http://thewire.in/2015/07/18/what-lies-behind-the-cbi-raid-on-teesta-setalvad-6660/
Expert Gyan: What Lies Behind the CBI Raid on Teesta Setalvad
BY THE WIRE STAFF ON 18/07/2015
On July 14, 2015, the Central Bureau of Investigation raided the home
of anti-communalism activist Teesta Setalvad, a week after the Union
Home Ministry transferred an ongoing investigation into her finances
to the elite agency.
Social activist Teesta Setalvad during a CBI raid at her residence in
Mumbai on Tuesday. PTI Photo
Social activist Teesta Setalvad during a CBI raid at her residence in
Mumbai on Tuesday. PTI Photo
The CBI filed a case against her last week for criminal conspiracy and
illegally receiving foreign funds, charges Setalvad denies. Though she
wrote to the CBI saying she was willing to cooperate with them in
every way, the CBI decided to raid her premises.
Setalvad’s organisation, Citizens for Justice and Peace, has canvassed
and litigated for the prosecution of cases stemming from the 2002
anti-Muslim massacres in Gujarat, especially the Gulberg Society and
Naroda Patiya killings.
The latter case led to the conviction of prominent BJP leader and
former minister Maya Kodnani.
The CBI raid on Teesta came barely a day before the appeals by those
convicted for the Naroda Patia massacre case were to be heard in the
Gujarat High Court, and just two weeks before the final hearing of
Zakia Jafri’s petition against the closure report of the Supreme
Court-appointed SIT, which cleared Narendra Modi of criminal liability
for the Gujarat riots. Setalvad has been closely assisting Zakia Jafri
with her petition and appeal.
The Wire asked a few prominent individuals for their views on the
matter. Is the CBI raid an attempt by the BJP-led government at the
Centre to intimidate activists opposed to it? Or is the agency merely
doing its job, investigating charges against Setalvad just as it would
in any other case?
Julio Ribeiro
Social Worker and former Director General of Police, Punjab
319215-julio-ribeiroI’m quite certain that Teesta will fight it out. I
know her and I know she will fight and we must help her. This just
shows that there is no difference between the old government and the
new one. The old one was trying to keep the guilty out and the new one
is putting the innocent in. If they say they are different from the
last one then I don’t know what is worse, keeping the guilty out or
putting the innocent in. This government will lose out on public
perception through this. Under no stretch will Teesta do something
illegal. If she has contravened a rule, then many such rules are
contravened and why aren’t they targeting everybody like this. I’m
sure she had no intention to take money without clearance and now they
have accused her of using it for personal purposes. Teesta has only
ensured justice be done. They have chosen Teesta specifically because
she has confronted them.
Satish Deshpande
Eminent sociologist and Professor at the Delhi School of Economics
satishdIt is a clear and transparent attempt to intimidate and it
ought to be resisted, no matter which government.
Based on its timing, there seems to be a clear sense of vendetta, and
has gone way beyond Conflict of Interest, a light phrase in this case.
It seems obvious to even someone like me who isn’t associated with the
facts of the case.
Amitava Kumar
Writer, and the author of, most recently, Lunch with a Bigot
kumarJust last night I was reading a novel by Philip Roth in which a
young woman goes to a police station in Hong Kong. She is the mistress
of a man who is a shipping tycoon and has gone to the police to
complain about the rich man’s plot to get rid of his wife in a car
accident. The officer on duty makes a phone call and subsequently a
packet of cocaine is found in the woman’s purse.
I’m telling you this story because, of course, it doesn’t happen only
in India. But, as a phrase dear to the liberal section of our society
would have it, the brazenness is shocking. I’m talking now of the CBI
raid on Teesta Setalvad’s home. It is an instance of the ways in which
our prime institutions collude with power. I don’t, of course, have
proof. But proof of what really? As in the with the deaths of
witnesses in the Vyapam and Asaram Bapu cases, the needle of suspicion
points in only one direction.
Rajeev Dhavan
Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
rajeev dhavanThe three issues here are bringing civil society under
total control, using the word accountability to oppress and the
sanctity of the Gujarat model.
The government cannot handle activist civil society. Indira Gandhi
wanted to monitor them under a common umbrella in 1982. Rajiv Gandhi
tried to do something similar by use of the defamation provision. This
government wants to use the platform of accountability to interfere
with civil society and bring them to heel by criminalising methods.
Civil society is faced with arrest, imprisonment and extensive
auditing, leaving them with the threat of being disempowered. So many
aspects of the FCRA can be ironed out without cutting funds. Instead
huge raids, these matters can be dealt with differently. This
government’s major concern is obviously Gujarat. Its endeavour is to
effectively destroy opposing organisations so that the sanctity of
Modi’s ‘Gujarat model of Good Governance’ is preserved. It is so
important that they want to silence everyone through oppressive
censorship. Teesta is enemy No. 1 in Gujarat and she’s paying the
price for that.
Anand Patwardhan
Well-known documentary film-maker
Anand PatwardhanThe escalating legal and illegal harassment of Teesta
Setalvad, Javed Anand and their entire team is clear proof of how
scared the Gujarat government and Narendra Modi actually are. It is
thanks to Teesta and her organisation that 126 murderers, rapists and
rioters went to jail for their role in the 2002 Gujarat carnage. Of
course a few of these convicted killers like Maya Kodnani have been
freed thanks to the intervention of the State. Many more cases are
still pending. It is this that has clearly prompted the current
attacks on Teesta. If there had been any financial wrongdoing, is it
not strange that neither the charity commissioner nor the income tax
departments had any problems with the submitted accounts? What is
happening is a shame on our system.
Manisha Sethi
Activist, and Assistant Professor at Jamia Milia Islamia
manisha sethiThe so-called case of embezzlement, from the very
beginning, has been concocted by elements instigated by the state
government of Gujarat and the Gujarat Crime Branch. Remember, the FIR
was registered in January 2014, just as Setalvad’s organisation was
preparing to file Zakia Jafri’s protest petition. When the Gujarat
government’s ploy to arrest Setalvad and her colleagues failed, thanks
to the intervention of the Supreme Court, the Gujarat government has
mobilised the Ministry of Home Affairs to foist another malicious
enquiry through the CBI. The complaint against Teesta and her
organisation should not have been acted upon in the first place given
that the complaint itself was sent on a forged letterhead. So
certainly, it is not the process of law taking its own course – it is
the deliberate and malicious invocation of law to suppress dissent and
the struggle for justice.
Mirza Asmer Beg
Professor of Political Science at Aligarh Muslim University
begThis is politically motivated and it is not something new. The
executive has often used its powers to further their interests and
suppress voices speaking contrary to their interest. This has been
done to teach Teesta a lesson and it is to be a lesson for other
organisations that want to speak contrary to the executive. The basic
idea is that you should toe the line of the establishment and not
cross it. If you cross it, then you are contrary to the
establishment’s interest, inside the rekha, you’re fine. It is a
question of basic freedom of expression. It sets out a dangerous
precedent. Freedom and rights take a long time to be entrenched in a
society but it takes only a small amount of time to throw them out.
Amita Baviskar
Eminent sociologist and Professor, Institute of Economic Growth
amita-baviskarThe government is specifically targeting independent
voices that have spoken out against it. Like Greenpeace, Citizens for
Justice and Peace and Sabrang have been focused and persistent in
their campaigns and it has been hard for the government to refute
their arguments and evidence. So, standard harassment tactics have
come into play. If the government was serious about illegal funds
transfer, why hasn’t it acted decisively against its big
beneficiaries: those with black money and its own Sangh Parivar
subsidiaries?
Prem Shankar Jha
Eminent journalist, Managing Editor of Financial World
Prem-Shankar-Jha-1I have been watching the abuse of law to serve the
interests of the powerful with growing concern for several years. But
this is abuse of an altogether different order.
In a book I wrote some years ago I recorded the growing abuse of law
by local governments to tyrannise academics who wrote on the
corruption of these governments.
But at least China did not claim to be a democracy.
Dunu Roy
Social Activist and Chairman of Delhi Based NGO, Hazards Centre
roy_dunuThis is an example of perfect timing by a determined regime –
striking while the iron is hot. So the more ruthless the strike, the
more one can assess the regime’s fear of the heat of the iron; and why
it is so determined to strike at the heart of dissent that will burn
its own vitals.
Every dystopic despot faced with a rebel pressing for accountability
inevitably calls on discipline as the magic remedy that will make all
evil go away. This is nothing more than the bully smirking, “play the
game my way or there will be no game at all – चित भी मेरी, पट भी मेरी,
अंटा मेरे बाप का”
And so, on a different note, one cannot cure a social malaise through
petitions; it has to be dealt with by a change in the system itself. I
see a lot of petitions on the net, and a picture of a dharna by the
select at jantar mantar. Are such notional actions going to stop the
rath yatra unleashed by an all-conquering demi-god set to civilise the
world in the image of an ancient hierarchy; or will it require more
and yet more of the rebellious demand for accountability that enraged
the despot in the first place?
Ashish Khetan
Journalist and head of the Delhi Dialogue commission of the AAP
ashish_khetanShe fought for the cause of justice valiantly and
fearlessly for over ten years. The fact that in cases like Naroda
Patiya there were convictions is proof of that. Modi is acting using
the state machinery out of political vendetta as a result of her
crusade against him, over his role in the 2002 riots. This is the
worst witch-hunt ever I’ve seen by the Prime Minister of our country.
Rakesh Sharma
Director of Final Solution, a film on the 2002 riots in Gujarat
rakesh sharmaA Hindu organisation, the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu
Mahasabhahas accused VHP and its associates of pocketing more than Rs
1,400 crore in cash and “quintals of gold bricks”, which were
collected from across the world as donations for construction of the
Ram temple in Ayodhya. I’ve heard about this for years, mostly through
off-the-record comments by various ‘hindutva activists’ I’ve filmed.
Now that a radical Hinduvta group has directly and formally brought
this up all we can say is Jai Shri Scam! Any guesses why this
government will not probe all donations- dubious and kosher, Indian,
NRI and foreign – and the expenses supposedly incurred with the same
rigour and urgency as that in Teesta-Sabrang Communications case of
alleged financial impropriety?
Gyan Prakash
Historian and Professor at Princeton University
gyan prakashThis hounding of Teesta Setalvad is a sign of creeping
authoritarianism.
The sheer audacity of this outrageous attempt at intimidation is
actually deliberate and meant as a sign to others that they better not
cross the Modi regime.
Reactions compiled by Anushrut Ramakrishnan Agrawal
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