[Reader-list] Court asks cops to file report on Arundhati Roy

[anupam chakravartty]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/arundhati-roy-called-a-traitor-for-kashmiri-rights-plea-2117400.html

The threat to charge Ms Roy comes after the campaign group, Reporters
without Borders, listed India in 122nd place in latest its annual press
freedom report. It said the position of the world's largest democracy had
slipped 17 places, partly due to the situation in Kashmir where "security
forces... sometimes crack down hard on media".

Ms Roy last night received the support of English PEN, which campaigns for
free expression worldwide. The group's president, Lisa Appignanesi, said:
"Since June, Kashmiri journalists and broadcasters attempting to report on
unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir have been subject to violence and
gagging. Arundhati Roy has now stepped forward to draw the world's attention
to the plight of Kashmiris.

"The truth of what is happening in Kashmir needs to be told," she said.
"Brutality by the state and the silencing of reporters is no option for a
modern India."


On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 11:25 AM, Sanjay Khak <sanjaykhak at gmail.com> wrote:

> *Court asks cops to file report on Arundhati*
> November 04, 2010   11:28:17 AM
>
> *Shikha Verma | New Delhi*
>
> A city court on Wednesday directed Delhi Police to file a status report on
> a
> complaint filed against Hurriyat Leader SAS Geelani, author-turned-activist
> Arundhati Roy and others on the charges of sedition and for their hate
> speech against India in the Capital on October 21. “The Tilak Marg Station
> House Officer (SHO) is directed to file a status report on November 16,”
> Metropolitan Magistrate Navita Kumari Bagha said.
>
> Complainant Sushil Pandit submitted that in the “derogatory” speeches, the
> accused had claimed that Kashmir was never part of India. *Prima facie*, a
> case of sedition was made out against the accused as they had “openly
> challenged the integrity and the authority” of the Government of India,
> Pandit’s counsel said. “It is a case of invoking hatred, breach of peace
> and
> disaffection towards the Govern-ment. Being a citizen of this country, the
> complainant is duly empowered by the Constitution to seek registration of
> an
> FIR against the accused,” he argued.
>
> The SHO has to submit in the status report as to whether the complainant
> had
> approached the police earlier with a complaint and what action did the
> police take on it. The complaint alleged that as the Government had
> “miserably failed” to initiate any action against the “culprits”.
>
> The counsel said, “In the session, Arundhati Roy apparently pointed toward
> imaginary Kashmiris and said: ‘*Bhookha nanga Hindustan aapke sath hai’*.
> She made provocative, anti-national and mischievous statements that were
> clearly intended to cause public disorder and uproar in Kashmir and other
> parts of India.
>
> She said, ‘Not only does Kashmir want *azadi* from India, India also wants
> *
> azadi* from Kashmir’.”
>
> Besides Geelani, Parliament attack convict (later acquitted) Prof SAR
> Geelani and Roy, the complaint also sought prosecution of four others,
> including Jammu & Kashmir University prof Sheikh Showkat Hussain,
> pro-Maoist
> writer Varavara Rao, APDR activist Sujato Bhadra and self-styled media
> critic Shuddhabrata Sengupta.
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