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RTI query on Gujarat riots stonewalled again by PMO

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New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Office has suppressed the right to information by once again refusing to release details of the correspondence during the Gujarat riots between then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, citing “third party objections.”

RTI activist Subhash Agarwal wrote to the PMO in December 2013 seeking complete copies of correspondence between Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Modi between February 27, 2002, the day the Sabarmati Express was set on fire in Godhra, and April 30, 2002, by when the worst of the post-Godhra riots was over.

After first refusing to give the information, a decision overturned in appeal, the PMO replied to Mr. Agarwal in April 2014 that it was seeking consent of third parties.

(Agencies)

HRD panel to probe funds 'misuse' by Teesta NGO

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New Delhi: The HRD Ministry has set up a committee to probe alleged misappropriation of funds received under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan by an NGO run by activist Teesta Setalvad, who is facing heat along with her husband in a separate case of embezzlement.

The three-member committee is to be headed by Supreme Court lawyer Abhijit Bhattacharjee and comprise Gujarat Central University Vice Chancellor SA Bari and senior HR Ministry official Gaya Prasad as its members.

The panel will look into allegations against the NGO Sabrang Trust based on a complaint received by the ministry about “mis-utilisation” of funds by it, officials in the HRD Ministry said, confirming the setting up of the committee.

The two members of the committee, however, said they were yet to receive any communication in this regard.

Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand are also involved in the Gulbarg society embezzlement case.

Supreme Court recently directed Gujarat Police not to arrest the duo in the case while asking them to cooperate in the probe.

The case pertains to funds for a museum in Ahmedabad’s Gulbarg Society, which was devastated in the 2002 riots.

Meanwhile, sources in the ministry said that Setalvad could also be dropped from the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), which is being reconstituted after NDA government came to power.

CABE is the highest decision-making body on education in the country.

(PTI)

Indian-American Muslims demand justice for Gujarat victims on 13th anniversary

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by Kaleem Kawaja

On the occasion of the 13th anniversary of the massacre of over one-thousand Muslims in Gujarat on February 27, 2002, the Washington DC based Indian-American Muslim NGO, Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIMA) has issued an appeal to India’s President and Prime Minister to help expedite criminal cases against the culprits responsible for the massacre.

AIMA reminded the two top political heads of the Indian government that 13 long years after the well organized brutal attack by some sectarian organizations on a large number of innocent Muslim men, women and children in Ahmedabad and other cities in central Gujarat, only very few of the hundreds of culprits have been sentenced to jail. The Gujarat state government legal authorities are continuing to delay criminal proceedings in courts of law against the many culprits despite clear instructions by the Supreme Court of India.

In the years since the violence, in several instances the Gujarat state government legal authorities have destroyed critical evidence against the culprits, who in various instances were ministers, senior police officials and officials of the Gujarat government. The enquiries conducted by the enquiry commissions appointed by Gujarat government were a sham and committed many irregularities.

Several reputed Indian and International human rights organizations including the United Nations Human Rights body have made categorical statements asking the Indian government and courts to speed up the cases against the culprits. Yet the courts in Gujarat state are either dropping the cases claiming that there is not sufficient evidence, or are causing extreme delays.

Speaking on behalf of the many families of the victims of the February 2002 Gujarat massacre, AIMA also made an appeal to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India to take steps to correct the malafides and corruption in the lower level justice system in Gujarat that is continuing to prevent bringing the many culprits to justice in the above sectarian violence.

Kaleem Kawaja is the Executive Director of Association of Indian Muslims of America.

D G Vanzara leaves jail, says 'acche din' are back

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Photo: Hindustan Times

Photo: Hindustan Times

Ahmedabad: Moments after walking out of jail after almost eight years, former Gujarat deputy inspector general of police DG Vanzara, one of the accused in Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Ishrat Jahan’s encounter case, has said that the Gujarat Police were targeted for “extra political reasons”.

“Ache din [Good days] for me and other police officers are back,” Vanzara was quoted as saying by television channels after coming out of the Sabarmati Central Jail on Wednesday. He further added,”Gujarat Police were targeted for extra ploitical reasons.” Ache din ayenge [Good days will come] was one of the poll slogans of the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

D G Vanzara, 61, is one of Gujarat’s most controversial police officers. Earlier this month, he was granted bail in the Ishrat Jahan case, one of two “fake encounter” cases against him, on the condition that he will not enter his home state Gujarat.

He had been granted bail in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh murder case in 2014. He was a Deputy Inspector General of Police when he was arrested in March 2007 and had been in jail since.

Mr Vanzara and other top police officers are accused of killing 19-year-old college student Ishrat Jahan and three others in 2004 and, in a separate case later, a petty criminal Sohrabbudin Sheikh, his wife and Tulsiram Prajapati, a key witness.

Mr Vanzara and the other police officers claim they were killing terrorists who wanted to assassinate Narendra Modi, who was then chief minister of Gujarat. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) says the civilians were killed in cold blood.

Today, Mr Vanzara said, “Anti-terror operations happen in every state. But Gujarat Police was a victim of politics. It was unfairly targeted for political reasons.”

He refused to comment on a resignation letter he had written from jail in 2013, in which he accused Amit Shah, who was Home Minister of Gujarat and is now BJP chief, of being in the know of the police officers’ plans to counter the civilians, who he maintained were terrorists from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Mr Vanzara’s resignation was not accepted and he retired last year, while still in prison.

(Agencies)

Solidarity with Teesta Setalvad – Demonstration in Mumbai

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Teesta Setalvad

by Preethy Sekhar, DYFI

A large number of activists gathered outside Dadar Railway Station in Mumbai on Sunday (15-2-2015) evening for a public demonstration of solidarity with Teesta Setalvad & Javed Anand who are being hounded by Gujarat police with false cases. Famous film maker Anand Patwardhan, renowned writer-activist Dr. Ram Puniyani, AIDWA Maharashtra Secretary Sonya Gill, CITU leader Dr.Vivek Monteiro, Dolphy D’souza, Subodh More, Vandana Shah, Sumedh Jadhav and several eminent citizens of Mumbai participated in the meeting organized by Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) Maharashtra committee. DYFI state president conducted Adv.Bhagavan Bhagwan Bhojne, Secretary Preethy Sekhar and State committee member Moin Ansar also spoke.

Anand Patwardhan detailed the long standing criminal record of Gujarat Police which has become a tool in the hands of Sangh Parivar. Cruel encounter killings, diabolic attempts to destroy evidence and frame innocents – these are the credentials of Gujarat Police.

Dr. Ram Puniyani said that Gujarat Police is targeting Teesta because Teesta had shown many BJP leaders their way to Jail. What is now taking place is part of the efforts to insulate the perpetrators of 2002 massacres from the process of law. Fascist forces occupying state power are not going to stop at this. They will try to hunt down everyone who will stand up for justice. All citizens who wants secularism and democracy to prevail must fearlessly resist SanghParivar machinations, said Dr. Puniyani.

Sonya Gill said drew attention to the irony of Police officers accused of infamous encounter killings walking free even as Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand are sought to be put behind bars. Tireless and courageous work by Teesta and Javed have been instrumental in bringing high-placed criminals to justice. Now the state machinery is trying to frame them in the hope that their work could be obstructed. It is a matter of much pride that Teesta and Javed are undeterred by all the machinations of Gujarat Police.

Dr. Vivek Monteiro explained how BJP has been using the police machinery in Gujarat and elsewhere to frame innocents. It is a pity that judiciary is not able to prevent the bias in our police system against minorities and those who stand up for the rights of the marginalized sections.

Police personnel were deployed in large number at the protest site. Their attempts to disrupt the programme was met with stiff resistance from DYFI activists leading to a scuffle but the programme continued challenging the Police. It was yet another instance of Mumbai Police’s intolerance towards secular organizations exercising the right to assembly.

Slogans like “Teesta tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hai”, “BJP sarkkar ki dadagiri nahi chalegi” electrified the evening at Dadar, it was a show of determination and unity of secular forces in Mumbai. DYFI leaders declared that, in the days to come, the organization will galvanise the secular collective of Maharashtra and meet the challenges posed by Hindutva forces in the state.

Gujarat court acquits 70 accused from 2002 riots case

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Representational Image

Ahmedabad: A local court in Banaskantha district, north Gujarat on Friday acquitted all the 70 people accused in a riot case at Sesan Nava village of Deodar taluka in which 14 persons from minority community including women were killed in the aftermath of post Godhra riots.

The additional sessions judge VK Pujara acquitted all the accused while stating that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond doubt. He said that following the unfortunate incident of burning of Sabarmati Express train at Godhra railway station a group of Hindus attacked the people from minority community. The court has said that there is no direct evidence suggesting the involvement of the accused persons.

According to defense lawyer BK Joshi who appeared for nine accused, there were 190 witnesses in the case and most of them turned hostile during the proceedings. He said that over the years nine persons died while eight persons were lodged in jail since 2002 following their arrest.

On March 3, 2002 a mob of around 5000 people had gheroed the Muslim locality of Sasan Nava village. The mob laced with sharp weapons went to killing and looting spree till the police arrived at the scene, more than a dozen persons had been killed, with dozens of houses set on fire. In the police firing two persons from the mob were killed killed.

Publice prosecutor BV Thakor said that 12 supplementary chargesheets had been filed during the investigation in which 190 witnesses gave their statements. However, most of them turn hostile and nobody named the accused and their role. The court didn’t appreciate the evidence that we had placed.

(Agencies)

The judiciary has consistently failed the poor, the marginalised and other sub-altern groups of the country

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Participants at the convention

Participants at the convention

by Fr Cedric Prakash

Ahmedabad witnessed a unique event on February 7 and 8, 2015, as a two-day State Level Convention brought together more than 500 women and men from all over Gujarat.  They were local leaders; mainly adivasis, Dalits and other backward communities (OBCs).  They had come together to highlight their many grievances, to increase their bonding and in solidarity to say to those who attempt to control their lives and destinies, that they can no longer be taken for granted.

The theme of the Convention was Chaalo Lokshahi melaviye (Come let us ensure People’s Rule: Democracy).

In his inaugural address to the Convention, Fr Francis Parmar, the Provincial of the Gujarat Jesuits, emphasised that the four pillars of justice, liberty, fraternity and equality should never be compromised. He called upon the people to be united so that they can achieve their goals; to be truly effective, he asserted, one needs to have the commitment to struggle to the very end.

The highlight of the programme was a Public Hearing presided over by Girish Patel, senior counsel of the Gujarat High Court and the doyen of the human rights movement of Gujarat. The other jury members were Dr Sudarshan Iyengar, former vice-chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith and Rohit Prajapati, environmental activist.  Several local leaders representing various communities from across Gujarat made submissions about their pathetic conditions. These included issues related to ‘jal-jungle-jameen’ (water, forest and land), their right to shelter, their right to livelihood and work, atrocities on Dalits and on women; the way their land acquired by the big corporations and mega-projects like that of Ukai and issues related to Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA Act, 1996) and Panchayati Raj.

Girish Patel exhorted the huge gathering to come out in the open and together to demand their legitimate rights. “The rights belong to the people and the Government must realise this”, he said. “The judiciary has consistently failed the poor, the marginalised and the other sub-altern groups of the country.”

Several other eminent personalities and activists addressed the Convention; these included Hemant Shah, Anand Mazgaonkar, Mahesh Pandya and Trupti Shah. Added to the bonding of a memorable convention was a delightful programme consisting of adivasi dances and various plays which focused on different social themes.

Girish Patel addressing the convention

The convention concluded with an resolution which unanimously says, “We, leaders and other concerned citizens of Gujarat (representing 750 villages of 34 talukas and urban slums of Surat and Ahmedabad) at the conclusion of a State Level Peoples’ Convention held in Ahmedabad on February 7 and 8, 2015 on the theme ‘Chaalo Lokshahi melaviye’ (Come let us ensure People’s Rule: Democracy) resolve that: there are several issues which afflict us greatly; these include our forests’ lands, displacement, the north bank of the Ukai, non-implementation of the PESA law, the tardy delivery of justice on atrocities to the Dalits; the deliberate injustice by several Panchayats; the unresolved questions regarding housing for the poor in the cities – are just some of them. We, therefore strongly condemn the total inaction on the part of the Government. We call upon the Government and their relevant institutions to act promptly and to ensure that we get our legitimate rights and the justice due to us.”

This Peoples’ Convention was held under the aegis of PEOPLESJ (Promoting  Effective  Organisations, People’s Leadership for Equity, Solidarity & Justice) which is an initiative of JESA-Gujarat.

(Fr Cedric Prakash is the Director of PRASHANT Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace, Ahmedabad.)

Diverse statements and a citzens online petition in defence of Teesta Setalvad & Javed Anand under threat of arrest

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People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) expresses alarm at the Gujarat Police move to arrest Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand

People’s Alliance for Secularism and Democracy (PADS)

Public Statement

Date: 12 February 2014

People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) expresses alarm at the Gujarat Police move to arrest the two activists, Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand in Mumbai. The arrest of Teesta Setalvad, who was denied bail by the Gujarat High court, has been stayed for 24 hours at the intervention of the Supreme Court.

Teesta Setalvad has been relentlessly championing the rights of the victims of the Gujarat pogroms of 2002. Her efforts resulted in the transfer of some of the riot related cases out of Gujarat and conviction of some bigwigs from the Gujarat government. The Government of Gujarat led by Anandiben Patel, the successor of the incumbent Prime Minister, is vindictive and has been after Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand for their bold stand in defence of the riot victims. Its aim seems to be to discourage anyone from taking legal recourse against misdeeds of the Gujarat government during and after the 2002 pogrom. A case of embezzlement of funds collected by their NGOs has been filed against Teesta, Javed and three others. Defendants have submitted documentary evidence in court against prosecution allegations. It must be noted that while the Gujarat government appears hell bent on targeting Teesta and her associates for standing up for riot victims, it has been reinstating the police officials who are facing serious criminal charges in fake encounter cases.

The PADS demands that the Gujarat government stop harassing Ms. Teesta Setalvad and Mr Javed Anand – whose anticipatory bail applications have been rejected by the Gujarat High Court today.

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Text of statement on Gujarat High Court rejecting anticipatory bail of Teesta Setalvad & others by Prashant Centre for Human rights

Prashant A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Post Box No. 4050, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 380 009, Gujarat, India
Tel.: +91 (079) 66522333, 27455913 Fax: +91 (079) 27489018
Mobile: 9824034536. e-mail: sjprashant@gmail.com. www.humanrightsindia.in

STATEMENT ON THE GUJARAT HIGH COURT REJECTING
THE ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION OF MS TEESTA SETALVAD & OTHERS

It is extremely unfortunate that the anticipatory bail application filed by Ms. Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand and three others of Gulberg Society – Mr. Tanvir Jafri (son of slain MP Ehsan Jafri), Mr. Feroz Gulzar, Secretary and Mr. Salim Sandhi, Chairman of the Gulberg Society – has today been rejected by the Gujarat High Court.

All are aware that the charges are extremely flimsy and fabricated and are surely politically motivated.

In their response, Ms. Setalvad and the others provided the High Court with extensive, comprehensive and irrefutable evidence as to why they should be given anticipatory bail and the charges be dropped.

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Statement by All India Secular Forum on the move to arrest Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand

All India Secular Forum stands with Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand as they have struggled for justice for the victims of riots in Gujarat. Gujarat Police made several attempts and slapped several false cases on Teesta Setalvad to deter her from fighting for justice for the victims of Gujarat riots and have acted vindictively. The cases against them would not stand and justice will ultimately prevail. We demand that all false cases against Teesta Setalvad be immediately withdrawn and Gujarat police desist from taking coercive and vindictive action against them.

Adv. Irfan Engineer

Director,
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
603, New Silver Star, Near Railway Bridge, Prabhat Colony Road,, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, India. PIN: 400055.
Call: +91-22-26149668 | M: +91-9869462833, +919820553173 | Fax: +91-22-6100712
e-mail: forirf@gmail.com; irfanengi@gmail.com; csss@mtnl.net.in
skype: irfanen

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Press Statement by CPI(M) – condemns the Gujarat Police move to arrest Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand

via marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)

February 12, 2015

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) condemns the Gujarat Police move to arrest Teesta Setalvad and her husband, Javed Anand in Mumbai. The arrest of Teesta Setalvad has been stayed for 24 hours at the intervention of the Supreme Court.

The Gujarat Police have targeted Teesta Setalvad because of her relentless championing of the rights of the victims of the Gujarat pogroms of 2002. While the Gujarat government is pursuing the harassment of Teesta Setalvad, it has been reinstating police officials who are facing serious criminal charges.

The CPI(M) demands that the Gujarat government withdraw the concocted case against Teesta Setalvad and stop harassing her.

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[Sign Petition] Citizens in Solidarity with Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand

We are shocked to learn of the rejection of the Anticipatory bail applications of Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand by the Gujarat High Court. Media stories suggest that the bail applications have been turned down because Setalavad and Anand were “not cooperating with the investigations” and that prima facie “funds were used for private purpose”. It is a matter of record that they have submitted their original bank statements, balance sheets and audited accounts that completely disprove the allegations. Does this amount to non-cooperation or prima facie evidence of wrong-doing?

We stand with Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, and their quest for justice for the victims of 2002 violence, which has turned them into a target of Gujarat government’s ire. We condemn this witchhunt and the false and malicious propaganda being circulated against them.

Add your signatures at: http://www.indiaresists.com/sign-petition-citizens-in-solidarity-with-teesta-setalvad-and-javed-anand/

Teesta Setalvad is being framed by Gujarat govt; but where’s the outrage?

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Teesta Setalvad

by G Pramod Kumar, FP

The Gujarat Police’s overt enthusiasm to arrest Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand no sooner than the state high court rejected their plea for anticipatory bail in a curious “embezzlement” case didn’t raise any eyebrows, but justified the perception that the BJP government was on a hot pursuit of the activist.

The BJP leaders and their proxies found nothing extraordinary in the action of Gujarat Police, which landed up at the doorstep of Setalvad in Mumbai in no time, because, according to them, the police was at liberty to arrest the accused when the courts refuse anticipatory bail. Some would even say that the police was duty-bound to pursue the case.

But what was unsaid was the deviousness in the police’s insistence of custodial interrogation of the couple for alleged diversion of funds collected by her NGO to convert Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad, where 69 people were killed in the 2002 riots, into a museum. The charge was that the couple had transferred Rs 14.2 lakhs from the NGO’s account to clear their credit card bills and had transferred large sums of money to their personal accounts. The police said that the expenses included payments for wine and groceries.

Setalvad had clarified that credit card expenses that the NGO paid for were not personal, but official such as travel. It’s not unusual for people to use personal credit card for official purposes and then get the official expenses reimbursed. But by conflating the personal (wine, groceries, books etc.) and official, the police tried to besmirch their reputation and make out a case. Similarly, additional money used from the account was for salaries and legal expenses.

The police case was based on a complaint by 12 members of the Gulbarg Housing Society, which curiously refused to take note of the submission by the secretary and chairman of the Society that the case was false. The latter had also informed the police that the complainants had misused office stationery.

That despite an official clarification from the Gulbarg Society, the police went ahead with the case looked clearly motivated. And now their overzealousness in seeking custodial interrogation of the couple nails their intent.

One cannot clearly miss the police targeting Setalvad, but what makes one more worried about their motive is their track record in foisting spurious cases against her. In 2012, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the state for initiating a probe for “illegal exhumation” of the 2002 riot victims. “This is a hundred percent spurious case to victimise the petitioner (Setalvad),” said the court. “This type of case does no credit to the state of Gujarat in any way,” it further said.

A year later, the police came up with the embezzlement case, despite the official representatives of the Gulbarg Society affirming that they had no complaint, and wanted to arrest Setalvad.

The police’s dogged pursuit brings us to the question of who Setalvad is. She is an exceptional character in India’s human rights campaigns – she is the principal reason for getting justice, although partial, to the victims of the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. For the first time in India, 117 perpetrators of communal violence, including a minister in the then Modi state cabinet, had been convicted. Had it not been for her and other rights activists, the victims would been gagged to submission. She is also the biggest obstacle to Modi’s image management efforts.

Obviously, Setalvad is a marked person because she is refusing to give up, along with Zakia Jafri, the complainant in the Gulbarg Society massacre case, against the Gujarat state government and the then chief minister Narendra Modi although a Special Investigation Team had found no prosecutable evidence against him. Setalvad and her supporters, point to the dissenting notes by the Supreme Court appointed amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran, who had said that the evidence against Modi was significant.

Setalvad may be particularly unsparing of Modi, as some allege, but that doesn’t allow for continuous police harassment. The victimisation of Setalvad is too evident to ignore. And it hadn’t started yesterday. In 2005, she was accused of pressuring Zaheera Sheikh in the Best Bakery Case to given evidence against the government. The SC had later absolved Setalvad and sent Zaheera Sheikh to jail for a year. “This is a classic example of a case where evidence were tampered with and witnesses won over,” the court had then said.

This record of victimisation against Setalvad for the simple reason that she is standing up for her fellow citizens’ battle for justice is a warning to human rights activists and a reminder of the abominable misuse of power by the state.

Former police officer D G Vanzara gets bail in Ishrat Jahan case

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Photo: Hindustan Times

Photo: Hindustan Times

Ahmedabad/NDTV: One of Gujarat’s most controversial police officers, DG Vanzara, is likely to walk out of jail soon after he was granted bail today in the 2004 killing of college student Ishrat Jahan. But a court in Ahmedabad said he can’t enter Gujarat.

Eight police officers were charge-sheeted in the case. Four were granted bail earlier and today, two more got it – Mr Vanzara and another police officer, PP Pande.

Mr Vanzara was granted bail in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing case of 2005 in September.

He has been in a jail in Ahmedabad for eight years for cases that earned him the nickname of “encounter specialist”. He retired last year. He was arrested in March 2007, when he was a Deputy Inspector General of Police, for the Sohrabuddin killing.

Sohrabuddin, a petty criminal, his wife Kauser Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati were traveling on a bus from Andhra Pradesh in 2005 when they were kidnapped by the Gujarat police. Sohrabuddin and his wife were killed a few days later. Tulsiram, a key witness to their abduction, was shot dead a year later; the police claimed that he was trying to escape.

Mr Vanzara was also made an accused in the killing of Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old, and three men in 2004. All four were shot dead by police officers who claimed that they were involved in a plot to kill Narendra Modi, who was Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time.

In 2013, Mr Vanzara quit the force and shot off a vitriolic letter in which he accused Mr Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, a former Home Minister of Gujarat, of making him and other police officers scapegoats for following their orders.

In December, a court in Mumbai accepted Amit Shah’s discharge petition and said he will not face charges in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing.

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