UAPA – free them all

Civic Freedoms in India ‘Repressed’: Global Monitor Civicus

17/03/2023 Asha

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The section on India talks about the use of draconian laws like the UAPA and the use of the FCRA to target NGOs who do not toe the government’s line.
Civicus, a global civil society alliance, has kept India’s status as ‘repressed’ when it comes to civic freedoms in its new report, People Power Under Attack 2022. In 2018, India’s civic freedoms had been categorised as ‘obstructed’ – but it was downgraded to ‘repressed’ in 2019 has stayed in that zone ever since.
The section on India talks about the use of draconian laws like the UAPA and the use of the FCRA to target NGOs who do not toe the government’s line:
“In India, anti-terror laws such as the repressive Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act have been systematically used by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep student activists and HRDs – such as people the state alleges to have instigated violence in the village of Bhima Koregaon in 2018 – in detention.
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Read full report „People Power Under Attack 2022“

‘Show Us Where They Asked People To Pick Up Guns’, SC Tells NIA In Bail Pleas Of Gonsalves and Ferreira

02/03/2023 Asha

Graphic by Arun Ferreira & Vernon Gonsalves

Supreme Court continues hearing the bail pleas of Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira

02/03/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, representing the National Investigation Agency, alleges involvement of Gonsalves and Ferreira in alleged terrorist acts through letters and documents.
On Wednesday, a division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia, continued hearing arguments on behalf of trade unionist, activist and academic Vernon Gonsalves, and activist and lawyer Arun Ferreira for the grant of regular bail. Gonsalves and Ferreira have filed bail applications at the Supreme Court challenging the order of the Bombay High Court dated October 15, 2019, rejecting their bail pleas.
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‘Show Us Where They Asked People To Pick Up Guns’, Supreme Court Tells NIA In Bail Pleas Of Accused

02/03/2023

Live Law / by Astika Das

Show us where the Bhima Koregaon-accused Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira encouraged others they allegedly ‘recruited’ to pick up arms against the the government, the Supreme Court told the National Investigation Agency on Wednesday. A division bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia was hearing the bail applications of Gonsalves and a co-accused, Arun Ferreira, both of whom have been lodged in jail since August 2018 for charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
… After hearing the submissions of senior advocates Rebecca John (for Gonsalves), R. Basant (for Ferreira), and the additional solicitor-general, the bench decided to adjourn the hearing till Friday, March 3.
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Delay In Starting Trial Not Due To Us, NIA Tells Supreme Court

01/03/2023

Live Law / by Awstika Das

The National Investigation Agency told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the delay in the trial of the Bhima Koregaon accused could not be attributed to them. Additional Solicitor General for India K.M. Nataraj told the court.
… Notably, the trial in this high-profile case has not yet begun. Senior advocates Rebecca John (for Gonsalves) and R. Basant (for Ferreira) have both pointed out that even charges have not been framed yet, despite the passage of almost five years… In this connection, also relevant are Basant’s remarks on the delay in the process. He pointed out, “They intend to examine a total of 336 witnesses and go through 2,105 documents. Several accused persons have not yet been apprehended.”
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Also read:
● Supreme Court hears bail plea of Vernon Gonsalves (The Leaflet / Feb 28, 2023)
● Why the letter about a ‘Rajiv Gandhi-type’ assassination plot to kill Modi is fake (dailyo | by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves | Jun 2018)
● Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (dailyo | by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves | Jan 2018)

Anybody dissenting will be treated in this manner: Father Frazer Mascarenhas

09/02/2023 Asha

Rediff.com / by Neeta Kolhatkar

In November 2021, the Bombay High Court allowed Father (Dr) Frazer Mascarenhas, SJ, to approach the court to clear the name of Father Stan Swamy, the oldest of the 16 Bhima Koregaon accused, who died in hospital in July 2021 …
Known to speak freely and stand by his principles, Father Frazer, who is now the parish priest at a Mumbai church, tells Rediff.com Senior Contributor Neeta Kolhatkar, “It seems to be a culture now. Anybody dissenting will be treated in this manner. No human rights… It is not limited to any one political party. The evidence shows that a group of political parties seem to be using this in an extensive and deliberate manner.”

The first of a two-part interview
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Also read:
● Fabricating Evidence Against Life and Liberty: Tampering with Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer and its implications for Bhima Koregaon case (Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy / Dec 2022)

Maharashtra: Top Cop Accuses Decades-Old Cultural, Rights Orgs of Working as ‘Naxal Fronts’

02/02/2023 Asha

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

At the recent police conference attended by PM Modi, Gadchiroli DIGP Sandip B. Patil claimed in a paper that 15 cultural and rights organisations are actually “active frontal organisations of Naxals.” Behind this claim is little evidence.
In 2017, the artiste couple Shital Sathe and Sachin Mali publicly announced their decision to split from the cultural outfit, Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) after 15 years of association.
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Also read:
● UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR – Study of UAPA Abuse in India, 2009-2022 (PUCL / Sep 2022)
● Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
● The Security Playbook Used To Erode Democracy In Modi’s India & How The Tide Might Turn (article 14 / March 2022)
● Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)
● From ‘tukde tukde gang’ to ‘urban Naxal’: How media trials enable the government to stifle dissent (Scroll.in / Sep 2018)

India’s UAPA law: Curbing Terrorism or Stifling Democratic Dissent?

24/01/2023 Asha

The UAPA Law – Curbing Terrorism or Stifling Dissent?

24/01/2023

By Hindus for Human Rights

(DESH-VIDESH CONVERSATION SERIES – SPEAKING ACROSS THE DIVIDE)
Digital Evidence Planting: New Age Threat to Rights Defenders
Presented by Safa Ahmed of the Indian American Muslim Council on behalf of a broad coalition working to secure the release of all the Bhima Koregaon prisoners

WHY ARE MOST OF THE BHIMA KOREGAON DEFENDANTS STILL IN JAIL DESPITE FORENSIC FINDINGS THAT INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE HAD BEEN PLANTED ON SOME OF THEIR COMPUTERS?

Good evening. Digital forensics is a dry, technical field, but the consequences of digital attacks play out like a vivid, terrifying, and painful movie. With the help of technical experts, journalists, and activists, I have prepared for you this narrative of what was revealed in the forensic analysis of the hard drives of three of the BK-16 – Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, and Father Stan Swamy.
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Invite: India’s UAPA law: Curbing Terrorism or Stifling Democratic Dissent?

20/01/2023

By Hindus for Human Rights / @Hindus4HR

The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and India’s Prisoners of Conscience (POCs): Targeting terrorism or stifling democratic dissent?
Saturday, January 21, 2023
6 pm PST,
7:30 am IST
The conversation will cover the history and the draconian provisions of the UAPA; how it compares to anti-terror laws in other democracies; the views of the State Department and USCIRF; what are some of the typical charges being made being under UAPA. Do they look unlawful to you? Some statistics: How many people arrested since the amended UAPA; Average time spent w/o trial or bail hearing; How many have gone to trial, etc.

Moderator: Govind Acharya, Amnesty International
Panelists:
Banojyotsna Lahiri, Activist, on Umar Khalid’s story and struggle
Yug Mohit Chaudhry, Author and Criminal Lawyer, on legal strategies on behalf of POCs and hurdles faced
Mihir Desai, Human Rights Lawyer, on the story and struggle of Bhima Koregaon 16 and what’s happening to lesser known detainees
Followed by a Q&A moderated by Govind Acharya
Register here

Why Courts Are Ignoring Concerns Of Planted Evidence In The Bhima-Koregaon Prosecution

23/01/2023 Asha

Article14 / by Abhinav Sekhri

Independent forensic experts have raised concerns of evidence being planted in the ongoing Bhima-Koregaon prosecution (ongoing for 45 months, with not even charges framed yet). But India’s tightly regulated criminal process severely restricts the right of accused persons to introduce new material. It speaks to many important concerns for the state, such as speedy trial, but a general rule that brooks no exception does more harm than good.
It has been almost 45 months since the police began investigating the theory of a larger conspiracy in the cases emanating out of the Bhima-Koregaon violence of January 2018.
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Also read:
● Incriminating evidence planted in computers: The Trojan solved the Bhima Koregaon case! (Anchored Narratives / Jan 2023)
● Hackers Planted Files to Frame an Indian Priest Who Died in Custody (Wired / Dec 13, 2022)
● Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)

Press Conference & Public Meeting: “Conspiracy of Conspiracy Cases”

12/01/2023 Asha

Poster by Campaign Against State Repression

Wives of Khalid Saifi, Hany Babu, GN Saibaba demand release of ‘political prisoners’

12/01/2023

Maktoob / by Maktoob Staff

Life partners of jailed human rights defenders Khalid Saifi, Hany Babu and GN Saibaba who gathered in national capital Delhi on Thursday under the banner of Campaign Against State Repression, demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners incarcerated under the Bhima Koregaon and CAA-NRC cases.
This event titled “conspiracy of conspiracy cases” was held to discuss the recent developments in Bhima Koregaon and CAA-NRC case where top intelligence officers have disclosed that there was no connection between the Elgaar Parishad event and Bhima Koregano violence, as well as multiple international forensic reports revealing that the evidence was planted on the BK accused.
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Civil rights leaders allege corporate loot of resources, suppression of democratic rights

14/01/2023

Countercurrents / by Our Representative

Civil rights activists have alleged, quoting top intelligence officers as also multiple international forensic reports, that recent developments with regard to the Bhima Koregaon and the Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens (CAA-NRC) cases suggest, there was “no connection between the Elgaar Parishad event and the Bhima Koregaon violence.”
Activists of the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) told a media event at the HKS Surjeet Bhawan, New Delhi, that, despite this, several political prisoners continue to be behind bars on being accused under the anti-terror the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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Also read
● Press Release by Campaign Against State Repression, Dec 5, 2022

Click to enlarge

● CASR meeting: GN Saibaba, others called new generation freedom fighters, victims of state terror (Countercurrents / Oct 2022)

»By Targeting Elgaar Parishad, Modi Was Getting Back at Justice Sawant«

30/12/2022 Asha

NewsClick / by Ajaz Ashraf

On the fifth anniversary of the Elgaar Parishad, on 31 December, NewsClick spoke to former Justice BG Kolse Patil, one of its organisers, on how controversy overtook the event.
Few outside Maharashtra had heard of the Marathi word Elgaar, let alone understood its meaning, until 2018. Elgaar was the name given to a meeting of people, or Parishad, convened at the Shaniwarwada Fort ground, Pune, on 31 December 2017, a day before lakhs of Ambedkarites were to visit Bhima Koregaon village from around the country. The date 1 January 2018 was special, for it marked the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon, which the Ambedkarites frame as their victory over the army of Peshwa Baji Rao II (1775-1851).
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Also Read:
● Let’s Remember the Lesson of Bhima Koregaon: Down with the New Peshwai (Sanhati│ by Sudhir Dhawale │ March 2018)
● Why peoples’ coalitions are uniting against Hindutva — the ‘new Peshwai’ (Dailyo.in │ by Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves │ Jan 30, 2018)

Reports say ‘evidence’ against Bhima Koregaon accused was planted – so why are they still in jail?

23/12/2022 Asha

Scroll.in / by Umang Poddar

Legal experts say that this information becomes useful during the stage of the trial, which is yet to start.
A new report that says that “evidence” on Stan Swamy’s computer was planted would not be of much use to the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon case until the trial starts, legal experts point out.
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Also read:
● Will the bail granted to Anand Teltumbde help others in the Bhima Koregaon case to get out of jail? (Scroll.in / Nov 2022)

Why the Bombay High Court granted regular bail to Dr. Anand Teltumbde: An explainer

19/12/2022 Asha

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The high court noted that the prosecution fails to show that the accused has been involved or has indulged in a terrorist act.
On November 18, a division bench of Bombay High Court, comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and Milind N. Jadhav, granted bail to Dr. Anand Teltumbde, the 73-year-old Dalit scholar, academic and activist charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (‘UAPA’) for allegedly being a senior member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) (‘CPI (Maoist)’).
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Also read:
● Will the bail granted to Anand Teltumbde help others in the Bhima Koregaon case to get out of jail? (Scroll.in / Nov 2022)
● Supreme Court dismisses NIA’s petition challenging bail granted to Dr. Anand Teltumbde (The Leaflet / Nov 2022)
● Bhima Koregaon: Who’s who of those arrested and the developments in the case pertaining to each (The Leaflet / June 2022)