LETTERS

Issn 0012-9976
Ever since the rst issue in 1966, EPW has been Indias premier journal for comment on current affairs and research in the social sciences. It succeeded Economic Weekly (1949-1965), which was launched and shepherded by Sachin Chaudhuri, who was also the founder-editor of EPW. As editor for thirty-ve years (1969-2004) Krishna Raj gave EPW the reputation it now enjoys.

Free Naveen Soorinje

s editors and senior journalists representing a cross-section of the print, television and online media, we wish to bring to your notice a matter of serious professional concern for the journalist fraternity. Naveen Soorinje, a district reporter with the Kannada channel Kasturi Newz 24, was arrested by the Karnataka police on 7 November 2012 for the role he played in covering the 28 July 2012 attack by Hindutva vigilantes on innocent boys and girls who were celebrating a birthday at a homestay in Mangalore. In the two months that Naveen Soorinje has been in judicial custody in Mangalore, his mental and physical health has deteriorated drastically. He was recently discharged from the jail ward of the district hospital after suffering a bout of chickenpox. It is our rm belief that of all the people, who were witness to the horric attack on the Morning Mist homestay in Mangalore, Naveen Soorinje was the least deserving of such harsh punishment. Undoubtedly, no one journalists included is above the law, and the right to free speech argument has reasonable restrictions. However, Soorinjes is a clear case of wrongful arrest. He displayed both courage and professionalism in covering an attack by the members of the Hindu Jagaran Vedike on an innocent gathering of young men and women. He did what a good journalist should he tried repeatedly to alert the police, tipped off other journalists, and then got his cameraman to record the event. It is the evidence gathered by him and his team that helped the state government identify the culprits. It came therefore as a shock to Soorinje and his colleagues that instead of being listed as a witness he was made an accused, and charged under the very same sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as the attackers. The charge sheet, led on 20 September 2012 invoked sections of the IPC relating to offences such as rioting with deadly weapons, unlawful assembly, criminal conspiracy, and using criminal force on a woman with the intention of outraging her modesty, and Section 2(a)
february 2, 2013

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of the Karnataka Prevention of Destruction and Loss of Property Act 1981, and Sections 3 and 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986. We are dismayed at the response of the Mangalore police to a conscientious journalist for reporting a crime. The police in their charge sheet accused Soorinje of absconding, a submission that led the court to issue a warrant for his arrest. This despite the fact that throughout the investigation Soorinje was cooperating and providing crucial evidence to the police even as he was reporting from various parts of the district on a daily basis. Signicantly, Vijay Kumar, the person whose complaint led to Soorinje being listed as an accused, has gone on record to say that he made no such allegation. These facts and Soorinjes unblemished professional record which is substantiated by his dogged reportage on religious extremism of all hues in coastal Karnataka lead us to believe that he has been wrongly indicted by the police and that there are strong grounds for the state government to re-examine the case and drop the charges foisted against him. We unequivocally endorse the campaign seeking Naveen Soorinjes release and consider his incarceration a dangerous violation of the freedom of the press. After all, what kind of justice dictates that the whistle-blower and criminals share space in the same jail?
Ammu Joseph, N Bhanutej, Sugata Srinivasaraju, Gauri Lankesh, Anant Chinivar, Lakshman Hoogar, T M Veera Raghavan, Sevanti Ninan, Geetha Seshu, Meena Menon

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Bhagalpur Redux

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was moved reading Warisha Farasats article on Bhagalpur riots (The Forgotten Carnage of Bhagalpur, EPW, 19 January 2013), particularly as I belong to Bhagalpur. I recall how during my early school days there (mid-1950s) Bengalis and Muslims had joined hands to protest against the abolition of Bengali and Urdu as mediums of instruction at the secondary school level. As a result the Bihar government withdrew its order. But those were better days, even though the Partition
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EPW Economic & Political Weekly

LETTERS

memory was still fresh in peoples minds. What obviously mattered was how the central leadership tried to create an atmosphere of inter-communal harmony against all odds. Conversely, the fashion now is to see massive riots take place at routine intervals (1983 Nellie massacre of Muslims with 3,000 deaths, 1984 anti-Sikh riots of Delhi with 2,000 deaths, 1989 anti-Muslim Bhagalpur riots with 1,000-2,000 deaths, and the 2002 anti-Muslim riots of Gujarat with 2,000 deaths). This is followed by the institution of enquiry commissions which are so long-drawn that they suffer from, what we call in legal language, the law of limitation. Why cannot we pre-empt and prevent riots rather than merely do a post-mortem on them? Let us work out a system that if any riot is not controlled within 72 hours with the death toll below 20, it would lead to the immediate suspension of 10 topranking district ofcials. They would defend their conduct only after suspension and their due reinstatement would follow only if found not guilty of dereliction of duty. Enough is enough for a democracy that does not tire to boast of its accomplishments everyday.
Partha S Ghosh Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
New Delhi

suitable accommodation with wheelchair access and within close proximity of his workplace on a permanent basis. Till such time the university must allow Saibaba the continued use of his current accommodation. The DUTA will resolutely oppose, through public campaigns and agitations, any move by the university to displace Saibaba or threaten him and attack his sense of dignity in any manner whatsoever. The DUTA has also resolved to constitute a special subcommittee to frame an integral list of demands for the disabled members of Delhi University and to pursue them at the highest levels.
Amar Deo Sharma, S D Siddiqui Delhi University Teachers Association

Oppose Death Penalty

Evicting Disabled
he Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) held an emergency meeting of its executive committee to discuss the disturbing and agonising circumstances that have been forced upon a teacher of the university, G N Saibaba, as a result of the universitys decision to forcibly evict him from his current residence in the Wardens Quarters at Gwyer Hall Hostel without rehabilitating him in a suitable alternative accommodation with wheelchair access. It should be noted that with Saibabas appeal against eviction still pending in the court of the chief commissioner on persons with disability, the university had no legal right to insist on eviction. Under the provisions of the Persons with Disability Act of 1995, the university is duty-bound to provide Saibaba with
Economic & Political Weekly EPW

aibanna Ningapappa Natikar is at an imminent risk of execution. He had petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee for mercy, but the President rejected the petition on 4 January 2013. He was sentenced to death in 2005 for the 1994 murder of his second wife and daughter. At the time of the crime, he had been free on parole from a life sentence for the murder of his rst wife. The Supreme Court rejected an appeal in 2005. Fourteen former judges recently asked the President to commute the death sentences of Saibanna Ningapappa Natikar and 12 others as they had been wrongly

imposed. The judges pointed out that the reasoning underlying the Supreme Courts conrmation of Saibannas death sentence in 2005 implied that capital punishment was mandatory for any prisoner convicted of a second offence that merited a life sentence, and violated a Supreme Court decision from 1983. The Supreme Court had itself acknowledged the error in its reasoning on Saibannas case in 2009. We request all citizens to write to the President, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde with the following points: (i) to stop plans to execute Saibanna Ningapappa Natikar, or any other person; (ii) urging them to commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment; (iii) reminding them that the UN General Assembly has called repeatedly for a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty, and pointing out that Indias decision to resume executions has set it against the global trend towards abolition. The addresses to write to are President Pranab Mukherjee, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi 110 004, Fax: +91 11 23017290; Manmohan Singh, South Block, Raisina Hill, New Delhi 110 001, Fax: +91 11 23019545; Sushilkumar Shinde, 104, North Block, Central Secretariat, New Delhi 110 001, Fax: + 91 11 23094221, Email: hm@nic.in
Amnesty International India
Bangalore

EPW at Kolkata Book Fair

Economic and Political Weekly
will be at the Kolkata Book Fair, January 26, 2013 to February 10, 2013. Do visit us at Built-up Pavilion Hall No. 3, Stall No. 2. We look forward to seeing you there.

Web Exclusives
The following articles have been uploaded in the past week in the Web Exclusives section of the EPW website. They have not been published in the print edition. Read them at http://epw.in (1) The Discontents After the Revolution Aditya Adhikari (2) Piracy and Its Discontents Rajshree Chandra (3) Skirmishing on the Line of Control Pavan Nair (4) Run with Gender, Hunt with Class: Curious Ways of Indian Democracy from India Gate to the Slum Habitat Prachee Sinha Articles posted before 26 January 2013 remain available in the Web Exclusives section.

february 2, 2013

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LETTERS

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february 2, 2013

Economic & Political Weekly

320-321, A to Z Industrial Estate Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013, India Email: edit@epw.in, epw.mumbai@gmail.com
vol xlviII no 5
EPW Economic & Political Weekly