Mahesh Shah detained

Viewers of a regional news channel witnessed high drama on Saturday evening as Ahmedabad-based realtor Mahesh Shah who had vanished after disclosing Rs 13,800 crore in cash under the IDS — which ended on September 30 – reappeared in the studio to claim the astronomical sum which he had declared to the IT department was not actually his.

The black money sought to be surreptitiously laundered, he claimed, belonged to politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen who had offered him a hefty commission for his “services”. Shah added that he will disclose the names of those who sought to hide behind his name to the IT department.

Admitting that what he did was unlawful, Shah maintained that he did so out of compulsion and lure of the handsome compensation.

“Those whose money I disclosed backed out at the last moment, so I could not pay the first instalment of the tax due to the IT department as stipulated in the scheme”, said Shah.

During the hour-long interview he maintained that he now feared for his life and that was why he chose to make his disclosure on a news channel. Shah said he was in Mumbai for the past 10 days and had just returned to Ahmedabad.

The drama reached its climax when in response to a telephone call by the news channel, the police accompanied by IT officials barged into the studio and took him under custody live on television.

A possible cause for the last minute alleged backing out by politicians and bureaucrats could be the fallout of the government's demonetisation of high value notes notification coming as it did soon after the last date —  September 30 — for the voluntary income disclosure scheme.
  
 
 
 

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Fifty lakh people have lakh people have so far viewed Arvind Kejriwal’s Assembly speech on demonetisation on social media platforms, according to a press statement issued by the party.

“AAP Facebook Page saw organic growth of about 640% in the week of Demonetisation and Arvind Kejriwal's response to it”, the report adds.

In his speech Kejriwal exposed the real reason” behind Narendra Modi government’s decision to withdraw Rs 1000 and Rs 500 currency notes.

Highlights from the press release:

• Video viewed by more than five Million people so far, as it is being shared across hundreds of platforms.
• AAP Facebook Page saw organic growth of about 640% in the week of Demonetisation and Arvind Kejriwal's response to it. 
• We received 640% more traffic on Nov 16th (Wednesday) compared to Nov 9th (One day after the day of announcement of Demonetisation).
• Arvind Kejriwal’s speech has recorded 4802000 views and 172128 shares on party’s Facebook pages (Please find attached the statistics along with this press release).
• AAP national Facebook page recorded 27,000,00 views on the speech video.
• AAP Delhi page recorded 10,50,000 views on speech video.

These statistics highlight the public response against the anti-people decision of demonetisation imposed on them by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the night of 8^th November, the press release noted.

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The Editor’s Guild of India reacted promptly and sharply to the Modi government’s gag order, calling it "a direct violation of the freedom of the media and, therefore, the citizens of India, and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency".  

But if the print editions of prominent national dailies dated November 4 and November 5 published from Mumbai are anything to go by, none except The Indian Express seems to think this unprecedented attack on press freedom is of much significance. As the news broke late on the evening of Thursday, November 3, news and views published on November 5 deserve a closer look. Take a look at the reportage and edits/comment pieces, in the various dailies on both dates. The front page of The Telegraph, Kolkata dated November 5 stands out in sharp contrast.

The Indian Express:
November 4:
Page 1: Single column on page 1, headline, "I&B panel: Take NDTV India off air on Nov 9 for Pathankkot", continued in 3 columns on page 2.

November 5:
Page 1: Lead story headline, “Ban recalls Emergency, withdraw it: Editors Guild on NDTV India".
Edit page: Lead editorial. Headline, “November 9 must not be blackout day. Government must take back NDTV ban order or court should step in, read it the Constitution".
Also, lead comment piece on edit page by Pratap Bhanu Mehta: “There is no Emergency: Let’s find another name for cult of the leader, tyranny of nationalism, use of state power to suffocate opposition”.

The Times of India:
November 4:
Page 1: Single column on page 1, headline, “1-day blackout penalty for TV channel over terror coverage”; continued in 3 columns on page 3.

November 5:
Page1: No news of the gag on NDTV India.
Page 14: Two columns under headline, “Ban on NDTV: Govt draws flak from Opposition”.
 Edit page: No edit/comment piece on the ban.

The Economic Times:
November 4: Page 2, single column, “Pathankot attack: Hindi News Channel to be off air for a day.”

November 5:
News: No reportage
Edit: Second editorial, “Don’t mock PM, Don’t Black Out channel.”

The Hindu:
November 4:
Page 13: A two-column report, “NDTV India ordered to go off air for a day”.

November 5:
Page12: Two-column news, bottom of page 12; headline, “NDTV ban sparks outrage”.
Edit page: Second editorial under headline, “Ominous curb on media freedom”.

The Hindustan Times: 
November 4:
Page 11: Two column story, “NDTV India off air for a day for flouting norms”.

November 5:
Page 8:  Four columns, “Media bodies, Opposition slam Centre over channel ban".
Edit page: Nothing on the ban.

The Asian Age:

November 4:
Page 1: Small box item: “TV channel taken off for 1 day”; continued in 4 columns of page 7.

November 5:
Page 7: “News channel ban sparks furore; Opp. refers to Emergency days; BJP hits back, says nation comes first”.
Edit/Op-ed pages: Nothing on the ban.

DNA:
November 4: No report on ban.

November 5:
Page 5: “Govt on NDTV one-day ban: Nation comes first.” As the headline itself suggests the report is clearly slanted towards the government’s justification of the gag.
Opinion Page: No edit/comment.
 

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Kejriwal said the decision was a reminder to other news channels that they too would face a shut down if they refused to eulogise Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 

 

His tweet said, “Listen to me all you channels. Your channels too will be closed if you don’t continue to worship Modi ji.”

Kejriwal’s former colleague and renowned Supreme Court lawyer, Prashant Bhushan dubbed the decision a ‘serious attack’ on media and free speech.

He said, “Govt orders shutdown of NDTV for Pathankot coverage while it tomtoms surgical strikes!This is the most serious attack on media & free speech.”

In a hugely controversial decision, the Centre’s Narendra Modi government on Thursday had recommended taking news channel NDTV India off air for a day for allegedly revealing “strategically-sensitive” details during the coverage of the Pathankot terrorist attack earlier this year.

An Inter-ministerial committee of the I and B ministry made the recommendations.

The ministry, according to PTI, will now ask the channel NDTV India to be taken off air for a day on 9 November, according to sources, in what would be the first order against a broadcaster over its coverage of terrorist attacks.

Efforts to reach the channel for its comments could not fructify.

The matter pertains to the coverage of the Pathankot terror attack by the channel where the committee felt that “such crucial information” could have been readily picked by terrorist handlers and had the potential to “cause massive harm not only to the national security, but also to lives of civilians and defence personnel.”

Courtesy: Janata ka Reporter
 

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An unruly mob of hundreds of people armed with locally-made weapons demolished at least 10 temples to the ground along with vandalising hundreds of houses of the Hindu community at Brahminbaria‘s Nasirnagar upazila on Sunday afternoon, reportedly in response to a Facebook post making satire of the Masjid al-Haram, the holy site of Muslims.

File Photo / Representative

Nasirnagar police have so far detained nine attackers and drive was underway to arrest others.

Meanwhile, district Awami League has demanded the withdrawal of Nasirnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) and the officer-in-charge of Nasirnagar police station.

Local citizens have organised a rally to promote communal harmony for Monday afternoon.

More than 100 people were injured in the attacks while six people were detained, according to reports.

Police took control over law and order in the area around 2:00 pm, a police official said. A raid was underway to nab the culprits, last reported.

Several hundred locals staged demonstration at Sarail-Nasirnagar-Lakhai highway on Friday noon demanding hanging of one Rasraj Das who allegedly was behind the FB post.

The temples are Duttobari temple, Nomosomudropara temple, Jagannath temple, Ghoshpara temple and Gouro temple.

Brahmanbaria Superintendent of Police (SP) Mizanur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that around 150 to 200 people launched the attacks and vandalised at least seven to eight idols of five temples in the area.

Mizan said a vested group carried out the attack to tarnish the government’s image.

Blaming the Jamaat-Shibir men for the attack, he said: “Those who were behind the attack will be arrested as soon as possible. Already we have detained six persons in this connection.”

Nasirnagar Hindu-Budhist-Christian Oikya Parishad president Adesh Dev, however, claimed to a news portal that in total 15 temples had been looted and destroyed.

“Several devotees were injured in the communal attack and police did not interfere into the looting. A BGB platoon has been deployed but only after the damage was done,” Dev said.

BGB 12 commander Lt Col Shah Ali said the para-military force were deployed on request of the deputy commissioner (DC) of the district to maintain law and order situation.

“A group of Hefajat-e-Islam supporters launch the attack on the Hindu community and vandalised their houses and temples while we were holding peaceful rally,” said Riazul Karim, convener of Nasirnagar unit of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat.

On information, Brahminbaria DC Rezwanur Rahman and SP visited the spot and assured people of the community of taking stern action against the attackers.

Contacted, Nasirnagar upazila parishad vice chairman Anjan Dev said: “Although the situation is under control at this moment (Sunday evening), members of the minority community are in a panic still. Preparations are going on to file separate cases over the demolition of temples.”

In reply to a query, Brahminbaria DC Rezwan said: “RAB, police and BGB personnel have been deployed in the upazila. Those involved in the attack will be brought to book after investigation.”

Meanwhile, madrasa students of the district staged demonstration at the district press club Sunday demanding hanging of Rasraj Das, detained over the allegation of posting, from his personal FB account, a picture of Masjid al-Haram on which a picture of Shiva was juxtaposed.

Police detained Rasraj on Saturday and produced him before a Brahmanbaria court on Saturday.

The court sent him to jail.

This report first published on Dhaka Tribune is being republished with permission.
 

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Photo: Jagrut Bharat

The Mumbai-based Forum Against Oppression of Women (FAOW) today launched a signature campaign calling upon the Union Law Commission to withdraw the “Appeal” and “Questionnaire” with immediate effect. It has appealed to women's groups and citizens across the country to endorse its statement detailing the reasons why the Commission should do so.

Among the reasons cited for the withdrawal is that the Commission "fails miserably" on all the guidelines stated by the government of  India's “Pre Legislative Consultation Policy” published on February 5, 2014 which laid down 12 guidelines to be followed for the pre-legislative consultation. The most important of the guidelines stipulated that "Every department/ministry concerned should publish/place in public domain the draft legislation or at least the information that may inter alia include brief justification for such legislation, essential elements of the proposed legislation, its broad financial implications, and an estimated assessment of the impact of such legislation on environment, fundamental rights, lives and livelihoods of the concerned/affected people, etc… for a minimum period of 30 days."

Instead of placing a draft the Commission has chosen to put out a 'questionnaire'. According to the Forum, it is "impossible to respond to some of the questions" in the absence of such a draft.

Further, putting out such a draft at a time when several petitions on issues of gender justice are pending before the Supreme Court "without draft legislation in the current social context would in fact confuse the issue of gender justice". 

"In the current communally charged atmosphere this issue requires utmost sensitivity. In fact some tribal organisations have already approached Supreme Court challenging the notion of a “Uniform Civil Code”, says the letter. 

The Forum has appealed for an endorsement of its letter to the Commission. Those who agree to do so are requested to e-mail their endorsement to: faowindia@yahoo.co.in OR  sandhyagokhale@yahoo.com.

The Forum has appealed for an endorsement of its letter to the Commission. Those who agree to do so are requested to e-mail their endorsement to: faowindia@yahoo.co.in OR sandhyagokhale@yahoo.com.

Photo: Getty image

Full text of the letter addressed to the Law Commission:   

We the undersigned organisations and individuals submit our response to the “Appeal” dated 7^Th October 2016, by the 21^st Law Commission to begin healthy conversation on viability of Uniform civil code as below.

We are aware that formulating any legal provision based on foundation of Indian constitution is an arduous task. It requires tremendous effort and commitment to basic tenets of the secular, democratic socialist framework of the Constitution.

For drafting of the constitution on 29 August 1947, Constituent Assembly set up a Drafting Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to prepare a draft Constitution for India. The assembly met in sessions open to the public, for 166 days, spread over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution, the 308 members of the assembly signed the document on 24 January 1950. 

Not only that but from 1930 women’s organizations have put out the demand for a comprehensive code. In response to that, under the chairmanship of law minister Dr Ambedkar, a committee was formed which modified further the first draft of Hindu code bill formulated in 1941. But many hindu fundamentalist voices from the assembly did not allow passage of this bill and in protest Dr Ambedkar resigned as law minister. Thereafter between 1952 to 1956 Jawaharlal Nehru managed to get the Hindu code bill passed in four separate segments.
We state all this to emphasise that no far reaching effective, just legal reform can be carried out without putting in similar sustained and intense efforts.

We are aware that any legal reform follows three phases: Pre-legislative phase, Legislative phase and Post-legislative phase.

This current effort of the law commission will fall within the ambit of Pre-legislative phase. The Law and Justice ministry of the Government of India has published the “Pre Legislative Consultation Policy” on 5^th February 2014, which lays down the to be followed for the pre-legislative consultation. There are total 12 guiding principles laid down in this policy.
The first two important points are reiterated here:

• Every Department/Ministry shall proactively publish the proposed legislations both on the internet as also through other means; the detailed modalities of such publication may be worked out by the Department/Ministry concerned.
• The Department/Ministry concerned should publish/place in public domain the draft legislation or at least the information that may inter alia include brief justification for such legislation, essential elements of the proposed legislation, its broad financial implications, and an estimated assessment of the impact of such legislation on environment, fundamental rights, lives and livelihoods of the concerned/affected people, etc. Such details may be kept in the public domain for a minimum period of thirty days for being proactively shared with the public in such manner as may be specified by the Department/Ministry concerned. 

If we look at the “Appeal” published by the 21^st Law commission of India, it fails miserably on all the guidelines stated by the PLCP referred to above.

In this context hence, we place before you our main concerns regarding your appeal in the context of the “Uniform Civil Code”:

1. The Questions are asked in context of “Uniform Civil Code”. But there is no draft put out of “Uniform Civil Code” referred to time and again in the “Appeal”.
2. The “Appeal” is accompanied by one questionnaire the purpose of which is purportedly to solicit ideas and opinions for a comprehensive exercise of revision and reform of family laws. In the absence of any draft put out, it is impossible to respond to some of the questions.
3. Most of the questions are “multiple” choice or binary in nature. Such kind of questionnaires are normally subjected to statistical analysis. We realise that the manner in which the questions are posed are misleading or at times leading to seek some answer which could then be put to some sort of statistical analysis. This leads us to wonder whether it is process in which some sort of majoritarian view point would get imposed on marginalized section of society based on the quantitative result. In fact, most of the issues raised in the questions do not confine to a yes-no/ one word/ multiple choice answers, but should be part of long debates, and consultative processes which should follow from detailed presentation of some existing draft.
4. This kind of an appeal makes a mockery of the pre-legislative process, which is not to be equated with “electoral” democracy based on numerical equations.
5. At this moment, many from the Muslim community, progressive women’s collectives and other organizations which also have men in forefront, are raising issues of gender equality before the Supreme Court. Given that the Supreme Court is hearing petitions challenging some of the gender biased aspects of Muslim Personal law, the timing of this “Appeal” and questionnaire raises many doubts. Introducing this “Appeal” and “Questionnaire” without draft legislation in the current social context would in fact confuse the issue of gender justice.
6. In the current communally charged atmosphere this issue requires utmost sensitivity. In fact some tribal organizations have already approached Supreme Court challenging the notion of a “Uniform Civil Code”.
7. This “Appeal” without a draft legislation would definitely be used as a tool to vitiate and polarize communities given the fact that elections are soon to be held in some states.

Taking into consideration our submissions above, we respectfully request the Law commission to withdraw the “Appeal” and “Questionnaire” with immediate effect.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Forum Against oppression of Women, Mumbai
 

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Photo credit: Business Standard

State officials were warned by the Union ministry that the “mad race” for giving jobs under MGNREGA could not continue. They were asked to “plan” more “judiciously” and bear in mind that the Centre would not make funds available any time soon.

This off the record communication is in gross violation of the provisions of MGNREGA which make it mandatory for the government to provide as much funds as are required for the work demanded by the rural poor. But, on the WhatsApp group, the government told states the idea that MGNREGA was demand-driven “did not cut much ice anymore”. 

Repeated pleas through the same informal WhatsApp channel of state officials for immediate release of funds for works already completed fell on deaf ears. As a result the state governments were forced to deny jobs to the rural poor.

The chat group, titled ENCORE (Enabling Communication on Rural Employment), includes senior ministry officials and state-level MNREGA officials as its members. The ministry, however, told the Business Standard, that the chat group was “a convenience for follow-up and reminders as also for showcasing good work by states through uploading of pictures."

The full report published by Business Standard may be read here.

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Image: Times of India

It also recommended that all political leaders, activists and young protestors detained under the Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) and other criminal charges should be released immediately and all cases against them should be withdrawn or revoked.

The other demands detailed in a PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties) press statement issued yesterday:

• The government and security forces should curfew and other restrictions throughout the Valley and cease all hostilities against the civilian population. There should be demilitarisation of the Valley including withdrawal of security forces from civilian areas.
• PSA, 1978 and AFSPA must be repealed from the statute books.
• Facilitate the filing of cases against members of the security forces who indiscriminately killed and injured and committed other atrocities on the people.
• Set up a judicial commission headed by a sitting judge of the SC to look into the alleged extra judicial killing of Burhan Wani and other similar cases.
• The ban on Kashmir Reader should be immediately withdrawn and the publication be allowed to function normally.
• There should be no curtailment of the right to freedom and speech expression of the media and also of civil society organisations and people. All peaceful protests should be permitted.

The team was led by Dr. V Suresh, general secretary of the PUCL and included Kavita Srivastava (national secretary), Ramdas Rao (national council member) and Pragnya Joshi (national council member). PUCL member Dr. Jean Dreze was with the team briefly. Also accompanying the team were two independent persons: Parul Abrol (independent writer and journalist) and advocate Mustafa.

The full PUCL report may be read here.
 

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The trustees asked for two weeks time to act on the verdict. Take four weeks, the apex court ruled while warning that failure to implement the order after that will amount to contempt of court.

It may be recalled that Noorjehan Safia Niaz and Zakia Soman of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) had petitioned the Bombay High Court after all BMMA’s efforts to persuade the dargah’s trustees to roll back their regressive decision in 2011-12. Overnight, they restricted women’s access to the dargah compound, stopped them from going up to the mazaar (sanctum sanctorum) of the Sufi saint.

Following an earlier order of the Bombay High in early April, directing the Maharashtra government and police to ensure women were not restricted from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Shani Shingnapur and all other temples in the state, secular-minded individuals and groups among Muslims and others from Mumbai had launched the ‘Haji Ali Sab ke liye’ forum in support of the right of women to equal access on par with men to all sacred space.
 

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