IAMC News Digest, 12th February 2021 - IAMC

IAMC News Digest, 12th February 2021


They were accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government. The evidence was planted, a new report

Key evidence against a group of Indian activists accused of plotting to overthrow the government was planted on a laptop seized by police, a new forensics report concludes, deepening doubts about a case viewed as a test of the rule of law under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An attacker used malware to infiltrate a laptop belonging to one of the activists, Rona Wilson, before his arrest and deposited at least 10 incriminating letters on the computer, according to a report from Arsenal Consulting, a Massachusetts-based digital forensics firm that examined an electronic copy of the laptop at the request of Wilson’s lawyers. Many of the activists have been jailed for more than two years without trial under a stringent anti-terrorism law. Human rights groups and legal experts consider the case an attempt to suppress dissent in India, where government critics have faced intimidation, harassment and arrest during Modi’s tenure….
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-bhima-koregaon-activists-jailed/2021/02/10/8087f172-61e0-11eb-a177-7765f29a9524_story.html

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Gujarat Violence was “State-Sponsored”, “Police, Administration Hand In Glove With Anti-Social Elements”: Fact-Finding Report

Photo: MCC

 

Minority Coordination Committee (MCC)-Gujarat’s fact-finding report on the communal violence in two villages of the state’s Kutch district bordering Pakistan, has alleged that the violence was “state-sponsored”, with “the police and administration” being “hand in glove with the anti-social elements and part of a larger conspiracy” to create “fear among the Muslims and force them into ghettoization”. The report prepared by a four member team comprising MCC convener Mujahid Nafees, social activists Usman Ghani Sherasia, Ibrahim Turk and Mohammad Lakha says that despite all this,  the violence did not take a serious turn due to “the restraint and understanding” shown by the local villagers. But the report observes that the incidents in two villages have “increased the disharmony between Hindus and Muslims”…. “Police was present but as a spectator only during the entire episode”, says the report….
https://indiatomorrow.net/2021/02/10/gujarat-violence-was-state-sponsored-police-administration-hand-in-glove-with-anti-social-elements-fact-finding-report/

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‘World Is Watching’: Susan Sarandon Doubles Down on Support for Protesting Farmers

Photo: Instagram

 

Hollywood veteran actor Susan Sarandon has amplified her support to the ongoing farmers’ agitation and said despite attempts to silence the “most vulnerable”, Indian leaders should remember the world is watching them. The Thelma & Louise star became the latest international celebrity to back the protest, after a tweet by pop star Rihanna triggered a wave of support for the protesting farmers by a number of global personalities, activists and politicians. Sarandon took to Twitter late Saturday evening and shared a news report by Al Jazeera, headlined, “Free speech under threat as India clamps down on farmer protests.”…
https://thewire.in/agriculture/world-is-watching-susan-sarandon-doubles-down-on-support-for-protesting-farmers

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News

They were accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government. The evidence was planted, a new report

Gujarat Violence was “State-Sponsored”, “Police, Administration Hand In Glove With Anti-Social Elements”: Fact-Finding Report

‘World Is Watching’: Susan Sarandon Doubles Down on Support for Protesting Farmers

IAMC rubbishes ‘cheap’ attacks by Middle East Forum

Twitter concerned for staff in India after row over account removals

Fresh Appointments to SC Stalled Due to Differences on Elevating Justice Akil Kureshi

History-sheeter linked to BJP arrested in Andhra Pradesh

Court Asks Delhi Police for Report on Kapil Mishra Speech That Triggered Riots in February 2020

Mathura Court Issues Notice Over Plea to Remove Shahi Idgah Mosque From Temple Complex Land

Case Against Rajasthan BJP MLA For Allegedly Raping Woman: Cops

Opinion

Why journalists in India are under attack – By Soutik Biswas

Narendra Modi’s hashtag problem – By Salil Tripathi

1984, 1989, 2002: Three Narratives of Injustice, and the Lessons for Democracy – By Siddharth Varadarajan

How Delhi Police Are Denying Riot-Accused A Basic Legal Right – By Betwa Sharma

The Limits of Hindutva’s Homegrown Authoritarianism – By Sidharth Bhatia

Censorship and Creative Freedom: Since Independence to OTT Era – By Parvathi Sajiv