In yet another example of the regime harassing human rights defenders, Madhya Pradesh’s Barwani police have registered an FIR of “misuse of funds” against Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar and 11 others. The 67-year-old activist has rubbished the accusations stating that the full accounts and fund audit were available.

As per syndicated news feed, Temla Bujurg villager Pritamraj Badole registered an FIR against the activists on July 9. In it he alleged that the Narmada Navnirman Abhiyan (NNA) trust misused funds meant for residential educational facilities to Narmada valley tribal students in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. As per the FIR, Badole said the funds worth ₹ 13.50 cr from various sources in the past 14 years were used for a “political and anti-national agenda”.

Aside from Patkar, activists named in the FIR are Parveen Rumi Jahangir, Vijaya Chouhan, Kailash Awasya, Mohan Patidar, Ashish Mandloi, Kewal Singh Vasave, Sanjay Joshi, Shyam Patil, Sunit SR, Noorji Padvi and Keshav Vasave.

District Superintendent of Police (SP) Deepak Kumar Shukla said that the complainant provided some documents but as the transactions detailed are old, an investigation will be carried out.

Meanwhile, Patkar said is yet to receive any information about the FIR itself. She alleged the complainant’s association with the RSS and ABVP and stressed that her organisation does not receive funds from abroad.

“The funds were used appropriately and the jiwanshalas being run at present have been there for the past three decades. The organisation has been involved in rehabilitation for decades. It has always given replies to such allegations with documents,” said Patkar. Further, she said that the allegation may also be a conspiracy to defame the organisation as the country goes through a debate on who is a “nationalist” and who is committing sedition. “Those who do the right thing by asking questions about the system are called anti-nationals. The public will decide,” she said.

Alt News Co-Founder Mohammed Zubair and rights activist, journalist Teesta Setalvad are among those people who are facing persecution by the government for standing up to a vindictive regime and asking tough questions. In the former’s case, Zubair recently got an interim bail from the Supreme Court in a case wherein he called three “religious leaders” – legally charged for putting up hate speech – as “hatemongers”. However, on July 9, Alt News announced that Zubair was slapped with another FIR for a fact-check.

According to the organisation, Zubair showed how a certain ‘news’ channel used a morphed picture during their broadcast. Earlier, Alt News itself was accused of receiving foreign funds like the NBA.

“This brazen and selective targeting of our colleague is being done so that journalists and media organisations become afraid of demanding accountability from the establishment… Zubair is being persecuted for fighting the rot in the system,” said Alt News.

Our statement on the brazen and selective targeting of our friend and colleague Mohammed Zubair. pic.twitter.com/brciZ4ezLF

— Alt News (@AltNews) July 9, 2022

Similarly, Setalvad was forcibly taken away to Ahmedabad by the Gujarat ATS on June 25 following the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the Zakia Jafri case. Setalvad along with former State DGP R B Sreekumar now faces trumped-up charges such as criminal conspiracy and forgery. Over the last few weeks, both journalists received overwhelming support. On July 8, legal luminaries, activists, academics, journalists and influential human rights groups showed support for Setalvad, including Patkar.

Like the other two, Patkar too is used to allegations against her and her organisations. She said she was ready to reply to all of them. Most recently, the Hindustan Times quoted the ANI as saying that Patkar was driven out of the Dhinkia village of Jagatsinghpur, Odisha when she tried to talk to locals. In reality, residents said that the police refused to let Patkar and her delegation speak to locals claiming that the groups would “disrupt peace”. The same was confirmed by the region’s anti-Jindal protesters as well.

Oriya newspapers reported that Medha Patkar & Prof. Mohanty & other activists were turned away from Dhinkia, Odisha where Jindal steel & other plants are being introduced! Read & share Prof Mohanty’s account of what really happened during their visit! pic.twitter.com/JqO5w2JPNQ

— Jinee Lokaneeta (@LokaneetaJinee) June 7, 2022

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has now filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. The ECIR has been filed under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the corruption charges being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The CBI probe was initiated upon directions from the Bombay High Court. The matter related to bribery allegations made by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh against Deshmukh in a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. In the letter dated March 20, Singh had said that Deshmukh had instructed the now suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crores each month as bribes from bars and restaurants.

Singh had been shunted out in the immediate aftermath of an explosives-laden vehicle being found outside the home of businessman Mukesh Ambani. Waze is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his alleged role in the case and also the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran.

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The rat chase behind NDTV continues as the Finance Ministry wasted no time in issuing fresh notice in the NDTV Income Tax reassessment case. This was done shortly after the Supreme Court quashed the last reassessment notice issued by Income Tax Department for the year 2007-08, while still allowing issue of notice under another provision of the Act.

The notice was quashed in the apex court by a bench comprising of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta on the grounds that the IT department failed to show “non-disclosure of facts” in its notice issued 4 years after the assessment year and hence it was deemed time barred by the court. However, the court clarified that it is not adjudicating on whether the IT department could take benefit of section 147 of the Income Tax Act in this case. The court said, “…the revenue may issue fresh notice taking benefit of the second proviso if otherwise permissible under law”.

According to the second proviso, the time bar of 4 years is not applicable to cases where “any income in relation to any asset located outside India has escaped assessment for any assessment year”. The case was decided in favour of NDTV, which went into appeal at the apex court against the said notice, since the notice is silent on whether it is invoking the second proviso on section 147 of the IT Act. The Court pointed out, “It is only while rejecting the objections of the assessee that reference has been made to the second proviso in the order of disposal of objections dated 23.11.2015”. The bench held that the assesee “should not be prejudiced or be taken by surprise. The uncontroverted fact is that in the notice dated 31.03.2015 there is no mention of any foreign entity”.

The court also noted that since the assessee has not gotten adequate opportunity to reply to the allegations which are now being put forth by the IT Department, the notice is deemed to be against the principles of natural justice. LiveLaw reported that the IT Department took the stand that NDTV had suppressed in the incomes it had raised in 2007-08 through foreign subsidiaries in Netherlands and United Kingdom. According to the department, the transactions with the foreign subsidiaries were “sham transactions with a view to get the undisclosed income.”

A statement issued by NDTV on its website reads, “The Supreme Court has refused to allow the Revenue Department to reopen an assessment that was decided years ago. Tax officials had sought this in 2015 alleging that NDTV had concealed facts and round tripped money. The court today has disallowed that. The Supreme Court has proved that the rule of law prevails above all else.”

The Revenue Department has however countered this statement by saying that the apex court not given a clean chit to NDTV and has rather endorsed the government’s view that there are reasons to believe that undisclosed income worth Rs. 405.09 crore has escaped assessment, The Business Today reported.

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