Incarceration As Politics: A Timeline Of Political Prisoners In Independent India
23/01/2026
Outlook / by Saher Hiba Khan
From the Anti-Hindi Agitations to UAPA arrests, India’s history shows how dissent is criminalised across decades and governments
Across countries and political systems, incarceration has always been used as a tool to control the masses. It has been justified through shifting legal terms such as national security, public order, and counter-terrorism.
While the laws change, the logic remains the same. It has time and again proved that dissent against any government will be treated as a threat. Read more
Voices From Prison: Of Lives Stolen For Dissent
20/01/2026
Outlook / by Outlook News Desk
Outlook’s February 1 issue, Thou Shalt Not Dissent, shines a light on the lives of political prisoners who were slapped with anti-terrorism charges and continue to face long trials and curbing of rights.
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In Outlook’s February 1 issue, Thou Shalt Not Dissent, first-person accounts of political activists who were slapped with anti-terrorism charges under different political regimes, explore life behind bars, the trauma, sights and sounds of a world bereft of freedom, normalcy and reason. Weaved with the accounts are stories of individuals who carry the burden of incarceration like a tumour on the face, afraid to cover it, so it doesn’t chafe, and hesitant to let it free, so it does not translate into their only identity. Read more
Voices From Prison: Mahesh Raut | A Broken Prison System Is In Dire Need Of Critical Care
22/01/2026
Outlook / by Mahesh Raut
Mahesh Raut, the youngest accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, was granted interim bail on medical grounds. Many prisoners have no hope.
What constitutes freedom? What does it constitute for the person who is confined or for the one who comes out of jail, only to get entangled in another web of chains; some similar, but for others, different from what they experienced behind bars. In a prison, your identity is reduced to just a number. You are dehumanised at the whims of authorities and burdened by numerous hurdles and difficulties to secure bail. Many are not able to come out of prison even after securing bail due to financial constraints. All these factors take a toll on the physical and mental health of prisoners. Read more
Lives Lost: How Prolonged Incarceration Failed Pandu Narote, Kanchan Nanaware, Stan Swamy
22/01/2026
Outlook / by Priyanka Tupe
Pandu Pora Narote, Kanchan Nanaware and Stan Swamy never lived to learn their innocence or guilt after years of incarceration under the UAPA. Narote was acquitted by the Bombay High Court only after his death. It was too little, too late. Nanaware and Swamy also died as undertrials. For their families and lawyers, justice exists only on paper, not in life.
Pandu Pora Narote, 33, a tribal youth from Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, was arrested in August 2013 on allegations of links with the banned CPI (Maoist) and its frontal organisation, the Revolutionary Democratic Front. The case later widened to include former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba and several others. Read more
Voices From Prison: Of Lives Stolen For Dissent
20/01/2026
Outlook / by Outlook News Desk
Outlook’s February 1 issue, Thou Shalt Not Dissent, shines a light on the lives of political prisoners who were slapped with anti-terrorism charges and continue to face long trials and curbing of rights.
…
In Outlook’s February 1 issue, Thou Shalt Not Dissent, first-person accounts of political activists who were slapped with anti-terrorism charges under different political regimes, explore life behind bars, the trauma, sights and sounds of a world bereft of freedom, normalcy and reason. Weaved with the accounts are stories of individuals who carry the burden of incarceration like a tumour on the face, afraid to cover it, so it doesn’t chafe, and hesitant to let it free, so it does not translate into their only identity. Read more
Voices From Prison: ‘In Jail, I Measured Time From One Court Date to Another’
21/01/2026
Outlook / by Shoma Sen
Women’s rights activist and professor Shoma Sen, who was arrested in 2018 for her alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon riots, writes how in prisons, time comes to a standstill, literally
Though it is true that I did time, it appears more as if time did me. One cloudy evening, on June 21, 2018, when I was being taken to the Yerawada jail in Pune, I knew that watches were not allowed in jail, yet I had clung on to my basic Titan watch. I had to submit it at the gate. It was returned to me, looking like a museum relic, almost six years later. Time, trapped in a brown sarkari envelope, sealed in a metal box. Time that had stopped ticking. Read more
Me Coming Out Alive Is A Miracle: Hany Babu, Bhima-Koregaon Accused, On Life Behind Bars
21/01/2026
Outlook / by Hany Babu M.T.
More than five years after his arrest under the UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon case, former Delhi University professor Hany Babu was granted bail in December 2025. He shares his experience of prison life.
Mornings start very early in jail, but they never come with an air of freedom. It has only been three to four weeks since I came out; the bail arrived quite late for me. Five years is a long time compared to my co-accused. Throughout these five years, hope never left my sight, even when I contracted Covid. But there were indeed times when a little despair did creep in. Read more
Correctional Facility Or The World Of Endless Repetition, Solitude and Boredom?
21/01/2026
Outlook / by Rona Wilson
The prison system in India, persistently mediated and nourished by its colonial and retributive sensibilities, cannot be wished away by just changing the names of the prisons as correctional facilities, writes Rona Wilson, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
I had trouble in my barrack with some of the inmates smoking heavily beside me and some among them playing ludo till the wee hours. As the game intensifies with gambling, so does smoking and use of tobacco. I requested the officer-in-charge of my circle to intervene. Read more
Voices From Prison: Life After Jail Is Tough, But Surveillance, Harassment Continue, Says Sudha Bharadwaj
20/01/2026
Outlook / by Sudha Bharadwaj
I am enormously relieved that the separation from my only daughter, Maaysha, has ended. We can speak to each other every day.
A couple of weeks ago, cops in civil dress—or so they claimed to be—arrived in the society where I live in a friend’s accommodation on rent. The police have my mobile number, which, no doubt, they monitor regularly. Besides, I report to the local police station every 14 days, and I regularly attend court dates, at least once every 15 days, if not more frequently. Despite this, the police did not bother to call me. Read more
Voices From Prison: In The Isolation of the Anda Ward, We Dared To Sing, Writes Gautam Navlakha
20/01/2026
Outlook / by Gautam Navlakha
I realised that the more intense the sense of despair, the harder hope kicks in.
‘Those who speak of humanity in this system
Are thrown into prison to acquaint them
With the vocabulary of ‘criminology’’’ — Varavara Rao, Schools and Prisons
Hope and despair are basic human emotions and I believe that all human beings, now and then, swing between these two ends of the spectrum in life. I experienced these emotions acutely during my time in prison and captivity. Read more
Voices From Prison: Alienating A Poet From A Language He Deeply Loves Is Painful, Writes Varavara Rao’s Daughter
20/01/2026
Outlook / by P Vanava
The poet and activist was jailed in connection with caste violence that erupted in 2018 in Bhima Koregaon. He was 78 then. Though he was released on medical grounds in 2022, he is still confined to Mumbai. In this first-person account, his daughter Pavana writes about how multiple incarcerations could not break her father’s strength and soul
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This wasn’t his first arrest; he has been arrested many times in the past, since the Emergency in 1975, for his political activism. I was a newborn baby (a month old), when appa was arrested. Read more
Voices From Prison: Bail Is Little Solace As I Lost My Life Anyway, Says Anand Teltumbde
19/01/2026
Outlook / by Anand Teltumbde
We became victims of two things—unjust investigation and a media trial that was used as a weapon. The Media Trial was Deeply Painful.
The tragic dimension of jail has been exhaustively mined. What remains scandalously underexplored is its comic genius. Prison is a factory of absurdity, running at full capacity every day, and I made it a habit to collect its specimens—especially during the so-called free hours, when the cells were opened each morning. This ritual began with the ceremonial clanking of batons, as guards slid them menacingly across steel bars, producing a sound—less like an alarm than a declaration of sovereignty. Read more
Voices From Prison: What Happened In Bhima Koregaon Could Happen To You
20/01/2026
Outlook / by Alpa Shah
The Bhima Koregaon case is not only about those who were imprisoned. It is also about the fate of democracy itself
There are things in life that somehow wrap themselves around us. Things we never would have dreamed of doing—ideas that once seemed dangerous, crazy, or simply foolish. They arrive quietly, almost by accident, and before we know it, they surround us, occupy our thoughts, and slowly take over. Until one day, there is no turning back, and we can’t imagine thinking about anything else. Read more
▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project
Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project
Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project
Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project
Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project
To mark six years of the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of political dissidents in the Bhima Koregaon case, The Polis Project is publishing a series of writings by the BK-16, and their families, friends and partners. By describing various aspects of the past six years, the series offers a glimpse into the BK-16’s lives inside prison, as well as the struggles of their loved ones outside. Each piece in the series is complemented by Arun Ferreira’s striking and evocative artwork.
▪ How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners
How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? includes visual testimonies and prison writings from those falsely accused of inciting the Bhima Koregaon violence, by student leaders opposing the new discriminatory citizenship law passed in 2020, and by activists from the Pinjra Tod’s movement. In bringing together these voices, the book celebrates the courage, humanity and moral integrity of those jailed for standing in solidarity with marginalised and oppressed communities.
Authors: Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia
Publishing Date: Aug 2023
Publisher: Pluto Press
Pages: 247 Read more / order
How Not To Defend Umar Khalid / Shadows of Judicial Indiscipline / From Protest to Persecution
The Supreme Court’s refusal to grant bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, while accepting the bail pleas of five other accused in the same case, is not merely a judicial order affecting two individuals. It marks a deeply troubling moment for constitutional democracy in India.
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Silence transforms injustice, more so when it has a communal colour, into routine governance. When there is hesitation to challenge unjust court orders, to oppose political persecution carried out through lawless laws like UAPA, whether in the Delhi violence cases, the Bhima Koregaon prosecutions or the NewsClick case, the ruling regime faces no real political cost for its repression, all under the pretext of “national security.” In such a political climate, even the custodial death of a Stan Swamy — caused by the sheer cruelty of denying bail and even basic facilities despite his serious health conditions — becomes normalised. Read more
How Not To Defend Umar Khalid
16/01/2026
The Wire / by Ajay Gudvarthy
The problem with Umar for the current regime is his refusal to be constrained within a Muslim body and identity. Very much similar to a Dalit like Anand Teltumbde who is not Dalit enough because he speaks of right to education and corporate Hindutva.
Umar Khalid is arrested not because he is a Muslim. He is under detention because he does not wear his Muslim identity on his sleeves. He remains incarcerated not because he protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) but because he was agitated about what is happening to the tribals in central India and was resisting the damage being done to the economy that was emaciating the working poor. Read more
Shadows of Judicial Indiscipline: On the Supreme Court’s bail denial to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam
07/01/2026
The Leaflet / by Indira Jaising
In both the Bhima Koregaon and Delhi riots cases, a wrongful invoking of UAPA and obdurate refusal to follow precedent on delay in trial, raise legitimate questions on the independence of the judiciary.
At the heart of the controversy relating to the denial of bail to Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid is a simple question: what is the crime that they have committed? What if they have committed no crime at all under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967? Would bail still have been denied to them? Read more
From Protest to Persecution: The Supreme Court’s defining Moment in Delhi Riot Case
07/01/2026
PUDR / by PUDR
On 5 January 2026, the Supreme Court delivered its first substantive order in the so-called ‘Delhi riots conspiracy case’ of FIR 59/2020 under UAPA, to grant bail to five (Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa ur Rehman, Meeran Haider, Md Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad) and reject the bail of two (Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam).
… the Supreme Court walks back on its own precedent in Vernon Gonsalves, which held that in determining the existence of a prima facie case to deny bail under UAPA, courts are empowered to look into the probative value or patent inadmissibility of prosecutorial materials. In the order of 5 January 2026, the Supreme Court states: “the inquiry is one of statutory plausibility, not evidentiary sufficiency”. Read full statement
When a Government Targets Its Citizens
07/01/2026
Countercurrents.org / by Hiren Gohain
Does anyone remember the Bhima Koregaon incident now? Certain well-known people active and well-regarded for their work in academic areas as well as in social action to bring justice to victims of state repression and social discrimination as well as human rights violations,had been detained following midnight arrests on hair-raising charges of conspiring to assassinate the Prime Minister and destroy the state. It had shaken the fragile world of the media, though not the workaday world. Read more
Justice Delayed, Selectively Denied
05/01/2026
Youth Ki Awaaz / by Geetika Kaur
The denial of bail to Umar Khalid this week is not an isolated legal decision. It sits within a larger and deeply disturbing pattern in India’s criminal justice system, one where activists, students, lawyers, and environmentalists languish in jail for years without conviction, while those convicted of rape, murder, or mass violence repeatedly find the doors of prison opening for them.
… Stan Swamy died in custody after repeated denial of bail despite his age and illness. Sudha Bharadwaj spent years in jail before being granted bail, not because she was acquitted, but because prolonged incarceration without trial became legally indefensible. Gautam Navlakha remained under incarceration and house arrest for years on allegations that rested largely on contested digital evidence. Read more
The spectacle of justice in the Delhi riots case is cover for polarisation and violence
06/01/2026
Scroll.in / by Akash Bhattacharya
In the six years since, a series of incidents in the national capital have intensified this schism while Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam remain incarcerated.
The capital of India, Delhi is no stranger to political violence. But the Delhi riots of 2020 set a new benchmark. The violence not only ended lives and livelihoods, it also transformed the city’s social and political landscape for the worse. Read more
India’s civic space is still rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. The authorities persist in targeting activists, journalists, students and civil society through the misuse of draconian laws, arbitrary detention, censorship and the criminalisation of dissent. Over the past year, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), counterterrorism provisions and public order regulations have been consistently deployed to silence government critics, restrict civil society, and deter peaceful protests. Read more
Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project
Article 14 / by Nidah Kaiser And Tamanna Pankaj
With a conviction rate of 3.1% over four years in cases filed under India’s anti-terrorism law, and despite repeated Supreme Court orders to the contrary, India’s trial, special and ‘fast-track’ courts routinely detain activists for years without trial, often only granting bail after higher-court intervention. This systemic delay defies constitutional right and has created a de facto class of political prisoners.
India today jails scores of political activists under a slew of laws, primarily the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA), keeping many in custody for years before trial—often only freeing them after bail orders by higher courts.
Take the Bhima Koregaon (BK-16) case, where 16 activists were arrested under UAPA in 2018. Read more
Inside the NIA’s ‘Perfect’ Conviction Record: How Coercive Detentions Are Driving Guilty Pleas
10/12/2025
The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha
A year after the National Investigation Agency boasted of a 100% conviction rate, an investigation by The Wire finds that prolonged detention, near-automatic bail denials and pressure from investigators are pushing dozens of accused, mostly Muslims, to plead guilty before their trials have even begun.
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After the NIA began registering cases in 2009, trials did not commence for the first six to seven years, except in a few cases. The restrictive bail clause, Section 43 D(5), introduced in the UAPA in 2008, making it virtually impossible for an accused person to be released on bail, ensured that those accused remained in jail during this time. Read more
10,400 arrested under UAPA from 2019-2023, only 335 convicted
05/12/2025
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
Jammu and Kashmir had the highest number of arrests under the law, followed by Uttar Pradesh, data tabled in Parliament showed.
A total of 10,440 persons were arrested between 2019 and 2023 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Union government has told Parliament. Of these, only 335 persons were convicted under the anti-terror law. Read more
Two years after NCRB’s Prison Statistics India 2023 report was published, the numbers still read less like history and more like prophecy
The NCRB Prison Statistics Report, 2023, detailed an already stressed carceral system, housing 5.82 lakh inmates in a system sanctioned for 4.25 lakh, with undertrial prisoners making up almost 78% of all prisoners. Other than numbers and statistics being added to the data, nothing changed substantively between the original numbers and now. Read more
Mumbai Police Book TISS Students For Maoist-Linked GN Saibaba Death Anniversary; Rekindles 2017 Incident Of Taking Students To Naxal Training Camps In Forest
14/10/2025
The Communemag / by The Commune
The Mumbai Police on 13 October 2025 registered a First Information Report (FIR) against at least ten students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) for allegedly organizing an event to commemorate the death anniversary of former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba.
… This incident is not the first time TISS has been linked to allegations involving Naxalite activities. In 2018, as per an India Today report, the Maharashtra Police had claimed that accused activist Mahesh Raut, an alumnus of TISS, had taken students from the institute to meet underground Maoist leaders in forest areas. Read more
When a spontaneous gathering of students is criminalised
15/10/2025
Groundxero / by freespeechcollective
Recording the sequence of events and observations on the current events unfolding in TISS, Mumbai, from students’ perspective
What is the price of political engagement and learning in a higher educational institute in India? It seems that young people who seek to read, talk to each other and understand any issue are slapped with FIRs before they can fully make up their minds on what stance to take.
On Sunday, 12 October 2025, students at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai gathered to read a few poems written by Professor GN Saibaba to mark his death anniversary. They gathered in a peaceful manner, read the poems, placed a few candles around a photograph of Professor Saibaba and dispersed—all in about ten minutes. For many of the students, this year has been the first time they have learnt of the scholar and activist’s life, work, and death. The gathering came as a spontaneous response to discovering his poems. Read more
▪ Video: State’s Job is to Serve People, Not Punish Them: G N Saibaba
en | 38:33 | 2024
Newsclick / by Newsclick Team
Former DU professor G.N. Saibaba, who passed away in Hyderabad on Saturday, had recounted his harrowing ordeal during 10 years in jail at a press conference in New Delhi in March this year. Watch video
NIA files plea to impound passports of Anand Teltumbde, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut, Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu
Anti-terror agency seeks to seize Anand Teltumbde’s passport
30/09/2025
India Today / by Vidya
A total of 16 people were arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, which pertained to an event organised at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima on December 31, 2017.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed an application before a special court in Mumbai, seeking directions to impound the passports of Anand Teltumbde, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut, Gautam Navlakha, and Hany Babu — the five accused in the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. Read more
NIA files plea to impound passports of 5 accused in Elgaar case
30/09/2025
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty on Monday moved the plea citing provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a plea before the special court seeking directions to impound passports of five accused arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case. The court has directed the accused to file their replies.
… The court will likely hear the plea on October 9. The trial in the case is yet to begin. Read more
Supreme Court questions delay in trial of Surendra Gadling in 2016 Surjagarh mine arson case
25/09/2025
The Leaflet / by Parmod Kumar
“Why is the trial not going on, and for how many years can a person be kept in custody without trial?” the bench asked.
The Supreme Court yesterday expressed concern over the prolonged pendency of trial proceedings against advocate Surendra Gadling in the 2016 Surjagarh iron ore mine arson case and asked the Maharashtra government whether a person could be kept in custody as an undertrial for several years. Read more
Explain delay in trial: Supreme Court to Maharashtra in Surendra Gadling bail case
24/09/2025
Bar & Bench / by Ritwik Choudhury
This was the 19th adjournment of Gadling’s bail plea, which has been pending since August 2023.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday pressed the State of Maharashtra to explain why the trial in the 2016 Surajgarh arson case has not begun despite human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling spending over six years in custody [Surendra Pundalik Gadling v. State of Maharashtra]. Read more
“How Long Can You Keep A Person In Custody Without Trial?”: SC Questions Delay In Trial Against Surendra Gadling
24/09/2025
Live Law / by Amisha Shrivastava
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (September 24) raised concerns over the prolonged pendency of trial proceedings against lawyer and activist Surendra Gadling in the 2016 Gadchiroli arson case.
A bench comprising Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Vijay Bishnoi asked whether a person can be kept in custody as an undertrial for many years.
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The matter will be next heard on October 28/29. Read more
Supreme Court Seeks Explanation on Delayed Trial in 2016 Arson Case
24/09/2025
Devdiscourse / by Devdiscourse News Desk
The Supreme Court has questioned the delay in the trial of a 2016 arson case involving advocate Surendra Gadling and demanded an explanation from the Maharashtra government. Gadling has been incarcerated for over 6.7 years, accused of aiding Maoists in the Surjagarh iron ore mine incident.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court raised concerns over the prolonged trial of a 2016 arson case involving Surendra Gadling, an advocate accused of aiding Maoists in Maharashtra. Read more
