Karctivist.org/ by Kractivist
Mumbai, July 16, 2020 – More than 500 individuals including activists academics, lawyers and Students endorsed petition to Chief Minister Maharashtra Uddhav Bal Thackeray demanding interim bail amidst Covid 19 Pandemic for the Bhima Koregaon 11.
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Article 14 / by Abhinav Sekhri
Varavara Rao. Sudha Bharadwaj. Devangana Kalita. SafooraZargar. Scores of activists and students, all labelled criminals, all charged under a law whose legal processes ensure that proof of their innocence or guilt is rendered irrelevant.
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The Times of India / by Sagarika Ghose
… Today, as a result of mass celebration of rough and ready justice by police bullets on the streets, the notion of human rights has been gravely undermined, constricted and even mocked. So called ‘human rights wallahs’ are subject to shrill public vilification, lampooned, called ‘anti-nationals’ and repeatedly denounced by jingoist media.
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The Leaflet / by Indira Jaising
The Supreme Court of India has repeatedly held that imprisonment does not deprive a prisoner of other fundamental rights that can be exercised consistently with detention. This logic should apply with more force to undertrials and doubly during a pandemic.
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The Leaflet / by Megha Katheria
From the senior activists and lawyers to younger activists like Safoora Zargar, the state has walked at turtle space in granting bail or even protecting the health of the political prisoners during a pandemic. The state of our prisons and the necessity to decongest them is well known. The author explores the democratic and constitutional implications on keeping political prisoners, with comorbidities, locked during a pandemic.
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The Caravan / by Nileena MS
On the evening of 11 July, the 81-year-old poet Varavara Rao called his wife, Hemalatha, from the overcrowded Taloja Central Prison in Maharashtra, sounding incoherent and delirious, according to a press release circulated by his family …
Families and lawyers of others who have been imprisoned in connection to the Bhima Koregaon case have pointed out they are barely able to communicate with the inmates during the pandemic. At least four of the 11 undertrial prisoners have pre-existing medical conditions that make them vulnerable to the novel coronavirus.
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Live Law / by Nitish Kashyap
The Bombay High Court on Friday while hearing an appeal filed by lawyer and tribal rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj directed the National Investigation Agency and state government to take instructions regarding the prevailing conditions in Byculla jail and the social distancing measures being implemented in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Hindustan Times / by KAY Dohiya
On Friday, while hearing the application of Bharadwaj, the bench of Justice SS Shinde and Justice Madhav Jamdar was informed by senior advocate Yug Choudhary that the conditions in Byculla women’s prison were deplorable due to congestion and as Bharadwaj suffered from co-morbidities there was a threat to her well-being and hence should be granted interim bail… The court directed the prison authorities and state to submit an affidavit regarding enlisting the condition of inmates in Byculla women’s prison and posted the matter for hearing on July 17.
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The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha
Mumbai: Maaysha saw her mother, Sudha Bharadwaj, last on February 22. It was a day after Maaysha’s birthday; she turned 23 this year. In the mulaqaat (meeting) at Yerwada prison in Pune, Bharadwaj – an academic and human rights activist – was barely given five minutes to talk to her daughter who had travelled from Delhi just for this meeting.
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06/07/2020
News 21 / by Santoshee Gulabkali Mishra
In a lengthy telephonic interview with Santoshee Gulabkali Mishra, Special Correspondent of TheNews21, Maaysha describes her pain and struggle within and outside the system, her process of learning to cope with the situation in the entire two-year journey minus mother.
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The Print / by Bhardra Sinha
NIA affidavits opposing the bail petitions of rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao and Shoma Sen had content similar to Pune Police’s findings in 2018 & 2019.
New Delhi: Six months after the National Investigative Agency (NIA) took over the probe in the Bhima-Koregaon violence, it does not seem to have made much headway in its investigation
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The Leaflet / by The Leaflet
The National Investigating Agency (NIA) has filed an affidavit challenging the bail application filed by lawyer and former professor Sudha Bharadwaj in the Elgaar Parishad case, at the Bombay High Court. It argues that she is “taking undue benefit” of the Covid-19 pandemic in seeking interim bail on medical grounds.
Read more / read NIA reply
01/07/2020
LiveLaw / by Nitish Kashyap
The National Investigation Agency filed an affidavit before the Bombay High Court on Friday, June 26, opposing the bail plea of advocate and activist Sudha Bharadwaj contending that the accused is trying to take undue advantage of the current situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic and seeking bail on medical grounds.
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01/07/2020
The Indian Express/ by Express News Service
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) last week opposed the bail application of lawyer and former professor Sudha Bharadwaj, arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case, before the special NIA court stating that she is “taking undue benefit” of the Covid-19 pandemic in seeking interim bail on medical grounds … The matter was listed on Tuesday but did not come up for hearing.
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LiveLaw / by Nitish Kashyap
A special court in Mumbai on Friday for the second time rejected the interim bail pleas filed by 81-year-old activist and poet Varavara Rao and academic 61-year-old Shoma Sen on medical grounds as they were suffering from multiple ailments or or comorbidities. The detailed order is yet to be made available.
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+++ Varavara Rao and Shoma Sen will now have to proceed to Bombay High Court +++