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Slapping criminal charges on Tehelka journalist K. K. Shahina is not a case of an individual’s voice being suppressed, rather it shows the lakshmanrekha that the press in India is expected to observe or else.


Condemnation poured in from all over the country after the Karnataka police slapped criminal charges against the Tehelka magazine reporter K K Shahina under IPC 506 for “intimidating the witnesses” in Bangalore blasts case.

“Far from intimidating witnesses, this is a clear case of intimidating journalists who refuse to churn out police press releases as investigative reportage,” said Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association in a press release.

While filing chargesheet in the Bangalore blasts case, the police named Abdul Nasser Madani as the 31st accused. According to the police, Madani along with T. Naseer hatched the conspiracy of the eight low-intensity blasts that rocked Bangalore on July 25, 2008 killing a woman and injuring 15 others.

Madani, Popular Democratic Party (PDP) chairman, was arrested in Kerala on August 17, 2010 by Karnataka police with the help of a reluctant Kerala Police. He has been charged by the Karnataka Special Investigation Team (SIT) for conspiracy in the Bengaluru blasts along with other accused including Tadiyantavida Naseer, the suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba operative. Madani’s bail application has been dismissed by a fast-track sessions court on 13TH September citing the ‘nature and gravity of the offence as the primary consideration’.

The Bangalore blasts had taken place nearly after one year Madani was set free in 1998 Coimbatore blasts. Before being acquitted of all the charges in the blasts on August 1, 2007, Madani had to spend 10 years as an under trial.

The weekly magazine found that there are ‘missing links’ in relating Madani to the Bangalore blasts, and sent its reporter to ‘investigate the veracity of the charge that Madani had attended a meeting in Kodagu along with Naseer to hatch the conspiracy’.

According to the police, the conspiracy was hatched at two meetings two years ago: one at Madani’s rented house in Kochi and the other at Lakkeri estate—in Kodagu district of Karnataka.

Bangalore HC Issues Notice to Karnataka Govt
The Karnataka High Court issued notice to Karnataka government in the anticipatory bail application filed by Abdul Nasir Madani, the leader of Kerala’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Justice N Ananda issued notice to the Bangalore City Crime branch and also gave a week’s time to file objections.
Madani is one of the accused in Bangalore 2008 blast. He was listed as 31st accused in an additional chargesheet after alleged confessions by T Naseer, linking him to the Bengaluru blasts. Since his arrest in August 2010, Madani has been kept in Central Jail under intense watch. Madani says as the case is in a trial court, investigation can be done even when he is out of jail.
In the petition, Madani contended that there was no prima facie evidence of his involvement in the blasts. At the time of his arrest in August 2010, the public prosecutors claimed to have many proofs against him, but even till now he could not produce any, Madani added.
He maintained that he was falsely implicated in the case based on the statement of the co-accused. His arrest, he says, is for political revenge.
He said that he could be granted anticipatory bail as the police had already completed the investigation and filed a chargesheet.
Earlier, too, the PDP leader had sought anticipatory bail in the Bangalore blasts case but his pail plea was rejected on September 13, 2010.


In an earlier issue, Tehelka had exposed that the testimony of Jose Varghese—the owner of Madani’s rented house in Kochi and the prime witness in Bangalore 08 blasts—was fabricated. According to the police chargesheet, Varghese had witnessed Naseer talking to Madani when he went to collect the rent and overheard the words “blast” and “Bengaluru”. The magazine report, however, claimed that Varghese ‘reluctantly’ signed a paper written in Kanada—a language he did not know—as asked by Bangalore police. The news channels later unveiled to his shock that he was made the ‘prime witness’ in the case. “I realised that what I had signed was a testimony against Madani. Within days, I filed a private complaint in the court,” Varghese was quoted as saying in the story.

To unearth reality about the second meeting between T. Naseer and Madani, the reporter Shahina travelled to Lakkeri estate. To her surprise, “None of the villagers of Kumbur, Hosathotta and Igoor, the places around Lakkeri estate, could corroborate the stories of conspiracy meetings and training camps. Even local BJP and RSS workers said they had not seen Madani in the area. Igoor panchayat vice-president Vijayan says he doubts Madani visited the place at all. ‘There is a rumour, that all. I have not seen him.’

Shahina, who had gone there in pursuit of truth in the Bangalore blasts case, now has been booked by the police for ‘intimidating witnesses’ in the case. She was even asked by the police whether she was a terrorist. The next day of her visit she was astonished to find three Kannada newspapers — Sakthi, Prajavani and Kannada Prabha— had carried a story about a “suspicious” visit by a “group of Muslims” to the place.
It is tantamount to suppressing the voice of media in a country where press is the fourth pillar of democracy.

“The case is not against her as an individual but it is a warning to the entire press community, women and minorities. We strongly condemn the attitude of the police to frame false charges on a reputed journalist of a nationally reputed magazine”, said a representative group of 35 NGOs in a statement.
They also urged the Karnataka Government to drop the charges against Shahina and create a harmonious environment for both freedom of expression as well as for the minorities.

A group of senior journalists from Kerala also said Shahina was facing harassment and intimidation by the Karnataka Police and that this was a clear case of infringement on press freedom.

“Howsoever serious a case might be,the media always had the freedom in this country to meet with witnesses and even the prime accused to hear their versions and place these before the people at large. It is this freedom, among many others, that has given our democracy the vibrancy that it has today. By registering a case for criminal intimidation against a journalist, the Karnataka Police had cut the very root of democratic and press freedom in our country,” they said in the memorandum.


By Vellayappa Ajay
vellayappa.ajay.com




Bangalore HC Issues Notice to Karnataka Govt
The Karnataka High Court issued notice to Karnataka government in the anticipatory bail application filed by Abdul Nasir Madani, the leader of Kerala’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Justice N Ananda issued notice to the Bangalore City Crime branch and also gave a week’s time to file objections.
Madani is one of the accused in Bangalore 2008 blast. He was listed as 31st accused in an additional chargesheet after alleged confessions by T Naseer, linking him to the Bengaluru blasts. Since his arrest in August 2010, Madani has been kept in Central Jail under intense watch. Madani says as the case is in a trial court, investigation can be done even when he is out of jail.
In the petition, Madani contended that there was no prima facie evidence of his involvement in the blasts. At the time of his arrest in August 2010, the public prosecutors claimed to have many proofs against him, but even till now he could not produce any, Madani added.
He maintained that he was falsely implicated in the case based on the statement of the co-accused. His arrest, he says, is for political revenge.
He said that he could be granted anticipatory bail as the police had already completed the investigation and filed a chargesheet.
Earlier, too, the PDP leader had sought anticipatory bail in the Bangalore blasts case but his pail plea was rejected on September 13, 2010.