Thread by @Raksha_Kumar

Simultaneous raids in Goa, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Delhi at homes of Gautam Navlakha, @Sudhabharadwaj, Stan Swamy and Anand Teltumbde. Info via @SauravDatta29
Here's why such raids are wrong and scary:
scroll.in/article/885664…

And, @SauravDatta29 says Pune police raiding @arunztoonz and @StoriesUnscene's homes and lawyer Susan Abraham's in Bombay.
CC: @apushpa @paddycs @meeracomposes

What the Emergency meant was that British-type colonial rule had returned through the back door. And, as before, my personal rights and freedom of expression had been forcibly taken away - Kuldip Nayyar.
indianexpress.com/article/opinio…

According to this story, questioning students were kept away from a conference on "Urban Naxalism" - a term coined to define people who dissent/question.
CC: @nandinisundar
thewire.in/education/stud…

Just a few thoughts on why the deviously cooked up concept of "urban naxalism" is anything but democratic.
1) The state is free to define it the way it wants to. Dissenting voices, in general, can be clubbed under the term.
#DefendDissent

2) “Urban Naxals”, as defined in an essay by Vivek Agnihotri, are “urban intellectuals, influencers or activists of importance”. So, essentially it is a war against intellectualism, esp if it advocates egalitarianism.
Joe McCarthy anyone?
More here: scroll.in/article/885664…

3) Branding someone an "Urban Naxal" gives the government legal cover to take action against them. With the help of regressive laws such as the UAPA. So, dissent quelled without sweat.
#DefendDissent

4) Finally, I worked on a story dispelling myths around alleged "Urban Naxals" in June, it was published in July. Now, in Aug, the people I interviewed for the story are ALL being raided.
Brazen impunity? Ineffectiveness of the media?
scroll.in/article/885664…

"....and there was no one left to speak for me".
Ask why are specific lawyers, activists being raided? Where has the #BhimaKoregaon case reached? How does it matter to democracy if dissent is brutally silenced? Ask these questions and more.

Delhi police has taken @Sudhabharadwaj into custody. Here's a bit about who she is: A trade unionist turned lawyer at the Chhattisgarh High Court. She was nominated by the High Court to be a member of the Chhattisgarh State Legal Services Authority.

For the past year @Sudhabharadwaj has been a visiting prof at National Law University Delhi, where she taught a seminar course on tribal rights and land acquisition. Her student told me she is an inspiration.

As a human rights lawyer, @Sudhabharadwaj has filed cases against fake encounters of adivasis and sexual assault in the High Court of Chhattisgarh. So, her crime seems to be that she defended human rights?

Let's take a wild guess, shall we?
@republic is calling those raided "Urban Naxals" already, isnt it?
Judgement pronounced.
We can all go home now.

Delhi High Court temporarily stays Gautam Navlakha's arrest. Thanks to PUDR for taking this up.

Gautam Navlakha under house arrest until the case is heard tomorrow.

A follow up to yesterday's indiscriminate arrests. Why is the State threatened by lawyers so much? And why brand them "Maoist"?
newslaundry.com/2018/08/29/bhi…