Rona Wilson is an activist, researcher and the public relations secretary of the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP). He has worked with people accused in terrorism cases, including those booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He is an accused in the

2018 Bhima Koregaon violence The 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence refers to violence during an annual celebratory gathering on 1 January 2018 at Bhima Koregaon to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. The violence and stone pelting by crowd on the gatheri ...

Personal life

Rona Wilson was born in 1972 at

Kollam district Kollam district (), (formerly Quilon district) is one of 14 districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Kerala's natural attributes; it is endowed with a long coastline, a major Laccadive Sea seaport and an in ...

of Kerala. After completing a graduation in

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

, he moved to Pondicherry Central University for studying

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and

International relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

. Subsequently in late 1990's he moved to Delhi at the Center for Political Studies,

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

(JNU) to pursue an M. Phil. in political studies. In 2018, while he proposed to pursue a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from London, he was arrested and incarcerated at

Yerawada Central Jail Yerwada Central Jail is a noted high-security prison in Yerwada, Pune in Maharashtra. This is the largest prison in the state of Maharashtra, and also one of the largest prisons in South Asia, housing over 5,000 prisoners (2017) spread over var ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

Activism

He Rona Wilson actively fought for release of many political prisoners. He was at the forefront of the struggle to release SAR Geelani who was initially awarded death sentence in the

2001 Parliament attack The 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a terrorist attack on the Parliament of India in New Delhi, India on 13 December 2001. The perpetrators belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) - two Pakistan-raised terrorist organisa ...

case. In 2003,

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi (IAST: ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966'', with four judges, Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S. ...

acquitted Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani from that charge. After this, he formed the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) with Geelani. He had also worked with activists for release of G.N. Saibaba who was convicted in 2017 for connections with

Maoists Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...

Arrest

Rona's house was raided in April 2018 in connection with

. At that time, he was preparing a research proposal for a Ph.D. On 6 June 2018, he was arrested from Munirka in Delhi early in the morning by Pune Police along with

Sudhir Dhawale Sudhir Dhawale is an Indian activist, actor and publisher of the bi-monthly Marathi magazine ''Vidrohi''. He is also the founder of organisation, Republican Panthers. Personal life Sudhir Dhawale was born into a family in Indora, a slum commun ...

Shoma Sen Shoma Sen is a women's rights activist and assistant professor and was head of the English literature department of the Nagpur University. On 8 June 2018, she was arrested by the Pune Police for her alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon riot ...

, Mahesh Raut and Surendra Gadling in a joint operation across India. He was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Allegations

The main allegations against Rona are, Rona Wilson had played a role in organizing Shaniwarwada Elgar Parishad on 31 December 2017, which led to violent clash between Marathas and

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

s on 1 January 2018 at

Koregaon Bhima Koregaon Bhima is a panchayat village and census town2011 Census Village code for Koregaon Bhima = 555672, in the state of Maharashtra, India,2001 Census Village code for Koregaon Bhima = 03050100, on the left (north) bank of the Bhima Riv ...

on the occasion of 200th anniversary of Battle of Koregaon. The main organiser

was in touch with Rona Wilson and Surendra Gadling. * Rona Wilson is associated with banned outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist) and this organisation had funded Elgaar Parishad and the ensuing violence. * A letter was found in the hard disk of computer used by Rona which had mention about

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...

type

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

plot against

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

. * He is a

maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

sympathiser and was involved in activities that are meant to destabilize the country. Pune Police submitted before court that, Rona WIlson had connections with G.N. Saibaba who was convicted for connections with Maoists.

Fabrication of Evidence

In 30 July 2020, Rona Wilson obtained a cloned copy of his hard disk. The

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

forwarded this to a digital forensic analyst firm named Arsenal Consulting. In February 2021, a report by Arsenal Consulting, the digital forensics firm based out of Massachusetts, said the incriminating evidence against Rona Wilson was placed on his laptop by a yet-to-be-identified attacker using a malware named NetWire. It also said that the laptop was compromised for over 22 months and the malware has also affected storage devices that were connected to the system. In February 2021, Rona Wilson moved a petition before

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ol ...

to quash proceedings against him in light of findings made by Arsenal Consulting. However

National Investigation Agency The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the primary counter-terrorist task force of India. The agency is empowered to deal with the investigation of terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states under written ...

filed a counter affidavit to it denying the findings of Arsenal Consulting on the basis that the findings has not mentioned the person who is alleged to have framed Rona Wilson. NIA also argued that these findings are not part of charge sheet filed before the court and as per settled position of law documents outside purview of charge sheet cannot be relied.

References