The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon and the Search for Democracy in India

The world's largest democracy is facingthe greatest challenge since the end ofBritish colonial rule in 1947.The Incarcerations pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy totell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaoncase, in which sixteen human rights defenders(the BK-16)-professors, lawyers, journalists, poets-have beenimprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, asMaoist terrorists.Alpa Shah unravels how these alleged terrorists were chargedwith inciting violence at a commemoration in 2018, accused ofwaging a war against the Indian state and plotting to kill PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. Expertly leading us through the case,Shah exposes some of the world's most shocking revelations ofcyber warfare research, which show not only the hacking ofemails and mobile phones of the BK-16, but also implantationof the electronic evidence that was used to incarcerate them.Through the life histories of the BK-16, Shah dives deep intothe issues they fought for and tells the story of India's threemain minorities-Adivasi, Dalits and Muslims-and what thesearch for democracy entails for them.Essential and urgent, The Incarcerations reveals how this caseis a bellwether for the collapse of democracy in India, as for thefirst time in the nation's history there is a multipronged,coordinated attack on key defenders of various pillars ofdemocracy. In so doing, Shah shows that democracy todaymust be not only about protecting the freedom ofexpression and democratic institutions, but also aboutsupporting and safeguarding the social movements thatquestion our global inequalities.