IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – July 26th, 2010

by Publisher on July 26, 2010

In this issue

News Headlines

Opinions & Editorials

Book Review

News Headlines

Narendra Modi aide Amit Shah arrested by CBI in Sohrabuddin Shaikh case (Jul 25, 2010, DNA India)

After eluding the CBI for four days, former Gujarat minister Amit

Shah, a close aide of Narendra Modi, today surrendered before the probe

agency which arrested him in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case

after he made a dramatic appearance at a BJP media briefing. 46-year-old

Shah, who resigned from the Modi government yesterday following a

charge sheet being filed against him, turned up at the BJP office in

Ahmedabad, where he denied all the charges against him. He then drove to

the office of the CBI which arrested him and produced him before

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate A Y Dave here.

Surprisingly,

the CBI did not press for custody of Shah, who has been charged with

murder, extortion, kidnapping and five other sections under IPC for the

killing of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kausar Bi in 2005. He was remanded

by the magistrate in judicial custody for 13 days till August 7. “I have

full faith in the judiciary and I am sure the allegations against me

will be cleared by the courts,” Shah said after he appeared during a

press conference called by state BJP president RC Faldu at the BJP

headquarters in Ahmedabad, ending the suspense of his whereabouts since

Thursday when he was first summoned by the CBI. …

Later Shah went

to the CBI office in Gandhinagar. Waving to the mediapersons after

alighting from his car, he found that officers of the probe agency were

waiting for him. “The CBI officials told Shah that they will take him

straight to the court to which he agreed,” BJP leader Vijay Rupani, who

accompanied Shah, said. The BJP slammed Shah’s arrest accusing the

central government of misusing the CBI, an allegation dismissed by the

Congress which said that the probe agency would not risk the wrath of

the Supreme Court by levelling false charges.

http://www.dnaindia.com/dnaprint910.php?newsid=1414330

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Political motive behind killing too: CBI (Jul 24, 2010, Times of India)

Apart from extortion, there was also a political motive behind the

fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. This fact was admitted by none

other than Gujarat home minister Amit Shah during a meeting with the

owners of Popular Builders. The CBI, in its charge-sheet, has claimed

that a dual motive – political as well as of extortion – was behind the

killing. The probe agency was entrusted with the investigation by the

Supreme Court primarily to crack this aspect of the case. The CBI

charge-sheet has quoted Raman Patel and Dashrath Patel of Popular

Builders to reveal the gist of discussion during the duo’s meeting with

Shah. They had paid enormous amount towards extortion to the BJP

minister apparently under pressure from cops like DG Vanzara and Abhay

Chudasama. The money was paid in order to avoid their booking under the

PASA.

The Patel brothers said that during their meeting with

Shah, the minister revealed that Sohrabuddin was killed because he had

not left any door open for his staying alive and an ordinary person like

him (Sohrab) would never understand the political compulsions. “This

establishes the dual motive behind the killing of Sohrabuddin -

political as well as monetary benefits,” the charge-sheet reads. The

motive behind one of the most controversial killing has been revealed

after more than four years of investigation. The state investigating

agency – CID (crime) – probed the case for nearly three years, but could

not find out the motive of the police officers in eliminating the

gangster and dubbing him as a terrorist out to kill chief minister

Narendra Modi.

The only explanation, the then investigating

authority Geetha Johri could tell the Supreme Court was that the cops

did that to earn promotion and instant fame. The apex court, however,

did not believe the state police and transferred the probe to CBI to

find out the missing links in the case, particularly the motive behind

the killing. Establishing the link of the murder to the marble lobby of

Rajasthan as well as the extortion racket being run in Gujarat by Shah

with help of some police officers, the charge-sheet mentioned that the

motive of the accused Rajasthan cops to participate in the conspiracy to

eliminate Sohrabuddin was his activities in terrorising the marble

lobby.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6207305.cms

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CBI probing Shahs role in Kausar Bis murder (Jul 24, 2010, IBN)

A Gujarat policeman’s confessional statement to the Central Bureau of

Investigation (CBI) has raised questions over Gujarat’s Minister of

State for Home Amit Shah, who is on the run since July 23 after being

chargesheeted by the CBI in the fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin

Shaikh, role in the murder of Kausar Bi. The CBI is now looking closely

at the ways adopted and reasons for killing fake encounter victim

Sohrabuddin Shaikh’s wife, Kausar Bi. Sources have told CNN-IBN that the

CBI is investigating if Kausar Bi was killed by injecting a chemical.

The investigating agency has reportedly identified the shop from where

the injection allegedly used to kill Kaursar Bi was bought.

CNN-IBN

had accessed testimony of Gujarat Police Inspector NV Chauhan who has

reportedly claimed that Shah, who resigned from the post of Minister of

State for Home on Saturday, asked IPS officer and former deputy

inspector general (DIG) of Gujarat Police, DG Vanzara, to eliminate

Kausar Bi in such a manner that her remains are not found. “Amit Shah

has resigned on the basis of news reports. We haven’t received a

chargesheet yet,” said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Kausar

Bi was killed in Arham farms on the midnight of November 28, 2005 and

her body was transported from Arham farms to Illol village in a car

belonging to the anti-terrorism squad. Kausar Bi’s body was burnt in the

presence of Vanzara and Deputy Superintendent of Police NK Amin. The

CBI reportedly has evidence to show that a TATA 407 brought 400 kg of

wood from Bhagwati Farms on Motera road for Kausar Bi’s cremation. The

vehicle incidentally got stuck in a ditch, and was moved out by a crane

provided by Ganesh Movers, numbered GJ-9B-4355. After burning her body,

Kausar Bi’s bones were immersed in Narmada and her ashes dispersed in

the fields of Illol village.

Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Kausar Bi were

brought from Andhra Pradesh to Ahmedabad in a Toyota Qualis. On Friday,

the CBI named Shah as a co-accused in the murder conspiracy of Kausar

Bi and her husband. But in Kausar Bi’s case, the agency seems to be

relying heavily on the statement made by inspector Chauhan. In a court

of law, the agency may need much more than that to substantiate its

allegations against Shah.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cbi-probing-shahs-role-in-kauser-bis-murder/127422-37-64.html

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2006 fake encounter: Three cops get life in jail (Jul 16, 2010, Express India)

Three Delhi Police personnel were on Thursday sentenced to life

imprisonment by a city court for killing two men abducted from Uttar

Pradesh in a 2006 fake encounter. “This case is a stark illustration of

the alarming increase of criminal behaviour in the police force where

the protectors are predators,” Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma

noted, while also imposing a fine of Rs 1.3 lakh each on Ashok Kumar

and Surajpal and Rs 1.5 lakh on Sudesh Rana. The court had on Monday

held the trio guilty of murder, abduction and criminal conspiracy for

killing Zulfikar (28) and Nazakat (26).

Refusing to show leniency

to the convicts, the court said: “The convicts were in active police

service. They were protectors of the law and supposed to uphold the

spirit of law. They abused their power in getting the deceased abducted

and got them eliminated. They not only tarnished the image of the

organisation but also eroded the credibility of the police force.” As

per the prosecution, the accused policemen, who were then posted at

Operation Cell of the North Delhi, abducted Zulfikar and Nazakat from a

Ghaziabad court and killed them near Timarpur on July 31, 2006.

The

prosecution claimed constable Ashok Kumar harboured a grudge against

the duo as they were accused of killing his younger brother Digamber in

2004. Kumar hatched a conspiracy with the other accused, including the

then Assistant Sub Inspector Pramod Kumar Tyagi who has been declared a

proclaimed offender, and eliminated the victims. In its 80-page

judgment, the court relied on the statement of witnesses, besides the

circumstantial evidence including the mobile phone records, to hold the

accused guilty. The court, however, acquitted five other policemen

accused in the case.

http://www.expressindia.com/story_print.php?storyId=647217

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Malegaon: HC restores tough terror law against Sadhvi & Co. (Jul 20, 2010, Indian Express)

In a shot in the arm for the Maharashtra ATS probing the 2008

Malegaon blast, the Bombay High Court today restored charges under the

stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) which the

lower court had dropped against 11 accused, including Sadhvi Pragyasingh

Thakur. Observing that the lower court judge had not applied enough

“legal mind” before dropping the charges, the division bench of Justice B

H Marlapalle and Justice Anoop Mohta said the application of MCOCA was

justified.

The order was passed after the state went in appeal

against special MCOCA judge Y D Shinde’s order that applicability of

MCOCA was not justified since cognizance of two chargesheets, an

essential ingredient in the law, was missing. MCOCA was applied on the

basis of two chargesheets that existed against one of the accused,

Rakesh Dhawade, a Pune-based arms collector and researcher who was

booked in two blasts in mosques in Parbhani and Jalna in 2003 and 2004

respectively. Shinde had dropped all MCOCA charges against the accused

on the technical point of laxity shown by the prosecution in obtaining

cognizance against Dhawade.

But Amit Desai, senior counsel

appointed by the state to challenge the order, argued that “even if

cognizance was not taken for certain sections (Section 153-A and 120-B

read with 34 of the IPC), cognizance was taken for remaining offences in

both the cases.” “The special judge was overwhelmed in looking at

certain sections, for which cognizance is essential. The special judge

was in gross error in holding that cognizance was required to be taken,”

the division bench observed. Shrikant Shivade, lawyer for accused Lt

Col Prasad Purohit, said the court had directed jail authorities to

produce all the accused before the MCOCA court on July 23. “We will move

the apex court against the order,” Shivade said. Last year, the case

took a U-turn after Shivade, appearing for prime accused Purohit, in an

argument that lasted more than two weeks reasoned that the police had

filed the chargesheet in a haphazard manner just to book the accused

under MCOCA.

Two chargesheets were filed against Dhawade – for

the Parbhani and Jalna explosions – on November 13 and November 15 and,

on the basis of these two chargesheets, the ATS had booked all accused

under MCOCA on November 20. The defence also contented that cognizance

was not taken in both the cases. Another aspect the prosecution

challenged in the HC was the assumption of powers by the special court.

“The special court judge assumed the power of the High Court under

Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code. While the accused had just

approached the court for bail, the court went ahead dropping MCOCA,”

Desai argued. The HC observed, “The special court should have touched

upon the aspect of bail and not looked into the legality of the MCOCA.”

Immediately

after the court order today, defence lawyer Subhash Jha, appearing for

accused Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, sought to stay the order, but the

division bench rejected his application. “We will move the apex court

seeking a stay in the case,” Jha said. Seven people were killed in a

blast on September 29, 2008 at Malegaon, a communally-sensitive textile

town in Nashik district. The 4,000-page chargesheet alleged that

Malegaon was selected as the blast target because Muslims form a

sizeable part of its population. It named Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur,

Purohit and another accused, Swami Dayanand Pandey, as the key

conspirators.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/649048/

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Blast accused RSS activist killed by own men (Jul 19, 2010, IBN)

Madhya Pradesh government on Monday denied receiving any request from

the Union Government for transfer of the murder case of Rashtriya

Swayamsewak Sangh pracharak to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

even as family members now allege that the state police conducted

shoddy investigations and that some one close to Joshi was behind his

murder. Joshi’s name has surfaced for allegedly masterminding the Ajmer

and Mecca Masjid blasts. He was shot dead at point blank range near his

house in Dewas on December 29, 2007.

The mystery of Joshi’s

killing, immediately after the Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blasts, is

deepening. The Madhya Pradesh police closed the murder case of the RSS

pracharak in May 2010. He had come under the scanner as his name figured

as one of the main suspects in the two blasts. CNN-IBN has learnt that

Union Home Ministry has asked Madhya Pradesh government to reopen the

case and even suggested transferring it to the CBI. Madhya Pradesh Chief

Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan says no such request has come. “Firstly I

have not received any such request. You are saying that the UPA

Government is saying this. So who has said what is not clear,” said

Chauhan.

Joshi’s family has also made a startling allegation that

someone close to him killed him. “We are not happy with the police

investigations and it appears that he was killed by his own people,”

Joshi’s maternal uncle Madan Mohan Modi said in Indore. CNN-IBN had

reported on the Sangh’s concerns about senior RSS ideologue Indresh

Kumar. His links with Joshi are making the RSS extremely worried.

Joshi’s links with the already arrested Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Lt

Colonel Shrikant Purohit make the situation even more sensitive. It is

one of the reasons why the Madhya Pradesh government has been extremely

cagey in dealing with this case.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/blast-accused-rss-activist-killed-by-own-men/127067-37-64.html

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Cant exonerate Sajjan of 1984 riot charges: HC (Jul 20, 2010, Indian Express)

In a severe jolt to senior Congress politician Sajjan Kumar, the

Delhi High Court on Monday refused to exonerate him of criminal charges

in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case while noting that initial evidence and

the chargesheet had in fact given rise to “grave suspicion” regarding

his involvement in the killings. Pronouncing his verdict on Kumar’s plea

against charging him with various offences in connection with killing

five persons in Delhi Cantonment area, Justice Vipin Sanghi asked the

lower court to conclude the trial within a year and give “closure” to

the victims. “The trust of the public in the efficacy of criminal

justice system is at stake. The people of this country are waiting for

closure of the riot cases after a full-fledged trial,” said the judge,

directing the court to speed up the trial of the two riot cases against

Kumar.

Justice Sanghi also censured the Delhi Police for

“hurriedly and clandestinely” filing a cancellation report in the case

in December 2005 even though the probe had been transferred to the CBI

that October. Ordering a high-level inquiry by Delhi Police Commissioner

Y S Dadwal, the court called for fixing the responsibility and to take

appropriate disciplinary action against the officers responsible for

“unauthorisedly” filing the cancellation report giving a clean chit to

the Congress leader. Kumar had approached the High Court against the

lower court order initiating his trial under sections 302 (murder), 395

(dacoity), 427 (mischief to property), 153A (promoting enmity between

different communities) and other provisions of the IPC. CBI had accused

Kumar of inciting violence and provoking people against Sikhs during the

carnage on November 1 and 2, 1984 that resulted in the killing of five

men in Delhi Cantonment area. Besides Kumar, seven others are also named

in the case.

Challenging this, Kumar said the trial court judge

acted as a “mouthpiece of the prosecution” and ignored the flip-flops by

crucial prosecution witnesses. Kumar’s counsel said there was no

evidence against the leaders and he should have been exonerated. After

going through the records of the case and testimonies of the witnesses,

Justice Sanghi threw out the contention, saying, “The materials produced

by the prosecution along with the chargesheet, namely, the statements

of the various prosecution witnesses, gives rise to grave suspicion

against the petitioner about the commission of the alleged offences. It

cannot be said at this stage that the petitioner is not involved in the

commission of offences.”

The court also dismissed his argument

regarding false implication. “At this stage, there is no reason

disclosed on record as to why the prosecution witnesses most, if not all

of whom, are victims of the 1984 riots, should falsely implicate the

petitioner. It would be for the trial court to examine these aspects, if

raised, on the basis of the evidence that may be brought on record,”

Justice Sanghi noted. During the hearing, Kumar also raised the argument

that delay in the case had violated his fundamental right of speedy

trial and he could be discharged solely on this ground as well.

Justice

Sanghi, however, held that Kumar, who faced no trial for over 25 years

and enjoyed his freedom throughout, could not claim so and rather he

might have been benefitted because of the delay. Saying “political

interference and systematic delays” had plagued the fair and expeditious

probe, Justice Sanghi called for a speedy trial and “most severe

punishments” to the guilty, “as the alleged offences struck at the

secular foundation of the nation”.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/648912/

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RTI activist shot dead near HC (Jul 21, 2010, Indian Express)

Prominent wildlife and RTI activist Amit Jethva was shot dead

opposite the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday evening by two

motorcycle-borne men while he was coming out after meeting his lawyer.

The incident occurred outside the Gujarat Bar Council office. Jethva had

filed several PILs and RTI applications, the latest being in connection

with illegal mining in Gir Wildlife Sanctuary. The incident occurred

when Jethva, after meeting his lawyer Vijay Nangesh in his first-floor

office at Satyamev Complex, stepped out around 8.45 pm and was getting

into his vehicle parked near the complex. According to eye-witnesses,

two men on a motorbike parked nearby fired at him from a close range.

After being hit, Jethva ran after his assailants but succumbed to his

injuries. The two men left the motorcycle and a country-made firearm on

the spot and fled towards Vishwa City in the neighbourhood.

Top

police officers rushed to the spot and recovered the firearm and two

unused cartridges. Police suspect it could be contract killing and are

questioning his lawyer. The 33-year-old activist had filed several RTI

applications based on which he would also file PILs. Key amongst them

were the one for the appointment of Lokayukta, another for appointment

of two more RTI commissioners and a third that questioned the promotion

of a forest official. Hailing from Amreli district’s Khambha village

located on the periphery of Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, Jethva, a suspended

government teacher, was also the founder of Gir Nature Youth Club. After

having run an aggressive campaign on several environment issues, many a

time involving celebrities or top politicians, he became a member of

State Wild Life Advisory Board.

In 2007 Assembly polls, he

contested as an Independent from Kodinar in Junagadh district raising

environment and wildlife issues. Among the many cases Jethva had filed

in lower and high courts, one was against Aamir Khan for alleged use of

chinkara and later killing it for Lagaan, a film the actor also

produced. Recently, Jethva had filed a PIL in the HC in connection with

illegal mining in Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and has made BJP MP from

Junagadh Dinu Solanki as one of the respondents. It was only two years

ago that the activist shifted base to Ahmedabad. He is survived by his

wife and two children.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/649665/

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Unified anti-Naxal commands to be in place soon (Jul 18, 2010, DNA India)

The full strength unified commands for streamlining anti-Naxal

operations in four Maoist-affected states of the country will be made

operational very soon as state governments have started putting the

mechanism in place. The commands, to be based in capitals of the four

states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal, will be

headed by their respective chief secretaries. The other members will be

the state director general of police, the development commissioner of

the state, inspectors general (anti-Naxal operations) of the state

police and the CRPF, an official of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and an

official of the state intelligence along with a retired major general

rank officer of the army.

“The unified commands will be in place

and start functioning very soon. May be a week or ten days,” sources

said. The decision to create a unified command structure in these states

- on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir and Assam – was taken at a meeting

of chief ministers of Naxal-affected states chaired by prime minister

Manmohan Singh with home minister P Chidambaram on July 14 in the

national capital. According to top government sources, the unified

commands in all the four states will have powers and responsibilities

for anti-Naxal operations by security forces like CRPF, BSF and ITBP and

the state police and will also chalk out the action plan for

development initiatives once these forces dominate an area.

The

unified command will also be vested with the powers to use and direct

the helicopters allocated to each state for rescue operations and troop

reinforcements, sources said. Meanwhile, the central government in

co-ordination with these four state governments is also planning new

helicopter bases and helipads so that the air operations could be

enhanced in these areas. The BSF air wing, which is operating the

helicopters in these zones, will be supplemented with more ALH Dhruv

helicopters and those from the Indian Air Force.

http://www.dnaindia.com/dnaprint910.php?newsid=1411395

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Khairlanji: CBI asked to move Supreme Court (Jul 18, 2010, The Hindu)

Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil told reporters here on Saturday

that the State government had asked the Central Bureau of Investigation

(CBI) to appeal in the Supreme Court in the Khairlanji massacre case. On

Wednesday, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court commuted the death

sentence of the six accused to life imprisonment. By calling the

killings an act of revenge, the High Court also upheld the earlier order

of a trial court (September 15, 2008), which had not applied the

Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to the case.

Mr.

Patil said: “We had a meeting of Home department officials and

advocates from the CBI today [on Saturday]. Everybody was in favour of

appealing in the Supreme Court for the strictest punishment. Several

organisations have also been demanding the same. In light of people’s

sentiments we took this decision.” The Minister said the State viewed

the Khairlanji massacre as a caste atrocity and that it was the rarest

of rare cases. “It was not murder or revenge. One of the sons [of

survivor Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange] was disabled, yet he was killed in a

barbaric fashion,” Mr. Patil said.

Various Ambedkarite

organisations have been agitating against the order of the High Court.

On Saturday, representatives of Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharatiya Bahujan

Mahasangh and those of the Republican Party of India staged a protest at

Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, criticising Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Mr.

Patil. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Bala Nandgaonkar was present.

The protest came a day after representatives from the Khairlanji Action

Committee and others agitated in Nagpur on Friday.

Many

Ambedkarite voices, particularly the Action Committee, have raised

concern over the handling of the Khairlanji case by advocate Ujjwal

Nikam. Mr. Nikam was the Special Public Prosecutor in the case at the

trial court. When asked, Mr. Patil said it would be inappropriate to

speak on the merits of the case. “Don’t ask me about the merits. I can

only speak for the people and the State. If there were loopholes how did

the court give life term?” Speaking to The Hindu on the phone, CBI

prosecutor Ejaz Khan said: “We feel we have material to agitate before

the Supreme Court on the point of sufficiency of sentence. We want the

highest punishment.”

http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/18/stories/2010071862051200.htm

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Opinions and Editorials

RSS and terror – Editorial (Jul 22, 2010, Economic Times)

The contradiction between the RSS’ top leaders averring that the

organisation would not support or defend any members involved in

terrorist activities, and the emergence of fresh allegations linking yet

more members, including one from the RSS’ top decision making body,

underlines both the problem the RSS itself faces and the one it posits

for the BJP, its political arm. Of course, establishing the degree of

veracity and truth of these allegations has to be left to the

investigations.

But so far, links have been unearthed between

Hindu extremist groups and RSS members and the blasts on the Samjhauta

Express and those in Hyderabad, Ajmer, Malegaon and Goa. The question is

whether the RSS really believed or thought that its wider ideological

beliefs and practices, based on jingoism and hatred stemming from its

narrow and sectarian interpretations of concepts of history, identity

and nationhood, could not lead to its members committing acts of terror.

It is precisely such interpretations of those concepts that drives the

Islamic extremists at home and abroad – the difference being one of

scale and expertise in implementing terror plots, not of the terror

itself. The issue, therefore, isn’t solely that a few fringe elements

may be involved in terrorist activities, but that there is a wider

context of communal hatred and fundamentalism behind such attacks.

The

point is that, if terrorism is to be defeated, in all its forms, then

it also involves tackling and targeting communal hatred and

polarisation. Thus, the other big question is how far can the BJP, the

major opposition party, afford to be steered by an organisation whose

ideology is linked to terror and whose organisational links to terror

acts is under active investigation. And can sheer political, even

electoral, compulsions force the BJP, at some point, to re-examine its

umbilical cord-connection with the RSS? Can it afford not to? While

hardline, even extreme, views can exist in a democracy, violence is

immanent in attempts to insert those views into society and the workings

of the state.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6198993.cms

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A Haunted Minister – Editorial (Jul 23, 2010, Nav Hind Times)

Sohrabuddin’s ghost haunts the Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Mr

Amit Shah and Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. In November 2005, the

state anti-terror squad killed Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi

allegedly in a fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The CBI,

which is probing the Sohrabuddin murder at the directive of the Supreme

Court, has been asked by the apex court to file a status report by July

31. In order to be update, the CBI summoned Mr Shah for questioning. Mr

Shah, who became unavailable to the public, ducked the summons with a

promise to appear on Friday. But on Friday too he did not keep his date

with the CBI; instead he sent a team of lawyers to seek more time and

get the set of questions the CBI was likely to put to him. This is sheer

misuse of executive powers. Mr Shah has set a bad precedent: a

minister, and least of all one in charge of home, should not be avoiding

direct questioning by the CBI. The CBI is acting under the apex court

directive, and there was nothing like shame involved if Mr Shah appeared

before it for questioning.

What has made matters worse is the

boycott of lunch with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh by senior

BJP leaders including Mr L K Advani. The BJP accusation is that the UPA

government was misusing the CBI to defame the party government in

Gujarat. Mr Advani and other senior BJP leaders should know better than

the party’s rank and file that summons do not amount to defaming of a

government. Actually the non-compliance and preventing the CBI from

completing a task entrusted to it by the apex court could give rise to

suspicions about Mr Shah’s role in the minds of the people.

Mr

Shah has already helped suspicions grow by not attending office for

several weeks, skipping four cabinet meetings and keeping his

whereabouts a closely guarded secret. His ‘disappearance’ has only

richly fed the whispers about the CBI having strong evidence of his

involvement in the heinous crime. If the CBI is to be believed it is in

possession of the telephone records showing that after Sohrabuddin was

picked up by the anti-terror squad, Mr Shah was in close touch with the

policemen who allegedly killed Sohrabuddin. The minister stayed in close

touch with the same policemen a year later as the main witness Tulsiram

Prajapati in the Sohrabuddin case was also killed in a fake encounter.

Significantly, the CBI had already arrested Abhay Chudasama, deputy

commissioner of crime branch for trying to influence the witnesses. Mr

Shah should stop putting obstacles in the CBI way of investigation, as

the apex court is watching, and there cannot be any running away from a

definite conclusion on the case.

http://www.navhindtimes.in/opinion/haunted-minister

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Whistling in the dark – Editorial (Jul 23, 2010, Hindustan Times)

Corruption, according to no less than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

in a speech last year, is tarnishing India’s image, hurting its economic

growth and squashing the government’s efforts to build an equitable

society. This ties in with the ‘murder’ of Gujarat’s Right to

Information (RTI) activist Amit Jethwa. Clearly, someone has an interest

in throttling the voices of those who are brave enough to speak up

against dishonesty at the highest level. Jethwa, according to reports,

had filed several Right to Information (RTI) cases against the illegal

mining lobby in the Gir lion sanctuary. This brought him into collision

with his friend-turned-foe BJP MP, Dinu Solanki. Jethwa’s father has

accused Solanki of plotting his son’s murder.

That RTI activists

in Gujarat and elsewhere in the country are feeling the heat is

well-known. At an activists’ meet in Ahmedabad in March, many talked

about getting death threats from corrupt politicians and government

officials. An incident like Jethwa’s murder, however, is not new to

India. Remember National Highway Authority of India’s Satyendra Dubey

and Indian Oil Corporation’s Manjunath Shanmugham? Both were killed

because they stood up to corrupt officials and contractors. In recent

months, activists Satish Shetty and Datta Patil, who exposed many land

scams and corrupt politicians and bureaucrats in Maharashtra, were also

murdered.

After the death of Dubey and Manjunath, there was much

soul-searching about how to p rotect the whistleblowers. The Public

Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill, 2009, was drafted

but it is not a law yet. As per the draft law, any person can make a

complaint on corruption against any central government employee or

institution to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). The CVC will have

the power to investigate and provide security to the whistleblower.

Information activists also feel that a similar kind of provision could

be weaved into the existing RTI law. The other important exercise could

be to appoint an effective Lokayukta. Gujarat, like many other states,

doesn’t have one.

As India develops and people become more aware

of their rights, there’s bound to be a clash of interests. The people

will use laws like the RTI to demand what’s due to them and put pressure

on the authorities to deliver. But the meaning of such positive

developments will be lost if they are constantly exposed to the dangers

of clashing with the corrupt.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/576764.aspx

SEE ALSO:

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Politics of slight – Editorial (Jul 24, 2010, Indian Express)

The omens for the monsoon session of Parliament are clear. On Friday,

senior BJP leaders pleaded their inability to keep a luncheon

appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, citing the CBI summons

to Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah. Shah was being sought to be

interrogated in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case of 2005, and the

BJP alleges that the summons have been timed to divert attention from

other issues. The Congress countered the charges, saying that the BJP

was using political pressure by its top leaders to unduly influence

investigations.

The incident serves to show that gradually one

avenue after another for engagement between the government and

opposition is shutting down. It’s no longer in the nature of

parliamentary experience to have sustained exchanges. Measured debates

are now primarily reserved for the grand occasion – the vote of

confidence, or a cut motion, or an important bill – or they take place

after an extraordinary amount of coordination. Of late, the treasury

benches also have been disinclined to initiate floor coordination.

The

opposition has been equally keen on the riveting, and easier, options

of walkouts. This is why the BJP’s RSVP to the prime minister is so

unfortunate. If the assumption is that the air has to be completely rid

of contentious issues for government and opposition to have a civil

exchange, it is flawed. It’s in the nature of competitive politics that

the relationship between government and opposition will be adversarial.

And, through numerous institutions and conventions, parliamentary

democracy counts on each to keep the competitiveness constructive.

The

recent record of political parties instead using rebuff and slight to

make a point manifests itself directly in the number of hours wasted in

each session of Parliament and in the swiftness with which bills are

passed. MPs argue that the situation is not so grave and that, away from

the public glare, there’s a lot of working together, for instance on

committees. That is valid. But a public engagement between government

and parties too is crucial if there is to be a big conversation in which

the people gain clarity on key issues.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/650950/

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Khairlanji Verdict Expose Our National Concern On

Violence Against Dalits – By Vidya Bhushan Rawat (Jul 21, 2010,

Countercurrents)

Khaurlanji’s verdict is out. The Bombay High court did not find the

case rarest of the rare. Though, the Maharashtra government is going to

challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court and we must wait for the

same, the verdict has left most of us who were following the case deeply

disappointed. But for me the High Court’s judgment not finding it as

rarest of the rare reflect that, such things are happening regularly at

different parts of the country and we are habitual offenders of the

dignity and self respect of the Dalits in the country. Hence if the

‘honorable’ high courts give capital punishment on ‘such normal things’,

then a large number of our friends will have to face gallows. We all

know how judiciary is being put to pressure by media and political

forces. They will shout loudly over the issues and convert a non issue

into a national problem but when the issues which should be discussed

and focused the media keeps that for a one minute byte or into the

middle pages of their news papers.

We can easily establish how

media publicized the issue of Jesica Lal or Ruchira case that their

families become ‘social activist’ rather than a respondent and played an

activist role asking people to protest and come in the street. How can

the same media completely sidelining the case of Khairlanji? Why is this

that the issue of boycott of Dalit cooks in Uttar-Pradesh and other

parts of the country do not attract the same space as Jessica Lal or

Ruchira case? The news of Indians being targeted racially in Australia

has always made headlines in almost all the news channels and some of

them actually following each and every incidents involving Indians in

that country. The size of the news is enormous and many of the reports

regarding Indians being racially targeted turned out to be faked. Yet,

the outrage is high in this country which takes morally high ground

against ‘racial prejudices’ yet the news in its own home turf do not

make headlines. It is passed as another incident of ‘violence’ against

the Dalits. It is not termed as the basic nature of Indian society which

has not been able to digest the fact that we have a constitution that

empower each citizen of the country and that the Dalits are equal

citizens with equal rights. Our editors do not shout and grin as they do

on Maoism or terrorism, that this country should hang its head in shame

when children learn to discriminate. We always sang song that the

children are innocent and do not believe in the caste system, do not

know who is big and who is small but if you read what is happening in

different parts of the country including Uttar-Pradesh, then we will

have to hang our head in shame. Why don’t we discuss this issue so

seriously and take the governments, the officials to task. Why does not

it become our campaign against prejudices in our society? Why the

feelings of our editors and news reporters are not hurt the same way

when they shout on any issue and turn the non issue as a major issue.

Well, we have to understand that for these racist, the wedding of

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was more important than the racial prejudices of

children who refused to eat with Dalit children or refused to eat food

cooked by the Dalit cooks at school. Unfortunately, rather than taking

action against them, the government seem to buckle under the pressure as

if that has hurt the sentiments of the upper caste children. Is it

because there is no one speaking for them? Is it because the media has

conspicuously kept silent on this issue?

The irony is that a few

weeks ago, a UP court asked police to file cases against some of the

ministers and publishers of ‘Ambedkar Today’, a journal in Hindi, for

‘hurting’ the sentiments of ‘Hindus’ by writing vitriolic language

against their Gods. Some years ago, the activists of Vishwa Shudra

Mahasabha in Lucknow, were charged for ‘hurting’ the sentiments of

Hindus. Periyar is out of Uttar-Pradesh and its BSP’s icon list as the

upper castes do not want him as he is the most famously known Ram

bashers. The Hindutva brigade said ‘Ram-drohi’ is desh drohi i.e. anti

national. So, writing on any fictitious things hurt the sentiments of

others but killing as well as justification of killings and

discrimination does neither hurt our sentiments nor compel us

introspecting our literature and religious texts. ‘How can they hurt our

sentiments, traditions given to us by our ancestors’, said a supporter

of ban. ‘But I consider Buddha, Kabir, Raidas, Ambedkar, Phule, Periyar,

Bhagat Singh as my ancestors’, I told him, and added that I too am

bound to respect their sentiments too. All of them asked me to be a

humanist and questioned the religious texts too. All of them were

rationalist humanists who fought against the ugly racist caste order.

How can one enjoy the festivals that celebrate the victory of a racist

order on the others who they claimed were ‘Rakshashas’. Times have

changed and a thing of 3000 years back may not be true to us and may not

be respected. How can our judicial system justify those years old texts

when we know well that our constitution which is just 60 years old has

the flexibility of changing according to the needs and demands of the

time? Why can’t we dump these holy text which continue to guide our

children and deny some of them right to live with dignity while give a

false sense of superiority complex to others. We need to learn from

France in this respect where the constitution wants citizens to follow

the egalitarian and secular values of its constitution. W do not need a

secular constitution which glorify every act of regression in the garb

of multi-culturarlism and where every act of questioning ‘hurt’ the

‘sentiments’ of those who never cared the sentiments of the others.

One

is amazed to see why our sentiments are never hurt when children are

told to discriminate against each other. How can a country planning to

host Common Wealth Games, going to tell the world that racial

brahmanical disorder is a thing of past. Is it possible to demolish the

caste structure in this country which is suffering from ‘identity’

dilemma? Caste is the biggest issue in this country. Daily the maximum

violence that the Dalits face is because of caste. It is nothing but a

false passport to superiority and further developing the clan culture

where a few ‘respected’ men decide about the fate of others. Children

are being brutally killed and we do not feel shame on it. In fact, we

feel proud of ‘protecting’ our honor by killing our children who dared

to love. Love is the most hated word in the town but watching the C

grade ‘colored’ films are not bad in these sacred heartlands from UP to

Bihar to Rajasthan. I do not believe much in the theory that some

Indians are better than others as often comparative notes are given to

us like Delhi is worst or Mumbai is better or Chennai superior to

Hyderabad. All the diversity in India has a commonality of caste and

gender discrimination. North, East South West caste seems to be the best

for Indians who can not live with out, who are told infinite virtues of

their caste and the great achievements of it. My point is that as far

as feudal structure is concerned, that remain intact in India despite a

secular constitution. It is a bullying tactics to make all those who

look different or dissenters to either fall in line or perish. …

The

issues of violence against Dalits in India put serious question mark

about our judicial system. Why do the Dalits not getting justice in our

institutions. India is already facing tribal revolt at the moment, a

Dalit revolt will only add to its woes and it would be difficult for it

to recover. Let the democracy and its institutions prove that they honor

equality and dignity of human being and are capable of providing

justice to each and every citizen of the country without any racial

discrimination. Khairlanji’s incident has proved that our courts have

not yet sensitized to the Dalit cause. The incidents of children not

eating food cooked by the Dalit cooks also reflect that Indian

constitution has not yet been able to prove its supremacy over the rigid

and outdated laws of Manu. The various forms caste violence, honored

killings and inability of children to mix up only reflect that Indian

state has failed in secularizing the people and most importantly the

political class itself has no faith in secular values except using it to

satisfy the whims and fancies of caste and religious thugs. Nothing

could be more shameful for a nation claiming to be a superpower in the

21st century. It’s a wake up call for all.

http://www.countercurrents.org/rawat210710.htm

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Terrible train of accidents – Editorial (Jul 20, 2010, The Hindu)

Fourteen railway accidents in ten months, the second in West Bengal

in two months. But this time the Railways cannot blame the Maoists, who

were behind the blast in the track that resulted in a serious derailment

and the death of 146 passengers on May 28. In the wee hours of Monday,

about 190 km from Kolkata, a speeding Uttar Banga Express rammed into

the Vananchal Express that was just leaving the Sainthia station. The

fundamental safety procedure in the Railways is that when a track is

occupied, the signalling system will not let in another train. There

have been no reports of any sabotage. So there can be only two possible

reasons for the latest tragedy on the tracks that claimed at least 60

lives: the driver of the Uttar Banga Express, who died in the collision,

either disregarded the signal; or the signal failed.

For all

that, the Uttar Banga Express was supposed to stop at that station. So

what could explain the speed at which it entered the very same platform

from which the other Express train was just about to leave? The impact

of the crash was such that one of the Vananchal Express coaches mounted

the pedestrian overbridge ahead of it. As the tragedy occurred some time

between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., the passengers must have been fast asleep

and rescue operations also took some time to get under way. Two of the

Vananchal Express coaches that took the impact were unreserved

compartments; so even the number of passengers in them, not to mention

the identity of the dead, took some time to establish. In addition to

the Railway relief teams, the Army sent a special contingent to help

with the rescue effort, which involved the use of cutters to extricate

bodies.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is clearly not up to the

job of ensuring safety on the tracks. Against the backdrop of tragedy,

her modus has been to use the Maoist-caused railway accidents in West

Bengal to blame the Left Front government. Her predecessors at the Rail

Bhavan lost no time in accusing her of neglect and asking her to choose

between Bengal politics and the Railway Ministry. The stream of

accidents in recent months is a stark reminder that the Indian Railways

needs to do substantially more to ensure safety and security on the

tracks. Whether it was a signal failure or a human error this time, the

Railway administration must urgently address the key issues – the

modernisation of safety equipment, the maintenance of track and signals,

the failure of top management to put in place state-of-the-art

‘fail-safe mechanisms,’ and the re-training and fitness of the staff,

especially drivers, their assistants, guards, and those at the stations -

to prevent the recurrence of such mishaps.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/20/stories/2010072050941000.htm

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Book Review

Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India: Armed Forces, Police and Paramilitary during Communal Riots

Author: Omar Khalidi

Reviewed by: C R Sridhar

Available at:

Three Essays Collective, PO Box 6, B-957 Palam Vihar, GURGAON (Haryana)

122 017 India , 2010; pp 194, Rs 300 (India), $12 (elsewhere). http://www.threeessays.com/

Review:

Dwindling Muslim Khakis (Jul 17, 2010, Economic and Political Weekly)

It

is often said that the monopoly of violence vests with the State. The

coercive power of the State, which is expressed through its agencies

such as the army, civil police and paramilitary organisations, is for

the primary purpose of maintaining public peace and tranquility.… In

democratic governments, which are multi-ethnic and multi-religious,

there are grave challenges to the exercise of state power. This is

especially true in the context of riots, pogroms and communal conflicts

when the State has to step in to decisively maintain public order. Apart

from adhering to constitutional safeguards respecting human rights, the

State must be seen to be dispensing neutral and fair justice. To gain

the wide support of the public in maintaining order, the exercise of

coercive power must also enjoy the claims of legitimacy. Omar Khalidi,

an independent scholar and a staff member at the Massachusetts Institute

of Technology, posits the theory that in a multi-ethnic,

multi-religious country such as India in which inter-group conflicts are

rife, the coercive mechanism of the State must be fully representative

of the national demography. As he says in his book, “an unrepresentative

force makes the state a lot less legitimate for those unrepresentative

in its most obvious instrument of coercion” (p 84).

In his study,

which contains three essays covering the armed forces, police, and the

intelligence agencies and paramilitary, there is a common theme that

binds the subjects covered. The dominant theme of his study is the

under-representation of certain minorities, especially the Muslims in

the security forces, and the consequential damage to fair play and

neutral justice when quelling communal riots by the security agencies.

Drawing from various sources such as official directives, interviews

with military personnel, journalists and academic scholars, he asks

polemical questions such as what is the ethnic and religious background

of these troops. Does the composition of these forces mirror the

diversity of Indian society? Does a disproportionate representation of

the majority community tilt the balance against effective impartial

policing in crises involving minority groups in communal clashes? These

questions form a critical part of his enquiry, which assumes crucial

relevance in independent India that has experienced nearly half a

century of ethnic riots. … The uprising of 1857 witnessed the rebellion

of upper caste Hindus and Muslims against the British in India. There

was a change of policy inasmuch the separate armies were disbanded and

put under the command of central British Indian army. The British

followed a divide and rule policy – pitting one ethnic group against the

other – in order to maintain balance (pp 1-2). The recruitment of

Muslims waned as the British distrusted them but their fortunes soon

revived during the second world war as enlistment again opened up for

this ethnic group in the auxiliary units of the army for reasons of

manpower shortage (p 6). When the curtain came down on British rule, the

army had 30 to 36% Muslims but in 1953, the percentage of Muslims in

the army dwindled to 2% (p 15). In the late 1990s the figure dropped to

1% out of 11,00,000 men at arms (p 48). These figures are alarming when

compared with the census figure in 1951 and 2001, which placed the

Muslims at 10% (8.3 million) and 13.4% of the population, respectively.

Apart

from the dwindling numbers of Muslims enrolled in the army, the picture

is far from encouraging in the police, paramilitary and intelligence

agencies. In India since independence, the Indian Police Service (IPS)

shows in the author’s words “over-representation for all religious

minorities except Muslims and slight over-representation for the Hindus”

(p 91). In a table appended to his book the author marshals his

argument in support of his proposition that Muslims are lagging behind

in the IPS, by giving stark figures showing that Muslim participation in

IPS ranged from 1.55% to 3.65% during the period 1947 to 2002 (p 95).

In states such as Uttar Pradesh, out of 352 IPS officers belonging to

that cadre only nine were Muslims (2002) (p 104) while in Andhra Pradesh

the Muslims constitute 16.5%, of the force whereas their percentage in

the population is only 8% (p 109). Apart from Andhra Pradesh the figures

of other states show a low representation of Muslims in the police

civil service. In the Intelligence agencies such as the Intelligence

Bureau and the Research Analysis and Wing, Muslims are distrusted and

there is a deliberate policy of not recruiting them as being a threat to

national security (pp 156-57). In the paramilitary forces, the Muslims

are not represented in proportion to the population. As per 2006 figures

available showing community percentage in various paramilitary forces,

the Muslim proportion is in the range of 3.6% to 4.6%, much below their

population share (p 168). The trauma of Partition, which saw thousands

of innocent Muslims and Hindus killed, raised the issue of Muslim

loyalty. When many Muslim army men opted to serve in Pakistan, there

were questions asked “would Muslim soldiers serving in India be

politically reliable and dependable under condition of conflict with

Pakistan?” “Would the Muslim serving in the Indian army be a Trojan

Horse for Pakistan?” According to the author, these fears forced the

Nehru administration to go slow in recruiting Muslims who remained in

India after Partition. The test of Muslim loyalty cropped up in 1947

when India went to war with Pakistan over the Kashmir issue. The wounds

were opened again in the Indo-Pak war of 1965, and in 1971, over

Bangladesh when bitter questions were asked about Muslim loyalty even

when Muslims served with valour in the Indian army against Pakistan.

The

demonisation of Islam proceeds to treat “the Muslim” as one exciting

fear, fantasy, distrust, anger, envy and hatred and this myth is a part

of the ideology of Hindutva. The stereotype constructs the myth that the

Muslim other is morally bankrupt, corrupt, rigid, backward, dirty and

fanatic. The war on terror with its hysterical overtones perpetuates the

myth that every Muslim is a potential terrorist, which is exploited by

the Hindu right like the BJP and Shiv Sena (Anand 2005). Large-scale

Hindu-Muslim riots, namely, the anti-Muslim riots of 1969 in Ahmedabad

or the communal riots of 1992-93 in Bombay, the pogrom of 2002 in

Gujarat – to name a couple – have marred the record of secularism in our

country. More serious is the inroads made by the Hindutva philosophy in

the security forces. The author says the invitation given to the Shiv

Sena and Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh leaders to address the army has

vitiated Hindu-Muslim harmony in recent times. According to him, the

saffronisation of Khaki forces has firmly anchored itself in the

political process and has deepened the fault lines in secular India. On

the role of the security forces in dispensing even-handed justice – the

author makes some interesting observations. He finds the army with its

high standards of professionalism has protected the interests of the

minority and has acted fairly without any communal bias. However, the

role of the police and the paramilitary agencies comes in for sharp

criticism. Here, again, interesting patterns emerge for consideration:

In the communist-ruled states of West Bengal and Kerala, the police

acted fairly when dealing with communal riots – though the presence of

Muslims is lower than their share in the population. Similarly, in Bihar

and Uttar Pradesh under the governments of Lalu Prasad Yadav and

Mulayam Singh, respectively, the role of the police has been exemplary

when affording protection to Muslims during communal disturbances.

In

Andhra Pradesh, where the representation of Muslims in the police force

has been higher than that of its population, the role of the police

remained hostile to the interests of the Muslim community. In other

states where the hard right such as the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv

Sena formed governments, as in Maharashtra and Gujarat, the police

played a partisan role and remained inactive spectators, while violence

was perpetrated against the Muslims. The coherent exposition of the

author is somewhat marred when he makes a loose assertion that the army

was unwilling to take action against Hindu mobs trying to destroy the

Babri masjid. The author is possibly unaware of the fact that the army

can only act in aid of civil power only when asked to do so by the civil

authorities. In this case, it was the Kalyan Singh government that

should have requested the army to intervene as law and order is a state

subject (Daruwalla 2004). … In spite of the deficiencies in the author’s

argument, he is on a surer footing when he puts forth the view that a

police force composed of all or most segments of the society at all or

most levels has a positive effect on civic and social attitudes,

tolerance and even skills. He further adds that a representative police

will significantly do better in enforcing criminal justice system, civil

and human rights. For his coherent articulation in support of

diversified security forces mirroring minority interests, his book

deserves to be discussed widely if we are to preserve our democratic

traditions in our troubled multi-ethnic and multi-religious society.

http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/14971.pdf

Related posts:

  1. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – April 26th, 2010
  2. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – July 5th, 2010
  3. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – July 12th, 2010
  4. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – July 19th, 2010
  5. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – January 26th, 2009

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