'The Bihar police on Wednesday ordered the closure of a sedition case lodged against 49 acclaimed artists and intellectuals, including Ramachandra Guha, Mani Ratnam and Aparna Sen, who wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year seeking his intervention in the rising incidents of mob lynchings. Muzaffarpur SSP Manoj Kumar Sinha said he had ordered that the case be closed as the investigation had so far revealed that the allegations levelled against the accused were out of “mischief” and “lacked substance”...'
'In response to an FIR being filed against 49 celebrities and prominent personalities for writing an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more than 180 cultural and literary personalities have condemned the charges and endorsed the original letter. Among those who have signed the letter are actor Naseeruddin Shah, writer Nayantara Sahgal, dancer Mallika Sarabhai, historian Romila Thapar, academic Anand Teltumbde, singer T.M. Krishna and artist Vivan Sundaram, according to a report by NewsClick.
'It is essential for Hindus to take back their faith from extremists, says the founder of Hindus for Human Rights... A close Kashmiri friend of mine in New York City has not spoken with her loved ones for more than 50 days. The Valley has been under siege since August 5, with a communications blackout in place. Meanwhile, detention centres are being built in Assam for potentially millions of people rendered non-citizens through the National Register of Citizens programme.
'An officer of the Indian Administrative Service from Kerala, Kannan Gopinathan, has resigned from the prestigious service in order to be able to speak freely about the virtual ‘Emergency’ that he says has been imposed on the people of Jammu and Kashmir ever since the Centre announced it was ending the state’s special constitutional status. “This is not Yemen, this is not the 1970s, that you can deny basic rights to an entire people and nobody will say anything about it,” Gopinathan told The Wire.
'Thousands held dharnas (protest sit-in) and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at different places in Punjab on Sunday after being stopped by the state police from going to Chandigarh for their scheduled rally in solidarity with Kashmiris, who have been under a clampdown for over 40 days. At least 30 activists, including ten women, from different farmers’ and students’ unions, were also arrested in Mohali as the Congress government of chief minister Amarinder Singh thwarted all attempts to hold a protest march...'
'According to multiple media reports, the Delhi government has said that it will not be granting the police sanction to prosecute former Jawaharlal Nehru Students students who were charged with sedition after an event on campus in February 2016. The state’s Home Department thinks that the students – including Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and nine others – should not be prosecuted because their activities “do not amount to sedition against the State”, Indian Express reported.
'The Kerala high court overruled the Centre’s objections to the screening of Anand Patwardhan’s documentary film Vivek (Reason) at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival that is currently underway in Thiruvananthapuram. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting denied permission for the film – whoch looks into the murders of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, among others – to be screened at the festival. The ministry said the screening could cause a “law and order issue”. The Kerala HC held that this apprehension was not valid.
'On June 13, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed an FIR against Anand Grover and Lawyers Collective for alleged violations of rules related to NGOs receiving foreign funds... Grover and his partner Indira Jaising, both senior advocates, have been at the forefront of public interest and civil rights litigation in India. Several Indian lawyers have cut their teeth doing human rights work as a part of Lawyers Collective since 1981. Their work has had implications around the world. Between the two of them, they have contributed to the legal field in India for close to 80 years...'
'A dalit professor from Lucknow has faced the ire of the Rajya Karamchari Sahitya Sansthan (State Employees’ Literary Association) for a Facebook post criticising the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A large number of people including students from all walks of the society came forward to protest against this on the streets of Lucknow streets on Sunday evening (March 10).
'An assistant professor at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar was told to resign from her post after she appeared on an Odia TV channel discussion on the Pulwama attack and said that India should not go to war with Pakistan. Madhumita Ray, who taught in the private university’s School of Rural Management, appeared on a Kanak News discussion last Monday, February 18, along with retired Indian Army Colonel Purna Chandra Patnaik...'
