The Indian Express / by Seema Chishti
The letters, which The Indian Express has access to, reveal a slice of their lives behind bars. Some talk about when they can possibly see the gallows, some are abstract ruminations on life and freedom, while some dwell on the circumstances of their arrest and merits of the case.
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The Times of India / by Vishwas Kothari
PUNE: The state prosecution has proposed the charges of ‘waging a war against the country’ and ‘conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ as well as other terrorism acts in the draft charges submitted to the special UAPA court here on Wednesday against 19 accused named in the Elgar Parishad case.
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The Indian Express / by Express News Service
According to the draft charges, the accused allegedly conspired “to incite people and create violence and to spread disaffection towards government established by law”.
PUNE city police on Wednesday submitted before special judge S R Navandar “draft charges” against 19 out of the 23 accused booked in the Elgar Parishad case under sections of the IPC and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for their alleged links with the banned CPI (Maoist).
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Sabrang India / by Fr Cedric Prakash
This past year from December 2018, had two significant 70th anniversaries: first, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1948) and then, of the promulgation of the Constitution of India (November 26, 2019). It is quite certain that the makers of the Indian Constitution took inspiration from the UDHR. Strangely enough, as if on cue, everything possible is done by the powers that control the destiny of the nation, to demolish human rights and the values enshrined in the Constitution!
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Hindustan Times / by Shalaka Shinde
Part of the documents seized from nine activists arrested in the Elgar Parishad case were submitted to them in a Pune court on Wednesday even as the activists objected saying that the submitted documents were not what was requested by them.
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Hindustan Times / by Shalaka Shinde
He was discharged on Wednesday evening.
Varavara Rao, 82, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, has been hospitalised on Wednesday when he was scheduled for a hearing in the case.
As per protocol, the accused are brought to a lock-up at the Shivajinagar district court premises and then brought to the specific court they are scheduled to appear in.
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Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia
Leaders urge Maha CM Uddhav Thackeray to quash the cases against activists who have been fighting for marginalized sections of society.
On Monday, after the Uddhav Thackeray led Maharashtra government decided to review the Aarey and Bhima Koregaon cases, state NCP leader Jitendra Awhad among others have requested the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to withdraw the cases against rights activists in the BhimaKoregaon matter.
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American Bar Association / by American Bar Association
In the wake of violent attacks on marginalized communities in India in 2018, the Maharashtra police arrested several activists and lawyers who historically advocated for the rights of these communities. A preliminary review of the judicial records in this case raises serious concerns of procedural irregularities, abuse of process, and violations of fundamental human rights. Several United Nations’ (UN) experts on human rights have expressed concern that the arrests and charges were brought in retaliation for the defendants’ legitimate human rights work.
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Read the full report here (.pdf):
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Police have so far booked 23 people and arrested nine persons in connection with the case; all the arrested accused are activists and lawyers.
The nine activists and lawyers arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case were produced before a special court in Pune on Wednesday and three of them were given cloned copies of the data purportedly recovered from the electronic devices seized by the investigators from the accused.
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The Times of India / by Srinath Vudali
Hyderabad: Three daughters of Pendyala Varavara Rao, key accused in the Elgar Parishad case, are happy they didn’t drop their surname after marriage.
As luck would have it, the decision to retain the “Pendyala” name has helped them meet Varavara Rao, who is lodged in Yerawada jail in Pune for the past one year.
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