Bhima Koregaon represents what the government can do in India against well meaning people who speak up against atrocities, who stand up for the weak and the dispossessed and for this reason alone as seen as enemies of the State and kept in prison for as long as the government can manage. So long as the rest of us do not speak up against this misbehaviour by the State, so long as we forget about those who have been made its victims, this behaviour will continue, asserts Aakar Patel.
"The space for dissent and debate is shrinking. People are jailed without trial through arbitrarily imposed charge of sedition," the Nobel laureate alleged.
Four video clippings related to the controversial February 9 event at the Jawaharlal Nehru University which were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Gandhinagar for examination have emerged as "genuine".
With tambourines and guitars in their hands and songs of revolution on their lips, people protested against the attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University students throughout the night in front of the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in south Mumbai. People, including students and women, in large numbers had gathered in front of the Gateway of India in South Mumbai's Colaba on Sunday midnight.
Held at Ved Niketan Dham in Haridwar from December 17-20, the Dharma Sansad was organised by Yati Narasimhanand Giri of the Juna Akhada, who is already under police scanner for making hate speeches and inciting violence against Muslims.
Amid speculation that Jawaharlal Nehru University's chief proctor quit from the post over handling of the Afzal Guru row, the varsity on Saturday said he had resigned much before the controversy broke out.
Amid mounting outrage over the Jawaharlal Nehru University row, it has emerged now that student leader Kanhaiya Kumar was slapped with sedition charge based on a video clip of the controversial event at the university aired by a Hindi news channel.
Faruqui found support in actors Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub and Swara Bhasker.
Nafees said she will now appeal to the Supreme Court. She also appealed to all mothers "who have faced the pain of losing their children" to march to Parliament Street on October 15.
Coming out in support of SAR Gilani, a Delhi university teachers body has demanded that the professor be released and said the "colonial" sedition law under which he has been charged was being "misused to supress dissent" and should be scrapped.
The magisterial probe, ordered by the Delhi government, had found that out of seven videos sent to a Hydrabad-based forensic lab, three were doctored, including one clipping of a news channel.
'The hate speech persons are roaming around freely in society today and the person who is protesting against hate speech is in jail.'
On day 8 of the strike in protest against the punishment in connection with the event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, five students withdrew from the protest citing deteriorating health conditions.
Umar Khalid, Maulana Fazlullah and Khan Said alias Sajna are under consideration for the top slot, the report said quoting sources.
The varsity, however, clarified that it does not signify a "clean chit" to the students and that the final decision in this regard will be taken after examination of the report by the vice chancellor.
Labour rights activist Naudeep Kaur was freed Friday by the Punjab and Haryana high court, which said slapping charges like attempt to murder on her is a 'debatable issue' to be considered at a later stage in the trial.
Radhika Vemula, Rohith's mother, who was accompanied by the 'dadis' and former JNU student Umar Khalid unfurled the national flag. They sang the national anthem along with thousands of people, including women and children who had gathered at Shaheen Bagh to celebrate the occasion.
'At Ramjas too, slogans for Kashmir's azaadi were heard. We won't let DU become JNU.'
'This government puts poor people behind bars, demonises women after their death, puts out the call records of deceased raped victims and robs her of her dignity.'
According to a National Crime Records Bureau report, a total of 356 cases of sedition -- as defined under section 124A of the IPC -- were registered and 548 people arrested between 2015 and 2020, out of which only six were convicted.
There is going to be no defence of freedom of thought from this government.
The ABVP members did not allow the AISA march to proceed and allegedly locked the students and teachers inside Ramjas College.
The students of the university have taken strong objection to the "technical certification".
Gurmehar Kaur, daughter of Kargil martyr Captain Mandeep Singh, changed her Facebook profile picture holding a placard which read "I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #StudentsAgainstABVP".
Although the authorities had maintained till the last minute that Mevani and his supporters did not have permission to hold the event, it seems the rally organisers and Delhi Police reached a compromise later.
The bodies of the two brothers, who were gunned down by three assailants posing as journalists in Prayagraj on Saturday night, were handed over to the family members after conducting the post-mortem examination for performing the last rites.
'With vendetta politics as its main plank, the BJP will be looking out for every opportunity to destabilise this Mahagatbandhan government.'
United Against Hate started as an on-and-off campaign against lynching; today, with the passing of the Citizen (Amendment) Act, its members are on the street, protesting.
'Through this one step, and more steps that follow, log judte jayenge (more people will come together); I'm sure of that.'
The march was its attempt to retaliate against All India Students' Association and assorted Left-inclined groups, which had put up a massive anti-ABVP show on February 28, by projecting alleged violence "perpetrated" by Communists in the country.
Kabir Kala Manch activists had allegedly made provocative speeches leading to violence at Koregaon Bhima in the district, according to an FIR registered at Vishrambaug police station after the event.
This senior cop who deposed in such detail about the Elgar Parishad, however, claimed to know nothing about the opposition to it from organisations such as Milind Ekbote's Samastha Hindu Aghadi as well as Pune's then Mayor Mukta Tilak.
On February 23, Ambedkar University and an NGO Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression were to organise an event to observe the Kashmiri Women's Day of Resistance on the 26th anniversary of the alleged mass sexual violence unleashed by the army against the villagers of Kunan and Poshpora in Kashmir.
Student activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha walked out of Tihar prison on Thursday, hours after a court here ordered their immediate release in the north-east Delhi riots 'conspiracy' case.
Pakistani negotiators on Monday cancelled a scheduled meeting with the Taliban after the insurgents claimed they had killed 23 soldiers kidnapped by them in 2010, dealing a severe blow to the fledgling peace process.
Kanhaiya Kumar compared the alleged onslaught on varsities with Gujarat riots alleging both of them were carried out "with support" from state machinery.
In the last ten years, 96 per cent of the sedition cases against 405 individuals pertained to making critical remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, points out Ramesh Menon, author, Modi Demystified: The Making Of A Prime Minister.
JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who walked out of Tihar jail on bail last week, on Wednesday indicated that he is unlikely to campaign in the upcoming West Bengal and Kerala assembly polls.
The three former office-bearers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, who had resigned from the party in protest against the Centre's handling of the raging row at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, said they were being "mocked" at for supporting the BJP's student wing and the "guilt" made them take the strong step.
In an unprecedented show of solidarity, thousands of students along with scholars, academics and the intelligentsia on Thursday hit the streets of New Delhi decrying the arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar over charges of sedition and demanding his immediate release.
