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Ishrat Jahan encounter

IAMC Weekly News Roundup – May 6th, 2013

by newsdigest on May 7, 2013

In this issue of IAMC News Roundup

Announcements

News Headlines

Opinions & Editorials

Book Review

Announcements

Indian Americans welcome USCIRF’s recommendation to continue the ban on Modi’s US visa

Thursday May 2nd, 2013

 

The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC - www.iamc.com), an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos lauded the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), for calling on the Obama administration to maintain a visa ban on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his role in the pogrom of 2002, that claimed over 2,000 lives and displaced over 150,000.

 

 

“There is significant evidence linking him to the violence and the terrible events that took place in Gujarat and for this reason, a visa would not be appropriate,” said Katrina Lantos Swett, chairwoman of the US commission for international religious freedom (USCIRF) during a press conference held on May 1, to release its annual report.

 

 

In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, IAMC President Ahsan Khan praised USCIRF for taking a position that is consistent with US law, international human rights norms and our shared values of human rights and religious freedom.

 

 

“USCIRF’s recommendation to continue the ban on Narendra Modi’s entry into the US, and your own position on this issue during your term as Senator are a timely reminder to human rights violators across the world, that the international community will hold them accountable for their misdeeds,” stated Mr. Khan in the letter. In 2006, then Senator John Kerry had written to the State Department expressing concern over reports that Narendra Modi could be applying for a US visa. The State Department had responded to Senator Kerry, assuring him that “the Department of State is extremely sensitive to your concerns and we are cognizant of the human rights abuses Mr. Modi has committed.”

 

 

IAMC has also called on the Government of India to note that USCIRF has continued to place India in Tier 2 of the list of countries where religious freedom is at risk. India has been on USCIRF’s watch list since 2009. Such a characterization is a challenge to India’s secular and democratic constitution and a blemish on our cherished tradition of tolerance.

 

Indian-American Muslim Council (formerly Indian Muslim Council-USA) is the largest advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the United States with 13 chapters across the nation.

 

 

For more information please visit our new website at: http://www.iamc.com

 

CONTACT:

Indian American Muslim Council
Ishaq Syed
Phone: (800) 839-7270
Email: info@iamc.com

Address:
6321 W Dempster St. Suite 295
Morton Grove, IL 60053
phone/fax: 1-800-839-7270
email: info@iamc.com

REFERENCES:
1. US religious panel for continuing visa ban on Narendra Modi
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-01/india/38956754_1_uscirf-religious-freedom-annual-report
2. USCIRF – Annual Report, 2013
http://www.uscirf.gov/images/2013%20USCIRF%20Annual%20Report(1).pdf
3. “We have no orders to save you” – Report by Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2002/india/
4. Concerned Citizens Tribunal – Gujarat 2002; An Inquiry into the Carnage in Gujarat
http://www.sabrang.com/tribunal/volI/index.html

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US panel seeks continued visa ban on Narendra Modi (May 1, 2013, Indian Express)

A Congress-established independent panel on religious freedom has called on the US to maintain a visa ban on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying there was significant evidence linking him to the violence in the state in 2002. “There is significant evidence linking him to the violence and the terrible events that took place in Gujarat and for this reason, a visa would not be appropriate,” Katrina Lantos Swett, chairwoman of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) told reporters today during a press conference held to release its annual report.

The annual report of USCIRF has placed India in the Tier 2 Countries on religious freedom along with that of seven other countries Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos and Russia. For the 2013 Annual Report, USCIRF has recommended that the Secretary of State to re-designate eight countries as countries of particular concern (CPCs): Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan. USCIRF also found that seven other countries meet the CPC threshold and should be so designated: Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

In its annual report, the USCIRF notes that Modi is the only individual against whom the US has so far used its visa ban provision related to religious freedom in March 2005 due to his alleged complicity in the 2002 riots that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,100 to 2,000 Muslims. “USCIRF continues to urge the Departments of State and Homeland Security to develop a lookout list of aliens who are inadmissible to the US on this basis,” the report said, adding that in November 2012, it had written a letter to the then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to continue the US policy against Modi apprehending that the Gujarat Chief Minister might apply for a visa.

“Directly related to identifying and barring from entry such severe religious freedom violators, IRFA (International Religious Freedom Act of 1998) also requires the President to determine the specific officials responsible for violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by governments of CPCs, and, when applicable and to the extent practicable, publish the identities of these officials in the Federal Register,” the report said. “Despite these requirements, no individual officials from any CPC (Country of Particular Concern) countries responsible for particularly severe religious freedom violations have been identified to date,” the report noted. On the 2002 Gujarat riots, the report said, in the last two years approximately 100 people have been convicted of various crimes, with punishments ranging from minor monetary fines to life imprisonment, and more than 100 individuals have been acquitted because of lack of evidence, witnesses refusing to testify or the death of witnesses.

Additionally, “Gujarati police have closed a large number of cases, citing the unavailability of witnesses. Notably in the last year, Mayaben Kodnani, the former Minister for Women and Child Welfare, was sentenced to 28 years in jail for her involvement in the Gujarat violence,” it said. Observing that there has been no large-scale communal violence against religious minorities in India since 2008, and in recent years the Indian government has created special investigative and judicial structures in an effort to address previous such attacks, USCIRS, however said that in the past year, progress in achieving justice through these structures for the victims of past incidents continued to be slow and ineffective. In addition, members of religious minority communities, including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, reported an increase during the period of intimidation, harassment, and violence, particularly in states withanti-conversion laws. Based on these concerns, USCIRF places India on Tier 2 in 2013. India had been on USCIRF’s watch list since 2009.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1110091/

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‘Top cop Pandey, now on run, plotted Ishrat encounter with IB man’ (May 5, 2013, Indian Express)

The arrest of P P Pandey, the additional DGP in charge of CID (crime) who is now wanted by the CBI for his role in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan case, could be a tipping point for the Gujarat Police, whose many senior officers are already cooling heels in jails for their role various encounter killings in the state and in the investigations into the 2002 riots. A 1980-batch IPS officer, Pandey was the joint commissioner of police in Ahmedabad when Ishrat and three others were killed in a police encounter on the city’s outskirts in June 2004.

Incidentally, D G Vanzara, the once-feared encounter specialist now jailed in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati encounter cases, was DCP (crime) in Ahmedabad police in 2004. He was said to be close to Pandey, who is an accused in the Sadiq Jamal encounter case also. CBI believes Pandey “conspired” with some officials of the Intelligence Bureau who “passed” to him an input that Ishrat and three others were Lashkar-e-Tayabba operatives out on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

“The Ishrat encounter was planned by top officers of the Ahmedabad crime branch following an intelligence input from IB, which was received by the then Ahmedabad police commissioner K R Kaushik, who shared it with Pandey. Pandey, in turn, shared the input with his trusted aide D G Vanzara,” a CBI officer said. The input is said to have been passed by Rajinder Kumar, an IB official then posted in Gujarat. The CBI official said Vanzara had formed two teams under G L Singhal and N K Amin (both police officers now in CBI custody) to carry out the encounter killing of Ishrat and three others and Pandey had supervised the “logistics” and “communication” with Singhal’s help.

According to CBI’s chargesheet in the 2003 Sadiq Jamal killing case, Pandey had hired the private vehicle used in the encounter. Encounter killings apart, Pandey’s role in the probe into some of the most infamous massacres during the 2002 communal riots is also under the scanner. The police officer had supervised the probe into the Naroda Patiya, Naroda Gam and Gulberg Society massacres, which were then with the crime branch.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Rahul Sharma has told a special court that he had collected call records of some top politicians, bureaucrats and police officers as part of investigations into these cases from telecom companies, while assisting the crime branch. The original CDs containing the call records, Sharma stated, were handed over to Pandey, from where they allegedly went missing. After moving out of the crime branch, Pandey also served as chief of CID (intelligence) from 2009 to 11.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1111703/

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Jailed encounter cop caught on camera ‘visiting home’ (Apr 30, 2013, Indian Express)

Rajkumar Pandian, an IPS officer suspended in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, was reportedly filmed by a local TV channel visiting his home in Ahmedabad without the team of Mumbai police escorts who had brought him to the city to be produced in a local court. Director General of Police Amitabh Pathak said a high-level inquiry has been ordered into the incident. Pandian was purportedly caught on camera walking out of his residence, Sharnam Appartments -10 at Prahladnagar, where he allegedly spent the night, in a casual attire and getting into a private car (GJ 1 KG 3870).

According to the local news channel, Pandian was tailed by its reporters after he arrived at the Ahmedabad railway station on Sunday night from Mumbai with the police party led by Mumbai police Inspector Suresh Kamble in Karnavati Express. According to the channel, Pandian was first taken in a private car to the circuit house, where he took about a minute to sign the register of entry before leaving the place driving a white car. The Mumbai police party, meanwhile, remained at the circuit house.

Room number 40, which was booked for Pandian, remained locked all night while the police officer allegedly stayed at his residence. On Monday morning, the car in which Pandian got into allegedly attempted to run over the lensman who was there to film him stepping out of his house. After fleeing the scene, the driver of the car was seen at the circuit house, clarifying to the media that Pandian was already in court.

According to the channel’s grab, Pandian appeared between 11 to 11.30 am at the circuit house, much later than the driver’s arrival in a black car. He was dressed in white shirt and blue denims and jumped inside the police van. The police escort party waiting for him at the circuit house then took him to the court for the hearing. “We still have to figure out whether it was the responsibility of Mumbai police or Gujarat Police. But we have ordered an inquiry into the matter and additional DGP (Law and Order) Shivanand Jha has been asked to probe,” Pathak said.

Principal Secretary (Home) S K Nanda said, “The matter pertains to the Mumbai police. They never informed us about when they were coming and going. Jail authorities here were also not informed. The accused is in the custody of the Mumbai police and so the Gujarat Police or the state government has no take on it”. Inspector Kamble refused to talk. Pandian had filed an application in the special CBI court that he was booked in the Tulsiram Prajapati encounter case by CBI without taking the mandatory permission from the state government.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1109422/

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Was Kauserbi killed in old ATS office? (May 6, 2013, Times of India)

The old office of Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in Shahibaug could well be the scene of Kauserbi’s murder. Till date, the murder of Kauserbi – Sohrabuddin Sheikh’s wife – has largely remained unexplained in legal documents submitted in courts by the CID (Crime) and also the CBI. Neither agency has made any mention of how Kauserbi was killed. Earlier, in its petition before the Supreme Court, the Gujarat government had admitted in an affidavit that days after Sohrabuddin was gunned down in Narol in November, 2005, Kauserbi was also killed by Gujarat cops.

After analyzing the call details of mobile phones used by the accused policemen, CBI officials now suspect that Kauserbi may have been held and killed at the ATS office in Shahibaug. ATS recently shifted into a swanky new office on SG Road. “Using cellphone tower records we have established that several police officers who were part of Kauserbi’s murder conspiracy were at ATS office in Shahibaug on November 29, when Kauserbi was killed and her body taken to Ilol,” said a CBI official.

Kauserbi was last seen with Sohrabuddin in Hyderabad, when they were abducted by a joint team of Gujarat ATS and Hyderabad police. They were brought to Ahmedabad by road and kept in illegal detention at two farmhouses – Disha and Arham – in the outskirts of city. Their custody was then with police sub-inspector who is now an accused in this case. “The PSI’s call detail records (CDR) mark his location at ATS office on November 29,” said CBI officials. Presence of another accused, a police officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police, has also been traced to ATS office in Shahibaug on November 29, 2005, and in Ilol at Sabarkantha district where Kauserbi’s body was cremated.

A police inspector, who is now a CBI witness, has said in his that the DSP was one of the senior officers present at Ilol when the cremation took place secretly on the banks of a seasonal river. The witness had been arrested by CID (Crime) in this case because he had got the wood for the cremation from Ahmedabad. Later, CBI chose to treat him as a witness, as it was proven that he was acting under directives from his superior officer – deputy inspector general of police D G Vanzara. …

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/19904264.cms

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NIA nabs 2 Ajmer Sharif blast suspects in Vadodara (May 5, 2013, Indian Express)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested two of the accused in the 2007 Ajmer Sharif blast case from Vadodara late Friday night. Jayanti Gohil and Ramesh Gohil were picked up nearly two months after their relative Mafat Gohil, also an accused in the same case, was arrested from the city by an NIA team.

Jayanti and his son Ramesh, who were also accused in the 2002 Best Bakery case but were later acquitted by a Vadodara court, had gone missing in 2004 when the case was reopened by a Mumbai court following a Supreme Court order for its trial outside Gujarat. They were later declared as absconding. The NIA team nabbed the father-son duo from Kashipura village in Vadodara’s Waghodia taluka in a joint operation with the Vadodara Detection of Crime Branch (DCB).

Earlier, in 2010, the Rajasthan ATS had arrested Harshad Gohil, also their relative, in Jaipur for his alleged role in the Ajmer Sharif blast. Harshad had allegedly confessed to killing Sunil Joshi, considered to be the mastermind behind the blasts in Ajmer Sharif and Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid. Joshi was shot on December 29, 2007, at Dewas in Rajasthan.

On March 8 this year, an NIA team nabbed Mafat Gohil from his house near Hanuman Tekri in Vadodara while he was visiting his family members around 11 pm, his family had said. The four have been accused of transporting and planting a bomb at Ajmer Sharif, which had killed three people on October 11, 2007, under the guidance of Joshi, with whom they allegedly stayed before the blast. They are likely to be interrogated about the conspiracy behind the Ajmer blast and for their role in Joshi’s murder.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1111699/

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Three ‘Bangaldeshi’ youth jailed are Indian citizens, minority commission says (May 3, 2013, Times of India)

Three teenaged youth, arrested for being Bangladeshi nationals, are actually Indian nationals, says the department of Health and Family Welfare, government of West Bengal. The three youths, aged between 17 and 19, were arrested by the Govandi police after the special branch conducted a joint operation with the later. The department of Health and Family Welfare in a letter to Munaf Hakeem, chairman state minorities commission, stated that the three youngsters were Indian nationals but the police labeled them and arrested as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

The youth were Bilal Shaikh (19), Saeedul Shaikh (19) and Rehmand Sopiwal Shaikh (16), all residents of village Rampur, Kulghaat, Midnapur district in WB. “The three youth belong to a village in WB and can’t speak Hindi. They can communicate only in Bengali. The Mumbai police fixed them in a fabricated case of being Bangladeshis without any inquiry,” H S Janubasar, an officer of the WB department stated in the letter. He stated that the three boys were tourist.

“I have written letters to state Home minister R R Patil and city police commissioner Satya Pal Singh about this matter, requesting them to look into it and do justice,” said Hakeem. When contacted a police officer from Govandi police station, he said, “We have even asked the special branch team to first check the nationality of the boys and give them some time to prove their version of being Indian. However, they did not pay any heed on our request,” the officer said. No show cause notices to the boys were issued too.

When contacted, Sanjay Shintre, DCP special branch said, “In the last one year we have arrested more than 1,600 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in and around Mumbai. If these teenaged boys are Indian nationals, ask them to hire lawyers. They could be discharged if they prove their nationality.”

It is worth noting that the police had last year arrested 22 labourers working at a construction site in Nallasopara terming them Bangladeshis. They were arrested and later released after two members of Parliament took up their case. Interestingly, Nizamuddin Mehmood Shaikh alias Chenia, a prisoner in Arthur Road jail, wrote a letter to Hakeem stating that he is also an Indian national from Uttar Pradesh but the police arrested him as a foreigner and he is in jail since November 14 last year.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-03/mumbai/39008382_1_bangladeshi-nationals-mumbai-police-police-officer

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Set up SIT to probe 1984 anti-Sikh riots: Victim writes to PM (May 4, 2013, IBN)

An anti-Sikh riots victim, who is on an indefinite fast against the acquittal of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, on Saturday shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the 1984 riots.

Nirpreet Kaur, who lost her father in the riots after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, began her fast on Friday protesting Kumar’s acquittal in a riot case and demanding setting up of an SIT to probe the incident. “It was not a Hindu-Sikh riot but a political carnage. In order to save political people, evidences were buried, witnesses were not heard.

We demand that an SIT be set up in this matter so that truth can come forward and the culprits can be brought to justice,” she said in the letter. Kaur has also demanded that CBI should file an appeal in the High Court against Sajjan Kumar in the case in which he has been acquitted by a trial court recently.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/set-up-sit-to-probe-1984-antisikh-riots-victim-writes-to-pm/389616-37-64.html

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Road rage in Amreli turns communal, one killed (May 4, 2013, DNA India)

A minor accident escalated into a communal clash in Amreli on Friday, leading to the death of a young man and serious injuries to another person. According to police, the incident occurred in the morning when Haresh Sukhadiya’s car accidently hit a pedestrian belonging to the Muslim community near Rupam Cinema. A mob got into a scuffle with Sukhadiya, who somehow managed to leave the area.

After some time, the car owner returned with people of his community, all carrying sharp weapons. The two groups fought for a while. A bullet fired by Sukhadiya’s associate Hasmukh Dudhat from his private revolver hit Habib Qureshi, 32, who was standing at a nearby shop. “Qureshi died as the bullet wound was deep in his chest while Sukhadiya also suffered serious injuries as he was stabbed by some unidentified people,” the police said.

Timely action by the police brought the situation under control. “Heavy deployment has been made in the city, especially the affected area. We have engaged community leaders from both sides to maintain peace and calm,” said Shobha Bhutda, district superintendent of police. The violence brought Amreli to a standstill as shopkeepers downed shutters and most other commercial establishments also remained closed.

“We have also started night patrolling and called for two companies from State Reserve Police Force. Situation is calm but tense. Shops in some areas reopened in the evening,” Bhutda added. Meanwhile, the police have charged five persons for murder and rioting. “We have registered cases against Hasmukh Dudhat, Arvind Borda, Ashok Jogani, Gunvant Savaliya and Haresh Sukhadiya,” the DSP said. Incidentally, Borda is former president of BJP’s Amreli city unit.

http://www.dnaindia.com/print710.php?cid=1830586

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CBI’s independent position must be restored: SC on coalgate (Apr 30, 2013, Times of India)

In a big embarrassment to the government in the coalgate case, the Supreme Court on Tuesday termed as “very disturbing” the CBI affidavit on sharing its report with the law minister and others and slammed the agency for having kept the court in the dark on the issue. Hearing the coal blocks allocation scam case in a packed courtroom, the bench said “suppression” of the fact that CBI has shared its probe report with the government is “not ordinary”. A bench headed by Justice R M Lodha observed that there was a “very disturbing feature” in the affidavit filed on April 26 by CBI director Ranjit Sinha and the agency must be restored to its independent position.

Sinha, in his two-page affidavit filed in the apex court, had said that the agency’s status report on coal allocation scam was “shared” with law minister Ashwani Kumar and senior officials of PMO and coal ministry “as desired by them”. The apex court said that sharing of information with the government about the probe into the scam has “shaken the entire process” and CBI need not take instructions from “political masters” on their probe. “Our first exercise will be to liberate CBI from political interference,” the bench said. The SC asked the CBI what authority did the law minister and joint secretaries in the PMO and coal ministry had to summon status report of an ongoing probe looked into by the court.

The SC wanted to know from the CBI director by Monday who others had seen the report apart from the minister and two joint secretaries in the PMO and coal ministry. The apex court asked the CBI to file a fresh affidavit. The SC has put the next hearing in the case on May 8. The SC also sought details of the officers of the CBI engaged in investigating coal scam and did not approve of the supervising officer Ravi Kant being allowed to be transferred to the Intelligence Bureau. The apex court also issued a warning to the coal ministry after the CBI said that it was not getting relevant materials regarding the coal block allocation from the ministry. In his affidavit, the CBI director had said, “I submit that the draft of the same (status report) was shared with law minister as desired by him prior to its submission before the Supreme Court. Besides the political executive, it was also shared with one joint secretary level officer each of Prime Minister’s Office and ministry of coal as desired by them.”

The CBI director had also assured the apex court that the agency will not share further status reports in this case with any member of the political executive. Sinha’s affidavit had contradicted the claim made by additional solicitor general Haren Raval on behalf of CBI on March 12 that the probe report in the scam has not been shared with any member of the government and it has only been shared with the apex court after being vetted by the CBI director. The affidavit was filed in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order which, in an unprecedented move on March 12, had directed the CBI director to assure the court that the status report in the coalgate scam is not being shared with the government. Today’s hearing came a day after Raval shot off a letter to attorney general G E Vahanvati in which he alleged that he has been made a “scapegoat” in the matter. Raval is also believed to have accused Vahanvati of trying to interfere in CBI’s probe report.

Earlier, the CBI and the Centre had clashed over the coalgate scam. The agency had told the court that there have been “arbitrary allotments without scrutiny” in the coal blocks allocation during the UPA-I tenure. The government had refuted its findings saying that the “CBI is not the final word on this.” In the status report filed by CBI on March 8, the agency had said that the coal block allocation during 2006-09 was done without verifying the credentials of companies which allegedly misrepresented facts about themselves and no rationale was given by the coal ministry in giving coal blocks to them. Meanwhile, Congress core group is meeting to chalk out a plan to deal with the crisis. The CBI officials are also engaged in an emergency meeting to discuss the SC observations.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/19797078.cms

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Dalit student attacked; OU students burned down portraits of Hindutva ideologues (Apr 30, 2013, Twocircles.net)

Osmania University has witnessed a rare Dalit assertion and retaliation against right wing Hindutva elements, when a fellow student was brutally beaten up by Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) BJP’s and RSS’s student wing. The reaction of Dalit students which followed after the attack on their fellow member has shaken the base of ABVP in OU which for past decade has become their den. Dalits across India have been a soft target of right wing Hindutva forces in order to dissolve Dalit independent identity.

Trouble began in the university campus when a Dalit student Perka Shyam, a Ph.D. Chemistry research scholar was attacked by the ABVP activists in the late Friday night. Since morning tension was building up between TRSV (student union of TRS) and ABVP when former members were interrogated by later after a mobile phone was stolen. As P. Shyam was a Dalit member of TRSV, he became a soft target by ABVP when he was alone at a tea stall in the campus, where 20 ABVP activists beaten him with lathis, thus inflicted harsh injuries on whole body.

On Saturday students lodged a complaint at OU police station against the act of ABVP, as the news spread agitated Dalit students gathered at Krishnaveni B- hostel and took out a rally with lathis amidst of anti-Hindutva and ABVP slogans. Dalit students before leaving the B-hostel took out the portraits of RSS founder Hedgewar, Hindu Mahasabha leader Veer Savarkar and Bal Gangadhar tilak which was installed in the corridor since the hostel was first inaugurated in 1970′s. Students also tear down saffron flag which was raised on the balcony of the hostel building. Student paraded the photos upside down in the campus beating it by foots and slippers.

http://twocircles.net/2013apr30/dalit_student_attacked_ou_students_burned_down_portraits_hindutva_ideologues.html

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Opinions and Editorials

Gujarat: Conspiracy Most Sinister – By Teesta Setalvad (May 5, 2013,Peoples Democracy)

THE chief minister of Gujarat since 2002 and the home minister of the state too till today, the role played by Mr Narendra Modi since day one, i.e. February 27, 2002, has been unravelled – especially in the calculated misuse of his position to stoke the flames of retribution and revenge and also use hate speech himself. As the state’s home minister, he also conveniently ignored the build up of communal mobilisation and violence before 2002. In the first instance, the news of the Godhra incident was manipulated to ignore the provocative behaviour of the karsevaks that had led to a mob assembling near the Godhra station. At about 1 p m when the state assembly met to discuss the budget, Gordhan Zadaphiya, minister of state for home affairs, read out the statement prepared by home department. Suresh Mehta, the minister of industries, was also present in Vidhan Sabha, sitting next to Modi, when Zadaphiya was reading the note. “I was sitting by the side of Mr Narendra Modi, CM who remarked that ‘Hindus should wake up now’ ” (Statement made by Suresh Mehta on August 15, 2009 to the SIT at Annexure I, Volume I, pp 83-84). The chief minister then went to Godhra by a helicopter on the same afternoon. Gordhan Zadaphiya too left for Godhra by road.

Between the time the meeting with home department officials was called (10.30 a m) and the assembly met, Modi spoke to Ashok Bhatt, another accused and then the minister for health, several times and left for Godhra to reach soon after 12 noon. These calls indicate clearly that part of the sinister conspiracy to milk macabre political mileage from the Godhra tragedy included clear-cut instructions from Modi to Bhatt to hastily conduct the post mortems of the bodies of the dead persons (not all were karsevaks – the Concerned Citizens Tribunal (CCT, Crimes Against Humanity, Gujarat 2002) had clearly recorded that even a station master’s wife simply travelling locally had been killed – out in the open in the railway yard, in the presence of an illegally assembled mob of VHP workers – since curfew had been declared at 10 a m. Such a decision to conduct post mortems of the burnt and disfigured bodies out in the open is completely against the law. Post mortems take place after bodies have been identified, in the presence of relatives. If bodies are unidentified there are procedures and rules for public notices to be issued, and bodies are kept in the morgue, etc. There are laws against allowing photographs of these bodies being taken or propagated. What was the reason for this hasty post mortem if not to stoke hatred and revenge? The Special Investigation Team (SIT) under a former director of the CBI, R K Raghavan, found nothing to say in its closure report about this illegality, ignoring the aspects of conspiracy completely.

After visiting the railway yard where the bodies had been laid out in full public view in violation of the curfew orders, Modi held an official, mini-cabinet meeting at the Collectorate where, irony of ironies, Jaideep Patel, a VHP rabble-rouser, was allowed to be present. It is here that the controversial, criminal and illegal decision to transport the bodies to Ahmedabad in the charge of Jaideep Patel, also an accused, was taken. The hate speech was a powerful tool used to fan the flames. “An unforgivable, inhuman heinous act has been committed on the soil of Gujarat. This act is an act which no civilised society can forgive. I wish to assure all citizens of Gujarat that Gujarat will not be able to stomach/tolerate/live with such an act. Not only will the guilty get exemplary punishment but such examples will be set that none will ever venture to commit such acts in future” (from the official Gujarat government press release available to Mrs Jafri at Annexure IV File VII of the SIT Records). The tenor and tone reflect the unashamedly partisan nature of Narendra Modi’s mindset at a critical juncture when statewide violence has already broken out – from the afternoon of February 27, 2002. The SIT has failed to examine or evaluate the tenor of this press release, nor the others attached in the record provided by the Gujarat government, though they have been made available and further demonstrate the discriminatory mindset of Narendra Modi. However, the amicus curiae in the case, Raju Ramachandran, found clearly and unequivocally that there was material to prosecute Modi under sections 166 and 153A and B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (amicus report to the Supreme Court dated July 25, 2011).

Modi’s speech on February 27-28, 2002 on Doordarshan’s Gujarati channel concerning the Godhra incident is no less problematic: (Modi steps out from the coach and sitting in the conference room): Sarkar taraf thi… samuhik hinsa ka trasvadi krutya hua. Itni bhayanakta itni krurata jiske liye shabd nahi hai. Sarkar ne mrutakon ke parivar ko 2,00,000 rupaye dene ka nirnay kiya hai. Sarkar koi bhi kadam uthane se hichkegi nahin aur gunehgaro ko puri saza milegi (Translation: The government… a collective terrorist act was perpetrated. There are no words for such cruelty, such barbarism. The government has decided on a compensation of Rs two lakh for each of those who have lost their lives. The government will not hesitate to take any necessary step and the culprits will be severely punished.) Alas, the same sense of exemplary punishment for the criminals responsible for the post-Godhra massacres has never been a priority for Modi. Sections of the speech made by Modi at the onset of his election rallies, the infamous Gaurav Yatra, in September 2002 are also worth recalling. He delivered the speech at Becharaji, Mehsana on September 9, 2002. The National Commission for Minorities summoned a copy; field officers of the State Intelligence Bureau of Gujarat Police and ASGP R B Sreekumar found it harmful to public peace and violative of Indian criminal law. What was the result? R B Sreekumar was promptly transferred. Modi said: “We have resolved to destroy and stamp out all forces of evil, who are a threat to the self-respect of Gujarat.” This was clearly an indirect justification of a policy of carnage against the minorities after the tragic Godhra incident. Referring to relief camps for the riot affected Muslims, Modi said: “What brother, should we run relief camps? Should I start children producing centres there, i.e., relief camps? We want to achieve progress by pursuing the policy of family planning with determination. We are 5 and ours are 25 (Ame panch, Amara panch)!!! Here he was making the claim that every Muslim family produces five children.)

These remarks from the highest elected representative in a state are nothing short of an attempt to ridicule the plight of refugees from the minority community who were dis-housed because of widespread violence that was not contained. Refugees in these relief camps included the victims of mass massacre, rape and arson. State complicity at the highest level has been judicially held responsible for the sustained spread of the violence. Therefore, ridiculing the camps and thereafter lacing the statement with the poisoned stereotype of the alleged Muslim aversion to family planning during an election campaign clearly has a motive. This statement also projects the Muslim minority as a stumbling block to progress and patronises an ‘us versus them’ mindset among the populace that then becomes easy fodder for incitement and the outbreak of communal violence. On the whole, the speech displays a definite communal bias, denigration of the minority community, ridiculing and belittling of the holiest scriptures of the minority community particularly the five pillars of Islam, the holy month of Ramzan and observance of Roza. Such references are likely to germinate a sense of hatred, ill-will and exclusivism about the Muslim minority in the minds of the majority community. The claim that nothing happened in the form of riots after the speech is irrelevant, dangerous and untenable, because the sense of exclusivism and sectarianism, obvious in the tone and tenor of the speech, not only goes against the concept of emotional integration of the Indian people but also engenders an intense feeling of alienation among the Muslims towards the Hindu community. The potent poison of hate speech was and is a useful tool for the chief accused in this case.

http://pd.cpim.org/2013/0505_pd/05052013_14.html

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The Karnataka prophecies – By Seema Chishti (Apr 29, 2013, Indian Express)

Karnataka goes to polls on May 5, with results expected on May 8. Each day brings with it new possibilities of alignment and realignment, and other tantalising signals for 2014. The run-up to 2014 has almost become an absorbing spectator sport, with parties in overdrive on “prime ministerial” candidate selection. An election for a big state could bring an element of reality into such fantasy politics. Assembly elections don’t really matter, say the losers of all state elections. Reflect back on the BJP’s successes in three assembly polls in November 2003, which had prompted the NDA to bring forward the general elections. We can all clearly recall what happened in the general elections that ended in May 2004. So, could Karnataka 2013 offer clues for 2014? Karnataka, with 224 assembly seats and 28 Parliament seats, has often been the opposite of a bellwether state. But this time, with the two main national parties and a serious third party in the fray, it mirrors the national faultlines. It is also a litmus test for the general elections, because “corruption” has been a prominent issue in the state, leading to the departure of its former chief minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa. Its durability as an election issue could be tested here.

In the heyday of Indira Gandhi, Karnataka saw a dynamic chief minister, Devraj Urs, who came to power in 1972. Not belonging to the dominant Vokkaliga or Lingayat community, his politics were broader than just winning either of the two influential castes. Under him, politics became a matter of bringing together caste alliances and other interests. His land reforms and grooming of a wide section of the present Karnataka leadership ensured that the state voted for the Congress even after 1977, when most parts of India rejected Indira Gandhi. It was Urs who offered Indira Gandhi Chikmagalur in 1978, as a comeback constituency. It proved to be the run-up to Delhi. In later years, when the NDA ruled Delhi, Karnataka was happy with S.M. Krishna. Yet, after the UPA came to the Centre, the Janata Dal (Secular) and then the BJP have found favour with Karnataka voters. Unlike the four other big assembly elections to follow this year – all expected to be straightforward bipolar contests – Karnataka’s two-party equation is disrupted by a powerful third element, the JD(S). Known to have impacted results in the past, the JD(S) is no pushover and it is unclear whether it will enter into an understanding with a larger party.

The state BJP was badly hit by Yeddyurappa’s departure and his setting up of a parallel party, the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP). Yeddyurapa appears to have one goal – to demonstrate his utility to the BJP. Thus, he has a deep interest in his former party’s misfortune. The BJP’s spectacular campaign had been spearheaded by Yeddyurappa over the years. His loss will weaken any pitch the party makes to return to power. Both the JD(S) and the KJP, if not making the contest four-cornered, will test both big parties for their ability to make alliances, offer concessions to smaller but crucial players, or plough ahead on their own. This would be useful practice for 2014. The corruption issue affected Yeddyurappa’s government, his own political fortunes and his friends in the mining industry. The Lokayukta report triggered off the crisis in part, offering a disturbing picture of crony capitalism and reflecting the political influence of the mining mafia in several parts of the state. In this case, the BJP was in the line of fire. But the same issues have dramatically changed the landscape for the UPA at the national level. So how the electorate responds to “corruption” in the state may shed light on how it will respond in the general elections. Also, how the Congress is able to mine this as an issue, to use an unfortunate pun, in a virtually four-cornered contest, could be a precursor of things to come in 2014.

This election may also offer a template for neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Here, in two general elections, the Congress under YSR Reddy seemed invincible. But after his premature death, the party’s own successes went against its future prospects. Its inability to “manage” YSR’s son, Jaganmohan Reddy, meant that it alienated itself from the memory of the person who had brought it to power. Yeddyurappa was no YSR, but his centrality to the BJP’s fortunes and his subsequent rift with the party seem to parallel the Andhra story. The bearer of YSR’s legacy, his son Jaganmohan, the head of the YSR Congress, is presently cooling his heels in jail on corruption charges. So, in Yeddyurappa’s fortunes minus the party, there could be a tale for how the “YSR factor” can be expected to fare. The campaign for Karnataka is interesting to observe. It could be the first test case of Narendra Modi’s appeal outside his state. The choice of the BJP’s new national executive has led to some conclusions about the kind of politics the BJP wants to go back to. Several elements in Karnataka help communal positioning of all kinds. A large and influential minority is one of them. The BJP cannot bank on Lingayat consolidation alone, with Yeddyurappa gone. The party may be seen trying out the Amit Shah or Varun Gandhi style of campaigning, to test its efficacy outside the Hindi belt. Its campaign could indicate how it wants to be seen nationally, as an alternative to the UPA.

Tamil Nadu and Kerala are admired for showing the radical way out of social oppression and dealing with the caste question. But Karnataka has been known for its ability to gradually ensure change and better the prospects of all sections – Dalits, backward castes and Muslims. As early as 1881, the then Maharaja of Mysore, Chamaraja Wodeyar, had inaugurated the Mysore Representative Assembly. It had, no doubt, a limited idea of membership, but it provided a forum for discussion and debate, the first in princely India. Political scientist James Manor points out that jatis may be seen not as a hierarchy, but as different groups that can be brought together in a variety of combinations, an idea that Karnataka might have been one of the first to play with. Now, in the 21st century, how the state’s electorate chooses its government may have an impact beyond its borders.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1108899/

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The 1984 riots call for justice and closure – Editorial (May 2, 2013, Economic Times)

Nearly three decades after the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, there is neither closure nor justice. What we have is the acquittal of some principal accused like Congress leader Sajjan Kumar. The state must appeal against the verdict and speed up the remaining legal process. Organised communal violence means, in a broad perspective, a de facto assault on the foundational principles of the Indian republic. In India, it is almost a truism that, mostly, riots don’t just happen on their own, spontaneously. They are almost always organised. And when there is official complicity – whether from the state machinery or individuals therein, or from the political class, or both – the very nature of the state comes into question. In such cases, communal riots in letter and spirit vitiate and unravel the concept of the nation.

This is particularly true in the case of the 1984 riots. Decades later, some of the main accused are still either being acquitted in some related cases or the courts are asking for more probes after investigating agencies gave them clean chits – as with Jagdish Tytler a few weeks ago. This rigmarole makes a mockery of justice. And 1984 is particularly ghastly as even delayed, partial justice (itself a mutation) seems nowhere on the horizon.

All this makes something like the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, 2011, so important. True, there were disagreements on quite a few aspects of this National Advisory Council-drafted Bill – on phraseology within NAC itself, on intent and import from the BJP, on the Bill hurting principles of federalism from some states. But that is no reason why the political class can’t discuss and agree on a Bill that seeks to end the culture of impunity on communal violence. The impunity so tellingly displayed in cases relating to 1984.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/19825875.cms

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Aberration as the Norm – Editorial (Apr 27, 2013, Economic &Political Weekly)

To say that India’s 1,135 prisons are overcrowded would be an understatement. But for the government to acknowledge year after year that over 60% of the inmates in these prisons are actually undertrials, people who have not yet been convicted, is a scandal. In New Delhi’s Tihar Jail alone, according to the latest data, 73.5% of the prisoners are undertrials. This situation prevails despite the introduction of Section 463A in the Criminal Procedure Code that entitles any undertrial who has served 50% of the maximum sentence for the crime for which he has been charged, to seek release on a personal bond. In fact, since this amendment, thousands of undertrials have been released across India. Yet the percentage of undertrials remains stubbornly high.

In March the Supreme Court commented on the problem of undertrials languishing in jails. In a matter relating to pending cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, the judges stated, “The laxity with which we throw citizens into prison reflects our lack of appreciation for the tribulation of incarceration; the callousness with which we leave them there reflects our lack of deference for humanity.” Also in March, the union home ministry sent out an advisory to all states and union territories in which it pointed out that “only the poor and indigent” are unable to put up bail and thus continue to be undertrials for long periods. It also acknowledged that “the lack of adequate legal aid and a general lack of awareness about rights of arrestees are principal reasons for the continued detention of individuals accused of bailable offences, where bail is a matter of right and where an order of detention is supposed to be an aberration”.

Yet, the aberration is the norm. According to the latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), of the 3,22,000 prisoners in India (2011 figures), 2,23,000 or 64.7% are undertrials. In states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Meghalaya, the percentage of undertrials exceeds 80%. In Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Delhi it is over 70%. Apart from overcrowding and the terrible conditions prevailing in most jails because of this, the men and women incarcerated for long periods are being denied their fundamental rights. Given that a large number of them are poor, indigent, illiterate or semi-literate, they remain unaware of their rights. They do not know, for instance, that they are entitled to free legal aid. They do not know that they can be released on personal bond. What little knowledge they have comes from other jail inmates instead of the jail authorities who should be informing them about all the options available to them.

The problems of the people wrongfully detained are compounded when jail authorities refuse to release information. Recently, the former central information commissioner, Shailesh Gandhi, had to appeal to the Maharashtra’s information commissioner to ensure that the 43 prisons in the state put information in the public domain about the number of undertrials in their prisons who have already served half the maximum sentence for the crime for which they have been charged. The Maharashtra prison authorities have been given up to 12 May 2013 to do this. Gandhi had earlier used the right to information (RTI) to obtain this information and moved the Bombay High Court. As a result, a handful of detainees were released. But his latest effort is significant because it attempts to institutionalise transparency so that the families of these undertrials can seek their release.

The fact of a high percentage of undertrials is only one aspect of a long list of problems that afflict the country’s justice system. Given the inordinate delays leading to literally millions of pending cases in courts, the number of undertrials is bound to remain high. Yet, even if the other problems cannot be resolved overnight, this is one concrete issue that can be addressed without delay. What justification was there, for instance, for Tamil Nadu to continue to incarcerate 272 undertrials even after they were granted bail? There are scores of such stories that illustrate the travesty of justice taking place each day in some part of India. If for no other reason than to reduce the load on prisons, it is imperative that state governments and union territories begin the process of identifying the undertrials entitled for release and start working towards their release. Also, following Maharashtra’s example, information about such prisoners should be available on prison websites of all states and union territories. The release of such undertrials might appear to be a small step in the face of the virtually insurmountable problems facing the Indian judicial system, but it will go some way in imbuing a sense of confidence in ordinary people that some things can change in this country.

http://www.epw.in/editorials/aberration-norm.html

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Over 2,000 fewer farmers every day – By P. Sainath (May 2, 2013, The Hindu)

There are nearly 15 million farmers (‘Main’ cultivators) fewer than there were in 1991. Over 7.7 million less since 2001, as the latest Census data show. On average, that’s about 2,035 farmers losing ‘Main Cultivator’ status every single day for the last 20 years. And in a time of jobless growth, they’ve had few places to go beyond the lowest, menial ends of the service sector. A December 2012 report of the Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR) – a part of the Planning Commission – puts it this way: “employment in total and in non-agricultural sectors has not been growing. This jobless growth in recent years has been accompanied by growth in casualization and informalization.” It speaks of an “an absolute shift in workers from agriculture of 15 million to services and industry.” But many within the sector also likely moved from farmer to agricultural labourer status. Swelling the agrarian underclass.

So how many farmers do we have? Census 2011 tells us we now have 95.8 million cultivators for whom farming is their main occupation. That’s less than 8 per cent of the population. (Down from 103 million in 2001 and 110 million in 1991). Include all marginal cultivators (22.8 million) and that is still less than 10 per cent of the population. Even if you count together all cultivators and agricultural labourers, the number would be around 263 million or 22 per cent of the population. (Interestingly, this reduced figure comes after a few big states have actually reported a rise in the total number of cultivators. Since 85 per cent of all marginal workers reported more than a 100 days work, this could possibly reflect the reverse pull of MNREGA, among other factors). Between 1981 and 1991, the number of cultivators (main workers), actually went up from 92 million to 110 million. So the huge decline comes post-1991. Hold on: aren’t 53 per cent of the population farmers? No. That’s a common fallacy. The over 600 million Indians dependent on agriculture are not all farmers. They are deployed in an array of related activities – including fisheries. This confusion is widespread and innocent.

Yet, there are also a few whose colossal ignorance leads them to dismiss the country’s massive farmers’ suicides as trivial. For instance: “at least half of the Indian workforce is engaged in farming. This fact points to a much lower suicide rate per 100,000 individuals for farmers than in the general population.” Note how easily those ‘engaged in farming’ become ‘farmers!’ As a notion it borders on the whacko. It goes: After all, 53 out of every 100 Indians are farmers. So our 270,940 farm suicides since 1995 are a low number on a population base of over 600 million. So low that we should be agitated over how the suicide rate in the general population can be brought “down to the levels prevailing amongst farmers.” Never mind for now the appalling moral position that a quarter of a million human beings taking their lives is hardly alarming. The Bhopal gas tragedy, the worst industrial disaster in human terms, claimed over 20,000 lives. But in this perverse logic, since that was less than 0.003 per cent of the then population, it is rendered meaningless. That position says more about its authors than about the suicides. It shows they are clueless about who a farmer is – and about what the data show.

It shows even greater ignorance of who defines and counts a ‘farmer suicide.’ The Census records cultivators. The police count suicides. The police do not read the Census. Not for definitions, anyway. The Census groups the population into workers and non-workers. The latter would be infants, children, students, housewives, unemployed, aged and retired people. Farmers, or cultivators come under ‘Workers’ – a huge category covering many varied groups. Now rural workers account for close to 70 per cent of all workers. And rural workers consist of farmers, agricultural labourers and non-farm workers. Cultivators (main workers) in the Census are barely eight per cent of the population as a whole. (That’s after a two-decade secular decline in this group). The ongoing farm suicides – 184,169 of them since 2001 according to the National Crime Records Bureau – are taking place on a smaller and shrinking base. Their intensity has hardly diminished. In most of the States accounting for two-thirds of all farm suicides, the intensity has likely risen.

Of course distress affects a much wider population dependent on agriculture. (Farmer bankruptcies crush the village carpenter, and even play a role in weaver suicides). The sufferings of others are as real. It is not as if the agricultural labourer or non-farm worker is having a great time. Both sections have seen distress migrations – and suicides. (For that matter the owner of a small industrial unit in an urban city could be distress-hit). Their suicides are no less tragic. But it is vital to know who officially gets counted as a farmer. And who gets listed in the ‘farmers’ suicides. For that tells us more about the ongoing tragedy and gives us a sense of its awful scale. Everybody who works in the film industry is not an actor. Everyone in the educational system is not a student. And all those in the 53 per cent of the population related to the farming sector are not farmers. Even among those who are, only a limited group gets counted as such when police and governments make farmers’ suicide lists. Cultivators are counted by the Census. Suicides are recorded by police stations across the country. The numbers collated by State governments. Very different approaches are involved. …

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/sainath/over-2000-fewer-farmers-every-day/article4674190.ece

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Violence & resistance – By T.K. Rajalakshmi (May 17, 2013, Frontline)

ON March 30, towards evening, 22-year-old Vikram and his 10-year-old cousin Sudhir were returning home to Medina village in Rohtak district on a buggy, a pushcart, after a hard day’s work of harvesting potatoes on land taken on lease from a member of a dominant caste. Riding the cart with them were four others, including two young girls, all schoolchildren who had probably hopped on to the pushcart for a joyride.

All the youngsters were Dalits. Before the buggy could take them home safely, some young men, belonging to the dominant Jat community, rode up on motorcycles and fired at them indiscriminately, killing Vikram and Sudhir. One child was shot in the leg, and a boy called Rajesh managed to escape into the nearby fields. The two minor girls, one of whom was mentally challenged, remained frozen in the pushcart, unable to run or react. The shooters sped away after the attack. The police apprehended a few of the conspirators, but the main accused absconded.

Vikram, a second-year student of Sanskrit at an institution run by the Goud community, an organisation of Brahmins, had hoped to become a teacher. He has left behind a young widow, Mamta, and an infant son. Within a fortnight, three more incidents involving atrocities against Dalits were reported from various parts of Haryana. On April 13, in Pabnawa village, Kaithal district, some 83 Dalit homes were vandalised and looted following the marriage of a Dalit youth to a girl from the dominant Ror community of the village.

The couple are now in a state-run protection home; their entry to their village is permanently barred. In Bhiwani district, on April 15, a young Dalit boy was tied to a tree and a vehicle rammed into him only because he had demanded the ceremonial right to ride an elephant for a boy of his community. A few months ago, in the same district, a bridegroom, his father and members of his family were beaten up by members of the dominant caste for riding the ceremonial bridal horse, called Ghurchari. In Jhajjar, Dalits were not allowed to perform Holika Dahan in Jahangirpur village on Holi and were beaten up.

http://www.frontline.in/social-issues/violence-resistance/article4656938.ece

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Book Review

On the Muslim Question

Author: Anne Norton
Reviewed by: A.G. Noorani
Available at: Princeton University Press: 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey, USA, Pages: 282, Price: $24.95.http://press.princeton.edu/
Review:
Muslim bogey (May 17, 2013, Frontline) On the 50th anniversary of India’s independence, L.K. Advani, who still aspires to be Prime Minister of the country, wrote an article in his party’s organ, BJP Today. It was not, as you might expect, on national issues. It was on his pet hate—the Muslims of India.

A.B. Vajpayee’s style was different. But he must be the only Prime Minister in a multicultural society to denounce a section of his own people, and that too, shortly after they had been subjected to a pogrom in Gujarat in which at least 2,000 Muslims were killed. Vajpayee attacked Muslims shortly thereafter in two speeches, in Goa and while on a trip abroad. Right now deputations of Muslims wait on Ministers to seek redress against arbitrary arrests of Muslims on charges of terrorist activity, which the courts seldom uphold.

Anne Norton’s book, published on March 25, makes a very timely appearance indeed. The author is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. She writes: “In our time, the figure of the Muslim has become the axis where questions of political philosophy and political theology, politics and ethics meet. Islam is marked as the preeminent danger to politics; to Christians, Jews, and secular humanists; to women, sex, and sexuality; to the values and institutions of the Enlightenment.”

The West’s response to Islam reveals more about the West than it does about Islam. It reflects its own insecurities. Anne Norton calls for “the emancipation of Muslims-not for Muslims, not for Muslim societies, and not for Islam, but to ensure nothing less than the survival of Western civilisation”. The brave band of Indian secularists who fight against the BJP’s and its mentor the RSS’ plans to reduce the Muslims of India to “the other” in our polity are, in truth, battling for the survival of India’s democracy and the values cherished by its founding fathers.

http://www.frontline.in/books/muslim-bogey/article4610721.ece

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IAMC Weekly News Roundup – April 29th, 2013

by newsdigest on April 30, 2013

In this issue of IAMC News Roundup

News Headlines

Opinions & Editorials

SIT has 9 versions of Narendra Modi’s meeting after 2002 Godhra riots (Apr 26, 2013, Indian Express)

There are a total of nine versions of the controversial February 27, 2002 meeting chaired by Narendra Modi in the wake of Sabarmati Express carnage in which the chief minister is alleged to have directed top officials and police officers to “let Hindus vent their anger”, according to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court. All these versions, including Modi’s own, will be submitted by the SIT before the metropolitan court, which is hearing a petition by Zakia Jafri challenging SIT’s closure report that gave a clean chit to the CM and 62 others who she had accused of complicity in the riots.

Zakia is the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed by a mob at his residence in Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad during the 2002 riots. Sources in the SIT, which was asked to probe into Zakia’s allegations, told The Indian Express her version of the meeting quoted Modi asking officials “not to deal with the Hindu rioting mobs”. On the other hand, activist Teesta Setalvad had told the SIT, “Haren Pandya (slain BJP leader) had disclosed to us that CM had specifically said in the meeting that there would be Hindu anger tomorrow and that they should not do anything about it.” SIT told the court on Thursday that these two versions were “concocted” as Haren Pandya was not present in the meeting at all. SIT counsel R S Jamuar submitted that records of Pandya’s cellphone calls on February 27, 2002, showed his location in Ahmedabad.

In yet another version of the meeting, as stated in a report published by “Concerned Citizens Tribunal-Gujarat-2002″, Pandya has been quoted as an unnamed minister. “… At this meeting, specific instructions were give by him (Modi) in the presence of the state home minister on how the police should deal with the situation on the bandh day. We were informed that instructions were given by the chief minister not to take action against any Hindu reaction to Godhra,” the report states. This tribunal consisted of several retired justices of the Supreme Court, including VR Krishna Iyer, High Courts, and activist Aruna Roy, among others.

When Modi himself appeared before the SIT in 2010, he told A K Malhotra (an SIT member), “…As far as I can recollect, G S Raigar, the then ADPG (intelligence), was not present. Sanjiv Bhatt, the then DCP (intelligence) did not attend as this was a high-level meeting. None of my cabinet colleagues were present in the said meeting…”. Then there is the version by suspended DIG Sanjiv Bhatt, who filed an affidavit before the SC claiming he was present at this meeting and had heard Modi saying that Hindus be allowed to vent their anger. To top it all, there is the version by retired DGP R B Sreekumar, who presented as evidence of Modi’s “illegal orders” against minorities the entries from his own personal diary before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) while fighting his case for promotion.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1107915/

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Modi’s Karnataka visit:’Modi go back’ slogans rent the air (Apr 29, 2013, The Hindu)

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the city to campaign for the BJP was opposed by a group of Dalit and secular organisations on Sunday. The agitators, who said that Mr. Modi was responsible for the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat, gathered under heavy police presence at Ananda Rao Circle under the banner of Nyakkagi Naavu.

“That Mr. Modi is not being made to campaign extensively in Karnataka is proof of the fact that his brand of divisive politics doesn’t find wide endorsement in Karnataka,” K.L. Ashok of Nyakkagi Naavu told the gathering. He added, “The BJP is trying to shield him from the wrath of the people of this State who have a long history of pro-people and secular movements.”

Even as the protesters shouted slogans saying “Modi go back” and “Karnataka is not Gujarat”, Mr. Ashok said, “The Hindutva experiment has well and truly failed in Karnataka. Even in places such as Hubli, Chikmagalur, Davangere and the coastal districts – where the Sangh Parivar is seen as powerful – there is a growing resentment toward the ideology which has resulted in vicious attacks against not just minorities but also women, Dalits and the youth.”

Dalit leader Indudar Honnapura dismissed the argument that a citizen of India has the right to travel anywhere he wishes. “Mr. Modi is not an ordinary citizen. He is accused of crimes against humanity and is solely responsible for the ‘genocide’ in Gujarat.” He expressed concern over the attempts of some corporations to “airbrush” Mr. Modi’s image by projecting him as a “messiah of development”.

Echoing this view, freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy said, “People of this State should say ‘no’ to Modi and ‘no’ to the BJP.” Lamenting the spate of corruption cases that were exposed during the BJP rule, he said that every marginalised and weak section of society had borne the brunt of that party’s divisive ideology. Mr. Ashok also rejected the claim that Gujarat has flourished economically under Mr. Modi.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/modi-go-back-slogans-rent-the-air/article4665348.ece

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Ishrat Jahan case: Gujarat govt shielding top policeman PP Pande, say sources (Apr 29, 2013, IBN)

Gujarat government and the state police are not cooperating with the investigation in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, said Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) sources on Monday.

The sources have also said former Joint Commissioner of Police PP Pande is involved in the conspiracy of the case. The government is shielding Pande, whose whereabouts are yet not known, sources added.

The probe agency is now set to request the court to issue arrest warrant against him, they said. Pande, who is a 1980 batch IPS officer, has been missing and has not joining investigations.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ishrat-jahan-case-gujarat-govt-shielding-adgp-pp-pande-say-sources/388497-3-238.html

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Bangalore blast: TN Muslim groups doubt police claims (Apr 25, 2013, Indian Express)

The arrest of three persons by the police for allegedly facilitating the bomb blast in Bangalore last week has not gone down well with an umbrella group of Muslim organisations in Tamil Nadu. Representatives of the Federation of Muslim Organisations comprising 24 outfits on Wednesday met Tamil Nadu DGP K Ramanujam to express the concern among the community members over the arrest, which they alleged was without any evidence. Kichan Bukhari, Peer Mohideen and Basheer were arrested by the special investigation team of the Bangalore Police. Bukhari was an accused in the 1998 Coimbatore serial blast case and had spent over a decade in prison.

Federation coordinator Mohammad Haneefa condemned the blast and welcomed a fair probe. “However, we have doubts about the allegations against the three persons. Bukhari was released after the court found him innocent. Since then, he has been involved in offering legal aid to 48 innocent Muslim prisoners wrongly accused in the serial blasts,” he said. Haneefa said he has been regularly in touch with Bukhari. “I personally find it difficult to believe that he was part of the blast,” he said. The federation would extend legal aid to Bukhari and the other two. A few of the organisations have sought CBI probe into the blast case.

Meanwhile, Bukhari’s wife, Jameela Banu, has filed a writ petition, Habeas Corpus, in the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court. She has claimed that her husband has no connection with the blast. She said since his arrest, the family does not know about his whereabouts. Jameela said Bukhari, as the coordinator of Charitable Trust of Minorities, has been engaged in providing legal support to innocent Muslim prisoners. He was to go to Delhi in the next few days for a hearing in Supreme Court over case related to Coimbatore blasts.

Bukhari’s wife alleged that her family was being harassed by the police, which forced them to shift from Coimbatore to his native Melapalayam in Tirunelveli. Last Thursday, Bukhari was questioned by the police team probing a two-year-old case involving the seizure of a pipe bomb from under a culvert through which the convoy of senior BJP leader LK Advani was to pass. Though Bukhari told them he had no links with any suspects, officials threatened to foist a case against him, she alleged.

On Monday morning, a DySP and two inspectors detained Bukhari and two others from Melapalayam bus stand at about 5 am. The family has not been informed about the arrest nor do they know where he was being held, said Jameela. Bukhari’s mother, Thoulath Beevi, told the media from their residence at Melapalayam that her son faced troubles from the police even after being released from the prison. She said every time there was a blast or seizure of explosives, the police would include him as a suspect and detain him for questioning. But every time he is eventually released as there was no evidence to link him to the cases, she said.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1107335/

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Ajmer blast accused says right-wing outfit did it (Apr 22, 2013, Hindustan Times)

In a crucial breakthrough, an accused in the Ajmer Sharif blast case has confessed before a magistrate to being part of the right-wing terror group that planted two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the dargah. Out of the two IEDs left in the Dargah, one exploded killing three people on October 11, 2007.

“Bhavesh Patel, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Delhi last month, gave a confessional statement before a magistrate in Jaipur under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code which makes it admissible as evidence in the court, unlike a statement made before a police officer,” said a source.

Bhavesh was also accused of throwing pipe bombs on a mosque in Bharuch, his native city in Gujarat, on the next day of the Godhra train fire of February 27, 2002. According to sources, Bhavesh has said in his statement that some seven or eight days before the Ajmer Sharif blast, Suresh Bhai (Suresh Nair, an absconding accused in the Ajmer Sharif case) invited him for a visit to Ajmer. Once he accepted the invitation, Bhavesh was asked to reach Godhra.

On October 10, he reached Godhra and met Suresh Nair who had come with Mukesh Vasani and Harshad alias Raj (already arrested in the Ajmer Shairf case) and three more persons. The group reached Ajmer the next day at around 11am. The group went to the Dargah in the evening and planted two IEDs there.

Bhavesh also revealed that he didn’t know the real purpose of visit. It was only after they sat in the bus to return to Ahmedabad, that Suresh Nair told him that they had gone to the Dargah to plant bombs. Nair told him that the plan was hatched by Manoj Bhai (an alias used by Sunil Joshi, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharak and the leader of the group), who was killed by his own men almost two months after the Dargah blast on December 29, 2007.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/1048729.aspx

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Two killed after violence in Marakkanam near Chennai (Apr 26, 2013, Times of India)

Two people were found dead after a violent clash between PMK cadres and dalit villagers on Thursday afternoon at Marakanam in Villupuram district. Police said Vivek, 17, from Thanjavur, who was proceeding to attend a youth conference hosted by PMK’s parent organization Vanniyar Sangam at Mamallapuram, was knocked down by a car on the East Coast Road near Marakanam. Another youth identified as Selvaraj, 25, from Ariyalur in central Tamil Nadu, was found dead with head injuries at Kazhikuppam village near Marakanam on Thursday evening. Police registered cases under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian penal code and began investigation.

Police registered seven cases against 1,512 ‘unidentified’ people from both sides on charges of rioting, possessing deadly weapons, voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons, criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty, criminal intimidation and torching of houses, buses and two-wheelers. Police also invoked various sections of the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act 1992 and Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the unidentified culprits.

Three people identified as Gnanavel, 28 from Koliyanur, Srinivasan, 29 from Thirukovilyur and Veeramani, 25 from Neyveli sustained injuries when police fired rubber bullets in the air to disperse the clashing groups. They were admitted to Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer). A police constable Prabhu sustained minor injuries in the stone-pelting. He was treated as an outpatient at Jipmer. Twenty-five villagers sustained injuries in the clash.

Police said PMK cadres, who were on their way to attend the youth conference at Mahaballipuram, stopped near a bus stop at a dalit village near Marakanam and consumed alcohol. When a few villagers questioned them, the PMK men assaulted the villagers and fled the scene. The injured villagers alerted others in their hamlet and a large number of dalits gathered on the East Coast Road. They blocked the road demanding that the police arrest the culprits.

The situation worsened when scores of PMK men, who were stranded following the blockade, clashed with the dalit villagers. A police team that reached the spot burst tear gas shells and fired rubber bullets to disperse them. Superintendent of police (Villupuram) S Manogaran fired three rounds in the air and the violent mob dispersed. However, later unidentified miscreants torched eight houses, two Tamil Nadu state transport corporation buses and a Puducherry road transport corporation bus, a shop. Another gang of miscreants pelted stones and damaged the wind screens of three private buses and a police jeep.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-26/chennai/38842129_1_pmk-vanniyar-sangam-villagers

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BJP MLA jailed on colleague’s complaint of caste remark (Apr 23, 2013, Indian Express)

Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, Kulwant Rana, was arrested and sent to judicial custody on Monday, after he surrendered in court following a non-bailable warrant against him over an alleged casteist remark. The NBW was issued as Rana failed to appear in court during the earlier hearings of the case filed against him by a fellow BJP member, Karan Singh. Singh, BJP’s Kisan Morcha member, filed an FIR against Rana on January 24 alleging that the MLA had slapped him and made casteist remarks against him during the announcement of results of a local political body election.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau sent Rana to six day judicial custody and dismissed his plea for anticipatory bail. The court noted that he had been chargesheeted under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which does not have provision of anticipatory bail.The court directed the investigating officer to appear before it on the next date of hearing, while also issuing notice to the complainant. The matter will come up for hearing on April 26. Singh in his complaint had alleged that Rana had raised questions about his presence at the mandal elections, and then made casteist remarks about his involvement in local politics.

A mandal is the basic level of a party organisation, with at least four mandals in a legislative assembly constituency. The alleged altercation happened during the declaration of result for election of the president of Rithala mandal. Singh claimed Rana slapped him before other party members, who intervened and stopped the argument. Meanwhile, BJP sources said the complaint was “politically motivated”, where a section of Rana’s own party acted against their MLA. Party sources called the case an outcome of “rivalry among Jat leaders.”

A senior party leader said the conspiracy was hatched by a rival group in BJP. “In the party, talks of Rana being general secretary was doing the rounds. There is sufficient reason for other leaders to feel threatened,” a senior BJP leader said. Reposing trust in Rana, BJP Delhi president Vijay Goel said, “I have spoken with Rana, who claimed that case was politically motivated to malign his image. He would continue to fight for truth.”

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1106221/

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Even animals won’t do what cops are doing: Supreme Court on rising police atrocities (Apr 25, 2013, Indian Express)

Taking strong exception to a police officer slapping a young girl during a recent protest against rape of a minor, the Supreme Court today sought explanation from the Delhi Police chief on the incident. A Bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi directed the Police Commissioner to file an affidavit to explain why a young girl was beaten up during the protest against the rape of five-year-old here. Also taking cognisance of another incident of police brutality in Aligarh where a 65-year-old woman was assaulted, the bench directed the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to file an affidavit on the incident.

Describing such incidents of police excesses as “insult to the country”, the apex court said they have to be prevented. “Even an animal won’t do what the police officers are doing everyday in different parts of the country,” the Bench said while referring to the Aligarh incident. “Is your government left without shame?” the Bench asked Gaurav Bhatia, the counsel appearing for the UP government. The court, while slamming the state government, also recalled the resignation by Lal Bahadur Shastri from the post of the Railway Minister taking moral responsibility following a railway accident.

“Where has your sense gone?” the bench said, adding, “How can police officers beat an unarmed lady?” The court made the observations with regard to a recent protest at a Delhi hospital during which an ACP slapped a young girl at least four times. The ACP was later suspended. The second incident which the bench took note of was reported from Aligarh where an elderly woman was assaulted by the police during a protest against the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old girl.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1107476/

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Aarushi-Hemraj murder: CBI DIG prevented arrest of Nupur Talwar, officer to court (Apr 24, 2013, Indian Express)

There was evidence against Nupur Talwar in Aarushi-Hemraj murder case but senior CBI officers prevented her arrest, agency investigator told special court here during cross examination. CBI Additional SP AGL Kaul, who led the second probe team in the sensational Noida double murder case, was asked by the defence counsel to explain why Aarushi’s mother Nupur was not arrested if there was enough evidence against her.

Kaul said his senior, DIG Neelabh Kishore, did not support the view and stopped him from arresting her. When asked if he had filed a complaint against Kishore, Kaul said he (Kishore) was my senior and if he did not permit, arrest could not have been made. He also said Nupur Talwar’s role was given in the closure report filed before the Magistrate. With today’s proceedings, Kaul’s deposition before the special court here has been completed. He was the last prosecution witness to be produced before the court, CBI counsel R K Saini said here.

Earlier during his deposition, Kaul had said he had enough circumstantial evidence against Rajesh’s brother Dinesh Talwar and family friend Sunil Choudhary to file charge sheet against them but seniors Kishore and Joint Director Javeed Ahmed felt there is not enough material to file the chargesheet and hence he (Kaul) filed final report (closure). Kaul had yesterday told the special court that according to investigations, Rajesh Talwar had found his daughter and domestic servant in “objectionable position” and killed them using his golf stick and a sharp-edged weapon.

14-year-old Aarushi was found dead with her throat slit in her bedroom on May 16, 2008. The initial suspicion went on Hemraj whose body was later found in their terrace at Jalvayu Vihar in Noida on the outskirts of Delhi. The allegations of involvement in the murder have been refuted by the Talwars who have claimed innocence in the matter.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/1107029/

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State govt orders inquiry into suicide of Dalit family (Apr 25, 2013, Statesman)

With the death of the fourth member of the Dalit family which entered a suicide pact in a Haryana village following the rape and alleged abduction of the 15-year-old victim, the state government appears to have taken some action with the transfer of the concerned station house officer (SHO) and order of a inquiry into the matter.

Five members of the family had consumed poison on Monday in Hisar district apparently under police pressure to produce the missing girl in court for evidence in the rape case and on account of poverty. While the victim’s mother (38) and sister (13) died on Monday, a brother (9) died on Tuesday. The second brother (11) died on Wednesday while the 40-year-old father, who works as rickshaw-puller, is in a stable condition.

His eldest daughter was raped in May last year and then she went missing from her village, Bheri Akbarpur, near Uklana town of the district. The local police had allegedly been harassing the family to trace the missing girl by 30 April. The deputy commissioner, Hisar, Mr Amit Kumar Agarwal, has ordered an inquiry into the incident under ADC Mr Ashok Kumar Garg. The SHO, Mr Jai Bhagwan has also been transferred for fair probe in the case.

Police suspect the father’s role in the suicide pact as he is the only one to survive while the four others, alleged to have consumed Celphos with him, died. He may be interrogated after getting discharged from the hospital.

Though police denies having pressurised the family to trace the girl, some reports said they (police) suspected the father had reached a compromise with the accused and married her off. But as the girl did not come back even after the death of her four family members, the assumption appears to have been proven wrong.

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=453926&catid=36

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Opinions and Editorials

Mainstreaming Modi – By Avinash Kumar (May 4, 2013, Economic & Political Weekly)

We have all heard of the fairytale where the frog turned into a prince when kissed by a princess. A somewhat similar situation seems to be upon us with media willing to kiss and turn Narendra Modi into “prince charming”. This means not just hailing Modi in some abstract way, but more significantly turning mainstream and acceptable what he represents. In the past few months, the mainstream media has gone all over town telling us how Modi is now “mainstream” and not a pariah anymore. The reasons for this change in perception range from how even the United Kingdom and the European Union have “normalised” relations with him, that he has been elected thrice in a row to the chief ministership of Gujarat, which surely speaks of his abilities as an “efficient” and “able” administrator, that Gujarat has become corporate India’s favourite investment destination, and most importantly, that he is the guy who can take “decisions” and not keep the nation waiting for action. …

When protesters were laying siege to Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) in Delhi where Modi was delivering a speech to students inside its premises, the NDTV news channel was running an online poll asking “Rate Narendra Modi’s speech at SRCC”. Articles with titles like “Can Modi Deliver at the National Stage?” are being printed by the dozen. In a sense, therefore, the “normalisation” of Modi on the national scene is already complete even before he has been formally nominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its prime ministerial candidate. The point of this piece, however, is not to accuse these mainstream liberals of complicity with Modi, but to look at the reasons behind why this has happened and at a pace that defies logic. Some clues to the same can be found in a recent piece which appeared on the edit page of Times of India written by Arvind Virmani (18h April, 2013) who incidentally served as the chief economic advisor to the first United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) government. In this piece, he uses three criteria to compare the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress with the Modi-led BJP namely, social inclusion, economic growth & development, and domestic and national security.

While giving credit for better results on the first criteria to the Congress, Virmani rates the BJP higher on the other two. Hence the “tentative score for Rahul-led Congress is A, B+ and B on the three fronts with a net score of B+. Modi-led BJP’s scores, meanwhile, are C+, A and A- with a net of B+”. He goes on to emphasise the importance of “governance” and “economic growth” for both the parties. An economist who till recently served under the Congress led government is rating the “Modi-led BJP” higher on two of his three criteria. This underlines the fact that there is a near consensus among policy makers and the mainstream media over the way the country should be run. Barring some minor tweaking with words like “inclusion”, the prescription remains the same. That is, a “growth led trajectory” obsessed with percentages and numbers, a large-scale withdrawal of the State even from basic services, a wilful neglect of sectors like agriculture and small industries (which provide employment to the largest number of people even today) and a unending belief in the ability of the corporate sector to be the panacea for all ills. Hence there is also agreement in terms of emphasis like “good governance” and “efficient administration” even among people who seem politically divergent.

But the question, why is the Modi-led BJP preferred over the Congress, still remains? Is it simply due to a chain of scams which have plagued the current regime over the last few years, or is it something beyond that? Surely, the BJP has found itself ensnared in as many scams as the Congress party. In my view, there are two specific reasons that explain Modi’s “normalisation” by the corporate groups and that national media. One, it shows the success of the Modi-led BJP’s selective interpretation of issues such as growth, governance, peace and security, and how these have now been mainstreamed. To come to “peace and security” first, a constant projection of “threat-perception” both from within and outside — meaning Muslims and sometimes Maoists from within and Pakistan from outside — is now complete and mainstream. So much so that during the current Congress-led regime we have suddenly witnessed a flurry of decisions confirming capital punishment. Those in power have to show they are “decisive” just like Modi was in 2002. … Another magic word in this context is “governance”. What does it mean under Modi? That he cut down all bureaucratic rigmarole so that the Tatas could set up their Nano car factory within a matter of days. Or that thousands of investors could flock down to the green pastures of Gujarat (never mind occasional court rulings that harass an Adani or a Mundhra for the violation of laws and community’s rights). Infrastructure, ports, highways and electricity to urbanised parts of Gujarat are the hallmarks of his governance, but not the fact that he “governed” over the massacre of more than a thousand Muslims, or that he “allowed” scores of people, mainly Muslims, to be killed in fake encounters. Modi’s governance means bureaucrats fear him and do what he says without questioning. In these times of the ideology of less government this is exactly what is loved by the corporate sector and the media. This interpretation of governance obviously does not include the prevalent high malnutrition and anemia rates among women and children and the worsening situation of Dalits and Tribals in the state. It also does not include large-scale displacement of communities in the name of “development”.

Modi’s panacea for growth is more upfront on issues such as a voucher system for education and reducing government expenditure on basic services like health and education, thereby leaving the masses to fend for themselves. With the growth rate plummeting to below 5%, the “threat perception” which may finally turn the tide in favour of Modi is that of an economic downturn. As long as the sailing was smooth under the UPA regime the corporate and media could keep Modi away. With the threat of falling economic growth profits cannot be compromised on any count. As the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Hence the clamor for a decisive and tough leader like Modi who can help us attain the mythical 10% growth rate. If this means weakening our civil and political rights, so be it. If it means denying justice to those killed and displaced, so be it. But for this it is necessary that we “humanise” Modi, divest him of the accusations of being complicit in killings and paper over the human suffering that his model of development has entailed for many people. It is only by erasing the entire memory of the 2002 riots and their aftermath that Modi can be made acceptable for the elections.

http://www.epw.in/web-exclusives/mainstreaming-modi.html

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BJP Promises The Moon. And Some More – By Imran Khan (May 4, 2013, Tehelka)

On 19 April, the BJP unveiled its manifesto for the upcoming Assembly election. Among other things that the party promised to woo voters was 25 kg of rice at 1 per kg to poor families and free laptops to students. While these sops are aimed at attracting rural and urban voters, actual number crunching show that not much thought has been applied while making these promises. There are more than 88.5 lakh Below Poverty Line (BPL) cardholders in Karnataka, and the BJP manifesto vaguely promises 25 kg rice per family but specifies neither the frequency of distribution nor the number of beneficiaries. “More than 38 percent of the people of this country earn less than Rs 65 per day. Giving them rice at 1 per kg is the most basic thing a state can do,” says DV Sadananda Gowda, former BJP chief minister.

However, analysts point at the subsidy bulge the state will have to incur in order to meet the expenses. Karnataka is quite close to the upper limit of the fiscal deficit, says Vikas Kumar, an economist who teaches at the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru. Interestingly, during the 2013-14 Budget presented by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar in January, Rs 1,200 crore was already earmarked for food subsidy, which would have taken care among other things, the Rs 1 kg rice scheme. However, the Budget does not indicate the coverage of the rice scheme. “We cannot be sure if the amount stated was entirely for rice or other things like grain also,” adds Kumar.

The manifesto, which was released by senior BJP leader Arun Jaitely in the presence of Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, state unit BJP chief Prahllad Joshi, party General Secretary H N Ananth Kumar, also promises the distribution of free laptops to more than 16 lakh students, and free English speaking courses to students of Kannada-medium schools, to attract middle-class voters. With each laptop priced at Rs 25,000, the state exchequer would incur a cost of nearly 4,000 crore to meet its promise. “Since the manifesto is vague, a precise analysis is not possible. For instance, it does not tell us whether all Pre-University College (PUC) or graduation students will get laptops in the first year after the election,” says Shantha Kumar, a developmental economist.

http://tehelka.com/bjp-promises-the-moon-and-some-more/

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Reading the Riot Act – By Hemchhaya De (Apr 24, 2013, The Telegraph)

The much-awaited Communal Violence Bill might finally see the light of day by the end of this year, if all goes well in Parliament. According to K. Rahman Khan, Union minister for minority affairs, the home ministry is working hard to give the bill, originally introduced in 2005, a fresh lease of life. “The government wants to bring in the Communal Violence Bill,” he says. “The home ministry is holding consultations with the ministries concerned, including the minority affairs ministry.” Khan goes on to add that a draft incorporating the suggestions of the standing committee, which scrutinised the original Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill under Sushma Swaraj, and the National Advisory Council (NAC), can be expected in the winter session of Parliament. The chief objective of the bill, as stated by the then home affairs minister, Shivraj Patil, is “empowering the State Governments and the Central Government to take effective measures to provide for the prevention and control of communal violence and to rehabilitate the victims of such violence, for speedy investigation and trial of such offences”.

According to John Dayal, social activist and a member of the National Integration Council headed by the Prime Minister, certain objections to the 2005 bill were raised when the government presented its version in the Rajya Sabha. “It was clear that the administration was empowering governments and the police rather than protecting victims,” he says. Subsequently, the NAC was tasked with drafting another version of the bill, which came to be known as the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011. Dayal, who was involved with the process of drafting the bill, says this draft, after being “formatted” by additional solicitor-general Indira Jaising, was put in the public domain a couple of years ago to garner public opinion. Activists say that since 2011, the draft bill has been in limbo. But many of them are now upbeat that something is perhaps being done to revive it. “For the moment at least the much awaited bill has been pulled out of cold storage,” says Teesta Setalvad, founder of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), an NGO that fights for victims of Gujarat riots. She hopes the government will not deviate greatly from the NAC version of the bill.

In fact, CJP and 30 other non-government organisations have been running the Justice For All campaign across the country over the past few months to put pressure on the Centre to start the legislative process for passing the Communal Violence Bill. “The campaign has been endorsed by Justices P.B. Sawant, Justice Kolse Patil, Justice S.A.H. Raza and others. We have had at least 15 public meetings so far across the country,” adds Setalvad. Experts say that the NAC draft is pretty comprehensive while addressing issues such as fixing the accountability of public servants during communal violence, hate propaganda and stipulating enhanced punishments for perpetrators. Apart from proposing the formation of a National Authority for Communal Harmony, Justice and Reparation, it lays down definitions of “targeted violence” and “torture”, among other things. For instance, Section 9, which deals with organised communal and targeted violence, says, “Whoever, being an individual, singly or jointly with others or being a part of an association or on behalf of an association or acting under the influence of an association, engages in continuing unlawful activity of a widespread or systematic nature knowingly directed against a group or part thereof, by virtue of their membership of that group, by use of violence or threat of violence or intimidation or coercion or by committing sexual assault or other unlawful means, is said to commit the offence of organised communal and targeted violence.”

But bringing in the law may not be a walk in the park for the government. The BJP and some of its allies have been expressing reservations on the draft legislation for a long time. A few days ago, even the Shiromoni Akali Dal told the media that the party objected to the bill’s “excessive centralisation of powers” and would oppose it. K. Rahman Khan, the minister, seems keen to allay such fears. “All such issues have been properly addressed in the standing committee’s recommendations,” he says. Another long-standing objection by parties such as the BJP is that the draft bill is anti-majority or anti-Hindu. Activists say that this is a baseless accusation. “It’s not a question of minorities versus the majority,” explains John Dayal. “In defining groups, it was clear to us that most groups could be in a minority in some state or another, and in certain circumstances. Though Muslims, Sikhs and Christians were the national minorities, even Hindus were a minority in as many as seven of the 35 states and Union territories of India.” Besides, as the draft states, the objective is to “prevent and control targeted violence, including mass violence, against Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and religious minorities in any State in the Union of India, and linguistic minorities in any State in the Union of India”. Even so, certain organisations fighting for communal violence victims are quite sceptical about the efficacy of the Communal Violence Bill. “What good can such bills ensure if the mindset of our people regarding minorities doesn’t change,” wonders Kamna Vohra, advocate, Supreme Court of India, and a member of Sikhs For Justice, an NGO fighting legal battles on behalf of the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots. “We have seen how riot victims in minority communities live in fear and are often too scared to fight for justice. Can such bills help them?”

Of course, the draft bill will be of little use to victims of communal violence that occurred in the past. “A law is not retrospective in its application,” says Setalvad. “But we believe that such legislation will be a powerful deterrent to the outbreak of targeted violence and mass violence in future.” She adds that once the bill becomes a law, it can actually arm public servants “against bending to the will of the illegal and unconstitutional instructions of their political masters”. Needless to say, all eyes are now on the UPA government – whether they will bring in a stronger draft to score brownie points before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls or stop short of tabling the bill for fear of the BJP turning the “anti-majority concern” in its favour. Says Dayal, “At the end of the day, it’s for the government to decide which political discourse will be more interesting to them – caving in to the mobilisation of BJP forces or ensuring the protection of minorities in the country.”

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130424/jsp/opinion/story_16820549.jsp

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The case that saved Indian democracy – By Arvind P. Datar (Apr 24, 2013, The Hindu)

Exactly forty years ago, on April 24, 1973, Chief Justice Sikri and 12 judges of the Supreme Court assembled to deliver the most important judgment in its history. The case of Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala had been heard for 68 days, the arguments commencing on October 31, 1972, and ending on March 23, 1973. The hard work and scholarship that had gone into the preparation of this case was breathtaking. Literally hundreds of cases had been cited and the then Attorney-General had made a comparative chart analysing the provisions of the Constitutions of 71 different countries! All this effort was to answer just one main question: was the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution unlimited? In other words, could Parliament alter, amend, abrogate any part of the Constitution even to the extent of taking away all fundamental rights?

Article 368, on a plain reading, did not contain any limitation on the power of Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution. There was nothing that prevented Parliament from taking away a citizen’s right to freedom of speech or his religious freedom. But the repeated amendments made to the Constitution raised a doubt: was there any inherent or implied limitation on the amending power of Parliament? The 703-page judgment revealed a sharply divided court and, by a wafer-thin majority of 7:6, it was held that Parliament could amend any part of the Constitution so long as it did not alter or amend “the basic structure or essential features of the Constitution.” This was the inherent and implied limitation on the amending power of Parliament. This basic structure doctrine, as future events showed, saved Indian democracy and Kesavananda Bharati will always occupy a hallowed place in our constitutional history.

It is supremely ironical that the basic structure theory was first introduced by Justice Mudholkar eight years earlier by referring to a 1963 decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Chief Justice Cornelius – yes, Pakistan had a Christian Chief Justice and, later, a Hindu justice as well – had held that the President of Pakistan could not alter the “fundamental features” of their Constitution. The Kesavananda Bharati case was the culmination of a serious conflict between the judiciary and the government, then headed by Mrs Indira Gandhi. In 1967, the Supreme Court took an extreme view, in the Golak Nath case, that Parliament could not amend or alter any fundamental right. Two years later, Indira Gandhi nationalised 14 major banks and the paltry compensation was made payable in bonds that matured after 10 years!

This was struck down by the Supreme Court, although it upheld the right of Parliament to nationalise banks and other industries. A year later, in 1970, Mrs Gandhi abolished the Privy Purses. This was a constitutional betrayal of the solemn assurance given by Sardar Patel to all the erstwhile rulers. This was also struck down by the Supreme Court. Ironically, the abolition of the Privy Purses was challenged by the late Madhavrao Scindia, who later joined the Congress Party. Smarting under three successive adverse rulings, which had all been argued by N.A. Palkhivala, Indira Gandhi was determined to cut the Supreme Court and the High Courts to size and she introduced a series of constitutional amendments that nullified the Golak Nath, Bank Nationalisation and Privy Purses judgments. In a nutshell, these amendments gave Parliament uncontrolled power to alter or even abolish any fundamental right.

These drastic amendments were challenged by Kesavananda Bharati, the head of a math in Kerala, and several coal, sugar and running companies. On the other side, was not only the Union of India but almost all the States which had also intervened. This case had serious political overtones with several heated exchanges between N.A. Palkhivala for the petitioners and H.M. Seervai and Niren De, who appeared for the State of Kerala and the Union of India respectively. The infamous Emergency was declared in 1975 and, by then, eight new judges had been appointed to the Supreme Court. A shocking attempt was made by Chief Justice Ray to review the Kesavananda Bharati decision by constituting another Bench of 13 judges. In what is regarded as the finest advocacy that was heard in the Supreme Court, Palkhivala made an impassioned plea for not disturbing the earlier view. …

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-case-that-saved-indian-democracy/article4647800.ece

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Compromised Bureau of Investigation – Editorial (Apr 27, 2013, The Hindu)

The CBI’s formal acknowledgment to the Supreme Court that, on the demand of Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, it shared the status report of its investigations on the Coalgate scam with bureaucrats in the PMO and Coal Ministry shows how deeply the agency stands compromised. The fact that the CBI Director has now assured the court that the bureau’s future status reports “shall not be shared with any [member of the] political executive” is ample proof that the CBI knew its original action was a serious transgression of procedure. But for the fact that the story got leaked, the CBI would probably have continued “consulting” the political executive.

While sharing the status report with the Law Minister prior to filing it in the Supreme Court is bad enough, the fact that the CBI was happy to have its findings shown to bureaucrats from the very ministries that are under investigation borders on interference with the criminal justice system. The Supreme Court must now reprimand and punish those responsible for this subversion of the court’s directions, especially since ensuring the CBI’s independence of action has been its fundamental objective from the time of the Vineet Narain case. More importantly, the Law Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office must now be asked to provide affidavits on the matter and undertake never to interfere in the work of the CBI in this manner.

This is not a first for CBI when it comes to big cases. Even where the 2G investigation is concerned, the agency has shown signs of being subservient to the political leadership. After an initial burst of action, it delayed its probe in the spectrum scam till after the release of the CAG’s report made further inaction politically untenable. While concluding in its chargesheet of April 2011 that former Telecom Minister A. Raja “misled” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it ignored documents that suggested the government approved of Mr. Raja’s actions. Apart from shoddy investigation, the 2G investigation shows the multiplicity of contradiction and instances where even file notings have been reproduced wrongly in the chargesheet.

The CBI’s probes into opposition leaders like Mulayam Singh, Mayawati and Jagan Reddy have also raised eyebrows. But in Coalgate, the premier investigating agency has been caught red-handed taking the highest court for a ride despite being under its constant monitor and supervision. The intention is clearly to subvert justice and undermine an agency tasked by the Supreme Court with ensuring probity. The people of India deserve to know the identity of all those within government who undertook – or tolerated – this latest assault on the CBI’s ‘independence.’

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/compromised-bureau-of-investigation/article4657968.ece

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Violence Against Women: Why Is It Always The Worst? – By Aakanksha Mohan sharma (Apr 29, 2013, Countercurrents)

Every time, doctors treat rape victims, they say this is the worst they had ever seen…Every time! It is always a worst level of domestic violence which leads her to commit suicide… Every time! (Yes, it is important)… It has to be really worst when fifty female fetuses are found in a well…Worst, Every time! (Can’t help)… Why our standards of brutality with women have come down to this point, where it has to be worst to be counted? Why it is worst at so many fronts? India ranks 132 out of 187 countries on the gender inequality index, lower than other South Asian counterparts like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Nepal, and Bhutan, according to the United Nations Human Development Report 2013. Yes, it’s worst!

According to the study, only 26.6 % of Indian women above the age of 15 received secondary education as compared to 50.4 % males. In the US, 94.7 % of women were educated to the secondary level as compared to 94.3 % men. The report revealed shocking figures for country’s labor force participation, which showed only 26.6% women are part of the labor force as compared to 80.7 % men. Only, 10.9 % got to sit in the Parliament. The report further says that the high male sex ratio at birth reflects women’s status in society and patriarchal mores and prejudices which are an aspect of deep-rooted social-cultural beliefs is one of the major reasons of this crisis.

According to last year’s National family health survey, 51 % of Indian men and 54 % of Indian women find it’s justifiable for a man to beat his wife and around 40 % of women have experienced some form of abuse from their husbands- pushing, slapping and hair pulling, punching, kicking, choking or burning. Yes, it’s worst! India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world where educated and well-dressed women walking on the roads are a regular sight. But this is just a superficial layer as the problem is deeply-rooted. The survey of world’s 20 biggest economies by Trust Law, a legal news service run by Thomson Reuters ranked India as the worst country to be a woman last year. Worst than Saudi Arabia. Yes, it’s worst! The survey polled 370 gender specialists and found Canada to be the best place amongst G 20 nations and Saudi Arabia second worst after India topping the list!

The report says that there is a deep–rooted mindset that women are inferior and must be kept inside and away from decision making. It also highlights the tendency of dangerous acceptance of discrimination and violence against women in the society. It too lists the fact that 52% women think it’s justifiable for a man to beat his wife (UNICEF 2012). The problem is not confined to the roads and streets of the nation, where women are mostly seen unsafe. But, actually it’s inside the boundaries of our homes where the mindset is born and shaped which makes women vulnerable in any situation and anywhere- at home, work, roads, buses, malls, fields, anywhere… For instance, Washington based International Center for research on Women revealed in a 2011 survey of gender equality that more than 65 % of Indian men believe that women sometimes deserved to be beaten or must be kept devoid of her opinions, and that to keep the family together, she must learn to tolerate violence- emotional, sexual or physical! Yes, it’s worst!

Up to 50 Million girls are thought to be missing over the past century due to female infanticide and feticide, according to UN Population fund. Fight for survival for a woman starts right from the womb which is mostly lost! The sex-ratio is badly skewed. Parents desperation for sons has left the country with 914 girls aged six and under per 1,000 boys according to 2011 census, down from 927 in 2001. This is one of the contributory factors of the unleashing sexual violence in the country. It’s crucial to understand that such crimes against women are not only gender specific social crimes but crimes against democracy and humanity which can result in bigger problems, the problems which men will have to face… The worst is being done against her and apparently getting worse day by day…What’s needed? Better laws? Measures to enhance safety programs? Gender sensitization programs? Police and policy reforms? Sexual and gender awareness? Or a revolution? As rightly said by Justice Katju “Law alone can play only 20 % role in empowering women in this country. 80 % will be changed by education, changing the mindset, the mentality of men who are still to a large extent feudal-minded which means they regard women as inferior”. Undoubtedly, a revolution is required to make India a some what better place to live in. And, unfortunately that may take long to come…

http://www.countercurrents.org/msharma290413.htm

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IAMC Weekly News Roundup – April 1st, 2013

April 2, 2013

In this issue of IAMC News Roundup News Headlines US lawmakers paid Rs 9 lakh each to praise Modi: report Did aggressive Hindutva agenda cost BJP dear? Police make 5 dead accused in Dhule riots Mumbai police face defamation suit for false terror circular Eight policemen convicted in Gonda fake encounter case Civil group to [...]

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IAMC Weekly News Roundup – March 18th, 2013

March 19, 2013

In this issue of IAMC News Roundup Communal Harmony 2002 Gujarat riots: Real hero Latifa a driving force behind communal harmony News Headlines Should Narendra Modi say sorry? Sack cops for detaining youth illegally: United Muslim Forum Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blast: NIA continues to question Rajender Chaudhary Finally, a panel to probe Dhule riots Ansari [...]

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IAMC Weekly News Roundup – June 25th, 2012

June 26, 2012

In this issue of IAMC News Roundup News Headlines Communal violence erupts in Pratapgarh of UP Gulberg: Court raps SIT, asks for probe report NDA’s disarray has to do with the BJP’s Hindutva parochialism ‘Tulsiram saw policemen picking Sohrabuddin, wife’ (Jun 23, 2012, Indian Express Fake Encounter by ATS, Claims Mumbai Blast Accused Police, administration [...]

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IAMC Weekly News Roundup – December 19th, 2011

December 19, 2011

In this issue of IAMC News Roundup Announcements Harvard’s decision to drop courses by Subramanian Swamy, a welcome step says Indian American group News Headlines Grill me, Modi and ex-DGP jointly: Bhatt to riot panel Riot panel brings ‘intelligence fund for bribe’ on record Ishrat encounter: CBI case against 20 policemen CBI arrests 13 in [...]

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IAMC Weekly News Roundup – December 5th, 2011

December 5, 2011

In this issue of IAMC News Roundup Announcements Babri Masjid Demolition 19th Anniversary: Indian American Group Demands Justice Communal Harmony Literature should Promote Communal Harmony – B’lore Varsity VC News Headlines More evidence has come up to prove Advani’s role in Babari Masjid demolition Naroda Patia victims want top cops to be made accused Sohrab [...]

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SIT asked to submit final report on Ishrat case by November 18 (Oct 8, 2011, The Hindu)

October 10, 2011

The Gujarat High Court on Friday asked the Special Investigation Team, probing the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, to submit its final report by November 18, and fixed the next hearing for November 21. When the SIT submitted an interim report, a Division Bench of Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari expressed satisfaction over the progress [...]

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IAMC Weekly News Roundup – September 12th, 2011

September 13, 2011

In this issue of IAMC News Roundup Announcements IAMC Condemns Blast Outside Delhi High Court News Headlines SC has not given clean chit to Modi: Cong Will a trial court in Gujarat ever prosecute Modi? Modi faces two contempt petitions for letter to PM Court issues notice to Modi on ‘targeted’ IAS officer’s plea Don’t [...]

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SIT fails to make headway in Ishrat Jahan case (Jul 22, 2011, IBN)

July 25, 2011

The Ishrat Jahan encounter probe has got a new chief, the sixth since the Gujarat High Court began monitoring the case. But not a single arrest has been made even as Ishrat’s relatives blame more than a dozen police officers of carrying out a fake encounter. “Two years plus six chairmen down the line…there’s absolutely [...]

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