Chennai: Amnesty International and Citizen Lab have mentioned in a blog post about targeting of activists, including nine who were fighting for the release of the 11 people who were arrested in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon protests.
The post says, “Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab have uncovered a coordinated spyware campaign targeting at least nine human rights defenders (HRDs) in India. Eight of the nine HRDs have been calling for the release of other prominent activists, popularly known as the Bhima Koregaon 11, most of whom have been imprisoned in Maharashtra, India since 2018.”
According to the report, between January and October 2019, these âHRDsâ were targeted with emails containing malicious links which, if clicked, deployed commercial Windows spyware compromising their computers and allowing their actions and communications to be monitored.
It further states that at least three of them were also targeted with the NSO Groupâs Pegasus spyware in 2019.
The Bhima Koregaon incidents of violence began after activists organised an event in Pune on 31 December, 2017, commemorating the battle of Bhima Koregaon in 1818, when a force of Mahar soldiers of the East India Company defeated the 28,000-strong forces of Peshwa Baji Rao II. The battle is seen as a Dalit victory against upper-caste oppression.
The event was marred by incidents of violence, after stone-pelting took place at the location, allegedly by right-wing groups, which led to state-wide protests.
“The spyware campaign revealed in this blog targeted lawyers and activists Nihalsing B Rathod, Degree Prasad Chouhan, Yug Mohit Choudhary, and Ragini Ahuja; academics Partho Sarothi Ray and PK Vijayan, a journalist who prefers to stay anonymous, and a human rights collective â Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JAGLAG),” says the post.