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Published on Leave a comment on Bastar Needs You

Bastar. An abstract name of some strange place where there is Naxalism. And therefore a place to be avoided, to be dreaded and mostly ignored. Not a land of a people who love, have children, earn livelihoods, make houses, sing, dance and celebrate. Not a land of everyday interpersonal conflicts, a tiff with a neighbour, a fight with the spouse. Not a land where children play, tease and bruise their knees. Not a land where people can dream of a future.

Just some dark hinterland, a version of Western World’s Africa right here in India.

I bring Bastar to light. Here.

Bastar is a district in Chhattisgarh. The total area is 4029.98 sq kms. It has a population of 1,411,614 humans (as per Census 2011). 70% of this population are Adivasis belonging to multiple tribes. Chhattisgarh has the 4th largest forest land in India with 44.21% of land cover. Many sections of Bastar are poorly developed with no pucca roads and few medical facilities. Traditionally, Adivasis have depended on forest products for their livelihood. In more recent times, agriculture is a mainstay for many.

There are four main issues that should concern us as regards Bastar: 1) Adivasi rights; 2) Rights of the forests; 3) The future of Bastar; and 4) Who speaks for whom?

Adivasi Rights

Way before Naxalism became active, Adivasis often found themselves on the wrong side of forest officers. These officers had been using their authority to make life difficult for Adivasis to continue with their livelihoods. There was intimidation, rampant corruption and frequent sexual abuse.

After the spread of Naxalism and the subsequent attempts of the State to crush their rise, the many failed strategies like Salwa Judum, the everyday Adivasi has become tainted as either a possible Naxalite or a police sympathizer. S/he is born into this taint, unable to make a choice to be apolitical or non-ideological. Nor even to question State or Naxalism. With state control over media and public opinion outside of Bastar, there is a lurking assumption that every Adivasi is indeed a potential Naxalite. Erased by birth, erased by residence.

What has, therefore, followed is dehumanization of Adivasis by clumping them under a label and reducing them to an object that needs to be controlled. And mansplainers are extremely good in explaining in their daddy-voices on how one can’t trust the locals, how Naxalism has infiltrated the community and that therefore State violence is the only way out.

But Adivasis are citizens of India. They are given the same constitutional rights as all of us. They are protected by the Constitution. And no matter what we opiniate, there cannot be a localised need-based convenient interpretation or occasional reference to law. It basically means they are afforded the same freedoms that we have taken for granted — like right to freedom, right against exploitation, right to constitutional remedies, right to life. They are afforded the same human rights guaranteed by The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations.

And yet time and again, irrespective of Government, it has been trampled in Bastar. For e.g. when Soni Sori, an Adivasi teacher spoke up in support of her nephew Lingaram Kodopi, a fearless talented journalist, she was arrested.  Cases were filed against her that led to arrest, torture and brutal sexual abuse. If it were not for the activists who followed up and publicized the gross human rights violation, we would have never heard of Soni Sori.  The courts have now cleared her of all the cases. She, in turn, has become a go-to-person who gives courage to women who have been exploited and sexually abused to speak up.

The question before us is why was she tortured? Even if for a moment we assumed she was a Naxalite, does that warrant sexual abuse and torture? Why were the Constitutional rights so openly flouted and yet key officers were not called to question?

Not only Soni Sori, but hundreds of other Adivasis have been wrongfully confined, false cases heaped on them and reports of torture have emerged from more than one place.

More recently, Bela Bhatia wrote about rampant rape of Adivasi women and random detention and assault of men in The Pegdapalli Files. This report is worth your time. For her efforts to expose the human rights violation, Bela Bhatia has been threatened and slandered.

Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JagLAG) that worked for the legal rights of Adivasis have been evicted. Journalists who reported on Constitutional violation of Adivasis rights to life, dignity and property have been silenced – either by intimidation or arrest. As the India Today long story “Life in the Red” shows, journalists are reporting under the shadow of fear.

In absence of activists and journalists, we will never hear the other side of the story, the one beyond what the State machinery wants us to know.

Soni Sori campaign
Soni Sori campaign

Rights of the Forests

Chhattisgarh boasts of some of the densest forest cover in India. It is also rich in minerals, rich in natural resources. But that forest cover is quickly being depleted. Between 2011 and 2013, there is reduction of 19 sq kms (1 sq km= 100 football fields) of forest area in Bastar district alone.

Whereas Forests cannot speak for themselves, we the Citizens should ask why the forests are being cut down indiscriminately. One of the major reasons is mining. The area is rich in minerals, coal and other natural resources. A second reason is movement of Adivasis in giving up traditional forest-dependent livelihoods in favour of clearing land for agriculture which is facilitated by the State. The third reason that is cited is to evict Naxalites from these forests.

Forests hold rich biodiversity. Forests protect landscape from erosion, from multiple natural disasters, and provide oxygen to the world. How is it that under our watch the forests are being cut down and there is not more than a whisper of dissent? Except that of locals and human rights groups like Amnesty India.

Who gains by cutting the forests? The locals or big mining corporations and their corrupt nexus with politicians?

Future of Bastar

Like it or not, Naxalism arose as a counter to the atrocities committed by rich landlords. If you read Hello Bastar by Rahul Pandita, you will know several stories of the horrifying crimes committed by the land-owning upper caste groups on landless. A systematic way in which groups of people were kept illiterate, under-developed, in poverty and complete dependence on the land-owning groups.

Like it or not, Naxalism empowered the marginalized, as Bela Bhatia said and I paraphrase, to name the crimes as injustice rather than fate. It is a different thing that Naxalism quickly veered into violence that consumed the very people they were fighting for. It pushed the locals into a state where they could no longer make choices, but remain in that uncertain diplomatic silence on issues.

So if we assume Mission 2016 will succeed and Naxalism will end, the question before is who will benefit from it? Will Adivasis regain rights over the land and rights to dignity? Will they have a voice in their own development and all issues that pertain to their district, to their community? Will they now begin to receive fair and just trials or will they be massacred as possible Naxalites? Will they be empowered to document injustice and successful get constitutionally-guaranteed remedies?

Or will it pave the path for multinational and big mining groups to set up shops, to make rich richer.

This is the question that we should ask. For Bastar deserves (as every land does) a prosperous, healthy and peaceful future. And the constitution guarantees that India is a democracy -- of the people, for the people, by the people. And Bastar is not an abstract name of a land, it is the breath of a people.

Who Speaks for Whom?

Why do activists speak? Is it because they have no other work to do? Are they mere noise makers disturbing the monolithic State narrative of what is happening on ground—the hurrays for the many surrenders of Maoists, the encounters that are supposed to have killed “dreaded” Naxalites, and the legitimacy of Mission 2016. Minus of course the erring journalists, the outspoken researchers, lawyers and activists. The manufacture of a public opinion -- that if you want to end Naxalism, it is given that there will be collaterals of a legitimate war, a.k.a ‘some’ Adivasis will die.

Democracy requires and is maintained by dissent. In a democracy, there can never be a single narrative. There are multiple truths jostling with each other for significance. A process that forces us to not move into easy judgments, but glimpse and empathise with the complex human lives caught in a complex web of power struggles.

And why should it concern those outside Bastar, in other words ‘us’? Don’t we all have own problems in life, our everyday struggles to make ends meet or aspirations to meet a dream? Don’t we have own interpersonal and organization conflicts to deal with?

Why should we? Because as Rahul Pandita had said in a tweet  in context of journalists and so have others, Chhattisgarh is a lab for brutal policies. You succeed in Chhattisgarh, you develop a formula, you set a precedent and then you can implement it in other parts of the country.

Then we must bring down this laboratory and return Bastar to the protection of our Constitution. Now. We have to ensure the protection, freedom of expression and dissent for local activists like Soni Sori and the many outspoken journalists of Bastar so that they, in turn, may stand up for their community.

There are three ways to support people of Bastar:

  1. Search for news on Bastar and please make yourself aware. Share news, talk about it, write about it.
  2. Follow human rights groups like Amnesty India or National Human Rights Commission and support them as needed.
  3. As a citizen, participate in the #OneMillionPostCardCampaign and send an e-card to Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Dr. Raman Singh asking him to bring CBI and Supreme Court to investigate matters that concern people of Bastar and Soni Sori. Let your voice be heard. http://goo.gl/forms/rvTT6CyHbI

Thank you for taking time to read this post fully. Bastar does need you!

Some information is referenced from Hello Bastar by Rahul Pandita.

Featured image by Pankaj Oudhia

Published on Leave a comment on Yakub Menon even more strange – a case of Chinese whispers? #YakubMemon

At 1:52 this afternoon, Majid Memon, a journalist, wrote an article "Yakub Memon: Break the official omerta - In #Yakub Memon case, state displayed bad faith" about his perceptions about the case and how he had helped verify information Yakub Memon had got with him about the residences of #Dawood Ibrahim, Tiger Memon and another smuggler, Taufiq Jallianwala, whom the #CBI had not known of before. He described videos Yakub had made of their residences, and chaperoning provided by the ISI in Karachi, Bangkok and Karachi again. He described audio recorded by him of Tiger Memon with his associates.

He says that the Narsimharao #government betrayed Yakub Memon due to increasing pressure about being soft on terror and that the various officials - not just of intelligence agencies, but diplomats as well were silent because of a top down omerta and should be granted amnesty from the charge of contempt of court, if they are to testify - B Raman too had hesitated for this reason, as per him.

By 6:04pm, #NDTV has published an article with statements from CBI officers that deny these claims. Shantanu Sen, who led the operation on the CBI end claims they knew there were differences in the Memon family over the blasts and some of them wanted to return to #India as they were not happy in Pakistan. He denies that any deal had been struck and that they nabbed Yakub in Kathmandu. He denied that Yakub Memon had been duped and points out that of the 11 family members who came to India, only four got sentenced. His parents got bail and charges against them would be dropped had the matter come to prosecution before they died.

Mr Chattwal, who had been named by Yakub's ex-lawyer as the CBI contact who told them to get bail and later betrayed them, said that he had received no such instructions and that Yakub had not cooperated with the investigation, but that the evidence was recovered from him at the time of the arrest.

A few days earlier, Ujjwal Nikam, the public prosecutor claimed not to know of the mitigating circumstances B Raman wrote of at all.

One possibility is that there is an evil conspiracy on hand, etc etc.

Is the other explanation more simple?

Is this yet another horrendous example of lack of communication between investigating and intelligence agencies? B Raman who headed Pakistan desk of R&AW and oversaw the arrest clearly saw mitigating circumstances. Shantanu Sen who led the CBI investigation was clearly aware of cooperation as his claim of Yakub Memon not being duped demonstrates (if there was no deal, where would a question of duping arise?). On the other hand, Chattwal, who apparently was the CBI guy at the courts end was not aware of any deal and believes the evidence to have been recovered from Yakub at the time of his arrest. Ujjwal Nikam, public prosecutor who asked for the #death penalty is not aware of any mitigating circumstances at all.

That there was some deal does not take rocket science to understand. If Yakub Memon was not cooperating and had been arrested and evidence against himself recovered, why would he call his family to India? Morever, if Yakub Memon had any evidence proving his own guilt, why in the world would he carry it at all, when he knows the documents he carries will go to Indian authorities? The idea is he came to India expecting justice and mercy for cooperation, not proving own guilt, right?

The 30th approaches and this story only gets murkier.

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Published on 1 Comment on Yakub Memon death warrant – what else is going on in India’s underworld?

When the state takes extreme steps that make no sense, I get curious. #Yakub Memon's hanging being scheduled for the 30th of this month, while the key accused of the #Mumbai blasts are still at large is one such bizarre move. So I went around hunting for information on what else was going on. Here are some of the things I found out. They raise more questions than answers.

Chhota Shakeel tried to kill Chhota Rajan in Australia

On the 2nd of July, Times of #India published a report that described intercepted conversations between Chhota Shakeel and a key Rajan aide, who was convinced to reveal Chhota Shakeel's whereabouts in Newcastle, Australia. Times of India claims to have a copy of the intercept. A team from middle east was allegedly immediately sent to Australia. However, Chhota Rajan had already escaped after receiving a fortuitous tip off. The article also describes the #D-Company's relentless determination to eliminate an aged Chhota Rajan who is no longer a threat to them and describes previous attacks by Dawood's men to eliminate Chhota Rajan.

Dawood was involved in Chhota Shakeel's attempt on Chhota Rajan

Another report in the Times of India, also on the 2nd July said that a voice in the background, heard during a pause in the intercepted conversation between Chhota Shakeel and Rajan's aide was that of #Dawood Ibrahim as confirmed by layered voice analysis. What the voice said is not reported.

This report also gives us an idea of the approximate date of the attempted #attack on Chhota Rajan when it speaks of Chhota Shakeel being on the move for a month since mid-April when he went to Newcastle for the attack on Chhota Rajan. The report presumes he dropped off the radar after the intercepted conversations or the intelligence agencies would have approached the #government to arrest Shakeel (but not Rajan?).

*********************

Some background: Chhota Rajan was among key men of Dawood's gang before he split from Dawood due to internal rivalry and differences that got cemented after the 1993 Mumbai blasts. After the split, he escaped to Dubai with the help of Indian intelligence agencies in return for information on Dawood Ibrahim's operations. Intelligence agencies have also allegedly helped Chhota Rajan evade attempts on his life since then. Current NSA and then ex-#IB head, Ajit Doval had also been caught once with Chhota Rajan's hit man Vicky Malhotra. Chhota Shakeel is still Dawood's key man. Chhota Rajan and Dawood Ibrahmin have since been bitter and bloody rivals with constant attempts to eliminate each other. Among India's plans for Dawood Ibrahmin remain a possibility for Chhota Rajan taking Dawood out.

An article in the Daily Mail News from November claims NSA Ajit Doval is forming links with ISIS to encourage an ISIS - TTP collaboration to destabilize Pakistan.

Given that Indian Intelligence agencies are unlikely to leave copies of intelligence intercepts lying around in public places or something, Times of India clearly got the tip off from them about a failed operation "early in the year" - as in, the news was not fresh.

Yasin Bhatkal could get help from Damascus

On 3rd July, 2015, a report in the Times of India stated that Yasin Bhatkal had told his wife that he would get help from Damascus to escape jail. This would seem unrelated to the Yakub Memon issue, except... Yasin Bhatkal used to allegedly be financed by Muzzaffar Kola of the Dossa gang which reported to..... Dawood Ibrahim.

Last year, Yasin Bhatkal's lawyer had received threats from underworld don Ravi Pujari who is currently said to be in Australia and is close to.... Chhota Rajan. Yasin Bhatkal had hardly made any news for months before this.

Chhota Shakeel reveals that Dawood Ibrahim wanted to return to India after 1993 blasts

On 4th July 2015, Times of India published a report of a telephonic interview with Chhota Shakeel in which Shakeel alleged "When we wanted to come back after 1993, you people, your government didn't allow. Bhai had himself spoken that time to Ram Jethmalani, that too in London... baat ho gayi thi... But your ministry... that Advani played the game,". This naturally led to a flurry of accusations and denials.

Other Chhota Shakeel quotes from the article:

"When agencies can hear me plotting against him (Rajan) and know where he is, why don't they get him picked up? Has he not killed people? Is he not a criminal?"

"Every time a new government comes, they make the first statement about us. Usko leke aayenge... ghus ke laayenge... Kya halwa hai? Bakri ka bachcha samajh ke rakha hai kya? Lana hai toh usko (Rajan) lao na,"

"He ran away like a mouse," Shakeel said. He claimed that not one but three key members of Rajan's group had crossed over to his side because of their confidence that they would be taken care of. "I look after even the family of Rajan's aides who had been killed by members of D-Company," (On the attack planned on Chhota Rajan reported by Times of India on the 2nd)

"Haven't killed anyone in Mumbai in the past 5-6 years. I don't want to kill innocents. He (Rajan) brings shooters from UP and gets people killed in our name. I want to continue my business. I invest money and take it back." From another report of the same interview.

On Chhota Raja's image as a Hindu gangster "This is #media's job. Take him in the army, send him on the border if he is a patriot. (Patriot hai to army me le lo na... border pe bhejo na! Mulq ke liye kaam karega. Hindu don ka concept #aap logo ka... media ka hai. He has killed all Hindus for money,"

On whether he thinks Indian intelligence agencies are soft on Chhota Rajan "We don't care. They can support him all they want, we will find him and kill him."

* An earlier interview by Chhota Shakeel to Rediff (after their first attempt on Chhota Rajan's life in Bangkok) establishes that the D-Company sees him as a traitor who grew large with their favor and betrayed them as well as stole gold from them.

** The part about Chhota Rajan killing Hindus in India is true. Among recent high profile murders is that of Jyotirmoy Dey, an investigative journalist working for MiD DAY. He is wanted in India in many criminal cases related to extortion, #murder, smuggling, drug trafficking and film finance.

*** Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel are no saints either.

Chhota Rajan still in Australia

On the 5th of June, Times of India published another news report citing an unnamed source in the intelligence agencies that Chhota Rajan was still in Australia and had not left Australia (as reported in previous piece). Chhota Shakeel also was apparently aware of this fact and had not called off his hit men tracking Chhota Rajan in Australia.

Yasin Bhatkal claims threat to life and demands 24/7 surveillance

On 6th July, 2015, Yasin Bhatkal pled before a special court for NIA cases for CCTVs to be installed in his #prison and for constant surveillance not only in jail, but also when being moved to court and back for hearings. Outside the jail, he pulled a letter from his pocket and threw it at reporters standing there. In the letter, he denies telling his wife about any help from Damascus or for escaping jail and fears that he could be killed in an encounter staging his escape.

#Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea to bring Dawood Ibrahim back

8th July, 2015. The Supreme Court dismissed a plea by a previous Madhya Pradesh #MLA to bring Dawood Ibrahim back to India and that a special investigating team headed by SC judge be set up to probe why indian authorities were unwilling in bringing tje don back to country to face trial in various cases.

Daya Nayak suspended

9th July, 2015. Daya Nayak of the 83 encounters and disproportionate wealth and dubious dealings was suspended after he refused to go to Nagpur after he was transferred, citing a threat to his life.

#Death warrant for Yakub Memon

On 15th July, 2015, a TADA court signed a death warrant for Yakub Memon, even as his mercy petition was pending in court.

Supreme Court turns down Yakub Memon's mercy petition.

22nd July 2015 Supreme Court turns down Yakub Memon's mercy petition "paving the way for his hanging" as expressed by the media.

White House Bar was demolished

28th July 2015, The White House dance bar, run by Ganesh Kamath, understood to be affiliated with Chhota Rajan's gang and owned by Meenakshi Singh, widow of Chhota Rajan's affiliate O P Singh, was demolished.

Supreme Court turned down Yakub Memon's curative petition

29th July The Supreme court turned down Yakub Memon's curative petition. The #Maharashtra governor turned it down as well. The President's decision is awaited, but the indications are that the MHA is recommending against it. Other eminent persons are seeking an audience for another petition.

Yakub Memon hanged

30th July 2015. Yakub Memon was hanged early in the morning, on his 53rd birthday in Nagpur jail.

Is Yakub Memon's death warrant a message?

Numerous reports indicate that after the #BJP came to power this time, the gangwar is heating up again (if at all it ever cooled). Ajit Doval has a long term mission of bringing Dawood Ibrahim down. The D-Company, on the other hand seems to have stepped up the heat on Chhota Rajan, perceiving him to be an asset of the Indian intelligence (apart from their usual issues with him).

Yakub Memon is the brother of Tiger Memon, though the only place his name appears in relation with the underworld is the case where he's now got the death sentence. Both gangsters and their gangs have extensive networks in India. For example I later discovered from a source that the illegal White House dance bar, where the journalists were attacked and Raghavendra Dube got killed is a front for Chhota Rajan's activities. The source speculated that the journalists could have been attacked for trying to extort advertising revenue (as the #police too had accused) from the biggies of extortion, so to say. Four aides of Chhota Rajan were arrested from Dahisar by Mumbai police for extorting 15 crores from a businessman.

Ram Jethmalani stated that #Indian politicians opposed the move to bring Dawood Ibrahim back to India when he had offered to return, fearing that their connections with him would be exposed. Sharad Pawar claimed that he refused Dawood Ibrahim's offer to return because one of the conditions of his return was that he would not go to jail! Apparently it was one thing to break a promise to Yakub Memon, sidekick with dubious culpability in actual attacks and quite another to bring the kingpin Dawood Ibrahim to India under false pretenses and then break a promise. South Africa had provided a RAW officer intel on fake identities used by Dawood Ibrahim as early as 1994. V Balachandran shares that the Indian government took his report and sat on it to date.

The Sunday guardian reports that according to US intelligence, 26/11 would not have been possible without Dawood Ibrahim's extensive network and contacts in India. Yet not only did an investigation into the Indian angle never happen, the sole attacker captured was put to death in a clandestine manner. Various people had raised questions around this at various times, from the Mossad conspiracy angle brought up by Great Game India blog to questions around Karkare's death and random anomalies like reports of a woman accompanying an attacker or white skinned attackers. Who was being protected and why?

Chhota Rajan indeed owes his survival to Indian intelligence agencies who are rumored to even tip off his people about raids by Mumbai police and seem to be counting on him to eliminate Dawood Ibrahim, even as threats, murders and crimes by his people in India mount. India has never issued a red corner notice against him, regardless of his crimes. Maharashtra government had briefly made a noise about asking #CBI to issue a red corner notice against him in the wake of the high profile murder of Jyotirmoy Dey by his hit men, and that news appears to have sunk without a trace, since. Indian intelligence clearly knew where Chhota Rajan was, when Chhota Shakeel called the hit on him. Yet the news reports only indicate that Shakeel would be arrested with the help of Australian government if he hadn't dropped off the radar. Why was there no question of Chhota Rajan being arrested?

These are both dangerous gangs that have committed crimes in India engaged in a blood feud.

Is the Yakub Memon death warrant or Yasin Bhatkal's claim of threat to his life in a staged encounter, coming on the heels of Chhota Shakeel's attempts on Chhota Rajan a message "to whomsoever-it-may-concern" to lay off Chhota Rajan "or your people could die"? Is it a way of getting Tiger Memon to pressure his associates to back off from their chase of Chhota Rajan?

More importantly for India, is our system becoming a pawn in a gang war?

Note: I am no expert on the underworld, and this is merely a compilation from news reports in the public domain.

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Published on 11 Comments on Who profits from hanging Yakub Memon?

Yakub Memon is the brother of Tiger Memon and provided him and Dawood Ibrahim financial assistance in the planning of the Mumbai train blasts of 1993. After the blasts, Dawood Ibrahim and the Memon family escaped to Pakistan, where they lived under the protection of the ISI.

To make a long story short, anecdotal accounts reveal that the family did not approve of Tiger Memon's terrorist act and wished to return to India and Yakub consulted with a cousin from Bombay with regard to surrendering to justice in India. He had traveled to Kathmandu with documents, video and audio tapes that incriminated Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon. While specific details in the interim are not clear, what is known is that Yakub Memon came to the attention of Nepal police and surrendered and was brought to India by road and flown to Delhi and formally arrested.

After he was arrested, he provided crucial evidence regarding the terrorist conspiracy to Indian agencies that helped, for the first time in conclusively establishing the role of Pakistan's ISI in terrorist attacks in India. He also arranged for his family to travel from Pakistan to Dubai and surrender to Indian authorities and be brought to India.

In essence, Yakub Memon had a peripheral role in the attacks and provided assistance to the investigation that helped establish the real culprits conclusively. While the nature of his agreement with the Indian agencies is unclear, an article by B. Raman, who headed the Pakistan desk of the Research and Analysis Wing of India when Memon was arrested is categorical that his actions and assistance constituted mitigating circumstances and that the prosecution should not have asked for a death penalty.

An article in the Times of India, after his sentencing in 2007 described that the family returned to India after discovering the magnitude of the damage from the attack and to make themselves available for questioning. The understanding was that the women would not be arrested, but only questioned, while the men would be arrested, but assisted to get bail. The family was not involved in Tiger Memon's underworld activities.

According to the Quint, which quotes Shyam Keswani on ABPLive, the Indian government reneged on the deal, rendering the CBI helpless with regard to their agreement with Yakub. "A senior investigating officer of the CBI called us for a meeting in one of the bungalows opposite the Secretariat....The CBI officer told me to file a bail plea and that the CBI would not oppose it. The reason for this, he said, was that Memon had helped the agency unravel things it would not have been able to in 30-35 years...The next day I filed a bail application, but the CBI opposed it tooth and nail. Later I met the same CBI officer and asked him why were you joking with me? He apologised and told me the Government of India has changed its stand... He was betrayed by the Government of India."

And the rest is history.

To the bloodthirsty fanatic supporters of the government, a hanged Muslim terrorist is good news, and anyone questioning that is defending terrorists and against national interest, and so on. The usual tape.

However, in my view, there are several serious reasons Yakub Memon should not be hanged.

What was his role in the actual attacks?

His involvement does not appear to have extended to the actual attacks at all. A chartered accountant helping his brother with finances - which are used in a terrorist attack - does not exactly scream of knowingly carrying out terrorist attacks. A death penalty seems disproportionate for his known "crime".

What is the value of the word of the Indian government?

While the exact nature of the deal with Yakub Memon is unknown, logic would tell us that he would not hae requested for the death sentence for himself and life sentences for his family as a condition of surrender. The government prosecuted him with proofs he willingly provided to bring the real perpetrators to book. We seem to have taken the easiest route to having someone to hang rather than following through on our word as well as pursuing the real culprits. It is whatever deal he made that brought the rest of the family to India. The documentary proof he provided allowed India to make a strong case against the real perpetrators - of this there is no doubt - Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim. India not upholding its part of the deal stinks of dishonesty.

Whose interests are served?

Yakub Memon and his family frustrated the ISI and returned to India and their actions here helped India. Hanging Yakub Memon almost sounds like India serving the ISI by punishing them for betraying Pakistan.

Yakub Memon was advised by his cousin as well as Tiger Memon to not return to India. His hanging for doing exactly that proves that Tiger Memon was right and that the government couldn't care less about guilt or innocence if they have a hanging to show people for a crime.

What is lost with Yakub Memon?

Given the rabid nationalism going high decibel about terrorists, I'm not going to make humanitarian arguments about the death penalty or indeed the terrorist's interest at all. No use. We are beyond that. Life does not matter here if there is a good excuse, and there are a thousand excuses for taking the life of a terrorist.

Given how little regard we have for the country's laws or honor, it seems pointless to expect the word of the country to mean anything when a convenient hanging is in sight. After all, we specialize in saying whatever is convenient and doing whatever is convenient - independently of each other.

Given how little respect we have for anyone pleading to save lives, let us ignore the petition by eminent jurists, politicians and more.

However, what will even give nationalists pause is the question whether we have given up on bringing Tiger Memon or Dawood Ibrahim back? Or is hanging a peripheral accused already in the hands of the Indian government and letting go of the kingpins a part of some bizarre track two? Are we seriously saying that we would not need Yakub Memon to nail Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim to the wall if we succeeded in capturing them? Or is this a quiet admission that we aren't going to get them and we might as well hang someone?

Are we saying that hanging Yakub Memon is in our interest while the main perpetrators are at large? Is his testimony or further information not of any importance in the event we can negotiate an extradition or to bring about international pressure for such an extradition?

All that hanging Yakub Memon proves is that the Indian government cannot be trusted to uphold their part of deals with approvers for intelligence on crimes. It serves terrorist interests by deterring any affiliate who has intel from taking it to the authorities. If they fail to grab the real culprits even with information you provide, you'll be hanged in the place of the culprits.

It is really troubling that the prosecution and courts have chosen to think like an average rioter on the street. One Memon masterminded the blasts and is out of reach, crucify his family!

And for what? The real culprits still roam free in Pakistan. Yakub Memon never bombed anyone. You are no safer with him dead or alive. All we are doing is getting rid of a key witness - legally, this time, advertizing that India cannot be trusted to make deals for intel in an extremely high profile manner and achieving little more than a dead body that would otherwise live in prison for life.

The ISI should probably send a thank you card to the Indian idiots.

Published on Leave a comment on Nagrik Chetna Manch files contempt against RBI Governor, Chief Election Commissioner and Cabinet Secretary

Nagrik Chetna Manch (NCM) filed a Contempt Petition (21656 of 2015) on 6th July 2015 initiating proceedings for committing civil contempt of the Hon’ble #Supreme Court by violating it’s interim orders dated 23.09.2013 and 16.03.2015 in Writ Petition (Civil) 494 of 2012 and dated 24.02.2014 in Special Leave Petition (Criminal) 2524 of 2014. The contemnors are (1) Pradeep Kumar Sinha, Cabinet Secretary, Union of #India, (2) Swadheen S Kshatriya, Chief Secretary #Government of Maharashtra, (3) Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (4) Nasim Zaidi, Chief Election Commissioner, #Election Commission of India.

NCM noticed that there was a spurt of directives in the last few months by both the Central and State governments violating the orders of the Supreme Court by mandating linkages of benefits to the possession of Aadhaar number. We give below a few examples for the basis of the Contempt Petition.

The Department of Electronics and Communication Technology integrated Aadhaar to draw benefits in the newly launched Digital India Program. The Ministry of Labour and Employment made Aadhaar card compulsory for ESI services. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy made Aadhaar mandatory for receiving capital subsidy. The Ministry of Rural Development made Aadhaar compulsory for MNREGA services.

The Govt. of #Maharashtra made Aadhaar compulsory for ration services at Fair Price Shops and for school admissions and the Election Commission of India issued instructions for linking Aadhaar card with Elector’s Photo Identity Card.

In it’s interim order dated 23.09.2013 passed in WP (C) 494 of 2012, the Supreme Court had directed, “in the meanwhile no person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar number and when any person applies to get the Aadhaar number voluntarily, it may be checked whether the person is entitled for it under law as it should not be given to any illegal immigrant.” In its order dated 24/03/2014 in SLP 2524/2014 filed by the Unique Identification Authority of India against the Central Bureau of Investigation and others, the Supreme Court had restrained the UIDAI from transferring any biometric information of any person to any other agency without a written consent.

Nagrik Chetna Manch has prayed for prohibition of linkage of Aadhaar number to any benefits, to end the discrimination of persons into Aadhaar and non-Aadhaar residents and restrain the #Government from transferring any biometric information of any person from or to any other agency without specific written permission.

NCM’s Contempt Petition 21656 of 2015 in the Supreme Court

On 6th July 2015, Nagrik Chetna Manch (NCM) filed Contempt Petition bearing no. 21656 / 2015 under Art 129 & 142 of the Constitution of India read with section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act 1971 for initiating contempt proceedings against the Contemnors for committing Civil Contempt of Hon’ble Supreme Court whereby violating it’s interim orders dated 23.09.2013 and 16.03.2015 passed in WP (C) no. 494 of 2012. As well as order dated 24.02.2014 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court in SLP (Crl) no. 2524 of 2014. Contemnors being (1) Pradeep Kumar Sinha, Cabinet Secretary, Union of India, (2) Swadheen S Kshatriya, Chief Secretary Government of Maharashtra, (3) Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (4) Nasim Zaidi, Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India.

Earlier NCM had filed WP no. 932 of 2013 in public interest against the use of the UID number by RBI, ECI, RGI and GoI on the grounds mentioned in the WP in which notice had been issued on 19.11.2013 by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the same was tagged with aforesaid WP (C) 494 of 2012.

In it’s interim order dated 23.09.2013 passed in WP (C) no. 494 of 2012, the Hon’ble Supreme Court while feeling importance of this matter, listed it for final hearing. And also directed that in the meanwhile no person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar number and when any person applies to get the Aadhaar number voluntarily, it may be checked whether the person is entitled for it under law as it should not be given to any illegal immigrant.

In an order dated 24/03/2014 in another matter Special Leave to Appeal (Crl) No.2524/2014 filed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) against the Central Bureau of Investigation (#CBI) and others, the Supreme Court had restrained the UIDAI from transferring any biometric information of any person who has been allotted the Aadhaar number to any other agency without his consent in writing. The order further stated that no person shall be deprived of any service for want of Aadhaar number in case he/she is otherwise eligible/entitled. All the authorities were directed to modify their forms/circulars/likes so as to not compulsorily require the Aadhaar number in order to meet the requirement of the interim order passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

Despite these orders neither the #Government of India nor States and their functionaries have been complying the orders of the Supreme Court in letter and spirit. They have continued to cause suffering by continuously mandating more and more for registration and linkages to the Aadhaar. The NCM quotes a few examples of the violations by the contemnors in the Petition.

The Department of Electronics and Communication Technology, for example, launched the Digital India Program on 1st July 2015. This program integrates Aadhaar as a mandatory feature to draw any benefits. The Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt. of India issued advertisement in for making Aadhaar card compulsory for ESI services. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India issued notice No. 5/34/2013-14/RT dated 01.01.2015 for making Aadhaar card compulsory for receiving capital subsidy. The Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India issued letter dated 18.02.2015 and again on 25.02.2015 for making Aadhaar card compulsory for MNREGA services. The Minister of Rural Development, Govt. of India answered a unstarred question on 05.03.2015 whether the Union Government proposes to link accounts opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana with Aadhaar number to transfer subsidy and wages under MGNREGS directly indicating that “The States have been asked to take active measures to link the bank accounts of the workers with their Aadhaar numbers. In order to make use of the benefits under the PMJDY, all States have been requested to undertake an immediate drive to open Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts for all the active wage seekers who already do not have a Bank/ Post Office account in the nearest commercial Bank/ Post Offices. Wherever accounts have been freshly opened by MGNREGA workers under the PMJDY, such accounts are being linked with Aadhaar number of the beneficiaries.”

The Govt. of Maharashtra issued Cabinet Resolution dated 03.03.2015 for making Aadhaar card compulsory for ration services at Fair Price Shops. The Resolution also requires the transfer of biometric information to the Govt. of Maharashtra despite there being no consent in writing of the persons whose biometric it may be. The Govt. of Maharashtra issued GR dated 21.04.2015 for making Aadhaar card compulsory for school admissions.

The Reserve Bank of India issued letter dated 26.11.2013 for making Aadhaar card readers compulsory for all new infrastructure services.

The Election Commission of India issued letter dated 27.02.2015 for linking Aadhaar card with EPIC. This process of seeding is meaningless without discriminating, and thus causing to suffer, those without an Aadhaar.

In the meanwhile as the common man continues to suffer the Aadhaar, NCM has alleged in its Petition 932 of 2013, that the linkage of Aadhaar to various databases is destroying governance and ability to govern. NCM has also highlighted that it will end the rule of law and perhaps even compromise the sovereignty of India. Such linkage of bank accounts to Aadhaar is facilitating money laundering. Linkage of Aadhaar to the EPIC and NPR is destroying the ability to distinguish citizens from residents and giving citizenship to illegal immigrants as well as anti-nationals.

NCM in the CP filed, prays for prohibition of operations related to Aadhaar number by Contemnors forthwith and until final disposal of WP (C) no.494 of 2012, require contemnors to end suffering caused by discrimination of persons into Aadhaar and non-Aadhaar residents through the continued usage or seeding of Aadhaar by any agency and restrain the contemnors from transferring any biometric information of any person who has been allotted the Aadhaar number from or to any other agency.

Qaneez Sukhrani

Secretary, Nagrik Chetna Manch

Telephone: +919822056782