IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – May 10th, 2010

by iamcadmin on May 9, 2010

In this issue

News Headlines

Opinions & Editorials

News Headlines

Third suspect held for Ajmer Dargah bombing (May 2,
2010, Hindustan Times)

A third man suspected to be involved in the 2007 bombing at the famed
Ajmer Dargah Sharif that killed three people has been detained in
Madhya Pradesh and brought to Rajasthan, police sources said in Jaipur
on Sunday. The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Rajasthan Police held
Vishnu Prasad late Saturday in Shahjahanpur in neighbouring Madhya
Pradesh. He has now been brought to Jaipur for interrogation. Prasad was
picked up for his alleged role in procuring mobile phones and SIM cards
used in the terror strikes, police sources said. The suspect is said to
be a close aide of Chandrashekhar, a member of a Hindu rightwing group,
who was arrested from Shahjahanpur Friday in connection with the blast,
the sources added.

Chandrashekhar’s arrest came close on the
heels of the arrest of Devendra Gupta Wednesday from Ajmer, about 390 km
from New Delhi. The ATS, meanwhile, Saturday filed an application
before the chief judicial magistrate of Ajmer, requesting permission to
conduct a narco test on Gupta. Three people were killed and about 30
injured when a bomb exploded Oct 11, 2007 on the premises of the Dargah
of Sufi Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti which annually draws hundreds of
thousands of devouts both from India and abroad. Ajmer’s additional
chief judicial magistrate remanded Chandreshekhar to 12 days’ police
custody. He is considered an important member of the module that was
apparently formed to carry out the bomb attack at the Dargah.

Though
the ATS officially refused to name the Hindu group said to be linked to
the arrested men, sources in the ATS said it was Abhinav Bharat. The
sources said the ATS team has seized the mobile phone used to trigger
the Dargah blast. The first accused Gupta, who lived in Jharkhand,
reached Ajmer to visit his ailing mother when he was arrested. On
Friday, the chief judicial magistrate in Ajmer remanded him in 12 days
police custody, an ATS official said. The official said that Gupta’s
interrogation had led to fresh leads in the case and that the mastermind
might be based in Gujarat. “A few more people are on our suspect list.
You may see more arrests in the coming days. Our investigations are
expected to lead us to other states too,” he said.

According to
informed sources, the ATS has sent a team to Gujarat to track down the
mastermind. “After interrogating Devendra Gupta, we have strong reasons
to believe that the mastermind of the blast lives in Gujarat. Gupta has
revealed his name too,” an ATS official said. The official said police
were able to trace the accused with the help of SIM cards recovered from
the blast site. Gupta had allegedly purchased the SIM cards for the
mobile handset that triggered the blast.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/538279.aspx

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Muslim groups demand fresh probe into Mecca Masjid
blast (May 3, 2010, Hindustan Times)

Muslim groups in Hyderabad have demanded a fresh probe into the 2007
bomb blast at Mecca Masjid in view of the Central Bureau of
Investigation’s (CBI) revelation that the 2007 blasts at the historic
mosque and the Ajmer shrine were linked. The CBI and Rajasthan’s
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) believe that the blast at the Hyderabad
mosque and the Khwaja Moinuddin Chisthi dargah in Ajmer are the
handiwork of same group. The CBI, which is probing the Mecca Masjid
blast, reportedly got some leads after the Rajasthan ATS arrested
Devender Gupta and Chandrasekhar Patidar of the Hindu group Abhinav
Bharat in connection with the Oct 11, 2007 blast at the Ajmer dargah
that killed three and injured 30 people.

The Mecca Masjid blast
May 18 the same year had claimed claimed nine lives. Five people had
died in subsequent police firing on protestors near the mosque. Muslim
groups are now demanding that the CBI reopen the mosque blast case and
probe the involvement of Hindu activists, including Col P.S. Purohit and
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who also belong to Abhinav Bharat and are
accused in a 2008 bombing in Malegaon in Maharashtra that killed six
people. The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), the key Muslim political
party here, has called for a “thorough probe” to unravel the truth.

MIM
leaders alleged investigating authorities were going soft on the real
culprits and hence no progress could be made for three years. They
pointed out that no sincere efforts were made to probe the involvement
of Hindu terrorist groups and interrogate Sadhavi, Purohit and other
accused in the Malegaon blast. Tameer-e-Millat, a Muslim socio-religious
organisation, has urged the government to reopen the case. It regretted
that five minutes after the blast the police, without even initial
probe, blamed the Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) and other organisations
belonging to some Muslim countries. “It appears some police officials
did not want the investigations into the involvement of Hindu outfits,”
the group said in a statement.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram had
said during his visit to Hyderabad last year that the Mecca Masjid blast
case had turned “cold” as the two primary suspects were dead. Police
claimed that Shahid Bilal, a key suspect in the case, was killed in a
shootout in Pakistan a few weeks after the mosque blast. Shahid, a
native of the city, was allegedly working for the HuJI. Another suspect
was also presumed dead. Immediately after the blast in the 17th century
mosque, the police blamed Bilal, who was also considered the mastermind
behind the terror attacks in other parts of south India during last few
years. The Tameer-e-Millat also alleged that police concocted a story
that the blasts in Lumbini Pak and Gokul Chat were carried out to avenge
the blast at Mecca Masjid.

The near simultaneous blasts at
Lumbini Park and a popular eatery Gokul Chat in Hyderabad Aug 25, 2007
had killed 43 people. “It is surprising that the alleged accused in the
twin blasts were arrested but the culprits in Mecca Masjid blast are
still at large,” it said. Muslim groups have also demanded action
against police officials who blamed Muslim youths for the Mecca Masjid
blast, arrested and tortured them. They pointed out that the police also
conducted narco analysis test on some innocent Muslim youths and
demanded their immediate release.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/538748.aspx

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I always knew Sabahuddin was innocent, says lawyer
(May 3, 2010, Rediff)

Ejaz Naqvi, advocate for Sabahuddin Ahmed, who was acquitted by the
special court in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case, is elated. “I always
said that my client was not involved and the court has upheld whatever I
have said. I am happy that my client has been acquitted. I believed
that he is innocent and being framed in the case. The court has taken
into consideration all that we had contended and rightly acquitted
Sabahuddin. I know that the state government will appeal against the
verdict. I am prepared for such a legal battle. We have a very strong
case.”

“The prosecution had claimed that there were hand-drawn
maps found with Sabahuddin and Fahim Ansari. The prosecution had said
that these maps were drawn out and later handed over to the
Lashkar-e-Tayiba who in turn provided the same maps to the gunmen who
carried out the attack.. Such an attack would involve meticulous
planning and modern equipment. In such an attack of such a magnitude,
where such modern technology was used, there is no place for hand-drawn
maps. While it proves that it was a foreign agency which carried out the
attack, there is no proof to show that Sabahuddin was involved in it,”
Naqvi said.

“I had constantly said that the maps that were
produced by the prosecution were immature and an attack of such a huge
magnitude could not have been carried out with the help of such immature
drawings as the prosecution had claimed. I am extremely happy with the
judgement. We are ready to face the appeal by the prosecution before the
high court and we will fight the case on the same lines as we did in
the sessions court,” Naqvi also told rediff.com.

http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/may/03/anniversary-26-11-i-always-knew-sabahuddin-was-innocent-lawyer.htm

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SC restrains trial court from pronouncing
judgement in Gujarat riots (May 6, 2010, DNA India)

The Supreme Court today restrained the trial court from pronouncing
its judgement in 2002 post Gujarat communal riots cases but refused to
stay the ongoing trial as sought by certain NGOs and rights activists.
“The trial court shall proceed with the trial but no judgement shall be
pronounced,” a bench of Justices DK Jain, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam
said.

The apex court also appointed A K Malhotra, a former DIG of
CBI, to verify allegations of lapses in investigations being conducted
by Special Investigation Team (SIT) into2002 Gujarat communal riots. The
Bench passed the direction while dealing with the plea of the NGO
Citizen for Justice and Peace of Teesta Setalvad and some rights
activists who sought a stay of the trial and sought reconstitution of
SIT for its alleged bias.

The apex court said Malhotra would
verify the allegations after examining the reply filed by SIT on the
issue. After verifying the allegations, Malhotra would submit his report
to the court. Gujarat government has strongly opposed reconstitution of
SIT and stay of the trial which it said was almost on the verge of
conclusion as almost all witnessess had been examined. The apex court
granted permission to SIT to take steps for replacement of two public
prosecutors who had withdrawn from the case alleging non-cooperation
from the probe agency and one of them also attributed bias to the trial
judge.

The bench agreed to the suggestion of amicus curaie and
senior counsel Harish Salve that the two new public prosectuors would be
appointed through consensus after eliciting the views of the
petitioners also. The 10 cases being monitored by SIT on the earlier
directions of the apex court are–Gulberg Society, Ode, Sardarpura,
Narodao Gaon, Naroda Patya, Baranpura, Machipith, Tarsali, Pandarwada
and Raghavapura.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sc-restrains-trial-court-from-pronouncing-judgement-in-gujarat-riots_1379906

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CID cop is Chudasamas partner in crime, says CBI
(May 6, 2010, Indian Express)

The Ahmedabad-based CBI court on Wednesday rejected the agency’s
application seeking extension of suspended IPS officer Abhay Chudasama’s
custody for seven more days in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh
fake encounter case. The court sent Chudasama to judicial custody in the
high-security Sabarmati Central Jail. The extension was denied even as
Public Prosecutor L D Tiwari told the court that extortion was the main
motive behind the killings of Sheikh and his wife, Kausar Bi. Tiwari
said that Chudasama’s interrogation has revealed that huge sums of
extorted money had been stashed away at different places and that CID
(Crime) Inspector P B Jadeja acted as his aide in the racket.

The
CBI counsel further said they have recovered unaccounted money to the
tune of Rs 19.98 lakh from the residence of one of the relatives of
Jadeja in Surendranagar. Besides, the police have also recovered other
things like ammunition from Chudasama’s office and that his further
interrogation is required to find out other incriminating documents and
evidence related to the case. Chudasama’s lawyers, H M Dhruv and Rohit
Verma, opposed the application contending that many of the reasons of
the remand application were cited earlier when Chudasama was remanded
for seven days. Dhruv argued that the CBI had sufficient time to
interrogate Chudasama in connection with the case and that further
custodial interrogation is not required for the same.

Dhruv
further said this case is related to the alleged abduction and killing
of Sohrabuddin and his wife, but the CBI is providing details of
Chudasama’s alleged extortion racket. He said he failed to understand
that the demand of remand was for the case of the alleged abduction and
killing or for the alleged extortion racket. The CBI had arrested the
IPS officer on April 28 on charges of being the main conspirator in the
abduction and killing of Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi. The CBI court of V B
Barot had later remanded him for seven days.

After his remand
period expired, the CBI produced him before the court today and sought
extension of his custody. Tiwari argued that Chudasama’s custody is
required to ascertain the identity of Andhra Pradesh Police officers who
had helped their Gujarat counterparts in the abduction of Sheikh and
Kausar Bi. After the order of sending Chudasama in judicial custody, CBI
and Chudasama’s lawyers moved separate applications, which the court
will take up for hearing on Thursday.

The CBI has prayed to keep
Chudasama in any prison in the state other than the Sabarmati jail. They
have expressed apprehension that Chudasama may hamper their
investigation if kept in the Sabarmati Central Jail. Chudasama’s lawyers
had sought a court direction to the jail authorities that due to
security concerns, he should be kept in a secure custody inside the jail
and that due to medical reasons, be provided with a Western toilet.
Chudasama is suffering from a hip injury sustained in an accident years
ago.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/615725/

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First major arrest in Prajapati encounter, SP held
(May 4, 2010, Indian Express)

Dahod SP Vipul Aggarwal was arrested from Gandhinagar on Monday in
connection with the Tulsi Prajapati “encounter” case. Prajapati was the
lone eyewitness in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh “encounter” case, in
connection with which Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad City
Detection of Crime Branch, Abhay Chudasama was arrested recently.

Prajapati
was killed on December 29, 2006, in an alleged encounter before the CID
(Crime) probing the Sohrabuddin case could take his statement. Aggarwal
was the Banaskantha SP at the time of the Prajapati encounter. This is
the first major arrest in the case by the Gujarat CID (Crime).

Incidentally,
the Gujarat government has so far been refusing to hand over papers
related to the Prajapati encounter case to the CBI probing Sohrabuddin’s
death. The agency had asked for the papers on the grounds that the
Supreme Court had asked it to probe into the “larger consipracy” behind
Sohrabuddin’s killing.

Earlier in the day, Gujarat-cadre IPS
officers Girish Singhal and Rajnish Rai had appeared before the CBI in
connection with the Sohrabuddin case. The CBI had summoned the two along
with four other current and retired IPS officers, including Geetha
Johri, O P Mathur, V V Rabari and G C Raigar.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/614758/

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No lie-detection tests without consent: SC (May 5,
2010, IBN)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared as “illegal” use of
narco-analysis, brain-mapping and polygraph tests – important tools in
police investigative process – on suspects. “We are of the considered
opinion that no individual can be forced and subjected to such
techniques involuntarily, and by doing so it amounts to unwarranted
intrusion of personal liberty,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice K G
Balakrishnan and comprising Justices R V Raveendran and Dalveer
Bhandari.The court said that involuntarily subjecting a person – an
accused, a suspect or a witness – to such techniques violates the
Constitution’s Article 20 (3), which prohibits self-incrimination.

Forcing
an individual to such methods of investigation violates the scheme of
legal process. Even if people are subjected to such investigations with
their consent, the result of the test cannot be an admissible piece of
evidence. However, the court said if anything obtained by the
investigators from such techniques in which a person had volunteered,
the agencies can use them for further probe. Several petitions had
challenged the constitutional validity of narco-analysis test, which is
an important part of police investigation and was used in several high
profile cases like the mult-crore Telgi stamp paper scam.

The
petitions said narco-analysis conducted on an accused, without his
consent, was illegal and should not be admissible as evidence before a
trial court as the law prohibits forcing an accused to give evidence
against himself. Former Delhi Police commissioner Ved Marwah said the
judgment is not a setback for investigating agencies. He described as
narco-analysis tests “as a fall back in blind cases”. Senior lawyer K T S
Tulsi, who is the counsel for victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots,
welcomed the Supreme Court verdict said the scientific and
constitutional validity of the tests was always under question.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/no-liedetection-tests-without-consent-sc/114599-3.html

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Panel blames CRPF top brass for Dantewada (May 6,
2010, Times of India)

With the one-man inquiry committee which probed the Dantewada
incident hinting at ‘command failure’ as one of the reasons behind the
biggest ever Naxal attack on security forces, the government is likely
to take action against a couple of senior officers, including a CRPF DIG
and the district SP, fixing responsibility on them. Government sources
here indicated that the Centre could take action against CRPF DIG Nalin
Prabhat by shifting him from sensitive post besides recommending similar
action against district SP Amresh Mishra. The action will be taken on
the basis of the EN Rammohan Committee report, which is learnt to have
indicted them not only for violating Standard Operating Procedures
(SOPs) but also for not proceeding with the area domination mission as
planned.

The committee is also understood to have found that CRPF
deputy commandant Satyawan Singh Yadav and assistant commandant B L
Meena erred in not taking adequate precautions. Both Yadav and Meena
were killed in the ambush. The committee was also learnt to have found
that the decision to undertake the ‘area-domination exercise’ was taken
jointly by the IG of Chattisgarh, Longkumar, the DIG of that area, SRP
Kalluri, and the DIG of CRPF, Nalin Parbath, an Andhra Pradesh cadre IPS
officer who had moved to the area only a few days before the incident.
“It was a joint decision,” said an official, adding that the actual
deployment was left to the SP of the district and the commandant of the
CRPF’s 62nd Battalion.

As per the operational drill, the CRPF and
the police personnel have been strictly asked not to take any help from
the villagers or locals and maintain as much as secrecy as possible
while moving out. “The element of secrecy was missing in the operation
as the CRPF company after spending the entire day in the ground shifted
to a nearby ashram (a hostel), besides ordering the villagers to bring
cots and other material,” said a source. Besides fixing the
responsibility for the lapse, the committee is also understood to have
suggested a number of measures to improve coordination between the state
police and the paramilitary force during joint anti-Naxal operations.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5895361.cms

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Orissa orders probe into rape by cop (May 4, 2010,
Hindustan Times)

The Orissa government on Tuesday ordered a crime branch probe into
the alleged rape of a woman by a police officer five days ago. The cop
was arrested and suspended on Monday following a demonstration at a
police station in Bhadrak district, 90 km from here. The incident took
place on April 30 when the 30-year-old woman had gone to the Dhusuri
police station in Bhadrak in connection with her divorce case.

Narayan
Chandra Nayak, the inspector-in-charge of the station, allegedly called
her to his official residence within the premises. When she went in,
Nayak closed the door, raised the volume of the television and raped
her, the woman alleged.

The victim also said that Nayak offered
her Rs 20,000 not to report the matter. When she refused, he allegedly
locked her inside his house. But she managed to escape after six hours
and reported the matter to Bhadrak SP Jaya Narayan Pankaj.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/539414.aspx

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Dalits burn Modis effigy; seek his removal (May 4,
2010, The Tribune)

Members of the Dalit community today burnt an effigy of Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi in protest against the “derogatory” remarks made
by him against BR Ambedkar.

The activists collected at Committee
Chowk and raised slogans against Modi. The BSP leaders alleged that
Modi had on April 26 compared the Dalits to “handicapped persons” and
used derogatory words for the architect of the Indian Constitution too.

Former
BSP state general secretary Raj Singh Chauhan said a memorandum would
be sent to president Prathiba Patil demanding action against Modi. The
BSP also sought the resignation of Modi for hurting the sentiments of
the community.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100504/haryana.htm#11

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Opinions and Editorials

The Bureau Of Grift – By Brijesh Pandey (May 15,
2010, Tehelka)

Last week, Dr Ketan Desai, President, Medical Council of India (MCI),
was arrested by the CBI for demanding Rs 2 crore as bribe for granting
licence to a Medical College in Punjab. Given that Desai is an extremely
powerful figure in the medical fraternity and presides over almost the
entire medical infrastructure of the country, this should have come as a
welcome move. But shockingly, it appears that the same CBI had given
Desai a clean chit five years ago for the same offence – taking bribes
for giving illegal licences. So why had the CBI let him off earlier when
stories of his corruption were already legendary? The answers damn the
CBI as much as Dr Desai. A Delhi High Court judgement of November 2001
reveals a disturbing story of how, despite clear-cut proof against him,
and severe strictures by the High Court, Dr Desai not only continued to
rule over the MCI but also managed to get a clean chit from the CBI.

In
2000, a group of doctors – Dr Harish Bhalla and others – had filed a
writ petition against the appointment of Desai as the president of the
MCI. After hearing arguments from both parties, a two-judge bench
comprising Justice Arun Kumar and Justice RC Chopra had made several
scathing remarks against Desai. “Dr Ketan Desai is misusing his office
as president of MCI and is minting money. Such a person does not deserve
to occupy this high public office of the President of MCI. If medical
education is on sale by such corrupt practices, what will happen to the
medical profession, and what type of medical aid will the citizens of
this country get? It is a complete betrayal of the trust reposed,” the
court had observed. The court further said, “Dr Ketan Desai has
manipulated the MCI affairs in such a way that he now has complete hold
over all powers vested with the MCI. Minutes of the Executive Committee
(EC) meetings show that this eminent body, which is supposed to exercise
powers on behalf of the MCI, leaves all decisions to the President
alone, who in turn is using his position to make illegal monetary gains
out of this role.”

Among other damning evidence provided by Dr
Bhalla, the court had taken special notice of the fact that bank drafts
worth Rs 65 lakh had been found in the possession of Dr Desai during an
income tax raid on his residential and business premises on July 18 and
July 20, 2000. When Dr Desai’s lawyer pleaded that this amount was not a
bribe but a gift deed, the court turned it down. This was affirmed by
Bhaskar Reddy, Joint Director, Income Tax (Delhi) who told his
counterpart in Ahmedabad, “These alleged gifts are make-believe
arrangements – not genuine gifts. These are accommodation transactions
in the form of gifts and the alleged donors merely acted as conduits to
channelise the money unaccounted for lying with Dr Desai into his and
his family members bank accounts.” What the court found most shocking
was that Dr Desai was completely silent about the Rs 65 lakh in his
affidavit, and did not dispute the raid. An income tax assessment order
was placed before the court which showed his undisclosed income as nil.
The receipt did not make any mention of the 65 lakh.

“A truthful
person should have come out with full facts. The complete silence of Dr
Desai on this aspect and failure to reply despite opportunity, leads to
only one inference, and that is, admission on the part of (Ketan) Desai
of having received these huge amounts. He has maintained complete
silence on this,” observed the court. Apart from this, Desai was a
Professor of Urology and servant of Government of Gujarat at the time
when the ‘gift deed’ of Rs 65 lakh was recovered. As per the Gujarat
Civil Services (conduct) rules of 1971, a government servant cannot
accept a gift exceeding Rs 1,000 without the permission of the state
government. No such permission was taken by Dr Desai. In lieu of such
glaring abuse of power by Dr Desai, the two member bench of the Delhi
High Court had ordered the removal of Desai and constituted a CBI
inquiry. But the CBI failed its mandate on every count. Despite the
damning objections to Dr Desai’s conduct as the president of MCI,
surprisingly, the CBI did not find any wrongdoing on his part. In its
closure report, the CBI stated that “they have investigated the case and
found that the family of a certain Windlass had made a gift deed of Rs
15 lakh to Ketan Desai and both parties have mentioned the money in
their income tax declarations. Furthermore, Dr Sanjay Sachdeva and his
brother Dr Nalin Sachdeva, who are private practitioners in Delhi,
issued two cheques of Rs 25 lakh each to Dr Desai. Both parties have
declared it in their income tax return.” According to the CBI, “No
evidence has come on record to indicate that Dr Desai has extended any
official favours to the Sachdeva brothers. During their polygraph test,
the Sachdeva brothers revealed that since Desai is an influential person
in medical circles, they gifted the said amount of Rs 50 lakh to earn
his goodwill.”

At best, this appears to be naivete in the extreme.
At worst, it raises questions about the CBI’s own integrity. If there
was no favour done or sought, why would someone ‘gift’ a hefty sum of Rs
50 lakh all of a sudden? And what did the CBI make of the letter by the
Joint Director, Income Tax, who had assessed the ‘Rs 65 lakh gift deed’
as nothing but ‘accommodation transactions in the form of gifts’? Why
was Dr Desai completely silent on the aspect of Rs 65 lakh gift deed in
the High Court? And why had the CBI not investigated Dr Desai’s role
fully when the High Court had described in graphic detail the
stranglehold Desai wielded over the MCI? When TEHELKA asked the CBI for
answers to these questions, they did not respond. They had filed their
closure report on December 22, 2005, and it was based on this report
that Dr Desai could make a re-entry as the President of MCI in March
2009. After his re-election as the president of the MCI, Dr Desai had
asked doctors not to accept gifts from pharmaceutical companies. Given
his reputation for corruption, this could only have been a cosmetic
request. Hopefully there will be better men to see the request
implemented.

http://tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Ne150510the_bureau.asp

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SC ban on Narco tests: A big blow to investigating
agencies – Editorial (May 6, 2010, The Tribune)

The Supreme Court judgement on Wednesday banning Narco analysis,
brain-mapping and polygraph tests on the accused is a big blow to
agencies like the CBI which have been using such techniques as important
tools in investigation. In a landmark ruling, a three-member Bench
consisting of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.V. Raveendran
and Justice Dalveer Bhandari has said that if an individual is forced to
undergo these tests, it would amount to “unwarranted intrusion of his
personal liberty” and a flagrant violation of his fundamental right
under Article 20 (3) of the Constitution which prohibits
self-incrimination. The Bench made it clear that these tests will not be
admissible as evidence in the courts as the law prohibits an accused
from giving evidence against himself. As for polygraphy tests, it
observed that the investigating agencies will have to follow strictly
the guidelines of the National Human Rights Commission.

Significantly,
the investigating agencies have conducted these tests in a number of
high profile cases such as the fake stamp paper kingpin Abdul Karim
Telgi case, Nithari killings accused Surinder Koli’s case and on Abu
Salem in the Gulshan Kumar murder case. In the Arushi murder case, her
parents underwent the lie detector test but no Narco test was conducted
on them. Narco test involves psychotherapy and the patient is deeply
sedated with medication. Though it is believed that inhibitions are
reduced and the subject cannot manipulate answers during this test,
opinion is sharply divided over its efficacy. While the issue as such
has been a subject of national debate, many senior advocates believe
that Narco analysis is “imperfect, uncertain and hazardous” often
leading to “wrong results”. Not surprisingly, it was not conducted on
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, found guilty in the Mumbai terror attack.

Now
that the Supreme Court has banned these tests, the authorities will
have to evolve new methods of investigation. The police ought to change
its colonial mindset and to show greater respect for human rights. It is
common knowledge how the accused are tortured these days, sometimes
resulting in custodial deaths. The apex court ruling may help ensure a
fair trial for any individual, but agencies like the CBI ought to deploy
more humane methods of investigation to ferret out the truth and bring
the guilty to book.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100506/edit.htm#1

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Operation Media Gagging – By Gauri Lankesh (May
15, 2010, Tehelka)

The central home minister P Chidambaram has often issued veiled
threats to intellectuals who offer covert or overt support to the
Maoists, whom the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has identified as the
‘biggest internal security threat to the country’ today. While Singh and
Chidambaram have limited themselves to issuing threats, the top brass
in the Karnataka Government has opted for direct action. The police of
Shimoga district has issued a ‘threatening’ notice to a young Kannada
journalist. Sometime last year, Rahul Belagali, a reporter with
Prajavani, a leading Kannada daily, met with one of the state leaders of
the Communist Party of India (Maoist) at an ‘undisclosed’ location.

The
interview that was published in his newspaper was full of expected
rhetoric from the Maoists. Statements like – ‘The Maoists will continue
their struggle’, and the ‘Indian democracy is flawed’ are now cliche.
Not too many people paid attention to the interview – it offered no new
political insight, neither provided new information. Until now. Perhaps
in the light of recent events, the Shimoga police issued two notices to
Belagali, the first one as recently as on April 8, citing the interview
and asking Belagali to appear before them and reveal his sources. The
police wanted to ascertain information about a case registered in 2009
against a state Maoist leader. If Belagali did not accede, the police
threatened action against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act of 1967.

The police sent a second notice to Belagali and this
time to his Associate Editor, Padmaraj Dandavate. For Belagali, the
second notice sounded alarm bells. It threatened to book him in four
other cases – the Indian Arms Act, the Destruction of Government
Property Act, the Explosives Act and the dreaded UAPA. Normally, the
publisher of a newspaper accords protection to its reporters and holds
up the fundamental rights of the media to protect its source.
Unfortunately for Belagali, his publication did not stand up for him
with all its strength. More interestingly, it did not appear to be
interested in protecting the rights of the media. Instead it showed
signs of wanting to ‘somehow get the matter settled’ and willingly
become the fifth column of the government. That such a mighty media
group was willing to let its reporter be threatened by the police is
shocking, to say the least.

However, some human right activists
and concerned journalists filed a complaint to the Editors Guild
regarding the threats issued by the Karnataka Police to the two
journalists. Rajdeep Sardesai, president of the guild, and Coomi Kapoor,
the secretary general, have condemned the police action and said,
“Professional ethics demand that mediapersons should protect their
sources and not reveal their identities, when they request privacy. The
confidentiality of a source is a well-established journalistic
principle. Without such privilege, sources would not be willing to speak
freely to the media, whose duty it is to report the facts fairly and
objectively from all points of view to present a true picture to the
public.”

It is important to see the notices issued to Belagali in
the context of the complaint filed against Arundhati Roy recently. A
social worker from Chhattisgarh, Vishwajit Mitra, argued that Roy’s
essay ‘Walking with the Comrades’ glorified the outlawed Maoists and
sought to justify their activities. In his opinion, the essay and the
photographs were liable to be viewed as an offence under the
Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005. That Operation Green
Hunt, the State’s war against the Maoists, has claimed the freedom of
the press should sound as a wake up call to all journalists and people
in the media.

http://tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Ne150510proscons.asp

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ALSO:

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A preventable murder? – By Subhro Niyogi (May 1,
2010, Times of India)

Sixty-two years after Nathuram Godse’s bullet felled the Mahatma, a
book based on the diary of professor Jagdishchandra Jain – the chief
prosecution witness in the Mahatma Gandhi murder trial – has made
startling revelations about how Jain had warned the Bombay state premier
BG Kher, and home minister Morarji Desai about the plot to eliminate
Gandhi. But the warning went unheeded. Jain was a disciple of
Rabindranath Tagore and a Gandhian who was imprisoned during the Quit
India movement in 1942, and, in later years, held important positions in
the universities of Bombay, Peking, and Kiel in Germany. The book,
Untold Stories from a Witness’s Diary – I Could Not Save Mahatma Gandhi,
published simultaneously from London and Kolkata by Frontpage
Publications, reveals how Jain learnt of the plot to assassinate Gandhi
in early January 1948, and realised his worst fears had come true when
he read the papers on the morning of January 21. He was introduced by
chance to a Punjabi refugee, Madanlal Pawha, who he helped find initial
employment. During a subsequent meeting, Pahwa disclosed the conspiracy
to kill Gandhi to Jain.

“The bomb attempt by Pahwa on Mahatmaji’s life at Delhi gave me a rude
shock and I hastened to alert the authorities. I met BG Kher, and later
the home minister, Morarji Desai, on the same day and related to them
the immediate past history of Pahwa. “I mentioned the names of several
others involved in the conspiracy and told them there was an arms dump
somewhere in Mumbai. I also offered to fly to Delhi and meet Pahwa to
unearth the conspiracy. But they brushed off my suggestion and assured
(me) that all precautions would be taken to safeguard Mahatmaji’s life
and that the Union home minister, Sardar Patel, would be immediately
alerted,” Jain wrote in his diary. What followed were a series of plots,
intrigues and an amazing tale of government apathy versus a lone
citizen’s frustrating attempt to thwart one of the biggest conspiracies
of the past century. In the end, Jain failed. Gandhi was shot by Godse
nine days after Jain met Kher and Desai. “It was only on February 17,
1948, some 21 days after I had passed all the information to the highest
authorities, that a police officer came to record my statement for
post-mortem investigation,” Jain wrote in the diary. He later attempted
to meet the then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, on a visit to Bombay
in April 1948 to attend an All-India Congress Committee meeting, in an
effort to bring the lapses to Nehru’s notice. But he could not manage to
get an appointment.

“I was literally pushed from pillar to post seeking an interview, and
ultimately obtained an admission slip to the government house to try my
luck. Panditji was indeed hard-pressed for time and when he was leaving
for Delhi, I managed a one-minute slot.” “‘You have come without
appointment,’ Nehru overtly voiced his displeasure. ‘Sir, it’s really
important and I won’t take much time,’ I said, and produced the letter
(that explained everything) as he headed to the waiting car. I saw him
go through the letter in the car and hoped something would happen now.
It was my mistake. I never received an acknowledgment,” Jain wrote.
Jain’s son, Anil Jagdishchandra, says his father never did come to terms
with the colossal apathy by the administration in following up leads
that could have prevented Gandhi’s assassination and changed the course
of India’s history. Vital leads were discarded during the trial.

“My father maintained a daily diary very meticulously – the day when
Pahwa had confided in him of the conspiracy; the day when he had
approached the authorities to alert them; the manner in which he was
humiliated at almost every stage in his lone battle to save the life of
the Mahatma; and the days he spent in Delhi as the chief prosecution
witness in the murder trial. Much to his anguish, he knew about the
threat to Gandhi, but could not save him. This was his regret till his
death in 1994,” Anil told TOI-Crest. In the years following Jain’s
death in 1994, these and more issues began to haunt Anil as he flipped
through his father’s diary. “After going through the diaries, I realised
the tragedy could and should have been avoided. I came across stunning
facts of administrative negligence between the first attempt on Gandhi
on January 20, 1948, and his assassination 10 days later. His writing
reflected the role and thinking of politicians at the time of the
formation of Pakistan and how Gandhi’s influence was ebbing. The
conspiracy and its links with some respected names in Indian politics
was really stunning. It was not a crazy, impromptu act of a mad man, who
just rushed to shoot Gandhi, as popularly believed,” Anil added.

The book not only questions the action, or rather the lack of it, on the
part of Kher and Desai, but also scrutinises Sardar Patel’s views on
partition that almost echoed the Hindu nationalist political philosophy,
propagated by Savarkar’s declaration in 1937, at the Hindu Mahasabha
session at Karnavati, Ahmedabad. Though six decades have passed, Anil
believes these issues are as relevant today because they have not been
resolved yet. “It’s still a sensitive and explosive case. The decision
to publish the diary followed a chance encounter with Abhijit Mazumdar,
the director and CEO of Frontpage Publications, at Heathrow airport in
July 2009. It was the fear of a nasty repercussion that had delayed the
diary’s publication for so long. But I decided to go ahead after meeting
Mazumdar.” What also led to the book was the portrayal of Jain as a
mentally unstable person in the 2005 movie Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara.
“I felt it necessary to come out with the facts. My family will always
remain very proud of my father’s honest attempt to save the life of our
Mahatma,” Anil said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5879546.cms

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ALSO:

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Khap panchayat: signs of desperation? – By Jagmati
Sangwan (May 8, 2010, The Hindu)

In Haryana today, rapid capitalist transformation is accompanied by a
regressive feudal consciousness. As education and political awareness
spread among Dalits, women and backward sections, alongside there is a
massive consolidation of caste ( khap) panchayats in defence of the
status quo. The number of cases in which the totally unconstitutional
caste panchayats have openly defied the law of the land by issuing
illegal diktats has increased manifold. Attacks on young couples, Dalits
and progressive-minded people have become frequent. A recent landmark
judgment by the Additional Sessions Court at Karnal in the Manoj-Babli
“honour” killing case, in which five accused were given the death
sentence, sent shock waves among caste panchayat leaders, as it reminded
them that they were not above the Constitution. The court took serious
note of the fact that the policemen deployed for the security of Manoj
and Babli actually facilitated the accused in perpetrating the crime.
Though geographically small, Haryana is socially and culturally
heterogeneous. For example, in some areas and among certain castes,
marriages within the village and even intra- gotra marriages are not
uncommon. At the same time, such marriages are treated as incest in
certain other areas, and among other castes. Even the caste or khap
panchayat is not a feature prevalent throughout the State, as many
believe, but is confined to a particular region. Thus, a section of
people of one particular caste proclaims itself as the cultural
representative of Haryana, refusing to acknowledge the customs and
traditions practised by others in their own neighbourhood.

A look
at the demography of the State and its development statistics would
help to contextualise the problem. The State that stood second in per
capita income in the country has one of the lowest sex ratios (821 in
the 0-6 age group). Female foeticide is rampant, and the situation is so
bad that wives are being brought from far off States. Not once have
these panchayats called a maha-panchayat to pass a resolution against
female foeticide or dowry or even in connection with the crisis in
agriculture – problems staring the people of Haryana in the face. After
the judgment in the Manoj-Babli case, however, a congregation of caste
panchayats representing the Jat neighbourhoods from Haryana, Uttar
Pradesh and Rajasthan was called at Kurukshetra on April 13. It was
decided that panchayats would now fight for legal status to legitimately
maintain the “social order.” One of the main agendas of this sarv-khap
panchayat was to push for amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
that would ban marriages within the same gotra (clan within which men
and women are considered siblings and hence cannot marry). Under this
Act, marriages between certain lineages from the paternal and maternal
sides are already barred. Most of the khap panchayat diktats are against
couples who are not from the same gotra. In fact, not more than one
case of honour killing has been of a couple within the same gotra. By
creating the false impression that all marriages of choice between young
couples are incestuous, what the khaps are actually opposing is the
right to choose a marriage partner. Among the several instances of khaps
issuing fatwas in Jaundhi, Asanda, Dharana, Singhwal, Hadaudi,
Maham-kheri, Ludana and other villages, not a single one was an intra-
gotra marriage, yet the married couples were declared siblings, and
families made to suffer boycotts and excommunication from their
villages.

A sad example of the gotra row is that of Ved Pal Moan,
brutally beaten to death last year when he tried to secure his wife who
was confined by her parents at Singhwal village in Jind district. He was
escorted by a police party and a warrant officer of the High Court. Ved
Pal had married neither within his gotra nor within the same village.
In this case, another absurd code was invoked by the khap: that the
couple violated the custom of not marrying in the neighbouring village
as it forms part of bhaichara (brotherhood). A khap congregation held in
March 2009 publicly pronounced the death sentence for Ved Pal, and it
succeeded in executing it in June. As couples are selectively targeted,
it is clear the real motive is to control women’s sexuality to ensure
that property remains within the patriarchal caste domain (mainly Jats
in Haryana). The sarv khap panchayat also called for social boycott of
individuals who raised their voice against the caste panchayats. A
former police chief of Haryana, himself a self-styled caste leader, went
on record threatening khap-critics. How can a former DGP publicly
threaten law-abiding citizens, and yet continue to enjoy the hefty perks
and pension out of the public exchequer?

The caste panchayat
leaders have decided to stifle any voice of assertion from the backward
sections. On April 21 more than 20 houses of Dalits were burnt down at
Mirchpur village, in the presence of a police force, allegedly by thugs
belonging to a dominant caste, resulting in the death of an 18-year-old
handicapped girl and her ailing father. A panchayat of khaps convened at
Mirchpur three days after the carnage not only declared all arrested
persons innocent but also issued an ultimatum to the government for
their release! This was exactly the pattern adopted by caste panchayats
in the Gohana (2005) and Duleena (2002) incidents, where brutal attacks
on Dalits took place. Even elders from socially and economically weaker
families are not spared. At Khedi Meham in December 2009, the father of a
newly wed groom was forced to hold a shoe in his mouth in front of the
whole village by the panchayatis. Ordinary citizens are caught in the
contradiction between two sets of values – the blind consumerism of the
neo-liberal dispensation, and the outdated feudal values represented by
the khaps. The first is no replacement for the second, and indeed,
pseudo-modernism only strengthens the forces of revivalism. The
alternative to both types of distortions lies in the spread of healthy
and progressive values that can be unleashed through only a new social
reform movement in the entire Hindi belt.

The judiciary does have a
crucial role to play but has its limitations too. On June 23, 2008
Justice K.S. Ahluwalia of the Punjab and Haryana High Court made a
revealing observation while simultaneously hearing 10 cases pertaining
to marriages between young couples aged 18 – 21: “The High Court is
flooded with petitions where – judges of this Court have to answer for
the right of life and liberty to married couples. The State is a mute
spectator. When shall the State awake from its slumber [and] for how
long can Courts provide solace and balm by disposing of such cases?” A
legislature with little political will and a pliant executive will have
to be made responsive under pressure of a mass movement. The voices of
dissent are also getting consolidated under the umbrella of
organisations like the AIDWA and other democratic forces. The younger
generation must stand forth as responsible social activists and lead the
struggle for change in an otherwise feudal society that lives by the
dictum “Jiski lathi uski bhains” (the powerful call the shots). In
Haryana each passing day is costing the lives of innocent women and men.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/08/stories/2010050856921200.htm

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Policemen in arms racket – Editorial (May 3, 2010,
The Tribune)

The arrest of some CRPF jawans and UP policemen for involvement in an
arms racket was startling enough. The possibility, voiced by
investigators, that they could have sold the arms and ammunition
pilfered from armouries to the Maoists, is even more disturbing. While
the suspicion is yet to be proved, the inference has been drawn on
fairly strong grounds. Petty criminals and underworld gangs would have
no need for the large and steady supply of arms and ammunition that the
arrested policemen confess to have maintained over a period of time.
Also the fact that transactions took place in districts with a sizeable
presence of Maoists, directs the needle of suspicion to the insurgents.

While
armed insurgents are known to have used arms generally given to the
para-military forces, till now it was believed they were snatched after
attacks on the uniformed men. The probability of the insurgents buying
arms and ammunition from the men in uniform and using them against the
policemen, adds a chilling dimension to the web.The arrests have also
exposed chinks in the system. While it is too early to conclude that
para-military forces have been infiltrated by the Maoists, senior
officers of the CRPF and the Uttar Pradesh police need to find an answer
to the shocking ease with which the arms and ammunition appear to have
been switched. Records were apparently manipulated and live ammunition
replaced with empty shells. The culprits are also believed to have
pilfered empty cartridges and filled them with gunpowder before selling
them.

The audacious racket was obviously made possible by poor
and inadequate supervision at all levels. It is also important to look
into the flaws in recruitment, training and deployment of the men.
Besides, it is important to find out what prompted the men to be so
reckless and stake their jobs, if not lives, for the sake of greed
alone; or could there have been some other motivation ? There is
certainly something that is rotten in the system. The racket ought to
serve as an alarm bell and no effort should be spared to get to the
bottom of it. Systemic checks and balances do not seem to have kept pace
with the sudden growth of para-military forces in the country. It is,
therefore, imperative to put them in place at the earliest.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100503/edit.htm#1

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In this issue
News Headlines

* Third suspect
held for Ajmer Dargah bombing
* Muslim groups demand fresh
probe into Mecca Masjid blast
* I always knew Sabahuddin
was innocent, says lawyer
* SC restrains trial court
from pronouncing judgement in Gujarat riots
* CID cop is Chudasamas
partner in crime, says CBI
* First major arrest in
Prajapati encounter, SP held
* No lie-detection tests
without consent: SC
* Panel blames CRPF top
brass for Dantewada
* Orissa orders probe into
rape by cop
* Dalits burn Modis effigy;
seek his removal

Opinions & Editorials

* The Bureau Of
Grift – By Brijesh Pandey
* SC ban on Narco tests: A
big blow to investigating agencies – Editorial
* Operation Media Gagging -
By Gauri Lankesh
* A preventable murder? -
By Subhro Niyogi
* Khap panchayat: signs of
desperation? – By Jagmati Sangwan
* Policemen in arms racket -
Editorial

News Headlines
Third suspect held for Ajmer Dargah bombing (May 2,
2010, Hindustan Times)

A third man suspected to be involved in the 2007 bombing at the famed
Ajmer Dargah Sharif that killed three people has been detained in
Madhya Pradesh and brought to Rajasthan, police sources said in Jaipur
on Sunday. The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Rajasthan Police held
Vishnu Prasad late Saturday in Shahjahanpur in neighbouring Madhya
Pradesh. He has now been brought to Jaipur for interrogation. Prasad was
picked up for his alleged role in procuring mobile phones and SIM cards
used in the terror strikes, police sources said. The suspect is said to
be a close aide of Chandrashekhar, a member of a Hindu rightwing group,
who was arrested from Shahjahanpur Friday in connection with the blast,
the sources added.

Chandrashekhar’s arrest came close on the
heels of the arrest of Devendra Gupta Wednesday from Ajmer, about 390 km
from New Delhi. The ATS, meanwhile, Saturday filed an application
before the chief judicial magistrate of Ajmer, requesting permission to
conduct a narco test on Gupta. Three people were killed and about 30
injured when a bomb exploded Oct 11, 2007 on the premises of the Dargah
of Sufi Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti which annually draws hundreds of
thousands of devouts both from India and abroad. Ajmer’s additional
chief judicial magistrate remanded Chandreshekhar to 12 days’ police
custody. He is considered an important member of the module that was
apparently formed to carry out the bomb attack at the Dargah.

Though
the ATS officially refused to name the Hindu group said to be linked to
the arrested men, sources in the ATS said it was Abhinav Bharat. The
sources said the ATS team has seized the mobile phone used to trigger
the Dargah blast. The first accused Gupta, who lived in Jharkhand,
reached Ajmer to visit his ailing mother when he was arrested. On
Friday, the chief judicial magistrate in Ajmer remanded him in 12 days
police custody, an ATS official said. The official said that Gupta’s
interrogation had led to fresh leads in the case and that the mastermind
might be based in Gujarat. “A few more people are on our suspect list.
You may see more arrests in the coming days. Our investigations are
expected to lead us to other states too,” he said.

According to
informed sources, the ATS has sent a team to Gujarat to track down the
mastermind. “After interrogating Devendra Gupta, we have strong reasons
to believe that the mastermind of the blast lives in Gujarat. Gupta has
revealed his name too,” an ATS official said. The official said police
were able to trace the accused with the help of SIM cards recovered from
the blast site. Gupta had allegedly purchased the SIM cards for the
mobile handset that triggered the blast.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/538279.aspx

SEE
ALSO:

* Police look for Dangs Swami in Ajmer blast (May 4, 2010, Indian
Express)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/614745/

* Ajmer, Mecca Masjid, Malegaon blasts linked: CBI (May 4,
2010, The Hindu)

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/04/stories/2010050462001300.htm

* State ATS digs for links between blasts in Ajmer and
Kanpur (May 5, 2010, Indian Express)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/615245/

* Rajasthan
ATS team in Gujarat in search of Ajmer blast suspect (May 3, 2010, The
Hindu)

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article420526.ece

[Back to Top]
Muslim groups demand fresh probe into Mecca Masjid
blast (May 3, 2010, Hindustan Times)

Muslim groups in Hyderabad have demanded a fresh probe into the 2007
bomb blast at Mecca Masjid in view of the Central Bureau of
Investigation’s (CBI) revelation that the 2007 blasts at the historic
mosque and the Ajmer shrine were linked. The CBI and Rajasthan’s
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) believe that the blast at the Hyderabad
mosque and the Khwaja Moinuddin Chisthi dargah in Ajmer are the
handiwork of same group. The CBI, which is probing the Mecca Masjid
blast, reportedly got some leads after the Rajasthan ATS arrested
Devender Gupta and Chandrasekhar Patidar of the Hindu group Abhinav
Bharat in connection with the Oct 11, 2007 blast at the Ajmer dargah
that killed three and injured 30 people.

The Mecca Masjid blast
May 18 the same year had claimed claimed nine lives. Five people had
died in subsequent police firing on protestors near the mosque. Muslim
groups are now demanding that the CBI reopen the mosque blast case and
probe the involvement of Hindu activists, including Col P.S. Purohit and
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who also belong to Abhinav Bharat and are
accused in a 2008 bombing in Malegaon in Maharashtra that killed six
people. The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), the key Muslim political
party here, has called for a “thorough probe” to unravel the truth.

MIM
leaders alleged investigating authorities were going soft on the real
culprits and hence no progress could be made for three years. They
pointed out that no sincere efforts were made to probe the involvement
of Hindu terrorist groups and interrogate Sadhavi, Purohit and other
accused in the Malegaon blast. Tameer-e-Millat, a Muslim socio-religious
organisation, has urged the government to reopen the case. It regretted
that five minutes after the blast the police, without even initial
probe, blamed the Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) and other organisations
belonging to some Muslim countries. “It appears some police officials
did not want the investigations into the involvement of Hindu outfits,”
the group said in a statement.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram had
said during his visit to Hyderabad last year that the Mecca Masjid blast
case had turned “cold” as the two primary suspects were dead. Police
claimed that Shahid Bilal, a key suspect in the case, was killed in a
shootout in Pakistan a few weeks after the mosque blast. Shahid, a
native of the city, was allegedly working for the HuJI. Another suspect
was also presumed dead. Immediately after the blast in the 17th century
mosque, the police blamed Bilal, who was also considered the mastermind
behind the terror attacks in other parts of south India during last few
years. The Tameer-e-Millat also alleged that police concocted a story
that the blasts in Lumbini Pak and Gokul Chat were carried out to avenge
the blast at Mecca Masjid.

The near simultaneous blasts at
Lumbini Park and a popular eatery Gokul Chat in Hyderabad Aug 25, 2007
had killed 43 people. “It is surprising that the alleged accused in the
twin blasts were arrested but the culprits in Mecca Masjid blast are
still at large,” it said. Muslim groups have also demanded action
against police officials who blamed Muslim youths for the Mecca Masjid
blast, arrested and tortured them. They pointed out that the police also
conducted narco analysis test on some innocent Muslim youths and
demanded their immediate release.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/538748.aspx

SEE
ALSO:

* Brinda wants fresh probe into Makkah Masjid blast (May 7, 2010, The
Hindu)

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/07/stories/2010050754951400.htm

* Probe links between Ajmer blast accused and RSS worker:
Digvijay (May 3, 2010, Indian Express)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/614170/

* Demand
for ban on RSS (May 4, 2010, The Hindu)

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/04/stories/2010050458750500.htm

* Ajmer suspect did Mecca Masjid recce, provided SIM trigger
(May 3, 2010, Indian Express)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/614268/

[Back to Top]
I always knew Sabahuddin was innocent, says lawyer
(May 3, 2010, Rediff)

Ejaz Naqvi, advocate for Sabahuddin Ahmed, who was acquitted by the
special court in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case, is elated. “I always
said that my client was not involved and the court has upheld whatever I
have said. I am happy that my client has been acquitted. I believed
that he is innocent and being framed in the case. The court has taken
into consideration all that we had contended and rightly acquitted
Sabahuddin. I know that the state government will appeal against the
verdict. I am prepared for such a legal battle. We have a very strong
case.”

“The prosecution had claimed that there were hand-drawn
maps found with Sabahuddin and Fahim Ansari. The prosecution had said
that these maps were drawn out and later handed over to the
Lashkar-e-Tayiba who in turn provided the same maps to the gunmen who
carried out the attack.. Such an attack would involve meticulous
planning and modern equipment. In such an attack of such a magnitude,
where such modern technology was used, there is no place for hand-drawn
maps. While it proves that it was a foreign agency which carried out the
attack, there is no proof to show that Sabahuddin was involved in it,”
Naqvi said.

“I had constantly said that the maps that were
produced by the prosecution were immature and an attack of such a huge
magnitude could not have been carried out with the help of such immature
drawings as the prosecution had claimed. I am extremely happy with the
judgement. We are ready to face the appeal by the prosecution before the
high court and we will fight the case on the same lines as we did in
the sessions court,” Naqvi also told rediff.com.

http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/may/03/anniversary-26-11-i-always-knew-sabahuddin-was-innocent-lawyer.htm

SEE
ALSO:

* No proof against Fahim, Sabauddin; state to appeal (May 4, 2010,
Hindustan Times)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/539051.aspx

* Why
Ansari, Sabahuddin were acquitted (May 3, 2010, Rediff)

http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/may/03/anniversary-26-11-why-ansari-sabahuddin-were-acquitted.htm

* Faheems
acquittal honourable, all proof was planted, says wife (May 5, 2010,
Times of India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5891382.cms

* Shahid
Azmis hard work paid off, says Ansaris wife (May 3, 2010, Rediff)

http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/may/03/anniversary-26-11-shahid-azmi-hard-work-paid-off-yasmeen-ansari.htm

[Back to
Top]
SC restrains trial court from pronouncing
judgement in Gujarat riots (May 6, 2010, DNA India)

The Supreme Court today restrained the trial court from pronouncing
its judgement in 2002 post Gujarat communal riots cases but refused to
stay the ongoing trial as sought by certain NGOs and rights activists.
“The trial court shall proceed with the trial but no judgement shall be
pronounced,” a bench of Justices DK Jain, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam
said.

The apex court also appointed A K Malhotra, a former DIG of
CBI, to verify allegations of lapses in investigations being conducted
by Special Investigation Team (SIT) into2002 Gujarat communal riots. The
Bench passed the direction while dealing with the plea of the NGO
Citizen for Justice and Peace of Teesta Setalvad and some rights
activists who sought a stay of the trial and sought reconstitution of
SIT for its alleged bias.

The apex court said Malhotra would
verify the allegations after examining the reply filed by SIT on the
issue. After verifying the allegations, Malhotra would submit his report
to the court. Gujarat government has strongly opposed reconstitution of
SIT and stay of the trial which it said was almost on the verge of
conclusion as almost all witnessess had been examined. The apex court
granted permission to SIT to take steps for replacement of two public
prosecutors who had withdrawn from the case alleging non-cooperation
from the probe agency and one of them also attributed bias to the trial
judge.

The bench agreed to the suggestion of amicus curaie and
senior counsel Harish Salve that the two new public prosectuors would be
appointed through consensus after eliciting the views of the
petitioners also. The 10 cases being monitored by SIT on the earlier
directions of the apex court are–Gulberg Society, Ode, Sardarpura,
Narodao Gaon, Naroda Patya, Baranpura, Machipith, Tarsali, Pandarwada
and Raghavapura.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sc-restrains-trial-court-from-pronouncing-judgement-in-gujarat-riots_1379906

SEE
ALSO:

* Gujarat riot trials: SC agrees to replace 2 PPs (May 7, 2010, Indian
Express)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/616216/

* Panchmahal doctors appear before SIT (May 6, 2010, Times
of India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5899731.cms

* Will it be high drama during Pravin Togadias visit to SIT?
(May 8, 2010, DNA India)

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_will-it-be-high-drama-during-pravin-togadia-s-visit-to-sit_1380431

* SIT
report on Modi in Jafris complaint in a week (May 7, 2010, Times of
India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5899673.cms

[Back to
Top]
CID cop is Chudasamas partner in crime, says CBI
(May 6, 2010, Indian Express)

The Ahmedabad-based CBI court on Wednesday rejected the agency’s
application seeking extension of suspended IPS officer Abhay Chudasama’s
custody for seven more days in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh
fake encounter case. The court sent Chudasama to judicial custody in the
high-security Sabarmati Central Jail. The extension was denied even as
Public Prosecutor L D Tiwari told the court that extortion was the main
motive behind the killings of Sheikh and his wife, Kausar Bi. Tiwari
said that Chudasama’s interrogation has revealed that huge sums of
extorted money had been stashed away at different places and that CID
(Crime) Inspector P B Jadeja acted as his aide in the racket.

The
CBI counsel further said they have recovered unaccounted money to the
tune of Rs 19.98 lakh from the residence of one of the relatives of
Jadeja in Surendranagar. Besides, the police have also recovered other
things like ammunition from Chudasama’s office and that his further
interrogation is required to find out other incriminating documents and
evidence related to the case. Chudasama’s lawyers, H M Dhruv and Rohit
Verma, opposed the application contending that many of the reasons of
the remand application were cited earlier when Chudasama was remanded
for seven days. Dhruv argued that the CBI had sufficient time to
interrogate Chudasama in connection with the case and that further
custodial interrogation is not required for the same.

Dhruv
further said this case is related to the alleged abduction and killing
of Sohrabuddin and his wife, but the CBI is providing details of
Chudasama’s alleged extortion racket. He said he failed to understand
that the demand of remand was for the case of the alleged abduction and
killing or for the alleged extortion racket. The CBI had arrested the
IPS officer on April 28 on charges of being the main conspirator in the
abduction and killing of Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi. The CBI court of V B
Barot had later remanded him for seven days.

After his remand
period expired, the CBI produced him before the court today and sought
extension of his custody. Tiwari argued that Chudasama’s custody is
required to ascertain the identity of Andhra Pradesh Police officers who
had helped their Gujarat counterparts in the abduction of Sheikh and
Kausar Bi. After the order of sending Chudasama in judicial custody, CBI
and Chudasama’s lawyers moved separate applications, which the court
will take up for hearing on Thursday.

The CBI has prayed to keep
Chudasama in any prison in the state other than the Sabarmati jail. They
have expressed apprehension that Chudasama may hamper their
investigation if kept in the Sabarmati Central Jail. Chudasama’s lawyers
had sought a court direction to the jail authorities that due to
security concerns, he should be kept in a secure custody inside the jail
and that due to medical reasons, be provided with a Western toilet.
Chudasama is suffering from a hip injury sustained in an accident years
ago.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/615725/

SEE
ALSO:

* CBI grills IPS officer Singhal twice in a day (May 6, 2010, Times of
India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5895372.cms

* Rajkot police commissioner Geetha Johri grilled for eight
hours (May 5, 2010, DNA India)

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_rajkot-police-commissioner-geetha-johri-grilled-for-eight-hours_1379209

* CBI
grills 4 IPS officers at one go in Sohrab case (May 5, 2010, Times of
India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5891461.cms

* Dinesh MNs bail plea rejected (May 4, 2010, Indian
Express)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/614776/

[Back to Top]
First major arrest in Prajapati encounter, SP held
(May 4, 2010, Indian Express)

Dahod SP Vipul Aggarwal was arrested from Gandhinagar on Monday in
connection with the Tulsi Prajapati “encounter” case. Prajapati was the
lone eyewitness in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh “encounter” case, in
connection with which Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad City
Detection of Crime Branch, Abhay Chudasama was arrested recently.

Prajapati
was killed on December 29, 2006, in an alleged encounter before the CID
(Crime) probing the Sohrabuddin case could take his statement. Aggarwal
was the Banaskantha SP at the time of the Prajapati encounter. This is
the first major arrest in the case by the Gujarat CID (Crime).

Incidentally,
the Gujarat government has so far been refusing to hand over papers
related to the Prajapati encounter case to the CBI probing Sohrabuddin’s
death. The agency had asked for the papers on the grounds that the
Supreme Court had asked it to probe into the “larger consipracy” behind
Sohrabuddin’s killing.

Earlier in the day, Gujarat-cadre IPS
officers Girish Singhal and Rajnish Rai had appeared before the CBI in
connection with the Sohrabuddin case. The CBI had summoned the two along
with four other current and retired IPS officers, including Geetha
Johri, O P Mathur, V V Rabari and G C Raigar.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/614758/

SEE ALSO:

* Police says encounter was fake (May 5, 2010, Asian Age)http://beta.asianage.com/
* Constable
Arrested in Tulsi Prajapati Encounter Case (May 4, 2010, Outlook)

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?681004

* Sohrab, Tulsi cases not linked: CID (May 5, 2010, Times of
India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5891459.cms

* Rubabuddin serves contempt notice on BJP leaders (May 9,
2010, The Hindu)

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/09/stories/2010050962321600.htm

[Back to Top]
No lie-detection tests without consent: SC (May 5,
2010, IBN)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared as “illegal” use of
narco-analysis, brain-mapping and polygraph tests – important tools in
police investigative process – on suspects. “We are of the considered
opinion that no individual can be forced and subjected to such
techniques involuntarily, and by doing so it amounts to unwarranted
intrusion of personal liberty,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice K G
Balakrishnan and comprising Justices R V Raveendran and Dalveer
Bhandari.The court said that involuntarily subjecting a person – an
accused, a suspect or a witness – to such techniques violates the
Constitution’s Article 20 (3), which prohibits self-incrimination.

Forcing
an individual to such methods of investigation violates the scheme of
legal process. Even if people are subjected to such investigations with
their consent, the result of the test cannot be an admissible piece of
evidence. However, the court said if anything obtained by the
investigators from such techniques in which a person had volunteered,
the agencies can use them for further probe. Several petitions had
challenged the constitutional validity of narco-analysis test, which is
an important part of police investigation and was used in several high
profile cases like the mult-crore Telgi stamp paper scam.

The
petitions said narco-analysis conducted on an accused, without his
consent, was illegal and should not be admissible as evidence before a
trial court as the law prohibits forcing an accused to give evidence
against himself. Former Delhi Police commissioner Ved Marwah said the
judgment is not a setback for investigating agencies. He described as
narco-analysis tests “as a fall back in blind cases”. Senior lawyer K T S
Tulsi, who is the counsel for victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots,
welcomed the Supreme Court verdict said the scientific and
constitutional validity of the tests was always under question.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/no-liedetection-tests-without-consent-sc/114599-3.html

SEE
ALSO:

* Verdict splits cops, forensic scientists into rival camps (May 6,
2010, Times of India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5895908.cms

* Govt
cautious on SCs narco test ruling (May 5, 2010, Indian Express)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/615411/

* Those
convicted on basis of test can ask for retrial: Experts (May 6, 2010,
Times of India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5895166.cms

* Narco,
polygraph and brain-mapping differ (May 5, 2010, IBN)

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/narco-polygraph-and-brainmapping-differ/114629-3.html

[Back to
Top]
Panel blames CRPF top brass for Dantewada (May 6,
2010, Times of India)

With the one-man inquiry committee which probed the Dantewada
incident hinting at ‘command failure’ as one of the reasons behind the
biggest ever Naxal attack on security forces, the government is likely
to take action against a couple of senior officers, including a CRPF DIG
and the district SP, fixing responsibility on them. Government sources
here indicated that the Centre could take action against CRPF DIG Nalin
Prabhat by shifting him from sensitive post besides recommending similar
action against district SP Amresh Mishra. The action will be taken on
the basis of the EN Rammohan Committee report, which is learnt to have
indicted them not only for violating Standard Operating Procedures
(SOPs) but also for not proceeding with the area domination mission as
planned.

The committee is also understood to have found that CRPF
deputy commandant Satyawan Singh Yadav and assistant commandant B L
Meena erred in not taking adequate precautions. Both Yadav and Meena
were killed in the ambush. The committee was also learnt to have found
that the decision to undertake the ‘area-domination exercise’ was taken
jointly by the IG of Chattisgarh, Longkumar, the DIG of that area, SRP
Kalluri, and the DIG of CRPF, Nalin Parbath, an Andhra Pradesh cadre IPS
officer who had moved to the area only a few days before the incident.
“It was a joint decision,” said an official, adding that the actual
deployment was left to the SP of the district and the commandant of the
CRPF’s 62nd Battalion.

As per the operational drill, the CRPF and
the police personnel have been strictly asked not to take any help from
the villagers or locals and maintain as much as secrecy as possible
while moving out. “The element of secrecy was missing in the operation
as the CRPF company after spending the entire day in the ground shifted
to a nearby ashram (a hostel), besides ordering the villagers to bring
cots and other material,” said a source. Besides fixing the
responsibility for the lapse, the committee is also understood to have
suggested a number of measures to improve coordination between the state
police and the paramilitary force during joint anti-Naxal operations.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5895361.cms

SEE
ALSO:

* Woman Maoists parents accuse CRPF of mental torture (May 4, 2010,
Hindustan Times)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/539225.aspx

* Supply
of arms, ammo to Naxals: 2 more held (May 2, 2010, Times of India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5883543.cms

* Maoist-cop arms deal exposed? (May 1, 2010, DNA India)http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_maoist-cop-arms-deal-exposed_1377524
* Maoists
block supplies to CRPF; Chgarh Police drags its feet (May 2, 2010,
Hindustan Times)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/538406.aspx

[Back to
Top]
Orissa orders probe into rape by cop (May 4, 2010,
Hindustan Times)

The Orissa government on Tuesday ordered a crime branch probe into
the alleged rape of a woman by a police officer five days ago. The cop
was arrested and suspended on Monday following a demonstration at a
police station in Bhadrak district, 90 km from here. The incident took
place on April 30 when the 30-year-old woman had gone to the Dhusuri
police station in Bhadrak in connection with her divorce case.

Narayan
Chandra Nayak, the inspector-in-charge of the station, allegedly called
her to his official residence within the premises. When she went in,
Nayak closed the door, raised the volume of the television and raped
her, the woman alleged.

The victim also said that Nayak offered
her Rs 20,000 not to report the matter. When she refused, he allegedly
locked her inside his house. But she managed to escape after six hours
and reported the matter to Bhadrak SP Jaya Narayan Pankaj.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/539414.aspx

SEE
ALSO:

* Accused of rape, 26/11 martyrs kin attempts suicide (May 6, 2010,
Yahoo)

http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20100506/1053/tnl-accused-of-rape-26-11-martyr-s-kin-a_1.html

* Teacher
booked for rape shown the door (May 5, 2010, The Tribune)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100505/haryana.htm#2

* Woman files rape complaint against Karnataka Minister (May
3, 2010, Hindustan Times)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/538619.aspx

* Change
name of rape victims baby, send her to boarding school (Apr 26, 2010,
Indian Express)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/611337/

[Back to
Top]
Dalits burn Modis effigy; seek his removal (May 4,
2010, The Tribune)

Members of the Dalit community today burnt an effigy of Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi in protest against the “derogatory” remarks made
by him against BR Ambedkar.

The activists collected at Committee
Chowk and raised slogans against Modi. The BSP leaders alleged that
Modi had on April 26 compared the Dalits to “handicapped persons” and
used derogatory words for the architect of the Indian Constitution too.

Former
BSP state general secretary Raj Singh Chauhan said a memorandum would
be sent to president Prathiba Patil demanding action against Modi. The
BSP also sought the resignation of Modi for hurting the sentiments of
the community.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100504/haryana.htm#11

SEE ALSO:

* Rights panel slams Gujarat govt for ignoring Dalit (May 7, 2010, DNA
India)

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_rights-panel-slams-gujarat-govt-for-ignoring-dalit_1380164

* Dalits
cant enter MP CMs village temple (May 7, 2010, IBN)

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dalits-cant-enter-mp-cms-village-temple/114762-37-64.html

* Dalit
fined for drawing water (May 9, 2010, Times of India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5908444.cms

* 23
get jail for dalit massacre (May 7, 2010, Hindustan Times)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/540386.aspx

[Back to
Top]
Opinions and Editorials
The Bureau Of Grift – By Brijesh Pandey (May 15,
2010, Tehelka)

Last week, Dr Ketan Desai, President, Medical Council of India (MCI),
was arrested by the CBI for demanding Rs 2 crore as bribe for granting
licence to a Medical College in Punjab. Given that Desai is an extremely
powerful figure in the medical fraternity and presides over almost the
entire medical infrastructure of the country, this should have come as a
welcome move. But shockingly, it appears that the same CBI had given
Desai a clean chit five years ago for the same offence – taking bribes
for giving illegal licences. So why had the CBI let him off earlier when
stories of his corruption were already legendary? The answers damn the
CBI as much as Dr Desai. A Delhi High Court judgement of November 2001
reveals a disturbing story of how, despite clear-cut proof against him,
and severe strictures by the High Court, Dr Desai not only continued to
rule over the MCI but also managed to get a clean chit from the CBI.

In
2000, a group of doctors – Dr Harish Bhalla and others – had filed a
writ petition against the appointment of Desai as the president of the
MCI. After hearing arguments from both parties, a two-judge bench
comprising Justice Arun Kumar and Justice RC Chopra had made several
scathing remarks against Desai. “Dr Ketan Desai is misusing his office
as president of MCI and is minting money. Such a person does not deserve
to occupy this high public office of the President of MCI. If medical
education is on sale by such corrupt practices, what will happen to the
medical profession, and what type of medical aid will the citizens of
this country get? It is a complete betrayal of the trust reposed,” the
court had observed. The court further said, “Dr Ketan Desai has
manipulated the MCI affairs in such a way that he now has complete hold
over all powers vested with the MCI. Minutes of the Executive Committee
(EC) meetings show that this eminent body, which is supposed to exercise
powers on behalf of the MCI, leaves all decisions to the President
alone, who in turn is using his position to make illegal monetary gains
out of this role.”

Among other damning evidence provided by Dr
Bhalla, the court had taken special notice of the fact that bank drafts
worth Rs 65 lakh had been found in the possession of Dr Desai during an
income tax raid on his residential and business premises on July 18 and
July 20, 2000. When Dr Desai’s lawyer pleaded that this amount was not a
bribe but a gift deed, the court turned it down. This was affirmed by
Bhaskar Reddy, Joint Director, Income Tax (Delhi) who told his
counterpart in Ahmedabad, “These alleged gifts are make-believe
arrangements – not genuine gifts. These are accommodation transactions
in the form of gifts and the alleged donors merely acted as conduits to
channelise the money unaccounted for lying with Dr Desai into his and
his family members bank accounts.” What the court found most shocking
was that Dr Desai was completely silent about the Rs 65 lakh in his
affidavit, and did not dispute the raid. An income tax assessment order
was placed before the court which showed his undisclosed income as nil.
The receipt did not make any mention of the 65 lakh.

“A truthful
person should have come out with full facts. The complete silence of Dr
Desai on this aspect and failure to reply despite opportunity, leads to
only one inference, and that is, admission on the part of (Ketan) Desai
of having received these huge amounts. He has maintained complete
silence on this,” observed the court. Apart from this, Desai was a
Professor of Urology and servant of Government of Gujarat at the time
when the ‘gift deed’ of Rs 65 lakh was recovered. As per the Gujarat
Civil Services (conduct) rules of 1971, a government servant cannot
accept a gift exceeding Rs 1,000 without the permission of the state
government. No such permission was taken by Dr Desai. In lieu of such
glaring abuse of power by Dr Desai, the two member bench of the Delhi
High Court had ordered the removal of Desai and constituted a CBI
inquiry. But the CBI failed its mandate on every count. Despite the
damning objections to Dr Desai’s conduct as the president of MCI,
surprisingly, the CBI did not find any wrongdoing on his part. In its
closure report, the CBI stated that “they have investigated the case and
found that the family of a certain Windlass had made a gift deed of Rs
15 lakh to Ketan Desai and both parties have mentioned the money in
their income tax declarations. Furthermore, Dr Sanjay Sachdeva and his
brother Dr Nalin Sachdeva, who are private practitioners in Delhi,
issued two cheques of Rs 25 lakh each to Dr Desai. Both parties have
declared it in their income tax return.” According to the CBI, “No
evidence has come on record to indicate that Dr Desai has extended any
official favours to the Sachdeva brothers. During their polygraph test,
the Sachdeva brothers revealed that since Desai is an influential person
in medical circles, they gifted the said amount of Rs 50 lakh to earn
his goodwill.”

At best, this appears to be naivete in the extreme.
At worst, it raises questions about the CBI’s own integrity. If there
was no favour done or sought, why would someone ‘gift’ a hefty sum of Rs
50 lakh all of a sudden? And what did the CBI make of the letter by the
Joint Director, Income Tax, who had assessed the ‘Rs 65 lakh gift deed’
as nothing but ‘accommodation transactions in the form of gifts’? Why
was Dr Desai completely silent on the aspect of Rs 65 lakh gift deed in
the High Court? And why had the CBI not investigated Dr Desai’s role
fully when the High Court had described in graphic detail the
stranglehold Desai wielded over the MCI? When TEHELKA asked the CBI for
answers to these questions, they did not respond. They had filed their
closure report on December 22, 2005, and it was based on this report
that Dr Desai could make a re-entry as the President of MCI in March
2009. After his re-election as the president of the MCI, Dr Desai had
asked doctors not to accept gifts from pharmaceutical companies. Given
his reputation for corruption, this could only have been a cosmetic
request. Hopefully there will be better men to see the request
implemented.

http://tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Ne150510the_bureau.asp

SEE
ALSO:

* Checks, unchecked – Editorial (Apr 26, 2010, Indian Express)http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/611260/

* Will Someone Take This Call? – By Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
(May 15, 2010, Tehelka)

http://tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Ne150510will_someone.asp

* Corruption
& state – By C.P. Chandrasekhar (May 8, 2010, Frontline)

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2710/stories/20100521271003300.htm

* Haul
up Halappa – Editorial (May 4, 2010, Deccan Herald)

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/67352/haul-up-halappa.html

[Back to Top]
SC ban on Narco tests: A big blow to investigating
agencies – Editorial (May 6, 2010, The Tribune)

The Supreme Court judgement on Wednesday banning Narco analysis,
brain-mapping and polygraph tests on the accused is a big blow to
agencies like the CBI which have been using such techniques as important
tools in investigation. In a landmark ruling, a three-member Bench
consisting of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.V. Raveendran
and Justice Dalveer Bhandari has said that if an individual is forced to
undergo these tests, it would amount to “unwarranted intrusion of his
personal liberty” and a flagrant violation of his fundamental right
under Article 20 (3) of the Constitution which prohibits
self-incrimination. The Bench made it clear that these tests will not be
admissible as evidence in the courts as the law prohibits an accused
from giving evidence against himself. As for polygraphy tests, it
observed that the investigating agencies will have to follow strictly
the guidelines of the National Human Rights Commission.

Significantly,
the investigating agencies have conducted these tests in a number of
high profile cases such as the fake stamp paper kingpin Abdul Karim
Telgi case, Nithari killings accused Surinder Koli’s case and on Abu
Salem in the Gulshan Kumar murder case. In the Arushi murder case, her
parents underwent the lie detector test but no Narco test was conducted
on them. Narco test involves psychotherapy and the patient is deeply
sedated with medication. Though it is believed that inhibitions are
reduced and the subject cannot manipulate answers during this test,
opinion is sharply divided over its efficacy. While the issue as such
has been a subject of national debate, many senior advocates believe
that Narco analysis is “imperfect, uncertain and hazardous” often
leading to “wrong results”. Not surprisingly, it was not conducted on
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, found guilty in the Mumbai terror attack.

Now
that the Supreme Court has banned these tests, the authorities will
have to evolve new methods of investigation. The police ought to change
its colonial mindset and to show greater respect for human rights. It is
common knowledge how the accused are tortured these days, sometimes
resulting in custodial deaths. The apex court ruling may help ensure a
fair trial for any individual, but agencies like the CBI ought to deploy
more humane methods of investigation to ferret out the truth and bring
the guilty to book.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100506/edit.htm#1

SEE ALSO:

* Narco test: Only way to make terrorist sing? – By Mateen Hafeez (May
6, 2010, Times of India)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5895912.cms

* A
Legal Dose – By Neha Dixit (May 15, 2010, Tehelka)

http://tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Ne150510a_legal.asp

* Truth
to power – Editorial (May 6, 2010, Indian Express)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/615800/

* No to mind games – By Ajai Sahni (May 5, 2010, Hindustan
Times)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/539835.aspx

[Back to
Top]
Operation Media Gagging – By Gauri Lankesh (May
15, 2010, Tehelka)

The central home minister P Chidambaram has often issued veiled
threats to intellectuals who offer covert or overt support to the
Maoists, whom the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has identified as the
‘biggest internal security threat to the country’ today. While Singh and
Chidambaram have limited themselves to issuing threats, the top brass
in the Karnataka Government has opted for direct action. The police of
Shimoga district has issued a ‘threatening’ notice to a young Kannada
journalist. Sometime last year, Rahul Belagali, a reporter with
Prajavani, a leading Kannada daily, met with one of the state leaders of
the Communist Party of India (Maoist) at an ‘undisclosed’ location.

The
interview that was published in his newspaper was full of expected
rhetoric from the Maoists. Statements like – ‘The Maoists will continue
their struggle’, and the ‘Indian democracy is flawed’ are now cliche.
Not too many people paid attention to the interview – it offered no new
political insight, neither provided new information. Until now. Perhaps
in the light of recent events, the Shimoga police issued two notices to
Belagali, the first one as recently as on April 8, citing the interview
and asking Belagali to appear before them and reveal his sources. The
police wanted to ascertain information about a case registered in 2009
against a state Maoist leader. If Belagali did not accede, the police
threatened action against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act of 1967.

The police sent a second notice to Belagali and this
time to his Associate Editor, Padmaraj Dandavate. For Belagali, the
second notice sounded alarm bells. It threatened to book him in four
other cases – the Indian Arms Act, the Destruction of Government
Property Act, the Explosives Act and the dreaded UAPA. Normally, the
publisher of a newspaper accords protection to its reporters and holds
up the fundamental rights of the media to protect its source.
Unfortunately for Belagali, his publication did not stand up for him
with all its strength. More interestingly, it did not appear to be
interested in protecting the rights of the media. Instead it showed
signs of wanting to ‘somehow get the matter settled’ and willingly
become the fifth column of the government. That such a mighty media
group was willing to let its reporter be threatened by the police is
shocking, to say the least.

However, some human right activists
and concerned journalists filed a complaint to the Editors Guild
regarding the threats issued by the Karnataka Police to the two
journalists. Rajdeep Sardesai, president of the guild, and Coomi Kapoor,
the secretary general, have condemned the police action and said,
“Professional ethics demand that mediapersons should protect their
sources and not reveal their identities, when they request privacy. The
confidentiality of a source is a well-established journalistic
principle. Without such privilege, sources would not be willing to speak
freely to the media, whose duty it is to report the facts fairly and
objectively from all points of view to present a true picture to the
public.”

It is important to see the notices issued to Belagali in
the context of the complaint filed against Arundhati Roy recently. A
social worker from Chhattisgarh, Vishwajit Mitra, argued that Roy’s
essay ‘Walking with the Comrades’ glorified the outlawed Maoists and
sought to justify their activities. In his opinion, the essay and the
photographs were liable to be viewed as an offence under the
Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005. That Operation Green
Hunt, the State’s war against the Maoists, has claimed the freedom of
the press should sound as a wake up call to all journalists and people
in the media.

http://tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Ne150510proscons.asp

SEE
ALSO:

* Am I A Maoist? – By Gladson Dungdung (May 3, 2010, Countercurrents)http://www.countercurrents.org/dungdung030510.htm
* Spot
The Mao In The Picture – By Kunal Majumdar (May 15, 2010, Tehelka)

http://tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Ne150510spot_the.asp

* The
new jungle war – By S.K. Sinha (May 6, 2010, Asian Age)

http://beta.asianage.com/

* Can
There Be Any Hope? – Editorial (Apr 24, 2010, Economic and Political
Weekly)

http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/14675.pdf

[Back to
Top]
A preventable murder? – By Subhro Niyogi (May 1,
2010, Times of India)

Sixty-two years after Nathuram Godse’s bullet felled the Mahatma, a
book based on the diary of professor Jagdishchandra Jain – the chief
prosecution witness in the Mahatma Gandhi murder trial – has made
startling revelations about how Jain had warned the Bombay state premier
BG Kher, and home minister Morarji Desai about the plot to eliminate
Gandhi. But the warning went unheeded. Jain was a disciple of
Rabindranath Tagore and a Gandhian who was imprisoned during the Quit
India movement in 1942, and, in later years, held important positions in
the universities of Bombay, Peking, and Kiel in Germany. The book,
Untold Stories from a Witness’s Diary – I Could Not Save Mahatma Gandhi,
published simultaneously from London and Kolkata by Frontpage
Publications, reveals how Jain learnt of the plot to assassinate Gandhi
in early January 1948, and realised his worst fears had come true when
he read the papers on the morning of January 21. He was introduced by
chance to a Punjabi refugee, Madanlal Pawha, who he helped find initial
employment. During a subsequent meeting, Pahwa disclosed the conspiracy
to kill Gandhi to Jain.

“The bomb attempt by Pahwa on Mahatmaji’s life at Delhi gave me a rude
shock and I hastened to alert the authorities. I met BG Kher, and later
the home minister, Morarji Desai, on the same day and related to them
the immediate past history of Pahwa. “I mentioned the names of several
others involved in the conspiracy and told them there was an arms dump
somewhere in Mumbai. I also offered to fly to Delhi and meet Pahwa to
unearth the conspiracy. But they brushed off my suggestion and assured
(me) that all precautions would be taken to safeguard Mahatmaji’s life
and that the Union home minister, Sardar Patel, would be immediately
alerted,” Jain wrote in his diary. What followed were a series of plots,
intrigues and an amazing tale of government apathy versus a lone
citizen’s frustrating attempt to thwart one of the biggest conspiracies
of the past century. In the end, Jain failed. Gandhi was shot by Godse
nine days after Jain met Kher and Desai. “It was only on February 17,
1948, some 21 days after I had passed all the information to the highest
authorities, that a police officer came to record my statement for
post-mortem investigation,” Jain wrote in the diary. He later attempted
to meet the then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, on a visit to Bombay
in April 1948 to attend an All-India Congress Committee meeting, in an
effort to bring the lapses to Nehru’s notice. But he could not manage to
get an appointment.

“I was literally pushed from pillar to post seeking an interview, and
ultimately obtained an admission slip to the government house to try my
luck. Panditji was indeed hard-pressed for time and when he was leaving
for Delhi, I managed a one-minute slot.” “‘You have come without
appointment,’ Nehru overtly voiced his displeasure. ‘Sir, it’s really
important and I won’t take much time,’ I said, and produced the letter
(that explained everything) as he headed to the waiting car. I saw him
go through the letter in the car and hoped something would happen now.
It was my mistake. I never received an acknowledgment,” Jain wrote.
Jain’s son, Anil Jagdishchandra, says his father never did come to terms
with the colossal apathy by the administration in following up leads
that could have prevented Gandhi’s assassination and changed the course
of India’s history. Vital leads were discarded during the trial.

“My father maintained a daily diary very meticulously – the day when
Pahwa had confided in him of the conspiracy; the day when he had
approached the authorities to alert them; the manner in which he was
humiliated at almost every stage in his lone battle to save the life of
the Mahatma; and the days he spent in Delhi as the chief prosecution
witness in the murder trial. Much to his anguish, he knew about the
threat to Gandhi, but could not save him. This was his regret till his
death in 1994,” Anil told TOI-Crest. In the years following Jain’s
death in 1994, these and more issues began to haunt Anil as he flipped
through his father’s diary. “After going through the diaries, I realised
the tragedy could and should have been avoided. I came across stunning
facts of administrative negligence between the first attempt on Gandhi
on January 20, 1948, and his assassination 10 days later. His writing
reflected the role and thinking of politicians at the time of the
formation of Pakistan and how Gandhi’s influence was ebbing. The
conspiracy and its links with some respected names in Indian politics
was really stunning. It was not a crazy, impromptu act of a mad man, who
just rushed to shoot Gandhi, as popularly believed,” Anil added.

The book not only questions the action, or rather the lack of it, on the
part of Kher and Desai, but also scrutinises Sardar Patel’s views on
partition that almost echoed the Hindu nationalist political philosophy,
propagated by Savarkar’s declaration in 1937, at the Hindu Mahasabha
session at Karnavati, Ahmedabad. Though six decades have passed, Anil
believes these issues are as relevant today because they have not been
resolved yet. “It’s still a sensitive and explosive case. The decision
to publish the diary followed a chance encounter with Abhijit Mazumdar,
the director and CEO of Frontpage Publications, at Heathrow airport in
July 2009. It was the fear of a nasty repercussion that had delayed the
diary’s publication for so long. But I decided to go ahead after meeting
Mazumdar.” What also led to the book was the portrayal of Jain as a
mentally unstable person in the 2005 movie Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara.
“I felt it necessary to come out with the facts. My family will always
remain very proud of my father’s honest attempt to save the life of our
Mahatma,” Anil said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5879546.cms

SEE
ALSO:

* Fade to saffron – Editorial (May 7, 2010, Indian Express)http://www.indianexpress.com/news/fade-to-saffron/616239/2

* Missing Pieces – By Rana Ayyub (May 15, 2010, Tehelka)http://tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Ne150510missing_pieces.asp
* 26/11
Verdict Brings Solace To Indian Muslims – By S.R.Darapuri I.P.S.(Retd)
(May 5, 2010, Countercurrents)

http://www.countercurrents.org/darapuri050510.htm

[Back to
Top]
Khap panchayat: signs of desperation? – By Jagmati
Sangwan (May 8, 2010, The Hindu)

In Haryana today, rapid capitalist transformation is accompanied by a
regressive feudal consciousness. As education and political awareness
spread among Dalits, women and backward sections, alongside there is a
massive consolidation of caste ( khap) panchayats in defence of the
status quo. The number of cases in which the totally unconstitutional
caste panchayats have openly defied the law of the land by issuing
illegal diktats has increased manifold. Attacks on young couples, Dalits
and progressive-minded people have become frequent. A recent landmark
judgment by the Additional Sessions Court at Karnal in the Manoj-Babli
“honour” killing case, in which five accused were given the death
sentence, sent shock waves among caste panchayat leaders, as it reminded
them that they were not above the Constitution. The court took serious
note of the fact that the policemen deployed for the security of Manoj
and Babli actually facilitated the accused in perpetrating the crime.
Though geographically small, Haryana is socially and culturally
heterogeneous. For example, in some areas and among certain castes,
marriages within the village and even intra- gotra marriages are not
uncommon. At the same time, such marriages are treated as incest in
certain other areas, and among other castes. Even the caste or khap
panchayat is not a feature prevalent throughout the State, as many
believe, but is confined to a particular region. Thus, a section of
people of one particular caste proclaims itself as the cultural
representative of Haryana, refusing to acknowledge the customs and
traditions practised by others in their own neighbourhood.

A look
at the demography of the State and its development statistics would
help to contextualise the problem. The State that stood second in per
capita income in the country has one of the lowest sex ratios (821 in
the 0-6 age group). Female foeticide is rampant, and the situation is so
bad that wives are being brought from far off States. Not once have
these panchayats called a maha-panchayat to pass a resolution against
female foeticide or dowry or even in connection with the crisis in
agriculture – problems staring the people of Haryana in the face. After
the judgment in the Manoj-Babli case, however, a congregation of caste
panchayats representing the Jat neighbourhoods from Haryana, Uttar
Pradesh and Rajasthan was called at Kurukshetra on April 13. It was
decided that panchayats would now fight for legal status to legitimately
maintain the “social order.” One of the main agendas of this sarv-khap
panchayat was to push for amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
that would ban marriages within the same gotra (clan within which men
and women are considered siblings and hence cannot marry). Under this
Act, marriages between certain lineages from the paternal and maternal
sides are already barred. Most of the khap panchayat diktats are against
couples who are not from the same gotra. In fact, not more than one
case of honour killing has been of a couple within the same gotra. By
creating the false impression that all marriages of choice between young
couples are incestuous, what the khaps are actually opposing is the
right to choose a marriage partner. Among the several instances of khaps
issuing fatwas in Jaundhi, Asanda, Dharana, Singhwal, Hadaudi,
Maham-kheri, Ludana and other villages, not a single one was an intra-
gotra marriage, yet the married couples were declared siblings, and
families made to suffer boycotts and excommunication from their
villages.

A sad example of the gotra row is that of Ved Pal Moan,
brutally beaten to death last year when he tried to secure his wife who
was confined by her parents at Singhwal village in Jind district. He was
escorted by a police party and a warrant officer of the High Court. Ved
Pal had married neither within his gotra nor within the same village.
In this case, another absurd code was invoked by the khap: that the
couple violated the custom of not marrying in the neighbouring village
as it forms part of bhaichara (brotherhood). A khap congregation held in
March 2009 publicly pronounced the death sentence for Ved Pal, and it
succeeded in executing it in June. As couples are selectively targeted,
it is clear the real motive is to control women’s sexuality to ensure
that property remains within the patriarchal caste domain (mainly Jats
in Haryana). The sarv khap panchayat also called for social boycott of
individuals who raised their voice against the caste panchayats. A
former police chief of Haryana, himself a self-styled caste leader, went
on record threatening khap-critics. How can a former DGP publicly
threaten law-abiding citizens, and yet continue to enjoy the hefty perks
and pension out of the public exchequer?

The caste panchayat
leaders have decided to stifle any voice of assertion from the backward
sections. On April 21 more than 20 houses of Dalits were burnt down at
Mirchpur village, in the presence of a police force, allegedly by thugs
belonging to a dominant caste, resulting in the death of an 18-year-old
handicapped girl and her ailing father. A panchayat of khaps convened at
Mirchpur three days after the carnage not only declared all arrested
persons innocent but also issued an ultimatum to the government for
their release! This was exactly the pattern adopted by caste panchayats
in the Gohana (2005) and Duleena (2002) incidents, where brutal attacks
on Dalits took place. Even elders from socially and economically weaker
families are not spared. At Khedi Meham in December 2009, the father of a
newly wed groom was forced to hold a shoe in his mouth in front of the
whole village by the panchayatis. Ordinary citizens are caught in the
contradiction between two sets of values – the blind consumerism of the
neo-liberal dispensation, and the outdated feudal values represented by
the khaps. The first is no replacement for the second, and indeed,
pseudo-modernism only strengthens the forces of revivalism. The
alternative to both types of distortions lies in the spread of healthy
and progressive values that can be unleashed through only a new social
reform movement in the entire Hindi belt.

The judiciary does have a
crucial role to play but has its limitations too. On June 23, 2008
Justice K.S. Ahluwalia of the Punjab and Haryana High Court made a
revealing observation while simultaneously hearing 10 cases pertaining
to marriages between young couples aged 18 – 21: “The High Court is
flooded with petitions where – judges of this Court have to answer for
the right of life and liberty to married couples. The State is a mute
spectator. When shall the State awake from its slumber [and] for how
long can Courts provide solace and balm by disposing of such cases?” A
legislature with little political will and a pliant executive will have
to be made responsive under pressure of a mass movement. The voices of
dissent are also getting consolidated under the umbrella of
organisations like the AIDWA and other democratic forces. The younger
generation must stand forth as responsible social activists and lead the
struggle for change in an otherwise feudal society that lives by the
dictum “Jiski lathi uski bhains” (the powerful call the shots). In
Haryana each passing day is costing the lives of innocent women and men.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/08/stories/2010050856921200.htm

SEE ALSO:

* Khaps, Castes and Violence – Editorial (May 1, 2010, Economic and
Political Weekly)

http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/14703.pdf

* Reign
of terror – By T.K. Rajalakshmi (May 8, 2010, Frontline)

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2710/stories/20100521271011300.htm

* Dateline
Hisar – Editorial (May 1, 2010, Indian Express)

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/613706/

[Back to Top]
Policemen in arms racket – Editorial (May 3, 2010,
The Tribune)

The arrest of some CRPF jawans and UP policemen for involvement in an
arms racket was startling enough. The possibility, voiced by
investigators, that they could have sold the arms and ammunition
pilfered from armouries to the Maoists, is even more disturbing. While
the suspicion is yet to be proved, the inference has been drawn on
fairly strong grounds. Petty criminals and underworld gangs would have
no need for the large and steady supply of arms and ammunition that the
arrested policemen confess to have maintained over a period of time.
Also the fact that transactions took place in districts with a sizeable
presence of Maoists, directs the needle of suspicion to the insurgents.

While
armed insurgents are known to have used arms generally given to the
para-military forces, till now it was believed they were snatched after
attacks on the uniformed men. The probability of the insurgents buying
arms and ammunition from the men in uniform and using them against the
policemen, adds a chilling dimension to the web.The arrests have also
exposed chinks in the system. While it is too early to conclude that
para-military forces have been infiltrated by the Maoists, senior
officers of the CRPF and the Uttar Pradesh police need to find an answer
to the shocking ease with which the arms and ammunition appear to have
been switched. Records were apparently manipulated and live ammunition
replaced with empty shells. The culprits are also believed to have
pilfered empty cartridges and filled them with gunpowder before selling
them.

The audacious racket was obviously made possible by poor
and inadequate supervision at all levels. It is also important to look
into the flaws in recruitment, training and deployment of the men.
Besides, it is important to find out what prompted the men to be so
reckless and stake their jobs, if not lives, for the sake of greed
alone; or could there have been some other motivation ? There is
certainly something that is rotten in the system. The racket ought to
serve as an alarm bell and no effort should be spared to get to the
bottom of it. Systemic checks and balances do not seem to have kept pace
with the sudden growth of para-military forces in the country. It is,
therefore, imperative to put them in place at the earliest.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100503/edit.htm#1

SEE ALSO:

* Sohrabuddin And Tulsiram: The Twain Shall Not Part – By Mustafa Khan
(May 5, 2010, Countercurrents)

http://www.countercurrents.org/mkhan050510.htm

[Back to
Top]

Related posts:

  1. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – August 10th, 2009
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  3. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – February 15th, 2010
  4. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – January 11th, 2010
  5. IMC-USA Weekly News Digest – February 1st, 2010

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