VVJVA – free them all

Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha is holding the state accountable

23/04/2022 Asha

Youthkiawaaz / by Harsh

Established just a few months ago, Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha (JJSM) is currently acting as an umbrella for over two dozen provincial-local people’s organisations of Jharkhand to raise voices against injustice, exploitation, corruption and to resolve the public problems in the region …
“Father Stan Swamy, who was one of the founder members of Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan, lived for the Adivasi and moolnivasi communities of Jharkhand.
Taking inspiration from him, various people’s organisations have formed this front as a tribute to him to fulfil his dream of bringing all the movements of Jharkhand on one platform,” says Satyam, a social activist associated with the front.
Read more

Also read
● Narendra Modi’s Government Is Using False Charges of Terrorism to Repress Its Opponents (Jacobinmag / April 2022)

Narendra Modi’s Government Is Using False Charges of Terrorism to Repress Its Opponents

21/04/2022 Asha

Jacobinmag / by P.M. Tony & Lotika Singha

Radical priest Stan Swamy was one of India’s leading social activists. Modi’s government is to blame for his death while awaiting trial on bogus terror charges, but the clampdown won’t snuff out the inspiring legacy of Swamy’s work with Adivasi communities.
Under the rule of Narendra Modi, the Indian state has launched a sweeping authoritarian clampdown on political dissent. One of the manifestations of this onslaught has been the jailing of opponents on trumped-up charges of terrorism and conspiracy.
Read more

Umar Khalid statement that he was invited to Elgar Parishad among additional evidence submitted by NIA

15/04/2022 Asha

Drawing by Arun Ferreira

Umar Khalid Claims He Was Invited To Elgar Parishad By Former Judge Of Bombay High Court

17/04/2022

Live Law / by Live Law News Network

The National Investigating Agency (NIA) submitted a bunch of additional documents and witness statements to the court in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case, in which student rights activist Umar Khalid claims that he heard that BJP-RSS persons had attacked visitors at the Bhima-Koregaon, near Pune.
On January 1, 2018 several Dalit’s had gathered to commemorate a 200th anniversary of the battle in which the British, with the support of Dalits, defeated the Peshwa army.
Read more

Former Bombay High Court judge Justice BG Kolse-Patil invited me to Elgar Parishad: Umar Khalid to NIA

15/04/2022

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

The statement by Khalid forms part of the additional documents which the central agency submitted to the Special NIA Court in Mumbai in the Bhima Koregaon riots case of 2018 allegedly linked to the Elgar Parishad event.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has recorded statement of former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student and member of Unite against Hate organisation Umar Khalid in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018 allegedly linked to the Elgar Parishad event of December 31, 2017.
Read more

Umar Khalid statement among additional evidence submitted by NIA to court

15/04/2022

The Indian Express / by Sadaf Modak

In the evidence submitted to the court, the NIA has included the statement of Khalid, recorded in the office of the deputy superintendent of Tihar jail in New Delhi, where he is lodged in connection with the Delhi riots case.
Nearly two years since the last arrests were made in the Elgaar Parishad case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) last week submitted before the special court additional evidence running into seven volumes, including the statement of student activist Umar Khalid and documents related to Stan Swamy, the Jesuit priest who passed away last year while in judicial custody.
Read more

Heard of BJP-RSS attack day after being at Elgar Parishad, says Umar Khalid

15/04/2022

The Times of India / by Rebecca Samervel

Among the additional documents submitted as evidence against the accused in the Elgar Parishad case is the statement of former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, who said that a day after attending the Elgar Parishad meeting in Pune, where he delivered a speech, he came to know that BJP and RSS members attacked those who had come to visit Koregaon Bhima.
Read more

Bombay High Court Grants NIA Time To Respond In Anand Teltumbde’s Bail Appeal

20/10/2021 Asha

Bombay High Court Grants NIA Time To Respond In Anand Teltumbde’s Bail Appeal

20/10/2021

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) two weeks to respond to Dalit scholar Anand Teltumbde’s bail appeal.
Teltumbde has filed two petitions; the first is an appeal against the special court’s order rejecting his bail application and the second is a petition challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Read more

Bombay HC asks NIA to respond to Anand Teltumbde’s bail plea in two weeks

20/10/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The activist has filed another petition challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
… The central agency has accused Teltumbde of being the convenor of the Elgaar Parishad conference held on December 31, 2017, that led to Bhima Koregaon violence the next day. It has alleged that the activist was an active member of the CPI (Maoist) and was “deeply involved in furtherance of its furtherance of its agenda.”
Read more

Also read: Anand Teltumbde Moves Bombay High Court Challenging Stringent Bail Conditions & ‘Vague Terminology’ In UAPA (Live Law, Sep 2021)

NIA Opposes Stan Swamy’s Bail; Calls PUCL, VVJVA ‘Maoist Fronts’

31/01/2021 Rani

NIA Opposes Stan Swamy’s Bail; Calls PUCL, Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan ‘Maoist Fronts’

31/01/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The agency made the claim about the 30-year-old human rights body while arguing against the bail application moved by Father Stan Swamy.
In its latest, the National Investigation Agency handling the ongoing probe in the Elgar Parishad case has called a 30-year-old human rights body, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, a frontal organisation of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). The agency made the claim while arguing against the bail application moved by arrested human rights defender Father Stan Swamy. Similar claims were also made against Jharkhand-based Adivasi rights organisation Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan.
Read more

NIA says Stan Swamy is working to achieve the goals of CPI (Maoist)

30/01/2021

The Hindu / by Special Corrospondent

Central agency argues for rejection of bail petition.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday alleged that Father Stan Swamy, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, was actually accomplishing the agenda of Communist Party of India (Maoist) under the pretence of voicing concerns of the tribal community. It said that his bail plea must be rejected.
Read more

The battle to protect Adivasis’ right to the land: A profile of Father Stan Swamy

12/10/2020 Rani

Pic: Ranchi Oct, 9

The Polis Project & maraa

Fr. Stan Swamy is an indigenous people’s rights defender. He is the founder of Vistapan Virodhi Janvikash Andolan (VVJA), an all India platform for different movements that are campaigning against human rights violations caused by the displacement of Adivasis, Dalits, and farmers from their lands.
Read more

‘My life hangs by a thread’: Activist Stan Swamy on Bhima Koregaon, Adivasi resistance in Jharkhand

28/09/2019 Maya

Scroll.in / by Sneha Philip & Smarnita Shetty

Criminal justice procedures are being misused to repress undertrials in the state’s jails who are falsely accused of being Maoists.
In this interview Swamy discusses the emergence and growth of people’s movements, his work with young Adivasi undertrials who are falsely accused of being Maoists, the difficult choices that confront young Adivasis today and the ongoing case against him in connection with the Bhima Koregaon caste clashes near Pune in 2018.
Read more