Indian academic gets bail after 6 years without trial
NEW DELHI: An Indian academic detained for almost six years without trial has been granted bail by the Supreme Court, highlighting the country’s use of harsh anti-terror laws decried by rights activists. Shoma Sen, 66, a former professor of English at Nagpur University, was arrested in 2018. She was one of 16 activists and academics held for allegedly inciting violence between different Indian caste groups, among them a Jesuit priest, Stan Swamy, who died in pre-trial detention three years later at the age of 84.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), the country’s top anti-terror agency, also claimed that Sen and some of the other activists had links with far-left Maoist insurgents. New Delhi has been battling armed Maoist rebels, known locally as Naxals, for decades in dense, tribal-dominated forests of central and eastern India. “At present, the appellant has been in detention for almost six years, her age is over 66 years and charges have not yet been framed,” the two-judge bench said on Friday. “If we examine the acts attributed to the appellant by the various witnesses or as inferred from the evidence ... we do not find prima facie commission or attempt to commit any terrorist act” by Sen, the court added.
Another sexagenarian activist detained in the same case, Sudha Bharadwaj, was released by the Mumbai High Court in 2021. Sen, like Bharadwaj and Swamy, was held under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which allows indefinite detention without trial. Critics say the law — which makes it difficult for accused people to receive bail — has been used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to silence dissent. According to Indian government statistics, more than 1,000 people are detained under the UAPA each year, while fewer than 100 are convicted. — AFP
‘Really excited’
K-pop campaigning is not only grueling work for the candidates: campaign choreographer Kim Mi-ran performs an elaborate dance routine three times a day, every day for around two weeks before the vote, everywhere Nam goes.
“The party headquarters gave us some guidelines, but the candidate’s staff have a lot of decision-making power,” over song selection and dance routines, said Kim, who is not a full-time dancer but works as a civil activist outside election time. “I talked to her staff to decide on a set of songs that go well with the candidate and choreographed accordingly,” she said.
One of the songs, by a K-pop girl duo called Davichi, which is called Yeoseong Shidae or “Women’s Era”, was chosen as a means of hammering home the fact Nam is a rare female candidate in a sea of male politicians.
Only 14 percent of candidates running for the April 10 vote are women, and just 19 percent of sitting MPs are female from 300 seats. “Politics can come across as boring and not interesting,” Kim said. “I think this cultural approach to the election campaigning can be a positive thing for the voters. I can feel people are really excited when they see us — and they join in dancing!”
In many countries, for example France, the United Kingdom, or Pakistan, candidates are restricted to holding campaign events in designated spaces, such as sports centers, with proper approvals from authorities.
But under South Korean election law, all candidates are allowed to hold campaign events in the constituency’s streets during a set two-week period before the vote, on the condition they don’t violate a 127-decibel noise limit — a level similar to a rock concert.—AFP