Do you have girl friend? When will you get married?: Gujarat police to Hardik Patel during investigation

By Our Representative
The Gujarat police is learnt to be asking strange questions to young pro-quota Patidar leader Hardik Patel, currently in Surat’s Lajpore jail of Gujarat on charges of sedition. Details of the questions asked during the police interrogation suggest, among the questions he was asked included whether he had a girl friend, and when would he get married.
Giving details of the police interrogation, a local Gujarati TV channel has reported, the policeman questioning Patel, who happens to be the topmost leader of the Patidar Anamat Andolan (PAA), told him, “Details of your horoscope published in a daily suggest your stars favour you, and you would become the chief minister of Gujarat one day.”
The policeman, belonging to the Gujarat crime branch, advised Patel, “I recommend you to leave the movement for Patidar reservation movement and join a political party in order to pursue your political career.” He even pleaded, “If you become chief minister, do not take a revenge against me, you may like to keep me for your security.”
The channel reports, this came to light in Patel’s affidavit prepared by his lawyer Jashwant Vala, who said, the details of his questioning suggest what type of “stupid questions” were asked to the pro-quota leader.
The policeman asked Patel whether the latter thought he was in for trouble for his utterances (allegedly advising Patel youth to kill a couple of cops), even as telling the leader that he seemed to be “innocent” and an “innocent person should not be punished.”
The policeman also asked him whom did he suspect had lathicharged the youths soon after the five lakh strong pro-quota Patidar rally ended, and that how could the chief minister order the lathicharge as she belongs to the same community as Patel, the youth leader replied, “Maybe it was chief minister. It is not clear who in the government gave the order.”
On a supplementary question whom did he suspend was behind the lathicharge, Patel replied, “May be it was Amit Shah.” Shah, a well-known Narendra Modi protégé, is the BJP president.
In yet another question, Patel was asked which party – BJP or Congress – helped him, Patel replied, “No political leader supported me, though I know most of the leaders, and I talk to them on phone.” Among the leaders he named included Uddhav Thakre, Nitin Gadkari, Keshubhai Patel and Nitish Kumar.
There also a question whether it was true he was offered Rs 1,000 or 1.200 crore for taking back his agitation, to which Patel replied, “We do not have an office, but BJP leaders would come to me with bags full of money.”
Patel has moved the Gujarat High Court seeking bail. His bail application came after the Surat district and sessions court rejected his bail plea on December 10. In the bail application submitted before the Surat court, Hardik claimed that he has been booked under false charges by police, as mere spoken words do not amount to sedition.
Meanwhile, the Patidar leader has admitted before the Supreme Court that some of the controversial statements he made during the quota stir were “stupid” but he never intended to overthrow the elected government of Gujarat through violence. He approached the Apex Court through senior advocate Kapil Sibal of Congress, as the Gujarat High Court has refused to stay sedition charges against him.

Comments

#MeToo moment in Hyderabad Urdu varsity? Two girl students seek action against authorities

Counterview Desk
Has the #MeToo movement reached Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MAANU)? It would seem so if a recent letter by newly-appointed chancellor Firoz Bakht Ahmed to MAANU vice-chancellor Dr Aslam Parvaiz is any indication. Seeking reinstatement of two girl victims of “sexual harassment and humiliation”, the letter specifically names head of the department of the Media Centre for Journalism, suspecting, the problem could be much deeper.
Text of the letter: It is a matter of utmost perturbation for me to receive the two representations from the girls studying in the MCJ (Media Center for Journalism) regarding their sexual and subsequently, mental and social harassment at the hands of Prof Ehtesham Ahmad Khan, the HOD, MCJ.
We do not know, how many girls have been exploited by him and preferred to be silent for saving their family’s honour; however, there are two brave girls who stood to the depraved advances and misuse by Prof Ehtesham and came up with written complai…

"Ineligible" funding of Sardar Statue in Gujarat: CAG tells Central PSUs, it's not a heritage CSR activity

By Our Representative
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in its recent report on Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE), has qualified public sector undertakings’ (PSUs') funding the 182-metre world’s highest Sardar Statue, currently being constructed in the Narmada river downstream of the Sardar Sarovar dam as an “ineligible” corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity.

Gujarat BJP MLAs, youth leader "incited" attack on North Indians: Cong releases video

Counterview Desk
Senior Gujarat Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil, currently in charge of Bihar and national spokesperson, All-India Congress Committee, has sent a legal notice to chief minister Vijay Rupani threatening criminal case and civil defamation suit for accusing him with "baseless statement" that he was responsible for attacks on north Indians in Gujarat.

29th "NRC-related" suicide in Assam, as Nirod Baran Das takes his life by hanging on a fan

By Our Representative
Reporting 29th case of National Register of Citizens (NRC)-driven suicide in Assam, one of India’s human rights campaign sites has said that, on October 20, tragedy struck Kharupetia town in Darrang district of Assam, when a retired school teacher and advocate Nirod Baran Das “took his life by hanging himself to a fan in his home.” The report adds, “The NRC process has so far claimed over two dozen such lives in the past four months alone.”

"Highly irregular" for PSUs to fund Sardar Statue under Corporate Social Responsibility

Counterview Desk
In a letter to I Srinivas, secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, former secretary (economic affairs), Ministry of Finance, EAS Sarma, has raised questions on the funding of the Sardar Patel statue in South Gujarat by Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSUs) relying on the Comptroller and Auditor General report (No 18/2018).

Murder of Tamil Nadu teenage Dalit girl: "Stoic silence" despite #MeToo movement

Counterview Desk
Brinelle D'souza, who is with the Centre for Health and Mental Health, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, has prepared a strong statement to protest the brutal murder of 13-year-old Rajalakshmi. "Other than a few media reports, this gruesome killing has not caught national attention despite a very vibrant #MeToo campaign currently underway", regrets D'souza.

Post-MJ Akbar resignation: #MeToo movement and fears of backlash

By Sheshu Babu*
For the last few days, #MeToo movement has picked up momentum and many women are coming out with horrific tales of severe harassment in their past lives. They are not afraid anymore to expose famous persons including those at ministerial levels. As a senior journalist Neeraja Chowdhury opined (“An exit, a beginning”, October 18, 2018, indianexpress.com), "The #MeToo revelations are like the eruption of a volcano which was imminent, given the journey working women have covered. It was not easy to make public what they had gone through,and take on powerful men.”

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.

Bank account frozen, raid on Amnesty office: Govt of India "treating" human rights NGOs like criminal enterprises

By Abhirr VP*
Amnesty India’s bank accounts have been frozen by the Enforcement Directorate, effectively stopping its work. Amnesty India is thus the latest target of the government’s assault on civil society in the country. The accounts of Greenpeace India were frozen earlier this month.

60 ex-civil servants seek release of CAG reports on Rafale, demonetisation before 2019 polls

Counterview Desk
As many as 60 retired civil servants have asked President Ram Nath Kovind to expedite the release of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports on demonetisation and the Rafale deal. The letter, signed mainly by former Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Police Service officers, regrets that the status of the audit is "unclear”. According to them, “An impression is gaining ground that CAG is deliberately delaying its audit reports on demonetisation and Rafale deal till after the May 2019 elections so as not to embarrass the present government”.

Counterview

Search This Blog