The Hindu Bureau

The 12 human rights groups charged Indian authorities with carrying out an “escalating crackdown” on media and civil society since the Narendra Modi-led government came to power in 2014
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and 10 other international rights groups have jointly condemned what they termed as Indian authorities’ misuse of counter-terrorism laws, financial regulations, and other laws to “silence journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and critics of the government”.
Read more


Also read:
● AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report

Three years have passed since Ramesh, Jyoti and Sagar were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case

Three years have passed since Ramesh, Jyoti and Sagar were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case

By Kabir Kala Manch via fb

… Three years have passed today since Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap, Sagar Gorkhe, the three artists and activists of Kabir Kala Mancha were arrested in the false case of Bhima Koregaon without any evidence under UAPA …
#FreeAllBK16
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners
Read more [Marathi]



by Apeksha Priyadarshini / @apeksha_9 (Sep 9)
Three Years of Injustice!
Free People’s Artists Jyoti, Ramesh and Sagar!
Free All Activists wrongfully incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case!
Repeal UAPA!
#FreeBK15 #baso



by ajay kasbe / @journalistajay_ (Sep 8)
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #freeBk16 #releasesagar #releasejyoti #releaseramesh #bhimakoregaon #jaybhim #jaibheem


Also read/watch:
Supreme Court asks whether Gonsalves and Ferreira judgment “formula” can be applied to Jyoti Jagtap (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 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)
Who are the three Kabir Kala Manch artistes arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case this week? (Scroll.in / Sep 2020)

Amnesty International: Join The Vigil For Political Prisoners In India

Amnesty International: Join The Vigil For Political Prisoners In India


by Amnesty International UK South Asia Action / @AIUKSouthAsia (Sep 14)
16 lawyers, academics & activists were imprisoned for their criticism of the government and their work supporting the poorest people in #India, including those from low caste, ethnic and religious minority groups. See our Minehead local group supporting the #BK16 at the G20 vigil



India Labour Solidarity (ILS) / @IndLabSol (Sep 9)
Yesterday we took part in the protest in London to #FreeBK16
While world leaders meet in Delhi for the G20, Indian human rights defenders are in prison.


By Amnesty International India coordination group

Fri 8 September, 19.30-20.30hrs.
Behind Amsterdam central station, promenade next to bicycle parking and ferries

Amnesty International India coordination group invites you to join a vigil for political prisoners (BK16, GN Saibaba, Umar Khalid and co-accused). As India hosts G20 this weekend we call on world leaders to urge Indian government to free them all!
There will be parallel actions in Amsterdam, London, Zürich, Berlin and New York!


by Amnesty Bristol / @amnestybristol (Sep 6, 2023)
Bristol and Weston-super-Mare Amnesty group are hosting a vigil on Friday at 7pm for the Bhima Koregaon 16 political prisoners Join us at the Italian Gardens in Weston-super-Mare #FreeBK16


Statement by Amnesty International Switzerland:
G20 IN INDIEN – EIN AUFRUF ZUM GEMEINSAMEN ENGAGEMENT

Read full statement [Swiss-German]


Also read:
Campaign by Amnesty International: Act now to demand the release of the BK16! (Dec 2022)

Birthday greetings to Jyoti Jagtap, who is spending her 3rd birthday in prison

Birthday greetings to Jyoti Jagtap, who is spending her 3rd birthday in prison

by InSAF India / @IndInsaf
On her 3rd birthday in prison we remember #JyotiJagtap who described #KabirKalaManch‘s songs as “grounded in our own life experiences to educate, give direction to laboring people and document their struggles …” #BhimaKoregaon16

by Meera Sanghamitra/ @meeracomposes

by Clifton D’ Rozario / @clifroz
The continued incarceration of Jyoti Jagtap and others arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, after judgement of the Supreme Court granting bail to Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, is unconscionable. Free them all!

by Dissc-Jamia Millia islamia @Dissc_jmi
Release Jyoti Jagtap
Free all Political Prisoners


Also read:
● Supreme Court allows respondents to file counter affidavits to bail plea of Jyoti Jagtap (The Leaflet / Jul 2023)
● SC issues notice to Maha, NIA on activist Jyoti Jagtap’s plea for bail (The Print / May 2023)
Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is Now the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

Video: Vernon v. State of Maharashtra: A Breakthrough in Bail Jurisprudence under the UAPA?

Video: Vernon v. State of Maharashtra: A Breakthrough in Bail Jurisprudence under the UAPA?

by PUCL India / @PUCLindia (Aug 7, 2023)

Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were released after 5 years in jail!
Join our discussion on their bail order and to understand its implications! How can we advocate for the release of all political prisoners arrested under UAPA?


en | 1:29:01 | 2023
Watch video


UAPA disproportionately targets religious, ethnic minorities: Activist

10/08/2023

News Trail / by Umar Sharieef | NT

Discussing the Supreme Court’s decision in granting bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferriera accused in connection with the Elgaar Parishad case, members from People’s Union for Civil Liberties said the bail order has significant implications for bail jurisprudence under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, UAPA, in the framework of criminal law.
The members highlighted the top court’s bail-granting powers under the UAPA, which flows from the Zahood Ahmad Watali judgment.
Read more


Also read/watch:
PUDR welcomes the release on bail of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira today, but protests onerous bail conditions (PUDR / Aug 6, 2023)

● Video: Personal Liberty and the Indian Courts

en | 1h 42min | 2022
The discussion moderated by PUCL General Secretary, V Suresh, Arvind Narrain, VP Karnataka State PUCL and Kavita Srivastava, National Secretary PUCL

Watch video (PUCL fb page)

● Repeal UAPA – Persecution by Prosecution

Three Day consultation on 20th, 21st and 22nd January, 2021 by PUCL

► Repeal UAPA – Day Three (en + … | 2h 51min | Jan 2021)
► Repeal UAPA – Day Two (en +… | 2h 22min | Jan 2021)
► Repeal UAPA – Day One (en + … | 2h 17min | Jan 2021)

PUDR welcomes the release of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, but protests onerous bail conditions

PUDR welcomes the release of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, but protests onerous bail conditions

PUDR welcomes the release on bail of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira today, but protests onerous bail conditions

05/08/2023

pudr.org / by Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR))

People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) welcomes the Supreme Court order granting bail on merits and release of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, two of the accused in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
In a significant judgement, on 28 July 2023, the top court granted bail for two primary reasons: the fact that the accused had already been incarcerated for 5 years with the trial not having commenced yet, and that the NIA had been unable to justify, even prima facie, the allegations against them.
… However, what is even more disturbing is that the apex court has allowed for further conditions to be set by the special trial court, conditions that the latter may “consider fit and proper”. Accordingly, on July 31, the special NIA court has set further conditions which prohibit the duo from:
Read full statement:


Also read:
Gonsalves and Ferreira bail judgment: A step in the right direction but where will we go from here? (The Leaflet / Aug 5, 2023)
Bhima Koregaon accused asked to share phone location while on bail. Is this constitutional? (Scroll.in / Jul 31, 2023)
‘Brings Hope, But…’ Bhima Koregaon Families React to Gonsalves, Ferreira Bail ( The Quint / Jul 29, 2023)

Three years ago on this day Hany Babu was arrested in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case

Three years ago on this day Hany Babu was arrested in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case

Three years ago on this day, around 4.30 in the evening, Hany Babu was arrested in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case

28/07/2023

By Jenny Rowena @ insta

Three years ago on this day, around 4.30 in the evening, Hany Babu was arrested in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case.
Today, so many marginalised students miss a teacher who always stood by them, and so many more who could have gained from the way he interrogated the elite brahminical pedagogy of the English department are denied of his presence.

And my daughter and me, miss a father and husband who was so deeply committed to us. And was always growing together with us.

Yet in one sense, Babu’s incarceration is just one among the many cruel injustices happening around. A sign of the times when the Savarna Hindu State is destroying whole communities and regions and has invaded even the insulated university space, and is crushing any kind of oppositional voice that stands in its way. But in another sense, this is our very own personal pain. Which cannot be conveyed in words. But we are not defeated, and Babu is doing all that he was doing outside, inside in prison too – reading, writing, teaching and helping inmates to fight their cases.

I do not know what exactly we need to do to gain Babu’s release and the release of so many other political prisoners who have all been punished for their public stances of resistance. No campaign and no pressure seem to touch this government and the violent and blood thirsty groups that support it. Sometimes it’s easy to fall into despair. But that’s not how political prisoners live. They live with the power of being on the side of compassion and justice. With the solidarity and prayers of those who bravely stand with them in this. And the undying intellectual curiosity that I see in each of the Bhima Koregaon people, and Babu, really makes it clear that prisons are never enough to crush some people. And that they will come out of this stronger and better than before. And till then, some of us will continue to fight for their release.

In whatever way you can, please support us in this.



Hany Babu completes three years in prison, “we are not defeated,” says wife Jenny Rowena

28/07/2023

Maktoobmedia.com / by Maktoob Staff

Delhi University professor and noted academic Dr. Hany Babu, who is one of the UAPA prisoners in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, completed three years of incarceration on Friday, 28 July, 2023.
On 28 July, 2020, the National Investigation Agency arrested Babu, an anti-caste activist and a staunch proponent of social justice.
Read more

National Campaign to Defend Democracy: 5 years of unjust incarceration under fabricated evidence

National Campaign to Defend Democracy: 5 years of unjust incarceration under fabricated evidence

Counterview / by National Campaign to Defend Democracy


The National Campaign to Defend Democracy which is a coalition of over 100 organisations working on human rights issues would like bring to your attention the situation of five years of unjust incarceration under false and fabricated evidence of some of India’s finest intellectuals, thinkers, activists and lawyers.
This injustice which goes by the name of the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Conspiracy case – started its nightmarish journey five years ago. Even as of today, 16 noted academics, intellectuals, lawyers, writers, poets, activists, stand charged with conspiring to overthrow the elected government, indulging in terrorist acts, sedition etc., although the evidence the back these tall claims of high treason is still absent.
Read full statement


Also read:
NIA gets more time to reply to plea for furnishing copies of evidence to the accused (The Leaflet / July 2023)
Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution (article14 / Jan 2023)
Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)

Telangana turns into experimental theatre to misuse suppressive laws: CASR meet

Telangana turns into experimental theatre to misuse suppressive laws: CASR meet

Counterview / by Our Representative 

Speakers at a media conference, organised by the civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as discussing “suppression of democratic voices” using suppressive laws in the light of the Tadwai case, where 152 activists of Andhra-Telangana were named under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), have demanded repeal of the “draconian” law.
Read more


Also read:
Blatant use of UAPA by Telangana Police to suppress dissenting voices (Countercurrents / June 2023)
● Telangana Govt to ‘Drop’ UAPA Case Against Prof Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, 150 Others (The Wire / June 2023)
The Govt is out to silence Dissenters through Arrests: Justice Hosbet Suresh (Sabrangindia / Oct 2018)

Will India care for human rights by releasing undertrial activists ahead of G20 summit?

Will India care for human rights by releasing undertrial activists ahead of G20 summit?

Counterview / by Bharat Dogra

India has a very rich tradition of opposing wrongly arrested persons, going back to the days of the freedom movement…
Hence, ahead of the Independence Day, it would be a much appreciated gesture on the part of the government if it releases several dissenting activists, including distinguished scholars and lawyers, who are widely believed to have been wrongfully arrested or implicated in wrong cases. To give one often discussed example of what is widely believed to be a case of wrongful arrests, we may mention here the Elgar Parishad case.
Read more


Also read:
The Burgeoning Share of Undertrial Prisoners in India’s Jails (The Wire / Oct 2022)
Punished without trial: How India’s political prisoners are being denied basic rights in jail (Scroll.in / Aug 2022)
Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive (Scroll.in / Dec 2021)