By People’s Union for Civil Liberties – Chhattisgarh
Release All Political Prisoners!
Repeal Draconian Laws!
Stop Gagging the Media!
June 25th, 2020: On this day in 1975, the then-Indian Government imposed the State of Emergency in India, suspending all fundamental rights and commencing one of the darkest periods of Indian democracy. Today, after a span of forty-five years, we the people of India find ourselves in a similar situation, living in a de facto state of emergency, which has not been officially declared, where scores of ordinary citizens to who dared to criticize the government are being arbitrarily arrested under draconian laws meant only for rarest cases of international terror. The Chhattisgarh chapter of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties is observing this day as the Anti-Emergency Day –to demand the release of arrested human rights workers, and to renew our pledge to uphold the Constitution of India, with all its promises of freedom and equality, in its true spirit. …
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing in petition filed by two accused in the Bhima Koregaon case challenging transfer of investigation to the National Investigation Agency, after the Centre sought time to file a reply to the contentions raised. Read more
Elgar Case Transfer: HC Seeks NIA, Centre and Maha Govt Response Before July 14
23/06/2020
Newslick / by pti
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday sought responses from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Central and Maharashtra governments on a petition filed by the two accused, Surendra Gadling and Sudhir Dhawale, challenging transfer of the Elgar Parishad case probe from the Pune police to the NIA. Read more
Sudha Bharadwaj files interim bail application before Bombay HC
A petition was filed by Advocates Yug Chaudhury and Ragini Ahuja, before the Bombay High Court, seeking interim bail for Activist and Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj on medical grounds. Earlier, the bail application of Sudha Bharadwaj was rejected by the Special Judge, National Investigative Agency in Mumbai on May 29, 2020. Read more
HC TO HEAR ON FRIDAY SUDHA BHARADWAJ’S BAIL APPLICATION
23/06/2020
Outlook – The News Scroll / by pti
Mumbai, Jun 23 (PTI): The Bombay High Court will hear on Friday a bail application filed by activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Bharadwaj, who was arrested in August 2018, moved the HC last week against the order of the NIA court in Mumbai that rejected her interim bail plea on May 29. Read more
Sudha Bharadwaj moves Bombay HC against NIA court rejecting interim bail plea
Activist Sudha Bharadwaj (58), currently lodged in Mumbai’s Byculla Women’s jail – where an inmate had tested positive for Covid-19 last month – had sought temporary bail before the special court on medical grounds in view of the pandemic. The plea was rejected by the court. Read more
Citing ‘Inhuman Treatment’ of 11 Activists, Brinda Karat Writes to Amit Shah [read letter]
We are herewith releasing the full text of the letter addressed to the Home Minister, Amit Shah by CPI(M) Polit Bureau Member, Brinda Karat. This pertains to the inhuman treatment of human rights activists arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case. The letter was sent today. Read more
NEW DELHI: Over 300 prominent citizens appealed for the release of 11 jailed activists, including Varavara Rao and Sudha Bhardwaj, who are yet to get bail despite prisons being overcrowded and some inmates testing COVID positive. Read more
Interview with Maaysha: Please release my mother, Sudha Bharadwaj
On August 28, 2020, the respected lawyer and human rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj will complete two years in jail …
“If somebody is working for poor people, then does it mean they are criminals?”, Maaysha, Bharadwaj’s daughter who got to speak with her mother after four months on June 9, asks Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com. Read more
To dissent is not a crime! Concerned citizens call for the release of activists on humanitarian grounds
We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the health of 11 respected fellow citizens:
1. Mr. Varavara Rao
2. Ms. Sudha Bhardwaj
3. Ms. Shoma Sen
4. Mr. Anand Teltumbde
5. Mr. Gautam Navlakha
6. Mr. Arun Ferreira
7. Mr. Vernon Gonsalvez
8. Mr. Surendra Gadling
9. Mr. Mahesh Raut
10. Mr. Sudhir Dhawale
11. Mr. Rona Wilson
These activists, many of them eminent scholars, writers and poets, have worked for the welfare of India’s poorest and most marginalised people over decades. Yet they have been turned into politcal prisoners and incarcerated. They have not been granted bail despite the fact that in the prisons of Maharashtra where they are being detained, some inmates have died and many others have tested positive for COVID-19. Read more
Things Getting Really Bad in Overcrowded Maharashtra Prisons
Even after 2 deceased inmates were found COVID-19 positive, testing is not being done in Taloja where rights activists, mostly 60+, arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case have been lodged. Read more
OF 269 PRISON INMATES WHO TESTED POSITIVE IN MAHARASHTRA, 115 RECOVERED
The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
As of June 13, 17, 695 screenings and 1681 swab tests were conducted in 10 Central Prisons in Maharashtra and in the Additional Director General, Prisons (ADGP) office of which 269 tested positive, 115 recovered and four died, the Bombay High Court was informed on Monday. Read more
The Day Justice Hosbet Suresh Was Threatened With Arrest
The police’s relentless pursuit of human rights activists in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence did not spare judges either.
The Bhima Koregaon case, in which 11 prominent human rights activists, lawyers and academics languish behind bars, that too during a pandemic, has now become the template for similar arrests taking place in different parts of the country 2014 under the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah regime. Read more
