'Exactly a month ago, on February 20, a petite, young woman, Amulya Leona Noronha, got on to a stage filled with men and shouted “Pakistan Zindabad”. The event was part of the ongoing nationwide agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The slogan she shouted alarmed the men present — including All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi who was on the stage — so much that they tried to snatch the microphone away and prevent her from speaking another word.
'In february this year, Amulya Leona, a student activist, was taken into custody by Bengaluru police after she raised 'Hindustan Zindabad' and 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans at an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally organised by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi in the city. She had been charged with the offence of sedition and for promoting enmity at the Upparpete police station. On February 20, Public TV telecast a TV show where statements were made allegedly calling for violence against her.
'The Press Council of India has taken suo motu cognizance of a story by The Telegraph for "projection" of the president of India "in a satirical manner" in a headline. It issued a show cause notice to the editor of the Telegraph. In a press release, the Press Council said "satirical comments ridiculing and denigrating the first citizen of the country is uncalled for and beyond the call of fair journalistic content"... Yesterday, the front page of the Telegraph mocked President Ram Nath Kovind's appointment of former chief justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, to the Rajya Sabha...'
'Something sinister is cooking, looking at the urgency with which the Bhima Koregaon case has been shifted from the Pune Police to the Centre, under the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The arrests that have happened under the current regime are neither random nor to do only with resisting the current regime. The Supreme Court’s rejection of bail pleas by Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde has serious consequences not just for human rights but also signalling the changing landscape of political discourse.
'On 17 April 2018, the Pune Police raided the Delhi home of Rona Wilson, a noted prison-rights activist, and arrested him for his alleged role in the violence at the Bhima Koregaon memorial in January that year.
'Citizens Against Hate (CAH), a Delhi based collective of individuals and groups concerned with rising trend of hate mobilisation and crime. They released a report titled “Everyone has been Silenced – Police Excesses against anti-CAA protestors in Uttar Pradesh and the post-violence reprisal” put together by a team of human rights experts, defenders and lawyers.
'The Allahabad High Court did something on Monday that was completely unusual. It not only delivered a judgment that was critical of the majoritarian government that rules in Uttar Pradesh, it did so after taking “suo moto” action – meaning the court did not wait for someone to even file a petition. The court had seen the Uttar Pradesh government putting up banners in several parts of Lucknow on which were displayed the photographs, names and addresses of people involved in the protests against the Citizenship Act amendment...'
'It has been two-years-and-six-months since Gauri Lankesh, activist and editor of a Kannada weekly, was killed. In the eyes of her assassins, she was a symbol of dissent who frequently crossed the line for two decades—ever since she took over her father’s outrageously bold weekly newspaper. If her death had really struck fear into the hearts of liberals, there should have been an eerie quiet. The slogans in the air must have permanently died down.
'The Supreme Court of India on Friday stayed the operation of an order passed by the Karnataka High Court granting bail to 22 people booked by the Mangalore police on allegations of violence and attack on police during anti-CAA protests in Mangaluru on December 19, 2019. A 3-Judges bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Surya Kant has issued notices to the alleged protestors in a SLP preferred by the state authorities...'
'The Uttar Pradesh government has put up hoardings in prominent intersections in state capital Lucknow, with names, addresses and photos of some of those accused of violence during protests against the citizenship law in Lucknow in December last year. The people named on the hoardings have been asked to pay up compensation for damage to public property in Lucknow during the violence, in which one person died. The hoardings say if the accused fail to pay up soon, their property will be attached.
