HarperCollins is proud to announce the release of The Incarcerations: Bhima Koregaon and the Search for Democracy in India by Alpa Shah

The most compelling work of non-fiction being published this year

NEW DELHI, March 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Publishing simultaneously in the UK (William Collins) and in India.

Essential and urgent The Incarcerations pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case.

Paperback | 672 pp | Rs 699

Available wherever books are sold | Releasing 14^th March 2024

Alpa Shah, says, "The Incarcerations shines a global light on the brutality of authoritarianism that is hidden not only in the far corners of the world's largest democracy, but that at any time could knock down anyone's door in the country. At the same time, I hope the stories of these remarkable human rights defenders who have been framed and incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case, which swallowed my nights for the last four years, will inspire readers to keep alive the fight for justice, democracy and against inequalities. Read it, use it, spread it."

Associate Publisher, Swati Chopra, says "The Incarcerations is undoubtedly one of the most important non-fiction books of this year, when elections in the world's major democracies — India and the US — have prompted discussions on democracy. Is it the holding of free and fair elections, or is it something more, for instance enabling and safeguarding social equity and access to justice? In The Incarcerations, Alpa Shah queries these latter aspects of India's democracy through the lens of the Bhima-Koregaon case, making the book essential reading for every concerned Indian."

About the Book

The world's largest democracy is facing the greatest challenge since the end of British colonial rule in 1947.

The Incarcerations pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy to tell the remarkable and chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case, in which sixteen human rights defenders (the BK-16)—professors, lawyers, journalists, poets—have been imprisoned, without credible evidence and without trial, as Maoist terrorists.

Alpa Shah unravels how these alleged terrorists were charged with inciting violence at a commemoration in 2018, accused of waging a war against the Indian state and plotting to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Expertly leading us through the case, Shah exposes some of the world's most shocking revelations of cyber warfare research, which show not only the hacking of emails and mobile phones of the BK-16, but also implantation of the electronic evidence that was used to incarcerate them.

Through the life histories of the BK-16, Shah dives deep into the issues they fought for and tells the story of India's three main minorities—Adivasi, Dalits and Muslims—and what the search for democracy entails for them.

Essential and urgent, The Incarcerations reveals how this case is a bellwether for the collapse of democracy in India, as for the first time in the nation's history there is a multipronged, coordinated attack on key defenders of various pillars of democracy. In so doing, Shah shows that democracy today must be not only about protecting the freedom of expression and democratic institutions, but also about supporting and safeguarding the social movements that question our global inequalities.

About the Author

ALPA SHAH is the award-winning author of Nightmarch and In the Shadows of the State, and the co-author of Ground Down by Growth. She has written and presented for BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents and From Our Own Correspondent. She was raised in Nairobi, and studied at Cambridge and the London School of Economics, where she is now professor of anthropology.

Praise for the book

"A comprehensive and accessible coverage of the Bhima-Koregaon case. Sixteen persons were accused of being anti-nationals, terrorists and linked to the Naxals. Yet those among whom they work know them as lawyers, academics, poets and writers. They were incarcerated over the last five years and remain without a trial. Will there ever be the required trial?" — Romila Thapar

"A sinister, fascistic wind is blowing across our divided planet; in today's India, it has reached gale force velocity. Shah has written a gripping and rigorous crime story about the murder of a once thriving democracy, exposing an arsenal of lethal weapons, some wielded on the streets, others in the courts and press. As importantly, The Incarcerations is the story of an extraordinary group of political prisoners – principled individuals who have lost their freedom, but not their belief in a radically better world." — Naomi Klein

"A chilling, meticulously documented account of the arrest and ongoing trial of some of India's most exceptional citizens. The Incarcerations shows us that the BK-16 pose a danger to the current Hindu Nationalist regime not for what they have done, but for daring to have a different dream about what kind of country India should be. Alpa Shah's book is about the criminalisation and incarceration of dissent itself. It does us a great service." — Arundhati Roy

"Alpa Shah's bold and illuminating book gives hope for democracy, not only in India, but worldwide, despite her account of the brutality faced by the oppressed minorities and those who courageously defend their struggles." — Étienne Balibar

"Alpa Shah has done the 'free world' an invaluable service with a meticulous and engaging work charting an Indian tragedy with ominous parallels and wider lessons. Even the most populous constitutional democracies are vulnerable to demagogues of the populist right. It's no conspiracy when it happens in plain sight." — Shami Chakrabarti

"This book, detailing how the seeds of resistance can survive the mechanics of modern oppression, is a must-read to understand the scale of the assault on democracy, not only in India, but around the world." — Amy Goodman

"An in-depth, poignant biography of the Bhima-Koregaon accused, Alpa Shah's book uses this entry point to make us understand what post-democracy India is becoming; and how those who resist, suffer – be they in jail or out. Shah demonstrates, once again, the meaning of committed scholarship – intellectually as well as ethically." —Christophe Jaffrelot

"The Incarcerations shows, in eye-opening and gripping detail, how a compliant media as well as a brutal state crackdown on dissent exist in India today. No finer account has been written yet about the collapse of the world's largest democracy." —Pankaj Mishra 

"Alpa Shah prises opens a terrifying window into the shadowy world of the crumbling of India's democracy. Her report is necessary, brave, meticulous, harrowing and immensely humane." —Harsh Mander

"A profoundly important and urgent book for our times. Deeply researched and powerfully readable; bringing first hand testimony and long histories of activism and violence into focus. Probably the most devastating, vital and awakening book you'll read this year." —Preti Taneja

"Essential reading for anyone who wants to know what is truly happening in India now – and why we have a duty to support those who are sacrificing everything to keep democracy possible across that great country." — Yanis Varoufakis

ABOUT HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS INDIA 

HarperCollins is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, having begun publishing in India in 1992. HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian Subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live! Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Harvard University Press, Gallup Press, Oneworld, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet. HarperCollins India has won the Publisher of the Year Award four times at Tata Literature Live! in 2022, 2021, 2018 and 2016, and at Publishing Next in 2021 & 2015. HarperCollins India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers.

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