Prof Archana Prasad. Image credit: Youtube

Police said 10 persons have been booked under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 and 149 of IPC.

The FIR based on the complaint lodged by the deceased’s wife also names Vineet Tiwari associated with Delhi’s Joshi Adhikar Sansthan and Sanjay Parate, state secretary, Chhatisgarh CPI (M) and other localites. 

Bastar SP Rajendra Dash told SabrangIndia, “This is an extremely serious issue. FIR has been registered and investigation is underway."

Interestingly, Prof Prasad told SabrangInidia that she hasn’t been to the village in last six months, and Prof Sundar has told ANI that she hasn’t been to the area since May.

When questioned about the role of the Delhi-based professors and the political leader in the case, he said, “All of them are Naxalites. All of them. Strict action will be taken against them.”

Armed Naxals had allegedly killed the villager, Shamnath Baghel, with sharp weapons on late night on Friday (November 4) at his residence in Nama village of Tongpal area. Earlier this year in April, Baghel had filed a complaint against Sundar and others with the police and had accused them of inciting tribals against the government and seeking their support for Maoists.

Dubbing the charges against her 'baseless', Prof Arachana Prasad told SabranIndia, “This is clearly done by Chhattisgarh government in an attempt to keep Salwa Judum alive. This is the reason they’re looking for scapegoats and we’re being targeted, because we’re academicians. I’ve been going to Bastar since last 30 years and know a lot more than the police, who’re speaking of ‘strict action’. All of this is politically motivated.”

Prof Prasad also said that she hasn’t been to Bastar in last six months and claimed that there is no connection whatsoever between her and the alleged murder.

Prof Prasad accused the government of waging an attack on activism through such scheming. “They [CPI (M)] are not Maoists. They have a political party. They’re trying to put the onus on democratic political parties. They (government) are obviously trying to attack the political activism.”

Parate expressed similar concerns over the allegations and said, “This is nothing but an offensive on the very structure of the democracy. It’s happening everywhere in the country, not just in Bastar. They are trying to impede the activities of political parties. They don’t want political parties who are speaking up for tribals, who’re taking a stand against the oppressors. They want to eliminate our activism.”

Calling the charges against him and the professors ‘bogus’ he said, “Even they (police) know that there is no case. Still, they’ll drag us into it just to make things difficult for us. But, it won’t work.”

Parate also said that a state-wide protest will be planned to condemn the alleged framing of the professors and political activists.
 

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Representational picture, Image credit: India Ink
 
Although the curfew – that was imposed in the valley on August 13 following the killing of militant Burhan Wani, has been lifted from Srinagar and rest of the Kashmir, there is no sign of life in the valley returning to relative normalcy in near future.  The schools that have been shut since their summer break in July are not likely to reopen or resume functioning any soon. 
 
In the last three and a half months, at least 20 schools have been burnt down, coaching centres have been targeted with stone-pelting and the Hurriyat Conference has refused to exempt schools from its protest calendar. 
 
A Hindustan Times report elaborated on this aspect of the crisis, claiming that at least one school in all the 10 districts of Kashmir was burnt and eight of the total 20 have been reduced to ashes. Police have managed to arrest none of the ‘miscreants’ in these cases and it has become extremely difficult to run the schools in the valley.
 
A senior retired official from the education department of Jammu and Kashmir state government told SabrangIndia, “This place is filled with so much uncertainty. The situation is extremely serious and it’s difficult to ensure safety of the students. To gradually move towards normalcy and regular functioning of the schools, first confidence has to be built. Many children have got injured and have suffered from the violence, and their parents won’t be willing to risk their lives by sending them to the schools.” 
 
He asserted that the schools won’t be reopened until the trust deficit is filled, among the people, but most importantly between the people of Kashmir, its state government and the government of India. It has also been reported that some of the parents from the valley have sent their children to Jammu or Delhi so that their schooling doesn’t get obstructed because of the unrest. “How many people can afford to that? Very few. Their number must be in the range of 0.0 –something. Kids of the rest of the people are all just sitting and home and are not studying,” he claimed. “Even the administrations of the private schools are not willing to take that risk. A meeting was conducted when they were asked to resume the schools, they asked us to communicate with Hurriyat, ensure safety of the students, then only they will consider reopening the schools,” he added.
 
Another retired bureaucrat from the valley told SabrangIndia, “Hurriyat first wants the release of hundreds of arrested students, as a pre-condition to the schools being re-opened. Only after there can be any talk of reopening the schools.”  SabrangIndia had earlier reported that there have been an inordinate number of arrests by the police and para-military in the state.
 
However, according to the news reports, exams for the students of Delhi Public School were conducted last week, following the state government’s decision to announce exams in a bid to get kids back to the school. The Indian Express had reported that even though the Hurriyat Conference leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for total shutdown of the schools, his grandchild was one of the students, who appeared for the exams conducted.
 
 

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Representational Image: Indiatimes

Women activists from CORO India and Mahila Mandal Foundation who were running a signature campaign in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai this week, raising demands for reforms in Islam, were attacked and abused by a group of men. The squabble took place on Friday evening when some men led by local religious leaders accused the women of conducting anti-Islamic activities.

Mumtaz Sheikh, women empowerment programme coordinator, CORO told Sabrangindia, “We were attacked and abused by them. They even tried to manhandle some of our women. We were asking them to have a legit discussion with us, talk to us about their concerns, but they didn’t listen to us.”

Sheikh also claimed that announcements have been made from the local mosques of the Trombay-Chemur area, warning locals to be wary of CORO Foundation. “They have circulated misleading and false messages on WhatsApp to defame CORO and our work among women, calling us anti-Islamic,” she added. “Since after the scuffle, the number women willing to sign have significantly decreased.”

“Agar chaar shadiyaan nahi karenge to kya hamari bewa auraton ko kothe pe bithayenge kya?” (If men are prohibited from marrying four women, should we send our widows to the brothels?) — Samajwadi Party Leader,Abu Asim Azmi

Confirming the incident, a Sanjay Nagar-based preacher, who had opposed the campaign by CORO said, “We regret that such an incident happened there. I apologise on behalf of the men who mistreated our sisters. We do not doubt their intention, but the solution that these women want implemented is un-Islamic. We are against that.”

Opposing the idea of reforms in Islam, he said, “The Holy Quran is not man-made. It is Allah's words. It does not have any error that needs to be rectified. It has all the right laws and regulations; we’re just not aware of them. People need to alter their behavior, and not the law. Some men, who are mistreating their wives, are bringing a bad name to our religion. That needs to be stopped. Quran is, of course, against any form of injustice.”

In the pamphlets distributed by the NGO, four demands have been listed for which consent of the Muslim women is being sought. Abolition of triple talaq, codification of Muslim law, adaptation of model nikaahnama and registration of marriages are the key four demands among those.

“We have been talking to the women from Muslim-predominant areas like Lotus garden, Shivaji Nagar, Bainganwadi and Vashi Naka, about the problems with the practice of triple talaq and tried to unite them for the cause of pro-women reforms, so that our voices get heard. But none of the women were forced to sign if they didn’t share our point of view. Their questions and queries were duly addressed and only after that they were asked to sign for the campaign.”

The NGO claims to have received close to 5,500 signatures supporting the proposed reforms.

Azmi’s Controversial Remark

While there’s been a strong opposition from various Muslim organisations and circles to the idea of implementation of uniform civil code or reforms in the religion, a controversial remark was apparently made by Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abu Asim Azmi.

Muslim women from Azmi’s constituency, who had gone to an ‘aamsabha’ (a meeting with the locals) quoted him as saying, “Agar chaar shadiyaan nahi karenge to kya hamari bewa auraton ko kothe pe bithayenge kya?” (If men are prohibited from marrying four women, should we send our widows to the brothels?) This quote had offended the women (who were present in small numbers for the meeting) and they had left the meeting.

When asked about his alleged remark during the aam sabha, Azmi told Sabrangindia, “My comment has been misinterpreted. Understand its motive. Hum unse galat kaam nahi karawa sakate hain na! (We can’t let the get involved in the wrong kind of work.) I was talking about my own mother and sister.”

When it was brought to his notice that the gender ratio of India would not require a man to take care of multiple women, he said, “Who is doing that in India then? Who is marrying four women? Hardly anyone — only in exceptional cases.”

He further expressed his staunch opposition to the idea of abolition of triple talaq. “Sharia is sacrosanct. We need to take some measures on community level to ensure justice to Muslim women. The law does not need to be amended for that,” he asserted.

Also read: Triple Talaq: Imams across India to give Sermons on Muslim Women’s Rights Every Friday

Also read: "Indian Muslim Women will Walk with the Quran in One Hand and the Constitution in the Other," Shaista Amber

Also read: Noorjehan Safia Niaz on the rights of Indian Muslim Women

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Image: Facebook.com/HinduSena

The Hindu right wing organisation has offered its full support to Trump, who, according to them, can be “India’s faithful ally to wage a war on Islamic jihad in Pakistan”.

A 30-strong mob belonging to the Hindu right wing organisation had gathered at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday. Clinton’s posters were burnt and placards were raised to display support for the Republican nominee.

Prem Verma, National Secretary General, Hindu Sena confirmed its stance to Sabrangindia. He said, “All the sexual harassment allegations made by Hillary Clinton and likes of her are fake, and it’s nothing but a political stunt by Clinton to debilitate Donald Trump.”

Alleging that Clinton has been supporting Pakistan and terrorism in South Asia, he claimed, “Clinton’s leadership cannot be beneficial for our country. We believe that she’s the one who is responsible for having supplied weapons to the terror groups in Asia – mainly, Pakistan.”

Trump, who is known for his staunch anti-Muslim stand, promised that if voted to power, India and the US would become “best friends” at a Republican Hindu Coalition event on Saturday.

“I am a big fan of Hindus and I am a big fan of India. If elected, the Indian and Hindu community would have a true friend at the White House," he said.

Referring to this promise, Verma told Sabrangindia, “Terrorism is a key issue for our country right now. Trump has the intent and the capacity to help India fight Pakistan and eliminate Islamic Jihad. He is in favour of Hindus and has promised the Americans as well that he’s going to put an end to terrorism. His presidency will be extremely fruitful for our country.”

He refuted the allegations of sexual harassment against Trump, claiming that he’s being framed by Clinton. “Where were these people all this time? As soon as these people realised that he’s so close to winning, these fake allegations have sprung up,” said Verma.

When asked if they too support Hindu Sena’s position on the US presidential election, Shiv Sena – a local Hindu right wing party from the state, said that it does not second Hindu Sena’s stance on the issue.

A party spokesperson told Sabrangindia, “We want to focus on local issues right now. Do we have a dearth of problems in Maharashtra? Our party does not want to take a stand on an issue which does not make any difference to us and the public here.”

It may seem that Trump is the recipient of support from the majority in India, but it’s interesting to note that only 9 per cent of Indian Americans are likely to give their vote to the Republican nominee.

According to the National Asian American Survey, 67 per cent of Indian Americans are most likely to vote for Clinton – the Democratic nominee, in the upcoming presidential elections of the US. No other Asian community opposes Trump's idea of banning the Muslim community into the US as much as Indians. Only 11% Indians supported the idea, and 78% opposed it.

The US presidential election to be held on November 8 this year, will see Clinton and Trump will be neck and neck to become the 45^th president of the country. If Clinton wins, she’ll become the first woman president of the US.

Related story: Hindutva Backs Donald Trump
 

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Dalit poet and activist Pradnya Daya Pawar. Photo credit: Praful Gangurde

In what is being dubbed as an appalling attack on the freedom of expression of the litterateurs, renowned Dalit poet and activist Pradnya Daya Pawar, along with eminent Dalit scholar Dr Raosaheb Kasbe were shown the door at the Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad’s literature festival in Patan, Satara.

The organisers of the festival, who themselves had invited Pawar to be the key speaker, and Kasbe as the chief guest of the two-day-festival last week, reportedly gave in to the pressure of a mob demanding action against both the speakers and asked them to leave citing “security concerns”.

Prof Pawar confirmed the incident to Sabrangindia and has expressed her disappointment with the organisers and the “cultural terrorism” that led to the unfortunate incident in an elaborate Facebook post.

Pawar spoke on the topic ‘Challenge of the cultural terrorism’ on the first day of the festival and claims that her speech was well-received by thousands of listeners present at that time. In her speech, she criticised the propagation of a culture that intends to suppress counter-voices of artists and litterateurs.

Stating that a societal censorship is far more dangerous than that imposed by the government, she said, “The writer in India has become frightened and insecure today. The rules regulating what to write and what not to write are being inscribed on his (writer’s) body. This has been achieved by RSS’ cultural nationalism, which, in fact, is giving rise to cultural terrorism.” She also mentioned incidents of killings on Bangladeshi writers and attack on their freedom of expression.

Taking on the Modi dispensation for their inaction over several attacks on and killings of the radical authors and activists in the country, Pawar said, “Modi had sworn to protect the constitution of India, when he came to power. Looks like, it took him no time to forget all about his promises. He has turned into a mookanayak just like Manmohan Singh.”  

In her Facebook post, Pawar has claimed that a conspiracy has led to the incident in Patan. “People appreciated my speech and complimented me for my analytical style. They were thronging around me to take my autograph and click a picture with me just after my speech. No one objected to anything in my speech that day. Something conspired through the night, however, and a crazy 100-strong-mob started sloganeering ‘Jai Bavani, Jai Shiavji’ outside my accommodation, and the organisers asked us to leave – pretending as if we were made to leave for our own security.”

Pawar has condemned the organiser’s inability to protect the chief guests. “How ironic! This incident took place during a festival dedicated to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s memory. The topic of the debate after we left was: ‘Freedom of expression and apathy of the litterateurs’!” she wrote.

She further wrote, “You are a Dalit and you have no right to speak up; if you dare to speak up, you’ll face its consequences is the message that they want to deliver. But, we’ll keep fighting. We believe in democracy and I am not going to sheath my words.”

Pawar is the daughter of late Dalit author and poet Daya Pawar, whose autobiography Baluta had created ripples in Marathi literature and had earned him several honours for his heart-wrenching narration of oppression of the untouchables.

The post The Latest Victims of “Cultural Terrorism”: A Dalit Poet and a Dalit Scholar appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The university has been facing a conundrum post an event organized by English and Foreign Languages department of the varsity on September 21, to pay tribute to the legendary author Mahasweta Devi, who passed away earlier this year.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) – student-wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had objected to one of the presentations during the one-day-event – a play called Draupadi, and has been leading protests in Mahendragarh, where the varsity is based. The coordinators of the programme have been accused of ‘sedition’ for presenting a play that narrates a story of a protagonist, who survives a custodial rape. The protesters have claimed that a scene – where the protagonist is raped by uniformed armymen and the epilogue, which talks about oppression of the women and civilians by armed forces, are “anti-national”.

Interestingly, the university which had given its due permission for the programme, has asked the coordinators of the programme to explain their position in writing after the unanticipated backlash. Vice chancellor R C Kuhad has also constituted a four-member committee, which consists of Kuhad himself, a former army official, former VC of the Kurukshetra University Bhim Singh Dahiya and VC of the Himachal Pradesh University Kuldip Singh Agnihotri, to look into the matter and submit its report. The committee is set to meet all the involved parties in Gurgaon on Tuesday, and will be submitting its report post the meeting.

Attack on free speech
Professor Snehsata, assistant professor at the university and one of the coordinators of the programme informed Sabrangindia, “It didn’t even occur to me that such an issue can be created out of what we were doing, and it can be blown up like this. This is like enforcing a censorship on the free-thinking minds of our society. After this whole thing, which is clearly politically motivated, I’ll have to think a thousand times before uttering a word or expressing any kind of opinion. My mind will automatically censor me. What kind of system is this? University should be a place, where you need not go with popular notions; it’s a place where we should give platform to different issues and diverse perspectives on them. We need to speak up against such intimidation.”

She added that this is not the first time that ABVP has disrupted an academic activity. “In 2014, they had also stopped the screening of Anand Patwardhan’s documentary Raam  Ke Naam in the campus. Electric supply was cut off in the middle of the screening because of their pressurization.”

Professor Manoj Kumar, who was the other coordinator for the event, has been allegedly accused of having Naxalite connections by some of the ABVP protesters.

Prof Snehsata said, “Simply because he has worked in Chattisgarh, they’re accusing him of being a Naxalite. Both of us have started receiving calls from the Intelligence Bureau after that and they’re asking for details of our schooling, background and connections.”

While professor Snehsata says that organisations like the Delhi University Teachers’ Association(DUTA) and Federation of Central University Teachers’ Association have extended their support to her and Professor Manoj Kumar, barring a few, many professors from the university have chosen to remain reticent. “We don’t have a teachers’ union inside the university, and the majority of the professors have distanced themselves from us. Is this really a personal issue of mine? This could have happened to any of them,” she said.

Protests against the play staged at Central University of Haryana, in Mahendragarh on Thursday. (Manoj Dhaka/HT Photo)

Flak from military officials
The event, which happened to take place just a few days after the Uri army camp attack has attracted flak from many of the former army officials in Mahendragarh.

Dr Sanjeev Kumar, HOD of the English and Foreign Languages department explained, “This has happened, because some of the hooligans have intentionally misinformed them and have taken the staging of the play out of context. Some innocent soldiers, elderly people turned up at the university, as they were told only the half-truth. We never had any intention to hurt their sentiments. That’s why the university has asked the coordinators to explain their position, in order to make these innocent soldiers understand.”

He, however, claimed that this would not affect future such initiatives on campus, and that this incident would not stop them from conducting literary and academic activities.

ABVP’s demand for sedition charges
State president of ABVP Pramod Shastri will also be meeting the enquiry committee along with the HOD of the department and the coordinators on Tuesday.

Shastri has demanded that the professors should be suspended and should be tried for sedition. Speaking to Sabrangindia, he said, “They have portrayed Indian Army as rapists. All of them are guilty, but are trying to dodge the issue. The University administration has shown double standards by allowing the play to be staged in the first place and now is pretending to be taking action against them. It was really wrong and insensitive of them to perform that rape scene on the stage and they should be punished for it. We’ll present our demands in front of the committee and then we’ll see what action is taken against them.”

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