Varun Gandhi to face trial over ‘hate speech’ in 2009

Indian court orders to combat harassment of women

LUCKNOW, India, Dec 1, (AFP): An outspoken politician from the famed Nehru-Gandhi dynasty will face trial accused of making a virulently anti-Muslim speech in 2009, officials said recently.

Varun Gandhi, the great-grandson of India’s first premier Jawaharlal Nehru and the nephew of Sonia Gandhi, who heads the ruling Congress party, is accused of inciting religious tension in his constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

“The court has decided that Varun Gandhi will face trial. He faces serious charges for making an inflammatory speech and spewing hatred against a community,” public prosecutor M.P. Verma told AFP.

In 2009, Gandhi was caught on camera allegedly telling an election rally that his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party would “cut the heads of Muslims” and comparing a rival Muslim candidate to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

At the time police arrested him under the National Security Act for making derogatory comments and he was instructed by the country’s top court to refrain from making provocative speeches. He will go on trial at a lower court.

The lawmaker, from Pilibhit district, 260 kms (160 miles) from Uttar Pradesh’s capital city, Lucknow, has denied making inflammatory speeches and said a recording of them was “doctored”. The 32-year-old is the child of former premier Indira Gandhi’s younger son, Sanjay, who was being groomed as Indira’s political heir when he died in a flying accident.

After Sanjay’s death, Indira turned to her elder son, Rajiv, who succeeded her when she was assassinated. Rajiv was later killed by a suicide bomber while campaigning.

The two Gandhi branches have been estranged since Varun’s mother Maneka quit Indira’s home in 1982, complaining she had been shut out of politics following Sanjay’s death.

Varun’s first cousin Rahul Gandhi, a Congress MP is a presumed prime-minister-in-waiting.

Also: NEW DELHI: India’s top court Friday slammed the government for failing to curb sexual harassment of women and said undercover female police should be stationed in public places.

Judges at the Supreme Court urged action to stop what is commonly known in India as “Eveteasing”, which refers to a wide variety of harassment such as molestation or flashing.

“We notice that there is no uniform law in this country to curb Eve-teasing effectively,” judges K. S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said.

The court directed state governments to put female police officers in all public spaces including markets, parks, beaches and public transport.

It warned that if no steps were taken to combat the problem the consequences could be “disastrous”.

Numerous cases have come to light where young girls are harassed, with some suffering serious psychological trauma and even committing suicide.

Last year a survey by the International Centre for Research on Women of 1,000 teenage boys in Mumbai showed that the overwhelming majority viewed the harassment of women as harmless and inoffensive.

There have long been complaints that police in India are dismissive of sexual harassment as a serious crime and many argue that this mentality is reinforced by the idea that victims are only being “teased”.

Many incidents go unreported, activists say, because women believe they will simply be courting ridicule and even further harassment. Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh (left), looks on as a wreath is laid at the remains of the former prime minister Shri Inder Kumar Gujral, during his cremation at Smriti Sthal, in New Delhi, on Dec 1. Former Indian prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral, who engineered a

thaw in India’s relationship with arch rival Pakistan, was given a funeral with full state honours on Dec 1. (AFP)