Gujarat cops' move against top rights activist: Anticipatory bail plea in High Court postponed till July 9

By Our Representative
Gujarat High Court hearing in the anticipatory bail applications of top human rights activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand and three survivors of the 2002 Gulberg Society massacre of Gujarat, Tanvir Jafri, Salim Sandhi and Firoz Gulzar Pathan has been postponed till July 9, 2014. This happened, according to a statement issued by Setalvad’s NGO Centre for Justice and Peace (CJP), following a 96 page counter affidavit “complete with detailed records from audited accounts and bank statements disproving baseless allegations made by the Crime Branch, Ahmedabad.”
In early January 2014, the crime branch of the Gujarat police filed an FIR leveling criminal charges against Setalvad and others alleging misappropriation of NGO funds for “personal gain.” This was followed by the cops’ instructions to IDBI and UBI to freeze the accounts of CJP and Sabrang Trust, the NGOs she heads. The statement adds, the whole effort of the Gujarat cops was “to financially cripple the ongoing legal battle for justice to the victims and punishment to the perpetrators and masterminds of the state-sponsored 2002 mass crimes in Gujarat.”
In their affidavit filed in the Gujarat High Court, Setalvad and Anand referred to reports filed by the auditors of CJP and Sabrang Trust with the crime branch, Ahmedabad, affirming that the allegation of embezzlement of funds by the two “were totally baseless”. The 96-page affidavit points out to “gaping holes in the repeated and equally baseless fresh allegations made by the crime branch in its June 13, 2014 affidavit filed in the Gujarat High Court.”
The affidavit, the statement says, debunks the claims of the crime branch that as much as 45% of the donations collected by the trusts went into their personal accounts. Saying that there is not “a shred of evidence that Setalvad and Anand have pocketed away crores of rupees collected by the two trusts”, adding, when the auditors of the two trusts clarified that this was not true, the Gujarat police alleged they, too, were in “connivance” with the trust.
Pointing out that “all relevant records such as vouchers/bills, books of account, minute book… were made available to us by the management of CJP for our verification”, the auditors’ report clearly stated that “we have not noticed that the funds of CJP were used by its trustees for the purpose other than its 'Objects'”, the statement said.
The auditors were quoted as saying: “On the basis of information and explanation received and documents examined by us we did not find such alleged embezzlement of funds. The funds received for public purposes from various international donors were spent wholly and exclusively for the purposes for which they were given by the funding agencies”. Also, the auditors said, they did not find any “huge cash withdrawals”, as claimed by the cops.

Comments

World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

"Misleading" satellite images being shared on Balakot surgical strike on Jaish camp

By Dr Vinay Kate*
With every passing day more questions are being raised about the surgical strike India did in Balakot as a response to Pulwama attacks. So far the Indian media has claimed mass casulaty of 300+ terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in this surgical strike, but there is hardly any report from foreign media about the same.

Extreme repression, corporate loot, cultural genocide "characterise" India's tribal belt

Counterview Desk
As Lok Sabha polls approach, there is considerable ferment in one section of the population -- India's Adivasis, forming about 8.6 per cent of India's population. Things became particularly critical following the February 14, 2019 Supreme Court order, allegedly seeking to evict lakhs of tribals from their forest lands.

Industry in India "barely growing", export growth 0%, whither moral anchors?

Counterview Desk
In a sharp critique of the Modi government, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of world renowned economist Prof Kaushik Basu, who is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, has told students at the IIM-A’s 54th Annual Convocation on March 16, 2019 that they have a “special responsibility” on their shoulders, “the responsibility to reject narrow sectarianism, uphold scientific thinking, openness to new ideas, and freedom of speech.”

Congress would win just 9 of 26 Lok Sabha seats: Gujarat Assembly segment-wise analysis

By Rajiv Shah
Even as the Congress plans its first working committee meet in Gujarat on February 28 after an almost 58 year gap, there is reason to wonder what is in store for India’s grand old party in a state which has been long been a BJP bastion – in fact ever since mid-1990s. Ahead of the then assembly polls in late 2012, talking with me, a senior Gujarat Congress leader, currently Rajya Sabha MP, frankly said he saw no reason why Congress would win.

Financial inclusion? Not micro-loans; India's poor "need" investment in health, education

By Moin Qazi*
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.

India, Pakistan told to eliminate nuclear weapons: N-war "would kill" 2 billion

Counterview Desk
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 64 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens, claiming to share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation, has warned that “an unprecedented global catastrophe” awaits the globe against the backdrop of warmongering in India and Pakistan.

Modi wants Pak govt be held responsible for JeM terror strike: World doesn't agree

By Sandeep Pandey*
I went to participate in a candle light homage paying event at Dr BR Ambedkar's statue organised by about 200 Dalit students on Hazratganj main crossing in Lucknow on February 16, 2019 evening, two days after the dastardly terrorist act in Pulwana, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), in which 44 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel was killed.

Women, business, law: India scores worst among all BRICS, several African nations

By Rajiv Shah
A new World Bank report ranks India 125th in its Women, Business and the Law (WBL) index among 187 economies it seeks to analyse across the globe. The report's main aim claims to be to "gain new insight into how women’s employment and entrepreneurship choices are affected by legal gender discrimination. On a scale of 100, India's score is 71.25, worse than the global average of 74.71.

Counterview

Search This Blog