‘If this is trouble, I am a troublemaker’: Sudha Bharadwaj on her activism, human rights in India

Note: This interview was first published in October 2022.

Over the last few years, human rights defenders have pointed to a depleting rights scenario in India, with allegations that the National Human Rights Commission has remained silent on the Narendra Modi government’s crackdown on civil liberties.

On this Human Rights Day, Newslaundry is removing the paywall from our interview with prominent human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, who had walked out of prison in 2021 after being repeatedly denied bail in the Bhima Koregaon case. 

Working with people on the ground, Sudha is only too aware of how “alien” the judicial process is to the majority of India’s population. She also thinks it’s important for young lawyers to cut their teeth by representing the most marginalised.

In this interview, the activist talks about her childhood in Bilaspur and her educational journey, culminating in Jawaharlal Nehru University and IIT Kanpur. Her mother, a JNU professor, helped shape the ideology of this self-proclaimed Marxist who began working with trade unions at the age of 25.

In Byculla jail, Sudha tried to secure legal aid for those imprisoned with her. She believes in the importance of a “united front” and worries that the lack of this unity gives rise to dogma.

This, and a lot more.

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Watch part two of the interview here.