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The Constitution’s Promise vs. State Repression / Civil Liberties Groups Seek Release of Political Prisoners

The Constitution’s Promise vs. State Repression / Civil Liberties Groups Seek Release of Political Prisoners

Bail is the Rule, Jail is the Exception: The Promise of the Constitution and the Reality of State Repression

30/08/2026

Countercurrents / by Asish Gupta

Former Maoist leader Azad alias Dana Keshav Rao, had a total of 49 cases pending against him in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh after being arrested by the police in 2011. He spent more than 15 years and 2 months in prison as an undertrial prisoner. … Finally, in August 2026, he was acquitted in all 49 cases and released from prison. A lack of sufficient evidence was one of the key grounds for his acquittal.
…
Surendra Gadling’s situation underscores a broader dilemma. Even after securing bail in the Bhima-Koregaon case, he could not be released immediately because he faced a separate case related to the 2016 Surjagarh arson, in which his bail application was pending before the Supreme Court. Thus, while a person was granted bail in one case on the ground of prolonged undertrial detention, the doors of the prison remained closed due to another case.
This illustrates a structural loophole in the Indian bail system.
Read more

Who is Ajay Kumar? Why Has He Been Behind Bars for the Last Two Years?

30/08/2026

Campaign Against State Repression / by Campaign Against State Repression (CASR)

An activist, writer, lawyer, and intellectual, Ajay Kumar has dedicated nearly three decades of his life to the struggles of the toiling masses for liberation from oppression and exploitation.
… Ajay was actively involved in the Forum Against the War on People, which opposed attacks by state forces and the corporate-sponsored militia Salwa Judum on Adivasi communities in central India under Operation Green Hunt. He was also a founding member of the Vistapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (VVJVA), a coalition of more than 50 organisations from across the country working against the forcible displacement of peasants, particularly Adivasis, for corporate land acquisition and extractive projects.
VVJVA has campaigned against the forced displacement of peasant and Adivasi communities for the construction of big dams, industrial projects, mines, Special Economic Zones, highways, National Parks, and Smart City projects, among others.
… As a member of the Indian Association of Peoples Lawyers (IAPL), he has worked for the release of political prisoners, including those incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Read full statement

Civil Liberties Groups Seek Release of Political Prisoners

29/08/2026

Deccan Chronicle / by DC Correspondent

The Civil Liberties Committee (CLC) along with CPI and other activists demanded the release of political prisoners detained under UAPA cases.
“It is necessary that we strongly demand that the Telangana government release political prisoners. Governments of other states, including Andhra Pradesh, as well as the Centre, must release political prisoners,” Supreme Court advocate D. Suresh, CLC general secretary, said at a protest at Dharna Chowk on Saturday.
… Suresh said around 1,200 people in Chhattisgarh, 1,000 in Jharkhand and many others in Odisha, UP, Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra and Delhi were jailed on allegations of being Maoists. He cited the case of lawyer Surendra Gadling who he said was “falsely implicated in the Bhima Koregaon case and has been unjustly languishing in jail for eight years without bail.”
Read more

Also read:
▪ Will Abhirup Paul meet the fate of Surendra Gadling, Umar Khalid, and Sharjeel Imam? (Frontline / Jul 2026)
▪ Eight years in jail without trial: HC grants bail to lawyer Surendra Gadling in Elgar Parishad case (Hindustan Times / May 2026)
▪ 7 yrs in jail, charges framed against Surendra Gadling in Surajgarh arson case. What Bombay HC told SC (The Print / Apr 2026)
▪ Voices From Prison | A Legacy Of Detention: Weaponisation Of PDA, TADA, NSA And UAPA Laws Since Independence (Outlook / Jan 2026)
▪ Incarceration As Politics: A Timeline Of Political Prisoners In Independent India (Outlook / Jan 2026)
▪ Justice On Hold: How India’s Trial Courts Are Creating a New Class of Political Prisoners—Those Accused Of ‘Terrorism’ (article 14 / Dec 2025)
▪ The Grammar of the Power to Arrest and Search under UAPA (Constitutional Law and Philosophy | by Hany Babu and Surendra Gadling | Jul 2025)
▪ Who Is a ‘Political Prisoner’? Rona Wilson Says Caste and Religion Are Key to the Answer (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’ (Counterview / Sep 2024)
▪ UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR – Study of UAPA Abuse in India, 2009-2022 (PUCL / Sep 2022). Download report
▪ Punished without trial: How India’s political prisoners are being denied basic rights in jail (Scroll.in / Aug 2022)

CASR Condemns NIA Notice to Anti-Displacement Activist Damodar Turi

CASR Condemns NIA Notice to Anti-Displacement Activist Damodar Turi

Poster campaign, 2019.

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

The Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) strongly condemns the recent actions of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Hyderabad, which has issued a notice to Damodar Turi, a long-time anti-displacement activist, in connection with FIR RC-04/2025/HYDERABAD. This case, initiated two months ago, is yet another example of the state’s ongoing harassment of individuals who challenge the exploitation and marginalization of indigenous communities, particularly those resisting displacement due to mining and industrialization.
Damodar Turi, a dedicated activist for over three decades, has been at the forefront of movements against the forced displacement of Adivasis and indigenous communities in Jharkhand and across India. As a founding member of the Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (VVJVA), a pan-India anti-displacement organization, Damodar Turi has worked alongside other prominent human rights advocates, including Stan Swamy and B.D. Sharma, to raise awareness about the systematic dispossession of tribal people from their land in the name of development.
Read full statement

Also read:
▪ Voices From Prison | Half-Freedom For Adivasis Jailed On Maoist Allegations (Outlook / Jan 2026)
▪ Voices From Prison | From Forest To Prison, When Security Laws Criminalise Adivasi Resistance (Outlook / Jan 2026)
▪ Will anti-Naxal drive pave way for mining giants? (The New Indian Express / May 2025)
▪ Top intellectual targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’ (Sep 2024)
▪ Jharkhand police to probe into Maoist links with Stan Swamy’s ‘Bagaicha’, 63 other frontal organisations (The New Indian Express / Sep 2023)
▪ CASR: Release activists incarcerated in Bhima Koregaon Case (Countercurrents.org / June 2023)
▪ NIA Opposes Stan Swamy’s Bail; Calls PUCL, Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan ‘Maoist Fronts’ (The Wire / Jan 2021)

G.N. Saibaba’s Lifelong Campaign Was Against the Violence of Silencing

G.N. Saibaba’s Lifelong Campaign Was Against the Violence of Silencing

The Wire / by Rona Wilson

Activist Rona Wilson, incarcerated in the Elgar Parishad case that has still not gone into trial, pens a note for a friend.

“I have lived all my conscious life on the campuses of learning and teaching in search of knowledge, love and freedom. In the course of this search, I learnt that freedom for a few was no freedom.”

– G.N. Saibaba, from Why Do You Fear My Way So Much? Poems and Letters from Prison

The untimely death of G.N. Saibaba (fondly known as Sai among his friends and well-wishers) when he was about to start his life afresh after acquittal betrays the brutality and inhumanity that the state had meted out to him during his long incarceration.
Read more

Also read/watch:
▪ G.N. Saibaba’s Life Is Not Just a Chronicle of His Times, but Also What the Times Refused to Chronicle (The Wire / Oct 2024)
▪ Was the trial judge who convicted G.N. Saibaba biased? We will never know, and that is part of the injustice (The Leaflet / March 2024)
▪ Five Years of Incarceration – and the Audacity of Hope (The Wire | Rona Wilson | Jul 2023)

▪ Video: State’s Job is to Serve People, Not Punish Them: G N Saibaba


en | 38:33 | 2024

Newsclick / by Newsclick Team

Former DU professor G.N. Saibaba, who passed away in Hyderabad on Saturday, had recounted his harrowing ordeal during 10 years in jail at a press conference in New Delhi in March this year.
Watch video

‘Target dissenting individuals’: NIA conducts raids across Bengal in alleged Maoist link probe

‘Target dissenting individuals’: NIA conducts raids across Bengal in alleged Maoist link probe

Counterview / by Our Representative 

In the predawn hours of October 1, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) executed raids at 12 locations throughout West Bengal, targeting the residences of several activists in connection with alleged “Maoist links.” The agency confiscated mobile phones and laptops belonging to numerous individuals during these searches, which reportedly resulted in significant property damage. 
Several activists received notices to report for further questioning at the NIA’s office in Ranchi.
Read more

Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS /Jul 2024)
▪ McCarthyism in INDIA?: The Return of The Urban Naxal Bogey! (The Crossbill /Jul 2024)
▪ Chronology Samajhiye: 5 Days, 4 Agencies Under Modi Govt Control Target Opposition, Journalists, Activists (The Wire | Soumashree Sarkar | Oct 6, 2023)

Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’

Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’

Counterview.net / by Campaign against State Repression (CASR)

The Campaign against State Repression (CASR) unequivocally condemns the arrest of human rights activist and Advocate Ajay Kumar by National Investigation Agency early morning 3 am from Chandigarh.
…
Ajay was actively involved in the Forum Against the War on People to oppose the attack by state forces and corporate-sponsored militia, Salwa Judum, on the Adivasi peasants of central India under Operation Green Hunt. He was also founding member of Vistapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (VVJVA), a conglomeration of more than 50 organisations from across the country seeking to challenge the forcible displacement of peasants particularly Adivasis, for the furtherance of corporate loot and land grab. VVJVA works against the forceful displacement of peasantry, particularly Adivasis for building big dams, industrial projects, mines, Special Economic Zones, highways, National Parks, Smart City projects etc. Ajay Kumar worked alongside the likes of Dr. B.D. Sharma (retired IAS officer), K.N. Pandit (trade union leader), Dr. B.P. Kesari, Father Stan Swamy, Sudha Bhardwaj, Dr. G.N. Saibaba and J. Madhuri in the formation of this forum in 2007.
Read full statement

Also read:
▪ TU activist Anirudh Rajan, lawyer Ajay Kumar in custody: Wounded reputation of world’s largest democracy? (Counterview / Sep 10, 2024)
▪ Student Activist’s Room Raided in Prayagraj by NIA Over Alleged Naxal Links (The Wire / Aug 2024)
▪ Senior activist Ajay Kumar’s arrest ‘imminent’ in same vein as Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy (Counterview / Jan 2024)

Senior activist Ajay Kumar’s arrest ‘imminent’ in same vein as Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy

Senior activist Ajay Kumar’s arrest ‘imminent’ in same vein as Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy

Counterview / by Counterview Desk

The civil rights coalition, Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as condemning the “intensifying harassment” of activist, writer, lawyer and intellectual Ajay Kumar and is family by India’s investigative agencies, has said that “the arrest of Ajay Kumar under fabricated charges is imminent”, and may happen in the “similar vein” to that of his former associates like Prof GN Saibaba, activist Rona Wilson, late Father Stan Swamy, trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj, others.
Read more/full statement

Also read:
▪ Stifling of right to protest, freedom: Open letter to CJI Chandrachud (SabrangIndia / Jan 2024)

In Jail for 5 Years, Activist Mahesh Raut Gets Regular Bail in Bhima Koregaon Case [read order]

In Jail for 5 Years, Activist Mahesh Raut Gets Regular Bail in Bhima Koregaon Case [read order]

In Jail for 5 Years, Activist Mahesh Raut Gets Bail in Elgar Parishad Case

21/09/2023

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

The 36-year-old tribal rights activist is one of the first five persons to have been arrested in the controversial case, on June 6, 2018.
Five years after 36-year-old tribal rights activist Mahesh Raut was arrested for his alleged role in the Elgar Parishad case, the Bombay high court on Thursday, September 21, granted him bail.
The National Investigating Agency (NIA), which is handling the investigation in the case, sought two weeks’ time to appeal in the Supreme Court. The HC, however, granted a week’s time.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon: Bombay High Court grants regular bail to Mahesh Raut

21/09/2023

The Leaflet / by Sarah Thanawala

The operation of the Order granting bail to Mahesh Raut is, however, directed to remain in suspension for a week to enable the NIA to appeal.
On Thursday, the Bombay High Court granted regular bail to forest rights activist Mahesh Raut.
A division Bench of the high court comprising Justices A.S. Gadkari and Sharmila U. Deshmukh, however, has stayed the Order for one week.
Read more

Bombay High Court grants bail to Mahesh Raut; sixth accused to get bail [read order]

21/09/2023

Bar & Bench / by Neha Joshi

Raut is the sixth person to get bail in the Bhima Koregaon case after Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Mahesh Raut, one of the accused persons in the Bhima Koregaon riots case of 2018.
A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Sharmila Deshmukh passed the order.
The Court stayed its order for a week after the National Investigation Authority (NIA) sought time to file appeal against the same before the Supreme Court.
Read more

Read order

No Materials Prima Facie Indicating UAPA Offences Against Mahesh Raut: Bombay High Court [read order]

21/09/2023

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

Observing that the material against forest rights activist Mahesh Raut couldn’t lead to a prima-facie inference that he had indulged in a ‘terrorist act’ under Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, the Bombay High Court granted him bail in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad larger conspiracy case.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon Case: Bombay High Court Grants Bail To Mahesh Raut, Stays Bail For One Week At NIA’s Request

21/09/2023

Live Law / by Sharmeen Hakim

The Bombay High Court granted bail to Mahesh Raut an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad larger conspiracy case making him the sixth person to get bail in this case. However, the High Court stayed the order granting bail for one week at the request of the National Investigating Agency (NIA), which sought for a stay of two weeks.
Read more

Bhima Koregaon Case: Mahesh Raut, youngest accused, granted bail by the Bombay HC!

21/09/2023

Sabrangindia.in / by SabrangIndia

After 5 years of incarceration, court grants bail as Section 16, 17, 18 of UAPA not made out, order stayed for one week as NIA seeks time to file appeal with the Supreme Court.
Mahesh Raut, the youngest accused in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad Violence case, has been granted bail by the Bombay High Court. On September 21, 2023, a division bench of Justice AS Gadkari and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh passed the bail order.
Read more

Elgaar Parishad case: Mahesh Raut sixth to secure bail; 8 others still in jail

22/09/2023

The Indian Express / by Omkar Gokhale

The High Court had initially allowed a regular bail plea of Mahesh Raut but stayed its order for a week after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sought a stay for 14 days so that it can approach the Supreme Court.
… Of the total 16 accused who were held, six of them (including Raut) have received bails from either the High Court or the Supreme Court. Among the accused who are still in custody are Gautam Navlakha, who is under house arrest.
Read more

Who is Mahesh Raut? Bombay HC grants him bail in Elgaar Parishad Case

23/09/2023

The Statesman / by Statesman Web

The Bombay High Court has recently granted bail to Mahesh Raut in connection with the Elgaar Parishad case, with the condition that the order will be stayed for a week upon the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) request.
Raut, a dedicated land rights activist working in the Gadchiroli region of Maharashtra, had initially sought regular bail in 2022 after his bail plea was rejected by the special NIA court in November 2021. Let’s take a closer look at Mahesh Raut and his background.
Read more

Also read:
● Gonsalves and Ferreira bail judgment: A step in the right direction but where will we go from here? (The Leaflet / Aug 2023)
● Gadchiroli’s 300 Gram Sabhas Pass Resolution in Support of Activist Mahesh Raut (The Wire / Oct 2018)
● Mining In Gadchiroli – Building A Castle Of Injustices (Countercurrents / by Neema Pathak Broome and Mahesh Raut / June 2017)

Frivolous conspiracy cases on Jharkhand’s anti-displacement activists: FACAM

Frivolous conspiracy cases on Jharkhand’s anti-displacement activists: FACAM

Bacha Singh, Damodar Turi during protests

Counterview / by Counterview Desk / FACAM

Civil rights group Forum Against Corporatization And Militarization (FACAM), even as condemning the alleged harassment of Jharkhand activists by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), has said that they are being intimidated because they have “opposed corporate loot of people’s resources.”
…
It is a malicious plot of the state machinery to suppress democratic voice against corporate loot and displacement of adivasis
Among Bhima Koregaon political prisoners, most were actively opposing the state-corporate expropriation of people’s resources, displacement and state repression. Father Stan Swamy himself played an instrumental in formation of Visthapan Virodhi Janvikas Andolan (VVJA) and was active in Pathalgadhi Movement to ensure the autonomy and sanctity of gram sabha.
Read full statement

Also read
● Narendra Modi’s Government Is Using False Charges of Terrorism to Repress Its Opponents (Jacobinmag / April 2022)
● This Organisation In Jharkhand Is Holding The State Accountable (Youthkiawaaz / April 2022)
● NIA Opposes Stan Swamy’s Bail; Calls PUCL, Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan ‘Maoist Fronts’ (The Wire / Jan 2021)

Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha is holding the state accountable

Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha is holding the state accountable

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

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

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