The BK-16: Dhawale, Gadling, Raut, Wilson, Ferreira, Bharadwaj, Rao, Gonsalves, Teltumbde, Navlakha, Tarayil, Gorkhe, Gaichor, Jagtap and Fr Stan Swamy. The system that has incarcerated them is brutal, rotten and unjust. They suffer today in jail because they believed in the idea of India, in the Constitution, in the ‘we the people’, in the rights of the excluded and the exploited.
The signatories, including Noam Chomsky and Olga Tokarczuk, sought that the temporary order to release prisoners in light of COVID-19 be applied to these political prisoners as well.
At 84 years of age, Stan Swamy is the oldest among the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case and, arguably, the oldest prison inmate across the country facing non-bailable charges under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.