UAPA – Page 6 – free them all

Blatant use of UAPA by Telangana Police to suppress dissenting voices / Arbitrary FIRs

21/06/2023 Asha

Blatant use of UAPA by Telangana Police to suppress dissenting voices

21/06/2023

Countercurrents.org / by Campaign Against State Repression (CASR)

The draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has once again been invoked, this time in Tadwai, Telangana against an astonishing number of 152 activists and intellectuals, which includes retired Prof. G. Haragopal, Prof. Gaddam Laxman and Prof. Padmaja Shaw. What is more ridiculous and serious at the same time is that Late Justice H. Suresh also finds mention in the accused list. The FIR has come to light only after People’s Democratic Movement president Chandramouli applied for bail and FIRs filed against him were retrieved by the police where the names of the 152 activists mentioned above were also included.
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Dead judge, 151 others in Telangana police FIR

21/06/2023

TOI / by Srinath Vudali

Former Bombay HC judge H Suresh, who died in 2020, and another dead man were among 152 people that Telangana police had charged last year under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for their alleged Maoist links.
Following a backlash from civil rights outfits , who pointed out that two of the accused had died long before the case was registered, the Telangana government directed police to drop six prominent people from the FIR.
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Arbitrary FIRs on Social Activists

19/06/2023

Statement by National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

click to enlarge

Dead wrong

21/06/2023

TOI / by TOI Editorials

Telangana charging the deceased with UAPA brings to life how the most severe laws are casually misused by govts:
The Telangana case in which police charged two people dead for two years under the anti-terror law UAPA is a classic example of the casual misuse of one of India’s most stringent laws. The data is damning. Analysis of NCRB data by various experts show the conviction rate of people charged under UAPA is below 3%.
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Also read:
● Telangana Govt to ‘Drop’ UAPA Case Against Prof Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, 150 Others (The Wire / June 17, 2023)
● Activists Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, 150 Others Booked Under UAPA Last August; Accused Unaware (The Wire / June 16, 2023)
● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022) Download report
● The Govt is out to silence Dissenters through Arrests: Justice Hosbet Suresh (Sabrangindia / Oct 2018)

Telangana Govt to ‘Drop’ UAPA Case Against Prof Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, 150 Others

16/06/2023 Asha

Telangana Govt to ‘Drop’ UAPA Case Against Prof Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, 150 Others

17/06/2023

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

Chief minister of Telangana, K. Chandrashekar Rao, is said to have inquired about the case with the state police chief and asked him if it can be diluted.
The Telangana government is said to have decided not to pursue the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case filed against Prof Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, and 150 others after chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao directed the state police chief to “drop” the case, The Hindu reported.
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Work of fiction by police, says Professor Haragopal on UAPA charges against him, 151 others

17/06/2023

The News Minute / by IANS

The former professor of political science was reacting to the booking of a case under UAPA by Tadvai police of Mulugu district last year.
Human rights activist and former University of Hyderabad professor, G. Haragopal, who, along with 151 others, were booked by the Telangana Police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for alleged links with Maoists, said on Friday that they had no information why the action against them was taken.
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KCR intervenes to drop UAPA charges against rights activists

17/06/2023

The Statesman / by Statesman News Service

The move came in the wake of outrage of outrage over registration of cases against human rights activist Prof Haragopal and 151 others under the the draconian law.
Following an outrage over registration of cases against human rights activist Prof Haragopal and 151 others by Telangana Police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed the state DGP Anjani Kumar to withdraw the draconian law.
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Activists Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, 150 Others Booked Under UAPA Last August; Accused Unaware

16/06/2023

The Wire / by Sumit Jha

The Telangana Police had registered the case in August 2022 accusing them of conspiring to ‘take over the power of the democratically elected government at gunpoint’. The issue came to light only on Thursday, June 15.
… Prominent among those named in the FIR, apart from Prof Haragopal, Prof Padmaja Shaw of Osmania University (OU), Telangana Civil Liberties Committee President Prof Gaddam Laxman, Indian Association of People’s Lawyers’ Justice (Retd) H Suresh, activist Sudha Bharadwaj, human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling, and activist Arun Ferreira.
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Telangana Police filed charges under UAPA against 152

16/06/2023

The Statesman / by Statesman News Service

However, the people, including two professors, named in the FIR were unaware of the charges under UAPA until the matter came to light during another trial.
… The charges under the UAPA were brought against the 152 accused after the police carried out combing operations on 19 August, 2022 after receiving a tip off that the Maoists were holding a meeting at Berelli village. When the police reached a temporary shelter, the Maoists escaped into a dense forest. The police seized some Maoist literature and kit bags on the spot and the names of Prof Haragopal and Padmaja Shaw, Prof Gaddam Laxman, Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira were apparently found in the literature left behind.
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Also read:
● The UAPA Versus Khurram Parvez, an Extreme Law Versus a Rights Defender (The Wire / June 2023)
● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022) Download report
● Telangana govt bans Revolutionary Writers Association, 15 other orgs (Siasat / April 2021)
● Andhra govt, Centre ‘collude’ to repeat Bhima Koregaon type case against rights activists (counterview.net / April 2021)
● The Govt is out to silence Dissenters through Arrests: Justice Hosbet Suresh (Sabrangindia / Oct 2018)

The Bhima Koregaon 16 Must Not Be Forgotten

11/06/2023 Asha

National Herald / by Aakar Patel

Independent agencies find evidence was planted. Yet the 16 accused remain in jail, denied basic health needs, denied bail to honour dead family members one last time
This month marks five years since the first arrests in the Bhima Koregaon case.
A total of 16 people were arrested in the case, including Father Stan Swamy, who died in custody. Most of them remain in jail. None has been convicted in the case, none has been connected with violence in the place for which the matter is named.
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Also read:
● Five years behind bars for five activists – Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice! (Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) / June 6, 2023)
● Five Years Since The First Arrests In Bhima-Koregaon Case (Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO) / June 6, 2023)
● Release activists incarcerated in Bhima Koregaon Case (Campaign Against State Repression / June 7, 2023)

Thread by Amnesty India / @AIIndia (June 6, 2023):
In a series of arrests, 16 activists were imprisoned simply because they spoke up for the rights of the most marginalized in the country. Today, 5 years have passed since the first round of arrests of activists in the Bhima Koregaon case.

There is room for Fascism in Democracy: Siddique Kappan

07/05/2023 Asha

Countercurrents.org / by Rejaz M Sydeek

Siddique Kappan, a 43-year-old Malayali journalist and Delhi unit secretary of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists was arrested near Mathura toll plaza on October 5th, 2020, with student activists Atikur Rahman and Masood Ahmad, and the cab’s driver, Mohammad Alam. He was en route to Hathras to report on the gang rape and murder of a Dalit girl (the Hathras case) by four upper-caste Thakur men in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. Kappan was charged under various sections, including the UA(P)A and PMLA. He was released on bail on February 2nd, 2023, after spending 851 days in jail.
…
This is the transcript of the interview. It has been lightly edited for syntax and clarity.
…
Rejaz: Even in your case, they tried to link you with the Bhima Koregaon case and frame you as a Maoist. How do you see using the Maoist tag as a weapon to incarcerate human rights activists and journalists like Rupesh Kumar Singh?

Kappan: This is prevalent in every era, especially in the contemporary world, where journalists are framed as terrorists. Framing me as a Maoist was part of that. There is always an attempt to frame those who speak for Adivasis, Dalits, and Muslims and against the oppressors of the oppressed as Maoists.
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Azim Premji University students stand in solidarity with Dalit activists arrested under UAPA

18/04/2023 Asha

News Trail / by NT Correspondent

Students demand justice for 16 Dalit activists who have been behind bars for three years without official charges under the UAPA
In a powerful display of solidarity and support, over 50 students from Azim Premji University in Bengaluru gathered on Monday to demand the release of 16 Dalit activists who were arrested in 2018 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
These activists, who were advocates for marginalised groups, were accused of inciting violence during a celebration in Bhima Koregaon. Despite no official charges being brought up against them three years later, they remain behind bars.
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Also read/watch:

● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022)
Download report
● Video: Sudha Bharadwaj talks about “Fighting in the Courts and on the Streets: The Situation of Precarious Workers” (Azim Premji University Colloquium / 2016)

Criminalisation of passive membership under the UAPA

27/03/2023 Asha

The Leaflet / by Mihir Desai

The running motif of the recent Supreme Court judgment on the UAPA (and POTA and TADA) is that under the guise of sovereignty and integrity of the nation, the Parliament can do anything and pass any law. The judgment is likely to lead to more arrests and denial of bail, and further stigmatise dissidents and their work. It virtually sanctions a police State.
…
Additionally, the First Schedule to the UAPA, which lists banned terrorist organisations, mentions in many entries that their ‘frontal organisations’ are also banned. These frontal organisations are not notified anywhere and suddenly make their first appearance only in chargesheets. For instance, in the Bhima Koregaon cases, the chargesheets filed by national investigation agencies implicate persons on the basis of their membership of frontal organisations such as the Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights and the Indian Association of Peoples Lawyers, among others. These organisations were never notified as unlawful or banned. But by the present judgment, mere membership of these organisations will render all members liable to prosecution and punishment.
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Also read:
● UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR – Study of UAPA Abuse in India, 2009-2022 (PUCL / Sep 2022)
● NIA Opposes Stan Swamy’s Bail; Calls PUCL, Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan ‘Maoist Fronts’ (The Wire / Jan 2021)
● 2 years, 3 charge sheets & 16 arrests — Why Bhima Koregaon accused are still in jail (The Print / Oct 2020)

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.
Read more

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)