Muslims Have Highest Fertility Rate, Lack Access To Healthcare

April 30, 2018

Mumbai: Hindus have India’s highest infant mortality rate with 41.6 deaths per 1,000 live births and the third highest fertility rate–the average number of children a woman would have by the end of her childbearing years–of 2.13, the latest health data show.

Hindus also have the third-lowest access to healthcare facilities, with only 79.3% women receiving antenatal care (including at least one tetanus toxoid injection and iron folic acid tablets or syrup taken for 100 or more days) visits from skilled professionals, lower than Sikhs, Christians, Buddhist and Jains, national family health survey data show.

Muslims have India’s highest fertility rate, 2.61 per woman, and the second lowest access to antenatal care provided by skilled professionals (77%).

A “child survival hypothesis” states that if child mortality is reduced, fertility reduction follows, with the net effect of lower growth of population, according to this 1990 study by Finnish Medical Society.

Adding a maternity clinic to a village decreases the odds of infant mortality by almost 15% in comparison to the risk before the clinic was added, evidence from a 1995 study in Indonesia show. An additional doctor reduces the odds by about 1.7%.

Though the fertility rate for Hindus is lower than the national average, it is high compared to communities like Christians, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists.

While the national average is 2.2 children per woman, Muslims have the highest fertility rate (2.6) followed by others (Jews, Parsis and tribes that do not identify themselves as Hindus like Khasi, Jaintia & Garo in the North east) (2.5) and Hindus (2.1). Meanwhile, Christians (1.9), Sikhs (1.5), Jains (1.2) and Buddhists (1.7) have lower fertility rates.

Access to healthcare plays key role

As many as 79% of women delivered babies at a health facility; the lowest proportion was among “other religious communities”–which include Jews, Parsis and tribes that do not identify themselves as Hindus like Khasi, Jaintia & Garo in the North east–(51%) followed by Muslims (69.2%).

The national average for receiving antenatal care from skilled providers is 79.3%, while it is the lowest for “other religious communities” (68.5%), followed by Muslims (77%).

The lack of access to healthcare facilities also inhibits the usage of modern methods of family planning. For example, the national average for the usage of any modern method of contraception among women is 47.8% while the lowest is among “other religious communities” (36.5%) followed by Muslims (37.9%).

Sanitation access and child mortality

Access to sanitation is another factor that is known yo have an impact on reducing child mortality rates.

“We found that Muslim neighbourhood are less likely to have piped waters, and less likely to have other state services than Hindu neighbourhoods,” Dean Spears of the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics, told IndiaSpend in an interview on August 13,2017.

“But, on average, there is less open defecation in Muslim neighbourhoods because they are more likely to have and use latrines than Hindu households.”

Indirect factors that impact fertility rate includes higher education of women to employment status among women, research show.

Women from “other smaller religious groups” and Muslims have the highest percentage of women with no schooling at 34.4% and 31.4%, respectively.

The two communities also have the lowest percentage of women who have completed schooling of more than 12 years at 10.9% and 14.8%, respectively.

Note: Others includes Jews, Parsis and tribes that do not identify themselves as Hindus, such as Khasi, Jaintia & Garo in the North east.

Only 73% Muslim women participate in decision-making pertaining to one’s own health while the all-India average is 74.5%.

Muslim women in rural and urban areas had the lowest labour force participation rate at 15.9% and 10.9%, respectively, while the national average was 25.3% and 15.5%, respectively.

This article was first published on indiaspend.com.

Confessions Of An RSS Pracharak

April 30, 2018

Book: Cellars of the Inferno: Confessions of an RSS Pracharak
Publisher: Chintha Publications
Author: Sudheesh Minni
Pages: 122

RSS has been critiqued for long for its divisive and fascist ideology. Its role in spreading hatred, communal violence, killings – arson and loot, blasts has been pointed out by critics. However, the attempt of RSS to project itself as a cultural and nationalist organization working for the welfare of majority community, nation and practicing non-violent methods is still believed by many to be the truth. This is despite all the violence that is being instigated in the recent times.

The book by Sudheesh Minni titled ‘Cellars of the Inferno: Confessions of an RSS Pracharak’ breaks any doubts on RSS. Sudheesh was an RSS pracharak, who was inducted to its divisive ideology at a very early age of 5. He participated at different levels – both as a participant in shakhas as well as organizer of shakhas, both at the state level and the national level. He travelled across the country and spent about 25 years of his life with RSS. The initial conviction with RSS ideology later gave way to repentance for the activities carried. The book is a product of his repentance for his role as an RSS pracharak. The book provides an insider view of RSS, its activities, functioning’s, role in divisive activities.

Sudheesh was born in a small village in Kannur district of Kerala. His association with RSS started while he was 5 year old. He used to attend Balagokulam, which used to be organized on weekends. This was targeted at children. The natural curiosity of children to listen to stories of child Krishna was used as a means to instill hatred. Stories around Shivaji and Rana Pratap were also recited to children. Shivaji was depicted as a protector of Hindus from Muslim invasion. The facts of many Muslims being part of military machinery of Shivaji were never depicted. In the manipulated stories with ideological color, wars were never depicted as rivalries between kings for power and territorial expansion but as a war taking place between two different religions. The happenings of those times such as Mumbai bomb blasts were discussed in Balagokulams and were pointed as activities carried out by Muslims against Hindus.

The evening shakhas used to take place for an hour. Apart from yoga, nigooda (traditional war education), marching – what also used to take place was sports activities like kabaddi and khokho. In Kabaddi, children were instructed that on the other side of the line were enemies of the nation – who were Muslims, Christians and Communists. The children were instructed to touch as many enemies as possible during the game. This was followed by songs where they were made to feel proud of their Hindu identity. Inculcating superstitious thinking was common where in one instance it was pointed that a ‘political enemy would die out of snake bite, through god who would come in the form of a snake’.

The prathamik varg shikhak varg course used to be organized for a week during Christmas vacation. It used to be residential and go on for a week. It starts with morning prayers, followed by stick movement, discussions, speeches and evening sports. Each event has a strong anti-Muslim, anti Christian and anti Communist component. The content was primarily from Golwalkar’s ‘Bunch of Thoughts’ and ‘We and our Nationhood defined’. The last day was followed by lighting of lamp and a talk calling out the trainees to shoulder the responsibility of ‘protecting hindus’ who are in danger. With this they were prepared as primary instructors.

RSS has an organized structure. Based on duties, RSS has Khat Pramukh, Mukya Shikhshak, Shikshak, Shaka Karyavaha and Seva Pramukh. At the Mandal level are Mandal karyavaha, Saha karyavaha, Mandal sharirik pramuch, Mandal Boumik pramukh, Mandal Seva pramukh and Mandal sampark pramukh. Apart from this it has Taluk sangh chalak, Zilla pracharak and Zilla vyavastha pramukh. These were based on geography and functions such as sports, social activities and public relations. RSS had no economic agenda. It had its connection with more powerful sections such as large landholders. The concept of land belonging to the tiller was not a principle believed by them. These were seen in incidents where they stood by large landholders and against cultivating landless. This was seen as an arrangement through which they can get some land, monetary and political support for RSS activities.

The creation of rumors was a regular process. Rumors were manufactured to create the image of existence of threat to Hindu religious based activities and the community. An instance of Theyyam festival is pointed out where a rumor was spread of the festival going to be disturbed by the other party. Any suspicion of activities targeted against RSS was acted upon. Sathyan a famous athlete became a victim of such suspicion.

Sudheesh attended his first Sangh shiksha varg in Madurai for 25 days. Daily physical training, stick movement, speeches, discussions and exams were integral. The shibhir stressed that adoption of Christianity, Islam and Communist ideology had caused the destruction of Indian culture. It was emphasized that to protect Bharat Matha from becoming pieces and protecting its culture, they need to fight. The participants are made to draw map of Akhand Bharat which includes China, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Srilanka. It is emphasized that as sevaks, they should rest in peace only after getting back Akhand Bharat. Elimination of three enemies is projected as a way and means to attain Akhand Bharat. In the second Sangh shiksha varg attended by author, the points discussed also included strategies for Hindu revivalism, anti-hindu behavior of Gandhi, critics of hindutva ideology, pilgrimages, old temples, the need to protect hindu temples etc.

The author points that events, which otherwise are not religious have a hidden agenda when undertaken by Pracharaks. He cites his example whereby he tried to reach out to minority institutions to impart vedic maths to Hindu students. Once the students enrolled to the course beyond the school, they were slowly inducted with ideas of a Hindu nation. This happens even in Yoga classes run by pracharaks. Other activities include spiritual activities, yoga, social activities, tuitions, job trainings, coaching institutions for services by Pracharaks. During these events there was subtle introduction to aspects of RSS ideology. He feels that aspects such as vedic maths and yoga can be taught by completely eliminating it of its religious color. The pracharaks operated clandestinely.

The author points to the huge network of Sangh parivar. This includes Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) targeting students, Bala Gokulam targeting small children, Yuva Morcha targeting youth, Mahila Morcha targeting youth, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh targeting workers etc. Other wings included Vignana Bharati (Swadeshi science), Vidya Bharati (Education), Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Hindu Aikya Vedika, Bharatiya Vichaar Kendra, Kshetra Sanrakshan Samithi, Seva Bharati (Social activities), Bhaskar Jyoti, Vanavasi Kalyana Ashram, Ekalavya Institutions and Vivekananda Kendra. It also includes Ayyapa seva samithi, Kannaki, Janmabhoomi, Kesari, Vrattantham, Kurukshetra prakasamm. It also started associations with fisher community. Besides large number of NGOs sponsored by RSS. Each of these works as part of the larger ‘Sangh Parivar’ to carry their agenda of Hindutva.

The author talks of his experience in organizing the shibirs with children in tribal areas. Ideas of Hindutva were introduced in a primitive community ignoring their identity. An anti-muslim and anti-chrisitan feelings was also propagated among them. This was in a community who never believed in Hindu identity and that by itself was alien.

Referring to his participation in Naipunya varg (secret summit) of RSS at Nagpur, it also had famous industrialists including Adani attending during inaugural session. To inculcate the idea of Hindutva among sections, separate cells were proposed for Industrialists, Government officials, Hindu priests, Teachers, Doctors, Media and Cultural cell. Each cell was to identify loopholes in identified areas, review once in three months and attack the government in power. Internet was to be used as a means to propagate. The closing ceremony was ended with a speech of retired judge who called for accepting Hindutva as a way of life. It points at the level of penetration of RSS ideology among the elite.

The author observes that RSS owned infrastructure have been reduced to places for corruption, sexual activities and preserving weapons. The need to prepare and buy arms for eliminating enemies is emphasized in Sangh. In the name of fighting back the enemies in Kannur, Karyavahak suggested the usage of Rifles instead of Bombs and swords. The author quotes an instance where he expressed his frustration to another sevak stating that Swayamsevaks are groups which indulge in women harassment, lootings and drinking. All this happens in the name of protecting religion.

Sharing about his visits on RSS mission to Northern parts of the country, he points that Swayamsevaks here also consisted of professionals such as Doctors, Engineers, Scientists, Police officials. Each had a sacred thread. Rich landlords with large landholdings were also part of them. The responsibility for running panchayati or block level shibirs was largely in their hands. Dalits who were landless were exploited. An instance is quoted where a rich landlord (a swayam sevak) was approached by lease farmer requesting for delay in paying due to crop failure. Instead the lease farmer was asked to send his wife and daughters to the landlord. Another instance was seen where demands of a tribal leader to install Ganesh in a temple in a tribal dominant locality was requested from Sangh leaders. This was rejected on the premise that this is reserved only for upper castes. When finally this was installed, the temple was put on fire.

The author points that while sangh mobilizes Dalits for events such as Babri Masjid demolition, the ones who instigated from upper caste continue to be safe. The Dalits who were made to participate became victims. This was equally true of Gujarat.

The Sangh mobilizes about crores of rupees in the name of Guru Dakshina. From within Kerala, about Rs. 250 crores is mobilized. Big industrialists, business persons, contractors, government officials also donate the RSS. A huge amount is mobilized from across the country. This is used for creation of communal incidents, planning terror activities, ending peace and harmony among communities.

The author parts away from RSS to join an alternative. He points that corporatization and communalization have come together and posing threats to the security and democratic values and secular fabric of the nation. Hence he emphasizes on the need for alternative.

The book by Sudheesh Minni is a necessary reading for those who still have an illusion about the RSS and Sangh Parivar. It also provides an anatomy and the way the parivar functions. Most importantly it helps in breaking the myth of RSS being a mere cultural and social organization working for protection of Hindus. It convinces you that more than protecting one, its activities are centered on propagating the idea of eliminating the other. In the idea of building Hindu identity, its attempt in maintaining caste and class based dominance becomes clear. It is a welcome reading for those working to expose the activities of RSS.

This article was first published on countercurrents.org.

Some Questions for the Proposed World Council of Muslim Minorities

April 30, 2018

Over half a billion Muslims, nearly one third of their total population, live in contexts in which they are minorities. The context of their being minority differs from place to place. In places like Europe, this is the result of result migration owing to the wars in Arab world. These communities are new, and need to adjust to the new political environment which they find themselves in, which is very different from their home Muslim majoritarian context.

Then there are Muslim minority contexts which are in the form of historically established communities who have been living together with other communities for centuries. India is an obvious example. Yet, over the years, owing to a number of factors, there has been a growing alienation of the Muslim minority communities. Some reasons for this are internal: there is increasing reliance on particular readings of religious texts which is weaning Muslims away from their shared cultural contexts. But the problem is also from the outside: increasing Islamophobia has meant that Muslims have come to be considered as untrustworthy and their religion as the epitome of backwardness.

In some places, such stereotypical construction of Islam and Muslims have resulted is pure unadulterated hate towards them. Muslim minorities have been the unfair targets of discriminatory policies including from the highest echelons of the state.

Rohingyas for example, have been systematically made stateless through a series of state level policies designed to obliterate their language, identity and citizenship rights. While these minorities have negotiated their trajectory within the political limits of their respective nation-states, there was always a need for a platform to bring them together, perhaps to listen to their specific problems and formulate a strategy so that internationally they can act as a pressure group in order to influence policy decisions.

It is for this reason alone that the proposed establishment of World Council of Muslim Minorities should be welcomed. The stated objectives of the proposed Council is to “coordinate the efforts of Muslim minority institutions and enhance their role by encouraging members of Muslim minorities to contribute to the renaissance of their states, correcting the stereotypical image of Islam and Muslim minorities and bridging the intellectual and cultural gap between the components of the human society”. The council also aims to “promote cultural pluralism and respect for the cultural and intellectual specificities of the Muslim minorities in the world and to promote the values of moderation, dialogue, tolerance and national belonging, and to reject religious fanaticism and hatred of others and to promote the civil and political rights of Muslim minorities as an inherent human right in accordance with international and national convention”.

The stated objectives of the Council are laudable. However, there are certain important things which the proposed Council should deliberate when they meet in May at Abu Dhabi. The first is the very political locus of this initiative. A platform like this should have been initiated through the efforts of Muslims who live in minority situations. What we see here is quite the reverse: the call to establish such a Council has come from a Muslim majority context. What is perhaps more disturbing is the very tone of paternalism adopted by the founders of the Council. They state that they were ‘obliged’ to establish this platform after learning about the difficulties that Muslims living in minority contexts are facing.

Now, there is no denying the fact that Muslims in minority contexts do have their share of the problem, but then this is a problem which should have been resolved by them. They should have been the initiators of such a political action. In taking away the agency from Muslim minority contexts that actually experience discrimination, the Arab world is trying to re-establish its hegemony over the rest of the Muslim world. There is therefore a very real danger that the voices of those Muslims who are experiencing alienation would not be represented in such a forum.

Therefore, one of the first measures that the proposed Council should adopt is to have adequate representation of Muslims from minority contexts in its executive body. Any failure to do so will certainly send a signal that the Council is not serious at all in the welfare of Muslim minorities.

Secondly, it is certainly admirable to talk of promoting pluralism as one of the aims of the Council. However, fostering pluralism should not just be done at an inter-community level but also at the intra-community level. What is being argued here is that without looking at the internal dynamics within Muslim societies, it will not be possible to promote pluralism and dialogue between Muslims and other communities. The Council aims to correct the perception of Islam amongst non-Muslims and for this it wants to present the true face of Islam to other communities.

However, there is a huge problem here: there is no correct way of defining Islam and hence search for the true face of Islam will always remain illusory. What is more worrisome is that from the moderate to the most radical factions within Islam, all claim to be the true face of Islam. Recognizing the plurality of Islamic tradition itself therefore is a more refreshing idea; something which the proposed Council is silent about.

Coming back to the question of internal pluralism within Muslim societies, it should be fostered on priority. The proposed Council must see to it that the internal diversity within Muslims-culturally and religiously-must be reflected within all decision making bodies of the Council. We know that Sunnis have deep mistrust of the Shias and vice versa. We also know both together look at the Ahmadiyyas as a heretic community within Muslims and therefore beyond the pale of Islam. The question that needs to asked of this Council is whether these communities and by extension these historically valid interpretations of Islam will be part of the leadership of the Council or not. It is all very good to talk of dialogue, moderation and pluralism, but such noble intentions will make more sense when we ask ourselves the more difficult question as to why we lack these things within our own societies in the first place.

This article was first published on newageislam.com.

NHRC finds Untouchability and Caste Based Atrocities still rampant in Gujarat

April 30, 2018

A bench of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), that was conducting a two day open hearing of human rights cases in Gujarat, was shocked to discover that members of Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Dalits reported untouchability and caste-based atrocities in nearly 75% of Gujarat villages. The facts were brought to their attention by some NGOs. “We have categorically asked the chief secretary and the state DGP to take proactive action against perpetrators,” said NHRCChairman Justice H L Dattu.

Justice Dattu also admitted that the commission did not know anything about the state’s actions in the 2012 Thangadh police firing incident, where three Dalit youths were killed. “I am hearing of the Thangadh firing incident for the first time,” Dattu said. He also said that they had no information about action taken in the much-publicised Una Dalit flogging incident, where the victims recently declared their intent to convert to Buddhism due to the state’s apathy.

The NHRC Panel ruled on several important cases such as that of the suicide of Parvata Bhai Koli, a Pakistani man in Radhanpur jail in 2013. The custodial death case had been referred to the NHRC in 2015. The NHRC directed that a compensation of Rs 1 lakh be paid to Koli’s kin. It also directed the Gujarat government to pay Rs 2 lakhs as compensation to the family of Narvata Meda, who was found dead in the lock up of the Dhanpur Police Station in Dahod in 2011.

Meawhile the commission has also ordered an inquiry into the high rate of child mortality at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital in October last year. Moreover, in the matter pertaining to cases manual scavenging deaths, where the state records a worrisome figure of 161, NHRC member Jyotika Kalra said, “The state government has assured Rs 10 lakh compensation for each of the 40 victims who died after 2014.”

The commission said that of the 17.5 lakh human rights cases across the country since the inception of the NHRC, Gujarat has reported 26,500 cases.

The students of AMU say a loud ‘No’ to RSS Shakha in AMU

April 30, 2018

1925 marks the birth year of the hateful and terror-breeding organisation Rastriya Swayam Sewak Sangh, founded by Dr. K. B. Hegdewar and VD Savarkar. The much-exaggerated ‘Veer’ Savarkar was the same person who pleaded and begged to the British numerous times from jail for mercy and his release. Later, these fanatics shared by common ideology came under the banner of RSS. The tail of espionage and working hand in glove with the British is much known in the history of pre-independent India. From exchanging outfits and staging violence to spitting venom in public meetings there has been no stone left unturned by the RSS to break down the social fabric of India.

It was on 30th January, 1947 when MK Gandhi was gunned down by the Hindu fanatic and member of the RSS Nathuram Godse at Birla House, Delhi. Soon after the death of Gandhiji, in a letter to Golwalkar dated 11th September, 1948 Sardar Patel the then home minister of India pointed out “Opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhi’s death.” What does this indicate? And why was RSS so happy that it had to distribute sweets after the killing of Gandhi?

In a letter dated 14th March, 1948, Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote to Sardar Patel:
“I am told that RSS people have a plan of creating trouble. They have got a number of men dressed as Muslims and looking like Muslims who are to create trouble with the Hindus by attacking them and thus inciting the Hindus. Similarly, there will be some Hindus among them who will attack Muslims and thus incite Muslims. The result of this kind of trouble amongst the Hindus and Muslims will be to create conflagration.”

Among RSS’s ideological forefathers the so called ‘Guru’ Golwalkar occupies a big space, in his book ‘Bunch Of Thoughts’ M. S. Golwalkar spits out venom in the following words:
“Even to this day there are so many who say, ‘now there is no Muslim problem at all. All those riotous elements who supported Pakistan have gone away once for all. The remaining Muslims are devoted to our country. After all, they have no other place to go and they are bound to remain loyal’… It would be suicidal to delude ourselves into believing that they have turned patriots overnight after the creation of Pakistan on the contrary, the Muslim menace has increased a hundredfold by the creation of Pakistan which has become a springboard for all their future aggressive designs on our country.”

How the narrative for Indian Muslims having nexus with Pakistan has come to fore in contemporary times we need to look back of how virulent this notion was treatisised by Golwalkar in his book, “…within the country there are so many Pakistans’… The conclusion is that, in practically every place, there are Muslims who are in constant touch with Pakistan over transmitter…”

There are some serious questions that need to be answered; it is a deep travesty for our country that the heads of incumbent dispensation are members of the same traitor organization.

RSS, which was responsible for pre and post-independence rioting, conspiring and spreading communal hatred, paradoxically in contemporary India claims itself to be nationalist and seek others patriotism for the nation. After seventy years of Independence it is bemoaning to see that elected BJP MPs like Sakshi Maharaj demands to declare Nathuram Godse as a national patriot.

Now coming to the recent row, it is highly bemoaning to see morons and ignorants like Aamir Rasheedi demand opening an RSS shakha in AMU. The students and faculties of Aligarh Muslim University are much educated and well aware of the fact of how RSS worked as puppets of the British and is responsible for spreading hatred, violence, communal rioting, pogroms, carnages and moreover killing of Gandhi. We the students of AMU will not let a traitor organization like RSS into the varsity’s campus and strictly warn people like Rasheedi to keep their idiotic ideas outside. AMU is a diverse, inclusive, plural and democratic institution of whose character is totally hostile to the ideology of the Sangh. Do not dare even to keep an evil eye on AMU.

This article was first published on TwoCircles.net.

Kathua Case: A Communal Crime, Now a Communal Trial?

April 30, 2018

The Supreme Court, in its silence, is allowing for the issue to linger on, letting tensions in the area grow, and is also letting delivery of justice for the victim be delayed.

Only three weeks ago, the Bar Association of Kathua and the Jammu High Court Bar Association had proudly and loudly protested against filing of a chargesheet by the Crime Branch in the case of the rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl in Kathua. Now, the Bar Association is denying it did any such thing when asked by the Supreme Court. Even more shockingly, the Bar Council of India (BCI), which was to investigate the misconduct of the lawyers, is supporting these claims despite all the evidence that exists to the contrary – including videos from media coverage of the protest. This also includes the admission of the Kathua Bar Association itself in this press release:

J&K Police as well as the J&K state counsel have opposed the claims being made by the lawyer groups and the BCI report. S P Vaid, Director General of Police, J&K, said the five-member team of the BCI – led by former BCI chief Tarun Agarwal – never met the officials of Crime Branch or the J&K police. It is not possible for the BCI report to then present a balanced view of events, and the clean chit given to the lawyers of Kathua and Jammu High Court Bar Association cannot be accepted.

J&K government’s counsel Shoib Alam said, “This report is not reliable and should not be accepted because no officer of the J&K Police Crime Branch, who were actually prevented from discharging their official duty while presenting the chargesheet, has either been contacted or heard by the committee (of BCI). In the absence of the version of the officers, committee could not have concluded that the Bar didn’t interfere with the submission of the chargesheet.”

Prior to the BCI’s report, on Wednesday, the state of J&K had submitted an affidavit before the Supreme Court, drawing attention to the behaviour of the lawyers, who had protested before the Chief Judicial Magistrate on April 9, not allowing the Crime Branch to file the chargesheet in the case. Any delay in investigation of cases of such nature can prove to be a serious impediment to justice, as passage of time can affect analysis of evidence. This is a fact, which should be well-known to the lawyers. However, this did not stop them from hindering the process.
The Kathua Principal District and Sessions Judge has also submitted a report in the Supreme Court opposing the findings of the BCI. The report says, “As soon as Crime Branch team arrived in the premises of court, a group of lawyers resorted to massive and intense protest demonstrations.”

The BCI, in its report, has also endorsed the demand made by the lawyers to transfer the case to CBI. Yousuf Tarigami, CPI(M) leader and MLA from Kulgam, said in a statement: “The BCI panel has no authority to submit such a report. The Supreme Court has never directed them to file any such report as to their opinion on justifiability of a CBI investigation of the Kathua case. They were only directed to enquire and find out whether the local lawyers had obstructed the filing of the charge by the police/the trial proceedings.”

The SC bench consisting of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, did not issue any proper response to these reports and statements, dismissing them, saying that they did not want the main issue of a fair trial to be missed. However, the communal nature of the crime cannot be ignored in any fair trial, neither can the communally charged demands by the lawyers and by the Hindu Ekta Manch (HEM). Hearing a separate plea, the SC bench has decided to stay the trial till May 7, to consider transfer of the trial to Chandigarh and handover of investigations to the CBI.

It is unclear what the transfer to CBI can achieve, when a thorough probe has already been carried out by the state authorities. Looking at the past record of the investigation agency in J&K, perhaps what can be expected, is bungled proceedings and no convictions. As pointed by Indira Jaising, legal representative of the victim’s father, this could be what the protesting lawyers and HEM want.

The Supreme Court, in its silence, is allowing for the issue to linger on, letting tensions in the area grow, and is also letting delivery of justice for the victim be delayed.

BJP too is unwilling to admit that its ministers – Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, who had been active participants in HEM’s rallies supporting the rape accused police officers, have caused any hindrance to the investigations. Amit Shah, national president, has come out in support of the two ministers, saying that they have retired on moral grounds.

To defend itself, the Kathua Bar Association is also saying that their protest was not against the filing of the chargesheet (the timing and location of their protest make that hard to believe), but to seek the deportation of Rohingya refugees, and against the attempts being made by the Jammu government to bring about a change in demographics of the area. This demographic change, according to the protesting groups, will be achieved by granting of rights to the Gujjar Bakarwals to not be forcibly evicted.

This forced vilification of the Bakarwal community, which is receiving state support, will only come back to bite this government. The Bakarwals are well-known amongst Army circles as providers of valuable intelligence of any suspicious movement along the Line-of-Control. As noted by retired Lt Gen Bhopinder Singh in his Asian Age column , during the wars of 1965, 1971, and the Kargil war, the Bakarwals were amongst the first to forewarn the Indian Army of any intrusion by Pakistan.

This community, like many others in India today, is at fault because of its religious beliefs. But in these attempts to artificially create communal tensions, what will be lost, is justice for an innocent girl, and the trust of a community in a state already fraught with animosity towards India.

This article was first published on Newsclick.in

This was a Lynching situation: Former JNUSU president Mohit Pandey on attacks by ABVP

April 28, 2018

Goons presumably affiliated to right wing students’ organisation ABVP, attacked former JNUSU president Mohit K. Pandey along with few others in JNU last night.

Vivekananda Vichar Manch, an organisation being said to be a “proxy of ABVP”, organised the screening of a film on ‘Love Jihad’ yesterday. The JNUSU gave a call for protests with the message, “They will not tell us whom to love” in a bid to counter the patriarchal and Islamophobic conceptualization behind the supposed phenomenon of Love Jihad. Students say that neither was it a call for censorship nor of disruption and that they just wanted to register their discomfort through this. However, soon after people from ABVP allegedly unleashed a violent attack on students and an especially gruesome one on former JNUSU president and students’ leader, Mohit Pandey.

As per accounts by students, Pandey was surrounded by several ABVP goons and then subsequently attacked. Further, as he tried to get into a car of one of his friends parked nearby, the hooligans surrounded the car as well, broke the glass panes and tried to drag him out. Mohit somehow escaped the attack. Students say that the intensity of attack was tantamount to “a murderous attack” Mohit himself recorded his testimony on the attack as follows:

“This was almost a lynching situation where 50 were throwing stones on us and were trying to attack us by broken glasses, belts and sticks. ABVP member Saurabh Sharma led the Mob and Goondas like Venkat Chaubey, Shivam Chaurasia, Aishwarya Pratap Singh, Vikrant, Ashutosh provokes them. I was nearly saved.”

He added that an outsider Saurabh broke the car’s glass by his hand and then he took glass tried to attack him as the groups continued to hurl big stones on them from behind. Later as he went and took shelter in Transit house “to pacify the violent attitude of ABVP goons, they came in Teacher’s flat and abused everybody. Guards were trying to save us and ABVP was pushing guards.”

Student leader Umar Khalid noted in his account, “As I was stepping out of JNU main gate, I saw media persons of one of the Godi media channels standing there and doing a shoot.” He said that he will not be surprised that the media will now turn it around and say that it was ABVP that was attacked, and JNU students are against freedom of expression. He added, “ABVP is already circulating pictures of a bloodied hand of someone as ‘evidence’ of attack on them by leftist students. The reality is this is the same guy who broke the glasses of the car, in which Mohit sat down while trying to escape their attack, and his hand was injured when he broke the window pane to attack Mohit”

Another student Amir Malik who narrowly escaped the attack, noted in his facebook account that the attack was a planned one. He alleged that the attackers firstly gathered from T-point to Tapti and hunted for students activists with “the intention to kill”.

He further said, “They, while, I was coming from Tapti towards North gate these goons CHASED me Near T-POINT, but couldn’t really CATCH me, otherwise they would have thrashed me like they have beaten-up Mohit, Avinash, Niharika, & many more.”
Through his public post, Amir said that “if anything happens to me then their leaders will be held responsible”

The Students have given a call for protests on April 28, today, at 9 pm.

Stop the Online Vilification of Rana Ayyub: NWMI

April 28, 2018

The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) has expressed solidarity with journalist and author Rana Ayyub, after a tweet attributing a fake and controversial quote to her went viral and severely vilified her in the process. Though Ayyub is not new to such vilification and has been in the eye of the storm ever since here award winning book Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up, about the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002 was published, this incident has rung alarm bells across civil society groups given how it makes journalists, particularly women, vulnerable to abuse.

In a strongly worded press release NWMI says, “Over the course of the past few days, starting with a parody account of Republic TV that attributed a fake tweet to Ayyub in which she purportedly defended child rapists and supposedly said that Muslims were not safe in India, this campaign has shown no sign of abating.” Though AltNews proved that the account was fake, it was too late, as by then the fake tweet and its image had been shared thousands of times on Facebook and WhatsApp along with a Hindi translation of the fake tweet that was posted on April 22.

NWMI fears for Ayyub’s safety given how despite the deletion of the fake tweet and account, other fake tweets have been circulating along with videos and content with Ayyub’s morphed face, with exhortations to gang-rape. “In a classic case of ‘doxing’, her address and personal number have been made public, making her vulnerable to further abuse that could also become dangerous in the real world,” says NWMI. The press release further states, “This concerted, malicious misrepresentation and open intimidation as well as incitement to violence has serious implications for Rana Ayyub and, indeed, all journalists. It cannot but have a very real chilling effect on free speech and opinion. It is also in contravention of all laws in India concerning violence against women.” NWMI calls out politicians including Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to “rein in their followers who harass, abuse and threaten in their names.” It lists the following two demands:

• The NWMI demands that the Cyber-Crime cell of the Delhi Police take immediate steps to ensure safety for Rana Ayyub, identify the source/s of the threats and take stringent action against them.
• The NWMI further demands that social media platforms like Twitter take steps to distinguish parody accounts from real ones and intervene when the platform is used for hate speech and threats of violence.

Meanwhile Reporters Without Borders has also come out in support of Ayyub saying, “Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns an unprecedented week-old hate campaign on social networks against Indian freelance journalist Rana Ayyub and calls on the government and the New Delhi police to do whatever is necessary to protect her.”

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Stop the Online Vilification of Rana Ayyub: NWMI

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