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Bhima Koregaon Case: A glaring example of Hindutva lies
Siasat.com / by N Venugopal
New Delhi: Hindutva – the official guiding principle of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and all the members in its parivar – is an embodiment of lies, fabrication, distortion, deception, obfuscation, hatred and unleashing violence. If one thought that this characterization is an ideological subjective opinion, it is better to look at this glaring example of Bhima Koregaon violence case, a subject of gross obfuscation of facts and inhuman incarceration of public-spirited individuals over the last two years.
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Statement in support for the Bhima Koregaon 12 Activist
Samaj Weekly / by 21 Organizations
We, the undersigned twenty-one organizations, strongly condemn the shameful imprisonment of India’s finest public intellectuals and social justice defenders, Dr. Anand Teltumbde and Mr. Gautam Navalakha who’ve been in custody since April 14, 2020. Dr. Teltumbde & Mr. Nalvlakha join nine others – journalists, lawyers, writers, academics & organizers- Surendra Gadling, Arun Fereira, Vernon Gonsalves, Mahesh Raut, Sudha Bharadwaj, Dr. Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson and Varavara Rao- who have been imprisoned in the same fabricated Bhima-Koregaon case.
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From the shadows of dissent – women engaged to free arrested family members
Mumbai Mirror / by Jyoti Punwani
Meet the women engaged in an endless battle with the state to free family members arrested under stringent laws.
On Friday morning, the Bombay High Court rejected the parole application of GN Saibaba, the Delhi University professor undergoing a life sentence in Nagpur jail since 2017 for “Maoist links”.
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Mumbai Police Quiz Jailed Activist’s Family About His Whereabouts
Pic: Sagar, Vernon, Susan
The Quint / by Ankita Sinha
On 11 May 2020, two police officials with the Mumbai Crime Branch reportedly paid a visit to social activist Vernon Gonsalves’s home, with the intent of finding out Gonsalves’s whereabouts. They questioned his wife, Susan Abraham, who is also an advocate and his son Sagar.
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The BK16
All the people who are the focus of this blog have been accused of being associated with what has come to be known as the “Bhima-Koregaon” or “Elgar Parishad” case.
To mark the bi-centenary of the battle of Bhima Koregaon in 2018, more than 200 Dalit, Bahujan, Ambedkarite and other organisations came together. The coalition organised the hugely successful and massively attended event, ‘Elgar Parishad’ (loud declaration committee), on December 31, 2017 in Shaniwarwada in Pune, once the seat of Peshwai power. This event, as per the organisers, was organised to expose the Navi Peshwai — an era of increasing repression on movements, alienation of minorities, increasing caste atrocities, anti-poor development policies and more.
Charges against the Activists
● That they had made inflammatory speeches at the Elgar Parishad.
● That they are acting on behalf of, or are members of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoists).
● That they were plotting to assassinate the Prime Minister.
Lack of Evidence
As it turns out, most of those arrested were not even at the Elgar Parishad event, the charges about the links to Maoists entirely shown to be based on fabricated evidence and so far the charges about the assassination plot had not even a single piece of evidence produced.
The Case of the Reliance Workers Satyanarayan Karrela, Babushankar Vanguri, Shankar Gunde, Ravi Marampelli and Saidulu Singapanga
The BK16: Who is …?
Who is Varavara Rao? All posts related to Varavara Rao
Who is Sudha Bharadwaj? All posts related to Sudha Bharadwaj
Who is Sudhir Dhawale? All posts related to Sudhir Dhawale
Who is Arun Ferreira? All posts related to Arun Ferreira
Who is Surendra Gadling? All posts related to Surendra Gadling
Who is Vernon Gonsalves? All posts related to Vernon Gonsalves
Who is Mahesh Raut? All posts related to Mahesh Raut
Who is Shoma Sen? All posts related to Shoma Sen
Who is Rona Wilson? All posts related to Rona Wilson
Who is Gautam Navlakha? All posts related to Gautam Navlakha
Who is Anand Teltumbde? All posts related to Anand Teltumbde
Who is Hany Babu? All posts related to Hany Babu
Who are the Kabir Kala Manch artistes Jyoti Jagtap, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor? All posts related to Jyoti Jagtap All posts related to Sagar Gorkhe All posts related to Ramesh Gaichor All posts related to Kabir Kala Manch
Who is Stan Swamy? All posts related to Stan Swamy
Mumbai Police Land at Arrested Activist’s House to Inquire About His Whereabouts
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
Civil liberties activist Vernon Gonsalves is lodged at Taloja jail along with others arrested in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case.
Mumbai: In a strange turn of events, two policemen from Mumbai’s crime branch landed at civil rights activist and lawyer Susan Abraham’s residence in Andheri asking the whereabouts of her husband Vernon Gonsalves, who has been in jail since 2018. Gonsalves, who was arrested in August 2018 for his alleged involvement in the Elgar Parishad case, is currently lodged at Taloja central prison located in Thane district.
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JAILED ACTIVIST´S WIFE WRITES TO MUMBAI TOP COP, CJ AFTER POLICE VISIT HER HOME
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
“My son Sagar and I were shocked and disturbed at this uncalled for visit at a time when the risk of transmission of Covid-19 between police (frontline workers) and community members is very high,” the letter states.
Activist Vernon Gonsalves’ wife, advocate Susan Abraham, has written to the Mumbai Police commissioner and Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court stating that while her husband is lodged in Taloja jail in connection with the Elgaar Parishad case, police officers from the crime branch visited their home, making inquiries about his whereabouts. Gonsalves has been behind bars since August 2018.
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81 more Arthur Road inmates test positive
Drawing by Arun Ferreira
The Hindu / by Gautam S. Mengle and Sonam Saigal
One positive at Byculla women’s jail.
As many as 81 more inmates at the Arthur Road Central Jail tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, taking the number of cases among prisoners lodged there to 158. A prisoner at the women’s prison in Byculla has also tested positive.
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SUPERINTENDENT OF ARTHUR ROAD JAIN IN QUARANTINE
09/04/2020
Mumbai Mirror / by Somendra Sharma and David Delima
… Families of prisoners and undertrials in jails across the city made frantic calls to their lawyers on Friday morning, after hearing the news that 103 people lodged at Arthur Road jail had tested positive for Covid-19 …
“I have not spoken to my father properly since February, when I last saw him in court. I don’t know if he is safe as there as been zero communication from the authorities. We have no way of getting in touch with any official,” said Sagar Gonsalves, son of incarcerated activist Vernon Gonsalves.
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103 TEST COVID-19 POSITIVE IN MUMBAI’S ARTHUR ROAD JAIL
07/04/2020
The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha
The Maharashtra home department had promised to release over 11,000 prisoners but so far fewer than 7,000 have been released as the health crisis rages.
Mumbai: The delay in the process of decongesting Maharashtra’s prisons has already led to the first major outbreak of COVID-19 in Mumbai’s Arthur Road central prison.
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Vernon Gonsalves has to spend his birthday once more in a prison cell
By Sagar Abraham-Gonsalves / Documented by Mumbai Rises To Save Democracy
22. April
It is my father’s birthday today. He turns 63. Due to the brutality of our government and the failure of our judiciary he will be spending his birthday in a prison cell. At the time of a serious global pandemic when he falls in the category of people most vulnerable he will be spending his birthday in an overcrowded prison with no adequate health facilities.
Today I thought of sharing a about how he has been spending his time in the the past year and a half in Yerwada prison, Pune.
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ABA calls for release of Bhima-Koregaon accused
The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal
Activists age, health issues put them at high risk amid pandemic, says centre.
The American Bar Association’s (ABA)’s Center for Human Rights has called for the release of all human rights defenders arrested in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case in the interest of flattening the COVID-19 curve, upholding the fundamental rights of detainees and enhancing national security, as their detention was arbitrary.
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Also read: American Bar Association’s report (Oct 2019)
The Preliminary Fair Trial Report: Bhima Koregaon