| Sudha Bharadwaj | |
| Birth Date: | 1961 11, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Mother: | Krishna Bharadwaj[1] |
| Nationality: | Indian |
| Occupation: | Trade unionist, activist, lawyer |
Sudha Bharadwaj (born 1 November 1961)[2] 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 (Mazdoor Karyakrta Committee).[3]
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.[4]
Sudha was born in Boston and lived in the United States and United Kingdom as a child.[5] 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. At age 11, she moved with her mother to Delhi.[6]
She joined the integrated mathematics (five year) program of IIT Kanpur in 1979.[6] At IIT Kanpur she joined NSS, teaching in the caste-ridden rural neighborhood.[7] After finishing the program at IITK in 1984, she taught at DPS, for a couple of years in Delhi.[7]
On 28 August 2018, along with other lawyers, writers and activists, Sudha was arrested and charged with UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon case.[8] [9] [10] [11] [12] 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.[13]