|
India Thinkers Net Archives Index
|
Subscribe
|
|
| << July16, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net]US prisons vs Indian call centres Source: IANS. |
July18, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net] Updates from CHRO >> |
|
Subject: KSHRC Appointments: SC Stays Kerala HC Order New Indian Express, July 17, 2004, Saturday SHRC appointments: SC stays Kerala HC order By Prabhakar Rao Voruganti New Delhi, July 16: The Supreme Court today stayed the judgment of the Kerala High Court quashing the appointment of Justice V. P. Mohan Kumar and Prof. Verghese as members of the State Human Rights Commission. A bench consisting of Chief Justice R. C. Lahoti, Justice G. P. Mathur and Justice C. K. Thakur passed the order after hearing submissions of senior counsel K. K. Venugopal for the State and A. Raghunath, counser for the respondent. As per Section 21 (2) of the Protection of the Human Rights Act, 1993, the State Human Rights Commission shall consist of a chairperson, who had been a High Court Chief Justice and four other members. The Act further stipulates that the second one of them should have been a judge of a High Court, the third should have been a judge of a district court and the fourth and fifth members should be either well-known human rights activists or should have practical experience in human rights activism. The state government had appointed three persons to the State Human Rights Commission. They were M. M. Pareed Pillai, Dr. Balaraman and D. K. Wilson. Among the three, Pillai ceased to hold the office on September 18, 2003, as he had attained the age of 70 and in December 2003, the remaining two members, Balaraman and D. K. Winson, also ceased to hold office as their term had expired. On 15-1-2004, the state government appointed Justice V. P. Mohan Kumar and Prof. Verghese as members of the Commission. Justice Mohan Kumar was a judge of the High Court. He also acted as the Chief Justice for a couple of months. Verghese is a retired Deputy Director of Collegiate of Education. In February 2004, V. S. Achuthanandan, Leader of the Opposition, filed a writ petition in the Kerala High Court seeking quashing of the appointment of the two members contending that they were not qualified to hold the posts. One P. Jomon had also filed a similar petition in the Kerala HIgh Court. While the matters stood thus, the state government issued a notification authorising Justice V. P. Mohan Kumar to act as chairman till a duly qualified person was appointed as chairperson. On March 11, 2004, the High Court allowed the writ petitions and quashed the appointment of Justice Mohan Kumar and Prof. Verghese. Later the state government approached the Supreme Court with a special leave petition which came up for hearing on April 12 this year. However, the matters were adjourend by two weeks to enable the state government to file an affidavit that there were no willing and qualified persons to hold the posts. Today, when the matter came up for hearing, counsel Venugopal submitted that state government had taken steps to amend the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, and the same is pending before the President of India for his assent. Venugopal urged the court to allow the present persons to continue in the posts till the Act is amended. He also submitted that the state government cannot appoint five persons to the Commission as it is facing acute financial crunch. Counsel for the first respondent A. Raghunath submitted to the bench that unless and until the Act is suitably amended the present persons cannot continue in office. He also questioned the contention of the state government regarding taking steps to amend the Act. Though the matter came up for the first time in April, no stps have been taken to amend the Act, he averred. The bench passed the order staying the operation of the Kerala High Court judgment and directed the listing of the matter after six months. The bench also permitted the state government to appoint three members to the Commission. ------------------------------ #2 From: "chro chro chro" <chro@rediffmail.com> Date: Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:32pm Subject: Men Start Night Patrols Here To Keep 'Ghost That Rapes Women' Away Newindpress.com, July 17, 2004, Saturday Men start night patrols here to keep 'ghost that rapes women' away AHMEDABAD: The Entity seems to have come to Vatva. At least that's what residents of Saiyedwadi believe. They are living in mortal fear of a ''ghost'' that has been ''sexually assaulting'' women for the past 15 days. Women here have stopped stepping out of their homes at night, while men have started night patrols to ``keep the ghost away''. Saiyedwadi is a small locality comprising lower-middle and middle-class families. And the rumours have spread like wildfire. Be it an old man or a three-year-old - everyone can tell you about this ``ghost that rapes women''. ``I have not seen him but I know what he looks like. He's tall, about six-and-half feet, has shoulder-length hair, a marked face. He wears black shorts and knee-length shoes. His shoes have springs, which help him jump over terraces,'' says Jahagir Khan, a resident. The others _ who have not seen the ``ghost'' _ agree with the description. Many add to it. Seventeen-year-old Mohammad Rayeez says: ``He carries a sharp-edged weapon, probably a dagger with him. He spends the day on a tree and comes out only at night.'' Mohammad, who works as a mechanic at Narol, says the ``ghost'' raped three women at Narol on Thursday night. Shaheedabanu Yusufbhai agrees. ``Two days ago, he raped a women in the next lane and warned another that she would be next,'' she says. However, which lane and which woman, no one can tell you. ``I don't know who exactly. But how can you expect a woman to come forward and say that she was molested,'' says Shaheedabanu, a housewife who no longer steps out of her house at night like most women of the area. There are other stories, about the ``ghost'' hanging from a tree branch, slapping a child, stopping a woman on her way home and so on. But the fear is apparent. The men of the area, armed with sticks and pipes, can be seen guarding their localities. Police have posted two constables in the area. ``All these are baseless rumours. No one has seen any thing for the past two days. So, we plan to withdraw the constables,'' says Vatva police inspector B.I. Patel. `It's mass hysteria' Psychitrists say what's ailing Vatva is mass hysteria that affects members of a closed community. Dr Darshan Shah says that since members of a closed community are brought up in a similar way, they ``all start believing something unreal and behave accordingly''. He cites the example of Jones Town, where 1,000 people committed suicide thinking that the world was coming to an end. ``This is actually a state of mind shared by various members. The members develop a thinking, or in this case, a figure, which most others relate to and follow. As a group, they start behaving in a particular fashion. Counselling is the only way out,'' he says. Shah adds that an evil male spirit that supposedly has sex with a sleeping woman is called an incubus - a term derived from myths. ------------------------------------------ #3 From: "chro chro chro" <chro@rediffmail.com> Date: Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:34pm Subject: DRDO To Prevent Amarnath Ice Lingam's Melting Rediff News, July 17, 2004, Saturday DRDO to prevent Amarnath Ice Lingam's melting Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has sought assistance from Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) for the preservation of Ice Lingam in full form for the entire period of Yatra at the Holy cave shrine of Amarnath. Talking to newsmen at Baltel the state Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S.K.Sinha said, "An ambitious project has been formulated by SASB with expert technical advice of scientists of DRDO to maintain ambient temperature below 8 degree Celsius in the cave shrine to ensure that the holy lingam does not melt due to soaring temperatures." The Ice Lingam, which is naturally formed inside the cave shrine melts during yatra because of rise of temperature inside the cave due to huge presence of devotees. "The mechanism to preserve the ecology in the cave shrine would be in place in a month after this year's yatra concludes on August 30," Sinha said. "This could be done even before but that would have hampered the pilgrimage." Even as the yatra officially started on July 15, devotees have been visiting the holy cave one month prior and so far 54000 pilgrims have had darshan at the shrine. The governor was briefed about the security arrangements along the route and near the cave shrine. Sinha stressed the need for enhancing 'vigil against elements inimical to peace'. "The security arrangements are fool proof with various security agencies coordinating the gigantic effort on the 48 kilometre stretch from Pahalgam, 16 kms from Baltel and along the Srinagar Jammu national highway," he said. He termed as 'vague, misleading and unjustified' the apprehensions about the temporary structures being a pollution hazard. "These would be the safest and most environment friendly structures with scientific disposal of human excreta," he said. "These shelters would withstand the vagaries of weather and provide safe shelter in any eventuality," Sinha said, while making a mention of the 1996 snow-storm tragedy enroute the cave shrine that claimed hundreds of lives. ----------------------------------------- #4 Subject: ENCOUNTER WATCH : Rejoinder To "The Antics Of Rights Activists" CHRO News, July 17, 2004, Saturday ENCOUNTER WATCH : Rejoinder to "The antics of rights activists" Full text of CHRO Secretary General, Mukundan C. Menon's letter to New Indian Express sent today :- This refers to Mr. Jeevan Jose??™s letter ???The antics of rights activists??? (NIE, July 17) quoting Lashkar-e-Toiba owning up the Mumbai college girl, Ishrat, killed in July 15 encounter at Ahmedabad, as their martyr. Based upon this Let claim Jose questioned the credibility of rights activists like me in taking up such ???encounter??? killings. All right activists and bodies have been repeatedly making our stand clear on such issues over the past several decades now. For example, soon after the present ???encounter??? and before the latest Let claim, Justice Hosbet Suresh (President, Lok Raj Sangathan, Mumbai) said : "The question is not about the terrorist links of Ishrat, Javed and others are alleged to have had, but is how, why and under what authority the police killed them. Unfortunately, the media debate is confined to the former question and not the latter. Assuming that they had terrorist links, what did they do? Did they take part in overt or covert acts? Question arises whether mere terrorist links, without any act of commission or omission, is sufficient to kill any person?" It is also pertinent to note the approach of Indian Muslims on the issue. Reacting to Let's claim that Ishrat was its member, Chairman of the UK??™s Council of Indian Muslims (CIM), Munaf Zeena, said in a statement issued in London on July 15 : "We cannot expect any better action from a terrorist organization like the LeT than to defame Islam and create problems for Indian Muslims". Asking Pak President Musharraf to ban Let, and wondering whose interest LeT is serving, the CIM said: "Truth - that has become the casualty of war on terror - is the only weapon that can crush terrorist organizations." There are numerous patterns of similarities in all the post-Godhra massacre ???encounter??? killings in Gujarat. Equally numerous questions on them still beg for answer from Gujarat police. In the present encounter, for example, Gujarat police claimed that all the four persons killed were under their surveillance for long, and whom they followed while they were watching the vicinity of Modi??™s official residence at Ahmedabad on June 13. There was no answer as to why they were not taken into custody for interrogation on the same day, instead of arbitrarily executing them two days later. Also, the Gujarat police repeatedly claimed that two of the four killed were Pakistani nationals and Let operatives. However, they failed to convince the Central Government with evidence about their Pakistani identity, because of which their bodies remain in Ahmedabad civil hospital mortuary as unclaimed and unidentified. The Supreme Court verdict to transfer Best Bakery case to neighboring Mahararashtra clearly indicates that one can no more fully trust the functioning of even judicial courts in Modi??™s Gujarat. As such, how can anybody trust the version of Gujarat police?. Right activists do not depend upon the versions of either LeT or Modi police. We only insist that Constitutional Rule of Law binds our rulers and police, whose actions should be transparent. Transparency of both their actions and purpose are what make them different from terror outfits like Let. It is unfortunate that Keralites have short memory on the police pattern and mechanism. Or else, these questions might not have been raised despite all those thorough exposures on police claims of ???encounter??? killing of Verghese in 1970 and custodial disappearance of engineering college student Rajan in 1976 -- in both of which police raised the bogey of extremism and violence only to cover up their misdeeds of state-terror. Mukundan C. Menon July 17, 2004 ------------------------------ Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (CHRO) 3, Rams' Cottage Ambalathumukku, Pettah Thiruvananthapuram-695 024 (Ph.: 0471-2476262) Web: www.humanrightsindia.com www.humanrightskerala.com |
|
| << July16, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net]US prisons vs Indian call centres Source: IANS. |
July18, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net] Updates from CHRO >> |
|
India Thinkers Net Archives Index
|
Subscribe
|
|
|
Archives powered by Zinester's Mailing List Service
Details on India Thinkers Net |
Browse for more newsletters at Zinester's Ezine Directory
Managed by Zinester's Mailing List Management |