IMC-USA Weekly News Digest - August 17th, 2009
August 15, 2009 Indian Muslim Council - USA (IMC-USA: http://www.imc-usa.org/), an advocacy group working toward safeguarding India's pluralist and tolerant ethos, extends its best wishes to all Indians on the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of India's independence. IMC-USA calls on all Indians to renew their commitment to make India a nation that is a beacon of freedom and prosperity for all. August 15th, 2009 also marks the seventh anniversary of the Indian Muslim Council - USA. In the last seven years, IMC-USA has worked with various Indian organizations of different persuasions to advance the cause of social justice and communal harmony. On this occasion, Indian Muslim Council renews its pledge to prevent hate-filled ideologies from threatening the secular fabric of the nation and to promote pluralism, tolerance and respect for human dignity. IMC-USA has scheduled a series of events to celebrate and will also participate in the Independence Day festivities across the United States. Indian Muslim Council-USA is the largest advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the United States with 10 chapters across the nation. CONTACT: Stories of Partition, and of trains full of bodies pulling into railway stations, was Fr Dominic Emmanuel's introduction to communal violence and its consequences. But living in an Ajmer neighbourhood where the sounds of temple bells and the call of the muezzin were a part of life, and where he spent his evening listening to stories from his Muslim and Sindhi neighbours, Fr Emmanuel saw how co-existence was also possible. And so he worked towards national integration, writing books, making films and doing peace marches for more than two decades. On Wednesday, he received the government's Communal Harmony Award for 2008 from President Pratibha Patil, for his work to promote harmony and bridge misunderstandings between communities. "The reality of India is that we have lived together and we have to live together. We have to live in peace. We should not just be tolerant towards one another but we must live in harmony and grow in love," he said. Fr Emmanuel has worked across the country and has actively promoted inter-religious dialogue. As a radio broadcaster before he joined the Archdiocese of Delhi as its spokesperson, Fr Emmanuel hosted talk shows on communal harmony for five years. Social activist Ram Puniyani and NGOs Setu Charitable Trust and Anjuman Sair-e-Gul Faroshan were other recipients.The award carries Rs 5 lakh for organisation and Rs 2 lakh for individual recipients. http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/501835/ SEE ALSO: Tension prevailed in the Azamgarh district on Wednesday afternoon after a youth died and three others suffered gunshot injuries in a clash with local BJP parliamentarian Ramakant Yadav and his men. The MP and his men had allegedly opened fire in Phoolpur after his cavalcade got involved in a road accident. The president of the Rashtriya Ulema Council, Amir Rashadi, on whose complaint an FIR of murder was lodgerd against the MP and his men, claimed that the accused had fired at him and the victims were members of his party. Ulema Council spokesman Tahir Madni said the incident took place around 2.45 pm, when Yadav's fleet of four vehicles was passing by the Barauli village in Phoolpur. One of the SUVs had hit two local youths on a motorcycle. The youths were escorting the fleet of Amir Rashadi, who was on way to attend a party meeting in the area. Yadav's armed men pulled up the youths for not driving properly. A crowd of locals who had gathered then began pelting stones on the MP's fleet. In response, Yadav's men opened fire, injuring four youths - Abdul Rehman, Zahid, Farhan and Imran. The MP and his men then sped away. The injured were taken to the hospital, but Rehman died on the way. Others are undergoing treatment at the district hospital. The Deputy Inspector General, Azamgarh, KK Tripathi, said efforts are being made to arrest Yadav and the other accused. The DGP's Public Relations Officer GN Khanna said Yadav's cavalcade had been denied a pass to overtake the Ulema Council rally, hence the clash. Immediately after the incident, members of Rashtriya Ulema Council and locals blocked roads in and around Azamgarh, restricting traffic movement even on highways. It took over three hours for Azamgarh Superintendent of Police Ramit Sharma to reach the spot. Later in the evening, stray incidents of arson and violence were reported from various parts of Azamgarh in protest against the shootout. Members of a community set a police booth on fire and engaged in brickbatting with the traders of another community in Sarai Mir, forcing them to down shutters of their shops. The protestors also pelted stones at the police and damaged buses and other vehicles in Mubarakpur and Phoolpur. The ADG (Law & Order) Brij Lal has reached Phoolpur. Five additional companies of PAC and the Varanasi Range IG Gurdarshan Singh also reached the area to control the situation.The blockade at various spots have been removed and the PAC have been deployed at sensitive areas. Ramakant Yadav, who won the election from Azamgarh on a BJP ticket after defeating BSP's Akbar Ahmad Dumpy by around 1 lakh votes, is a historysheeter. Over 30 cases - including some under the Goonda Act and the Gangsters Act - are registered against him in Azamgarh, Jaunpur and Gorakhpur. He had switched from the SP to the BSP before finally landing up in the BJP. Yadav was one of the accused in the attack on Chief Minister Mayawati at the state guesthouse in Lucknow in 1995. His younger brother Umakant Yadav is a former BSP parliamentarian and is currently in jail. He was arrested on charges of razing shops and houses to grab a plot of land in Azamgarh. http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/501431/ SEE ALSO: A US government body has put India on a watch list for failing to protect religious minorities, citing the Kandhamal attacks on Christians in 2008 and the Gujarat communal riots of 2002. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which makes policy recommendations to the US government, said in a statement that India earned the 'Watch List' designation due to the increase in communal violence against religious minorities. The body has referred to the attacks against Christians in Orissa in 2008 and the Gujarat communal riots, and the "largely inadequate" response from the Indian government to protect the rights of religious minorities. "It is extremely disappointing that India, which has a multitude of religious communities, has done so little to protect and bring justice to its religious minorities under siege," USCIRF chair Leonard Leo was quoted as saying. Incidentally, USCIRF members, who wanted to visit India for their report and make a personal evaluation, were not granted a visa. The move elicited a strong response from the government, with the ministry of external affairs terming the move "regrettable". Denying that India had failed to protect minorities, the ministry of external affairs spokesperson said: "The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of religion and equality of opportunity to all its citizens, who live and work together in peace and harmony." He added: "Aberrations, if any, are dealt with promptly within our legal framework, under the watchful eye of an independent judiciary and a vigilant media." The organisation noted that murder of Swami Saraswati by Maoist rebels in Kandhamal last year sparked a destructive campaign against Christians, resulting in attacks against churches. "India's democratic institutions charged with upholding the rule of law, most notably state and central judiciaries and police, have emerged as unwilling or unable to seek redress for victims of the violence. More must be done to ensure future violence does not occur and that perpetrators are held accountable," Mr Leo was quoted as saying. According to the US commission, any country that is designated on USCIRF 'Watch List' requires "close monitoring due to the nature and extent of violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by the government". Other countries on the Watch List include Belarus, Egypt, Indonesia, Laos, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Cuba, Somalia and Venezuela. USCIRF, which is described as an independent and bipartisan federal government commission, reviews facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and makes policy recommendations to the US President, secretary of state and the Congress. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4892315.cms SEE ALSO: In the second case where an encounter involving the Gujarat police during the Narendra Modi rule will be probed again, the state High Court today ordered that a three-member committee of top police officers would further investigate the killing of alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) woman activist Ishrat Jahan in 2004. Acting on a petition filed by Ishrat's mother Shamina, who alleged that her daughter was killed in a fake encounter by the Gujarat police, Justice Kalpesh Jhaveri said the committee would be headed by state Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Pramod Kumar. The other two members of the committee were Inspector General Mohan Jha and Deputy Inspector Genearal JK Bhatt, the court said. After the Soharabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, this is the second case where courts have ordered further probe on veracity of encounters carried out by the state police. Mumbai-based Ishrat Jahan was killed in an encounter along with three other men by the Detention of Crime Branch (DCB) of Ahmedabad police in June 2004.The DCB, headed by then DCP DG Vanzara, who is a prime accused in the Sohrabuddin encounter case, had claimed that all four had links with Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, the LeT, and they were on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Besides Ishrat, Javed Ghulam Sheikh, alias, Pranesh Kumar Pillai, Amjad Ali, alias, Rajkumar Akbar Ali Rana and Jisan Johar Abdul Gani were also killed in the encounter carried out near Kotarpur waterworks, in the outskirts of the city. The committee has been asked to submit its report on or before November 30. Shamina, in her petition, has sought CBI investigation into the case. She has also demanded compensation for the killing of her daughter in the alleged fake encounter. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090814/nation.htm#6 SEE ALSO: The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Lucknow has ordered an FIR against unidentified policemen involved in death of Shakeel alias Abrar, who was gunned down in an encounter in January in Lucknow. Shakeel's wife Shama Parveen had filed an application before the court, stating that her husband was murdered by cops after he failed to fulfil their demands for money. On August 6, the court directed the Hazratganj police to lodge the case. Besides Shakeel, his brother Ghulam Ghaus Khan and Shamshad, a resident of Allahabad, were also gunned down in the encounter, which took place in Shaheed Path, Sarojini Nagar, on January 4. "We moved court after no police officer gave us a hearing," said Shama Parveen's lawyer Sayed Waqar Hussain. They filed the application in the court on April 13, requesting a case against the policemen. According to Waqar, they informed the court that on January 3, Shakeel came to Lucknow in connection with a case. He took part in the court proceedings and signed on the court record and left around 2 pm. While on his way to Barabanki, he was kidnapped from near Clark Awadh Hotel in Wazirganj. The police, Waqar said, switched off his mobile. When Shakeel did not return the next morning, his family contacted the policemen attached with the Sarojini Nagar police station in Lucknow, who said that no person was brought in for questioning. Two officers posted there knew Shakeel and often called him to demand money, said Parveen. She also mentioned in the application that then in-charge of the Talkatora police station in Lucknow had also demanded money from Shakeel. The application stated that Parveen's brother-in-law was also killed to make the situation appear like an encounter. The bodies, she alleged, were not handed over to the family. On their part, the Lucknow police claimed that the three persons killed in encounter were members of Hawa Singh gang and were wanted in several criminal cases. According to the police, on January 4, they spotted a Maruti van with a blank registration number plate in Hussainganj. Though Station House Officer signalled the car to stop, it sped away. The officers chased the car for about 15 kms before teams from Hussainganj, Ashiana, Banthra, Manak Nagar and Sarojini Nagar police stations managed to encircle it. Struck between the police teams, the criminals moved towards an under-construction road at Shaheed Path. When the car reached a dead end, the miscreants tried to flee. The police then tried to stop them and engaged in an exchange of fire, in which three persons died. Three countrymade pistols and several cartridges were recovered from their possession. http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/500483/ SEE ALSO: Three policemen in Uttar Pradesh were on Tuesday suspended for assaulting a 16-year-old school student and parading him half-naked on the streets of Baraut town in Baghpat district, an official said. Two sub-inspectors and a constable were placed under suspension after they beat up the boy, wrote insulting remarks on his chest and back and paraded him half-naked on Sunday on the streets of Baraut town in Baghpat, some 350 km from state capital Lucknow. "We on Tuesday suspended three policemen with immediate effect for their role in an incident in which a teenager, who was accused of sexual harassment, was manhandled by a police team," district police chief Deepak Kumar told IANS on phone. The class 11 student had a nightmarish experience with the police when his motorcycle accidentally hit a woman's car. He was injured and had a heated argument with the young woman in the car. The boy claimed he was accused of sexual harassment by policemen standing nearby and was paraded half-naked on the streets by them. "They forcibly removed my shirt, tied my hands with it and wrote insulting remarks on my chest and back. Then I was forced to parade through various localities," the teenager told reporters. The policemen have been accused of taking his shirt off and writing "Main ladkiya cherta hun" (I molest women) on his back and chest. It was only after some local journalists intervened that the policemen set the teenager free. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=3d73bd22-c2de-493d-b8af-b55b6d38336b SEE ALSO: More than 50,000 poor minority students in Gujarat have been reportedly denied central scholarship. This report has once again put Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in a spot. His is the only state government in the country which is not willing to bear 25 per cent share of the central-sponsored pre matric scholarship scheme for the minorities. The Centre gives around Rs 22 lakh scholarships for poor Muslims students, of which more than Rs 57,000 is earmarked for Gujarat alone. Every child whose parents earn less than Rs 1 lakh per annum is entitled to this scholarship and can get an amount between Rs 800 to Rs 1500. Last year the Gujarat government wrote to the Centre that such schemes based on minority status of a community will not help in the country's development. This year again, despite of repeated reminders, the state government has not earmarked any money which means the minority students will remain deprived of their due. "This is unconstitutional," says Congress spokesperson, Abhishek Manu Singhvi. This scholarship scheme is a part of Prime Minister's 15 point programme for minorities and Gujarat is the only state opposing it. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/exclusive-modi-deprives-poor-muslim-students-of-scholarship/98808-37.html SEE ALSO: The contributions of the common law tradition, the Constitution and the judiciary to consolidating the rule of law in India have been more than negated by unfair and lax enforcement, discriminatory application of laws and filtered access to the justice system, Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari said on Saturday. "This strikes at the root of democracy and erodes respect for law among citizens who are at the receiving end of non-enforcement of their rights and discriminatory application of the laws, and without the clout to secure either of them," he said inaugurating the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Bar Association of India here. "In the 50 years of its existence, the Bar Association has witnessed creeping as well as cataclysmic challenges to the rule of law in the country. The broad consensus of experts and common sense of the ordinary citizen point to a certain sense of unease with regard to the working of the rule of law. It is felt that the rule of law is still not sufficiently protected in our society and polity and that challenges to it continue to undermine our democracy." Mr. Ansari said, "Democracy and the rule of law are inextricably connected to each other; a decline in one would inevitably impact the other adversely. Furthermore, in terms of contemporary imperatives, the efficacy of the rule of law impacts on economic growth and development as well as on good governance and protection of human rights. The Bar has an important role to play in upholding the rule of law and the Constitution in the administration of justice - which is a fundamental function of the state - in promoting social justice, safeguarding liberty and protecting fundamental and human rights. But the legal profession too is facing some of the challenges that confront the rule of law." Mr. Ansari said: "It is clear that proper governance is not only desirable but also possible. The challenge is to expand its sphere and frequency. This can only be done by individual and collective commitment to the rule of law, by building up opinion supportive of it, by intellectual and financial integrity and by exposing and deploring departures from both. The need of the hour is to revitalise the institutions of the state in terms of the Constitution and the laws." http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/09/stories/2009080952640900.htm SEE ALSO: Four students and the principal of a college were arrested in West Godavari district in connection with a ragging incident in the institute, police said today. The four students allegedly harassed a junior student in the college at Nallajarla in the district, they said. Following the complaint lodged by the victim, the four students have been arrested, they said. The principal was also arrested as he let off the accused with a warning and did not inform the police, they said. Relevant section under the Andhra Pradesh Prevention of Ragging Act have been slapped on the arrested persons, police added. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090815/nation.htm#13 SEE ALSO: A local court sentenced five persons to life imprisonment and acquitted nine for lack of evidence in a dowry case here in the district. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kumar yesterday convicted five persons, including husband and mother-in-law, of the deceased Rekha and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each. The convicted persons are Joginder (husband), Kanta (mother-in-law), Partap (father-in-law), Surjeet and Deepak. According to the prosecution, Rekha was married with Joginder on December 3, 2003. The victim was being harassed by her husband and his family members for bringing inadequate dowry. On May 31, 2006, the husband and his family members set ablaze Rekha. She was rushed to a hospital in Delhi where she succumbed to her injuries on June 5, 2006. http://www.ptinews.com/news/227878_5-of-a-family-to-life-imprisonment-in-a-dowry-case SEE ALSO: In a joint panchayat of six villages in Muzzafarnagar district, residents of the Dalit-dominated villages in the Morna constituency have declared they will not allow the local BSP candidate to campaign in their villages for the Assembly bypoll due on August 18. The decision came after an accident took place on Friday evening in which a local Dalit driver was beaten up by the supporters of the BSP MLA from Bulandshahar, Mahendra Valmiki. The driver, Naresh Kumar, accidentally hit the car in which Valmiki and his aides were travelling. On Saturday morning, a mass panchayat of six villages was held at Chhachhrauli village, in which villagers from Wazirabad, Morna, Ghoghedi, Chhachhrauli, Takkraana and Behta villages participated. It was decided that since it was a BSP leader whose men had beaten up the Dalit driver, they would boycott the BSP candidate, Noor Salim Rana, who is the brother of BSP MP from Muzzafarnagar. Pradhan of Morna village, Naseeruddin, said no one from the six villages would be allowed to campaign for the BSP candidate. While Valmiki was not available for comments, one of his supporters said the allegations against the MLA were false and that it was the driver who has misbehaved with him. The driver, after being treated in a local hospital, has now been discharged. http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/499772/ SEE ALSO: After seven years of arrogant confidence, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat is now nervously looking over its shoulder. Chief Minister Narendra Modi seems a little wary after the Supreme Court gave the green signal to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to question him and a few others regarding the 2002 post-Godhra riots. On April 27, the Supreme Court ordered the SIT "to take steps as required in law" to probe a complaint that Modi, his Cabinet colleagues, senior police officials and bureaucrats had orchestrated the post-Godhra communal riots. The order was in response to a petition filed by Zakia Jaffrey and the Citizens for Justice and Peace. Zakia Jaffrey was seeking justice for her husband and former Congress Member of Parliament Ehsan Jaffrey and 39 others who were killed in Ahmedabad's Gulberg Housing Society during the riots. The complaint also alleged that those who deposed before the Justice Nanavati Commission that was inquiring into the riots had been encouraged to give false evidence by Modi and other senior officials. Zakia Jaffrey had initially sent the complaint to the then Gujarat Director-General of Police, but he did not register a first information report (FIR). Zakia Jaffrey then approached the Gujarat High Court, but it dismissed her petition saying there was insufficient evidence to back her allegations. The Supreme Court gave its order to the SIT in April to probe her complaint. Kalu Maliwad, a former BJP MLA who had been acquitted in one of the riot cases but remains an accused in Zakia Jaffrey's complaint, objected to the SIT's right to question Modi and demanded a stay on the proceedings. Maliwad said the Supreme Court had asked the SIT to "look into" the complaint only and this did not constitute an investigation. He also demanded disclosure of the SIT's confidential report on the riots, which was submitted to the Supreme Court as part of the ongoing investigations. However, Justice D.H. Waghela of the Gujarat High Court dismissed Maliwad's petition, calling it "ill-founded and misconceived". He said: "It is clear from the reading of the apex court order that it contains a direction for (the) SIT and it will take any step required so as to give its report to the apex court." The SIT, led by former Central Bureau of Investigation Director R.K. Raghavan, has time until December 31 to complete its investigation into Zakia Jaffrey's complaint and an additional probe into nine other sensitive riot cases. Coming as it does seven years after the riots, there are fears that the SIT's work will be hampered by factors such as loss of physical evidence, having to rely on evidence that is possibly tampered with, and fearful witnesses. On this, an informed source said: "The SIT has been scrupulously honest in its tasks. It has not and will not arm-twist witnesses into saying something that they do not want to. At the same time, it will give maximum protection to them to say what they want to, without fear or favour. This is the distinctive feature of the SIT's work. It lays a huge emphasis on witness protection as per the apex court's directive." Confident of the powers of the SIT, the source said: "The greatest asset for the SIT is the authority it derives from the Supreme Court. It has all the powers conferred on an investigating agency by the Criminal Procedure Code.… [The team] is highly skilled, motivated, tightly supervised and has excellent legal support from K.G. Menon, an eminent, unbiased criminal lawyer from Mumbai." The source also said that "if required, [the team] will be further strengthened with inductions from outside". Legal experts say there is adequate material for the SIT to proceed with. There are many unanswered questions that, if pursued, may corner the architects of the riots. Why, for instance, were the autopsies of the victims who died in the Sabarmati Express coaches carried out in such a rushed manner? The post-mortem should have been conducted in a government hospital and not, as they were, in the railway yard. Why were the bodies handed over to Jaideep Patel, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader? Jaideep Patel brought the bodies to Ahmedabad and paraded them in the streets after draping them in saffron. Why was he allowed to move the bodies to Ahmedabad and why did the police not stop him from this grisly procession? Why were police officers who tried to quell the riots transferred? Why were newspapers that spewed communal venom not gagged? These and many other questions await answers and should result in the prosecution of the guilty. Describing the process ahead in general terms, the source said: "The first step is to collect all the evidence in support of the allegations. Then, move on to obtain all that contradicts them. Finally, the investigators will be required to sift all the evidence to come to an honest conclusion. In all this, extreme integrity and high powers of logic are required." While the green signal to the SIT was viewed as part of a slow-grinding legal process, the arrests of Jaideep Patel and BJP MLA Mayaben Kodnani made the public realise that the SIT meant business. Until then, there was a casual attitude to any investigation into the riots. "The Nanavati Commission had given a clean chit to the Ministers and the officials, so the general perception was that the victims would have to forget for good all that had happened. With the SIT in action now, it is going to be different because Modi will be under the scanner," said Achyut Yagnik of the Centre for Social Knowledge and Action. And, as an informed source pointed out, "a Commission of Inquiry does not have all the facilities of an investigation agency such as the SIT. It can at best record evidence, whereas the SIT can do searches, and so on." When Mayaben Kodnani was arrested, she was Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare. She had to resign when her anticipatory bail was cancelled by the High Court. She and Jaideep Patel were arrested by the SIT on March 27 under Sections 302, 120B and 149 of the IPC in connection with the killing of 11 people at Naroda Gaam on February 28, 2002. Mayaben Kodnani is also an accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre in which 96 people were killed. The dramatic impact of the arrest and imprisonment of a Minister and a prominent VHP leader was not lost either on the party or on the public. From being a party that had a mocking do-your-best-we-don't-care attitude to the riot survivors, the Gujarat unit of the BJP has been brought down several notches. And while Modi is clearly still the leader, he has taken several hits this year. His political miscalculations cost the party the Rajkot parliamentary seat, which it had held for two decades. The latest has been the defeat in the Junagadh civic elections in July. After the Lok Sabha elections in which the BJP did not fare as well as it had hoped, Modi attempted to reach out to Muslims, whom he had been systematically alienating until then. He fielded five Muslim candidates in order to win over the large Muslim population in Junagadh, but they were all rejected by the electorate. Both Hindu and Muslim voters saw the move for what it was and in the end it was the Congress that won in Junagadh. Commenting on Modi's strategy, Mona G. Mehta, who is researching democracy and identity politics in Gujarat as part of her doctoral studies in political science at the University of Chicago, says: "It is interesting that Modi felt the need to field so many Muslim candidates in Junagadh. His strategy did not work because his traditional Hindutva voters went against him, while Muslims had no reason to trust him. More importantly, Modi's attempt to woo Muslims in Junagadh reveals his anxieties about his increasingly uncertain political future." … Strong anti-minority feelings still run deep in Gujarat. Whether or not these will affect the cooperation that the SIT requires for its investigations remains to be seen. http://www.flonnet.com/fl2617/stories/20090828261704100.htm SEE ALSO: It does not require a "chintan baithak" for the BJP to know that it performed badly in the last elections due to the unsustainability of what it stood for - Hindutva - as also by the failure of its leaders to know the mind of the people, plus factionalism in the party. Yet, no lessons seem to have been learnt and a bitter war has broken out in the party among the top leaders on the eve of the brainstorming session to be held in Shimla from August 19 to 21. It is not only middle-rung aspirants who have drawn up the battle lines; The party's enduring prime minister-in-waiting and leader of the parliamentary party, Mr L K Advani, himself has dug in his heels and refuses to take the RSS suggestion to call it a day. Taking a cue from him, his staunch supporter Vasundhra Raje too has cocked a snook at party president Rajnath Singh who had wanted her to step down as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly. She has dared him for a show of strength - a development not common in a party which used to brag about party discipline. Not quite unexpectedly, she has derived support from Mr Advani. More than displaying a break with the RSS, the defiance shows the onset of acute organisational confusion in the party which at one stage took pride in the loyals of its rank and file. Obviously, no leader is either willing to acknowledge his or her role in the election debacle or keen to step down when it is time to do so. Since accountability - the word often invoked by Mr Advani for others - is at a premium, the succession war that has broken out in the party can become more messy in the days to come. Unfortunately for the BJP, there is no leader whose word carries weight any longer with all factions and who can play the role of a neutral peacemaker. Mr Rajnath Singh was never tall enough and Mr Advani's influence has diminished considerably, thanks to his keenness to stick to his position. It is not certain whether the Shimla conclave will throw up a solution to the party's problems. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090815/edit.htm#1 SEE ALSO: A judicial probe was unavoidable in the case of the deaths in a suspected fake encounter of a young man and a pregnant woman in Imphal, which have led to widespread protests in the Manipur capital. The six commandos who were caught on camera hustling the young man into a pharmacy just before his death have been suspended. Arguably, however, neither of these steps would have been taken with such promptness if a local photographer had not been present on the scene. It was the publication of the pictures in Tehelka, which sparked off the protests by human rights activists, leading to the promise to hold the investigations after Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh said that he would "ensure justice to the victims." The imposition of curfew after the incident came to light was necessitated by the simmering anger among the local people, who are no strangers to extra-judicial killings by the security forces. The most infamous case was the custodial death of T Manorama in July, 2004, which led to protests by nude women in the city streets. After that incident, the government was compelled to withdraw the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the Imphal area. The latest deaths are bound to refocus attention on this Act, which gives the security forces the licence to kill, according to those concerned with civil liberties. It is worth recalling that Irom Sharmila has been on a hunger strike for the last nine years in protest against the killings of 10 villagers by the Assam Rifles operating under the Act in the Imphal area. Although the Union home minister, P Chidambaram, promised to consider amending the Act during his recent visit to Srinagar, it is likely to take months, if not years, before any substantive action is taken. It is known that the ordinary laws are not sufficient in the insurgency-prone areas, where the rebels operate with impunity by taking advantage of their ability to hide among the locals. That the dead man was a former militant might explain why the police wanted to question him, but not why he was shot in cold blood, along with the young woman who was a bystander. What the twin tragedy underlines is the absence of the kind of restraint that might be expected of a professional force presumably because their actions are rarely questioned. The ensuing probe may act as a much-needed corrective in this regard. http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/print.aspx?artid=|ktIn5xYHJ0= SEE ALSO: The sultry Saturday afternoon of 7th August, saw around 70 odd academicians, social activists, writers, journalists and other members of civil society gather in the Academic Staff College of Lucknow University, for intense deliberations on state sponsored terror. The programme, chaired by Professor (Dr) Nishi Pandey, Director, Academic Staff College and Dean, Students' Welfare, University of Lucknow, started with a reading by Shahira Naim (a senior journalist working with Tribune who received the 2nd International KCK Merit Award for Excellence in Journalism 2009) of her thought provoking and award winning article 'Azamgarh: District In Discomfort'. It focussed on the infamous Batla House Encounter of Delhi, in which two 'alleged' terrorists (belonging to Azamgarh district) were killed along with a police officer. This, coupled with a few other happenings, senselessly branded Azamgarh as the 'nursery of terrorism' and a centre of religious orthodoxy, just as Bhojpur was called the cultivating ground of Naxalism in the late 70s. The dubious role of the police in the Batla house incident raised many an eyebrow. Unfortunately, the National Human Rights Commission has recently given a clean chit to the police, cocking a snook to all evidences pointing to the contrary. The animated discussion which followed this reading set the ball rolling for the screening of the internationally acclaimed film 'Terror Storm' by Alex Jones. This film (based on documentary proofs and recorded evidences) goes one step ahead of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' in indicting the US Government of stage managing the bombing of the World Trade Centre. Without mincing any words, Alex Jones elaborates on State sponsored 'False Flag Operations' with the sole aim of controlling the minds of the people by instilling fear in them. Hitler's subterfuges in Germany; US actions in Vietnam, Cuba, Iraq and in its own territory; the Madrid and London bombings of 2004 and 2005; the Babri Masjid demolition and the Godhra carnage incidents in India - all point to sleek government involvements carried out to perfection. The flag operations scare people into believing government rhetoric, filling their minds with hatred and dividing them on caste/communal lines. This prepares the ground to achieve the states' nefarious objectives of ousting elected governments and/or maligning a particular sect/community for partisan and economic gains. We are living in an age where, the sunshine of wisdom is darkened by clouds of foolishness, the age of incredulity overshadows the age of belief. There is mistrust and fear in the air we breathe. Our confidence in the police (the so called custodians of law and order), the judiciary and the executive has been eroded to the extent that we have become indifferent to their wicked demeanor in these turbulent times. Terror is being fuelled by state and society alike. We do not know when we will come under the police scanner, (particularly if we are young and belong to the minority community); we do not know when one of our own family will exterminate us (in the name of honour killing) if we dare to challenge age old orthodoxies (like not bringing enough dowry or marrying outside our caste); we do not know when we will be branded as anti social and anti national if we dare to question the government for the atrocities committed against marginalized sections of society (as has happened to the likes of Sharmila Irom and Binayak Sen). We cringe at the fate which would befall us (as happened to Manjunath if make an attempt to fight the corruption so rampant in all walks of life . So our senses are dulled into a state of suspended animation and toe the line rather than swim against the tide. Meanwhile fake encounters, incarceration of innocents, exploitation of dalits and heinous crimes against women continue unabated. We prefer to turn a blind eye to them and rather talk of the rising prices of pulses and the Target Rating Point (TRPs) of television soap operas/reality shows. Occasionally we also speak the bitter truth, and that too not for a noble cause, but for money (a la Sach Ka Samna). One needs to ponder a little more as to why the development index of regions rich in natural resources is abysmally low and as to why these areas become the breeding grounds of people's reactionary movements turning violent (like in the Punjab, Bihar and the North East). Without endorsing violence, all of us have to work towards a more just social order where everyone lives in harmony, without predating upon each other. If we have the will we can do it. http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=12125 SEE ALSO: It is not very difficult to locate Dharana village in Jhajjar district of Haryana. The road meanders through jowar fields deep into the interiors of the district and most people helpfully direct visitors to the narrow paths leading to the village. The reason why all roads lead to Dharana is the notoriety it has earned following a diktat by its dominant caste panchayat to a family to leave the village permanently. House No. 419, where Risal Singh Gehlout, an agriculturist, and his family reside, is under siege. Around 450 members of the Haryana Police are stationed in the village to protect the family, and an uneasy calm prevails. People, including the police, speak in hushed tones. The problem began when Risal Singh's Delhi-based grandson, Ravinder Gehlout, married Shilpa, a girl of the Kadyan gotra from Panipat district. In Dharana, the writ of the Kadyan khap (caste panchayat) runs. Dharana and the villages neighbouring it, including Doobaldhan, the native village of Haryana Assembly Speaker Raghuvir Singh Kadian, are dominated by people of the Kadyan gotra. Shilpa, being a Kadyan, could only be a sister to Ravinder, argued Kadyan khap representatives. They added that by marrying her, the Gehlout (pronounced Gehlawat) family had committed one of the worst transgressions of the "bhaichara" (brotherhood) principle of social organisation, even though the gotras were different. According to the "brotherhood" principle on which khaps organise themselves, marriages cannot take place between people of different castes. Within the same caste, marriages should not take place between people of the same gotra. Even when the gotras are different, people living in the same village or adjoining villages cannot marry. Marriages that fall in the latter two categories are interpreted as tantamount to "incest", though on account of the general paucity of girls and the difficulty in finding different gotras within the same caste group, some flexibility is allowed. "This is our parampara. The media are writing all wrong things about us," said Narender Singh, the sarpanch of Majra-Doobaldhan village. Another spokesperson, Rajinder, also called "Shastriji" by Kadyan khap members, warned that the khaps should not be defamed. He said: "There was an agreement that a Kadyan won't marry a Gehlout. Risal Singh's family violated the pact. If a girl gets married into our village, she adopts the gotra of her husband and then gets assimilated. Anyone from her gotra can only have a sibling-like relationship with the rest of the village; marriage is out of the question." Asked where the khap would get brides for its young men in the face of the acute shortage of women in the State, one of them quipped that they were already "getting them" from outside, referring to the "bought brides" syndrome prevalent in the State. Even as the controversy raged in Parliament and outside it, Raghuvir Singh Kadian and the Lok Sabha member from Rohtak, the highly educated Deepender Singh Hooda, preferred not to join issue. Hooda said on a television channel that it was a social issue and should be understood from the perspective of society. "Who can question the raja?" says Ved Prakash, Ravinder's uncle and one of the three sons of Risal Singh, referring to the Kadyan khap panchayat. The Gehlout family owns a good amount of fertile land and livestock, and its roots in Dharana go back several generations. On July 13, the Kadyan khap began an indefinite protest demanding the ouster of the family as the marriage had not been annulled. It said Ravinder's father, Rohtas Kumar Gehlout, was unacceptable in the village, though his brothers could continue staying but after paying a fine of Rs.21,000 each to the panchayat. "What was our fault? Ravinder grew up in Delhi with his aunt from the time he was a baby. We had nothing to do with him," said a relative. Ironically, the couple had no intention of staying in the village as Ravinder had made Delhi his home several years ago. "The panchayat has taken a wrong decision," says 83-year-old Chanderpati, Ravinder's grandmother. "How can things be normal? Even if the police are there, we do not venture outside our home. We've sent the children away as we fear someone would attack them when they go to school," said Sheela, Chanderpati's daughter-in-law, who has come from Hardwar in Uttarakhand to support the family. On July 16, the family was given an ultimatum to leave the village in 72 hours. On July 19, the day the Gehlouts left, angry villagers attempted to stone the house, following which clashes erupted between them and the police. A tehsildar, some policepersons and several mediapersons were injured in the melee. On July 19 itself the Gehlout family filed an application in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking directions to the state to give it protection as well as to initiate immediate action against autocratic individuals for issuing diktats to end the marriage. Meanwhile, Shilpa's family in Panipat has stood resolutely behind her. The Gehlouts returned to the village on July 28 with heavy police protection. The stalemate continued as the khap panchayat planned to take the issue to a "sarva khap" meeting on August 9. On that day several concerned citizens, led by the Left and democratic groups, were also scheduled to meet to find a way out of the impasse. In the April 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress in Haryana won nine of the 10 seats in the State, and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda cemented his position as the undisputed leader of the party and of the Jat community in the State. His son Deepender Singh Hooda retained the Rohtak seat with over four and a half lakh votes, consolidating the domination of the Hoodas in this belt. The party also boasted a young brigade that included, besides the Hooda scion, Kumari Selja from Ambala, Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa, Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra and Shruti Choudhary from Bhiwani. However, despite the overwhelming mandate, the State leadership, the youth brigade in particular, has maintained an uneasy silence over the spate of violent incidents, including the murder of young couples and their families by the khap panchayats. Barring the Left parties and women's organisations led by the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), no political outfit has come out to condemn these kangaroo courts. On July 28, Brinda Karat, Rajya Sabha member, raised the issue in Parliament, evoking a response from Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram. He said he recoiled with shame after reading about the murders of two teenagers in Meerut (Uttar Pradesh), the diktat of a panchayat in Jhajjar district, and the brutal killing of a young man in Jind district of Haryana in the presence of a warrant officer. Chidambaram added: "We do not recognise the right of a caste panchayat to take it upon itself to pronounce whether a man or a woman should live together or whether a woman has committed an act which allegedly brings dishonour to the family or the community." No caste panchayat, he said, had the right to pronounce upon the conduct of individuals. However, the government and the Minister were silent on the issue of initiating legal proceedings or drawing up a policy to deal with such honour-related crimes. Apart from Brinda Karat, who initiated the debate, Jayanti Natarajan demanded to know if special legislation such as that in the case of sati would be brought to stop honour killings. As many as 14 members, cutting across party lines, spoke on the calling attention motion in the Rajya Sabha. On June 23, 2008, Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, while disposing of 10 cases involving young married couples, noted that of the 26 matters listed, 10 pertained to marriage between young persons aged between 18 and 21; that in the last four to five years, the court was flooded with thousands of petitions where married couples came seeking protection; and that the State remained a mute spectator. "Couples hiding themselves in the corridors of the court, chased by relations, accompanied by musclemen armed with weapons, is not the answer which they seek by performing marriage. Society has to insulate these couples," the Judge observed. The High Court constituted a committee comprising the Advocates General of Punjab and Haryana, Standing Counsel for the Union Territory of Chandigarh and some senior advocates in order to work out an alternative, efficacious, compassionate and humanitarian remedy. On July 22, 2009, Ved Pal Maun, a 27-year-old medical practitioner of Mataur village in Kaithal district, reached his wife Sonia's village, Singhwal, in Jind district. He was accompanied by a warrant officer appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court as well as half a dozen policemen.… Khazan Singh, Professor of Sociology at the Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, said the principle of khap exogamy ensured that even different gotras falling in a particular khap could not intermarry. He said that of late people themselves allowed flexibilities after they realised that excluding the gotras of too many relatives in the family would make it difficult to find alliances. "So earlier, a prospective bride's, her mother's and her grandmother's gotra needed to be different from that of the boy's family. Now they waive the grandmother's gotra in order to forge an alliance," he said. The patterns of settlement and migration also played a role in marriage norms of communities. Where settlement as in the Deswali belt, comprising parts of southern Haryana, has been more or less of a permanent nature because of the availability of irrigation facilities, the systems are more rigid as compared with regions like Sirsa which have seen migration over several years. The dominance of caste, he said, was within a radius of 250 kilometres from Delhi. This is a situation where contradictions of the worst imaginable kind exist. And when elections are round the corner, the silence of the mainstream political parties is deafening. Assembly elections are soon to be held in Haryana and neither the Congress nor the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) of Om Prakash Chautala would like to take on the khap panchayats. But not to do so would be perilous to the interests of democracy and its institutions in the long run. http://www.flonnet.com/fl2617/stories/20090828261700400.htm SEE ALSO: Some four years ago, Transparency International and the Centre for Media Studies, a Delhi-based research firm undertook a study of corruption in India. The report said that Indians pay more than Rs 20,000 crore as bribes every year and implicated scores of public servants at all levels. The report contained scathing observations about corruption in the judiciary and a number of valuable suggestions. It stated that our legal system is expensive and suffers from endemic delays, making it difficult for ordinary citizens to get justice. This provides a strong temptation to use money to oil the creaking wheels of justice. Lawyers, court officials and even judges were found to be the recipients. The people have not forgotten the notorious case of Justice V. Ramaswami. A Parliament-appointed Enquiry Committee of three judges found him guilty on various counts of corruption. However, the ruling party prevented his removal and ensured the defeat of the impeachment motion by the simple device of not voting. A simple issue of probity in the apex court was dressed up as a rivalry between North and South by unscrupulous politicians. Parliamentary corruption cooperated with its judicial companion. A judge of the Rajasthan High Court and his Registrar sought sexual favours from a female doctor. A committee appointed by the Supreme Court found them guilty but the judge only resigned. No further action was taken. Some judges in Mysore were involved in a sex scandal. Nothing serious happened. A judge of the Delhi High Court was formally charged for corrupt dealings with property developers and the trial has not commenced for more than a decade. The case raises an interesting question: "In receiving sexual favours, does a Judge receive 'illegal gratification'?" The Supreme Court has not found it serious enough to expedite the trial. No wonder, then, that the distinguished Chief Justice Bharucha publicly declared that about 20 percent of judges were corrupt. What have the remaining eighty percent done to rein in the corrupt one fifth? The report has drawn attention to the fact that through judicial decisions the Supreme Court has immunised itself against criminal investigations by the police – investigations to which every other public servant is subject. The report has rightly emphasized that a National Judicial Commission should be created with the power to hire and fire judges. Just as judges ruled - in a somewhat unusual exercise of their power - that candidates for political office must declare their assets, the suggestion has also been made that judges too should declare their assets and those of their family members. The United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention has been actively involved in deliberations with various international non-governmental organizations such as the Judicial Group on Strengthening Judicial Integrity. In April 2000, the Group decided to formulate a Code of Proper Judicial Conduct and this Code was adopted at the Hague in November, 2002. The Code recognises that though the primary responsibility for the promotion and maintenance of high standards of judicial conduct lies with the judiciary, every society recognises that judicial integrity is a basic requirement for the Rule of Law. The behaviour and conduct of a judge must reaffirm people's faith in the integrity of the judiciary. All recognize the validity and binding nature of national laws which require the public disclosure of every judge's financial assets. The issue of corruption including judicial corruption is going to be the most prominent one in the next parliamentary election. People realise that judges are not happy at the invasion of privacy that the disclosure of their private finances entails. Unfortunately, judges do not appreciate that the people rightly and firmly believe that such disclosure is one of the most effective means of discouraging corruption, conflicts of interest and misuse of public funds. Individual citizens, social groups and the media are almost unanimous that laws must compel disclosure and that such disclosure should be accurate, timely and comprehensive. They also want such laws to be vigorously enforced. A number of countries in Latin America, such as Brazil, Mexico and Argentina have passed specific asset disclosure laws for public officials. Some expressly state that judges, too, are subject to those laws. Worldwide, let alone countries like the United States, even countries like El Salvador and Uganda have this legal requirement for disclosure. In my opinion, this obligation in India stems from the 14th Article of the Constitution, which grants us the Fundamental Right to Equality before the law and the Equal Protection of the law. There is no need for an additional law creating or affirming such a duty. There is no dispute that judges are 'public servants' under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. In 1988, even Members of Parliament and state legislatures were deemed to be 'public servants' by the Prevention of Corruption Act. Judges are and have always been public servants and therefore must stand on the same footing as other public servants. There is no rational distinction justifying special treatment for them. If a candidate for election to any legislature - a mere aspirant to become a 'public servant' - must publicly declare all his assets and the assets of his family members, is it not much more essential that judges do the same when seeking judicial office and while they hold that office? The people's confidence in judges' integrity is the foundation of the judicial edifice. The law of contempt of court is not a safeguard for judges as persons but for the functions which they exercise. Look at the awesome powers which our Constitution confers upon our Judges – particularly those in the highest court. Apart from their complete control over the life, liberty and property of all citizens high and low, they have the power to declare illegal and void the public acts of all bureaucrats, every minister and every government on the grounds that they violate the constitution, the law or principles of natural justice. What is more, they can declare a law passed unanimously by the President and both Houses of Parliament as null and void if they find it to be in conflict with the Basic Principles of our Constitution. Since Parliament reflects the will of the Indian people, some have criticised this judicial power as an affront to the people's sovereignty. While legislators have to face elections at fixed intervals and have to win the approval of the people, judges can carry on until they become old without any such check, scrutiny or control. Yet, those judges can turn to the Government and Parliament and nullify their solemnly promulgated laws, telling them, "We understand the Constitution you enacted 60 years ago better than you do." The founding fathers reposed this power in judges, knowing the calibre of the judges of those days. It is tragic to see how far standards have fallen. It is imperative that Judges should do nothing to further erode the people's confidence in them. The refusal to declare assets is calculated to destroy that confidence. Even the time of public disclosure has not yet arrived. A high officer enforcing the people's right to 'know' has only enquired if judges are actually disclosing their assets to their Chief Justice! In March, 2003, the Election Commission explained why the disclosure of assets is necessary for candidates. It said that disclosure is a condition for a candidate's transparency. Voters have the basic right to learn the full particulars of each candidate for their vote. The right to get such information in a democracy flows from the very democratic nature of the polity. The Commission said that the Fundamental Right of Freedom of Expression included the freedom to seek and receive information. It quoted the Supreme Court's order of 2nd May, 2002 which mandated that the Election Commission compel this disclosure from every candidate. It is a credit to the entire judiciary that many judges have declared they are prepared to disclose their assets even without any law requiring them to do so. The Chief Justice of India has rightly responded that judges are welcome to disclose their assets. I am afraid the Supreme Court will appear totally hypocritical if, through some fancy distinction it does not accept the duty that judges have to disclose their assets. In the interest of the dignity of the Supreme Court, I hope the Hon'ble Chief Justice will soon change his mind and say that all judges must disclose their assets. It is not enough that the disclosure is made by judges the Chief Justice in private; this is a disclosure to which every citizen of India is entitled. If he does take this step, it will make the petition filed in the Delhi High Court by the Hon'ble Supreme Court challenging the Chief Information Commissioner's order fruitless and redundant. There are many people in this country who rightly think that the Supreme Court harmed its own dignity by becoming a litigant in the High Court. The noted jurist Fali Nariman turned down the request of the court to assist it in deciding the case, saying that judges of the apex court must demonstrate that the law is the same for everybody. This carries its own compelling lesson. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=Op220809too_high.asp SEE ALSO: Author: Angana P Chatterji Hindutva movement in Orissa (Aug 11, 2009, The Hindu) Angana Chatterji's starting point for her study on the growth of Hindu majoritarianism in the specific context of Gujarat was a visit she made to Orissa in the summer of 2002, soon after the Gujarat riots. The Sangh Parivar in Orissa had given a call for mobilisation for a Hindu nation. She was deeply disturbed by what she saw, by the "impenetrable reticence amongst the majority community, and a plea for recognition of Hindutva's violence from minority and other subaltern groups, accompanied by denial and obfuscation on the part of state institutions, the media and the paucity of countervailing response, including scholarship in English and the vernacular." The book under review is the outcome of her six-year study of these issues. There is a paucity of scholarly writing on the genesis, growth, and current state of the Hindutva movement in Orissa - which by 2007-08 had unleashed a war of terror against Christian groups - aside of activism-generated writing in the form of reports of fact-finding groups, and reports that have emanated from church groups. The book meets this information gap to a significant extent. However, the reader who is seeking a clear and well-argued analysis of the past and present of Hindutva in the specific context of Orissa is dismayed at having to hack through the dense foliage of the book's prose, particularly in the opening chapters, with sudden clearings where the light of lucid narrative shines. (What, for instance is the reader to make of thissentence from the introductory chapter, Memory-Mournings,: "As genealogy, this text explicates the entanglements in and between history-present history-majoritarianism-subjectivation-state-national-'otherness', making space for thought and action that labours to interrupt dominant inheritances.") Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the lengthy and sometimes distracting theoretical digressions that break the flow of the story, there is valuable and hitherto undocumented information in the chapters titled 'Dispositif' and 'Impunity', on the process by which the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and allied organisations under the Hindutva umbrella built the apparatus of Hindutva in the State. These two chapters trace the story of how a Hindu right wing movement penetrated the spheres of culture, education, and politics as it mobilised, spread, and grew. The movement started with the setting up of the Hindu Mahasabha in 1940, grew through the periodic communal riots of the intervening decades, received an impetus when the RSS sent Lakshmanananda Saraswathi (the controversial Hindu proselytiser whose murder in 2008 sparked a prolonged spell of anti-Christian violence) to Phulbani/Kandhamal in 1960, to culminate in the 2007-2008 pogrom against Christians. The historical background to conversions in Orissa, the reasons why poor tribal populations embraced Christianity, and the confrontation with militant Hinduism that led to re-conversions under duress, are provided in the last two chapters. There is a welter of detail here, drawn from interviews and case studies, on how Hindutva workers set the oppressed against the oppressed in deadly acts of vengeance and reprisal against so-called "forcible conversions." The author was co-convenor of the Peoples Tribunal on Communalism in Orissa that commenced its inquiry into the communal violence and human rights abuses in June 2005. The depositions before the Tribunal were held under considerable tension: at one meeting in June "Hindutva activists wrought havoc", the author says, and the Tribunal was slandered and discredited by Hindutva leaders. A part of the submission made in May 2008 by the author to the Commission of Inquiry under Justice Basudev Panigrahi on the violence in Kandhamal in December 2007 that has been reproduced is based on extensive trips to the towns and villages of the area and detailed interviews conducted by her. The last chapter offers a detailed chronological dissection of the violence against Christians that reached a crescendo after the murder of Lakshmanananda Saraswathi in early 2008, and the state's vacillating and collaborative response to it. http://www.hindu.com/br/2009/08/11/stories/2009081150011300.htm
IN THIS ISSUE
ANNOUNCEMENTS
COMMUNAL HARMONY
NEWS HEADLINES
OPINIONS & EDITORIALS
BOOK REVIEW
ANNOUNCEMENTS
IMC-USA CELEBRATES INDIAS INDEPENDENCE DAY, TURNS SEVEN ON AUGUST 15TH
Dr. Hyder Khan
phone/fax: 1-800-839-7270
email: media@imc-usa.org
COMMUNAL HARMONY
FR EMMANUEL GETS GOVTS NATIONAL COMMUNAL HARMONY AWARD (AUG 14, 2009, INDIAN EXPRESS)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4886703.cms
NEWS HEADLINES
ONE DIES, 3 INJURED IN AZAMGARH AS MPS MEN OPEN FIRE AT YOUTHS (AUG 13, 2009, INDIAN EXPRESS)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4890667.cms
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bjp-azamgarh-mp-booked-party-cries-foul/99219-37.html
http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20090815/1416/tnl-ulema-council-threatens-to-launch-ag.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4890824.cmsKANDHAMAL, GUJARAT RIOTS STILL RESONATE IN AMERICA (AUG 14, 2009, ECONOMIC TIMES)
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090814/jsp/nation/story_11360359.jsp
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/500973/
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-85483.html
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/500491/GUJARAT HC FOR FRESH PROBE INTO ENCOUNTER KILLING (AUG 14, 2009, THE TRIBUNE)
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/500375/
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090815/jsp/nation/story_11364594.jsp
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/500937/
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=05c9d0c3-0c5f-4248-8474-6a1a7fbce0c7FAKE ENCOUNTER: FIR AGAINST COPS (AUG 11, 2009, INDIAN EXPRESS)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=9286af29-0ee3-4da9-a961-13e6289b1f52
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/500140/
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/print.aspx?artid=ou|AqJIfx8g=
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=5e0fdd6f-10dd-403b-9343-4e7de8c4a4f13 COPS SUSPENDED FOR PARADING TEENAGER HALF-NAKED (AUG 11, 2009, HINDUSTAN TIMES)
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/19625/boy-tortured-cops-loses-eyesight.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4878915.cms
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/500946/
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4891837.cmsMODI DEPRIVES POOR MUSLIMS OF SCHOLARSHIP (AUG 8, 2009, IBN)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4883332.cms
http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/15/stories/2009081561831000.htm
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090815/main7.htm
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/501038/THERE IS SENSE OF UNEASE ABOUT WORKING OF RULE OF LAW: ANSARI (AUG 9, 2009, THE HINDU)
http://www.asianage.com/
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090814/jsp/calcutta/story_11359083.jsp
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/498867/
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4879650.cmsSTUDENTS, PRINCIPAL HELD FOR RAGGING (AUG 15, 2009, THE TRIBUNE)
http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/15/stories/2009081556531100.htm
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=35576fbd-e33d-4041-8dd9-b4bfd0bb8771
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/19539/jnu-students-ragged.html
http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/10/stories/2009081057090100.htm5 OF A FAMILY TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT IN A DOWRY CASE (AUG 13, 2009, PTI)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4857941.cms
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-90313.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4858098.cms
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/500442/BSP MEN BEAT UP DALIT, VILLAGERS SAY WONT ALLOW BYPOLL CAMPAIGN (AUG 9, 2009, INDIAN EXPRESS)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=cc640107-b848-4e25-8295-9c0887056f93
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4853685.cms
http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/04/stories/2009080455870300.htm
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dalit-girl-raped-in-chinahat/497347/
OPINIONS AND EDITORIALS
CORNERING MODI - BY LYLA BAVADAM (AUG 15, 2009, FRONTLINE)
http://www.navhindtimes.in/opinions/2027-a-hate-card-
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=Ne150809new_faces.asp
http://www.countercurrents.org/puniyani100809.htm
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=hub220809personalhistories.aspTROUBLE ERUPTS IN BJP - EDITORIAL (AUG 15, 2009, THE TRIBUNE)
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090815/jsp/frontpage/story_11364995.jsp
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/502283/
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/bhupendrachaubey/213/53748/bjp-the-party-with-indiscipline.htmlDEATHS UNDER A DRACONIAN ACT (AUG 10, 2009, EXPRESS BUZZ)
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=Ne150809coverstory.asp
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4882022.cmsTHE SPRING OF DESPAIR AND THE WINTER OF HOPE - BY SHOBHA SHUKLA (AUG 12, 2009, CENTRAL CHRONICLE)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=66061dd4-6aa3-4ebb-a283-b43b7c2a3fd4
http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=12122IN THE NAME OF HONOUR - BY T.K. RAJALAKSHMI (AUG 15, 2009, FRONTLINE)
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=Ne150809a_taliban.asp
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2617/stories/20090828261701200.htm
http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/13788.pdf
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2617/stories/20090828261701600.htmTOO HIGH A HORSE - BY RAM JETHMALANI (AUG 22, 2009, TEHELKA)
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/print.aspx?artid=PVbCLv9Eox4=
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4878165.cms
BOOK REVIEW
VIOLENT GODS: HINDU NATIONALISM IN INDIA'S PRESENT; NARRATIVES FROM ORISSA
Reviewed by: Parvathi Menon
Available at: Three Essays Collective, B-957, Palam Vihar, Gurgaon-122017. Rs. 500. . http://www.amazon.com/
Review:
