"BANGALORE - Many civil society groups in Bangalore expressed their shock and concern on the harassment and potential arrest of well known journalist Shahina KK from Tehelka. The organizations stated that the charges were framed by Karnataka Police without sufficient basis against journalist Shahina KK for her investigative report on Bangalore blast case. Her recent article which showed that witnesses in the Bangalore blast case were fragile, false and forced has led her to be implicated under charges of IPC 506 which can led to a few years of imprisonment.
The accusation of Karnataka Police is that she ‘intimidated the key witnesses’ in the Bangalore bomb blast case during the course of her article. The accusations of the Police were also carried by the local news papers as ‘suspicious’ visit by a ‘group of Muslims’ to the place. The news paper said that police were not sure about the identity of the woman, though she had showed a TEHELKA identity card! Describing the incident in the article Shahina KK has pointed out that on her way to meet the witnesses, she and her colleagues were tailed by the police and received calls from the circle inspector, who enquired if was a terrorist! “The case on Shahina was a clear case of infringement of journalistic freedom by the Karnataka Police. The media in India had always the freedom to meet the witness and even the prime accused to hear their versions and place these before the people at large. Such freedom has always been instrumental not only in protecting the interests of marginalized, but also functioned as one of the strong pillars of Indian democracy. However, the act of registering a case for criminal intimidation by invoking UAPA against a journalist is a violation of this great tradition of freedom of expression in this country.” Said, Prof. Hasan Mansoor Head of PUCL Karnataka Unit. “The case is not against her as an individual but it is warning to the entire press community, women and minorities. The organizations strongly condemned the attitude of the administration to frame false charges on a reputed journalist in a nationally reputed magazine. ‘If they could go to the extent of framing a journalist who was doing her investigative report, what would be the status of ordinary members of the minority communities’, they asked. The members of the organizations requested the press not to repeat the false information of the police, which has very deep communal and political interests. Terrorism must be resisted but the civil society groups cannot allow any terrorism on innocent people in the name of tackling terrorism, an action which violates the very basic human rights of people. Above all, the problems faced by Shahina are also a clear warning about the fascistic designs of the Sangh Parivar controlled Karnataka Government.” he added. The organizations demanded that the Karnataka Government to drop all charges against Shahina and create a harmonious environment for freedom of media as well as for communal harmony. The Press Conference was jointly organized by South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM), Public Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), New Socialist Alternative, and Counter Media & Vimochana. Mr.Philip of SICHREM, Anita Cheria of Open Space, Prof. Hasan Mansoor of PUCL-K and G C Jagadish of New Socialist Alternative were present on this occasion I was reading this article on newzfirst.com <http://www.newzfirst.com> and it might interest you. 'False case against Shahina is attack on Journalistic Freedom'<http://www.newzfirst.com/web/guest/full-story?p_p_id=101_INSTANCE_Qd8l&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-1&p_p_col_count=1&_101_INSTANCE_Qd8l_urlTitle=false-case-against-shahina-is-attack-on-journalistic-freedom&_101_INSTANCE_Qd8l_struts_action=%2Fasset_publisher%2Fview_content&_101_INSTANCE_Qd8l_redirect=%2Fweb%2Fguest%2Fhome&_101_INSTANCE_Qd8l_redirect=%2Fweb%2Fguest%2Fhome&_101_INSTANCE_Qd8l_type=content> -- 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.
