Many of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case have now spent one more year incarcerated without a trial. A far cry from the verbiage of high judicial officials that even a day’s denial of liberty is too much.
… Here is a recap of the major developments in the case this year, of bail applications granted, stayed and pending; the consistent pleas for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to comply with the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973; and the courts heeding to medical conditions-related pleas of the accused. Read more
NIA court gives temporary bail to Surendra Gadling to attend wedding in Nagpur
NIA court gives temporary bail to Surendra Gadling to attend wedding in Nagpur
08/12/2023
Hindustan Times / by Rutuja Gaidhani
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Thursday granted temporary bail to Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case 2017, from December 25 to January 2 of 2024, to attend a relative’s wedding in Nagpur.
While granting Gadling bail, special judge R J Katariya noted that the original wedding card of his relative was produced which proved the case. “The applicant (Gadling) shall not leave Nagpur city and there shall not be any prayer for extension of the period of bail in any circumstances,” said the court. Read more
NIA Court Grants Temporary Bail To Surendra Gadling Held In Elgar Parishad Case To Attend Close Relative’s Wedding
07/12/2023
Free Press Journal / by Charul Shah Joshi
He has been asked not to leave the Nagpur city during the said period of one week and also not hamper the evidence and prosecution witnesses
The special NIA court on Thursday granted temporary bail to advocate Surendra Gadling, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, to attend the wedding of a close relative in the family for one week from December 25 till January 2. Read more
Nagpur: Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja unleashed an attack on the Centre over its handling of the Elgar Parishad case. “How long would professors and intellectuals be kept behind bars?“ Read more
Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing for Gadling, stated that evidence recovered from Gadling in the Bhima Koregaon case is being repurposed for use in the Gadchiroli arson case.
Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed the Maharashtra government time to file a counter-affidavit in the bail plea by human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist Surendra Gadling.
… The Bench directed the state government to file a counter-affidavit within one week and posted the matter for hearing in two weeks. Read more
Supreme Court Issues Notice on Surendra Gadling’s Bail Plea in 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case
10/10/2023
Live Law / by Awstika Das
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on the bail plea of Dalit rights activist and advocate Surendra Gadling in the 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case. The Nagpur-based lawyer is also among the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case and is currently lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja prison.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela Trivedi was hearing Gadling’s special leave petition challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject his bail application in the Gadchiroli arson case which involved around 80 vehicles transporting iron ore from Surjagarh mines in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district from allegedly being set on fire by Maoists in December 2016. Read more
Gadchiroli arson case: Supreme Court issues notice in bail plea of Surendra Gadling
10/10/2023
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
Senior advocate Anand Grover, representing Gadling, stated that Gadling’s case is “less egregious” than the case of two other co-accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case— trade unionist and activist Vernon Gonsalves and lawyer and activist Arun Ferreira.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a notice in the bail plea by human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist Surendra Gadling.
A division Bench of the high court comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi was hearing the bail application filed by Gadling, challenging the Order of the Bombay High Court dated January 31. Read more
Condemn the NIA’s raid in Andhra-Telangana to suppress democratic voices critical of war of corporate plunder
06/10/2023
Countercurrrents / by Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization
On 2nd October, 2023, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids across various locations belonging to various democratic and pro-people activists in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The organisations that have been targeted, include, Coordination of Democratic Rights Organizations (CDRO), Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (AP CLC), Chaitanya Mahila Sangam (CMS), Pragatisheela Karmika Samakya (PKS), Patriotic Democratic Movement (PDM), Praja Kala Mandali (PKM), Vasantha Meghum, Virasam (RWA), Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), Kula Nirmulana Porata Samiti (Struggle Committee for Caste Annihilation; KNPS), Amarula Bandhu Mitrula Sangham (ABMS), Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) and Human Rights Forum (HRF). Read full statement
We don’t want more Bhima Koregaon bogus conspiracy case in the name of National Security
03/10/2023
Asianspeaks.com / by Campaign Against State Repression (CASR)
“In the overall situation in India, no form of democratic assertion is left untouched by the NIA’s repression in the name of Maoist links, whether they be organizations fighting for the rights of minorities, anti-caste organizations like KNPS, women’s rights organizations like the CMS or even Gandhian or Marxist-Leninist organizations. All forms of democratic assertions are under threat in this current spate of repression…”
Statement By Campaign Against State Repression
CASR STRONGLY CONDEMN THE NIA RAID IN TELENGANA AND ANDHRA PRADESH
In the early hours of 2nd October, 2023, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided 62 different locations in the states of Andhra Pradesh (53) and Telangana (9) as part of their recent string of raids all over the country against democratic rights organizations. Read full statement
NIA Conducts Coordinated Raids on Rights Activists Across 62 Locations in Andhra, Telangana
03/10/2023
The Wire / Sukanya Shantha
The raids were in connection with the 2021 Munchingiputtu CPI (Maoist) conspiracy case. Devices and literature belonging to functionaries and lawyers of the Indian Association of People’s Lawyer and Human Rights Forum, along with various other rights bodies were seized.
Officials of the National Investigating Agency (NIA) arrived in groups of four and five in 62 locations across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on October 2, in coordinated raids at the homes of human rights activists and researchers.
The raid teams – comprising of NIA officers from Delhi and the local police – arrived between 5.30 am and 6 am on the day, and stayed at the locations till afternoon. Read more
The Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad ‘Maoist’ conspiracy case is a grand experiment with truth where the State is daring the people to stand up for justice.
‘TRUTH or dare’ is a mostly verbal party game requiring two or more players. Players are given the choice between answering a question truthfully, or performing a ‘dare’. The premise is simple: Players take turns asking one another ‘truth or dare?’ If they choose truth, they have to answer a question of the asker’s choosing. If they choose dare, the asker dares them to do something rather than make a confession.
Suppose the State were to subject its citizens to a macabre version of this game by cooking up a conspiracy case and locking up people behind bars. Then tell them that in order to win their freedom, they have to choose the ‘truth’ of the conspiracy or the ‘dare’ to dissent.
This is the absurd logic that plays out when you try to make sense of the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case. Read more
A few accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case have previously argued that their applications for cloned copies under Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure have been pending for more than five years.
On Tuesday, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court of special judge Rajesh Kataria allowed the agency time to file an additional reply to the applications filed by accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad Maoist links and criminal conspiracy case.
… The matter is posted for further hearing on the applications filed under Section 207 of the CrPC on July 28. Read more
In a Letter From Jail, Stan Swamy’s Co-Accused Ask President Murmu to Stand Up for What Is Right
05/07/2023
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
Today is Father Stan Swamy’s second death anniversary.
Two years ago on this day, 84-year-old Jharkhand-based tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy breathed his last while in custody. His death exposed the state’s negligence and inability to protect prisoners. Swamy, a Parkinson’s patient, spent close to a year in jail, deprived of the most basic facilities – one of which was a sipper to drink water from.
On his second death anniversary, 11 of his co-accused (Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Hany Babu, Ramesh Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe and Jyoti Jagtap) – all human rights activists and academics – write a letter to President of India Draupadi Murmu, who belongs to the tribal community that Swamy worked very closely with. Murmu, who recently spoke passionately about the conditions of Indian prisoners, was the governor of Jharkhand when Swamy’s organisation, Bagaicha, was raided and eventually he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency.
Along with the letter, the still-arrested human rights defenders also announced their one-day symbolic hunger strike in Mumbai’s Taloja and Byculla jails, where they are presently lodged.
The full text of their letter to the president is below. Read more
Caged birds and prison songs: In chorus, Stan Swamy and the Bhima Koregaon accused kept hope alive
05/07/2023
Vernon Gonsalves
Scroll.in / by Vernon Gonsalves
A fellow prisoner’s recollections of the Jesuit priest, who died on July 5, 2021.
“…I am ready to pay the price, whatever be it. But we will sing in chorus. A caged bird can still sing.”
– Father Stan Swamy
When Stan Swamy, in his last message before landing in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Central Prison in October 2020, declared that a “caged bird can still sing”, he was not talking about the tunes prisoners sing in jail. He had then not been imprisoned before that and was probably not acquainted with prison-singing in its various forms. Read more
On Father Stan Swamy’s second death anniversary, two letters, a painting and the triumph of memory against forgetting
05/07/2023
The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala
Father Stan Swamy’s death was an international shock the ripples of which can still be felt, and a blot on the record of a State that treats criminal justice as its plaything. His legacy is treasured by his co-accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case inside the prison, and everyone who stands for justice and democracy outside the prison.
… The 11 incarcerated accused persons in the Elgar Parishad case are set to go on a day-long hunger strike today. They pen an imaginary letter from Swamy to the President of India Droupadi Murmu, terming it “Prayers that never came to be”. Read more
“Hopefully waiting” writes Shoma Sen from prison
07/07/2023
InSAF India / by Shoma Sen
This handwritten note by Shoma Sen marks five years in prison for the activist and academic.
As we enter the sixth year of our incarceration the predominant feeling over the last five years is that of waiting. From waiting for default bail in the seventh month of our imprisonment, most of us are still waiting. In jail, we sit there waiting for court dates, waiting for mulakaat, waiting for the newspaper, waiting for bail and for the jail God called Memo. In jail, our sense of time itself gets warped. When a lawyer tells a prisoner that she will get bail in one or two days, it may actually mean one or two years. 24 hours of clock time could mean 24 months in judicial time. Read more
Who are the acclaimed ‘BK-16’? / HRDs and families await justice, five years down
Faulty investigation and severe loopholes in investigation, surrounds the controversial BK-16 case. International outcry has not helped move the trial five years down even while the targeted languish, families await the return of their loved ones
In June 2021, European Union parliamentarians, Nobel Laureates, renowned academics, and internationally known figures wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, the then Chief Justice of India as well as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and other authorities in India, demanding to the release of political prisoners arrested with relation to the Elgar Parishad and Bhima Koregaon incident.
Amidst contested accusations of an anti-India conspiracy, militancy, and violence, five long years have passed since the BK-16 have been imprisoned without trial. Read more
Who are the acclaimed ‘BK-16’?
22/06/2023
cjp / by CJP Team
Five years have passed, and human rights defenders (HRDs) and their families continue to await justice.
Surendra Gadling
Status: Detained without trial
Charges:Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) since June 2018
Location: Taloja Central Prison, Mumbai
Gadling is a human rights lawyer and a Dalit activist. Over time, Gadling established himself as a keen advocate and a key figure in cases related to extrajudicial killings, police misconduct, false accusations, and injustices against Dalits and Adivasis in the region… Read more
