Bose’s activism took root during India’s Emergency in the late 1970s, a period of political turmoil and repression. His early documentaries, such as An Indian Story on Bhagalpur Bindings (1981) and Bhopal: Beyond Genocide (1986), shed light on some of India’s most harrowing human rights violations. He fearlessly documented the brutal blinding of undertrials by the police in Bhagalpur and exposed the corporate and governmental neglect behind the Bhopal gas tragedy. His work extended to the violence in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir, where he stood in solidarity with victims of state oppression.

Beyond filmmaking, Bose played an instrumental role in strengthening civil society initiatives across South Asia. He was a founding member of organisations like the South Asia Forum for Human Rights and the Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), bringing together activists from both countries to push for dialogue and peace. He was also a part of the People’s Tribunal on Ayodhya, which critically examined the communal politics behind the Babri Masjid demolition. His commitment to justice extended to the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, where he worked with victims to seek accountability and rehabilitation.

Bose’s advocacy was not confined to India. His friendships and collaborations extended to Balochistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, and the Rohingya refugee crisis, where he lent his voice to those silenced by war, ethnic conflict, and displacement. He stood firmly against the capitalist exploitation of natural resources and was a close advisor to trade unions, fisherfolk, and forest workers, recognising their struggles as part of a larger fight against oppression.

One of Bose’s most significant roles in the human rights movement was his involvement in the Kashmir conflict. His commitment to self-determination and democratic processes led to his appointment as the Chief Election Commissioner for the independent Kashmir Referendum and Elections by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. His work in this capacity symbolised his steadfast belief in the rights of oppressed communities to determine their own futures, even in the face of intense political opposition.

Even in his final years, Bose remained committed to cultural resistance, drawing upon the works of Rabindranath Tagore and Faiz Ahmed Faiz to challenge nationalism and parochialism. He was a firm believer in the idea of India, but he also opposed the military occupation of Kashmir and the Northeast, advocating for justice and peace.

Tapan Bose’s life was an embodiment of resistance, courage, and an unyielding belief in justice. His films, writings, and activism have left an indelible mark on the human rights movement in South Asia. As the world mourns his loss, his legacy remains alive in the movements he nurtured and the countless individuals he inspired to fight for a just and equitable world.

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The post Tapan K Bose: A life devoted to human rights, peace, and resistance appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dr. Gail Omvedt, one of the greatest scholars on caste studies, passed away in her village Kasegaon Maharashtra at the age of 81. She had pioneered caste studies having come as a student from America and settled down in India in the 1970s.

She later married Bharat Patankar, a Marxists scholar, activist; both of them lived in his village all along. She came to study caste and Mahatma Phule’s movement in Maharashtra as Ph.D student from America and was moved with the kind of caste and untouchability system in India and settled down in this country to work for the liberation of the oppressed castes. 

As an American-born Indian scholar, sociologist and human rights activist she was well known all over the world for her writings on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis.  

She was a prolific writer and has published numerous books. Her Ph.D thesis introduced Mahatma Phule’s Satyashodhak Movement to the world and her major book Dalits and Democratic Revolution became a hand book in every young student’s hands in the colleges and universities across India and also in the South Asian study centres of the world. Scholars study her books to understand the question of caste and untouchability and also change the caste system. She was a great Phule-Ambedkarite who led many movements from the front. The Shudra/OBC/Dalit/Adivasi movements all over India will be indebted to her life time work and inspiration.  

All of us who worked with her in a long journey of Dalit/OBC/Adivasi/women’s liberation movements for the last forty years along with her husband Bharat Patankar and their only daughter Prachi Patanakar will celebrate her life and work as proud Indians.

*The writer is a political theorist and social activist, and also the Former Director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy

Other articles by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd:

A team that never was a hope provider for the poor

Disease distancing, not social distancing during Covid-19

Babu and Bhasha: The Game may end with this

Remembering Usaa: The greatest revolutionary barber after Upali

The post India will remember Gail Omvedt forever appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Mangal was a highly reputed journalist who had worked with Tolo TV, the largest private broadcaster in Afghanistan, apart from working at Shamshad and Lemar television stations. Mangal was also a vocal critic of the patriarchal Afghan society and advocated for women’s rights, especially right to education and right to work.

The attackers have not been identified as yet.

Nasrat Rahimi, a spokesman for the interior ministry, said, “one or possibly more assailants had escaped the scene but no one has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and police say it is not yet clear whether the murder was a terror attack or an attack from someone Ms Mangal knew.” Adding further, he said, “a special police unit was now investigating.”

Women’s rights activist have expressed their grief and have lashed out at authorities for not protecting her despite Mangal making her fears clear.

Wazhma Frogh, a well-known Afghan human rights lawyer and women’s rights campaigner, tweeted, “This woman had already shared that her life was in danger. Why did nothing happen? We need answers.” Adding further, Frogh wrote, “Why is it so easy in this society [for men] to keep killing women they disagree with? Can’t stop my tears at the loss of this beautiful soul. She had a loud voice and actively raising voice for her people.”

Even political analyst Mariam Wardak expressed her sharp disapproval of such an inhuman act. Wardak said that Mangal’s killing is an “absolute dishonour” to the country’s police, intelligence services and national security council. She then called on female leaders to use their positions of power to “bring awareness and protection for women”.

In a tearful video posted on Twitter, Mangal’s mother named a group of men as suspected killers, claiming that they had previously kidnapped her daughter. The group were arrested for that abduction, she said, but later bribed their way out of detention.

Afghanistan is said to be one of the deadliest places for women, especially journalists. Amnesty International has ranked this war-torn country as the worst place in the world to be a woman. This country is infamous for killing women, belonging to any position, if they go against the patriarchal setup.

Taliban, that is responsible for miserable condition in which the country is in today, is notorious for human rights abuses including against women. This same group was behind the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, then 15-years old, because she spoke out about girls’ right to be educated.

With chances of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban materializing, there is a looming fear among the women’s rights activists that their hard-won freedoms would be jeopardized.
Notably, just days before Mangal’s murder, the Taliban attacked the headquarters of an international aid group in Kabul, citing its work on women’s rights as one reason it was targeted.

The Taliban spokesman Zabihul­lah Mujahid said Counterpart Inter­national had carried out “harmful western activities” in Afghanistan, and was “promoting open inter-mixing between men and women.”
Here at home, nobody can forget the brutal murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh who worked as an editor in Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada weekly. Lankesh was known for being a critic of right-wing Hindu extremism and was shot dead just outside her house in 2017.

Recently, UN expert, Michael Forst, while presenting his annual report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, had said that women human rights defenders faced worsening violence. Forst said, “In the current political climate, in which there is a backlash against human rights, women who defend and promote rights are often the first to come under attack.” He further added that the condition of indigenous women working for minority rights is the worst.

“Public shaming, attacks on women’s honour and their reputation, doxing or publishing their personal details on the internet, sexual violence and attacks against their children and loved ones, are used to silence women human rights defenders,” Forst rightly said.

With a sensitive atmosphere across the world, such dreadful incidents cannot but have a very real chilling effect on free speech and opinion.

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The post Noted Journalist and Women’s Rights Activist, Mina Mangal, Shot Dead in Kabul appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Over 600 international scholars, from every major University in North America and Europe – right from Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, Chicago, Penn, Cornell, MIT to Oxford, UCL, Edinburgh and the London School of Economics, have signed a statement in support of Dr. Anand Teltumbde and have urged the governments of India and Maharashtra to bring the witch-hunt to an immediate halt.
 
Some of the best-known luminaries of American and European academy have signed the statement expressing deep outrage at the blatant misuse of the law to persecute one of their much-admired colleagues Dr. Teltumbde.
 
Among the stalwarts who have signed the petition, include Prof. Elizabeth Woods of Yale, Prof. Doris Sommer of Harvard, Profs. Robin Kelley and Eric Sheppard of UCLA, Prof. Mriganka Sur of MIT and Prof. Cindi Katz of the City University of New York to name just a few.
 
The support for Dr. Teltumbde among scholars from North America, Europe and Australia is indicative of his stellar reputation among his peers. Support for Dr. Teltumbde has come not just from social science and humanities scholars but also from some of the luminaries in Management Studies such as Prof. Kathleen Riach of Monash University Australia, Prof. Michael Zyphur, Univ. of Melbourne, Prof. Richard Marens of California State University Sacramento and Prof. Michael Elmes of Worcester Polytechnic, USA.
 
“The 600 odd signatures came in like an avalanche over 72 hours,” said Prof. Raja Swamy, spokesperson for India Civil Watch (ICW), a North America based human rights advocacy organization that initiated the petition.
 
Most noteworthy is the large numbers of South Asian scholars who have joined their voice to underscore their conviction that Dr. Teltumbde is not simply innocent but is being targeted for his unflinching dedication to truth and social justice as is the case of nine others who have already been arrested, and the two are either on bail or facing imminent arrest in the Bhima Koregaon case.
 
Among the reputed South Asia scholars who have signed the statement include Profs. Partha Chatterjee and Akeel Bilgrami of Columbia University, Prof. Thomas Bloom-Hansen of Stanford, Profs. Rajeshwari Sundar Rajan and David Ludden of New York University, and Profs. Barbara Harris-White and Karin Kapadia of Oxford University to name a few.
 
“The depth of support among South Asians for Dr. Teltumbde and the Bhima Koregaon 12 is indicative of the sense of alarm and concern over the government’s abuse of law and order to target the most dedicated civil rights activists and gifted intellectuals of Indian society. Any democratic and fair-minded government would honour these individuals for their social and intellectual contribution to society, not threaten them with imprisonment!” said Prof. Sangeeta Kamat of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, one of the signatories who reached out to hundreds of her fellow South Asian colleagues over the last two days.
 
Several scholars who know or have worked with Dr. Teltumbde have reached out to ICW expressing their commitment to internationalising the issue further. “Many new ideas are being suggested by some of Dr. Teltumbde’s colleagues and admirers,” said ICW spokesperson Prof. Swamy. “These include filing formal complaints against the Indian government in international for a to a Business school delegation to approach corporate leaders in the US and Europe to take up issues of human rights violations directly with the Government of India,” he added.
 
ICW will continue to work to internationalise the attack on Dr. Teltumbde and others that speak of the rapid deterioration of human rights protections in India under the current government.

The post Over 600 international scholars sign a statement of support for Dr. Anand Teltumbde appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: Nitin Brahme

COSTISA (Coordination of Science and Technology Institutes’ Student Association) coordination between progressive and democratic student organizations of IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, IIT BHU, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Gandhinagar, IMS BHU and other Science & Technology institutes condemned the illegal arrest of Prof. Anand Teltumbde on February 2.
 
In a statement by COSTISA, they said that an eminent academician, intellectual, human rights activist and management professional, Prof. Anand Teltumbde was arrested from Mumbai domestic airport when he was returning to Mumbai from Kochi.
 
“This action blatantly violates the Supreme Court order dated 14th January which gave Anand protection from arrest for four weeks so that he could approach the courts for bail from the farcical FIR against him by the Pune police. This arrest was made while he came to Mumbai as he was scheduled to file his anticipatory bail petition in the High Court this morning,” they said.
 
They added that the Pune police hold him responsible for “inflammatory” speeches that supposedly led to the violence in Bhima Koregaon, although it is well known he wasn’t there. Moreover, there is documented proof of him being a critic of the episode.
 
“He has been vocal about the education sector which adversely affected by the neoliberal policies adopted by successive governments. By closing down primary schools, severely cutting funds in higher education institutes, encouraging private investments on education, funding private institutes by tax-payers’ money, forcing institutes to generate their own funds through fee hikes or corporate-funded research etc., the ruling dispensation has continually tried to push forth their monstrous neoliberal agenda of liberalisation and privatisation. These actions of the state aim towards dissociating the marginalized masses from the fruits of education. Prof. Teltumbde has been a guiding force behind the nationwide movement to save the education sector from these anti-people policies under the banner of All India Forum for Right To Education (AIFRTE),” they added.
 
Recently, this interim budget again decreased fund allocation towards important S&T institutes like IITs, IISERs and regulatory bodies such as UGC and AICTE, while directing the higher educational institutions to increase around 25% seats, which means another obvious hike in student tuition fees in near future and making higher education a more faraway dream for the marginalized. Similar is the attitude of the government towards research scholars who were demanding a scholarship hike of 80% but have only been granted a token increase even after so many days of agitation and movements. In such a scenario, arresting a crusader like Prof. Teltumbde is to crush a bold and important voice who always stand beside the students and the youth of our country, they said.
 
They said that this arrest shows the desperation of this fascist RSS-BJP government who take police actions against dissenting voices like Prof. Teltumbde even violating the Supreme Court order.

“COSTISA strongly condemns this arrest and urges all the students, intellectual and democratic voices to rise in rage against this action and demand his immediate and unconditional release so as to preserve some democracy in the country we live in,” they said.
Holding that academic Anand Teltumbde’s early morning arrest by the Maharashtra police was “illegal” and amounted to contempt of the Supreme Court, a Pune sessions court on Saturday ordered his immediate release.
 

The post COSTISA condemns Prof. Anand Teltumbde’s illegal arrest appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Pune police arrested Prof. Teltumbde from Mumbai airport today at 3.30 am from Mumbai airport. The arrest took place despite a Supreme Court order which granted him interim protection till February 11.

Prof. Teltumbde has been charged with the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the Pune police. Police had alleged that he had links with Maoist organisations and that his name surfaced during the enquiries made into violence that erupted at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018.

Yesterday, Prof. Teltumbde’s Anticipatory Bail Application (ABA) was rejected by the Pune sessions court. On December 21, Bombay High Court dismissed the petition filed by Prof. Teltumbde. Later, it was challenged in SC but the SC too dismissed the petition.

Summary of Teltumbde’s petition

In an open letter after his petition was dismissed in the SC, Prof. Teltumbde had said, “There is not an iota of unlawfulness in either my voluminous writings or selfless activism. Rather, my entire academic career and corporate career of nearly four decades has been without a single blemish and is an exemplar of integrity of the highest degree”.

Prof. Teltumbde received widespread support from various national, international organisations, individuals, students, and many others. Over 90 organisations, 50 institutions and intellectuals including Noam Chomsky, Jean Dreze, Sukhdeo Thorat, Vimal Thorat, Cornel West and Chirstophe Jaffrelot have written to UN secretary general Antonio Guterres asking him to intervene and withdraw the ‘fabricated charges’ against Anand Teltumbde. Terming the charges to be “one of the severe most human rights violations” against freedom of speech and dissent, the letter by international civil rights activists said “We therefore urge the United Nations to engage with the Government of India to immediately withdraw all charges against Dr. Teltumbde and oblige in serving justice and protecting democracy from the perils of tyranny.”

After his arrest today morning, various left and Ambedkarite organisations have expressed their shock, outrage and dismay at this complete disregard of SC order of interim protection and relentless hounding of Prof. Teltumbde.

Twitter was enraged with his illegal arrest with hashtag #AnandTeltumbde trending for several hours in the morning. Noted activists, lawyers, writers such as Teesta Setalvad, Indira Jaising, Siddharth Verdarajan, Jignesh Mevani tweeted on the arrests.

Prof. Teltumbde was being produced in the Sessions Court at around 2 pm today. His wife Rama and advocate and Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar were in court. High Court senior counsel Mihir Desai told Sabrangindia that the anticipatory bail application will now be filed in the Bombay High Court on Monday.

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The post Prof. Teltumbde released by Special court, detention held “illegal” appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: V Sreenivasa Murthy / The Hindu

The news was confirmed by Adv. Pradeep Mandhyan of the Bombay High Court who spoke to Inspector Indulkar from Pune. Inspector Indulkar arrested Prof. Teltumbde from the airport. Indulkar claimed Prof. Teltumbde was being arrested since his bail had been rejected by the Pune trial court.

Earlier, Prof. Teltumbde was charged with the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the Pune police. Police had alleged that he had links with Maoist organisations and that his name surfaced during the enquiries made into violence that erupted at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018.

Yesterday, Prof. Teltumbde’s Anticipatory Bail Application (ABA) was rejected by the Pune sessions court. On December 21, Bombay High Court dismissed the petition filed by Prof. Teltumbde. Later, it was challenged in SC but the SC too dismissed the petition.

Summary of Teltumbde’s petition
In an open letter after his petition was dismissed in the SC, Prof. Teltumbde had said, “There is not an iota of unlawfulness in either my voluminous writings or selfless activism. Rather, my entire academic career and corporate career of nearly four decades has been without a single blemish and is an exemplar of integrity of the highest degree”.

Prof. Teltumbde received widespread support from various national, international organisations, individuals, students, and many others. Over 90 organisations, 50 institutions and intellectuals including Noam Chomsky, Jean Dreze, Sukhdeo Thorat, Vimal Thorat, Cornel West and Chirstophe Jaffrelot have written to UN secretary general Antonio Guterres asking him to intervene and withdraw the ‘fabricated charges’ against Anand Teltumbde. Terming the charges to be “one of the severe most human rights violations” against freedom of speech and dissent, the letter by international civil rights activists said “We therefore urge the United Nations to engage with the Government of India to immediately withdraw all charges against Dr. Teltumbde and oblige in serving justice and protecting democracy from the perils of tyranny.”

After his arrest today morning, various left and Ambedkarite organisations have expressed their shock, outrage and dismay at this complete disregard of SC order of interim protection and relentless hounding of Prof. Teltumbde.

The Pune police had also arrested Adv. Surendra Gadling and poet Varavara Rao in a 2016 case even as they were already in the Yerwada Central prison after they were arrested in June and October respectively, all allegedly in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemned the arrest of Anand Teltumbde saying, “It may be noted that the Supreme Court of India has granted this renownedscholar four weeks protection from arrest to enable him to obtain bail. That protection period ends only on 11th February.” Criticising the government, it said, “This shows the highly vindictive policy of the BJP government led by Modi against anyone who is critical of their disruptive communal agenda. In the name of combating ‘urban naxals’ the Sangh Parivar game plan of launching a witch-hunt against human rights activists and secular and progressive scholars cannot be tolerated.” The CPI (M) has called upon all democratic and secular forces to strongly protest against this anti-democratic authoritarian assault on freedom of association and expression.

Twitter was enraged with his illegal arrest with hashtag #AnandTeltumbde trending for several hours in the morning. Noted activists, lawyers, writers such as Teesta Setalvad, Indira Jaising, Siddharth Verdarajan, Jignesh Mevani tweeted on the arrests.

Prof. Teltumbde is being produced at 2 pm today. His wife Rama and Adv. And Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar will be in court.

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Indians should be ashamed over what’s happening to Anand Teltumbde

The post Pune police illegally arrests Prof. Teltumbde defying SC order appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The letter lists Dr. Teltumbde’s many credentials, including his position as Executive Director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., current position as Senior Professor and Chair of Big Data Analytics at the Goa Institute of Management, his 26 books and his column at Economic and Political Weekly. It calls him “a noted scholar of caste-class and public policy issues, public intellectual and human rights activist,” and says that the “charges against him are patently fabricated”. It highlights his role as “a guiding force in the movement for accessible education.”

The letter has been written by the Organizing Committee for the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture (SFU/UBC), including Chinmoy Banerjee and Harinder Mahil of the Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation, Jai Birdi of the Chetna Association of Canada, Samir Gandesha of the Simon Fraser University, as well as Ajay Bhardwaj, Jessica Main and others from the University of British Columbia. Other Canadian organisations are also signatories, including India Civil Watch Canada (ICW Canada), South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), CERAS Montreal, and Democracy, Equality and Secularism in South Asian Winnipeg (DESSA). The letter notes that Dr. Teltumbde has “travelled extensively to lecture” on Dr. B. R. Ambedkar “and the Dalit struggle,” and was invited in this capacity by the Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture Committee; he lectured in several Canadian cities in 2016.

The letter outlines the events leading up to the current charges against Dr. Teltumbde, noting that the Pune Police raided his home in his absence, without notice, on August 28, 2018, even as simultaneously, other raids took place on the homes of others, including lawyers and civil rights activists, in other cities. It highlights that these raids “follow from the organization of a peaceful public meeting on 31st December 2017, co-organized by retired Supreme Court Justice P. B. Sawant and retired justice B. G. Kolshe Patil of the Bombay High Court, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Last Anglo- Maratha battle, which took place at Bhima-Koregaon, Maharashtra, India, where large numbers of Dalit soldiers were martyred,” highlighting that the meeting “drew attention to the communal and casteist policies of the BJP.”

The letter notes that although Dr. Teltumbde was invited for a planning meeting for the public meeting, he “attended neither the planning meeting nor the public meeting.” It states, “The charge against the others arrested and that facing Dr. Teltumbde is that they collaborated with Maoists and that the public meeting was funded by Maoists. For these charges there is not a shred of credible evidence. The police have also concocted a conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister implicating these dissident intellectuals and defenders of human rights.”

The letter appeals to the Indian government, “in the name of justice, democratic freedom, and the rule of law,” to unconditionally drop the charges against Dr. Teltumbde and unconditionally free the other human rights activists. It may be read here:

The post Canadian academics, activists call on Indian gov’t to drop charges against Anand Teltumbde appeared first on SabrangIndia.

You may have learnt from the media that my appeal for quashing the false FIR against me filed by the Pune Police was rejected yesterday (14 January) by the Supreme Court. Fortunately, it gave me to four weeks to seek pre-arrest bail from the competent court. Up till now I felt confident that whatever charges the Police levied could be proved as criminal fabrication once they landed before the court and hence I did not feel the need to bother you. But my hopes stand completely shattered and I am left with just seeking the bail right from the sessions court Pune, to the Supreme Court. The time has come to build a visible campaign in support of me from various sections of people so as to save me from imminent arrest.

Many of us did not know that the arrest under the UAPA can mean years of incarceration. Even a hardened criminal can get away with his crime with a metered punishment of a year or two but an innocent person merely for the police, invariably acting at the behest of political bosses, claim that they have evidence against him could keep him/her for years in jail. The arrest for me is not simply the hardship of prison life, it is keeping me away from my laptop which has been integral with my body, from my library which has been part of my life, half-written manuscripts of books committed to various publishers, my research papers which are in various stages of completion, my students who staked their future on my professional reputation, my institute that invested so much resources in my name and recently took me on its Board of Governors, and my numerous friends and of course my family—my wife, who, as the granddaughter of Babasaheb Ambedkar hardly bargained for this fate and daughters who are already disturbed not knowing whatever that has been happening to me since August last year.

Coming from the poorest of the poor family, I passed through the best institutes in the country with scholastic achievements. Just being an alumnus of hallowed IIM Ahmedabad, I could easily live a luxurious life only if I had chosen to ignore social oddities around. However, with a sense of contributing to better the lives of people, I decided to just make enough to sustain my family at a reasonable living standard and devote time to make intellectual contribution, the only thing possible in my state, towards making the world a little more just. Informed by this instinct, the residue of activism during the school and college days naturally landed me in organizations like Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR) of which I am today the General Secretary and All India Forum for Right to education (AIFRTE) of which I am a presidium member. There is not an iota of unlawful in either my voluminous writings or selfless activism. Rather, my entire academic career and corporate career of nearly four decades has been without a single blemish and exemplar of integrity of highest degree. Therefore, even in my worst nightmares I could not imagine that the state apparatus of this country to which I contributed so much through my professional life could turn against me with such an abuse as a criminal.

It is not that the vindictive state apparatus in India has been criminalizing innocent people to protect thieves and looters of this country that made this country most unequal in the world, but the manner in which it created the current criminal farce out of an innocuous event called Elgar Parishad in Pune last year to incarcerate select human rights defenders, intellectuals and activists in peoples’ movements to curb dissent in the country is unprecedented in its nakedness and blatant abuse of power. This may be the vilest plot in post-independence India the state hatched against its detractors in vengeance disbanding every democratic decency. 

[You may read further if you wish to know details of the case or else skip it to the last three paras]
The Plot Sinister and I

Justice P B Sawant, the retired judge of the Supreme Court and justice B G KolshePatil, the ex-judge of the Bombay High Court conceived the idea of using the 200^th anniversary of the Last Anglo-Maratha battle that took place at Bhima-Koregaon in 1818 to mobilize people against the communal and casteist policies of the BJP. They invited activists and progressive intellectuals to a planning meeting. I too was invited initially by someone on behalf of Justice Sawant and later by Justice KolshePatil. I regretted due to my academic engagements but acceded to his request to be the co-convener of the conference along with many others. I did not hear what transpired until I saw a leaflet on WhatsApp regarding the Elgar Parishad. I was supportive of the idea of commemorating the end of oppressive Peshawadom and also the martyrdom of the Mahar soldiers whose names are inscribed on the obelisk at Bhima-Koregaon. However, I was uncomfortable with the projection of the Elgar Parishad that the Bhima-Koregaon battle was won by Mahar soldiers to avenge their oppression during the Brahmanic rule of the Peshwas. I thought that such a distorted reading of history may further reinforce identitarian obsession of the Dalits making it difficult to strike broader unity of people. I wrote an article in The Wire on this that evoked angry responses from Dalits. I rethought the entire matter and stood my stead, in spirit of true intellectual. Incidentally, this article, responses to it, my reconfirmation of my views should dispel the charge that I was working at the behest of someone to instigate the Dalits. But where irrationality reigns supreme, such rationale will not break any ice with the regime or its police!

More than 250 organizations had joined the organization, some of them belonging to the Marathas, who had never aligned politically with the Dalits in the past. Right since the BJP-Shiv Sena formed the government in the state under a Brahmin chief minister, the displeasure of the Marathas manifested in various forms, the biggest of course was the Maratha Morchas, that erupted using the pretext of an unfortunate incident at Kopardi where a minor Maratha girl was raped and killed by some miscreants, one of whom happened to be a Dalit. The administration had promptly acted and therefore the legitimate demand for justice to the victim was tilted to an unconnected demand for the annulment of the Atrocity Act. The mass mobilization was used later to demand reservations for Marathas. Marathas began sensing the need to align with the Dalits to defeat the Brahmanic dispensation in the state. It reflected in some of their youth organizations joining the organizers of the Elgar Parishad that echoed their sentiment in the slogan, “Bury the Peshawai”.

It was just symbolic but could be seen as portending a risk to the BJP’s applecart. Both the main organizers of the conference also happened to be the Marathas. It sent a scare to the power obsessed BJP, which responded with commissioning its agent provocateurs in MilindEkbote of Samastha Hindutva Aghadi and SambhajiBhide of Shiv ChhatrapatiPratishan to create a rift between Dalits and Marathas. A Samadhi of SambhajiMaharaj, son of Shivaji, situated at VaduBudruk, just four km from Bhima-Koregaon was used to cook up a controversy. For the last 300 years, the popular history of the Samadhi held that when Aurangzeb killed and threw away dismembered body of Sambhaji, one Govind Mahar collected the pieces and gave Sambhaji a respectable funeral. He built a memorial on his field. When he died his family built his memorial by the side of Sambhaji’s. The conspirator duo fabricated a story that it was not Govind Mahar but a Maratha family ‘Shivale’ who did it and provoked the Marathas against Dalits. Using this rift at VaduBadruk, they could incite Marathas against the Dalits congregating at BhimaGoregaon on 1 January. The preparations in surrounding villages were visible to the public but the administration feigned ignorance. On 29 December, the Dalits found the canopy and the information board put up at the Samadhi of Govind Mahar damaged. It created tension between communities as designed but to the misfortune of the conspirators, the villagers patched it up the next day.

On 31 December Elgar Parishad took place as planned at Shaniwarwada. At the end of the conference, the people present were administered the oath that they would never vote for the BJP and would try to protect the constitution of India. The entire conference was video-recorded by the police as well as by the organizers. Nothing untoward took place at the conference and all the delegates dispersed peacefully. As for me, I had come to Pune for the marriage of my closest friend’s son on 31^st at 10.55 am. We stayed at Shreyas Hotel, attended the marriage the next day and left the hotel at 12.40 to reach back Goa. Having come to Pune my wife wanted to see her nephew (Sujat Ambedkar) and sister-in-law (Anjali Ambedkar) at Shaniwarwada and hence we took a detour for 5-10 minutes and left in search of tyre shops to replace one of the tyresof my car that had developed crack. Fortunately, I have evidence of exact times enroute to establish that we did not attend the Elgar Parishad. Having come to Pune, I would have easily stayed on through the conference but for my discomfort with the premise of the conference and the need to reach early for my work in the institute, I avoided it.

On 1 January, when Dalits congregated at Bhima-Koregaon, the Hindutva goons mounted attack as planned with stone pelting from the terrace of houses lining the road, beating people and burning the stalls. The police just looked on as they were not in enough number. It clearly established the administration’s complicity in the plan. That some mischief was cooking up in the area was known almost to common people. The 29^th incidence at the Sambhaji’s Samadhi had given a clear confirmation for these rumours. But the administration feigned ignorance to let the riots happen. The stray videos that made rounds of the WhatsApp messages clearly show the saffron flag bearers shouting slogans in the name of Ekbote and Bhide chasing and beating the Dalits who were caught unaware. Many Dalits were injured, their vehicles were damaged, many stalls were burnt down and a youth. I was completely unaware of what happened in the Elgar Parishad and even about the attack that happened on 1 January until that afternoon as could be clearly established by the email correspondence between SiddharthVaradrajan, the editor of The Wire and I about the article he carried on 2^nd January. 

Freehand to the Police
On 2 January, a social worker and member of the Bahujan Republican Socialist Party, Anita Ravindra Salve lodged a complaint with the Shikrapur police station naming Ekbote and Bhide as the culprits for the attack on the Dalits the previous day. Nothing happened on this complaint. On 3 January, a call of Maharashtra Bandh was given by Prakash Ambedkar on 4 January, which went largely without any untoward incident. However, the Police actuated themselves thereafter and started arresting Dalit youths with the pretext of committing violence. On 8 January, one TusharDamgade, an RSS functionary and a disciple of SambhajiBhide, filed an FIR naming some Kabir Kala Manch activists for organizing the Elgar Parishad, claiming that inflammatory speeches were given in the Parishad that caused violence on 1 January. It was prima facie a preposterous claim. Firstly, the police themselves had witnessed the proceeding of the Elgar Parishad and had a complete video recording to verify the claim. If indeed there were any inflammatory speeches, they could have filed FIR themselves and acted against the speakers. There was no need to wait for ninedays for someone to file an FIR. Next, the provocation in the Elgar Parishad could only be addressed to Dalits. If so, they would not get beaten if they were incited. In the melee, a youth lost his life, which was initially taken as Dalit. Nonetheless, the police picked it up for executing scripted plan. They raided houses of the named people. As though they got some clues they began insinuating that the Elgar Parishad was funded by the Maoists, ignoring the public statements by Justice Kolshe-Patil, the chief organizer of the Elgar Parishad along with Justice P B Sawant that they did not need any money. Till today, having developed this event into a big conspiracy of the Maoists and misleading courts to believe in its lie, the Police haven’t enquired with these two justices to verify their premise. In the chargesheet, they have attached a statement attributed to Justice Sawant, which he has publicly denied. Even such a grave crime is ignored by the courts.

With the pretext of the Maoist funding theory, the Pune police, in a “joint operation” closely coordinated with the police of Nagpur, Mumbai and Delhi, raided the houses of and arrested five activists on 6 June 2018. They were no way connected with the Elgar Parishad. Since the arrest, the police went on weaving stories–from claiming that the five persons were behind the violence that disrupted this years’ annual celebrations at BhimaKoregoan memorial, to saying they were supporting Naxal activities to finally the most recent story – that they were plotting a “Rajiv Gandhi style” assassination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These stories came handy for the police to apply the dreaded UAPA, which does not leave one with any defence and can incarcerate him/her for years in jails.

Basically, these raids were used to get hold of the electronic devices of the victims that can then be used to yield whatever Police wanted to claim. The method of raids was strange. The raiding police would carry two witnesses from Pune to the distant places like Delhi, Nagpur, and Mumbai, making a mockery of laid down procedure. They would confine the inmates of the house in a room and carry the confiscated materials in another room for sealing. Susan Abraham who is herself a lawyer and witnessed this process when her house was raided for her husband Vernon Gonsalvis, has described that the police had brought their own computers and other devices with them. The only claim the police make for their process of confiscation being foolproof and the judges faithfully accept it is that they videoed the complete process. The judges would not care to understand that electronic devices could be tampered even remotely and any number of files could be transmitted within a matter of seconds. Video cannot be a method of establishing the integrity of electronic devices. I myself being the expert in Information Technology can prove this as fraudulent. The integrity of the computer devices could only be guaranteed by a hash value generated by specific algorithm and unless that (both) are acknowledged by the victim, it can never be relied upon. The courts would take a blind view saying that it is a matter of trial, knowing fully well that it could take several years and until then an innocent person and his family could be completely ruined.

Police began claiming that they recovered letters (not mails—because mails are non-repudiable) from the computer of one of the arrestees purportedly written by the Maoists. The letters produced by the police were bizarre, speaking of real names of people providing their real phone numbers, etc. That these letters were pure fabrication by the police can be seen by the manner they are worded. As though, the Maoists are running a government organization that elaborately communicates their plans and expects their recipients to preserve records for audit. They are known for their secrecy, using networks of human couriers, and insisting upon destruction of messages after they were read. Such an organization could not be communicating with its functionaries through essay like letters. Many people analysed these letters in public domain and proved their fakeness. The experts such as AjaySahany, executive director of the Institute of Conflict Management, which deals with the studies of such organizations trashed them as fake.  Even Justice Chandrachud of the Supreme Court, the only judge who has gone into the merit of the police case, in his minority judgement faulted these letters and recommended the entire case be investigated by the SIT as prayed for RomilaThapar and other public intellectuals. But the strange process of law would not budge by these contra evidence and would be ready to sacrifice the lives of innocent people at the altar of the so called process of law, which itself in reality is worse than punishment.   

These letters had names of Rahul Gandhi, Prakash Ambedkar, Digvijay Singh, etc. indicating that they were also accomplices of the Maoists’ plans. It squarely exposes the political intent of defaming these leaders. It is strange that the police would not even try to get the facts from these political people and the courts would not ask them why.

Strange Charges against Me
Along with others six activists, five of whom were arrested on 28 August, the Pune police raided my house too. They got the security person get the duplicate key and open the house in our absence without any warrant. As written in the panchanama, they just videographed the interiors and locked back the house. We were in Mumbai. As the TV channels flashed the news of our house being opened and searched, my wife rushed back by the next flight and lodged the complaint with the Bicholim Police Station providing our telephone numbers if the police wanted to ask us anything. On 31 August the Additional Director General Police Shri Parminder Singh took a press conference in Pune and among others, flashed one letter in support of my involvement. The letter was written by someone supposed to be a Maoist to some Com Anand referring to a Paris Conference in April 2018, which appeared to be true. I did attend an academic conference along with many scholars from all over the world, which was organized by the American University of Paris. It was hilarious in its narrative that indicated that the Maoists gave money to this university and asked them to invite me for it. It also suggested that they arranged with “Com. Étienne Balibar” (Professor Balibar is highly respected French Marxist scholar) that he would interview me (sic) and “Com. Anupama Rao and Shailaja Paik” (Professors teaching in Bernard College and Cincinnati University, respectively) that they would invite me to their universities as guest lectures. I obtained the letter from NDTV and mailed it to Balibar and the organizer of the conference, Prof Lissa Lincoln. They were stunned by this canard and wrote back to me. Balibar angrily sent letter of protest and even written to the French Embassy. Prof Lincoln explained how the University invited me and bore the entire expense for my attendance. On the basis of solid evidence, I decided to prosecute Paramjit Singh for defamation and wrote a letter to Maharashtra Government on 5 September seeking its permission as per the procedure. There is no response to it till today.

Meanwhile, since there was apparently no case against me and thinking that my letter to the government might have brought them a sense of guilt, I decided to file a petition for quashing FIR against me to the High Court. The Bench rightly asked the police to submit an affidavit listing all the things that they had against me. The Police submitted the affidavit listing five charges vide five letters, including one discussed above. In my reply, we refuted all their contention and proved that even if the letters were held as genuine, they do not make any triable case. The other four letters were:

Theefirst  letter written by someone to someone saying that some Anand has taken responsibility of organizing Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC), which came to limelight in 2015 when the IIT Madras administration derecognized them. I was then Professor in the Business school of IIT, Kharagpur, more than 2000 km away from Madras. If I had an inkling of organizing students, I could do it in my own IIT; not the most distant IIT. In any case, when the APSC learnt it in newspapers, a founding member sent me a letter saying that I did not have any role in their formation or activities.

The secondletter, again written by someone to someone referred to some Anand making a “good suggestion” in the meeting of AnuradhaGhandy Memorial Committee  (AGMC). Well, if that Anand also is identified with me, I am a member of the Trust along with many other respectable members, which is a decade old registered body with its PAN, Bank Account, and respectable people as its members. It held public lectures by eminent scholars like Samir Amin and Angela Davis which were widely covered by the press. As for my role in the Trust or committee, I could not even attend their meetings and lectures barring a couple of them over the last ten years because I was physically away (at IIT Kharagpur from 2010 to 2016 and thereafter at Goa). 

The third letter again written by someone to someone in which there is a reference to some Anand taking responsibility of organizing a fact finding into Gadchiroli encounter. Presuming the Anand in the letter is me, I am a General Secretary of Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR), whose raison d’etre is to do fact finding into the cases of suspected human rights violations. However, the fact remains that neither I organized this committee nor participated in it. As a matter of fact, I have been a General Secretary initially in deference to the wishes of the last General Secretary, P A Sebastian and thereafter, at the insistence of its members although I was away from Maharashtra all this while.

The fourth one was a note allegedly recovered from someone’s computer that had a scribble: “Anand T.. 90T Surendra (through Milind)“. It is interpreted as I was paid Rs 90,000 by Surendra through Milind (sic). It was ridiculous and product of poor imagination to imagine that I would take such a money as I have been paying that kind of money every month in income tax for years. In any case, such scribbling is said to be no evidence in law.

My rejoinder to the Police Affidavit thus refuted all these charges. But at the end the Police gave some ‘sealed’ envelop to the judges and the court rejected my petition, without referring to any of my above refutationsor my personal credentials whether the police claims could be plausibly connected with my profile.

Thinking that I had a strong case, I approached the Supreme Court but the court took a view that they would not interfere with the police investigation at this stage and asked me to seek a pre-arrest bail from the competent court.

[Resume here if you skipped the above paras]
The case has reached a crucial point where all my innocent beliefs stand shattered and I am devastated by the prospect of imminent arrest. There are nine of my co-accused already in jail facing harassment of the legal process. Unlike me, they did not have an opportunity to seek your help. Your standing in solidarity with me will not only lend me and my family strength to endure this torture but also may give a message to the fascist rulers that there are people in India who say NO to them.

Please therefore use this note to create signature campaign, issue statements, write articles, and whatever method you deem fit so as to create a visible public outrage against this vilest farce and to support me. 
 

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