Awaaz - South Asia Watch News
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Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Posted by: Awaaz / 11/30/2004 10:46:19 AMhttp://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/november/97455.htm
VHP is funding Zahira's expenses
By: Bhupen Patel
Mid-Day.com, November 20, 2004
The Sangh Parivar has a firm grip on Zahira Shaikh and her family.
A Vadodara-based organisation, Janadhikar Samiti, has been providing financial and legal assistance to the star witness in the Best Bakery case and her family in their ‘fight’ against social activist Teesta Setalvad.
But the samiti is not as non-political as the English translation of its name — People’s Rights Group — sounds. It has powerful connections with the Parivar.
The samiti counts among its own Ajay Joshi, president of the Vadodara unit of VHP, and Anil Desai, a sitting BJP corporator from Vadodara. Joshi and Desai were in fact on the panel of lawyers who appeared for the 21 accused in the case in a Vadodara court.
The group’s name came to light yesterday when Zahira’s brother Nafitullah told the special court in Mazagaon conducting the Best Bakery retrial that the samiti had been helping the family.
Joshi confirmed his links with the group. “I am a supporter of the samiti. Whenever they call me for meetings I make it a point to attend,” he told this paper. Desai was unavailable for comment.
Tushar Vyas, founder-president and convenor of the samiti, admitted the group was “helping Zahira and her family in every possible way.”
The samiti had given them free legal aid, had arranged for Zahira Shaikh’s press conference on November 3 (in which she accused Setalvad of pressuring and threatening her to speak against innocents) in a three-star hotel Surya Palace in Vadodara and was even taking care of the family’s accommodation expenses in Mumbai, he said.
According to Vyas, Nafitullah and others in the family had met him nearly a year ago. “They complained they were being pressured and manhandled by Teesta Setalvad. Since we allot free legal aid, we extended support to Zahira and her family, as we would do for any needy person,” he said.
“The samiti arranged the Surya Mahal press conference, asked advocate Atul Mistry to look after the family’s legal needs and is bearing their accommodation expenses in Mumbai,” he noted.
Vyas said the Samiti was formed a year-and-a-half ago and had its office in an apartment in Mangalmurti Kothi, Chara Rasta, Vadodara.
The group had among its members retired government district sessions court judge V S Moghe, retired dean and faculty of Law Commission professor H C Dholakia, retired science professor A M Parikh, two chartered accountants and one dentist, he added.
The Samiti had organised many seminars, Vyas said, and mentioned two that reaffirmed its links with the Parivar.
In April 2004, he said, it had held a seminar on ‘Threat to the judiciary from pseudo-secularism’ at the Town Hall in Gandhinagar. The other seminar, on ‘The Supreme Court verdict on the riot case retrial,’ was held in July 2004.
Asked who was financing the Samiti, Vyas replied: “We get donations from common individuals. There are doctors, lawyers and several others helping us, but no politicians.”
What Nafitullah said about the Samiti
• He met ‘Tushar uncle’ of Janadhikar Samiti a year-and-a-half ago after the Vadodara court acquitted the 21 accused in the Best Bakery case
• The Samiti helps the needy and gave him clothes the first time he got in touch with its members
• He later met the Samiti members again in October 2004, after he fled Mumbai
• They arranged for accommodation for the family
• The Samiti arranged Zahira’s press conference in Vadodara, provided the family with lawyers and is bearing all their expenses.
Monday, November 29, 2004
Posted by: Awaaz / 11/29/2004 10:47:22 AMWAY BACK HOME
By Supriyo Sen
Winner of the Golden Conch at the Mumbai Int'l Film Fest and the 2003 BBC Audience Award for best documentary at Manchester's Commonwealth Film Festival
Screening: Thursday, December 2nd, 7-9pm Brunei Gallery Room B102, SOAS
(tubes: Russell Sq., Euston Sq., Goodge St)
Followed by a informal discussion on the film
In 1947 after a protracted struggle, India achieved freedom from British colonial rule at the cost of dividing the nation in two. A million were killed in the wake of violent communal riots between Hindus and Muslims. Millions more became refugees, amongst whom were the director's parents, who had to leave their ancestral home for an unknown future. After more than fifty years Supriyo Sen follows his parents as they visit their lost homeland in what is now known as Bangladesh. This poignant film is about this journey, individual and collective memories and the historical consciousness that arises from personal recollections. Shot clandestinely and censored by the film certification board of India, Way Back Home is a courageous and militant reminder of defining events for the people of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The event is sponsored by Drishtipat and AWAAZ-SOUTH ASIA WATCH
AWAAZ is a UK-based secular network of individuals and organisations committed to monitoring and combating religious hatred in South Asia and in the UK. We are committed to helping build tolerance, democracy and respect for human rights in South Asia and among the South Asian diaspora. Visit our website at www.awaazsaw.org.
Drishtipat is a non-profit, non-political expatriate Bangladeshi organization committed to safeguarding every individual's basic democratic rights, including freedom of expression, and is opposed to any and all kinds of human rights abuses in Bangladesh. We are based in the United States, and have members in every part of the globe. http://www.drishtipat.org
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