Students’ rights activist Kanchan Nanaware dies while awaiting trial for 6 years under UAPA

Students’ rights activist Kanchan Nanaware (38), who was arrested in 2014 along with her husband Arun Belke and booked under several sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for her alleged role in the Maoist movement, succumbed to a heart and brain ailment in a Pune hospital on Sunday.

Nanaware was born with a congenital heart illness and had developed a brain ailment in the past week. Her family and lawyers alleged that neither the jail nor hospital authorities informed them till her brain surgery was conducted on January 16, according to media reports.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had arrested Nanaware and her husband alleging that they were members of the 'Golden Corridor Committee' of Maoists and trying to recruit cadres from urban areas. Advocate Rohan Nahar, who was representing Nanaware in courts, was quoted as saying that she was operated upon without the consent of her husband. "We made an application on behalf of her husband who is an accused in the case to visit her in the hospital, which was granted by the court. However, before we could meet her she died," he said.

Nahar said Nanaware's bail plea was rejected by the sessions court in Pune in 2020, and her bail application was pending before the Bombay High Court. Both the applications were made on medical grounds. He alleged it was unfortunate that Nanaware neither received medical attention nor she got bail or any order in her case though she was not convicted in the case.

Daughter of a retired bank officer, Nanaware hailed from Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. She came in contact with Bhelke and became an active member of his Deshbhakti Yuva Manch (DYM), which was later branded by police as a front for the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist.