A Tablighi Jamaat member, Hafeezulla Khan has issued legal notices to media houses including Bennett Coleman & Co. (parent group of the newspaper Times of India and the TV channel Times Now), news agency IANS, Outlook and Pro Kerala for carrying news reports that stated that the Tablighi Jamaat shares links with terror outfits. All stories were published on March 31 and have attributed their information to an article originally published by IANS (Exclusive). 

In this article, it is alleged that the Tablighi Jamaat has a long history of ties with Pakistani terror outfit named Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and that members of these terror outfits who were responsible for hijacking the Indian Airlines flight in 1999, were also members of the Tablighi Jamaat. The article further alleged that over 6,000 Tablighis were trained in HuM terror camps located in Pakistan.

The article also states that some members of Al-Qaeda involved in the 9/11 attacks in the USA had stayed in the premises of the Tablighi Jamaat. The article further goes on to mention that “Tablighi Jamaat was suspected to be involved in the burning of Hindu Kar Sevaks in the 2002 Godhra train torching incident of Gujarat”

The legal notice dismisses all these allegations and refutes that the Jamaat has any relation with the terror outfit and states that the Jamaat has never been the subject of any such terror investigation. The notice also denies any connection with the Godhra train incident by stating the Tablighi Jamaat was not mentioned at all in the Nanavati Commission report which had investigated the said incident.

The article also alleges that many members of the terror outfits mentioned above, obtained visas to various countries by posing as members of the Tablighi Jamaat who go abroad to recruit young Muslims for terror training in Pakistan.

The notice issued by Tablighi Jamaat denies all such allegations and states that the articles attempt to create enmity against the Jamaat in India and in fact, the Jamaat condemns all acts of terror. The legal notice describes Tablighi Jamaat as an apolitical socio-religious movement working with the Muslim community across the world for increasing awareness of basic principles of Islam and Prophetic traditions.

The allegations in the article that the Jamaat has been blacklisted in some countries has also been denied in the notice. The Jamaat deems the article to be defamatory “designed to cause maximum damage to the reputation” of the Tablighi Jamaat and also one that promotes enmity and hatred towards all the members of the Jamaat putting them at the risk of violence.

Mr.Khan, through this legal notice, has asked the media houses to publish an unconditional apology stating that the Jamaat has no terror links and also asked for unliquidated damages of Rs. 1 crore from each media house for causing mental agony; and failure to do so would invite charges of criminal defamation under section 499 of the Indian Penal Code.

The legal notice sent to IANS may be read here:

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The post Tablighi Jamaat member issues legal notices to media houses for defamation appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The story was run by EPW in Vol. 52, Issue No. 24, June 17, 2017.

In response to the article, EPW received a legal notice from a lawyer representing Adani Power, which is headed by Gautam Adani. The legal notice accused EPW and the writers of the article of defamation and threatened legal action unless the piece was retracted, an unconditional apology was issued, and any defamatory material on Adani not be published by the magazine “in any manner whatsoever”.

EPW, has completely stood by its story and in his reply to Adani Power’s lawyer, EPW’s advocate reaffirmed that each and every word in the article was truthful and backed by documentary evidence. In the reply to the notice by Adani, they have stated among other things,

"8.            That on the issue of misuse of the export promotion scheme, even the Hon’ble Supreme Court has used very harsh language against your client as to how your client has misused the scheme and fraudulently inflated export turnover, and how your client has even without making actual exports, played around with the provisions of the scheme and tried to take undue advantage thereof. This finding of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has also been quoted by my client’s in the said article. Thus, the reporting done by my client’s is not only back and supported by documentary evidence, but also by judicial pronouncement.

"9.            That in view of the above it is re-iterated that there is not an iota of substance in your client’s bald claims. Your client will be well advised to withdraw your legal notice dated 24.06.2017, failing which my client shall be constrained to invoke the majesty of law to the hilt, should your client choose to trigger the first ill conceived/advised shot. Your client may kindly note the adage “be you ever so high, law is above you”. Your client may further be informed that truth can never be suppressed and it is the constitutional obligation of an independent journalist to surface the truth at any cost. I do sincerely hope, you would be gracious enough to suitably advise your client appropriately."

The EPW article can be read here

Adani Power’s legal notice can be read here

EPW’s reply to the legal notice can be read here.
 
 

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