Hardly in the spotlight for good reason, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell has been damned again in a new report that exhaustively investigates and details the cases of the many young men, mostly Muslim, detained by the agency on charges of terrorism only to be acquitted by court due to “fabricated” and “planted” evidence, procedural lapses and false cases. The Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association released the second edition of Framed, Damned, Acquitted, in New Delhi on Wednesday, where the organisation pointed out the blatant communal agenda of the police, which caused several young men to lose years of their lives; most of them from Kashmir, a few from the north eastern states.
The first edition of the report was released in 2012, with 16 cases documented. The new edition takes the cases up to 24, once again minutely examining court documents and judgments to show how exactly these trails in cases of terrorism accused fall apart under scrutiny.

Take for example, case number 22 of the report, State versus Md. Ameen Wani alias Khalid and Luthfur Rahman alias Haroon, in which the police claimed to have seized 1.5 kg of PETN, a highly explosive substance and stored it in their malkhana. The PETN was the crucial piece of evidence on which the accused guilt or innocence depended. When the court asked for it to be produced as evidence, the Special Cell replied that the malkhana had caught fire and in this fire, this material, one of the most powerful explosives known, had evaporated.

In case number 20, of Pervez Ahmed Radoo, a graduate in chemistry lost seven years to jail just when he was about to start his Ph.D. The police failed to present any mobile phone usage or call detail records during the time he was put under surveillance on the suspicion of being a Jaish-e-Mohammad member.

Witnesses for the prosecution have repeatedly failed to back up their stories under cross examination, with many later admitting the police made them sign blank sheets of paper, or that they had never seen the accused in the first place, as in case number 22, State versus Mohd. Iqbal and Mushtaq Ahmad Kallo.

When the first report came out in 2012, the police responded to the scathing attack on its competence and objectivity by saying that it was tough to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt in such cases, public witnesses did not come forward, and still the rate of conviction was high. This report demolishes these claims, by using court documents that have time and again indicted the Special Cell, saying that any effort to enlist independent witnesses “was omitted by the police deliberately”

It also pointed out that rarely were convictions under charges of terrorism. Sentences handed out by sessions courts, even for the death penalty had been overthrown by higher courts, and convictions, if at all, happened under other laws pertaining to, say, the Explosives Substances Act.

Speaking at the release, Bombay based advocate Yug Mohit Chaudhary pointed out that this behaviour was not limited to Delhi. The Mumbai police ATS, too, behaved similarly with young Muslim men arrested for Malegaon blasts and the 2006 train blasts. In the latter case, the CDR was a crucial bit of evidence that the police refused to present, until the High Court ordered it. Then it claimed to have destroyed the data. Chaudhary also pointed out the systematic hunting down of these men, as two of the boys who had been let off for Malegaon case, were picked up against by the same officer for the train blasts.

Human rights activist Ravi Nair and legal scholar Upendra Baxi too denounced the “communal and politicised” nature of the police, as the panelists pointed out the insidious section 197 of the CrPc, that protect these policemen from prosecution.The Special Cell members have, therefore, been safe from the consequences of their punitive reign, while their victims, who leave prison after years of physical and psychological damage, often in dire financial condition have never even been offered compensation by the state.

National Convener of AAP Preeti Sharma Menon, in Maharashtra has sent a press release for the media to publish, which Real News Of India obliges to publish the entire content.

The Shiv Sena Wednesday forced the cancellation of a concert by Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali, who was scheduled to perform at Mumbai’s Shanmukhananda Hall Friday as a tribute to Jagjit Singh on his fourth death anniversary. – See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/sena-protests-ghulam-alis-show-in-mumbai-opposes-cultural-relation-with-pakistan/#sthash.so6TEvjU.dpuf

Aam Aadmi Party exposes Shiv Sena’s hypocrisy & condemns CM Devendra Fadnavis’s failure to allow Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai

Home to Bollywood, India’s prolific movie industry, Mumbai is the capital of performing arts in India. The ruling BJP – Shiv Sena state government have put an unforgivable blot on Mumbai’s metropolitan, all inclusive nature by not allowing Ghulam Ali to perform in India.

Ghulam Ali Stands for Harmony

Ghulam Ali is an emblem of all that is good in India and Pakistan, he stands for the harmony that exists in our two countries, despite the hate spread by certain vested interests. He spreads the message of peaceful co-existence – “Diwali mein Ali aur Ramzan mein Ram”. It is an unspeakable shame that the state government is now promoting the elements of hate by cancelling his show in Mumbai. Aam Aadmi Party condemns this vicious divisiveness being spread by the BJP and Shiv Sena.

The Hypocrisy of Shiv Sena exposed

All of us have seen photographs of the Thackeray family with Pakistani cricketers. What is even more ironic in that on September 20th 2015 Aditya Thackeray spoke at event at Taj Land’s End in Mumbai where Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan performed. And today, less than 20 days later he gives statements that there can be no cultural ties with Pakistan. We request the media to ask Aditya Thackeray if it is okay for Pakistani artists to perform at private/corporate functions attended by the Thackeray family but not at shows where the common man can attend? This blatant hypocrisy goes to show that these bans & threats are only ploys used by Shiv Sena to divide people and appease their vote banks.

Morevoer, the Shiv Sena only has the courage to pick on soft targets like singers and artists. If it really had such serious issues with pro Pakistan elements, it should have raised its voice against the BJP PDP alliance in Jammu & Kashmir.

Who runs that state – Devendra Fadnavis or Uddhav Thackeray?

The AAP believes that this act of Shiv Sena has shown that the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is incapable of leading a state. Why did the organizers of the show visit Uddhav Thackeray? Who is the Chief Minister of this state – Fadnavis or Thackeray? If the Chief Minister of Maharashtra does not have the courage and the wherewithal to ensure a peaceful concert, how will he ensure safety for the citizens? How will he promise safety for international businesses which he is allegedly wooing?

AAP stands for harmony, invites Ghulam Ali to perform in Delhi

The BJP Governments, both in the centre and the state, blame fringe elements for the dastardly attacks on the tolerant, secular fabric of India. But the reality is that these fringe elements are flourishing as they have the protection and support of the BJP government. The Aam Aadmi Party exhorts the people and the thought leaders of India to raise their voice against this divisive agenda of the BJP and its associates before they plunge the nation into complete anarchy and violence.

The AAP government in Delhi invites Ghulam Ali to perform in Delhi. We have immense respect for his talent, and his spirit of universal love and would like him to give India a chance to atone for the insult caused by the small minded, political opportunism of the Shiv Sena and BJP.

Taking a dig at an American media report that ‘India replaces China as next big frontier for the US tech companies’, an article in a state-run Chinese daily said India was “not even close” to where China was five years ago.

Commenting on the New York Times report that ‘India replaces China as next big frontier for US tech companies’ after meetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping with the executives of US tech companies during their recent visits to the US, an article in the Global Times pointed to the inability of the BJP government to get the GST legislation through the Parliament.

“For instance, the states of India all have set their own varied taxes and multiple payments have to be made when commodities circulate between states. Unifying the taxes of commodities and services has been called on for years, but this is always blocked in the parliament. Even Modi cannot overcome this. In this circumstance, it is hard to forge ahead with developing an Internet economy,” the article said.

“The development of the Internet cannot be separated from the level of the overall economy. India’s Internet economy will not advance rapidly, let alone become the main driving force for India’s economy unless the country enhances the openness and competitiveness of its overall economy, integrates markets effectively, and builds a base for primary and intermediate manufacturing,” it said.

“If this cannot be done, Modi’s plan of making ‘Digital India’ will be just empty talk. From this perspective, India is not even close to where China was five years ago,” it said.

It is the development of China’s manufacturing that has laid a foundation for the rapid expansion of Internet economy, the daily said.

“Shopping online after all requires the provision of commodities. What India needs is an all-round and multi- layered manufacturing industry that can adapt to changes and be competitive,” it said.

“India lags behind China in the fields of manufacturing, logistics and infrastructure by more than five years. Apart from the hardware, the key actually lies in the integration and openness of markets and in this respect China is more accomplished than India,” it said.

“Undisputedly, India has huge potential in terms of population and Internet use. But the development of the Internet economy doesn’t solely depend on large population, and it is not decided simply by factors like the number of mobile phones in use and Internet surfers,” it said.

India has 243 million Internet users of which 35 million shop online. In China, the numbers were 649 million users and 361 million online shoppers.

“The data can prove that the number of Internet users is important for Internet economy, but is just one of the factors,” it said.

“To develop, the Internet economy cannot build castles in the air or take off regardless of a frail economic foundation.

It depends on the maturity of the market economy and the development of other sectors like business, finance, logistics, transport, manufacturing, Internet infrastructure and public education,” it added.

Two sets of human remains have been discovered in the Afghan presidential palace, a spokesman said on , rekindling memories of the bloody fate of some of the war-ravaged country’s leaders and their families.

A pair of skulls and other bones were discovered during construction work in the kitchen in one of the palaces of the presidential compound, an oasis of calm cut off from the choking traffic of Kabul by blast walls and a maze of pristine gardens.

Their identities, including gender, as well as the cause of the deaths were not immediately known, but a commission has been set up by President Ashraf Ghani to investigate.

“The president has tasked a commission of forensic experts and representatives of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission to examine the bodies and prepare them for proper burial in accordance with Islamic rites,” a statement said.

That quest could prove difficult given the fact that Afghanistan has been in a near-permanent state of war for the past 35 years.

From the struggle against Soviet occupation in the 1980s, through the civil war of the 1990s which was followed by five years of Taliban rule, to the militants’ present day insurgency, Afghanistan has grown accustomed to constant battles.

Several leaders met grisly ends throughout this turbulent period. When the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996, one of their first acts was to string up the castrated corpse of former president Najibullah on a signpost. He was later buried in the eastern province of Paktia.

Burial rites were denied to the country’s first president Mohammad Daud Khan, who was assassinated in a coup d’etat in 1978 along with 18 members of his family in the presidential palace. His body was discovered in a mass grave in 2008 along with 15 other victims of the massacre, and was reburied in 2009.

Daud Khan himself seized power in a 1973 coup that deposed his cousin, King Zahir Shah, to proclaim the first republic.

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Satish Upadhyay on Tuesday questioned the priority of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) following the recommendation that the salary of the MLAs be increased by four times and said the ruling party has in true sense become the ‘khaas aadmi’. ‘The AAP should decide what their priority is’ Is their priority to hike the salary of the MLAs or to tackle dengue, price rise, contractual employee problem and other problems of Delhi” he asked. He also criticised the AAP for not releasing funds for the ‘Swacch Bharat’.

They don’t have funds to pay the MCD employees for Swacch Bharat. They have to decide their priorities,’ he said. Upadhyay also alleged that the common man has not got anything in the last seven months of the AAP’s rule.
‘AAP is showing their true colours. There is a huge gap between their words and actions,’ he said. ‘They are not ‘aam aadmi’ they are definitely ‘khaas aadmi’ as they seek everything, from cars, big offices, and even four times the salary. They want everything,’ he added.

An independent panel has recommended a hike in the salary of the MLAs of Delhi. The panel has recommended that the MLAs’ salary should be increased to Rs. 50,000 from the current Rs. 12,000 and Rs. 70,000 for assistance. It has also recommended for a conveyance hike from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 30,000.

‘We have gone into various aspects relating to the expenses and there are so many other considerations, on the basis of which we have decided that they should get this salary on these levels of allowances,’ Expert Committee member Rajiv Malik told the media.