'A Delhi court granted bail to Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekar Azad Wednesday in a case related to anti-CAA protests at Delhi’s Daryaganj. While hearing Azad’s bail plea today, Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau imposed certain conditions on his bail and said the Bhim Army chief should not be in Delhi for the next four weeks. The judge expressed concern about security in Delhi given elections are around the corner. “Azad has to mark his presence with SHO in Saharanpur every Saturday for the next 4 weeks.
'Mysore Bar Association on Tuesday announced that they will not represent the woman who was holding a ‘Free Kashmir’ poster during a protest in Mysore against the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Nalini Balakumar was booked for sedition days after she was photographed holding the poster during the protest on January 8. "Some members of our bar association wrote to us saying we must not represent the person who was involved in an anti-national activity. Even her lawyer has withdrawn from representing her.
'“There was a lady constable who hit me on the head many times with her helmet. She hit me so much that the helmet broke,” said Dalit activist and mathematician Pawan Rao Ambedkar as he narrated his woeful ordeal in jail to the Huffington Post. Pawan Ambedkar, 37, was one of the people who were caught in the brutal assault by the Uttar Pradesh police that it unleashed on protestors in agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Many activists, including Sadaf Jafar and S R Darapuri among others were arrested during the protest.
'After a ‘Free Kashmir’ poster at a Mumbai protest stirred controversy recently, a similar banner was seen at a demonstration at the University of Mysore (UoM), Karnataka, on Wednesday. The Mysuru police have registered a suo motu FIR in the matter and booked the organisers of the protest for sedition. The protest, against the violence at JNU, was organised by students, members of UoM Researchers Association, Bahujan Vidyarthi Sangha, Students’ Federation of India, Dalit Vidyarthi Okkuta, and All India Democratic Students Organisation in the University of Mysore campus.
'Police on Tuesday registered a case of murder, kidnap, gang rape and related charges against four persons in connection with the death of a 19-year-old Dalit girl whose body was found hanging from a tree in a village four days after she went missing on January 1. The FIR was registered under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act following protest by hundreds of people from the Dalit community in front of Modasa Rural police station since Monday night...
'As the nation debates citizenship and the accompanying burden of proof, The Indian Express travels to Dindori, Madhya Pradesh, to find out what “kagaz” means in a district where, as per the last Census, almost two in three people have no assets... A few feet from Bilasia’s nephew’s house, seated in front of another mud house is Hanumat Vishwakarma, a 35-year-old father of three. He disappears into the darkness of his house and comes back with his “kagaz”. But there are problems, he says. When he got his Aadhaar done the first time, it carried only his first name.
'Gujarat assembly speaker and BJP leader Rajendra Trivedi stirred a controversy when he hailed Brahmins as a community with a different “DNA” than others. He also said that Brahmins have the “birthright” to “give blessings to everyone and pray for the welfare of the whole world.” Addressing the second edition of three-day “Mega Brahmin Business Summit” at Gandhinagar, he said, “We are born as Brahmins and we have the DNA of Brahmin… but we are not hostile to anyone and we also request everyone not to keep hostility with us, too.”...
'Mainstream Indian historiography – whether it is nationalistic, Left or liberal versions – has a problem dealing with the battle of Bhima Koregaon. It doesn’t fit into the narrative of Hindu nationalism or the classic anti-colonialism frame. This historical dilemma is the reason why it is easy for the BJP and the Narendra Modi government to dub an anti-caste battle commemoration as the handiwork of ‘Urban Naxals’ and dangerous. Because Indian history has largely been silent on it... What makes this war complex for Indian historians was the composition of the British Army.
'...Here was a firebrand monk whose entire politics revolved around fuelling hostility towards Muslims. A five-time member of Parliament, he had criminal cases against him for leading violence against Muslims. He had brazenly justified this violence on national television... Over the next year, the attacks became physical: the Uttar Pradesh police gunned down nearly 50 people, mostly Muslim and Dalit, in “encounters” that investigations later suggested were nothing short of extrajudicial killings.
'Beginning from the pamphlets printed for campaigning that bear caste names to the segregated roads through which caste Hindu candidates travel to seek votes, Dalit communities have pointed to the systemic injustice prevalent in these parts, particularly against the Arunthathiyar community in the district... TNM's investigation into these villages found that the discriminatory two-tumbler system was widely practiced, in addition to the presence of untouchability walls to segregate Dalits.
