Surendra Gadling

Editor’s note: Exactly four years ago today, Fr. Stan Swamy died in judicial custody due to medical negligence in what many objectively term as an ‘institutional killing.’ Recalling his life and legacy dedicated to the Dalit and Adivasi rights movements, fifteen friends, warped themselves in the Bhima Koregaon case, some released, some still incarcerated, are today observing a one day hunger strike. Activist and poet P. Varavara Rao, ailing through ill health, also stands in solidarity and spirit. Below are their reasons.

The Supreme Court’s reassurance that video-conferencing improves access to courtrooms misses a crucial point. Through interviews with over 300 prisoners in the Taloja Central Jail, two of India’s foremost civil rights activists reveal how the producing of accused through video-conferencing, and the State’s continual excuse of insufficient police personnel, sustains an architecture of injustice, ripping apart the lives of India’s undertrials.