*State Terrorism – Shahina Responds** * Mon, 29/11/2010 - 12:50 — Shahina K K
(Translated from the original in Malayalam) Investigating cases is the work of the police, and not of the media; I am under no misapprehension on that front. Yet when the stories circulated by the police challenge one’s basic common sense, it is possible that the media will conduct investigations in their own ways. This is nothing new. And this is what I do as part of my duty as a reporter for *Tehelka*. The Special Investigation team’s investigative report alleges that the PDP leader Abdul Naser Madani met, and conspired with, Tadiyantevila Nasir in the Lakkiri estate in Coorg which resulted in the Bangalore bomb blast. The charge sheet additionally alleges that these meetings took place also in Madani’s rented house in Kochi. The testimonial towards this end provided by the police is that of one Jose Varghese, native of Aluva, who owned this house. However, Jose had himself approached the court and refuted the fact of having given such a testimony to anyone. Another witness testimonial is that of Madani’s brother Mohammad Jamal, who used to be the person in charge of the centre for religious instruction at Anwarsheri. The charge sheet alleges that Madani directed Jamal to create a hideout at Anwarsheri for some of the others involved in the bomb blast case. In fact, in response to this Jamal had given a statement to the contrary in the Kollam Shastankotta court stating that he had neither given such evidence, or indeed that the investigating team had ever even met him. Besides, above all else, it is noteworthy that Abdul Nasar Madani’s own political perspective in the last ten years has changed considerably. These were the circumstances that inspired me to investigate the reality of the ‘Kodagu stories’. It was on the 16th of last month that I visited Aigoor Panchayat in Kodagu. We travelled through Kumboor and Hoskote. I was under the impression that people there may not have been conversant in Malayalam. To that end I had taken someone along to help with translations. A common friend of his and mine accompanied us. A person from that area came along to help with directions. The place being a BJP stronghold there was a worry that people might not be forthcoming about directions and so on, and I might have had to return without accomplishing what one had set out for; this was the reason for taking along someone who knew the place very well. I am detailing all this information in order simply to refute the police charge that I was accompanied by a group of PDP activists. In the course of investigative reporting, a media person may have to take the help of any number of people. The police’s charge is nothing but an attempt to curb the freedom of the press. A couple of days after I returned the Hosthote Circle Inspector called me and wanted to know the details of the people who accompanied me. I made it clear that I would do so only if a court order to the effect enjoined me to do so. After another couple of days I realised that there was a case against me when some Karnataka based friends informed me of a press report about it. This was established as fact when some Kerala based journalist colleagues called the police to establish the veracity of this news. On our way back from meeting a prosecution witness for the Madani case, one Yogananda, we were apprehended by a police posse under the leadership of the Hosthote CI. After aggressively proclaiming that such things are not possible here, he demanded that we go to the Hosthote police station. Upon asking why we should do so, the police backtracked on this demand. In fact, when we were returning from there the police continued to follow us for some distance. After a while, we continued our journey in another vehicle. Late that night while I was returning from Kodagu the CI called to inform me that they suspected me of being a terrorist. This is the first time in my professional life that a police officer has called me directly and made such an allegation. He also wanted my chief editor’s number. I have not been sent any official notification relating to the case charges against me. Despite that, it needs to be acknowledged that this constitues a very dangerous precedent . A government that wishes to silence media investigators (and through that the larger public) through fear is actually destroying democracy. However, more than the manner in which the Karnataka police has dealt with this issue, I am disturbed by the way in which some of the newspapers in Kerala have dealt with this issue. Yesterday’s Kerala Kaumudi and Mathrubhumi have reproduced verbatim the lies fed to them by the police. It is shameful that a known media person is represented in the news as a ‘culprit’ without the papers conducting any investigations. Upon being telephoned, Mathrubhumi’s editor Sri Kesava Menon very politely responded, and expressed regret, regarding this matter. We know that the Chief Editor need not see every news item each day. He gave assurance that he would call the concerned reporter and issue a denial in today’s newspaper. In addition, the Bangalore correspondent of the Mathrubhumi also heard my version of the story. His defence was that he could not get hold of my number the previous day. As the number was not available, apparently the news had to be given on the basis of “pressure”. He did not have any answer to the question of whose pressure this was. It isn’t clear whether the pressure is the Karnataka police’s or the news desk’s, but I believe it cannot be the latter. This is because after so many years as a journalist I believe that no newspaper would insist on printing a report that had not been cross checked first. I have spoken to many prominent journalists regarding the police stories about Madani’s visit to Kodagu. All of them claim quite authoritatively that Madani did go there. They reiterate the police version as some incontrovertible truth. Since when have our journalists begun to treat the State as the authoritative representative source of news? I believe that news is in the people.They are also the biggest source of news. People will expose the conspiracies of the State. I believe that journalistic responsiblity lies in merely being carriers of this exposition. *Shahina K.K.* -- You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole. -AMBEDKAR http://venukm.blogspot.com http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
