The following poems were written by poet Sudhir Dhawale and Advocate Surendra Gadling on 6 June 2023, the fifth anniversary of their incarceration as undertrials in the Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case.
hindi | 8:43min | June 6, 2023
Five years back this day they took him away hoping to break his spirit. 1825 days so far behind bars and see who won?
During the short release he sang his heart. Caged yet fearless. U can jail him not his charisma.
This is the second of the songs. Lyrics by Sagar Gorkhe. Listen to the song
Five years behind bars for five activists – Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice!
06/06/2023
By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)
Five years behind bars for five activists
Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice!
Release all 15-surviving accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.
June 6, 2023 will mark five years that five activists are behind bars. They include Mahesh Raut, an anti-displacement campaigner, Rona Wilson, a political prisoners’ campaigner, Shoma Sen, a feminist activist and professor, Sudhir Dhawale, a Dalit rights activist and Surendra Gadling, a lawyer who takes people’s rights cases pro-bono. Read full statement
Five Years Since The First Arrests In Bhima-Koregaon Case
06/06/2023
Countercurrents.org / by Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO)
6th June 2018. The nation’s conscience suffered yet another attack by the arrests of leading intellectuals and democratic rights activists by the Pune police in connection with the so-called Bhima-Koregaon (BK) case. These arrests snowballed into a series of arrests in subsequent months. Five years have passed, and barring a few activists out on bail, the arrested persons are still languishing in jail without a charge sheet being filed. Through this statement, the CDRO once again tries to remember the incidents leading to these arrests and subsequent events; so that people can unite in a struggle for the release of the BK-16 and the repeal of draconian laws. Read full statement
Five years of Bhima Koregaon arrests: CDRO marks ‘black day’
06/06/2023
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
It was on this day in 2018 that five activists were first arrested by the Pune police in the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case. To mark this day, and by means of highlighting the plight of the arrested persons, the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation and People’s Union for Democratic Rights have issued press statements demanding the immediate release of all the persons behind bars in connection with the case. Read more
CASR: Release activists incarcerated in Bhima Koregaon Case
07/06/2023
Countercurrents.org / by Campaign Against State Repression
June 6th became a day of one of the most audacious attack by the Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist state on the Democratic rights and political activists and began new era of rampant use of UAPA and conspiracy cases, which was, although known to the working class, the peasantry and the oppressed, have been largely unknown to the Urban democratic movement. June 6th, 2018 marks the first arrest in the infamous Bhima Koregaon ‘Conspiracy’ case, after series of raids in April 2018. The police arrested Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut. Read full statement
Five years after arrest, Bhima Koregaon case accused yet to get copies of proof against them
05/06/2023
The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
Special Public Prosecutor rubbished the allegation and said most of the material have been shared with them
It has been six years since Sudhir Dhawale, an activist; Surendra Gadling, a criminal lawyer practising in Nagpur; Shoma Sen, professor and Head of Department, English at Nagpur University; activists Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut were arrested in the caste-based violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune in 2017. Read more
Shoma Sen, an accused in the case along with 15 other activists and academics, has been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Sen has been incarcerated as an undertrial since June 6, 2018, and is lodged at the Byculla jail in Mumbai.
On Monday, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria continued hearing a discharge application filed by women’s rights activist and academic Shoma Sen, claiming discrepancies in the evidence against her in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case, and drawing a parallel with the allegations raised against Dalit scholar, academic activist and co-accused Dr Anand Teltumbde. Read more
The accused, Surendra Gadling and Arun Ferreira, were permitted by the court on January 23 to use computers twice a week and software to view documents submitted by the National Investigation Agency as evidence.
Nearly three months after a special court directed authorities at Taloja Central Prison to permit two accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, who are lawyers representing themselves, use of computers twice a week and necessary software to view evidence, they informed the court on Thursday that prison officials had not complied with the order. Read more
IndiaMatters UK / by over 60 international organisations and individual campaigners, activists and academics
Fourth Drone Bomb Attack on Indigenous People in Bastar, Chhattisgarh
Stop This State Terror Now!
Press Note
Indigenous (Adivasi) people in Bijapur district of Bastar, in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, have been traumatised by yet another aerial bomb attack from the security forces which have been using drones to carry out these operations. Although the Indian Air Force is not officially deployed for combat in Chhattisgarh, the repeated use of aerial bombardment on civilian populations suggests a new dimension to the state terror being inflicted on the Adivasi population of Bastar for years.
… Social activists who have been speaking out against this injustice have also ended up in prisons … there are the well known sixteen democratic rights activists falsely implicated in what has come to be known as the Bhima Koregaon case. These sixteen were locked in prison between 2018 and 2020 on the basis of an essentially fabricated case prepared by the notorious National Investigative Agency against them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Read full statement
In the application, Gadling detailed his right to appear in person and the tedious process of in-person visits for undertrial prisoners.
On April 10, 2023, a division Bench of the Bombay High Court, comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Sharmila Deshmukh, recused itself from hearing an appeal by human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist Surendra Gadling for the grant of default bail. With its recent change in assignments, the high court is yet to decide on Gadling’s application to appear in person and allow his production before the high court, where his appeal for grant of default bail is pending. The application was sent by Gadling from Taloja jail in November 2022. Read more
51- year-old Gadling, a well-known criminal lawyer in Nagpur, was once a cultural activist, who sang songs of political resistance. The 11- minutes- long rendition tells you what it means to be incarcerated in Indian prisons. From food, water, to medical care, everything is a struggle, Gadling narrates. The song was recorded by one of Gadling’s colleagues and was made available to The Wire after obtaining his consent. Watch video
Bombay High Court seeks NIA’s stance on request by Surendra Gadling to argue his bail plea in person
Bombay High Court seeks NIA’s stance on request by Surendra Gadling to argue his bail plea in person
01/03/2023
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
Through a letter, Gadling had told the Court that it would be difficult to brief his legal aid lawyer about the case since the chargesheet was voluminous and since prison meetings are permitted only for about 20 minutes.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday sought the assistance of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to decide whether the Court should allow Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, to appear in person before the High Court to argue his default bail application. Read more
To allow or not allow Surendra Gadling to argue his own case, Bombay HC deliberates
01/03/2023
India Today / by Vidya
The HC bench has asked the advocate representing the NIA to discuss the issue with the investigating agency and revert.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday deliberated for long whether advocate Surendra Gadling should be granted permission to appear in person before the court to make his submissions for default bail. Read more
Shoma Sen files discharge plea / Targeted for activism, says Shoma Sen seeking clean chit
Shoma Sen said in her discharge application that the “incriminating” evidence claimed to have been seized from her deals with information on social movements, all of which can be found in public domain.
… Meanwhile, the court on Tuesday heard the discharge application of activist Vernon Gonsalves. During the arguments, Gonsalves said that the accused in the case had not received some of the cloned copies presented by the NIA as evidence. … The co-accused in the case, lawyers Surendra Gadling and Arun Ferreira, informed the court that they had previously too sought cloned copies but have not received all. Read more
Targeted for activism, says Shoma Sen seeking clean chit
01/02/2023
The Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter
Professor Shoma Sen, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, on Tuesday filed a plea for getting a clean chit in the case. She claimed she has been falsely implicated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for her active role in the sphere of activism for human rights, Dalits and the marginalised sections of society. Read more
Reasonable ground to believe Surendra Gadling a member of banned CPI (Maoist): Bombay High Court [Read Judgment]
31/01/2023
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
The Court made the prima facie observation while rejecting Gadling’s bail plea in the 2016 Surajgarh arson case.
Allegations that lawyer and activist Surendra Gadling had direct membership of the banned organisation, Communist Party of India (Maoist) seem to be prima facie true, the Bombay High Court observed on Tuesday [Surendra Gadling v. State of Maharashtra].
A division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezes made the observation while rejecting a bail plea moved by Gadling in the 2016 Surajgarh arson case. Read more Read judgment
Surajgarh arson case: Bombay High Court rejects bail plea by Surendra Gadling
31/01/2023
Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi
Gadling is presently in judicial custody in Taloja Central Prison and is also an accused in the 2018 riots case of Bhima Koregaon.
The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court today rejected the bail plea of lawyer and activist Surendra Gadling in the 2016 Surajgarh arson case.
A division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and VA Menezes pronounced the order today. Read more
HC upholds denial of bail to Nagpur lawyer Surendra Gadling
01/02/2023
Nagpur Today / by Nagpur Today
Justice Vinay Joshi and Justice Valmiki SA Menezes at the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court have dismissed the appeal filed by the Nagpur lawyer, Surendra Gadling (55), against rejection of his application for regular bail by the Sessions court, Gadchiroli, with observation that the court prima facie believes the NIA´s accusations that appellant was part of a conspiracy and abetting the terrorist acts. Read more
A special court in Mumbai has directed Taloja Central Prison authorities to allow two of the accused in the Elgaar Parishad case, lawyers Surendra Gadling and Arun Ferreira who represent themselves, to use computers twice a week and provide the necessary software to view documents submitted by NIA. Read more
