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Tag: Stan Swamy

India: Dangerous Backsliding on Rights – Activists, Critics Targeted

India: Dangerous Backsliding on Rights – Activists, Critics Targeted

By Human Rights Watch

Activists, Critics Targeted: Growing Attacks on Muslims, Groups at Risk
Indian authorities intensified their crackdown on activists, journalists, and other critics of the government using politically motivated prosecutions in 2021, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2022. Tens of thousands of people died during a surge in Covid-19 cases, with the government failing to provide adequate health care to those in need.
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Read full India chapter

Bhima Koregaon Accused, Their Lawyers Write to SC’s Committee on Pegasus Spyware Targeting

Bhima Koregaon Accused, Their Lawyers Write to SC’s Committee on Pegasus Spyware Targeting

Elgar Parishad Accused, Their Lawyers Write to SC’s Committee on Pegasus Spyware Targeting

10/01/2022

The Wire / Sukanya Shantha

On January 3, the committee issued a public notice urging people to contact them in case they have reasons to believe that their phones were compromised using the malware.
Several human rights defenders and academics implicated in the Elgar Parishad case and their lawyers have sent their representation to the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Committee alleging that their phones were infected by the vicious Pegasus malware.
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Bhima Koregaon accused and their counsel write to SC’s Pegasus technical committee alleging snooping

08/01/2022

The Leaflet / by The Leaflet

On January 3, the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Committee (TC) to investigate the snooping allegations using Pegasus spyware had issued a public notice urging citizens to contact it if they felt that their mobile device had been infected…
The Leaflet learns that at least four accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, and their counsel, Nihalsing B. Rathod, have written to the committee separately alleging that their mobile devices had been infected with the Pegasus malware.
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Counsel Of Bhima Koregaon Accused Writes To SC-Appointed Technical Committee Suspecting Hacking Of His Device

09/01/2022

Live Law / by Srishti Ojha

A lawyer, who represented several persons implicated in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad case has written to the Technical Committee appointed by the Supreme Court to probe into the allegations of snooping through Pegasus, suspecting compromise of his mobile device by Pegasus Malware.
Advocate Nihalsing B Rathod, a practicing lawyer based in Nagpur has argued that his phone was intercepted for accessing the privileged communication and legal strategies drawn on behalf of his clients in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad.
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Bhima Koregaon accused, counsel write to SC appointed Committee alleging phones were compromised

08/01/2022

Bar & Bench / by Abhimanyu Hazarika

Advocate Nihal Singh Rathod has offered to appear before the committee and submit his phone for probe.
A Nagpur-based lawyer on Friday wrote to the Supreme Court appointed Technical Committee probing the Pegasus spyware scandal, stating that he has reasons to believe his phone was hacked and compromised by the spyware.
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Also read:
● Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

UAPA Annual Digest 2021: Important Judgments Of Supreme Court & High Courts

UAPA Annual Digest 2021: Important Judgments Of Supreme Court & High Courts

Live Law / by Aaratrika Bhaumik

As we step into 2022, LiveLaw brings to you a yearly Round-up of important cases pertaining to the controversial Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 from the Supreme Court, High Courts and trial courts across the country. This yearly digest includes 90 judgments and orders.
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Also watch: Repeal UAPA – Persecution by Prosecution (PUCL, Jan 2021)

Three Day consultation on 20th, 21st and 22nd January, 2021
► Repeal UAPA – Day One (video: en + … | 2h 17min)
► Repeal UAPA – Day Two (video: en +… | 2h 22min)
► Repeal UAPA – Day Three (video: en + … | 2h 51min)

Ill-Treatment of Stan Swamy in Jail Should ‘Shake Foundation of Democracy’

Ill-Treatment of Stan Swamy in Jail Should ‘Shake Foundation of Democracy’

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Iklakh Rahim Shaikh, who spent time with the Jesuit priest in Taloja jail, says while “VIP prisoners” get access to all kinds of facilities, prisoners like Swamy are denied even the most basic rights.
A pretrial detainee at the Taloja central prison in the outskirts of Mumbai, who spent close to a year with 84-year-old Jharkhand-based tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy, says the Jesuit priest struggled for a long time before he finally died in July last year.
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Visible change but current government silent on core issues / Sainthood for Father Stan Swamy

Visible change but current government silent on core issues / Sainthood for Father Stan Swamy

Visible change from past but current government silent on core issues

29/12/2021

Times of India / by ASRP Mukesh

A day before the second anniversary of the Hemant Soren-led alliance government on Wednesday, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM), a group of several rights bodies, on Tuesday said despite getting a clear mandate, the incumbent administration has failed to bring any significant relief and improvement in the lives of the common people…
Stating that both JMM and Congress, in their election manifestos, had promised action to release undertrials (tribals, Dalits, backward and minorities jailed in minor cases without conviction), the JJM said, “There is complete silence on this issue too. The Hemant Soren government had raised its voice against the inhuman arrest of Stan Swamy and paid him a tribute after his death, but it remained silent on the issues raised by Stan.”
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Sainthood for Father Stan Swamy

25/12/2021

Deccan Herald / by N Jayaram

Hindutva chauvinists might get a strong message if the process leading to his canonisation were to begin soon
On Christmas day, thoughts turn to a good Christian who was snatched away from us on July 5 this year.
Father Stanislaus Lourduswamy, or Stan Swamy, had dedicated his life to serving Adivasis in Central India, after having been director of the Indian Social Institute, Bengaluru, from 1975 to 1986. He was implicated and jailed – falsely, in the opinion of a large number of human rights activists and even noted jurists – in the infamous Bhima-Koregaon case.
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Also read:
● Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive (Scroll.in / Dec 2021)
● Teacher, companion, motivator: Adivasi-rights activist Dayamani Barla remembers Stan Swamy (The Caravan/Sep 2021)
● PUDR Report: Framed to Die – The Case of Stan Swamy (pdf file, 45 pages; PUDR/Aug 2021)

“Allegations Followed Him To His Grave”: Plea In Bombay HC Seeks To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

“Allegations Followed Him To His Grave”: Plea In Bombay HC Seeks To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

Judicial enquiry sought to clear Stan Swamy name

18/12/2021

The Times of India / by TOI

Five months after the death of Jesuit priest and Elgar Parishad case accused Father Stan Swamy in hospital while in in judicial custody, Fr Frazer Mascarenhas, as his ‘next of kin’ has petitioned the Bombay high court for a judicial enquiry into the death in custody and to remove the ‘odium of guilty’ attached to the deceased tribal rights activist and the shadow it “casts” on the Jesuits in India.
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“Allegations Followed Him To His Grave”: Plea In Bombay High Court Seeks To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

17/12/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Father Frazer Mascarenhas, former principal of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, has approached the Bombay High Court to clear Father Stan Swamy’s name in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case. He has also sought for a court-monitored judicial inquiry into his custodial death.
Fr Stan founded Bagaicha, an organisation dedicated to empowering the Adivasi and Moolvasi communities in Jharkhand. He passed away on July 5, nine months after his arrest.
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There is no room for fake encounters, says NHRC chief Arun Mishra

There is no room for fake encounters, says NHRC chief Arun Mishra

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The head of the country’s statutory human rights body said that speedy justice was key to rule of law.
National Human Rights Commission chief Arun Mishra on Friday said that suspects in cases should not be jailed without trial and that there was no room for fake encounters. Mishra, a former Supreme Court judge, added that justice was the source of a peaceful society…
As recently as on Wednesday, South African non-profit organisation Civicus put India on a list of countries with “repressed” democratic values. The report had flagged the use of draconian anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against activists arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, repression of the farmers’ protest and the imposition of curfews in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Also read:
● In Jharkhand, Scheduled Tribes Still Battle Flimsy Criminal Cases Filed With Little Evidence (Indiaspend / Oct 2021)
● The ‘Encounter Raj’ mindset: Stop mocking those who stand for human rights. Demonising them endangers every citizen (Times of India / July 2020)
● Chhattisgarh: Story of another ‘encounter’ (The Indian Express / Dec 2019)
● Press Release Of The Joint Fact Finding in Gadchiroli by CDRO, IAPL and WSS (WSS / May 2018)

Human Rights Day: BK16 Solidarity (in pictures) / Is there really cause for celebration?

Human Rights Day: BK16 Solidarity (in pictures) / Is there really cause for celebration?

Raipur and Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh)

10/12/2021

By PUCL Chhattisgarh

PUCL Chhattisgarh together with several other unions and organisations organised events in Raipur and Bilaspur on the occasion of Human Rights day. Over 200 people were present in both cities. They also submitted a memorandum to the chief minister and governor of the state
Read PUCL press release (hindi)

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Worldwide Campaign

‘Speaking Up Is Not Anti-National’: Global Groups Condemn Attacks on India’s Rights Defenders

10/12/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

‘Every single government authority, whose job it is to safeguard human rights, has actively undermined them.’
The Indian diaspora and 30 international human rights groups across over 15 countries on Friday – on the occasion of Human Rights Day – came together for a global campaign to condemn growing attacks on human rights in India. In a statement, they advocated for the repeal of laws that are criminalising the defence of human rights and jailing human rights defenders in the country.
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Berlin and Goettingen, Germany

10/12/2021

India Justice Project (IJP) & IndienKoGruppe

Through an interactive street performance on 10 December, International Human Rights Day, at Rathaus Neukoelln in Berlin, the India Justice Project called for solidarity with imprisoned human rights defenders in India.
Read IJP press release

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Goettingen

Release intellectuals, writers arrested under UAPA: Farm outfit

11/12/2021

Times of India / by Neel Kamal

Hours before winding up the year-long farmers’ protest at the Delhi borders, farmer organisation BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) on Friday observed the international human rights day and demanded the release of all intellectuals and writers arrested under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) Bhima Koregaon, Elgar Parishad case and Delhi riots cases.
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Video


By Neha Dixit (Dec 11)
+++ The fabulous Navsharan Singh speaks of Sudha Bharadwaj’s release as several women farmers gather at the Bibi Gulaab Kaur stage to wrap up the 15 month long protest and return home victorious +++
Watch video

Human Rights Day: Is there really cause for celebration?

10/12/2021

Bar & Bench / by Areeb Uddin Ahmed, Aditya AK

In the face of what has come to pass in the recent past, as human rights continue to be sacrificed at the altar of national security and other reasons, we ask ourselves whether there really is cause for celebration.
Every December 10 is celebrated as Human Rights Day, in honour of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a document that serves as the blueprint for the freedoms assured to persons across the world.
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Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive

Even after Stan Swamy’s death, the fight to get justice for Jharkhand undertrials is still alive

Scroll.in / by Riddhi Dastidar, IndiaSpend.com

While the fight has faltered, Swamy’s friends and colleagues are taking forward the work he had lived and died for.
“Until his last breath, Stan had hope in the judiciary,” recalled Sheela*, a Delhi-based lawyer who asked to be anonymous for fear of being targeted. “He was waiting for the July 3 hearing where his interim bail plea was to be taken up. I think when that did not happen, he finally lost hope.”
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‘Release and Stop Harassing Khurram Parvez, Sudha Bharadwaj and Human Rights Defenders’

‘Release and Stop Harassing Khurram Parvez, Sudha Bharadwaj and Human Rights Defenders’

The Citizen / by the Citizen Bureau

32 civil society organisations from across Asia, the Pacific and Europe have called on the Indian government and courts to immediately and unconditionally release “human rights defenders” including Khurram Parvez and Sudha Bharadwaj, and to repeal the “unjust law” UAPA. They also demand bail and compensation for those jailed under UAPA but never tried, or the high proportion found not guilty.
The full statement, signed by groups in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Spain, Australia, Pakistan, Taiwan, the Netherlands and others, follows.
Read full statement