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Tag: Vernon Gonsalves

Cognizance Of Chargesheet Vitiated As Pune Judge Wasn’t Special Judge Under NIA Act? / 8 Accused Seek Bail

Cognizance Of Chargesheet Vitiated As Pune Judge Wasn’t Special Judge Under NIA Act? / 8 Accused Seek Bail

By LawBeat (July 15):
BombayHighCourt bench led by Justice SS Shinde to hear Lawyer-Activist Sudha Bharadwaj, accused in the #BhimaKoregaon – #ElgaParishad case seeking default bail contending that the trial judge was not authorised to take cognisance of the 2019 charge sheet against her.

Produce papers showing Pune judge was competent to pass orders, HC tells Maharashtra

08/07/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

In a petition seeking default bail, activist Sudha Bharadwaj said that Sessions Judge KD Vadane was an additional judge and not a designated special judge.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to produce documents to show that the judge who granted an extension to the Pune Police to file the chargesheet in the Bhima Koregaon violence case and took cognisance of it was authorised to do so, PTI reported.
… The court posted the matter for next hearing on July 15.
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Cognizance Of Bhima Koregaon Chargesheet Vitiated As Pune Judge Wasn’t Special Judge Under NIA Act? Bombay High Court To Examine

08/07/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Monday said that the Court’s records were consistent with lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj’s RTI replies, according to which Additional Sessions Judge (Pune) Kishore Vadane was not appointed as a Special Judge under the NIA Act in 2018/2019.
“Record is the same as you had annexed under RTI,” Justice SS Shinde heading the division bench said at the beginning of the hearing.
The court also asked the State if it had anything additional to show that the judge was assigned the case back then.
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Judge who extended chargesheet deadline not special judge under NIA Act, reveals Sudha Bharadwaj’s lawyer

06/07/2021

The Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

Trade unionist, human rights lawyer and activist Sudha Bharadwaj through her advocate Yug Chaudhry claimed that the special judge, who extended the time to file chargesheet into the Bhima Koregaon violence case, and also took cognisance of the chargesheet, was not a special judge under the National Investigation Agency Act.
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Sudha Bharadwaj’s Bail Plea: Bombay High Court To Verify If Pune Sessions Judge Was Competent To Take Cognizance Of Chargesheet

06/07/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court said it would verify with the Registry if Additional Sessions Judge Kishor Vadane was a Special Judge under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act in 2018/2019 and if he was authorised to take cognisance of the Pune police’s charge sheet against the accused in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar – Parishad Case.
A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar heard Bharadwaj’s plea seeking bail in default Under Sections 439, 482 and section 167(2)(a)(i) of the Criminal Procedure Code read with section 43 D(2)of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. She has challenged two orders of Judge KD Vadane.
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8 accused in Bhima Koregaon seek bail as judge who rejected bail was not authorised

06/07/2021

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

Eight accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case moved the Bombay High Court on Tuesday seeking bail on the ground that the special judge at Pune who rejected their default bail was not authorised to do so. Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira filed the petition through advocate R. Sathyanarayanan.
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Also read: Bombay High Court Seeks Reply On Sudha Bharadwaj’s Plea For Default Bail In Bhima Koregaon Case (Live Law, June 2021)

Bombay HC issues notice on petition against jail authorities withholding letters

Bombay HC issues notice on petition against jail authorities withholding letters

Bombay HC issues notice on petition by Rama Anand Teltumbde, Susan Abraham Gonsalves against jail authorities withholding letters to and from their jailed husbands

03/07/2021

The Leaflet / by Hamza Lakdawala

The Bombay High Court Saturday issued a notice to the Maharashtra Government, the National Investigation Agency(NIA), and the jail superintendent on a petition filed by Rama Anand Teltumbde and Susan Abraham Gonsalves seeking a direction from the court to the Superintendent of Taloja Prison to allow letter communication between the petitioners and their respective jailed husbands.
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Permit Anand Teltumbde & Vernon Gonsalves To Receive & Send Letters : Spouses Move Bombay High Court

03/07/2021

Live Law / by Shrutika Pandey

A plea has been filed by wives of Anand Teltumbde and Vernon Gonsalves in the Bombay High Court seeking action against the Superintendent of Taloja Prison for withholding communication from Teltumbde and other co-accused to their family members. The matter was posted before a division bench of Justice S.S Shinde and N.J Jamadar, where counsel on behalf of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Sandish Patel, contended not receiving a copy of the petition; thus, the matter was adjourned with directions to serve the respondents.
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Video: Jailed to Die? India’s incarcerated human rights defenders and the Covid emergeny

Video: Jailed to Die? India’s incarcerated human rights defenders and the Covid emergeny


en | 2h | 2021

By InSAF India

Public Appeal Meeting with family members of #BhimaKoregaon 16, and legal and human rights experts.

Watch video

By InSAF (June 19):
We’re Live now talking about India’s incarcerated human right defenders and the #covid emergency with @lsnul @jennyrowena @Aakar__Patel @koel_ko, Simi Korote, Shahrukh Alam and Father Xavier +++
Shahrukh Alam draws important comparison between Indian and other legal systems, noting how the Indian legal system allows for a lengthy period of detention even before the person is found guilty +++
She further notes on how recent #UAPA FIRs against political dissidents are against the right to political protest but are highly problematic in their treatment of dissidents from marginalised groups, openly criminalised and reek of islamophobia +++
Many of the speakers today pointed out, we need sustained international pressure – even for ensuring pasic rights for political detainees. Please consider signing and sharing our letter today +++
@Aakar__Patel notes how post 2014, under a majoritarian government, all minority communities have been sidelined. He further notes how this majoritarianism has resulted in specific legal implications, mostly for Muslims and other minorities +++
He also notes, “the only reason the Bhima Koregaon undertrials are still in jail is because of the state’s malice…”. Are we just going to allow our human right defenders to languish in prisons for the satisfaction of the Indian govt? We need accountability & justice! +++
Listening to Sagar Gonsalves speak about his father and his helplessness in ‘Jailed to Die? India’s incarcerated human rights defenders and the Covid emergency’ … enraging! +++
Father Xavier talks of how Father Stan Swamy, 84 year old in prison, has been criminalised for standing for the rights of the marginalised, specifically rights of tribal and adivasi communities. Shame on the Indian state! +++
Kudos to @jennyrowena for speaking so bravely about how her partner, Prof Hany Babu has challenged caste hierarchies within academia, politics and the country for which he is now being punished. She notes the disproportionate caste representation in these spaces +++
And how the only way to change this is to get freedom from the caste colony, demanding accountabilities Ty from the savarnas! She calls for the takeover of universities, legal system, political systems by Dalit-Bahujans for any hope of change in this country +++
@jennyrowena notes how her husband, prof Hany Babu had a severe eye infection in prison which has since even threatened his vision but was denied appropriate medical attention. This brutality of this legal system is horrific. We stand in solidarity with @jennyrowena & Hany Babu +++

Also Read: Prominent international figures support appeal for release of human rights defenders as India faces Covid emergency (InSAF India, June 10)

Three years after Bhima Koregaon: How criminal law was violated

Three years after Bhima Koregaon: How criminal law was violated

The Leaflet / by Nihalsing B Rathod

Recalling his bruising experiences with an unjust criminal justice system as part of the legal team of the activists arrested in the questionable Bhima Koregaon violence case three years ago, Nihalsing B Rathod, in this second of a three-part series, recollects how basic tenets of criminal law were violated by the Pune Police in arresting Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Arun Fereira, and Vernon Gonsalves at various points, and extending their detention, as well as that of Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale and Mahesh Raut. All this while, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde exhausted all legal options to evade arrest, as the judiciary looked on, condoning the deprivation of the activists’ liberty and denying their bail applications, sometimes making gestures that filled the activists’ legal team with hope but ultimately continuing the farce that is the Bhima-Koregaon travesty.
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Also read part one: Bhima Koregaon: Marking three years since the first arrest (June 7, 2021)

Vernon Gonsalve’s third birthday in a crowded jail

Vernon Gonsalve’s third birthday in a crowded jail

By Sagar Abraham-Gonsalves @ fb

Yesterday was my father’s birthday. For a third year he spent it in a crowded jail and for a second year in a row he did so under the serious threat of a pandemic out of control. The threat seems far more severe this year and he, now aged 64, still very much falls in the category of vulnerable people. In the absence of an individual, memories are what we tend to hold onto and so I thought of sharing a memory from his earlier birthday in prison in 2019. …

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Laws Around Electronic Evidence Compromise India’s Criminal Justice System

Laws Around Electronic Evidence Compromise India’s Criminal Justice System

article14 / by Mani Chander

Police and investigative agencies currently claim unfettered access to your WhatsApp, private emails or chats with your doctor, lawyer or psychologist. Can they force you to unlock your phone and disclose passwords? In the absence of clear laws, they do what they wish.
…
Seize All You Can? The Bhima-Koregaon Case
Recent cases indicate that investigating agencies often search and seize records without demonstrating probable cause, necessity or proportionality.
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Video: Decoding the Arsenal Report – Curious Case of Questionable Evidence in the Case / Press Release

Video: Decoding the Arsenal Report – Curious Case of Questionable Evidence in the Case / Press Release

Video: Decoding the Arsenal Report – Curious Case of Questionable Evidence in the Case

16/02/2021


en | 1h 36min | 2021

By Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy

PRESS CONFERENCE
Speakers
Jedidiah Crandall: Associate Professor, Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society; Associate Professor, School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University Sandeep Shukla: Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur
Adv. Mihir Desai: Senior Advocate Bombay High Court Lawyer, PUCL
Father Solomon: Director, Bagaicha, Ranchi, Fr Stan Swamy’s colleague
Sagar Abraham Gonsalves: Vernon Gonsalves’ son
Watch @ YouTube

The NIA’s ‘No Malware Found’ Response to New Forensic Report Points to Ineptitude
Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case Must be Quashed in Light of Explosive Forensic Evidence

16/02/2021

By Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy

PRESS RELEASE
On February 10, 2021 the Bhima Koregaon defense team filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking the release of Rona Wilson and the quashing of all charges against him. The petition was filed in light of startling new evidence of a forensic analysis that establishes that the top 10 files used to implicate Mr. Wilson with conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister and several other charges were fabricated and had been planted on Mr. Wilson’s hard drive by a cyber attacker using the NetWire malware. The forensic analysis was conducted by one of the world’s leading forensic analysis firms, Boston-based Arsenal Consulting and the story was first reported by The Washington Post on February 10. …

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Farmers’ groups attempt to ‘broaden’ struggle / Jailed activists join farmers protests [full statement]

Farmers’ groups attempt to ‘broaden’ struggle / Jailed activists join farmers protests [full statement]

Farmers’ groups along Delhi border attempt to ‘broaden’ struggle

11/01/2021

Counterview / by Harsh Thakor

A protracted war of resistance appears to be unfolding on the border of Delhi, whee protesting farmers have intensified their struggle against the three agricultural laws. A massive tractor march was planned as a precursor to a similar rally on the Republic Day. Farmers are being mobilized under the guidance of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) and other organisations in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
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Their full statement (click to enlarge)

Several Elgaar Parishad accused on day-long hunger strike in support of protesting farmers

23/12/2020

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Three other accused in the case, Sudha Bharadwaj, Jyoti Jagtap and Shoma Sen, are lodged separately at Byculla women’s jail.
To show solidarity with protesting farmers, some of the arrested accused in the Elgaar Parishad case who are lodged at Taloja Central Jail observed a day-long symbolic hunger strike on Wednesday.
The accused, including Mahesh Raut, Anand Teltumbde, Surendra Gadling, Hany Babu, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Rona Wilson, said in a statement issued through their lawyers that since they cannot join the farmers on the ground, they want to show solidarity with their cause through a hunger strike on December 23, which is observed as National Farmers’ Day.
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Jailed activists join farmers protests, symbolic hunger strike in solidarity

23/12/2020

Indie Journal / by Indie Journal

The activists have criticised the Central Government for bringing in the farm laws.
On farmers’ day, today, several intellectuals and activists detained in the Bhima Koregaon case will be undertaking a day-long symbolic hunger strike, in solidarity with the farmers protesting against the farm laws. The activists have criticised the Central Government for bringing in the farm laws, calling it a “sinister plot to make farmers slave of the corporate giants”.
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Also read: FARMERS’ UNION EXPLAINS WHY IT IS DEMANDING JAILED ACTIVISTS’ RELEASE (Dec 14)

NIA opposes bail plea of Stan Swamy / Stan Swamy likely to be shifted to Arthur Road Jail

NIA opposes bail plea of Stan Swamy / Stan Swamy likely to be shifted to Arthur Road Jail

NIA opposes Stan Swamy’s bail plea, claims he was part of ‘deep-rooted conspiracy’

15/12/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The central agency said Swamy cannot be given bail as it was yet to complete investigating emails and other digital evidence gathered at the time of his arrest.
The National Investigation Agency on Monday opposed the bail plea filed by tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, and alleged that the 83-year-old was part of the alleged conspiracy to instigate violence in 2017, PTI reported.
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NIA opposes bail plea of Stan Swamy

15/12/2020

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Father Stan Swamy had moved a plea seeking opportunity to be heard if a decision is taken to transfer him to any other prison. Swamy has been lodged in Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai since his arrest in October…
The court was also informed about the application by co-accused Gautam Navlakha seeking from jail authorities to provide him five books per month in Taloja prison. After hearing submissions, the court granted NIA to respond to the pleas and posted further hearings on December 21.
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Stan Swamy likely to be shifted to Arthur Road Jail

15/12/2020

Free Press Journal / by Staff Reporter

Swamy’s advocate had made a plea on December 4, seeking that Swamy not be shifted from Taloja Jail without their being heard.
Octogenarian tribal rights activist Stan Swamy may be shifted out of the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai to Arthur Road Jail in the city. The Taloja jail superintendent, in a report, informed the court on Monday that while the jail authorities did not plan to shift him presently, considering his age and ailments, they were likely to move him to Arthur Road Jail, which had government hospitals nearby.
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From sippers and sweaters to mail and mulaqats, how prisoners are being kept waiting for basics

From sippers and sweaters to mail and mulaqats, how prisoners are being kept waiting for basics

From sippers and sweaters to mail and mulaqats, how prisoners are being kept waiting for basics

29/11/2020

Times of India / Himanshi Dhawan

Letters from wife? Rejected. Sipper for Parkinson’s patient? Court hearing awaited. Warm clothes to deal with the capital’s chilly temperatures? Allowed but after a long wait.
Many a political prisoner in Maharashtra and Delhi has been struggling for access to basic necessities these last few month.
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Stan Swamy gets a sipper, finally

29/11/2020

Mumbai Mirror / by Shruti Ganapatye

The ‘inhumane’ treatment meted out to the 83-year-old Parkinson’s patient by the NIA and Taloja jail authorities had drawn a lot of flak from citizens.
Almost 50 days after his arrest, 83-year-old tribal rights activist Stan Swamy , who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, was provided a sipper by the Taloja Jail authorities.
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