On 15/03/2008, anand virgincar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 1: Scarlette Keeling's mum has today accused Ravi Naik of being hand in glove with the drug cartel in Goa.
2: COME ON RAVI.........Go on and file a libel case...we are all with you ( provided, of course, you or your immediate family have nothing to hide ). == jc's comment: I wonder whether somehow, we have possibly lost sight of the fact that 1: a 15 year old was raped and was found dead - possibly killed. 2: Goa has become infested by drug dealers and their drugs. 3: this was NOT so until 1966. A crime (perhaps 2 crimes) has(have) been committed. One which has plastered Goa negatively in the national and international press. Whenever LIBEL suits arise, one wonders if we know what that means and how difficult they are to prove. Furthermore, even if they are successful - ALL they end up doing is wasting the time of the courts. This mother, Fiona MacKeown, could hardly be able to pay up costs. To succeed in any libel suit, Ravi Naik must show not only that the offending statement is false, but also that Fiona MacKeown either knew it to be false or did not care whether it was true or not. (The bar in Indian libel law might be set a wee bit lower) In any event ... I'd like to use this opportunity to direct our attention to What the BJP is alleged to have done to Tehelka ........ "The saga is a depressing example of how the Kafkaesque weight of government can be used to crush those who challenge its methods " please vide infra jc (Tehelka) reporters, posing as arms salesmen, had bribed their way into the home of the defence minister, George Fernandes, and handed over £3,000 to one of the minister's colleagues. The journalists found many other people prepared to take money - senior army officers,bureaucrats, even the president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party, who was filmed shovelling the cash into his desk. The scandal was deeply embarrassing for the BJP prime minister,Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mr Vajpayee sacked Mr Fernandes and ordered a commission of inquiry. The scandal promoted a mood of national catharsis, and congratulations poured in from ordinary Indians tired of official corruption. Tehelka, which had only been launched in June 2000, was receiving 30 million hits a week. But the glory did not last. "I had expected a battle. But we had not anticipated its scale," Tejpal said yesterday. "The propaganda war started the next day." Nearly two years later, he has been forced to lay off all but four of his 120 staff. He has got deeply into debt, sold the office furniture and scrounged money from friends. "They drop by for dinner and leave a cheque behind." The website, which once boasted sites on news, literature, sport and erotica, is "virtually defunct". George Fernandes, meanwhile, is again the defence minister. The saga is a depressing example of how the Kafkaesque weight of government can be used to crush those who challenge its methods. In the aftermath of the scandal, the Hindu nationalist-led government "unleashed" the inland revenue, the enforcement directorate and the intelligence bureau, India's answer to MI5, on Tehelka's office in suburban south Delhi. They did not find anything. Frustrated, the officials started tearing apart the website's investors. Tehelka's financial backer, Shanker Sharma, was thrown in jail without charge. more at http://www.tehelka.com/home/20041009/new/march/7/ca030703website.htm
