Friday, May 13, 2016

Clean chit to Sadhvi, MCOCA dropped, Karkare probe was fudged: NIA’s new Malegaon script Written Deeptiman Tiwari - The Indian Express

Justice, Bharat Ishtyle

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/malegaon-blasts-2008-nia-probe-sadhvi-pragya-singh-gets-clean-chit-2797995/


The IndianExpress


Clean chit to Sadhvi, 

MCOCA

dropped, Karkare probe was

fudged: NIA’s new 

Malegaon script


Three others to be let off too, all accused to be tried under unlawful activities Act

Written by Deeptiman Tiwary | New Delhi | Updated: May 13, 2016 10:45 am
malegaon blasts, 2008 malegaon blasts, sadhvi pragya singh, sadhvi pragya, malegaon blasts probe, nia malegaon blasts probe, malegaon blasts news, rss, rss malegaon blasts, india newsDayanand Pandey, one of the accused, being produced in a Mumbai court on Thursday. (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar)


Significantly watering down the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has decided not to name Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur as an accused in its chargesheet to be filed in a Mumbai court Friday. This sets the stage for her early release from jail.


The chargesheet is likely to mention that the investigation conducted by former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, later killed in the 26/11 terror attack, was flawed, that the evidence produced against Colonel Prasad Purohit, another key accused, had been fabricated, and statements of witnesses were taken under duress.


However, Purohit will remain a key accused in the chargesheet to be filed by NIA.


In all likelihood, the chargesheet will state that the ATS planted explosives in Purohit’s living quarters at the Deolali Army camp at the time of his arrest in 2008. “We have evidence to show that the RDX was planted by ATS,” an NIA officer said.




The agency has decided to drop charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA)against Purohit and all other accused. They will now be charged under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the chargesheet will be filed in the UAPA court in Mumbai.


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It is learnt that the NIA has also given a clean chit to at least three other accused who, the agency claims, had a peripheral role and were not aware of the conspiracy behind the Malegaon blasts on September 29, 2008 that killed four people and injured 79 others.


In an interview to The Indian Express on June 24, 2015, Rohini Salian, who was the special public prosecutor in the case, said she had been under pressure from the NIA to go “soft” on the accused ever since “the new government came to power” at the Centre. In October, after she was removed as the case prosecutor, she named the NIA officer who had contacted her.


Prosecutor alleged pressure in an interview last JuneProsecutor alleged pressure in an interview last June. Click for story

The Maharashtra ATS, which had earlier filed a chargesheet in the case, named 14 people as accused including Thakur and Purohit.


Sources said the decision not to charge Thakur, a former office-bearer of the ABVP, was taken because of the “weak evidence” against her and the fact that MCOCA charges had been dropped against the accused.


“The only material evidence against her was the motorcycle on which the bomb was kept. This motorcycle was in her name but was being used by Ramchandra Kalsangra. Investigations have proved it was with him for two years prior to the blast. He was the one who would get it repaired and pay for its maintenance. Witness statements proved it,” an officer claimed.


Sources claimed the evidence against Thakur on her participation in the conspiracy was “thin”.


“There is not a single statement recorded before a magistrate (under Section 164 of the CrPC) that says she was part of the conspiracy meetings. All witness statements have been recorded under MCOCA before a DCP (deputy commissioner of police). Once MCOCA charges are dropped, these statements have no evidentiary value. There are just as many statements saying she was not part of the meetings,” another officer said.


Under MCOCA, a statement recorded before a DCP-rank officer is admissible as evidence in court. A statement recorded under Section 164 of CrPC before a magistrate is also admissible in court.


The NIA evidence against Purohit, sources said, establish he was an integral part of Abhinav Bharat, the organisation that allegedly plotted the blasts. The probe uncovered a money trail leading to Purohit.

Sources said the NIA had found that he used the organisation’s money to buy plots in Nashik.

The NIA will also list evidence in the form of phone intercepts. In one such intercept, he is allegedly telling the other accused to flee and destroy evidence since police had got whiff of their involvement. The agency matched his voice sample with that in the intercept.


“There are several statements, recorded before a magistrate, which say he was part of conspiracy meetings. Against him, we have good evidence,” an NIA officer said.


The decision to drop MCOCA charges against the accused was taken since the application itself was flawed, NIA sources claimed. Sources said only one accused, Rakesh Dhawde, qualified to be charged under the law which requires that the accused must have at least two chargesheets against him, and proof that the crime was committed for pecuniary gains.


“All others were charged for association. Even the two chargesheets against Dhawde were an afterthought. He was arrested in November 2008 for his involvement in the 2003 Parbhani blast and 2004 Jalna blast. The day after his arrest, he was chargesheeted. This was used as justification for slapping MCOCA,” the officer said.


The NIA had earlier sought the opinion of the Law Ministry whether MCOCA charges could be dropped. The Ministry asked the agency to apply its own mind on the available evidence.


The NIA, which took over the case almost three years after the Maharashtra ATS filed a chargesheet in the case, re-examined all the accused, witnesses and evidence presented in the ATS chargesheet. It also recorded fresh statements, many of which exonerated the accused.


What ATS had on Sadhvi, Purohit


* Hero Honda motorcycle with bombs was owned by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.
* She was the first to be arrested by Maharashtra ATS on October 24, 2008.
* Sadhvi attended most meetings since 2006 on targeting Muslim-majority areas.
* At Bhopal meeting on April 11, 2008, Purohit said he would provide explosives.
* Sadhvi said she would arrange men for the blasts in Malegaon.
* Sadhvi knew Sunil Joshi, Ramchandra Kalsangra. Her motorcycle was with Kalsangra.
* ATS said Purohit floated Abhinav Bharat in 2007 for a Hindu Rashtra.
* Purohit brought RDX from Kashmir where he was posted earlier.
* Purohit assembled bombs in Pune with Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Kalsangra.

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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

MIM PIGGYBACKS ON MALEGAON ‘TORMENT’ - By Vijay Chavan, PuneMirror, The Times of India publication

http://www.punemirror.in/pune/civic/MIM-piggybacks-on-Malegaon-torment/articleshow/52228285.cms

PuneMirror

MIM PIGGYBACKS ON MALEGAON ‘TORMENT’

By Vijay Chavan, Pune Mirror | May 12, 2016, 02.30 AM IST
MIM piggybacks on Malegaon ‘torment’
Six of the discharged men (in pic) will attend a
ceremony at the Nehru Memorial Hall on Saturday.
Before civic poll, party invites newly-discharged accused to narrate their ordeals at the hands of investigating agencies; eyes Dalit alliance as well

The city unit of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has grand plans to felicitate the Malegaon blasts' accused — who were discharged this April owing to lack of evidence — as a possible poll plank eyeing the city municipal election. A ceremony at Nehru Memorial Hall in Camp on Saturday will have them narrating the ordeals faced by them during the past ten years by investigating agencies.

On Wednesday, senior MIM leader and president of Mulnivasi Muslim Manch Anjum Inamdar confirmed the development to Pune Mirror, insisting, "We do not have any political motive, but just want to convey a message to the nation that Muslims are not born terrorists; another hue of terrorism also exists. People from Pune would like to know the facts behind the conspiracy. During these ten years, family members of all these people were boycotted and sisters of many had remained unmarried. Who will pay for the destroyed past and future of these men?"

MIM, Mulnivasi Muslim Manch and Republican Yuva Morcha, youth wing of the Republican Party of India, will be jointly hosting the discharged men — Noorul Huda, Raees Ahmed, Salman Farsi, Farogh Magdumi, Mohammed Zahid and Abrar Ahmed. Two others, Shaikh Mohammed Ali and Asif Khan, will not be able to attend as they have been convicted in the 7/11 train blasts case and are still in prison. They are reportedly going to demand an apology from the earlier Congress government in the state for their torments, akin to the apology for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Ten years after the arrest and two years after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had told the court that it had no evidence against them, a sessions court discharged them of all the terror charges in the case last month. One of the discharged men, who did not wish to be named, told Mirror, "The previous government cannot bring back our precious 10 years with money. But, there will be some damage control if it tenders its apology for implicating us in the Malegaon triple blasts case by fabricating evidence."

Retired state inspector general S M Mushrif, former high court judge B G Kolse-Patil and advocate Abdul Wahab, who represented the accused in the blasts case, are among those likely to attend the ceremony. The gathering is also an indicator of the possible alliance with the Dalit parties in the 2019 Assembly election in Pune and Pimpri -Chinchwad and may be MIM's bid to use atrocities against Muslim youths and their alleged implication in terror-related cases as a trump card for the poll.

However, Republican Yuva Morcha president Rahul Dambale stressed that it was not a poll strategy, clarifying, "Pune is the place from where the conspiracy of the blast was hatched. Many prominent citizens were interrogated as suspects, but nothing had transpired. Innocent Muslims or Dalits are increasingly being implicated in fake cases. This gathering is just to reveal the truth behind the Malegaon blast conspiracy."
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Monday, May 9, 2016

"Why US and Israel wants to ban this video..." -- Youtube

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Friday, May 6, 2016

Debate Erupts in California Over Curriculum on India’s History - By JENNIFER MEDINA - MAY 4, 2016 - THE NEW YORK TIMES

Indian Hindu (Brahmin) diaspora is afraid, the world will not accede to its characterizing of India as Hindu India. 

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

---


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/us/debate-erupts-over-californias-india-history-curriculum.html?emc=edit_th_20160506&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=28904237&_r=0

THE NEW YORK TIMES


Debate Erupts in California Over Curriculum on India’s History

By JENNIFER MEDINAMAY 4, 2016

Photo
Vidhima Shetty, a high school freshman in San Ramon, Calif. She said that using the term South Asian was akin to asking her to change her name. CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

LOS ANGELES — Victors are said to write history. But in California, history is being written by a committee that is at the center of a raging debate over how to tell the story of South Asia as it tries to update textbooks and revise curriculums for Grades 6 and 7.
The dispute centers on whether the region that includes modern-day India, Pakistan and Nepal should be referred to as India or as South Asia, to represent the plurality of cultures there — particularly because India was not a nation-state until 1947. It also touches on how the culture of the region is portrayed, including women’s role in society and the vestiges of the caste system.
It might seem somewhat arcane. But it has prompted petition drives, as well as a #DontEraseIndia social media campaign and a battle of opinion pieces.
When the committee met earlier this spring, dozens of students turned out at the State Capitol, some in tears, earnestly telling the educators that anything other than India would amount to erasing their heritage.
State educators have also heard debates about the portrayal of so-called comfort women in World War II, the Armenian genocide and discrimination against Sikhs in the United States. But none of the arguments have persisted as strongly as the fight over the Indian subcontinent. That is a reflection of the transformation in California’s population, where Asians, including South Asians, are the fastest-growing demographic.
“We have a lot of people engaged in this because we have such a vibrant, diverse state,” said Tom Adams, the deputy superintendent of the California Department of Education, adding, “What we’re really trying to do here is make sure that the children of California have a curriculum that helps them understand all these groups.”
But first, the committee has to deal with a fight that mirrors similar arguments being made in India, where Hindu nationalist governments have begun overhauls of textbooks in some states.
On one side are advocates from the Hindu American Foundation, which seeks to shape the image of Hinduism in the United States. Backed by some scholars, they want the entire area under dispute to be referred to as India, reflecting what they say is the most important influence in the area.
They also want the caste system to be explained as a phenomenon of the region, not as a Hindu practice — an idea that is not universally accepted in India.
A group of other scholars challenge the historical accuracy of this view. They say the area should be referred to as South Asia.
They also say the foundation is trying to sanitize history by wiping out any link between Hinduism and castes.
The debate has been closely watched by Indian newspapers, which chronicle the smallest changes in the proposals. California students are also jumping in with passion.
Photo
A page from a California textbook describing the caste system in India. Ms. Shetty wondered why a photograph showing an untouchable walking through a trash-strewn street was included in the book.CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times

Vidhima Shetty, a high school freshman, told the committee that using the term South Asian would be akin to asking her to change her name.
“Names are what define us as people; they represent character and personality,” she said. “The board is confusing our cultural terms with geographical terms. By removing India as a term from the textbooks this leaves Indian-American children with no ethnic or cultural identification to turn to. When we acknowledge ourselves as South Asians, us Hindus are forced to re-identify ourselves as something we are not.”
Perhaps no state other than California, with its large immigrant population, would have such a contentious fight.
There are roughly 2.2 million immigrants from India living in the United States, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. California, with its vibrant technology industry, has attracted the most in the nation, as many have settled in the Bay Area and in Southern California.
According to the foundation, nearly half of the 2.5 million Hindus in the United States live in California.
The textbook dispute has come up as the state’s Instructional Quality Commission debates a new framework for the kindergarten to 12th grade social science curriculum, an effort meant to include new research and reflect the state’s increasing diversity. The State Board of Education will vote on the final changes next month.
The resolution could affect schoolchildren well beyond California’s borders. Although the standards that the commission approves will be written into California’s textbooks, because the state is so large, textbooks that are made based on its framework are often used elsewhere as well.
The Hindu-American group is hardly alone in pushing for changes in the way ethnic groups are portrayed. The state’s committee also heard from Filipino, Korean and Mexican advocates, Mr. Adams said.
“There have been a lot of groups that are eager for us to include their history in the framework.”
But the Hindu-American group has been particularly active in trying to shape California’s history curriculum. For the last decade, it has been pushing — unsuccessfully — for public schools to give more attention in the curriculum to the Hindu religion and Indian culture.
The language at issue appears in dozens of places in the sixth- and seventh-grade history curriculum where either the terms India or South Asia could be used. Scholarly groups on both sides have submitted suggestions to the committee.
For example, a reference to “Early Civilizations of India” could be “Early Civilizations of South Asia,” or “In this unit students learn about ancient societies in India” could instead be “In this unit students learn about ancient societies in South Asia.”
“The civilization that is being covered is Indian,” said Suhag Shukla, the executive director of the Hindu American Foundation, which started the social media campaign #DontEraseIndia. “When you talk about ancient India, that’s the birthplace of Indian students,” she said.
Photo
Suhag Shukla, the executive director of the Hindu American Foundation, which has started the social media campaign #DontEraseIndia. CreditMark Makela for The New York Times

The foundation also says the caste system should not be taught as part of the Hindu religion and culture, but rather explained more generally as part of the region’s history.
“This is an issue not only about accuracy but also cultural competency,” Ms. Shukla said.
But scholars like Thomas Hansen, a professor of anthropology and South Asian studies at Stanford University, say this position glosses over an uncomfortable topic.

Mr. Hansen has butted heads with the Hindu American Foundation for more than a decade over how Indian history is taught in California.
“The issue is when you can use the term Indian and when you can use Hinduism,” he said, as opposed to South Asia. “This group has a lot of interest in calling everything Hindu and Indian so that it can equate modern-day India with historic roots. But it’s absurd. It would be like calling Ancient Rome Italy.”
He said that the caste system was an integral part of Indian society even today with roots in the Hindu religion.
“It distorts reality,” Mr. Hansen said. “This is important for children to understand. Our duty is to make sure that the history is keeping with the scholarly research rather than give in to what a particular group wants.”
Ms. Shukla said her group was not trying to deny the fact that castes exist, but arguing only that tying it to Hinduism was unfair. She said many students had reported being bullied after they completed the current teachings about Hinduism and the caste system.
She recalled that when she was a child in Cupertino in the 1980s, she was asked to stand up in her classes to explain the caste system and answer questions about whether her marriage would be arranged.
“Every religion has some form of caste and discrimination,” Ms. Shukla said. “We’re not trying to deny the fact that this became a hierarchical and discriminatory practice, but this has to be discussed in a nuanced manner.”
During a hearing last month, dozens of Indian students spoke out against the changes the South Asian scholars have suggested to the commission, accusing them of “Hinduphobia” and robbing them of selfhood.
Ms. Shukla is also pressing the state to include the idea that Hindus in India have a historical acceptance of religious diversity, allowing Jews and Zoroastrians to come to India as they escaped persecution in nearby lands.
Michael Witzel, a Harvard University professor of Sanskrit who has also been pressing California for changes that Hindu advocates have objected to for nearly a decade, said the entire controversy was one of image protection.
“Castes are a hot-button issue, and people living in the United States don’t want to talk about it or want to deny it,” he said. “But it’s ingrained in the society, and it has its roots in sacred texts.”
In the midst of the back-and-forth, said Mr. Adams, the deputy superintendent, “the commission is trying to strike a balance.”
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