Sudha Bharadwaj (born 1 November 1961) is a trade-unionist, activist and lawyer who has lived and worked in Chhattisgarh for over three decades. She is an active member of the

Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha ( lit. Chhattisgarh Liberation Front) is a political party in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. On 3 March 1977, the Chhattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh (Chhattisgarh Mines Workers' Union) was founded by Shankar Guha Niyog ...

(Mazdoor Karyakrta Committee). She was among the activists, lawyers and academics arrested on 28 August 2018 under UAPA in the contentious Bhima Koregaon case. On 8 December 2021, she was granted bail by a special NIA Court.

Life

Early life

Sudha was born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and lived in the United States and United Kingdom as a child. Sudha's mother, Krishna Bharadwaj, was a well known academic and economist, who had founded the Centre for Economics Studies and Planning at

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU; ISO: Javāharalāla Neharū Viśvavidyālaya) is a public research university located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university ...

. At age 11, she moved with her mother to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. She joined the integrated mathematics (five year) program of

IIT Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT- Kanpur or IIT-K) is a public institute of technology located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), it was declared an Institute of National Importance by th ...

in 1979. At IIT Kanpur she joined NSS, teaching in the caste-ridden rural neighborhood. After finishing the program at IITK in 1984, she taught at DPS, for a couple of years in Delhi.

Arrest

On 28 August 2018, along with other lawyers, writers and activists, Sudha was arrested and charged with UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon case. A special NIA court granted Sudha Bharadwaj, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, bail, on a surety of Rs 50,000 on 8 December 2021 after an incarceration of over three years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bharadwaj, Sudha 1961 births Living people Indian women trade unionists IIT Kanpur alumni Women educators from Chhattisgarh Educators from Chhattisgarh Scholars from Chhattisgarh 20th-century Indian lawyers 21st-century Indian lawyers 20th-century Indian women lawyers 21st-century Indian women lawyers