It is close to three years that intellectuals, activists and lawyers were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. Retired judges, who organised the Elghar Parishad event, say, “All those accused in the case are not connected with it but they have been implicated because they have spoken against the government. They are denied basic human rights.”
On June 6, 2018, advocate Surendra Gadling from Nagpur; Dalit activist and writer Sudhir Dhawale; an Adivasi rights activist in Gadchiroli Mahesh Raut; retired professor Shoma Sen from Nagpur; and activist Rona Wilson, were arrested. Then, on August 28, 2018, poet Varavara Rao from Hyderabad; unionist and human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj from Delhi; and activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira from Mumbai, were arrested.
On April 14, 2020, civil rights campaigner Gautam Navlakha from Delhi; and Professor Anand Teltumbde from Mumbai, a former CEO of Petronet India Limited and an Indian Institute of Management graduate, had to surrender before the National Investigation Agency after the Supreme Court rejected their anticipatory bail pleas.
On July 28, Professor Hany Babu was arrested from Delhi.
Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor were arrested on September 7, and Jyoti Jagtap was from arrested on September 8, from Kondhwa, Pune. The trio are members of the Kabir Kala Manch, a troupe made up of Dalit and working class musicians and poets, who came together after the anti-Muslim Gujarat pogroms of 2002.
On October 8, Father Stan Swamy was arrested from Ranchi.
They have all been arrested and charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for their alleged links with Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), a banned organisation.
Retired Bombay High Court judge and co-organiser of the event B.G. Kolse Patil told The Hindu, “All those accused in the case are not connected with the event. I am the organiser of Elgar Parishad and I am telling you I have not seen any one of them and none of them are involved with the event. The Modi government has arrested intellectuals across the country and implicated them because they criticise the government.”
“Denying a straw to 83-year-old who has Parkinson’s [Father Swamy]; not treating an 81-year-old who has dementia [Varavara Rao]; not giving spectacles to a man who is literally blind without them [Gautam Navlakha] — this is denying them basic human rights,” he exclaimed.
Retired Supreme Court judge and co-organiser of the event, P.B. Sawant said, “The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government does not tolerate anyone who has a different line of thinking. They have been violating basic fundamentals rights guaranteed under the Indian Constitution and the Preamble. The freedom of an individual is being suppressed and the trend of the government is to suppress any criticism.”
Last year, on Human Rights Day 2019, all the accused — men lodged at Taloja Central Jail and women incarcerated at Byculla Jail — had written a letter to the Chairperson of the Maharashtra Human Rights Commission. It read: “We condemn the environment of fear and criminalisation promoted by the State wherein the human rights of Indian citizens and especially those of human rights defenders who are critical of State policies are under threat.”
The letter had also said, “Despite our expectations, our bail applications were recently rejected. The stringent provisions in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and Sedition Act have made it easier for the prosecution to brush aside important questions on the authenticity, credibility and admissibility of digital evidence thus prolonging the incarceration. These aspects of any digital technology allow political rivals/adversaries to use fake content as an effective tool to attack, defame, criminalise and silence each other.”
