Sudha Bharadwaj

Sudha Bharadwaj
Nationality India
Occupation trade unionist, activist, lawyer
Parent(s)

Sudha Bharadwaj is a trade unionist, a civil rights activist against land acquisition, who has been working and living in the state of Chhattisgarh for 29 years now. She is the general secretary of the Chhattisgarh People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and also the founder of Janhit (a lawyers collective) and is also associated with the late Shankar Guha Niyogi’s Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha.[2]

Early life

Sudha was born an American citizen, to parents Krishna and Ranganath Bharadwaj, who were pursuing their PhD in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US. Bharadwaj returned to India at the age of 11, gave up her US citizenship at the age of 18, and joined the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, to study mathematics, completing the five-year integrated course in 1984.[3]

Activism

Having been exposed to horrific working conditions of laborers in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar during her time as a student at IIT, she moved to work with Niyogi’s Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha in 1986.[2] Determined to provide holistic development of the workers, Sudha got her law degree in 2000 from a college affiliated to the Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University in Raipur.

While being associated with Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, Bharadwaj fought passionately against corrupt bureaucrats to ensure proper wages were paid to the workers in the mines and plants located in Bhilai. She also engaged in issues of Dalit and tribal rights, specifically the right for land, the right for education, for health and for security against corrupt landlords.[2] Sudha also wrote a critique of Binayak Sen's imprisonment critiquing the judicial decision and condemning it strongly.[4]

She is also a Visiting Professor at the National Law University, Delhi and is the vice-president of the Indian Association for People's Lawyers (IAPL).[5]

Arrest

On 4 July 2018, Republic TV aired a program in which Arnab Goswami claimed that Sudha Bhardwaj had written a letter to a Maoist named Prakash stating that a "Kashmir like situation" has to be created. Sudha issued a public statement contesting these claims.[6] She called the attack malicious, motivated and fabricated, and added that she was targeted for publicly condemning the arrest of Surendra Gadling in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence and two other lawyers in Sterlite protests.[7]

She was arrested by the Pune police on suspicion of being involved in Maoist terror activities 26th August 2018, along with five other accused across the country.[8] Human rights defender and Freelance journalist, William Nicholas Gomes condemned the arrests of Sudha Bharadwaj and demanded Immediate and unconditional lift of the house arrest orders on Sudha Bhardwaj in a letter to Justice HL Dattu Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission.[9][10]

References

  1. ↑ "Row in JNU after Dean replaces speaker invited by centre for economic studies". The Indian Express. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Masoodi, Ashwaq (7 November 2015). "This land is your land". LiveMint.
  3. ↑ "The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Opinion | Enemies of the State". The Telegraph (India).
  4. ↑ "Critiquing The Binayak Sen Judgement". Outlook India.
  5. ↑ "Lawyers protest arrest of Nagpur advocate Surendra Gadling". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 2018-06-07. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
  6. ↑ "Human Rights Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj Issues Public Statement Against Republic TV Allegations of Maoist Link | Live Law". Live Law. 2018-07-05. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
  7. ↑ "Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj Calls Out Republic Over 'False' Allegations". The Quint. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
  8. ↑ After Arrest Of Activists Over "Maoist Plot", A Midnight Drama: 10 Facts, NDTV News, 29 August 2018.
  9. ↑ "India: Drop the charges against human rights defenders". Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  10. ↑ Gomes, William. "India: Drop the charges against human rights defenders". Countercurrents. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
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