Indian police use violence as a shortcut to justice. It's the poorest who bear the scars. By Mohit Rao

By Dilip -

It was minutes into India's Independence Day when police stormed a slum in the western state of Gujarat where Hira Bajania, 65, was sleeping. In the black of night, he was dragged from his home, taken to a nearby police station and accused, with 11 other men, of stealing cell phones. As dawn broke on a day commemorating India's freedom, one by one the men were taken from their cell to be interrogated for up to 30 minutes, according to a complaint subsequently filed to police, and seen by CNN. They were bound, stripped, beaten, abused and, according to two people in the group, tortured sexually and told to confess. Many returned to their cell limping, unable to stand or sit, say several of the men. All denied the charges.

At around 5.30 p.m. the next day, Hira Bajania, a ragpicker, collapsed after being beaten. "We told them, 'He is dead. You've killed him.' The police thought he was pretending," says Shankar Bajania, no relation, who is one of the men picked up on August 15, 2019. Hira Bajania was not pretending. Shankar Bajania says he saw, through the police station windows, his lifeless body put in a police jeep. At the hospital, he was pronounced dead…

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/02/india/police-brutality-india-dst-intl-hnk/index.html

Supreme Court lays emphasis on protecting personal liberty

Tavleen Singh on government ministers suddenly defending press freedom / Arfa Khanum Sherwani: I’m a Journalist, That’s Why I Don’t Stand With Arnab Goswami

Avay Shukla: Acts Of God And Follies Of Man

Is all this too much to ask?

Colin Gonsalves: Refusal of bail to Sudha Bharadwaj is based on inadmissible evidence

Pratap Bhanu Mehta: The loneliness of Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Sudha Bharadwaj tells a disquieting tale

Samjhauta Express blast case verdict: ‘Who will answer for death of my five children?’

Jailed and Harassed Former IGP Darapuri, 76, Shares His Ordeal

Prem Shankar Jha: The Shadow of Haren Pandya’s Case Lies Long Over Justice Arun Mishra

Nikhila Henry - Ex CJI Gogoi's RS Nomination Calls All His Judgments Into Question, Says Legal Expert

‘This episode is going to haunt SC in years to come’: Justice AP Shah on CJI sexual harassment case

Hathras gang-rape and murder / Protests erupt across country as political leaders, activists add voice to chorus of condemnation

Shalini Langer: Give me Rhea’s fortitude any day // Tavleen Singh: Rhea and her family have been sacrificed at the altar of lynch mob journalism

Hannah Ellis-Petersen: Actor's death fuels media frenzy in India

Sameera Sood: Bollywood is the new JNU and Deepika Padukone the new opium of distraction / Tavleen Singh: ‘Reporters’ were so drunk with their power to smear that they failed to fulfill their primary role

Why is Dr Kafeel Khan Still In Jail On The Eve Of Independence Day? BY BETWA SHARMA

Ramachandra Guha: Supreme Court must reflect on its calling as defined by the Constitution - and the direction it is taking

First Among Equals? // Laws, legal system totally geared in favour of rich and powerful: Justice Deepak Gupta

Express editorial on SC in-house inquiry: Not justice

https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/08/independence-day-in-gorakhpur.html

#HumDekhenge Trends On Twitter As People Show Solidarity With Prashant Bhushan

VAKASHA SACHDEV: In Reply to Contempt Case, Bhushan Offers Detailed Critique of SC

Anil Nauriya - The Angst of August: Reading The Recent Political History of India // Express editorial: Prashant Bhushan judgement - the Supreme Court has diminished itself

Facing Contempt Case, Prashant Bhushan Says Sorry for Just One Remark; 'Why No Helmet by CJI?'

Confrontation in Supreme Court Of India bodes ill // Prashant Bhushan on the CJI’s ‘Extraordinary Interest’ in a Matter Directly Concerning Himself

Bharat Bhushan: A hanging in Dhaka, courtesy Delhi

Deputy National Security Advisor questioned by CBI in 2003 encounter case in Gujarat (2013)

Govt uses ‘adverse’ IB reports to reject names of 6 former judges for tribunals, commissions

CBI court raps Amit Shah for non-appearance in fake encounter case // Amit Shah all set to become BJP chief
Neelabh Mishra - Modi Sarkar, beware of tampering with the Constitution / Soli Sorabjee: What we need to guard / Arun Shourie: "What we are going towards is a pyramidal decentralised mafia state"

Ajmer blast case: Two including a former RSS worker get life imprisonment
Julio Ribeiro - Burying Karkare: I cannot let these forces go unchallenged

Terrifying implications of the SC's Staines Judgement

The Supreme Court, Gandhi and the RSS
The BJP and Justice, Chapter 2

Vyapam

Vanzara

VINOD K JOSE - Narendra Modi’s shadow lies all over the Haren Pandya case

Sanjiv Bhatt Sentenced To Life Imprisonment In 30 Year Old Custodial Death Case // Message from Shweta Bhatt

Mohan Bhagwat

BHARAT BHUSHAN - Narendra Modi's Republic of fear ...

Public Appeal - Resist degradation of Indian criminal justice system

The emperor's masks: 'apolitical' RSS calls the shots in Modi sarkar         

The law of killing - a brief history of Indian fascism

List of serious criminal charges against new UP CM Yogi Adityanath

Julio Ribeiro - Burying Karkare: I cannot let these forces go unchallenged

Public Appeal - Resist degradation of Indian criminal justice system

Bombay HC Grants Bail To 3 Men, Saying They Were 'Provoked To Kill In The Name Of Religion'

Margaret Wertheim - I feel therefore I am

Sabotage of Indian criminal justice continues unchecked: Aseemanand’s ‘disclosure’ missing from court

India: End Bias in Prosecuting Delhi Violence

Betwa Sharma: UP Cop Booked Yogi Adityanath Under NSA, Spent 20 Years In The Wilderness

Press Statement by concerned citizens on the interrogation of Professor Apoorvanand by the Special Branch

CJI on dais, Dosanjh recites ‘first they came for…’, talks of Auschwitz

Safoora Zargar: Why did India jail a pregnant student during Covid-19? By Geeta Pandey

Suhas Palshikar: Bhoomi pujan of the new republic // Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Political colonisation of Hinduism

Do our leaders want to certify political assassination?

Decline, Debasement and Devastation in the All India Services. By P. S. Appu (IAS, Retd)

The Broken Middle - on the 30th anniversary of 1984
Sulphur in the air: 1984 is not forgotten

Apoorva Mandhani: Judge Loya's Confidants Died Mysterious Deaths

Investigate Death Of Judge Who Was Hearing Sohrabuddin Sheikh Case: Justice AP Shah

Arun Shourie On Why The SC Must Enquire Into Loya’s Death, And Erosion of Institutions

सीबीआई जज की मौत को लेकर उठे सवाल

 सलाम, एदुआर्दो गालियानो , अलविदा !! // Eduardo Galeano (1940–2015)

मुझे पूरी उम्मीद है कि आप अपनी बारी आने से पहले बोलेंगे- डॉ.आनंद तेलतुंबड़े

Re-investigate Judge Loya’s death: Sharad Pawar // सीबीआई जज की मौत को लेकर उठे सवाल

अपूर्वानंद - भागवत और वंजारा साथ-साथ: हम कौन थे, क्या हो गए हैं और क्या होंगे अभी?

बॉम्बे हाईकोर्ट के पूर्व जज ने Amit Shah की पूरी कुंडली खोल कर रख दी  Former Judge Exposes Shah

Book Review: 'Secrecy World' by Jake Bernstein


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