Video: Sudha Bharadwaj – The People´s Lawyer of Chhattisgarh
hindi | 3:35 min | 2020
Songs by Sudha Bharadwaj
By comrades of Sudha Bharadwaj
The workers and farmers of Chhattisgarh eagerly await the return of Sudhaji
Video: Sudha Bharadwaj (Part 1 – Arrested Series)
Solidarity program in Chhattisgarh, 2019
hindi | 4:29min | 2020
By #InBetweenNews
Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested by the Pune Police on suspicion of being involved in Maoist terror activities in August 2018, along with five other accused across the country.
An alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Bharadwaj has been living in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh for the last 29 years and has worked as trade unionist and civil rights activist for most of her life.
Having been exposed to horrific working conditions of labourers during her time as a student at IIT, she moved to work with the late Shankar Guha Niyogi’s Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha in 1986.
She fought passionately against corrupt bureaucrats to ensure proper wages were paid to the workers in the mines and plants located in Bhilai. She also engaged in issues of Dalit and Adivasi rights, specifically the right to land, the right to education, health and for security against corrupt landlords.
Here is #InBetweenNews ‘s special report on Sudha Bharadwaj’s overtly political arrest and her life as an activist.
Watch video
We need groups organised to fight, they’re the ones who can make a dent – A profile of Sudha Bharadwaj
CMM demands release of Sudha Bharadwaj, Chhattisgarh 2019
The Polis Project / by The Polis Project & maraa
PROFILES OF DISSENT | The profile spotlights the life and work of Sudha Bharadwaj a trade unionist, and a civil rights activist who had fought against land acquisition, and has worked and lived in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh for 29 years.
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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 …?
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Condemn the SC’s denial of relief & stand in solidarity with all voices for peoples’ rights!
CASR posters, 2018
The Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) calls on all democratic organisations and individuals to come together and condemn the denial of relief for Prof. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha, stand in solidarity with all such voices of democracy and demand the immediate release of all political prisoners. Our unity at this time of crisis is all the more urgent and necessary for our silence in the time of injustice is bound to render us voiceless in the days to come. Let us unite and demand:
1. Immediate reprieve from arrest of Prof. Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha.
2. Immediate release of all political prisoners lodged in jails all over the country, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Immediate release of all under-trial prisoners and persons convicted on minor charges to decongest prisons.
4. Action (with restraint in light of COVID-19) against the perpetrators of violence in the Bhima Koregaon case including Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote.
5. Repeal of all draconian laws like UAPA, NSA and PSA, among others.
Read full statement
Who is Sudha Bharadwaj?
Sudha Bharadwaj
Nov 2019
Maaysha, Sudha’s daughter: “If fighting for the rights of adivasis, fighting for workers and peasants, fighting against repression and exploitation and giving up one s whole life for them is being a naxalite then I guess naxalites are pretty good.”
“The 6th Annual Harvard Law International Women’s Day Portrait Exhibit showcases the astounding contributions of women around the world to the areas of law and policy. The honorees — each of whom were nominated by HLS students, faculty or staff — are powerful voices in their respective fields, whether they are sitting on a high court bench, standing in front of a classroom, or marching in the streets.”
Or whether they are sitting in jail.
Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj is a 2019 honoree of the Harvard Law International Women’s day exhibition and is sitting in a jail cell in Pune. How did these conflicting positions come about?
Sudha grew up to illustrious parents, and spent the first part of her life as an American citizen. In the next 30 years of her life, she worked tirelessly in Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (CMM) as a trade unionist and eventually as a lawyer after the CMM, hamstrung in their legal battles by unscrupulous lawyers, found in her the courage and integrity needed to challenge powerful opponents in the courtrooms.
She founded Janhit, giving rigorous legal aid to several industrial workers, villages fighting acquisition and mining, Adivasi communities fighting for forest rights, environmental cases and PIL litigation. Janhit led cases against powerful industrial houses such as Jindal, Vedanta, BALCO, Lafarge Holcim, D.B. Power, Vandana Vidyut, SECL, Bhilai Steel Plant, Monnet Steel, Adani, Hindalco, Grasim, Ultratech and others.
Sudha was instrumental in rebuilding the PUCL group after the arrest and incarceration of its then-President, Dr. Binayak Sen. During this time, she was appointed as the General Secretary of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and worked on issues of human trafficking and attacks on minorities. She also assisted families of victims of human rights violations looked upon as casualties in the conflict zone of Bastar and supported journalists and activists who dared raise their voices and pen against the State excesses in Bastar. She was elected recently as Vice President of the Indian Association of Peoples’ Lawyers (IAPL) and was active in campaigns against attacks on Dalit and human rights lawyers in Chhattisgarh and facilitated an IAPL fact-finding into it.
Sudha was arrested from her Faridabad home which she was sharing with her daughter, Maaysha. During this time, she was a Visiting Professor at the National Law University Delhi, taking Seminar Courses on tribal rights, land acquisition, and the Fifth and Sixth Schedules. This year she was to have taught “Law and Justice in a Globalising World”. Sadly, and ironically, she can’t teach the class as she is in jail. The loss, the students inform us, is all theirs.
Her daughter Maaysha, has in several letters candidly brought to fore Sudha’s tireless spirit and her commitment to her work, “If fighting for the rights of Adivasis, fighting for workers and peasants, fighting against repression and exploitation and giving up one’s whole life for them is being a Naxalite then I guess Naxalites are pretty good.”
Guneet Ahuja, Advocate, Delhi, in an open letter writes about Sudha, “On my first meeting with Sudha ji, I asked her about the competing narratives regarding the condition of indigenous communities in Bastar. Her reply left a deep impact on me: “For a pedestrian on a narrow lane, the car driver is causing the trouble. For the car driver, the pedestrian is the nuisance. Your perspectives change based on where you are placed.”
Sudha is the pedestrian along with all the people she fights for. She believes the road belongs to us. The State is the car who doesn’t want nuisance pedestrians in the way, believes the road belongs to it, and wants it lined with the businesses of its cronies. To the State, Sudha belongs in jail. To us, she is a defender of human rights.
“If you try to be safe and in the middle, you will never succeed.”
Sudha, The Wire
Sudha Bharadwaj Speaks – A Life in Law and Activism
Publisher: Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
Edition: January 2021
Language: English
Sudha Bharadwaj’s interview by: Darshana Mitra and Santanu Chakraborty
Pictures credit: PUCL
Cover Design / Layout: Vinay Jain
Paperback: 316 pages
PDF copy: Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism (PUCL, Jan 2021)
…
The Arrest of Reliance Workers – A Conspiracy in Making
Pic:Meeting of Mumbai Electric Employees Union
By Mumbai Rises to Save Democracy
Excerpt of: A Quest for Freedom – the Story of Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy
In January 2018, five workers employed by Reliance Infrastructure (now taken over by Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited) were arrested after their homes were raided by the ATS. Four of them– Satyanarayan Karrela, Babushankar Vanguri, Shankar Gunde and Ravi Marampelli- were arrested on January 12, and the fifth worker, Saidulu Singapanga, was taken into custody on February 5. The arrests of these workers have been amongst the earliest ones to feed into the narrative of conspiracy theory about ‘Urban Naxals’ that has been weaved by the present regime.
…
CPI(M) demands immediate release of Sudha Bharadwaj and others
Media Release by Communist Party of India (Marxist) Maharashtra State Committee
CPI(M) STAND ABOUT THE NEW STATE GOVERNMENT
Nov 27, 2019
The CPI(M) welcomes the fact that the thoroughly unprincipled BJP-led Devendra Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar government, which never had a majority in the state assembly, was forced to resign. …
Video: 1 year of Bhima Koregaon arrests: India’s repressive state unmasked
en | 5:45 min | 2019
One year has passed since 5 activists and human rights defenders were arrested in India on trumped up charges in what was largely seen as a crackdown on dissent
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Shankar Gunde of Reliance industries walks out on Bail in Bhima Koregaon case
Sabrang India / By Sushmita
Fourteen months since he was first incarcerated and three months since his bail was approved along with three others, Shankarayya Lingayya Gunde- workers of Reliance Energy/ Infrastructure has stepped out of jail today.
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