Two professions have to be necessarily independent, a judge and a journalist. If they falter, democracy collapses,
However, the CBI, objected saying the Commission report cannot be used by the convicts for defence.
However, the Shiv Sena reacted angrily to any move to reopen the cases saying it amounts to saying "hang the Hindus" with an eye on Muslim votes.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Maharashtra government to apprise it about whether compensation has been paid to the legal heirs of 168 people, who were stated to have gone missing during the 1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai.
'It wasn't as if the senior police inspectors in charge of the police stations were not aware of the communal tension that was being created in their areas before and during the riots.' 'Yet they chose not to act,' recalls Jyoti Punwani.
Earlier, Yakub, while giving a statement on quantum of punishment after his conviction, had raised the same issue saying those indicted by Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry probing the 1992-93 Mumbai riots, should be punished.
'We can't sit back clutching our memories of the riots. The country, the future of our children are more important.' Jyoti Punwani reports on an unusual election meeting in Mumbai.
The Election Commission sent a notice to Mangal Prabhat Lodha, the BJP's Mumbai chief. This is probably because a leading newspaper highlighted his utterances on its front page.
In this interview with rediff.com, Professor K Jayashankar -- considered to be the idealogue of the movement since the year 1952 -- speaks about the report, the future of the movement while terming the commission's formula as the most unacceptable one.
The central bank has vehemently opposed the proposal, citing different reasons, including lack of focus and unconvincing results abroad.
Even as keenly awaited terms of reference of Justice B N Srikrishna commission on Telangana were likely to be announced in New Delhi on Thursday, tension was mounting in the region once again. Leaders and legislators of Telangana region are becoming restive day by day.
Clause 150 empowers govt to change the meaning of 'financial products/services' to include new instruments.
The Sessions Court judge presiding over the trial was appointed to this court just a few months ago. Annoyed at its slow pace, he is cracking the whip on the prosecution.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of acting in an "irresponsible and childish" manner on the Telangana issue and maintained that delay in formation of the state would harm the interest of both Andhra Pradesh and the Telangana region.
The protests at the Osmania University, which has been the nerve centre of the movement, have intensified and two buses have been burnt down despite heavy police presence. Protests were also witnessed at the Dharna Chowk locality in Hyderabad.
Parliamentary Affairs minister says action will be taken on the panel's recommendations.
The leaders feel that their resignations will bring pressure on the government to begin the process for Telangana.
In an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao, TRS legislator and the son of party chief K Chandrashekhar Rao, outlines the party's future course of action.
'There is one way to defeat the intention behind this directive: To patronise Muslim establishments that have been forced to identify themselves.' 'This is one opportunity for the Congress to show that the 'mohabbat ki dukaan' its leader talks about does exist.' 'Can Akhilesh Yadav, who has asked the court to take note of this directive, order his party members to do this?' asks Jyoti Punwani.
The Congress' top leadership decided to rally firmly behind the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh as the party prepares to face the Telangana issue after an official committee submits its report on the statehood issue by this month-end.
A meeting of political leaders from Rayala Seema region, held to discuss the stand to be taken before the Srikrishna Commission on the issue of bifurcation of the state, has sent ripples among the supporters of united Andhra Pradesh. Senior Congress leader and former minister J C Diwakar Reddy has shocked the leaders from coastal Andhra region by suggesting that Rayala Seema should be a part of Telangana rather than Andhra.
The Andhra Pradesh Congress has managed to put off the Telangana issue for a while following the Srikrishna Commission report. For the first time, legislators from the Andhra assembly misbehaved with each other at the start of the budget session.
The seven point terms of reference of the Srikrishna Commission, announced on Friday, has evoked a negative response from the leaders of the pro-Telangana movement. The Union home ministry announced the terms of reference of the five-member committee and set a deadline of December 31. The ministry asked the committee to look in to the demands for a separate Telangana and for an undivided Andhra Pradesh.
The Telegu Desam Party made an effort to barge into the Raj Bhavan and demand an explanation from Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan as to why he gave a negative report regarding formation of a separate Telangana state.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti supremo K Chandrashekhar Rao said that he will go on a hunger strike from February if until then the bill to form a separate Telangana state is not introduced in the Parliament. Rao's decision came at the Joint Action Committee meeting held in Hyderabad on Thursday night, hours after the Srikrishna Commission was made public.
Special prosecutors will be appointed, state CM tells activists
'In UP, the CM actually announced that his administration would 'take revenge' against rioters.' 'That must have been music to his police force's ears for it substantiated what the police always do: Take revenge on an entire community for the violence of a few,' points out Jyoti Punwani.
'No one talks about the Mumbai riots anymore, though like Delhi 1984, the guilty have not been punished. In Gujarat, many powerful leaders of the state's ruling party are in jail for their role in the riots... In Mumbai, only one politician of the Shiv Sena, a former MP, was convicted of hate speech, along with two other Shiv Sainiks, one of whom was a corporator and the other a junior functionary... So why the apathy? Could it be because despite these statistics and the widely-publicised findings of the Srikrishna Commission, what remained in public consciousness was the violence by the Muslims, thanks to a highly efficient Sena propaganda machine? There's no demand for it, but would an SIT probe into the closed cases of the Mumbai riots help today?' The fadeout of Mumbai's riots from public debate can be called a triumph of the communal State, argues Jyoti Punwani.
The Pay Commission is an administrative system/mechanism that the government of India set up in 1956 to determine the salaries of government employees. The First Pay Commission was established in 1956, and since then, every decade has seen the birth of a commission that decides the wages of government employees for a particular time-frame.
The government may defer the implementation of the sixth Pay Commission award by a year or even two to reduce the fiscal burden of the recommendations that proposed a 28 per cent across-the-board salary increase for an estimated 4.5 million central government employees. The report of the commission headed by Justice BN Srikrishna was submitted to the government on March 24 this year, nearly a fortnight before its 18-month tenure was to end.
Seeking to woo Muslims as well as upper castes, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday promised quota in police and other government jobs for minority community, release of "innocent" youths jailed on terror charges and constitution of an upper caste commission in its manifesto brimming with sops.
'When Irshad Khan approaches the Supreme Court, he will undoubtedly have the best and most committed of lawyers to represent him.' His case will be reported on the front pages.' Neither the BJP government in Rajasthan nor at the Centre can stop this,' says Jyoti Punwani.
The hearing relates to a 1993 raid on a Mumbai bakery, which left 8 unarmed Muslims dead, none of whom had a criminal record. Justice Srikrishna had described the incident as 'not becoming of the police force of any civilised, democratic State.'
Unlike other top police officers, A A Khan spoke boldly --- be it while defending 'encounters' in many of which he was involved, or in tracing the cause of the ghastly Radhabai Chawl incident, recalls Jyoti Punwani. Encounters were useful, he said, because hardened criminals who were targeted were beyond reform and no good for society.
Government rejects activists' request. Commission requests new witness to attend.
Is Hyderabad the reason Telangana wants separation from Andhra Pradesh? Or has perceived backwardness of the Telangana region fuelled demand for a separate state? Mayank Mishra reports
A divided party -- not the quashing of the Adarsh report -- will spell doom for the Congress in Maharashtra, argues Neeta Kolhatkar.
'It was a reaffirmation of his party's unrelenting defiance of its erstwhile ally, the BJP; an attempt to forge a new relationship with the community the Shiv Sena had always targeted; and a pointer towards the political imperative of taking everyone along if the fight against the ruling party had to succeed,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
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