J&K: SUSPENDED IPS OFFICER QUITS TO JOIN POLITICS
AHMEDABAD: A metropolitan court in Ahmedabad on Sunday granted remand till June 2 to the Ahmedabad crime branch for questioning activist Teesta Setalvad and former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar in a case registered against them on charges of forgery and criminal conspiracy, among others.
The Gujarat government on Sunday decided to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the state’s Anti-terrorism Squad DIG Deepan Bhadran to investigate the role of Setalvad, Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt following an FIR lodged against them for giving false testimonies in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots, a top police official said.
The six-member SIT will include DCP (Crime) Chaitanya Mandlik, ATS SP Sunil Joshi, Deputy SP (Special Operations Group) BC Solanki, who will be the investigating officer, and a woman police inspector, among others, the official said on conditions of anonymity.
The terms of reference, he said, include collection of eviurday, dence to investigate the case as per recent directions of the Supreme Court.
Setalvad was detained from her house in Mumbai on Saturday after an FIR was registered against her at the Ahmedabad crime branch hours ago, based on a complaint lodged by crime branch inspector DB Barad.
Earlier in the day, Gujarat Anti-terrorist Squad (ATS) handed her over to the crime branch. Setalvad, who was brought from Mumbai to Ahmedabad by an ATS team, and Sreekumar, who was arrested from his home on Satwere produced before metropolitan magistrate DA Jadav in Ahmedabad on Sunday. The crime branch sought 14-day remand of Setalvad, saying she was not cooperating with police during investigation.
Setalvad complained of injuries caused by an alleged assault by the police while detaining her. The police denied the allegation. She was taken for a medical check-up to a government hospital after directions by the court. “The court has granted remand till June 2. Earlier, it (the court) gave five-day remand till June 1 but the police officials will be busy on that day due to rath yatra processions, hence it has been extended by a day,” said advocate Somnath Vats, who appeared on behalf of Setalvad.
The FIR was lodged against Setalvad, Sreekumar, and Bhatt on Saturday after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, whose husband Ehsan Jafri was killed in the riots, alleging a larger conspiracy and challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to then chief minister Narendra Modi and others in the riots cases.
In the complaint, Barad cited Friday’s Supreme Court judgment, which said, “At the end of the day it appears to us that a coalesced effort of the disgruntled officers of the State of Gujarat along with others was to create sensation by making revelations which were false to their own knowledge. The falsity of claims has been fully exposed by the SIT after thorough investigation… all those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law.”
In view of these observations, the Ahmedabad city crime branch on Saturday registered a case against Bhatt, Sreekumar and Setalvad under Sections 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence), 211 (false charge of offence made with intent to injure), 218 (public servant framing incorrect record), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) read with 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code based on the final report of the SIT, which enquired into Jafri’s allegations of a larger conspiracy behind the post-godhra riots in Gujarat.
Bhatt is already behind bars in a separate case, officials said.
HT Correspondent
SRINAGAR: Suspended IPS officer Basant Rath on Sunday announced his resignation via social media and added that he was taking the plunge into politics.
The 2000-batch IPS officer had come into the limelight in 2018 after he was appointed as IGP (Traffic) in Jammu and Kashmir and earned praise as well as drew flak for his style of policing. In November that year, he was transferred from the traffic department and took charge of the home guards and civil defence department.
In July 2020, the union home ministry had suspended Rath stating that disciplinary proceedings were being considered in connection with “repeated instances of gross misconduct and misbehaviour”.
The suspension came two weeks after he had also filed a complaint against J&K DGP Dilbag Singh alleging that apprehensions about his “life, liberty”.
“Politics is a noble profession,” Rath tweeted on Sunday along with his resignation letter addressed to the chief secretary of J&K, dated 4:20 am on Saturday.
The letter was also copied to DGP Dilbag Singh and Commandant General Home Guards and Civil defence.
“I wish to resign from the Indian police service in order to join electoral politics. Please consider the letter as my resignation/voluntary retirement and process it accordingly,” the letter stated.
Earlier in the day, Rath posted on social media: “If I ever join a political party, it will be BJP. If I ever contest an election, it will be from Kashmir. If I ever join politics, it will be before March 6, 2024.”
FARIDKOT: Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s posthumously released song SYL has been removed by Youtube from its platform in India following a complaint by the government.
Released on June 23, the song garnered nearly 27 million views and 3.3 million likes on the singer’s Youtube page in less than three days before it was withheld on the video sharing platform in the country. The song, however, is available in other countries.
“This content is not available on this country domain due to a legal complaint from the government,” said a message on the song link.
The title SYL referred to the Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal and the lyrics warned that Punjab will not share its river waters if the injustices meted out to it are not stopped, bringing up years of militancy in the state that led to fear and social tumult.
An official familiar with the development requesting anonymity said the government objected that the SYL canal issue is a sub-judice matter and raised concerns regarding some visuals in the video.
The song is still available on audio streaming platforms. A 14-second teaser of the song is also available on Moosewala’s official pages on Facebook and Instagram. The song, leaked on social media a day earlier, was officially uploaded on Youtube at 6pm on June 23.
Moosewala’s family termed as “unjust” the decision to ban SYL on Youtube and appealed to the government to withdraw the complaint. Chamkaur Singh, Moosewala’s uncle, said he has spoken to his brother and father of the slain singer, Balkaur Singh, and they have not got any notice regarding the song.
“They can ban the song, but they cannot take Sidhu out of the hearts of the people. We will discuss legal options with lawyers,” Chamkaur Singh said.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) opposed the takedown. “Sidhu Moosewala’s song #SYL captures Punjabis’ sentiments on Riparian principle on river waters and on Bandi Singhs,” the SAD tweeted. “Any move to ban it on any pretext would be ill advised and against the Punjabis’ democratic rights and freedom of expression. Shiromani Akali Dal opposes any such move.”
Moosewala, brought up the politically complex four-decadeold issue of the construction of the SYL canal. Visuals accompanying the song showcased events Punjab witnessed since 1947. Apart from the SYL dispute with Haryana, the song talked about the post-independence undivided Punjab, the issue of states’ sovereignty under a federal system, the 1984 riots, the incident of the Sikh flag being hoisted at the Red Fort during the farmers’ agitation, and called for the release of Sikhs taken political prisoners.