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Mary Lawlor: Inhumane prison conditions for Bhima Koregaon Human Rights Defenders

Mary Lawlor: Inhumane prison conditions for Bhima Koregaon Human Rights Defenders

By Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

On 11 June 2021, I wrote a letter jointly with two other UN experts on the alleged inhumane prison conditions and deteriorating condition of 15 human rights defenders, as well as Varavara Rao who was granted medical bail.
Of pressing concern was the inhumane prison conditions and deteriorating health of the human rights defenders. The death of Fr. Stan Swamy shortly after this communication was written demonstrate the severity of the conditions in which the human rights defenders are being held. It is haunting to now read how Fr. Swamy’s requests to be transferred to hospital to receive treatment were initially denied repeatedly.
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NIA files draft charges under UAPA, sedition & conspiracy against 15 accused

NIA files draft charges under UAPA, sedition & conspiracy against 15 accused

NIA files draft charges under UAPA, sedition & conspiracy against 15 accused

11/08/2021

Sabrang India / by Sabrang India

Filing of draft charges against the accused indicates that the trial could begin anytime soon. However, the lawyers of some of the accused have asked the court to dispose the applications before it, prior to framing charges.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed draft charges before the Special NIA court in Mumbai, against the 15 accused in the Elgar Parishad/Bhima Koregaon case.
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NIA files draft charges against 15 accused in NIA Court

10/08/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The lawyers appearing for the accused also prayed for deferring of hearing on framing of charges till the pending applications of the accused are disposed of, which the Court rejected.
The National Investigating agency (NIA) on Monday filed draft charges against 15 accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018.
Framing of charges under Section 226 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is the stage where the prosecution describes the charges against the accused along with the evidence they have to prove the guilt of the accused.
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NIA files draft charges against accused in Elgar Parishad case

09/08/2021

India Today / by Vidhya

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed draft charges against 15 accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Draft charges contain about 20 charges that have been slapped against the accused in the case. Section 226 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) obliges the prosecution to describe the charge brought against the accused and to state by what evidence the guilt of the accused would be proved.
In the coming days, the court will hear the accused or their lawyers, who will argue against each charge and then the judge will decide and frame the charges against each accused. The accused will be then asked if they plead guilty or not. If the accused do not plead guilty, then the trial against each accused will begin.
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NIA files draft charges against accused in Elgar Parishad case

09/08/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

The NIA has also proposed to charge the accused for criminal conspiracy, waging or attempting to wage a war or abetting a war against the Government of India, sedition, and promoting enmity under sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday submitted draft charges against the 15 accused arrested in the Elgar Parishad case. The charges include sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act pertaining to terrorist acts, unlawful activities, conspiracy, membership of banned organisation and raising funds for it.
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Bombay High Court Reserves Judgment In Sudha Bharadwaj’s Plea For Default Bail

Bombay High Court Reserves Judgment In Sudha Bharadwaj’s Plea For Default Bail

Bombay High Court Reserves Judgment In Sudha Bharadwaj’s Plea For Default Bail

04/08/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj’s default bail plea in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad caste violence case.
Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar heard Bharadwaj’s plea filed under sections 439, 482 and 167(2)(a)(i) of the Criminal Procedure Code read with section 43 D(2)of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
The bench had earlier observed that the HC’s records were consistent with Bharadwaj’s RTI documents demonstrating that the Pune Judge was not notified as a Special Court under the NIA Act.
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Bombay HC reserves order in Sudha Bharadwaj default bail plea

04/08/2021

Bar & Bench/ by Neha Joshi

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict in the petition filed by lawyer and Bhima Koregaon accused Sudha Bharadwaj seeking default bail under Code of Criminal Procedure.
Bharadwaj had approached the High Court assailing two orders passed by Pune Sessions Judges on the ground that they had no jurisdiction to pass orders in the case.
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Five reasons why NIA is opposing Sudha Bharadwaj’s default bail plea in Bombay HC

02/08/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Additional Solicitor General appearing for the NIA made his submissions before Bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar opposing the default bail plea.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has opposed the default bail application filed by Bhima Koregaon accused Sudha Bharadwaj (Sudha Bharadwaj v. State of Maharashtra & Anr).
Bharadwaj had moved the High Court challenging two orders passed by Pune Sessions Judges KD Vadane and RM Pande on the ground that they had no jurisdiction to pass orders in the case.
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Also read: NIA opposes default bail pleas of eight accused (The Indian Express / July 25, 2021)

Political prisoners part of broader dissent against state excesses / The Future of Social Activism

Political prisoners part of broader dissent against state excesses / The Future of Social Activism


Poster, July 2020

Political prisoners part of broader dissent against state excesses

27/07/2021

The Leaflet / by Achintya Anita Gurumurthy

It has been over 500 days since Khalid Saifi’s incarceration and 300 for Umar Khalid in the northeast Delhi riots cases and almost three weeks since the custodial demise of Father Stan Swamy in the Bhima-Koregaon case – all arrested under the dreaded Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, (UAPA) 1967. The arrests have put the spotlight back on the category of ‘political prisoners’, who are imprisoned for opposing the government via their actions or beliefs.
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State and the Future of Social Activism

27/07/2021

EPW / by Gopal Guru

The death of Father Stan Swamy and several others as the tragic outcome of the arrest and detention without fair trial brings into critical focus the approach that the state has been adopting towards understanding social activism. In the ethics of democratic practice and constitutional morality, such an official approach would be evaluated as indiscrete, if not arbitrary, in comprehending the nature of social activism.
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161 Names Revealed On Snoop List So Far / Indian activists jailed on terrorism charges were on list

161 Names Revealed On Snoop List So Far / Indian activists jailed on terrorism charges were on list

161 Names Revealed By The Wire On Snoop List So Far

27/07/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Over the past few days, The Wire – in collaboration with 16 other media organisations – has been revealing the names of people who were either persons of interest or forensically identified as having been targeted by clients of the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.
Those on the list include heads of state, political figures, activists, students, lawyers and journalists, among others.
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Pegasus exposé raises unjust detention cry

20/07/2021

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

The leaked database showed that the mobile numbers of several accused were on a list of those selected for surveillance by an unidentified client of NSO.
The families of the Elgaar Parishad-Maoist links detainees and one of their lawyers have said the new revelations about targeted surveillance have vindicated their stand that the prolonged imprisonment of the 15 surviving accused is unjust.
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From Ambedkarites and Labour Activists to Umar Khalid and JNU Students, Snoop List Targets All

20/07/2021

The Wire / by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta, Sukanya Shantha and Kabir Agarwal

Leaked list of potential surveillance targets indicates attempt to keep tabs on critics of government policy.
The telephone numbers of an anti-caste leader and several prominent activists are part of a leaked database accessed by the Pegasus Project which includes individuals confirmed to have been targeted with the Israel based NSO group’s spyware.
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Indian activists jailed on terrorism charges were on list with surveillance targets

20/07/2021

The Washington Post / by Joanna Slater and Niha Masih

The Bhima Koregaon activists were also victims of an unidentified hacker who planted evidence on their computers, recent reports found.
When the Indian authorities began arresting lawyers and human rights activists in 2018, Sudha Bharadwaj did what she had done for more than three decades wherever she saw injustice. She organized. She spoke out. She asked courts to uphold the law.
Later that year, the police arrested her, too.
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Cops used Pegasus in Koregaon Bhima case, says Digvijaya Singh

20/07/2021

Times of India / by Suchandana Gupta

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Monday told TOI TOI that Pegasus was used by police in the Koregaon Bhima case, and even his name had surfaced, but he couldn’t be implicated because he had stopped using the phone that was mentioned in the ‘Naxalite letter’.
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Phones of ministers, journalists, lawyers and activists tapped by Pegasus spyware. Indians should worry

19/07/2021

The Leaflet / by Ramesh Menon

In the days ahead, we will know more about the investigations as they will be released in parts. Clearly, there is going to be a stormy monsoon session in Parliament as opposition members will question the government’s role in the snooping scandal. These revelations, if true, bode dangerously for the health of our democracy, writes Ramesh Menon as he recaps what we know about the Pegasus hacking allegations so far.
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NIA opposes default bail pleas of eight accused

NIA opposes default bail pleas of eight accused

NIA opposes default bail pleas of eight accused

25/07/2021

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

A division bench of Justice S S Shinde and Justice N J Jamadar was hearing the plea filed by Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling and Varavara Rao.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday opposed the plea filed by eight accused in the Elgaar Parishad case challenging the June 2019 order of the Pune sessions court rejecting their default bail pleas.
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May Be An Irregularity, Not An Illegality: Maharashtra Govt On Special NIA Court Not Taking Cognizance Of Case

23/07/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Maharashtra Government and the National Investigation Agency on Friday continued their arguments opposing Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad accused Sudha Bharadwaj’s default bail application.
The State submitted that in her entire petition Bharadwaj hasn’t averred at a single place that she was “denied justice” because a sessions court, and not a special court under the NIA Act, took cognisance of the chargesheet against her and and other accused on February 21, 2019.
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If Court is not empowered to take cognizance, does not mean proceedings can be set aside: NIA to Bombay High Court

23/07/2021

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

An affidavit stating the same was filed before the High Court in the petition filed by eight accused in the Bhima Koregaon case challenging the order refusing bail.
Merely because a court is not empowered by law to take cognizance and yet does so in good faith does not mean that the proceedings should be set aside on that ground alone, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) submitted before the Bombay High Court in the Bhima Koregaon case.
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The State Has Left My Mother To Die, Says Sudha Bharadwaj’s Daughter

The State Has Left My Mother To Die, Says Sudha Bharadwaj’s Daughter

Outlook / by Astha Savyasachi

As activist Sudha Bharadwaj’s health deteriorates inside prison, her friends and family speak to Outlook about her incarceration and work in Chhattisgarh.

‘Dedicated to those prisoners
in whose hearts the future shone like a pearl
But was burnt in the troubled nights of the prison
and diminished into a tiny flicker.’
(Translation of some lines from the poem ‘Intesaab’)

Smita Gupta took to Facebook and dedicated ‘Intesaab’, a famous poem penned by revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, to her dear friend Sudha Bharadwaj.
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The 16 activists arrested in relation to the Bhima Koregaon case are victims of witch-hunt

The 16 activists arrested in relation to the Bhima Koregaon case are victims of witch-hunt

Frontline / by Anupama Katakam

The arrests and incarceration of 16 activists, known as the BK-16, on specious charges relating to the Bhima Koregaon violence case is part of the Central government’s systematic and methodical targeting of people who dissent and fight against oppression and for the causes of sections of society that a majoritarian government has no space for …
A look at the profile of each victim clearly indicates why the current regime feels threatened by their work.
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Sudha Bharadwaj, Fr Stan not Maoists: Deccan Herald told to remove ‘malicious’ ad

Sudha Bharadwaj, Fr Stan not Maoists: Deccan Herald told to remove ‘malicious’ ad

‘Sudha Bharadwaj, Fr Stan not Maoists’: Deccan Herald told to remove ‘malicious’ ad

16/07/2021

Counterview / by Counterview Desk

In a joint letter, more than 100 civil society groups and citizens* have demanded that from the daily “Deccan Herald” editor Sitaraman Shankar and owners to withdraw and apologise for publishing the visual connect advertisement in its Bengaluru edition on July 15, stating, it is meant to “vilify” human rights activists Sudha Bhardwaj the late Fr Stan Swamy.
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Making a game of a person’s death: Deccan Herald apologises after outrage over Stan Swamy ‘quiz’

16/07/2021

The Print / by Angana Chakrabarti

A group of activists and civil society members hit out at the English language daily Deccan Herald over a ‘prize-winning quiz’ that appeared in the newspaper’s Thursday edition.
The quiz, part of the ‘DH Visual Connect’ contest, which appears in the newspaper every day, drew “connection” between three pictures — the Bhima Koregaon victory pillar, activist Sudha Bharadwaj, and a Communist flag bearing the hammer and sickle.
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State and NIA oppose default bail plea by Sudha Bharadwaj and 8 other accused in the case

State and NIA oppose default bail plea by Sudha Bharadwaj and 8 other accused in the case

UAPA Offences Will Go Before Special Court Only When NIA Investigates: Maharashtra Govt To Bombay High Court In Sudha Bharadwaj’s Plea For Default Bail

15/07/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Opposing the default bail plea of Bhima Koregaon- Elgar Parishad accused Sudha Bharadwaj, on Thursday, the Maharashtra Government said that orders passed by the Pune Judge Kishore Vadane were not without jurisdiction even though he was a sessions judge and not a Special Judge under the NIA Act.
During the last hearing Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar had said that the Court’s records were consistent with RTI replies received by Bharadwaj judge KD Vadane’s court was not notified as a special court under the NIA Act.
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Update by Live Law (July 15)


#BombayHighCourt will hear lawyer-activist, #SudhaBharadwaj’s plea seeking default bail on the grounds that the Pune judge was not authorised to take cognisance of the chargesheet against her and others in 2019 +++
A bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar will also hear a petition by other accused in the Bhima Koregaon case seeking similar reliefs +++
Hearing begins. Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni for the State. Adv Yug Chaudhry for Sudha Bharadwaj +++

…
Read thread @LiveLawIndia

Also read: Cognizance Of Bhima Koregaon Chargesheet Vitiated As Pune Judge Wasn’t Special Judge Under NIA Act? Bombay High Court To Examine (Live Law, July 8, 2021)