Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawle, two of the 16 human rights activists arrested in the Bhima Koreagaon case under India’s draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), were released on bail on January 24 after spending nearly six and half years in prison waiting for trial.
They were released from Mumbai’s Taloja Jail two weeks after the Bombay High Court had granted them bail on January 8 on the basis of delay in their trial and long years of incarceration.
Nevertheless, they were released on stringent bail conditions including regular visits to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) headquarters, surrender of their passports, restrictions on travel outside Mumbai and a surety of 100,000 rupees (USD 1,142).
Repression of Dalit and human rights activists in India
Sudhir Dhawle is an activist who advocates for the rights of India’s Dalit castes, commonly known as untouchables, and publishes a left leaning Marathi magazine Vidrohi (Rebel). Wilson, a researcher, is also a known human rights activist affiliated with the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP).
The UAPA cases against them and 14 other people are related to the eruption of caste based violence at Bhima Koregaon, near Pune in India’s Maharashtra province, in January 2018, in which one person was killed.
Speaking to Scroll earlier this month, Wilson claimed that his arrest was a warning to others who stand against the abuse of power by the government or question its policies. He questioned the integrity of India’s criminal justice system claiming even the courts failed to deliver justice.
All of those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case are well-known activists and academics critical of India’s caste system and ultra right-wing ideology followed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Some of them also worked for the rights of Indigenous populations in the country.
Their arrest and successive refusal by the courts in India to grant them bail had provoked strong reactions from opposition parties, with some alleging that the Indian state under BJP is weaponizing anti-terror laws to target dissent and establish an authoritarian polity in the country.
An attempt to silence all dissent
Every year, an event is held in Bhima Koreagaon, to commemorate the victory of people from an untouchable caste (Mahars) against the local Peshwa (upper caste) army in 1818. The Hindutva ideology which Modi and his party BJP follow, abhors such assertions by oppressed caste groups, arguing that it disrupts the unity of the Hindus.
Read more: Bhima Koregaon case: A comprehensive timeline
On December 31, 2017, the Elgar Parishad meeting of progressive forces was held to commemorate 200 years of Bhima Koregaon and make a pledge against the religious bigotry propagated by the BJP government. The gathering was attacked by Hindu nationalist thugs, leading to the death of 28-year-old Dalit Rahul Patangale, and several more injuries.
Massive demonstrations and strikes were organized across Maharashtra by the Dalit and progressive organizations. The protestors were then attacked by police leading to the death of a 16-year-old Dalit boy named Yogesh Prahalad Jadhav.
While the violence was directed at members of oppressed castes by Hindu nationalists, authorities instead used the incident to target and criminalize the event’s organizers and participants. The police claimed later on that event organizers and human rights activists had instigated the violence with the intent to create chaos and use the opportunity to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They were also accused of being members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
A total of 16 activists, lawyers, academics and journalists were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad case including Varavara Rao, Stan Swamy, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Hany Babu and Shoma Sen.
Father Stan Swamy (84) died in custody after jail authorities denied him essential care in prison in 2021. Most others were released on bail only after repeated postponements of hearings or outright denial of their petitions forcing them to spend several years in jail without trial.
Israeli technology used to frame activists
Wilson was arrested after authorities claimed they found a letter on his laptop which mentions Modi’s assassination plot. The letter, however, was found to be planted in Wilson’s computer following an analysis done by an independent digital forensic firm Arsenal Consulting based in the US. The letter was planted using the Israeli spyware Pegasus, Arsenal claimed in 2021.
The use of Israeli spyware Pegasus by the states across the world including India to frame activists and dissenters became a major issue during the publication of a series of investigative reports by the Amnesty International and Paris based Forbidden Stories in world’s major newspapers in July 2021.
