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Tag: Sudha Bharadwaj

Consider Varavara Rao’s age, health while arguing against bail plea: Bombay HC to NIA [read order]

Consider Varavara Rao’s age, health while arguing against bail plea: Bombay HC to NIA [read order]

Consider Varavara Rao’s age, health while arguing against bail plea: Bombay HC to NIA [read order]

14/01/2021

Sabrang / by Sabrang India

The court further extended his hospital stay while taking on record his medical reports filed by the hospital.
The Bombay High Court commented, during the hearing of Dr. Varavara Rao’s bail plea, that the government and the NIA should take into consideration his age and ailing condition while arguing against the plea. The next hearing is scheduled for January 19, as per court’s orders. It is expected that on the next date, parties will make submissions with regards to the bail plea.
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Consider Varavara Rao’s age and health: Bombay HC tells NIA on activist’s medical bail plea

13/01/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The NIA presented two fresh reports from Nanavati Hospital on Rao’s health to the court.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said that the National Investigation Agency and Maharashtra government should keep in mind the age and health condition of poet-activist Varavara Rao while making submissions on his bail plea, PTI reported. A bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale was hearing the plea moved by Rao’s wife Hemlata, seeking relief on medical grounds.
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Online events: The incarceration of Stan Swamy – Repeal UAPA – Release BK16 arrestees – Book Release

Online events: The incarceration of Stan Swamy – Repeal UAPA – Release BK16 arrestees – Book Release

By twenty initiating movements/organisations

Online programmes:
• On 15 January: HUNDRED DAYS of the incarceration of Father Stan Swamy and the brutal face of the Indian State
• On 20, 21, 22 January: Repeal UAPA, the draconian legal tool to indefinitely put dissenters behind bars, using the bogey of national security and extremism.
• On 24 January: “Why does the Indian State fear Sudha Bharadwaj”. The Release of a PUCL published book on Advocate, activist, trade unionist, lawyer and mother Sudha Bharadwaj.

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Dear Friends,
SALAAM!
During the last 20 months since the 2019 elections, we have all witnessed the depths to which the present ruling party can descend to crush, subvert, deny, undermine and weaken the institutions, structure and processes of rule of law and constitutional democracy. Brazenly and with impunity, the government has used the law and the police agencies to stifle and silence democratic voices of dissent through false prosecutions and persecution of rights defenders and undemocratic measures to curb the lawful activities of organisations. What is most distressing is the near-total abdication of their constitutional duties to safeguard constitutionally mandated fundamental rights and crushing of dissent by constitutional institutions, including the Supreme and High courts.
As happened in the emergency period and other times in our history as an independent nation, citizens are now standing up to say “Enough is enough” and are fighting to safeguard the Indian Constitution, rule of law and democracy. …

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Farmers’ groups attempt to ‘broaden’ struggle / Jailed activists join farmers protests [full statement]

Farmers’ groups attempt to ‘broaden’ struggle / Jailed activists join farmers protests [full statement]

Farmers’ groups along Delhi border attempt to ‘broaden’ struggle

11/01/2021

Counterview / by Harsh Thakor

A protracted war of resistance appears to be unfolding on the border of Delhi, whee protesting farmers have intensified their struggle against the three agricultural laws. A massive tractor march was planned as a precursor to a similar rally on the Republic Day. Farmers are being mobilized under the guidance of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) and other organisations in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
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Their full statement (click to enlarge)

Several Elgaar Parishad accused on day-long hunger strike in support of protesting farmers

23/12/2020

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Three other accused in the case, Sudha Bharadwaj, Jyoti Jagtap and Shoma Sen, are lodged separately at Byculla women’s jail.
To show solidarity with protesting farmers, some of the arrested accused in the Elgaar Parishad case who are lodged at Taloja Central Jail observed a day-long symbolic hunger strike on Wednesday.
The accused, including Mahesh Raut, Anand Teltumbde, Surendra Gadling, Hany Babu, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Rona Wilson, said in a statement issued through their lawyers that since they cannot join the farmers on the ground, they want to show solidarity with their cause through a hunger strike on December 23, which is observed as National Farmers’ Day.
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Jailed activists join farmers protests, symbolic hunger strike in solidarity

23/12/2020

Indie Journal / by Indie Journal

The activists have criticised the Central Government for bringing in the farm laws.
On farmers’ day, today, several intellectuals and activists detained in the Bhima Koregaon case will be undertaking a day-long symbolic hunger strike, in solidarity with the farmers protesting against the farm laws. The activists have criticised the Central Government for bringing in the farm laws, calling it a “sinister plot to make farmers slave of the corporate giants”.
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Also read: FARMERS’ UNION EXPLAINS WHY IT IS DEMANDING JAILED ACTIVISTS’ RELEASE (Dec 14)

Withdraw scurrilous allegations: Sudha Bharadwaj files application against NIA

Withdraw scurrilous allegations: Sudha Bharadwaj files application against NIA

Withdraw scurrilous allegations: Sudha Bharadwaj files application against NIA and its lawyers

29/12/2020

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

She has stated that the Court should not be reduced to a forum of gossip and slander under the guise of legal arguments.
Bhima Koregaon case accused Sudha Bharadwaj has filed an application in the Special NIA Court at Mumbai praying for the withdrawal of the allegations made against her in the reply filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
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Sudha Bharadwaj requests NIA to withdraw ‘defamatory’ remark

29/12/2020

Free Press Journal / by Bhavna Uchil

Activist Sudha Bharadwaj made an application before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday, seeking that court direct the agency and its prosecutor withdraw their “defamatory” remark against her.
On December 10, Bharadwaj had made a plea seeking copies of witness statements in which the identities of witnesses and their addresses be protected as allowed by law, but the contents of the statements not be truncated in various portions. Her plea had said that the truncation is obstructing her defence as the statements are not making sense with the truncations.
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Special court directs NIA to supply statements of witnesses to Sudha Bharadwaj

29/12/2020

Goa Cronicle / by GC News Desk

The Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court at Mumbai directed the NIA to provide copies of the unredacted statements of the witnesses to Bhima Koregaon accused, Sudha Bharadwaj.
The Court said that the statements should be provided without truncation except for the identity and addresses of the witnesses which can be redacted.
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For those dividing Indians to rule them, adivasis are clearly not farmers / Video: Protesting farmers

For those dividing Indians to rule them, adivasis are clearly not farmers / Video: Protesting farmers


Drawing by Arun Ferreira

The Wire / by Nandini Sundar

The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) decided to mark December 10, International Human Rights Day, by remembering several prominent activists arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), especially those arrested in the name of Bhima Koregaon, and the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act…
Mahesh Raut, one of the youngest of those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, is a graduate of TISS and was a PM Rural Development Fellow in Gadchiroli.
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Video: Protesting Farmers Demand Release of Arrested Intellectuals and Activists


hindi | 11:30min | 2020

The Wire / by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta

Why do farmers wish to broaden the scope of their protest?
Farmers protesting at the border on International Human Rights Day demanded the release of all activists who have been arrested. The Wire‘s Political Affairs Editor Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta spoke to the farmers to find out why they wished to broaden the scope of their protest.
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Human Rights Padyatra Demands Release of Sudha Bhardwaj and her Co-Accused (pics)

Human Rights Padyatra Demands Release of Sudha Bhardwaj and her Co-Accused (pics)

Click to enlarge pics

By PUCL-CG and CMM-MKS

People’s Union for Civil Liberties-Chhattisgarh & Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha-Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti had given the call to march in solidarity with Sudha Bharadwaj and other human rights activists on International Human Rights Day.
The yatra was planned from Bhilai Power House to the Chief Minister’s residence in Raipur to deliver a memorandum, demanding the release of Sudha Bharadwaj and her co-accused. But the padyatra was stopped by the police near Khursipar in Bhilai, violating the fundamental right of the citizens to protest peacefully.
They demanded:
Release Sudha Bharadwaj!
Release all Human Rights Activists!
Stop Human Rights Violations in Chhattisgarh!

The Memory Keepers Of India’s Imprisoned Intellectuals

The Memory Keepers Of India’s Imprisoned Intellectuals

Bloomberg Quint / by Priya Ramani

Varavara Rao is writing poems again. This news, from his nephew N Venugopal is shared with joy. After months of teetering precariously between life and death in Mumbai’s Taloja jail, delirious, bedridden, with an unchanged catheter, and no trained attendants, the Bombay High Court, on Nov. 18, ordered immediate medical attention for Rao, one of the country’s most prolific public intellectuals. The court also okayed family visits.
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Law is No Longer About Justice But is Reimagined as a Tool of Terror and Harassment

Law is No Longer About Justice But is Reimagined as a Tool of Terror and Harassment

The Leaflet / by Shiv Visvanathan

Each citizen, as Havel once said about totalitarianism, must become iconic of protest from body language to symbolism. When indifference and prejudice becomes a monstrosity of legal indifference, civil society must reinvent democracy as a new politics of caring, says Shiv Visvanathan.
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Video: Why is UAPA a draconian law?

Video: Why is UAPA a draconian law?


en | 13:04min | 2020

Newslaundry / by Newslaundry Team

You may lately have come across stories of activists and journalists being charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, or UAPA. The UAPA is an anti-terrorism law which has been used against activists associated with the Bhima-Koregaon movement, the citizenship law protesters, and even a journalist on his way to cover the Hathras rape and murder…
Meghnad S takes you through the history of the UAPA, its evolution from an anti-secession legislation to being an anti-terrorism law, and how it has been misused by successive governments.
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