IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – June 28th, 2010

by Publisher on June 28, 2010

In this issue

News Headlines

Opinions & Editorials

News Headlines

Accused failed twice in bid to plant bombs at Mecca

Masjid (Jun 23, 2010, Times of India)

RSS members Devender Gupta and Lokesh Sharma who were arrested by the

CBI in the Mecca blast case had attempted to plant bombs in Mecca

Masjid on May 4 and May 11, 2007, (both Fridays) before finally

succeeding on May 18, again a Friday. According to police sources, the

two have confessed to visiting Hyderabad in May 2007 and making trips to

the mosque on two earlier Fridays and checking out the areas where they

could plant the bombs.

“We went to the mosque as tourists with

backpacks carrying bombs. On our earlier visits, there were too many

people around and we couldn’t gather nerves. Finally, on May 18 we did

our job before the rush of worshippers began at around 11 am,” they

reportedly told the CBI sleuths who are investigating the case. One bomb

was planted under the takht (a marble platform) in the verandah and the

other in a bag and hung on the compound wall grill near the main gate

of the mosque. The bomb under the takht exploded as timed and killed

nine persons while the one which was on the grill did not go off owing

to some technical snag. The duo said that they boarded a bus and left

Hyderabad soon after executing their plan.

Further, they

reportedly said that they carried out the Mecca Masjid blast on the

direction of Ramchandra Kalsangra, alias Ramji, and his associate

Sandeep Dange, also members of the RSS. Ramji, they said, wanted to take

revenge for the March 2007 bomb attack on Varanasi’s Sankatmochan

temple. He believed that the attack was carried out by Muslims and

therefore they should be paid back by a similar action against their

places of worship. Ramji, who is the prime accused in the Mecca blast is

also the main suspect in the Ajmer blast case as well. Ramji and Gupta

have reportedly gone underground since the Rajasthan police announced

their involvement in the dargah attack.

The sources said that the

bombs used in Ajmer and Mecca Masjid were assembled at Kalsangra’s home

town of Indore. They said after Gupta was arrested by the Rajasthan

ATS, the RSS is believed to have suspended him from the organization.

Gupta was zilla pracharak of the Sangh’s Giridih unit in Jharkhand and

incharge of six districts. Gupta also operated in the name of Ramesh

Kumar and procured SIM cards under false identities from Jamtada,

Asansol and Chittaranjan.

The cards used in the bomb that was

exploded at Ajmer Dargah was bought in the name of one Babulal Yadav.

The SIM card recovered from the unexploded bomb at Mecca Masjid was also

procured in the name of Babulal Yadav. For inexplicable reasons, the

Hyderabad city police at that time did not take this fact seriously.

Sources said that CBI has clinching evidence against the involvement of

Gupta and is trying to confirm the role of Sharma who reportedly

arranged logistics with the help of his contacts in Hyderabad.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6080710.cms

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Joint probe into blasts by Hindu terror groups?

(Jun 26, 2010, Hindustan Times)

In a move that signals the Centre’s intention to crack the whip on

Hindu radical groups, the government is considering the feasibility of a

combined probe into all bomb blasts suspected to have been carried out

by such groups. Two extremist outfits, Abhinav Bharat and Sanatan

Sansthan, have repeatedly figured on the scanner of intelligence and

investigative agencies trying to track down perpetrators of at least

five blasts including the ones in Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid, Ajmer and

Maharashtra’s Malegaon.

Government officials said the best course

of action would be to have all the cases investigated by a single set of

investigators since evidence had surfaced indicating that some cases

might be linked. If this is not possible, an official said the second

option was to hold coordination meetings that would bring investigators

looking at different cases – and possibly different ends of the same

outfit – to sit across the table to share their investigations with

others.

While the home ministry will need consent of the states

concerned to hand over cases to the CBI, the National Investigation

Agency Act does not necessitate consent of the state. “Ideally, if the

states are not making progress, we would like to work with them and

convince them,” a home ministry official said. “We are going to convene a

meeting of investigators handling about half a dozen such cases soon,”

the official said, adding that this strategy of getting interrogators

together had paid dividends in the past.

The move comes against

the backdrop of Home Minister P. Chidambaram nudging Islamabad to

prosecute terrorists on its soil. The CBI has acknowledged that the link

between the Mecca Masjid, Samjhauta and Ajmer blasts was the similar

type of detonating device. All three were in the initial stages

attributed to the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen or Lashkar-e-Tayyeba. “At this

stage, we believe Abhinav Bharat could be involved,” a ministry official

said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/563698.aspx

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To call or not to call Modi, others: Nanavati

panel replies to HC (Jun 26, 2010, Indian Express)

The state government on Friday submitted a sealed report of the

Nanavati-Mehta Commission before the Gujarat High Court regarding the

panel’s status on summoning Chief Minister Narendra Modi and six others

in connection with the 2002 Godhra train carnage and the subsequent

riots.

The report was submitted after the HC on June 17 granted a

week’s time to the government to comply with its order to the

Commission to make its stand clear on the matter. Following the order,

Government Pleader Prakash Jani today produced a letter from the

Commission addressed to him along with a sealed envelope sent by the

probe panel to be submitted before the court.

The HC had sought

the status report while acting on a petition filed by Jan Sangharsh

Manch (JSM), a voluntary organisation fighting a legal battle for the

2002 riot victims. The petition had demanded the summoning of Modi and

six others by the Commission to probe their role and conduct in the

statewide communal riots.

The Commission had turned down the

demand. Following this, JSM moved the higher court. Further hearing on

the petition has been kept for June 30. The Commission, appointed by the

government, was last week granted another extension of six months till

December 31.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/638779/

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Sohrabuddin killing: Three cops bail plea rejected

(Jun 24, 2010, Thaindian.com)

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Thursday

rejected the bail applications of three policemen accused in the

Sohrabuddin Sheikh staged shooting case. The bail applications moved by

two Rajsthan policemen and a Gujarat policeman, were rejected by Special

CBI Judge A.Y. Dave.

Himanshusinh Rajavat and Shamsinh Charan,

sub-inspectors of Rajasthan Police, and Narsinh Dabhi, an inspector with

Gujarat Police, moved bail pleas before the court on the ground of

delay in filing of CBI’s chargesheet.

However, the judge rejected

their applications on the ground that the CBI is taking further the

investigation and not undertaking a fresh investigation. Therefore, the

central agency is not under an obligation to file a chargesheet as it

has to submit the report before the Supreme Court.

The CBI has

taken over the investigation of the Sohrabuddin killing from Gujarat

Police under orders of the apex court and has been given six months to

file its report. Sohrabuddin was allegedly gunned down by Gujarat Police

in 2005.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/sohrabuddin-killing-three-cops-bail-plea-rejected_100385542.html

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Ishrat fake encounter case: IB inputs were

manufactured in Gujarat (Jun 22, 2010, Times of India)

The input from Central Intelligence Bureau that was claimed to have

triggered the Ishrat Jahan encounter in 2004, may have been concocted.

This line of probe has been taken up by the central IB which is now on a

soul-searching mode. “All IB inputs given to Gujarat since 2001 are now

under scrutiny. This is a fallout of the controversial affidavit filed

by the central government in the HC in connection with the Ishrat Jahan

case,” said sources in the IB.

On June 15, 2004, Ishrat Jahan was

killed along with her friend Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two

Pakistanis – Zeeshan Johar and Amjadali Rana – in a police encounter

that took place in Ahmedabad’s outskirts. Later, crime branch officials

had claimed that the encounter had taken place on the basis of a tip-off

received from the central IB. Now, the very tip-off is under question.

Probe carried out by central IB officials so far has revealed: “First

the Gujarat police would get hold of accused, like in the Ishrat case,

then they would get together with IB officers to trigger a suitable

intelligence input to justify their operation. The role played by

central IB officers posted in Gujarat at that time period is now under

scrutiny.”

In 2009, Shamima Kausar, Ishrat’s mother, filed a

petition in Gujarat High Court seeking a CBI inquiry into the matter.

Then, Gujarat police told the court that this was a genuine encounter on

the basis of an intelligence input from the central IB. Subsequently

officers of Union home department too had filed an affidavit supporting

the encounter. This had created a controversy and the central government

found itself in the dock. Later, a second affidavit was filed in which

the central government said that the input had been sent by central IB

but the killings by Gujarat police could not be justified on this basis.

The affidavit also recommended a CBI probe into the matter.

After

this hullabaloo, Union home ministry got the central IB to scrutinise

all intelligence inputs sent to Gujarat police. During the probe, said

sources, the intelligence officials learnt that some senior officials of

Gujarat police and central IB were involved in triggering this

suspicious tip-off. The IB officer, who was then posted in Gujarat, is

now in Delhi. Heads may roll, once the investigations reach their

logical end, said central IB sources.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6076968.cms

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CBI registers FIR against 12 UP policemen in fake

encounter case (Jun 25, 2010, DNA India)

The CBI has registered an FIR against 12 policemen, including an IPS

officer, for their alleged involvement in a fake encounter case. “The

FIR was registered by CBI against 12 policemen on June 23 after

conducting the inquiry in the case”, a senior CBI official said. The

policemen against whom the FIR have been registered are J Ravider Gaur,

an 2005 batch IPS officer and currently posted as superintendent of

police Balrampur, inspectors – Vikas Saxena, Mula Singh, Devendra

Shamra, RK Gupta, constables – Gauri Shankar Vishwakarma, Ravi Prakash

Shukla, Virendra Sharma, Dinesh Singh, Anil Kumar and Kalicharan, he

said.

The alleged fake encounter took place in Bareilly CB Ganj

area on June 30, 2007, when a youth Mukul Gupta was killed. The police

claimed that he was shot dead as he was going to loot a bank.

Gupta’s

father Brajendra later moved to the court claiming that his son was

innocent. The Allahabad high court had on February 26 ordered a CBI

probe in the matter. Besides charge of murder, the policemen have been

charged with attempt to destroy/conceal evidence, the official said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/dnaprint910.php?newsid=1401071

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Ban on Narendra Modi, Varun Gandhi in Bihar

elections (Jun 22, 2010, Indian Express)

The message from Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) is to keep both out of Bihar

during elections, making BJP men run to LK Advani for a solution.

However, sources indicate that Nitish Kumar has not officially asked for

BJP to keep both Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi, known for their

vitriolic poll rhetoric, which can upset minorities, out of Bihar. Bihar

Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Modi on Tuesday met

senior BJP leader L K Advani to discuss the future of the troubled

alliance with key ally JD(U) in the state.

Modi, who reached the

capital this morning to attend a meeting of Bihar BJP Core Group with

party president Nitin Gadkari, is understood to have apprised Advani

about the latest developments in the relationship between the two

long-term allies. Modi was accompanied by party Chief spokesperson Ravi

Shankar Prasad, who also hails from Bihar. Party sources said Gadkari’s

meeting with the Bihar Core Group in the evening would be crucial as he

will take a decision on the future of ties with JD(U) after listening to

the views and advice of the state leaders. Advani has already made it

clear that a final decision on the matter would be taken by Gadkari.

However, he is keeping a close watch on the situation and has talked to

his party leaders on the issue.

Meanwhile, two senior JD(U)

leaders, on condition of anonymity, today said that they are averse to

the idea of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi or BJP leader Varun

Gandhi taking part in the campaigning for upcoming Assembly elections in

Bihar. Sources in JDU said that any compromise over allowing Modi and

Varun in Bihar during elections is “unlikely” and the party has no

qualms in going it alone for the Assembly elections if BJP remains

adamant on sending Modi and Gandhi to Bihar.

Asked whether the

party has placed any such demand to the BJP, a top party leader said,

“they have not gone there even in earlier elections.” BJP sources,

however, said that they had not received any such demand from JD(U). “We

have not received any such demand. But even if JD(U) makes any such

request we are not going to accept it. After all, accepting this demand

would also adversely impact the reputation of Modi in the party and with

the public at large,” a senior BJP leader said.

Relations

between JD(U) and BJP soured during the June 12-13 BJP national

executive in Patna when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar objected to

advertisements praising Narendra Modi for giving flood relief to Bihar

in 2008 and showing the two leaders clasping hands. On Monday, Gadkari

and M Venkaiah Naidu had a meeting with Advani on the Bihar issue.

Earlier in the day, BJP Bihar unit chief C P Thakur and former union

minister from the state Shahnawaz Hussain had called on him.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/637123/

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Bhopal gas tragedy: Government did not allow

court-ordered probe (Jun 26, 2010, DNA India)

Bhopal gas tragedy victims and the activists working for them have

demanded that the government allow CBI to execute the letter rogatory

issued by a Bhopal court 22 years ago for investigations in the United

States (US). According to the activists, the Bhopal chief judicial

magistrate (CJM) had told CBI then to carry out a comparative study of

Union Carbide Corporation (UCC’s) safety systems at its Bhopal and West

Virginia plants to verify if the company had adopted dual safety

standards. The activists said the government had to date not allowed CBI

to execute this order, without which the investigations in the case

were incomplete.

“Warren Anderson is not the only accused. There

are a large number of officials posted at the Bhopal plant who neglected

the safety measures and are responsible for the disaster,” said ND

Jayaprakash of Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti. “Action

should be taken against Warren Woolmer, the UCC works manager who

decided to shut down the refrigeration system for cost cutting in 1982.

The safety systems were not fully operational during the time of

disaster,” Jayaprakash said. The victims expressed disappointment with

the group of minister (GoM’s) recommendation for compensation, saying

they felt cheated. Terming the compensation as mere eyewash and

“posturing before international community” the victim groups said they

wanted immediate compensation based on medical records.

“More than

1.5 lakh people who continue to seek medical treatment 25 years after

the disaster have been categorised “temporarily injured” and denied

compensation. Official data regarding deaths makes it appear that only 7

victims have died since 1992 and registration of deaths was arbitrarily

stopped in 1997. The GoM has made no observations about this,”

Jayaprakash said. Satinath Sarangi from the Bhopal Group for Information

and Action said, “We are going to ask the GoM to include second and

third generation individuals who continue to suffer from contamination.”

They

have also demanded a comprehensive assessment of water and soil

contamination by a technically qualified agency. “The European

Commission had offered financial and technical assistance to carry out

the assessment as per European standards. But the government did not

accept this offer. The claim that the ground water is not contaminated

has been refuted by more than 13 studies, including government agencies,

Center for Science and Environment and Greenpeace,” Sadhna Karnik of

Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti said.

The question of

liability of UCC and its present owner the Dow Chemical Company, USA,

has not been adequately addressed. The government has to make the

polluters pay for the cleaning up, Rachna Dhingra from the Bhopal Group

for Information and Action said. The groups want an all-party committee,

having members of the victims’ groups, to look into the matter again.

http://www.dnaindia.com/dnaprint910.php?newsid=1401372

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Brahmins, Hindutva have ruined Hindu religion:

Bhalchandra Nemade (Jun 26, 2010, DNA India)

The most-awaited Marathi novel, Hindu, will be launched on July 15.

Chronicled following a 31-year research by the author, Bhalchandra

Nemade, the book will dispel many notions propounded by right-wing

lobbyists. “Research shows that the Hindu caste system originally was

horizontal and parallel. Over a period of time, the Brahmins made it

vertical, dogmatic and hierarchical. Earlier, all persons were equal;

only their work differed. The inequality first created by Manusmriti

exists even today,” Nemade told DNA.

The domination by the

Brahmins and the Hindutva organisations has ruined the Hindu society, he

said. “The problem is these Hindutva organisations’ claims are not

corroborated. They have misinterpreted the Hindu religion and destroyed

the society,” Nemade said. Nemade is a renowned Marathi author with five

popular novels to his credit. He undertook the task of researching the

Hindu religion from its origin to the present day. According to him, his

research showed how literature had been tampered with, and later,

history too, to suit the interest of the Brahmins.

The biggest

challenge for him was getting information and documentation on Dravidian

societies. “My challenge was to get studies, papers, historic

documentation and information on Dravidian societies, particularly about

the people living in the Andamans. It is a huge loss to our country

that we have no documentation on the groups living in the Andamans,”

Nemade said.

“They are people of mixed gene pool. It shows that

inter-marriage between the Aryans and the Dravidians existed,” he said.

The book, published in four parts, is priced at Rs 650. Publisher

Rasmdas Bhatkal said, “There have been no novels before documenting the

Hindu society from its origin to the present day. This one is a

masterpiece.”

http://www.dnaindia.com/dnaprint910.php?newsid=1401363

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Police arrest honour killers, not killings (Jun

24, 2010, Hindustan Times)

The young man showed little remorse and less guilt. Neither did the

other two, all arrested on Thursday for the alleged triple honour

killings in Delhi. They had been in hiding since June 20. He and his two

friends are accused of murdering the sister and brother-in-law of one

and the sister of another, in an apparent attempt to ‘save’ the honour

of their families.

Ghaziabad SSP Raghubir Lal said the accused

confessed to the murders and said they were tired of “mudslinging by the

villagers” after their sisters eloped.Ghaziabad police arrested Ankit

Chaudhury (22), Mandeep Nagar (23), and Nakul Khari (21) in a Hyundai

I10 car on Thursday from NH 24 during a routine check. They are the

prime suspects in the murders of Ankit’s sister and brother-in-law -

Kuldeep (26) and Monica Singh (24) – and Mandeep’s sister, Shobha (20).

On June 20, after allegedly committing the murders, the trio fled in

this car borrowed from a villager.

All of them belong to the

Wazirpur area of northwest Delhi and were arrested near their ancestral

village in Ghaziabad, 75 km east from the capital, police said. The

accused reportedly blamed the victims for bringing dishonour to the

family by marrying out of caste. Monica, a Gujjar, had married Kuldeep, a

Rajput four years ago. Shobha had briefly married her Muslim boyfriend

but returned home. She had also helped her youngest sister Khusboo elope

on May 25.

Ghaziabad SSP Raghubir Lal said the accused confessed

to the murders and said they were tired of “mudslinging by the

villagers” after their sisters eloped. “The accused said they felt

humiliated by the taunts of the villagers after their sisters had

eloped,” a police officer involved in the arrest told media. However,

when asked by reporters about the motive behind the murders Ankit said

they had not committed any crime. “Humne koi murder nahin kiya. Hum to

ghoomne gaye the phir newspapers mein hamaari photo aane lagi. To Hum

dar gaye or underground ho gaye (We did not kill anyone. When our

pictures were published in newspapers we got scared and went

underground),” an aggressive Ankit told reporters.

Police said on

June 20, the three men first shot dead Shobha, locked her body in a

Santro car and left it to rot near the Ashok Vihar police station.

Kuldeep was shot twice in his head next and his body was recovered from

his Maruti Esteem car near his Wazirpur village home. The trio then shot

Kuldeep’s wife Monica’s thrice in head at the couple’s home, police

said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/562591.aspx

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Opinions and Editorials

A tougher Bill – Editorial (Jun 26, 2010, The

Tribune)

It is ironical that in a country which swears by secularism and

ahimsa, communal violence is a recurring feature even six decades after

Independence. The unthinkable happens because of two reasons: one, it

has so far been taken as no worse than a routine law and order problem;

and two, many a time, even state actors become a party to it. But

whether it is the 1984 riots in Delhi or the 2002 Gujarat riots,

everyone knows that those have left an indelible mark on the face of the

nation. That is why it has become imperative to curb communal violence.

A Bill in this regard first drafted in 2005 and introduced in

Parliament in November 2006 was too sedate to do so.

It has now

been reworked into the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and

Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill with about 80 changes, and is likely to

be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. So far, the

perpetrators have been able to get away because of lack of coordination

between the states and the Centre. The proposed Bill puts the

responsibility of constituting a unified command to deal with communal

violence in the states on the Centre. That will, hopefully, ensure that

there is no attempt to pass the buck.

Another redeeming feature

is that it makes public servants and officers accountable for acts of

omission or commission. An officer, who is authorised to prevent or

control communal violence, will be punished with imprisonment up to

three years plus fine if he or she exercises the authority in a mala

fide manner or wilfully refrains from using the authority vested in him

or her.

As in health issues, prevention is better than cure. It

is the duty of every citizen, politician and party to make sure that

nothing is done to precipitate communal tension. By now it has become

quite obvious that violence begets violence. It is in everyone-s

interest that no one be allowed to vitiate the atmosphere and the evil

be nipped in the bud. But if some mischievous elements are bent upon

spreading the poison, it should be clear to them that punishment would

be swift and exemplary. The Bill would be meaningful only if it is

implemented in letter as well as spirit.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100626/edit.htm#2

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Small recompense – Editorial (Jun 26, 2010, The

Hindu)

After more than 25 years of apathy and callousness on the part of

successive governments at the Centre, the decision of the Union Cabinet

to enhance compensation to the victims of the Bhopal gas leak calamity,

and carry out environmental remediation is a small step forward. Delays

and denials have sapped the energy of the survivors fighting for

justice. Nothing the government can ever do will come close to relieving

them of suffering or making up for their losses.

The Cabinet

went by the recommendations of the Group of Ministers constituted to

examine “all issues” relating to the calamity, including the extradition

of 89-year-old Warren Anderson, ex-chairman of Union Carbide

Corporation. According to the minutes of the meeting of the GoM,

obtained by The Hindu and made available at www.thehindu.com, the GoM

felt that, for practical reasons, the classification of claims and cases

made by the Welfare Commissioner for Bhopal Gas Victims “would have to

be accepted.”

The numbers thus have no relation to those proposed

by activists and non-governmental organisations. But within the old

classification of death (5,295 persons), permanent disability (3,199),

cases of cancer (about 2,000) and total renal failure (about 1,000), and

temporary disability (33,672), the GoM went for enhanced compensation.

The maximum amount is Rs.10 lakh, less the amount already paid, in the

case of death, and the minimum is Rs. one lakh, less the amount already

paid, in the case of temporary disability. After all these years and

considering the enormity of the tragedy, these amounts seem pitiful

recompense, small change indeed.

The GoM was perfectly aware that

after what happened on December 7, 1984, there was virtually no chance

of having Mr. Anderson extradited from the United States to face Indian

justice. Nevertheless, it virtuously recommended that the Central Bureau

of Investigation be directed to put together additional material in

support of the extradition request. It is a shock to learn that the

Ministry of External Affairs has no record of the Anderson visit.

Relying on “contemporary media reports,” the GoM report offers the

surmise that “he visited India on an oral assurance (it is not known by

whom) of safe passage, and he left India presumably on the basis of that

assurance.”

It claims that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was

briefed on “the matter” only after Mr. Anderson left the country. G.K.

Reddy’s authoritative Page 1 story in The Hindu of Saturday, December 8,

1984, reproduced on the opposite page and analysed separately in this

issue, gives the lie to this piece of fiction. The retreat from a firm

and just course of action – the sell-out of the interests of the victims

witnessed on December 7, 1984 – is of a piece with what happened over

the next quarter century.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/26/stories/2010062655071000.htm

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NDA blues in Bihar: BJP again finds itself at

crossroads – Editorial (Jun 22, 2010, The Tribune)

Efforts to pass off the war of words in Bihar as nothing but a

lovers’ quarrel between alliance partners Janata Dal ( U) and the

Bharatiya Janata Party are too simplistic. Indeed, the ‘cooling period’

signalled on Monday by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who advised

the media to relax and not get worked up over the seemingly simmering

political crisis, can scarcely gloss over the bitterness that has crept

into the NDA coalition in the state. A section of BJP leaders led by

Yashwant Sinha has publicly dared Nitish Kumar to break the alliance

while BJP supporters in Patna hit the streets and burnt his effigies.

His deputy Sushil Kumar Modi publicly complained about the CM’s

arbitrary functioning and the state BJP president, C.P. Thakur, declared

that if push came to shove, party would be willing to contest the

impending Assembly election in Bihar alone.

Publicly reacting to a

newspaper advertisement, cancelling a dinner for BJP leaders at the

eleventh hour and returning Rs 5 crore from the state’s flood relief

fund to the Gujarat government will continue to be seen as somewhat

impulsive and politically immature acts of the Bihar CM. But then Nitish

Kumar, who is an old hand in politics and was instrumental in

catapulting the then relatively unknown Lalu Prasad Yadav as the Chief

Minister, may well have been testing the water, deliberately provoking

the BJP to break ranks so that JD(U) may contest the Assembly election

alone.

The BJP, however, is convinced that JD(U) cannot afford to

do without the organisational muscle of the saffron party. Yet another

dimension of the ugly spat is that both Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar

are ambitious and seem to fancy their chances of becoming NDA’s prime

ministerial candidates in future. The competing game of political

one-upmanship could, therefore, be designed merely to cut each other to

size.

It could all turn out to be sound and fury signifying

nothing. But the BJP is left with the thankless and unenviable task of

doing a tight-rope walk between Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar. Fast

running out of allies and with even the Shiv Sena taking pot-shots at

the BJP in Maharashtra, the main opposition party is again at crossroads

and needs to find the shortest way out of the jam.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100622/edit.htm#3

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Police Accountability – Editorial (Jun 23, 2010,

Nav Hind Times)

It would be naive to expect a confessional statement from the Goa

police that granting of bail to the alleged drug dealer, Atala Benaim

was a set-back to it. The observation of the Narcotics Drugs and

Psychotropic Substances Act Court Judge Ms Bimba Thaly that the police

did not have new evidence to justify his continuance in judicial custody

makes it amply clear that the Goa police did not handle this sensitive

case in a professional manner. Since six police officials were suspended

and jailed for their link with the drug mafia, the Goa police should

have been more careful and worked hard to collect clinching evidences to

substantiate their charges before the court. But it did not happen.

The

Goa police has promised to investigate the case, but the fact remains

that release of Atala has weakened the basic foundation of the case. It

cannot be denied that release of Atala would make the suspended police

officers to argue for fresh evaluation of the charges against them as

they were wrongly implicated in the case. By now the police should have

collected evidences to verify and substantiate the claims of Atala that

some policemen were in league with him and stole drugs from Mapusa court

to resale in the market.

This is not the first time the Goa

police has been found faltering. Mahanand Naik had allegedly confessed

to the Goa police to killing more than ten women but at least in three

cases the charges of the police could not stand the judicial scrutiny

during the trial. While acquitting Mahanand of the murder charge, the

Additional Sessions Judge, Margao observed, “the attempts of the

prosecution to rope in the accused in the said case have fallen flat”.

If the claims of the Goa police were to be believed it had prepared a

strong case against Mahanand. It is one of the most gruesome as well as

intriguing stories. The court’s verdict in the first case itself

reinforces the belief that Mahanand was a scapegoat.

Release of

Atala should make the Home Minister, Mr Ravi Naik sit up and take stock

of what is happening in Goa police. Usually senior officers are to

monitor the works of their juniors. But the manner in which the police

has been failing to substantiate its charges against the culprits simply

reinforces the fact that senior officers are not properly guiding the

junior officers. Else this situation would not have arisen. Some time

back the IGP, Mr K D Singh had highlighted the stress factor. But this

certainly justify that the police should not ignore their basic duty in

preparing a foolproof case.

The Home Minister had promised to

take action against the erring police officials but how to explain lack

of effective monitoring by the superior officers? If Mr Naik would have

been serious about the promises he made, the present situation would not

have arisen. Successive state governments promised to break illicit

drug network through sustained drive. However, the promises failed to

yield decisive results. On the contrary, drug trafficking in Goa during

the past ten years has acquired a menacing proposition. The government

should ensure that the police act with a purpose and not simply perform

their routine duty.

http://www.navhindtimes.in/opinion/police-accountability

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Law and honour – Editorial (Jun 24, 2010, Indian

Express)

Through large parts of north India, young people are being brutalised

and killed by their own family in the name of an abstract “honour”,

directed by oppressive community elders through khap panchayats. Now,

the government is finally demonstrating moral clarity and aggressive

action, as it crafts a new law to break the khaps’ hold.

Given

the recent spike in such cases (or the sudden public spotlight on them),

the Supreme Court stepped in, asking the Centre and eight states

(Haryana, UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and

MP) what protection they offer against the khap panchayat’s predations.

And now, the home ministry has finally stepped up its game, ordering a

stricter, more punishing law for such violence.

Now, khap

panchayat members would have to prove their innocence in case of a

death, and law enforcement agencies have the power to arrest and act

against community leaders who may be spurring social boycotts. The

proposed law will also factor in punishment for the intangibles of

social humiliation – hurting, ostracising, denying water and rations or

exiling those who defy the khaps.

So far legal solutions have

tended to lag because of the social knottiness of the khap panchayat

problem. It becomes difficult to affix direct blame on the panchayats

who present the issue as one of collective stigma and spontaneous

retaliation by the victims’ families. What’s more, the police and

administration tend to follow the political lead – in Haryana especially

there is a shameful political consensus on the electoral utility of

khap panchayats and no leader has demonstrated the spine to denounce

their oppressive sway.

Given that impasse, it makes sense for the

home ministry to bulldoze the law through, without waiting for

intervention from the states. Apart from this measure, the home ministry

also wants to amend the Indian Evidence Act and the Special Marriages

Act and scrap the mandatory 30-day notice period for a marriage, thus

closing the window during which couples are harassed and victimised by

their relatives.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/637900/

SEE

ALSO:

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Letter from Maoists – Editorial (Jun 24, 2010,

Indian Express)

As recently as a couple of centuries ago, a gang of dacoits would

intimate the landlord by epistolary means as to their intention to rob

the latter’s home, mentioning the date and time. In the historical and

literary annals of Bengal, such tales abound. Perhaps that fact alone

might mitigate the tasteless irony of Maoists proclaiming – after the

derailment of the Jnaneswari Express and the deaths thereby of 148

people in West Bengal on May 28 – that henceforth they will”sensitise”

station managers if and when they choose to sabotage tracks.

This,

says Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao, is to ensure that passenger trains

are stopped at a”safe distance”. Is the nation, the Maoist-affected

states, railway travellers, and the kin of those killed on May 28,

supposed to thus acknowledge the”considerateness” of Maoists in the

light of the motley band of”activists” who might insist on something

like that, as they come round to condemning”civilian” deaths while still

doggedly looking the other way for the police-paramilitary personnel

killed?

No. For one, it doesn’t make an inch of difference.

Again, Maoists are and will remain murderous outlaws and criminal

saboteurs till they lay down arms or the anti-Naxal operation reaches

its logical conclusion. Till then, Maoists will lie beyond redemption.

No matter how furiously Kishenji and his comrades dissociate themselves

from the May 28 massacre, the Maoist-called (and likely to be

Maoist-enforced) 48-hour bandh June 30 onwards across five states will

be a criminal violation of the law, irrespective of the declaration to

spare”essential services”.

Regardless of what Jnaneswari-accused

and recently arrested Bapi Mahato said earlier and what he tells

investigators now – that is, whether or not the passenger train itself

was targeted, whether or not death on the maximum scale was sought – the

people of this nation will not take the Maoists’ word for their

designs. Even without the May 28 tragedy, Maoists’ guns had long spoken.

There cannot be any mistake about them.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/637904/

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Related posts:

  1. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – June 7th, 2010
  2. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – June 14th, 2010
  3. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – June 21st, 2010
  4. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – December 28th, 2009
  5. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – September 28th, 2009

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