…aka “The Great Joke that is Indian Media - Part VIII” or…one standard for Sadhvi Pragya and another for Mohammed Shakeel & Zia-ur-Rehman.
On Oct 23, NDTV reported that
The Maharashtra ATS “…claim that they have evidence that Hindu groups were involved in the blast” in Malegaon
Note that although there was only one (single) blast, the headline of the story says: “Police claim to crack Malegaon blasts case” (notice the plural?)
The NDTV report also mentioned that
Evidence of a Hindu group’s involvement was found while tracing the origins of a scooter found in Malegaon.
The Times of India later quoted Jt Commissioner of Police (ATS) saying that
There is no specific organisation to which the three belong…
The ToI report also mentioned:
The Joint Commissioner denied they had found any links between the trio and other right wing groups like Sanatan Sanstha in Maharashtra whose members were accused of carrying out blasts in Navi Mumbai and Thane earlier this year.
To my untrained mind (and speaking as a layman), it reads like Sadhvi Pragya has so far only been accused not convicted…
If you only rely on the English MSM (mainstream media) though, you may have missed that. Also, I have not seen anyone rising to her defence yet…
Quite a contrast to the students of Jamia who are allegedly involved in the terrorist blasts (as in plural) in Delhi. In a statement issued Sept 22nd, their Vice-Chancellor Mushirul Hasan said:
…the university feels morally bound to defend its students until proven guilty and we will use the legal apparatus for this purpose.
Very good.
Sadly Sadhvi Pragya does not belong to any university and appears to be short on any kind of support.
Also Mushirul Hasan almost got away with accusing the police of lying about the involvement of Jamia students in the Delhi attack:
On Saturday, I informed the minister for human resource development, the secretary and joint secretary of the MHRD and the chairman of the University Grants Commission that Jamia students had no connection with the unfortunate incident.” However, he simultaneously confirms that two of the students picked up by the police on Sunday are on the rolls of the university. [ link ]
…but I have not seen any one accusing the Maharashtra ATS of that (yet).
I would like to end with a quote by Prof Hasan:
“ (the students)…cannot be branded as terrorists until proven guilty — and if they are proven guilty by the court of law, not a tear will be shed by anyone.”
Amen.
P.S.Did anyone notice that the Sadhvi has been cleared of any involvement in the Modasa blast?
…Sabarkantha DSP KK Mysorewala also reached the city to question the Sadhvi in relation with Modasa blast. He gave her clean chit in the case.
“I interrogated the Sadhvi but didn’t find anything that could link her to Modasa blast,” he said.
Related Posts:
“The great joke that is Indian Media” series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7
Malegaon, SIMI, “rule in and rule out”…
and finally, a thought-provoking piece by Sandhya Jain: Karachi, Kansas, Kurukshetra.
November 2nd, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentation about Hinduism, Hindu Dharma, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Indian Media, Politics and Governance in India, Terrorism in India |
77 comments
Last week, I was alerted to two excellent initiatives: Jaago Re! and ADR.
Jaago Re!’s focus is to get India’s one billion voters to register and participate in the electoral process.
Its uniqueness lies in exploiting technology “…to make registering to vote online a possibility. It also serves as a one-stop-shop solution to all your voting needs.”
On top of that, “…it gives you the opportunity to run your own voter registration drive and be a part of the movement to get the entire country registered!” I whole-heartedly support this initiative and recommend everyone to at least have a look at the website.
I believe Jaago Re! is also partnering with Loksatta in Maharashtra to accelerate voter registration in the state.
ADR or Association for Democratic Reforms was formed almost 9 years ago by a group of academics from IIMs at Bengaluru & Ahmedabad and NID, Ahmedabad. The story of its “birth” is interesting:
It came into being with the filing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court asking for mandatory disclosure of criminal, financial and educational backgrounds of candidates contesting elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures, prior to the polls. The Delhi High Court in 2001 gave a judgment in favour of ADR and the same was challenged by the Government in the Supreme Court. Several political parties also intervened in the matter opposing the Delhi High Court’s judgment.
After a long hearing, the Supreme Court in a land mark judgment upheld the High Court Judgment and directed the Election Commission to issue orders making it mandatory for candidates contesting elections to Parliament and state assemblies to submit affidavits along with their nomination papers giving information about criminal cases pending against them, if any; financial assets of the candidate, his/her spouse and dependents; financial liabilities and educational qualifications of the candidate.
In a bid to dilute the full effect of the judgment, the Government issued an Ordinance amending the Representation of the People’s Act, 1951, partially implementing only the Supreme Court directions. ADR challenged this ordinance and amendment act before the Supreme Court.
In September 2003, the Supreme Court struck down the amendment as unconstitutional and restored its earlier directions. Several State Election Commissions have also passed orders making such declarations mandatory even for Panchayat/local bodies’ elections.
ADR also conducts “Election Watch” activities throughout India, spending considerable time and effort to dig into the backgrounds of political candidates and their antecedents.
Again, I would request everyone to spend some time on their website and think how we can help and work with them.
***
I have an introduction to Prof Trolochan Sastry of IIM-Bangalore, one of the founders of ADR and I hope to speak to him in the next few days.
I do not know Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan of “Janaagraha” (who are behind the Jaago Re! movement) but if any of you know them and are willing to make an introduction, I shall be grateful…otherwise I will “cold call” them in the next few days.
Related Posts:
Politics & Corruption: Here’s how to “fix the system”
What is stopping you from joining active politics?
Fixing the “system” - getting down to the nuts and bolts
Lets come together to build a *new* and proud India
November 2nd, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Corruption in India, Elections Analysis, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Politics and Governance, Politics and Governance in India |
2 comments
