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IMC-USA Weekly News Digest - January 18th, 2010

In this issue

Communal Harmony

News Headlines

Opinions & Editorials

Book Review

Communal Harmony

Youth should lead revolution for harmony (Jan 10, 2010, Express Buzz)

The time has come for youth of India to start another revolution for
national peace and better international relations. Also they have a
major role to reduce violence in society and establish better communal
harmony and understanding.

Citing the example of violence in
Kandhamal, noted Gandhian leader and Chairman of National Youth Project
Dr SN Subbarao said here today that unless the youth take initiative in
peace process, society cannot move forward.

Speaking at a seminar
on Adolescent Development on the occasion of the Career Day as part of
the 15th National Youth Festival at KIIT University here, he said
whether a grassroots level worker or the boss of an organisation every
one must remember that they are free citizens of India and should
possess a mind and heart and utilise their creative best to serve the
nation. Also the youth should remember that the world is one family and
their work and efforts should reflect the ideals of the rich Indian
tradition of live and let live, he said. …

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/print.aspx?artid=ur/2024Ymow=

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News Headlines

Gulberg riots: 7 eyewitnesses call trial court biased (Jan 12, 2010, Indian Express)

Seven victims and eyewitnesses to the Gulberg Society Massacre case
on Monday expressed their disappointment with the special trial court
and alleged that it is adopting a biased approach. They said that they
see no hope of getting justice from this court. The seven have been
identified as Imtiaz Pathan, Rupa Modi, Saeedkhan Pathan, Mohammed
Rafique Pathan, Firoz Pathan, Sayara Sandhi and Salim Sandhi. They made
the statements while submitting an affidavit through their lawyer, S M
Vora, before the special court of Sessions Judge B U Joshi where the
trial is on. The affidavit was submitted in connection with an
application, which the witnesses have moved to arraign eight more
people in the case.

After hearing the application, the court had
reserved its order and asked Vora to file an affidavit to declare on
oath that the prayer in the application is not identical to a petition
pending before the Supreme Court. Accordingly, the witnesses filed the
affidavit, stating that the prayer in the application is not identical
and that the trial court is not justified in keeping the order on the
application pending. Substantial part of the affidavit is occupied with
the statements of the witnesses expressing their disappointment with
the court that has allegedly adopted a biased approach, which is
'unbearable' and 'shocking' to them.

Citing various instances,
the affidavit says that the judge has repeatedly spoken from the dais
of the open court that they (the witnesses) have given false statements
on oath. It added that the court of Sessions Judge B U Joshi has
revealed itself by making such repeated remarks in the open court and
that it shows that the court is biased and has pre-judged the
authenticity of the witnesses' statements.

The witnesses said
that such repeated remarks by the court have revealed that the court
believes that the witnesses are lying on oath. "And in such a
situation, it is a subject of concern for us as to what justice we will
get from the court," the affidavit added. Citing an instance when the
court rejected the request of witnesses to approach the enclosure of
the accused to identify them, the witnesses stated in the affidavit
that the court's approach to them during their deposition was worse
than an accused.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/566432/

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Fake encounter: SC slams Guj Govt, orders CBI probe (Jan 12, 2010, PTI)

The Narendra Modi Government in Gujarat today suffered a major
embarrassment with the Supreme Court directing a CBI probe into the
alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and bumping off his wife
Kauserbi and an accomplice.

In a hard-hitting judgement, a bench
of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and Aftab Alam came down heavily on the
Gujarat Government for failing to conduct impartial investigations and
attempting to "mislead" the apex court by filing conflicting action
taken reports (ATRs).

"From the above factual discrepancies
appearing in eight Action Taken Reports and from the chargesheet, we,
therefore, feel that the police authorities of the State of Gujarat had
failed to carry out a fair and impartial investigation as we initially
wanted them to do."

http://www.ptinews.com/news/465200_Fake-encounter--SC-slams-Guj-Govt--orders-CBI-probe

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Encounter addict arrest ends Famous 5 era (Jan 9, 2010, The Telegraph)

Pradeep Sharma, the policeman for whom "encounters were an
addiction", has been arrested, bringing the curtain down on the "Famous
Five" picked to snuff out the underworld that once reigned over the
megapolis. Sharma, 48, perhaps Mumbai's most talked about encounter
specialist along with Daya Nayak, was arrested late yesterday for
killing a suspected gangster in an allegedly staged gunfight in 2006.
The officer, who was dismissed from Mumbai police in 2008 for alleged
links with gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan but later
reinstated, was picked up around 10.30pm on Thursday night from his
residence by a special investigation team (SIT) set up by Bombay High
Court. He is the first Mumbai policeman to be arrested on charges of
staging an encounter.

A senior inspector with the crime branch,
Sharma was produced in the Andheri sessions court this afternoon along
with two policemen and three civilians. All six are accused in the
murder of suspected gangster Lakhan Bhaiyya, whose family had filed a
court case in 2006 alleging that Lakhan had been picked up from his
home by Sharma without a warrant and later shot dead in Andheri. The
family alleged that Lakhan, whose real name was Ram Narain Gupta, was
killed by Sharma at the behest of the Dawood gang. Lakhan allegedly
belonged to the gang of Dawood's arch enemy Chhota Rajan. "We have been
able to collect solid evidence against Sharma in the case and will soon
chargesheet him," said SIT chief KMM Prasanna. Sharma has been sent to
police custody till January 14.

Broad-shouldered, six feet tall
and having the swagger of a film star, Sharma was one of the five
policemen selected to end the underworld raj in the nineties. Except
for Vijay Salaskar, who was killed by Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab
on 26/11, all the others are embroiled in one case or the other.
Details of their exploits vary. Sharma once reportedly claimed to have
personally killed 103 gangsters, all in "self-defence", an explanation
rubbished by rights groups. After the gangsters went on the run,
Sharma, who was one of the inspirations for the Shimit Amin film Ab Tak
Chhappan, told an international news agency: "Encounters are an
addiction for me. I feel bored on Sundays." But the law started
catching up with Mumbai's encounter boys, dubbed the "Dirty Harrys". In
August 2009, Bombay High Court ordered an FIR to be filed against
Sharma and 17 other policemen following a petition from Lakhan
Bhaiyya's brother.

The high court had observed that the first
bullet was shot at point-blank range at the forehead of the victim,
while the second hit his chest. "Sharma has been booked on charges of
abduction and murder. There is evidence that one of his main
accomplices - Pradeep Suryavanshi, another police inspector from DN
Nagar police station in Andheri - actually took the shot at Lakhan,
killing him instantly. Sharma has been arrested. Suryavanshi will be
taken into custody in a day or two," a senior Mumbai police official
said today. Lakhan's brother Ramprasad Gupta denied his sibling
belonged to the Rajan gang when he was killed on November 11, 2006. "My
brother was not a gangster when he was killed. There was no criminal
case against him post-1997. He was trying to reform. Seven hours after
he was picked up by Pradeep Sharma, my brother was dead," he said.

Sharma
and Nayak were also accused of amassing a huge amount of wealth
disproportionate to their income by playing one gang against the other.
Sharma was dismissed after being suspected of amassing Rs 3,000 crore
in illegal wealth using his Dawood-Rajan links. He was reinstated in
May last year after no evidence was found. Sharma's colleagues sprang
to his defence. "Where are the senior IPS officials who backed these
people then? Why are no steps being taken against them?" asked an angry
senior officer of Mumbai police. Among Sharma's bosses at the time was
current Mumbai police commissioner D. Sivanandan, who was then joint
commissioner (crime).

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100109/jsp/nation/story_11963035.jsp

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CBI takes charge of Ruchika case (Jan 11, 2010, Deccan Herald)

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday took over the
probe against former Haryana police chief S P S Rathore, convicted of
molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra in 1990, for abetting her suicide
and harassing her family members. The agency has re-registered the
cases against Rathore. Three new FIRs include abetment to suicide and
attempt to murder.

"CBI has taken up investigation in the three
cases relating to the molestation case today," CBI spokesperson Harsh
Bhal said. The agency has re-registered the three cases in Special
Crime Zone in New Delhi and has asked all persons in the know of facts
and circumstances of these cases and those who are willing to give
evidence in the court to inform the agency.

The first case has
been registered under various sections of the IPC, including abetment
to suicide against the ex DGP, then Superintendent of Police K P Singh,
Sub Inspector Prem Dutt and two Assistant Sub-Inspectors Jai Narain and
Sewa Singh, all from Haryana police besides others.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/46250/cbi-takes-charge-ruchika-case.html

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Deepda Darwaza riot: Plea filed to include 2 BJP leaders as accused (Jan 13, 2010, Indian Express)

The victims in the Deepda Darwaza riot case of 2002 have filed an
application in the Mehsana special court to include two BJP leaders as
accused. At least two eyewitnesses had named Prahlad Gosa, the then BJP
legislator from Visnagar, and Dayabhai Patel, the then Vishnagar taluka
panchayat member, for inciting the mob to torch houses during the
communal violence. Ayaz Memon, advocate for the victims, said, "We have
today filed the application to include two BJP leaders as accused in
the case based on eyewitness statements."

Mohammed Hanif
Dalubhai, one of the eyewitnesses in the case, had named the two
leaders. According to the eyewitnesses, both Gosa and Patel were
present when the mob had started gathering to torch a house. The duo
encouraged the mob to go ahead and torch the entire mohalla (society)
and not just one house.

The witnesses further said that Gosa
and Patel were also present when some of the victims' relatives, later
in the evening, went to the police station to register the complaint.
The witnesses had earlier said that both persons interfered and asked
the police to register complaints only for rioting and not for murder.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/566868/

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SHRC pulls up cop, orders compensation for victimised couple (Jan 9, 2010, Times of India)

The Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission has reprimanded a
police inspector for filing false cases of selling illicit arrack
against a couple in Salem and illegally detaining them after they
refused to sell their land to him. The commission directed the state
government to pay Rs 30,000 to K Varnadevan, the complainant, and
recover the amount from P Sundarrajan, the inspector, then attached to
Machery police station in Salem district.

The case of
Varnadevan was that the inspector, in 2003, wanted to buy his land at a
lesser price, but he refused to sell. As the inspector forced and
threatened him to sell the land to him, the complainant took up the
matter with the Press and also moved a magistrate court against the
inspector. Provoked by these actions, the inspector filed six false
cases against Varnadevan and his wife as if they had been involved in
selling illicit arrack, Varnadevan said.

At one stage, the
inspector illegally detained the complainant's wife and her sister in
the police station. In May 2003, arrested Varnadevan in connection with
the false cases after keeping him under illegal detention for two days
in the station, the complainant said. In his submission before the
commission, the inspector denied the allegations and argued that he had
filed the cases against the couple as they had indeed involved in
selling illicit arrack and hence he did not commit any human rights
violation. However, SHRC member K Mariappan rejected the inspector's
contention and said the report of the SHRC investigation wing opined
that Sundarrajan attempted to forcibly register the villager's land in
his name and went to the extent of registering false cases against the
complainant and his wife.

Quoting the deposition made by the
village administrative officer that the complainant had been doing
agriculture in the village, SHRC member in his order said, "It is
evident that the inspector filed the cases against the complainant and
his wife without having substantial grounds and also not adhered to
rules while submitting the FIRs in the court. The inspector did not
mention where he had arrested the complainant, for obvious reasons."
The government should pay the compensation to the complainant within
eight weeks, he added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5425565.cms

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Right to Information covers office of CJI: HC (Jan 12, 2010, IBN)

The Delhi High Court Tuesday upheld its single bench order that the
office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) comes within the purview of
the Right to Information (RTI) Act and details of judges assets should
be revealed under that. A bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and
Justices S Muralidhar and Vikramjeet Sen said: "The subordinate
judiciary is already declaring their assets. So when they are
accountable so are we. Thus, higher the judiciary, higher is the
accountability towards the public at large." During the pronouncement
of the judgement, the judges assured that they too would declare their
assets next week.

Emphasising the importance of RTI, the bench
said: "RTI has over-reaching impact. Citizens who require such
information should not misuse the information, thus saving the
independence of (the) judiciary." "Income tax returns and medical
records will not be revealed under the RTI but if public interest is
attached with it then it also needs to be disclosed," the bench said in
a voluminous judgement. Two resolutions in 1997 and 1999 had said this
declaration of assets was not binding on judges but could be done
voluntarily.

Regarding them, the court said: "This resolution is
made for accountability of judges and we should all follow the same."
The bench had reserved its order in November 2009. Attorney General
Goolam E. Vahanvati, appearing for the apex court registry, had
contended that the resolution regarding declaration of assets by judges
was non-statutory, non-binding and it could not force a judge to
declare assets to the Chief Justice of India.

The Attorney
General said the high court single-judge bench had erred in declaring
that the office of CJI comes within the ambit of the RTI Act and had
interpreted the provisions of the legislation too broadly, which was
"unnecessary" and "illogical". The High Court in its September 2, 2009
verdict on the controversial issue held that the CJI was a public
authority and his office came within the purview of the transparency
law. The judgement was contrary to the stand taken by CJI K.G.
Balakrishnan, who has consistently maintained that his office is beyond
the purview of the RTI law.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/right-to-information-covers-office-of-cji-hc/108576-3.html

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Minors rape: Time lapse haunts cops (Jan 10, 2010, Times of India)

Despite police acting swiftly in arresting industrialist Manjeet
Singh Arora for allegedly raping a 14-year-old, they seem to be
grappling with the issue of time lapse even as a medical examination of
the minor confirmed sexual exploitation. With the girl's samples now
being sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Sector 36 for
further scrutiny, inspector Charanjit Singh Virk said, "The accused had
raped the victim for the first time in his Sector 34 house a year and a
half ago. It will be difficult to collect many scientific evidences as
Arora then shifted to his present residence at Super Enclave in Sector
49 in September 2009."

Bringing her home two days after Diwali
in 2008, with the promise of employing her only for six months, Arora
reportedly raped her once in Chandigarh before shifting her later that
year to his daughter Anupreet's flat in Mumbai, where he continued to
violate her. The accused reportedly went back on his word and did not
return the girl to her family after six months. "He even stopped paying
her salary of Rs 3,000 a month. Whenever the victim's mother tried to
contact the girl, Anupreet either never answered the mobile phone or
didn't allow them to talk for long," said sources.

While the
girl was said to have returned to city on December 25, her family
learned about her arrival from an outsider two days later. "Arora even
threatened the victim's family to shift to Lucknow in order to hide his
crime," added sources. Meanwhile, cops visited house of co-accused
Pappu's relative.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5429056.cms

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NCW wants report on Dalit woman abuse (Jan 12, 2010, Times of India)

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has sought a report from
Balasore police on the abuse of a Dalit woman in the district. "The
commission wants to know about the action taken by police in this
particular case in which a Dalit woman was assaulted and abused in
public. It also wants to know whether the woman has been rehabilitated
and what steps have been taken for her security," the NCW letter to the
SP stated.

On October 14, a 25-year-old woman and a mother of
three, was dragged to a market place at Bagudi near Soro, tied to a
tree and assaulted by a group of people who pulled her hair. They
abused her calling her a prostitute and the entire act was shot and
handed over to an electronic media.

The barbaric incident sent
shocked the state. Claiming sluggish action of police against the
culprits, the woman had appealed to the chief minister seeking his
intervention. Several women and Dalit organization also supported the
victim. The NCW, however, sought the report from police after lawyer
Prabir Das moved it and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
citing police inaction. "Police should act immediately before the
accused can take any preventive steps to evade arrest," Das said.

Police
said six persons have been arrested in this case. "Three were arrested
a day after the incident and the rest three, including the prime
accused were nabbed within a month. Earlier, the NHRC had sought a
report and we have compiled it," sub-divisional police officer
(Balasore Sadar) K C Parida said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5438461.cms

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Opinions and Editorials

For Whom The Bell Tolls - Mukul Sinha (Jan 23, 2010, Tehelka)

Never in his wildest dreams would former Gujarat IGP DG Vanzara have
imagined he would encounter the CBI one day. Between 2002 and April
2007 he was the de facto police chief of Gujarat. No police officer
dared cross his path given his proximity to Chief Minister Narendra
Modi. As chief of the Crime Branch, Ahmedabad, and later of the
Anti-Terrorist Squad, he built the dreaded team of 'encounter
specialists'. They carried out seven "successful" encounters, killing
around 15 "dreaded terrorists" during 2002-06. Most FIRs of the
encounters said the "dreaded terrorists" were connected with either LeT
or Hizbul or Dawood Ibrahim and aimed to assassinate Modi.

Police
shot and killed Sohrabuddin Sheikh on November 26, 2005. His wife,
Kauserbi, was injected with Pentothal and apparently burnt. Her body
was never found. A letter from Sohrabuddin's brother, Rubabuddin, to
the Chief Justice of India led to a preliminary inquiry by the CID and
later to a writ petition before the apex court. Handed the probe, DIG
Rajnish Rai did the unthinkable: He arrested Vanzara and IPS officers
Dinesh MN of Rajasthan and Rajkumar Pandyan of Gujarat. Deputy SP
Narendra Amin was arrested and accused of murdering Kauserbi. The
arrest shook Gandhinagar. Rai was replaced by IGP Gita Johri. Johri's
probe revealed that the Gujarat Police kidnapped Sohrabuddin, Kauserbi
and another person, Tulsi Prajapati, while they were travelling from
Hyderabad to Sangli.

After serving jail terms for over a year,
Prajapati was 'eliminated' in an encounter in December 2006. But then
the investigation started faltering. Johri made no attempt to recover
the remains of Kauserbi's body. It was found that the gunshot wound on
the policeman who killed Prajapati was self- inflicted. But she did not
pursue this lead. She also did not investigate the mobile phone call
records of the police officers. So Rubabuddin went back to the Supreme
Court. On January 12, 2010, the apex court directed that the CBI be
given the investigation. This probe can now bring out the required
evidence to indict not just more police officers but also their
political masters. That no serious inquiry was instituted in seven
"encounters" in Ahmedabad raises grave questions about the bona fides
of the government. It would have been impossible for a Gujarat police
officer to dare look for evidence that may implicate the political
bosses. That hurdle is now removed.

Like in other cases, police
from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are involved in
the Sohrabuddin case. The CBI probe would dig for evidence in different
states and bring out the nexus between their police. Gujarat Police
said they shot and killed Prajapati near the Rajasthan border after he
tried to escape from the train on the way back to Udaipur from
Ahmedabad, where he had been brought to appear in another case.
Investigation revealed that Dinesh, then Udaipur SP, had personally
assigned the two policemen to accompany Prajapti. Now that the majesty
of the law has once again been established by the Supreme Court, the
country will have high expectations of the capability and impartiality
of the CBI. Numerous allegations have been levelled at the Modi
government in the last seven years, but none have stuck. Either they
are wholly innocent or too smart to catch. We have to now wait and see
what the CBI can do.

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=Op230110for_whom.asp

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The rot within - By V. Venkatesan (Jan 16, 2010, Frontline)

The belated conviction and sentencing of S.P.S. Rathore, former
Director General of Police, Haryana, for molesting a minor girl two
decades ago has certain lessons for India's criminal jurisprudence.
There was outrage after the trial court's ruling on December 21 for
more than one reason, which included the inordinate delay in the filing
of the first information report (FIR) after the incident and the
sentence - six months' imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1,000 - that is
lighter than what is warranted under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Above
all was the shocking discovery by civil society that Rathore had evaded
all these years charges of harassment of the victim and abetment to her
suicide, destruction of evidence and tampering with her post-mortem
reports, illegal confinement of her brother and attempt to murder him,
criminal conspiracy and misuse of power. Although the victim made the
complaint regarding the offence on August 16, 1990, the FIR was
registered only on December 29, 1999. That too only after the
intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This was upheld by
the Supreme Court.

An FIR refers to information given by anyone
to the officer-in-charge of a police station in relation to the
commission of a cognisable offence, and which is first in point of
time, and on the strength of which the police begin investigation into
that offence. Section 354 (assault or use of criminal force on a woman
with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC, under which Rathore has
been convicted, deals with a cognisable offence. The non-registration
of an FIR for nearly a decade after the commission of the crime meant
that Rathore could evade arrest and interrogation during that period.
Had the FIR been promptly registered before the girl committed suicide
in 1993, it is believed, the evidence against Rathore could have been
stronger than what the court could rely on after her suicide. Rathore
even challenged the authenticity of the victim's signature on the
original complaint submitted to the authorities in 1990. The trial
court, however, relied on the evidentiary value of signatures of others
on the complaint for basing its conviction. In order to minimise the
chances of the police not filing an FIR against a police officer, Union
Home Minister P. Chidambaram, on December 28, urged them to register
all complaints as FIRs. The heads of police stations, he pointed out,
could be asked to give specific reasons for registration or
non-registration of a case after receiving a complaint. Even if a
complaint is false, the police have to register an FIR and investigate
it before closing it, he advised the States, which have the exclusive
responsibility for the police. Chidambaram, however, ruled out any
formal advisory to the States on the issue.

Observers suggest
that an amendment of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C) to make
FIRs mandatory on receipt of a complaint might help. But that would
require a huge increase in the number of police personnel, for which
the States and the Centre are not ready financially. It appears,
therefore, that the Home Ministry is proposing superficial reforms,
which are neither practical nor relevant to address the root cause of
cases like that of Rathore who allegedly manipulated the system in his
favour. Unfortunately, much of the anger against Rathore has not
manifested in terms of a campaign for reforms in the police force. Most
State governments are reluctant to comply with the Supreme Court
directives issued in September 2006 in the Prakash Singh case. These
directives aim to insulate the police force in the States from
political pressure and make it truly professional, besides making
legislative changes. Even the Centre has not shown any enthusiasm to
carry out police reforms. The court has now set up a monitoring
committee with a two-year mandate to report on compliance with its
directives. The six months' imprisonment and the Rs.1,000 fine for
Rathore comes when the maximum punishment under Section 354 of the IPC
is two years. The trial court's justification of the lesser sentence
citing the prolonged trial and Rathore's age (68 years) was least
convincing to any observer.

Following the trial court's
judgment, and the uproar in the media and civil society, the Haryana
government set up a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the
three fresh FIRs registered on the basis of complaints filed by the
victim's brother and father, and after obtaining legal advice. These
FIRs pertain to the non-bailable charge, under Section 306 of the IPC
(abetment to suicide), of attempt to murder and harassment of the
victim's brother, doctoring of the post-mortem report of the victim
after her suicide. Rathore has questioned the legality of these FIRs,
while seeking anticipatory bail. The Punjab and Haryana High Court and
the Supreme Court have reviewed two of these charges and have given
relief to Rathore. In the first case, Justice R.C. Kathuria of the
Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed an order of the Special Judicial
Magistrate, CBI, Ambala, dated October 23, 2001, concluding that a
prima facie case for the addition of offence under Section 306 of the
IPC was made out against Rathore and, accordingly, directing the
committal of the case to the Court of Sessions. Justice Kathuria, while
giving relief to Rathore, relied on the fact that at no stage had the
victim made any statement to the police during the investigation of the
case and that until her death in 1993 she had never come in contact
with Rathore directly. The Judge seems to have overlooked the fact that
the police did not investigate the molestation case until 1999 when the
FIR was filed and that there was no occasion for the victim to make a
statement to the police.

The Special Judicial Magistrate,
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Ambala, added the offence under
Section 306 IPC in the CBI's charge sheet on the basis of an
application made by Madhu Prakash, the mother of Aradhana, the victim's
friend and an eyewitness to the molestation. In her application, Madhu
Prakash stated that the CBI, during the investigation, had recorded the
statement of key witnesses, including herself, that Rathore had made
life hell for the victim, which led her to commit suicide in 1993.
Additionally, it was also submitted that the victim's brother was
falsely implicated in six criminal cases at the behest of Rathore. Of
these, the court discharged him in four cases. In the remaining two,
the police found that the allegations were not substantiated and
dropped the proceedings against him. More important, it was also
brought to the notice of the SJM that the CBI had not examined the
victim's brother and had not taken into account the post-mortem report
and the inquest report of the victim. Before the SJM, the CBI contested
Madhu Prakash's application for inclusion of Section 306 of the IPC in
its charge sheet because it did not find the applicability of Sections
306 and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a
woman) against Rathore. However, the CBI took a different stand before
Justice Kathuria. It said the witnesses had said during the
investigation that Rathore had indeed harassed the victim, her friend
Aradhana and their family members after the molestation incident. The
witnesses had also apparently said that the victim could not even visit
the nearby market and that it was Aradhana who used to make minor
purchases for her. The CBI also said that the fact of the false
implication of the victim's brother in criminal cases and his being
beaten up by personnel of the Haryana Police at the behest of Rathore
were reported to it. … These steps, though important, are inadequate to
address the concerns in the aftermath of the Rathore case. In an open
letter to Moily on January 5, the representatives of 14 women's groups
and 44 leading women's activists pointed out that Section 354 of the
IPC did not redress sexual harassment of women in public or private
spaces. It assumes that only some women and children have modesty and
are seen as deserving the protection of law, they said. They have
suggested a gradation of sexual assault which squarely name sexual
harassment, molestation, stalking, parading and stripping as sexual
violence (not amounting to rape). Hopefully, various civil society
groups will seek to influence the government and Parliament to reform
suitably the current laws concerning violence against women.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2702/stories/20100129270200900.htm

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Life Behind The Iron Curtain - By Tusha Mittal (Jan 16, 2010, Tehelka)

Himanshu Kumar is shaving his moustache to become more
unrecognisable. Instead of the usual white kurta, he's wearing a red
shirt and jeans. The lights in his two-room rented house have been
turned off. If you chanced upon him on a winter night in Dantewada,
Chhattisgarh, speaking in hushed whispers about jumping off the back
wall and disappearing into the darkness, you might have mistaken this
Gandhian activist for a fugitive. For the last 18 years, Himanshu has
been trudging through the jungles of rural Chhattisgarh, empowering
tribals, teaching them how to vote and bringing them access to food and
healthcare through his Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA). When his wife first
joined him, he told her to replace her make-up kit with medicines.
Despite living in this Maoist-dominated conflict zone for nearly two
decades, despite its many intimidations, Kumar has never felt the urge
to flee. Until now that is – when the might of the State is upon him.
Trouble first began to escalate in 2005 when the infamous Salwa Judum
was launched. The VCA filed at least 600 complaints against human
rights violations by the State and fake encounters by the police.
Himanshu Kumar was transformed in the State's eyes from trusted aide to
adversary. In May 2009, his ashram was brutally demolished by the
police. Now suddenly, the Gandhian activist has lost his liberty. He
lives in a free country, but does not have the freedom to walk out
through the front door of his own house.

"Should I get arrested
and become a martyr or should I leave before they catch me?" Himanshu
Kumar wonders out loud on the morning of January 4. He knows what
happened to Binayak Sen. He knows he could be next. "I'm worried the
police will implicate me in a false case. They could arrest me anytime
now," he says. This is not misplaced paranoia. Himanshu's makeshift
ashram is under constant police surveillance. On January 3, his car was
stopped by the police as it sped from Dantewada to Raipur carrying Sodi
Shambo, 28, a tribal woman with a fractured leg held together by a
metal rod. Shambo's husband was tilling the fields on the morning of
October 1, 2009, when Salwa Judum SPOs barged into Goompad village. One
bullet from their guns split open her leg. Her children leapt towards
her, covering her body. That could be why she is still alive. Nine
others were killed during combing operations. Most were those who could
not run away - Madvi Yankaiya, 50; Madvi Bajaar 50 and his wife Madvi
Subhi, 45; their daughters Madvi Kanama, 20 and eight-year-old Madvi
Mooti; and a newly married couple Soyam Subaiya, 20 and Soyam Subhi,
18. Another 2-year-old boy was found with his fingers missing. The
Dantewada SP announced that nine Naxalites had been killed in an
encounter in Goompad village. This is the tale the outside world would
have believed, had Himanshu not met Shambo during a regular public
hearing in the forest. She told him about the massacre she had
witnessed; he ensured she filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court.
The court accepted her petition and directed the state to file a
response.

Had Shambo reached Delhi, where she was headed for
medical treatment, she could have become a major embarrassment for the
Chhattisgarh government. This is why Himanshu and Shambo were suddenly
surrounded by police on the highway and detained at Kanker police
station. There was an order from the Dantewada SP that Shambo be
produced in the police station to record her statement on the Goompad
killings. Shambo had been living openly in Himanshu's ashram in
Dantewada for the last two months but the police had not approached her
for a statement. "We did not know where she was. We were trying to find
her," says SP Amaresh Mishra ingenuously. "I found out through an
Internet forum that Himanshu was taking her to Raipur. I also got a
letter from Shambo's masi two days ago accusing Himanshu of vanishing
Shambo all this while." This was a patently concocted assertion given
that Himanshu had presented Shambo to the media at a big press
conference in Delhi in October. Clearly, a false case of abduction
against Kumar was in the works. According to Colin Gonsalves, a senior
advocate who has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court on the
Shambo case, it's actually the other way around. "This amounts to
illegal abduction by the police. Shambo is not an accused. She cannot
be forced to go anywhere," said he.

On January 4, Shambo was sent
to Maharani Hospital in Jagdalpur for further treatment under police
"security." Sudhir Thakhur, the doctor responsible, admitted the
hospital did not have the required medical facility to perform Shambo's
surgery. TEHELKA was not allowed to speak to Shambo at the hospital,
despite a guarantee from the Dantewada SP that she was not being kept
in confinement. Even after the director of the hospital gave
permission, police personnel guarding Shambo's bed refused to let us
near her. When we tried to talk to the ward nurse, the police ensured
they overheard the conversation. As Himanshu shaves off his moustache
in the darkness, it is almost as if he is at a tipping point. Caught in
a pool of quicksand, he must leap out immediately or sink. "My faith is
not shaken. I'm just feeling trapped inside a web. To break this
perhaps it is necessary for me to go fight from a new place. I am not
running away. I just need to change my location." The battle between
the State and Maoists is well known. But in Chhattisgarh, another
battle has been fast gathering steam - between the State and civil
society, between a policed existence and the idea of democracy, between
a coerced media and free speech. Himanshu Kumar is now at the centre of
that battle. Over the years, he had become one of the few bridges that
link the rest of India to the remote jungles of Chhattisgarh. Given the
national media's neglect, and the absence of a robust local press, he
was perhaps the only disseminator of an alternate reality. Without him
and a few other activists working in the area, there would be only one
version - that of the State. This is what the Chhattisgarh government
is now trying to create. Every few days there is news of an encounter -
six killed in Jagargunda, another six killed in Gumyipal. No one knows
if these are Naxals or ordinary tribals. The State doesn't seem to want
anyone to find out. …

To disable Himanshu further, his key aide
Kopa Kunjam was arrested on December 10 on charges of murdering a
former sarpanch, Punem Honga. Honga was abducted by Maoists along with
another sarpanch who had been traveling with Kopa on his bike on July
2, 2009. According to VCA, the night before he was arrested, Kopa was
offered Rs 25,000 to quit working with Himanshu and warned of dire
consequences if he continues. Kopa refused the money. Sukhdev, another
backbone of the VCA, was threatened with a similar fate after Kopa's
arrest. He quit. Lingu, another aide who also quit, confirmed to
TEHELKA that he was with Kopa at the Dantewada police station the day
before Kopa's arrest, and was present when the police tried to convince
Kopa to take up "other more meaningful work". The Maoists are not
willing to talk, and the State is clearly not allowing any other
dialogue. Himanshu's struggle becomes more poignant in the backdrop of
the violence being unleashed all around it. The Maoists continue to
fell trees, block trains, abduct and kill. The Salwa Judum continues to
rape women, burn houses, loot and kill. Amid all the chaos, as the year
ended, one man sat in a white kurta, under a sprawling tree, spooling a
loom of thread. He had not been allowed a padyatra or a satyagraha or a
jan sunvai, so he was fasting to protest State atrocities. But events
over the last two days have forced the man in the white kurta to shave
his moustache and turn into a man in red shirt and jeans - a reminder
of an original freedom struggle, being scuttled all over again.

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=Ne160110life_behind.asp

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Verdict for transparency - Editorial (Jan 14, 2010, The Tribune)

Tuesday's Delhi High Court ruling upholding its single bench order
that the Chief Justice of India comes within the purview of the Right
to Information Act and that details of judges' assets must be revealed
under it, is welcome. In an important order, the Bench consisting of
Chief Justice A.P. Shah, Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Vikramjeet
Sen not only rejected the apex court registry's contention that the CJI
was not covered under the RTI but also emphasised that even income-tax
returns and medical records of judges needed to be disclosed if these
serve public interest. It observed that the CJI is a "public authority"
and hence cannot claim any immunity under the RTI. As the judgement
dispels all doubts about the CJI's status vis-à-vis the RTI, the CJI
would do well to accept the verdict in the right spirit and refrain
from going in appeal to the apex court on the ground that the issue
involved interpretation of important points in law and the Constitution.

One
fails to understand why Chief Justice of India Justice K.G.
Balakrishnan is rigid on the issue when he has nothing to hide as
regards his assets or decisions taken on the administrative side in his
capacity as the CJI. In fact, following public and media pressure, he
and his colleagues declared their assets on November 2, 2009, and put
the details on the official website. The argument that the independence
of judiciary will be adversely affected if judges declare their assets
seems specious and unconvincing. On the contrary, it will promote
transparency, ensure accountability and strengthen democracy of which
the judiciary is an important pillar.

The High Court ruling
assumes special significance in the context of increasing cases of
corruption and misconduct involving judges. As the issue revolving
around Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran shows, the
functioning of the collegium is shrouded in mystery and one does not
know how the high court judges are appointed or elevated to the apex
court, their backgrounds and the criteria for appointment. If the right
to information is a fundamental right and aimed at empowering citizens,
the CJI cannot remain outside the purview of the RTI Act.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100114/edit.htm#1

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Decriminalising Politics - Editorial (Jan 10, 2010, Nav Hind Times)

Sixty two years after Independence, the Congress has taken up the
task to liberate India and its polity from criminals who have muscled
their way into politics and power. It was heartening to listen to the
secretary, All India Congress Committee that the party will not allow
entry to criminals and the Goa state committee of the party would
initiate action against any person with criminal antecedents. It is not
clear whether it was reflection of the determination of the party
leadership or merely a political rhetoric but one thing is certain,
this nature of moral posturing is vacuous unless the Congress applies a
break on the incentive system. Criminals do not enter politics because
of some inexplicable moral lapse by candidate selection committees or
the screening committee, but because they have huge incentives to get
in.

While criminals provide muscle power to a party, in turn they
extract social status and acceptability and a share in the power. It is
not criminalisation of politics, but politicisation of criminals. For
criminals, politics is a lucrative profession. We have seen how
entering into politics and becoming a peoples' representative has
helped them in carrying out their criminal activities without any
hindrance. They have gotten into the big business of money laundering
and real estate: they grab and sale land. It is irony they have made
the state apparatus look like a dwarf. It is they not the common people
who are the real beneficiaries of the present political system and
governance.

The figures compiled by the Forum for Clean
Politics make it abundantly clear that one in five Members of
Parliament elected in India's 2004 general election had pending
criminal cases against them, either awaiting trial or on appeal after
conviction. About half the cases are for murder, violent robbery or
rape. Those involved include 19 (40 per cent) of 48 Maharashtra's MPs,
13 (35 per cent) of Bihar's 37, and 23 of UP's 80. Bihar's list
includes Lalu Prasad Yadav, the railways minister, who was the state's
chief minister until he had to resign over corruption charges.
Significantly, the first UPA government of the Congress had not less
than seven tainted politicians as the minister! Their induction in
politics and more so in the cabinet tarnishes the image of honest and
competent politicians.

Goa is not a heaven. We too have some
criminals in politics. And as in other states here too the government
has been found to be a passive spectator in taking action against them.
It is quite intriguing, why are political parties so happy to accept
criminals and project them as candidates? There is no denying the fact
that the state has legitimised the class of mafia. It is the fallacy of
the governance that often these criminals and dons use their
authorities to settle disputes which the governments have failed to
accomplish.

The common refrain for allowing entry of these
elements in the electoral politics has been; till they are convicted
they cannot be denied their right to enter politics and contest. It is
not that the leaders of the political parties are unaware of their
machinations; using the party machinery and government to wriggle out
of the situation. If at all the Congress is really serious to weed out
the criminals from politics it should do away with the system of
providing incentives to them. The day this is stopped a number of the
present big cats of politics would find themselves behind bars. Denying
the membership is certainly the first step in this direction, but this
is not the foolproof mechanism. The Congress must take a leaf out of
the September 2002 suggestions of the Supreme Court and plug the
existing loop holes.

http://www.navhindtimes.in/opinions/7257-decriminalising-politics

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Statehood no panacea for Telangana - By V. Eshwar Anand (Jan 11, 2010, The Tribune)

The manner in which a peaceful and progressive state like Andhra
Pradesh has been plunged into turmoil and uncertainty over the demand
for and against separate statehood for Telangana is most unfortunate.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram rightly said at an all-party meeting
in New Delhi on January 5 that there was need to restore peace and
normalcy in the state urgently so that consultations could be continued
with all stakeholders in a congenial atmosphere. Law and order has
deteriorated in the state in the past six weeks. Trains and buses are
stopped at will and students have lost heavily because of the
agitation. Bandhs, relay hunger strikes and demonstrations for and
against Telangana continue. All this should stop forthwith. The
agitation for and against the Telangana has also affected governance.
Top IAS officers say in confidence that they are not releasing funds
for any project. If funds are released for a certain project in a
particular region even as a routine, those from the other regions
impute motives and charge them with regional discrimination, they say.
One should not read too much in the resignation spree by MLAs on both
sides of the divide. They have done so for tactical reasons - for
protecting their respective constituencies. Significantly, ministers
and MLAs from the Telangana region withdrew their resignations just
before Mr Chidambaram's meeting on January 5. In a democracy, every
problem can be resolved through debate and discussion in a spirit of
quid pro quo. Certainly, resigning from the ministry or the Assembly
and taking to the streets is no way to address the problem.

Indeed,
the sine die adjournment of the State Assembly has helped Speaker N.
Kiran Kumar Reddy to wriggle out of a difficult situation caused by the
MLAs' resignations. But facts speak for themselves. The 294-member
House has 123 MLAs from coastal Andhra, 119 from Telangana and 52 from
Rayalaseema. As 175 members are strongly opposed to the state's
bifurcation, the Andhra Assembly passing a resolution for a separate
Telangana state is, apparently, out of the question. Under the
Constitution, Parliament is empowered to form a new state by separating
territory from any state or by merging two or more states or parts of
states. It can also reduce or increase the area or alter the boundary
of any state or even change its name. However, before doing so, a Bill
on the matter has to be referred by the President to the legislature of
the affected state so that the legislature can express its views within
a certain period. Even if it would be difficult for one to expect the
Assembly to pass a resolution on Telangana, the Centre would do well to
continue the consultation process with all the stakeholders, including
the political parties, students and social workers, to find the best
possible and mutually acceptable solution and resolve the tangle. It
would be worthwhile for the Centre, the state and the stakeholders to
explore all available options. These include the appointment of a
high-power committee consisting of experts, intellectuals, jurists and
independent-thinking personalities. The committee should be broadbased
to inspire public confidence and trust.

Though the Fazal Ali
Commission (1953) was initially opposed to the unification of Telangana
with Andhra, it felt that the advantages of a larger Andhra State,
including Telangana, were manifold. "It will bring into existence a
State of about 32 million with a considerable hinterland with large
water and power resources, adequate mineral wealth and valuable raw
materials", it said. Nonetheless, in the context of the fresh demand
for the Telangana state, the Centre could look into the possibility of
setting up another States Reorganisation Commission. It could have
wider terms of reference to include not just Telangana but the clamour
for other states such as Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand and Harit Pradesh
(Uttar Pradesh), Gorkhaland (West Bengal), Vidarbha (Maharashtra),
Bodoland (Assam) and so on. The proposal for seeking a Presidential
Reference to the Supreme Court on Telangana under Article 143 of the
Constitution also merits attention. Essentially, the root cause of the
current malaise is Telangana's continued neglect by successive
governments in the past five decades. Andhra Pradesh, India's fifth
largest state, has 23 districts - 10 in Telangana, a semi-arid region
that was under the Nizam of Hyderabad's dictatorial rule; nine in
Andhra along the state's 1,000-km coastline; and four in the
Rayalaseema region which were known as Ceded (to the English East India
Company) districts.

Telangana may not have mineral resources or
quality coal deposits but little has been done to help its people enjoy
the benefits of two mega projects on the Telangana-Andhra border - the
Srisailam and the Nagarjunasagar dams. Ironically, these projects only
help the people of Andhra and Rayalaseema and not those of the
Telangana region. Similarly, the Godavari cuts through the Telangana
area, but irrigation experts have done little to funnel water from the
river to the fields. As a result, this region has witnessed suicides by
many farmers. Landholdings are also concentrated in the hands of a few
and that is the reason why the Naxalite movement has strong roots here.
It is increasingly felt that even if Telangana is granted statehood, it
would not be able to stand on its own feet. Funds from the Centre alone
cannot bail out the region. For, it is said to have no "native
entrepreneurs" but "carpetbaggers" from the coastal areas of the state.
Moreover, while the fast growing and investment-rich Visakhapatnam and
the Krishna-Godavari Basin will remain with Andhra, questions have
arisen about the future of the 400-year-old Hyderabad city. Hyderabad
is a global brand and its contribution to the overall growth of Andhra
Pradesh is immense. According to a study, the IT industry in Hyderabad
alone contributes 33 per cent of the state's GDP in terms of export
revenues. Consequently, apprehensions of the image of Brand Hyderabad
getting diluted in the event of the state's bifurcation seem genuine.
Proposals for making Hyderabad a Union Territory a la Chandigarh need a
careful study.

A new state can be formed if it meets three
principal parameters - geographical contiguity, economic viability and
administrative convenience. The demand for separate statehood for
Telangana may not stand the test of scrutiny. Clearly, statehood is no
panacea for its problems. Its woes can be tackled effectively if
concerted efforts are made by the Centre and the state to formulate a
road map for removing regional imbalances. There is a strong case for
developing this region by deploying the combined water and power
resources, mineral wealth and trained and skilled manpower of the
entire state. Telangana's future is inextricable as it is intertwined
with a united and integrated state of Andhra Pradesh. Ultimately, its
development will depend upon the collective growth of the entire state.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru reluctantly yielded to the demand for
the formation of Andhra state on linguistic lines (by unifying the
Telugu-speaking regions of Andhra in the Madras State of that time)
following Potti Sriramulu's indefinite fast and subsequent death in
December 1952. While inaugurating the state of Andhra Pradesh in
Hyderabad on November 1, 1956, he aptly said that the "Telangana people
should have an important place in the newly formed state" and that the
"leaders of Andhra would be on trial". No wonder, the onus for the
Telangana's continued backwardness is on the leaders themselves. The
solution for the current problem lies in applying necessary course
corrections in development and not in bifurcating Andhra Pradesh.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100111/edit.htm#4

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Book Review

Decoding Intolerance: Riots and the Emergence of Terrorism in India

Author: Prateep K. Lahiri
Reviewed by: J. Sri Raman
Available at: Roli Books Pvt. Ltd., M-75 Greater Kailash 2 Market, New Delhi 110048, India; ISBN: 9788174367433; Rs 395. http://www.rolibooks.com/
Review:

The anatomy of communal riots (Jan 12, 2010, The Hindu)

If
history repeats itself endlessly anywhere, every time as a shameful
tragedy, it is in India with its interminably recurring "communal
riots." The history of independent India started off with bloody
conflicts bearing this description, and the six decades and more that
have passed by witnessed hundreds of such episodes. What are the
factors and forces behind this phenomenon, which shows no sign of
fading away? Is there a way to fight these fires which find us
unprepared despite their frequency? Many pundits have attempted an
answer to these questions. Deserving of note is the somewhat different
response Prateep K. Lahiri has provided in this book.

Decoding
Intolerance is different because it is more a product of experience
than of mere erudition. An officer of the Indian Administrative Service
in the Madhya Pradesh cadre, the author had an encounter with communal
riot at the start of his career – in Jabalpur (1961). He went on to
witness and work on similar law-and-order problems of a socially
lacerating kind. As Harsh Mander, a former IAS officer who took on
communal fascism after the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, says, Lahiri's
volume has the value of the views of "a capable, and fair 'insider'…who
has handled…communal riots as a civil servant." Lahiri begins by
asking, as he should, what this "communalism" is. Elsewhere, the term
generally has a positive, communitarian import and is sometimes
understood as allegiance to an ethnic group. But, in India, it has a
different connotation, which had its origin in the colonial regime and
came into vogue in the aftermath of the 'communal award' (announced in
1932) granting separate electorates to minority religious communities.

A
divisive politics and ideology spoken in the name of the majority
religious community - the most dangerous consequence of the
divide-and-rule policy of the British masters - has come to be seen as
the primary meaning of "communalism" in India's political lexicon.
Telling indeed is the observation (quoted by the author) the war-time
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made at a meeting of his
Cabinet in February 1940: "…he did not share the anxiety to
encourage…unity between the Hindu and Muslim communities…He regarded
the Hindu-Muslim feud as the bulwark of British rule in India." This
policy had the practical support of political forces that saw the
"feud" as their path to power in post-Independence India. Lahiri cites
approvingly historian Bipan Chandra's definition of communalism as "the
belief that because a group of people follow a particular religion they
have… common social, political and economic interests." The far-right
politics seeking to propagate this belief, it follows, aims to make the
people forget their more concrete, class interests and fight among
themselves instead of their real, common enemy.

More importantly,
the author discusses the methods by which the far-right has sought to
build an unlovable image of India's largest minority among the majority
community. Particularly notable is the way he pulverises the far-right
platform on the question of uniform civil code. He demonstrates how
unacceptable the demand can be even to large sections of the
diversified majority society, though he does recognise the unhelpful
role of the unreformed Muslim clerics. Effectively exposed, too, is the
alarmist propaganda that the growing minority population poses a
'demographic danger.' The same point can be made about the invidious
attempt to make a bugbear of the Bangladeshi "infiltrator."

Lahiri
records, and draws lessons from, four major riots besides the Jabalpur
incident. He notes that, of these conflagrations (in Indore, Bhagalpur,
Mumbai, and Gujarat in 1969, 1989, 1992-93, and 2002 respectively), the
last three were sparked off by the Ayodhya movement, of which its
destructive "architects" claim to be proud even today. In the
concluding chapter, taking a "non-astrological peep into the future,"
he hopes that a "double-digit [economic] growth" can mean the gradual
decline of communal politics. It is hard to share his optimism readily
after the horrors witnessed in a relatively developed Gujarat. There
are few alternatives to a frontal attack on the far-right and its
communalist plank in the foreseeable future.

http://www.hindu.com/br/2010/01/12/stories/2010011250051200.htm

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