[Reader-list] BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh arresteda Delhi-basedJournalist

[TaraPrakash]

Journalists are not above law. BJP government is. The cops are. They can 
arrest innocent people at will. They can spare murderers of teachers. They 
can shoot people to test their guns.
habeas corpus provision for a journalist!!! You must be kidding. It applies 
only in the states where the law rules.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shuddhabrata Sengupta" <shuddha at sarai.net>
To: <radhikarajen at vsnl.net>
Cc: "arshad amanullah" <arshad.mcrc at gmail.com>; <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 4:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh arresteda 
Delhi-basedJournalist


> Radhikarajen,
>
> I am curious to know, where in the post by Arshad Amanullah you have
> read that the journalist, Nadim Ahmad,  had violated any law? Which
> law do you think has been violated? Where (in Arshad's posting) do
> you find the evidence of this violation?
>
> The report forwarded by Arshad mentions the editor of Mr. Ahmad's
> newspaper citing conversations with a police officer about the
> journalist, his whereabouts and his assignment, and even the police
> officer who is quoted in the forwarded report does not seem to
> indicate that the Mr. Ahmad had broken any law. Which leap of
> imagination then impels you to make the assumption that he had?
>
> I find it disgusting that you should assume that the journalist has
> violated any law whatsoever, without any stated proof to that effect.
> All that we can surmise from reading the above mentioned report  is
> that Mr. Ahmad was doing his job -  making enquiries in a completely
> legitimate manner, as journalists are supposed to do. Morover,
> nowhere, in the posting that Arshad has forwarded, is there any
> reference to Mr. Ahmad's faith, or his relationship to an
> organization called SIMI, and yet, I can see that you cannot resist
> the cheap temptation of stating that  - (and I am quoting you
> directly here)
>
> - "he is journalist (sic), that does not mean he is above the law, he
> can do anything to go anywhere and even sheltor (sic), support and
> shield the few fanatics because he is journalist, that is when
> conflict of interest comes in free India, when religion is used to
> propagate hatred, to foist violence, like the SIMI now banned does.
> If system of governance arrests a few, who are in subversion of laws,
> planning violent acts in the guise of religion and its freedom, laws
> have to take care of such deviant behaviour in free society."
>
> Where, in Arshad's posting do you find grounds to believe that the
> journalist, "sheltered, supported and shielded" any "fanatics"? Is it
> only on the grounds of his name, and what we can learn about the
> possibility of his beliefs, again on the basis of that name. What can
> we learn on the basis of a name. If I take your name for instance, I
> cannot even tell whether you are male or female, whether you are
> Hindu, or a person of another faith, or no faith at all, who happens
> to have the Sanskrit names of a hindu deity (Radhika) and the term
> for a royal personage, (Rajen) attached to his/her name. For all I
> care, you could be a Brahmo Samajist, a Seventh Day Adventist, a
> lapsed Roman Catholic, a de-sexed pagan cyobrg in dire need of
> therapy or a born-again, paranoiac, alcoholic (or abstinent) Santan
> Dharmi who spends way too much time on the internet. Your name gives
> me no real indication whatsoever, actually. And any negative
> judgements that I, or anyone esle would make about you, your motives,
> your character, your personality on the basis of your name would be
> totally indefensible. If I had to make judgements, they would have to
> rely on your actions and your statments, not your name.
>
> Now, let us assume that I was a journalist, trying to investigate the
> detention of the activists of a supposedly 'Hindu' organization like
> the Bajrang Dal. Now let us further assume that I was arrested, in
> the course of doing so. Would you, or anyone else, then be taken
> seriously, if you or they, made a statement to the effect that I was
> arrested, because I was "sheltering, supporting and shielding" the
> activists of the Bajrang Dal (because Shuddhabrata Sengupta sounds,
> in an appropriately deadpan Sanskritic way, like an ostensibly
> 'hindu' name, though it actually says next to nothing about my
> personal convictions in the matter of religion).
>
> Such an allegation, if it were not backed by any substantive proof,
> would be patently absurd. Similarly, your implicit allegations (which
> infer connections and convergences of purpose between SIMI activists
> and Nadim Ahmad solely on the grounds of the incidental 0 and
> therefore irrelevant -  marker of Mr. Ahmad's name), are equally absurd.
>
> You, sir, or madam, or whatever you may be, are the true fanatic
> here. You cannot resist making broad generalizations about other
> peoples' character based on nothing other than the sound of their
> name. It really shows how narrow the bandwidth of your intelligence
> and your imagination is.
>
> I think you owe this list an apology, and I suggest that you study
> the Indian Penal Code carefully before making flimsy allegations
> about being above or below the law. The law can be used quite
> effectively against people like you who make baseless and wild
> allegations about other people's character and conduct. I suggest you
> take a careful look at section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, it
> spells out the law of a crime called defamation. Be careful.
>
> no regards whatsoever, not to you, not this time,
>
> Shuddhabrata
>
>
>
>
> On 08-Apr-08, at 6:21 PM, radhikarajen at vsnl.net wrote:
>
>> Losten my friend, he is journalist, that does not mean he is above
>> the law, he can do anything to go anywhere and even sheltor,
>> support and shield the few fanatics because he is journalist, that
>> is when conflict of interest comes in free India, when religion is
>> used to propagate hatred, to foist violence, like the SIMI now
>> banned does. If system of governance arrests a few, who are in
>> subversion of laws, planning violent acts in the guise of religion
>> and its freedom, laws have to take care of such deviant behaviour
>> in free society. Be it a hindu, muslim or any faith, group of
>> individuals who are traitors to the society for the "religion" are
>> not citizens who deserve to be spared as law has to take care of
>> such deviant behaviour., irrespective of the system of governance,
>> or the political party that rules the state, why is it that some
>> point out such incidents as if system is against the faith, but not
>> against lawless behaviour by "journalist. ?
>>
>> Regatrds.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: arshad amanullah <arshad.mcrc at gmail.com>
>> Date: Monday, April 7, 2008 10:42 pm
>> Subject: [Reader-list] BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh arrested a Delhi-
>> basedJournalist
>> To: reader-list at sarai.net
>>
>>> www.milligazette.com
>>>
>>> New Delhi, 7 April 2008: Late last evening the police
>>> in the BJP-ruled state of Madhya Pradesh arrested a
>>> Delhi-based journalist who had gone there to report on
>>> recent arrests in the state.
>>>
>>> The journalist is Mr Nadim Ahmad, a staffer of The
>>> Milli Gazette fortnightly English-language newspaper
>>> published from Delhi since 2000.
>>>
>>> Ahmad was arrested by the police early 6 April evening
>>> in village Aroda/Choral under Balwada Police Station,
>>> Distt Khargone, Indore Range. Contact with Ahmad was
>>> possible until late in the evening on his mobile phone
>>> (# 09911334768). However, since this morning he is not
>>> picking up his phone while Police Inspector Sunil
>>> Visthre (mobile # 09926670086), who took Ahmad in
>>> custody, is not responding to calls on his mobile.
>>> Enquiries with highest police officials in Indore have
>>> failed to help trace the whereabout of the arrested
>>> journalist. The Milli Gazette editor, Dr Zafarul-Islam
>>> Khan, has written in this matter to Mr Shivraj Patil,
>>> the Union Home Minister, MP Governor Mr Balram Jhakar,
>>> MP Chief Minister Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan, MP home
>>> minister Mr. Himmat Kothari, as well as to top police
>>> officials in MP state.
>>>
>>> If the journalist remains untraceable, Dr Khan plans
>>> to file a habeas corpus suit in the Supreme Court of
>>> India tomorrow, 8 April.
>>>
>>> [end]
>>>
>>> Issued by The Milli Gazette
>>> D-84 Abul Fazal Enclave-I
>>> Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110 025
>>> Tel. (011) 26942883, 26947483, 26952825
>>> Email: edit at milligazette.com <edit%40milligazette.com>
>>> Website: www.milligazette.com
>>>
>>> Following is the text of the letter sent by Dr
>>> Zafarul-Islam Khan, Editor, The Milli Gazette, on 7
>>> April 2008 via fax, email and courier to a number of
>>> central and MP state authorities:
>>>
>>> "This is to inform you that we are a registered
>>> English-language fortnightly newspaper published
>>> regularly since January 2000 (registered RNI number
>>> DELENG/2000/930). A few days back we sent Mr Nadim
>>> Ahmad, one of our full-time staff reporters, to
>>> Sarangpur, Madhya Pradesh, to report on communal
>>> violence there. At about same time news of arrests of
>>> alleged SIMI members also came from an adjacent area
>>> in the state, so I instructed him to go to Indore as
>>> well to report on the situation there and to visit
>>> some places from where arrests were made. Mr Ahmad
>>> reached Indore yesterday, 6 April 2008, and after
>>> making enquiries about the location of the concerned
>>> areas, went to village Aroda/Choral under Balwada
>>> Police Station, Distt Khargone, Indore Range (Thana
>>> phone No. 07280-261237) whose in-charge is Town
>>> Inspector Mr Sunil Visthre (mobile no. 09926670086).
>>> Inspector Visthre spoke to me last night at around 8-9
>>> pm using Mr Ahmad's mobile no. 09911334768 asking why
>>> he was in the area. It was explained to him that Mr
>>> Ahmad was a full-time staff reporter of this paper and
>>> he was there at my instructions to report on the
>>> recent arrests. Inspector Visthre told me that there
>>> was nothing to worry about and Mr Ahmad is helping
>>> enquiries and he is not under arrest.
>>>
>>> My last contact with Ahmad was at 11.06 pm yesterday
>>> (6 April 08) on his mobile phone in which he said he
>>> is alright and was answering questions by the police;
>>> Inspector Visthre also spoke to me over the same phone
>>> at that time and told me that there is nothing to
>>> worry about as they were only trying to establish the
>>> reason why Mr Nadim was in the area.. Mr Nadim Ahmad's
>>> last call was at 1.28 am on 7-4-08 which I could not
>>> receive as I had gone to bed by that time. In the
>>> morning I tried to contact Mr Ahmad using his mobile
>>> number but there was no response. Thereafter, I phoned
>>> Balwada Thana at the above phone number and was
>>> informed that Inspector Visthre has taken Mr Ahmad to
>>> Indore in the morning at 6 AM. Efforts to contact Mr
>>> Ahmad since then have failed; Inspector Visthre too is
>>> not taking up calls to his mobile. After this, I
>>> phoned Indore Superintendent of Police Mr Anshuman
>>> Yadav on his mobile no. 09425115144 at 11.30 am (7
>>> April 08). He told me that he had no information about
>>> this matter.
>>>
>>> As of now, my apprehension is that Mr Nadim Ahmad has
>>> been arrested and kept under custody at an unknown
>>> place for no reason whatsoever as he was only
>>> discharging his duties as a journalist to investigate
>>> matters of common and media interest. I fear that
>>> under the current charged atmosphere in the state of
>>> Madhya Pradesh, Mr Ahmad may have been falsely
>>> implicated in some matter and illegally deprived of
>>> his liberty. I request you to immediately intervene in
>>> this matter and ensure the freedom of press guaranteed
>>> by our Constitution and laws."
>>> _________________________________________
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>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> Raqs Media Collective
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>
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