Suspended Judge Arrested for involvement in the Court Clerk Recruitment Scam

Suspended district and sessions judge, Ajay Kumar Sharda was arrested in Ajmer last week, for his alleged involvement in the scam over recruitment of lower division clerks in courts. The arrest was made by the Anti Corruption Bureau in Rajasthan.

On April 23 last year, the ACB arrested an advocate of nearby Kekeri town, Hemraj Kanawat, court clerk Rajesh Sharma, Nasirabad court’s nazir Hitesh Sharma and a clerk in a subordinate court and a middleman, Abdul Razzak. Another accused, advocate Bhagwan Singh Chouhan evaded the arrest and is still absconding. Six others, arrested this Friday and were sent to judicial custody for ten days. Several paces in Ajmer and Nagpur districts were raided by the ACB’s Ajmer team. All these six accused are alleged to have either paid bribes to get a job for themselves or tried to influence selection.

The judge’s name had come up due to his allegiance with the main accused in the case, lawyer Hemraj Kanawat. The duo reportedly had regular telephonic conversations and home visits. The bureau seized huge amount of cash from Kanawat and lawyer Bhagwan Singh Chauhan’s residences as well as seized laptops and chits quoting names and roll numbers of candidates from their possession. According to the HT report, Sharda’s link with the main accused is yet to be established.

The ACB which arrested the judge was headed by Additional SP Hardayal Singh. He was arrested from Subhash Nagar Locality in Rajsmand and after a medical checkup, was taken to Ajmer.

He was then produced in the Court of a Special Designated Judge, who sent him to a 15-day judicial custody. A designated court, on May 20, had rejected the charge sheet filed in the case on the grounds of the agency’s ineffectiveness in arresting all the accused. This triggered the series of arrests that followed.

The scam came to light in April last year when Sharda was posted as the District and Sessions judge in Ajmer. The scam had been exposed by the ACB, in which the court clerks were being recruited by the use of money power, decisions being influenced by the money paid by the candidates. Soon after he was removed and placed in the awaiting rearrangement for further order. However, he was later suspended.

The scam came to the fore after the examination for court clerks were conducted and the results were supposed to be announced. Some candidates who had appeared in exams had alleged corruption in the recruitment process.

Houses of two employees of a lower court in Ajmer were raided, along with houses of two advocates, in April last year when cash worth over Rs 17-lakh was recovered. Sharda’s name cropped up during investigation.

They have been charged under sections 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13(2) and 13(2) D of the Prevention of Corruption Act along with 109 and 120B of IPC.

Source:http://www.livelaw.in/suspended-judge-arrested-involvement-court-clerk-recruitment-scam/

Akshardham attack: POTA court acquits remaining 2 accused

Shaukatullah Ghori (left) and Majid Patel in Ahmedabad on Friday. (Express Photo: Javed Raja)

A special Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) court on Friday acquitted the remaining two accused in the Akshardham temple terror attack case, three weeks after the Supreme Court let off six accused for want of evidence. The two accused were in the jail for the past five years since their arrest.

Special POTA court Judge Geeta Gopi ordered acquittal of Mohammad Umarji alias Majid Patel and Hafiz Kasuri alias Shaukatullah Ghori, who were arrested by Ahmedabad’s Detection of Crime Branch in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Ghori was serving as a muezzin in a mosque in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who was accused for raising funds and attended meeting in Riyadh and Hyderabad where the alleged conspiracy was hatched for the attack. Ghori is the bother of Farhatullah, an alleged hardcore militant and wanted in other terror related cases including Akshardham.

Umarji, a resident of Bharuch, was chargesheeted for providing funds to the accused conspirators which he allegedly received through hawala racket. Umarji’s brother-in-law, Asif V Patel, said outside the court that the whole case led to a disaster in Umarji’s family. “Relationship broke as people in the community suspected him as a terrorist. The damage has been done. The five years lost in the jail would not come back. However, we don’t have complaints against the police,” Patel said.

A Supreme Court bench on May 16 had acquitted six accused, who had been convicted by the sessions court and the Gujarat High Court in 2010.

SC refused to rely on the evidence produced by the prosecution. During the hearing, the prosecution had referred to the SC judgment and said that it had refused to rely on Bhavnagari’s statement and rejected the conspiracy charge against the accused. On September 24, 2002, terror attack on Askshardham temple in Gandhinagar claimed more than 30 lives.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/akshardham-attack-pota-court-acquits-remaining-2-accused/

Homecoming after 11 years for these Akshardham attack “Terrorists”

Eleven years ago to the day on Tuesday, Sulaiman Bhai Ajmeri’s wife pleaded with the Gujarat Police that her husband was an innocent mechanic and not a terrorist involved in the attack on the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat.

Each time during the 11 years Mr. Sulaiman remembered his wife’s desperate attempts to prove his innocence, he broke down. But on Tuesday, he looked calm and composed after the Supreme Court ordered that all the six convicted by the lower court, including Sulaiman, be freed.

Two fidayeens sprayed bullets from their Ak-56 rifles and used hand grenades to kill 33 persons and injured another 86 before at Akshardham Temple before being killed by NSG commandos on September 25, 2002. The six members of minority community were charge-sheeted. A trial court had awarded death sentence to three of them, life imprisonment to two and 10-year imprisonment to remaining man.

While acquitting the accused, the Apex Court pulled up the Gujarat Police for framing “innocent” people in the case and accused the then Gujarat Home Minister of non-application of mind” in granting sanction to prosecute the six under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).

Mr. Sulaiman got the news of his acquittal on the day the Modi wave was sweeping the country.

“My family was ostracized by society. Only a few gathered the courage to support me for they knew the real Sulaiman — a poor mechanic who worked with his father to make ends meet,” he said on Tuesday, during an interaction with the media here while describing about his ordeal as a “dreaded terrorist”.

Sulaiman said the only hope for “terrorists” like him and his five co-accused was the judiciary, while explaining how the Apex court ordered that the Gujarat police had failed to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt and their confessional statements were invalid to prove their involvement in the terror strike.

Mufti Abdul Qayum, whose death sentence by the trial court in Gujarat was quashed by the Apex court last week, recounted how he was forced to sign the confessional statement prepared by the police under coercion.

“Torture and coercion”

“The police tortured and forced me to write the letters. They claimed the letters were found from the pockets of the fidayeen killed during the attack. But the Supreme Court noticed that the letters were clean, not torn, or soiled/stained with blood or soil — which was highly unnatural and improbable as the terrorists’ bodies were covered with blood and mud, and their clothes had multiple tears and holes due to the bullets,” Mr. Qayyum recounted.

Mr. Qayyum and the others of what they call “victims of State terror” will move to the Supreme Court for compensation for the precious 11 years of their lives that were “wasted in most inhumane manner”.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Mulana Syed Arshad Madani, the organisation that helped the six of them, told The Hindu: “The media play a negative role by dubbing arrests of the Muslims as big breakthroughs in terror cases. And when acquittal happens, no one covers it. No one is bothered that they have been acquitted after 11 years.”

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/homecoming-after-11-years-for-these-akshardham-attack-terrorists/article6032120.ece

Hindu Vahini’s involvement case thrown in SIMI’s basket to further the ban.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Hyderabad: Security agencies have once again landed in awkward moment with their consistent maneuver to maintain ban over Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Andhra Pradesh police while deposing before a UAPA tribunal turned a Hindu Vahini attached communal violence instigation case into a SIMI proscribing justification.

On 8th April 2012 communal clashes had erupted in Madanapet and Kurmaguda areas of Hyderabad after cow legs were found hanging on Hanuman temple gate. A SIT formed to investigate the case arrested five men belonging to the right wing militant group Hindu Vahini, who according to the police desecrated the temple to create communal clashes and to gain from polarization.

Since getting banned in Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in 2001, SIMI alleged to be an Islamist fundamentalist group by the Ministry of Home Affairs faced seven ban extensions on Government notifications. According to the provision of UAPA the ban has to be proved by a sitting High Court judge. Every tribunal except in 2008 upheld the ban on SIMI.

The new tribunal headed by Delhi High Court Judge Suresh Kait is formed after fresh notification from Government was issued extending ban on SIMI. The tribunal began its hearing from March this year and already completed proceedings in Kerala, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The tribunal proceedings were held at Ranga Reddy district collectorate office in Hyderabad on May 21st and 22nd. In the first day of proceeding Madhusudan Reddy DIG Counter Intelligence cell deposed before the tribunal.

Mr. Reddy in his affidavit gave reference to Darsgah Jihadt o Shahadat, Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Shair-e-Islam, Thereek-e-Galba-e-Islam, Wahdat-e-Islami and Al Ummah and their activities supporting ban on SIMI.

When defense counsel Advocate Ashok Agarwal pointed out that none of those organizations mentioned in affidavit are banned by any authority, DIG Counter Intelligence showed lack of knowledge. Later when official list of banned organizations were summoned by the judge it was found that none of the mentioned organization was banned in Andhra Pradesh. But Mr. Madhusudan Reddy testified before the tribunal that all those organizations mentioned are involved in anti-national activities and are inter-related and have links with SIMI which police have information from intelligence ‘secret reports’.

On the first day of the proceedings police presented cases from 2007 which were already been discussed in previous 2010 and 2012 tribunals.

On the second day of the hearing police tried to present the latest case to weight their argument that SIMI is still involved in unlawful activities while operating clandestinely. Inspector Koteshwara Rao of Madanapet police station deposed before the tribunal on Kurmaguda communal violence of 2012 of Cr.No 66 to 83/2012 and Cr.No. 126,128,132 and 133/ 2012 which were described in police affidavit as SIMI cases.

Local police which investigated the case before it was handed over to SIT did arrest three Muslim youths for allegedly participating in stone pelting during communal clashes. Those youngsters were described as SIMI members and whole incident was given a color of SIMI orchestrated plan.

Advocate Ashok Agarwal during his cross examination with Inspector Koteshwara Rao questioned whether any of those accused who are presented as SIMI members were charged with UAPA on which Inspector replied in negative.

During cross examination Mr. Rao was made to describe the events which led to violence in which he conceded that violence were conspire by Hindu right wing members by desecrating temple, he also accepted that charge-sheet has been filed against those Hindu youths involved in this case.

He also accepted that both communities indulged in stone pelting after communal clashes broke out. In spite of accepting the chronology of the events which pointed out towards the hand of Hindu Vahini in the violence police maintained its stand that three accused Muslim youths in this case has relations with SIMI and claim to have basis to connect those accused with the banned organization. Inspector Rao testified that information and antecedents of those accused were collected from the earlier police records.

Defense counsel Mr. Ashok Agarwal commenting on police stand told TCN, “Name of SIMI is interpolated to further the ban. Four cases were registered in 2012 pertaining to stone pelting, it was clear that it was communal tension and violence for which cases were registered and persons from both sides were charged. Those three Muslims were stated to be members of SIMI, even if we assume that it was correct it is not the basis of continuing the ban on SIMI, the Government has to show the activity about which they are reporting was done by SIMI or its members were part of conscious activity on behalf of organization.”

Source:http://twocircles.net/2014may29/hindu_vahini%E2%80%99s_involvement_case_thrown_simi%E2%80%99s_basket_further_ban.html#.U4n2qnKSx5u

अक्षरधाम: 'मेरा नाम सुरेश, रमेश या ... होता तो ये नहीं होता'

अंकुर जैन

अहमदाबाद से, बीबीसी हिंदी डॉटकॉम के लिए

 गुरुवार, 29 मई, 2014 को 12:09 IST तक के समाचार

मुमताज़ बानो अब कभी नहीं मुस्कराती हैं. घरवालों ने उनको पिछले 11 सालों में कभी हँसते हुए नहीं देखा और उन्हें मुमताज़ का एक ही भाव समझ आता है. वो रो रही हैं ये बात घरवालों को उनके आंसू से ही पता लगती है क्योंकि उन्हें लकवा मार गया है.

अहमदाबाद के दरियापुर इलाक़े में कभी वह अपने बड़े बेटे सलीम शेख की प्रशंसा करते नहीं थकती थीं. आख़िर उसने सऊदी अरब जाकर दर्ज़ी का काम करके पैसा कमाया और अपनी दो बहनों की शादी करवाई, अहमदाबाद में मकान ख़रीदा, अपने बच्चे ज़ैद को इंग्लिश स्कूल में डाला और फिर वह हर महीने घर पैसा भी भेजते थे.

संबंधित समाचार

• 'देश के क़ानून के भरोसे रहा जेल में ज़िंदा'
• 'एक ही समुदाय के लोग क्यों पकड़े जाते हैं?'
• कश्मीर में 'मोदी सरकार को लेकर आशंकाएं'

इससे जुड़ी ख़बरें

टॉपिक

• भारत

लेकिन उस दिन, क़रीब 11 साल पहले, मुमताज़ ने बेटे के लिए खीर बनाई थी. सलीम छुटियां ख़त्म कर सऊदी अरब वापस जाने की तैयारियां कर रहे थे. तभी घर के दरवाज़े पर दस्तक हुई और सलीम को कोई बुलाने आया.

क्लिक करें('देश के क़ानून के भरोसे रहा जेल में ज़िंदा')

लेकिन सलीम जब गए तो वापस लगभग 11 सालों बाद लौटे. वो 17 मई को घर वापस लौटे हैं.

इतने दिनों में बहुत कुछ बदल चुका है. अब घर फिर से किराये का है, ज़ैद अब उर्दू स्कूल में जाता है. मुमताज़ नहीं जानती कि यह सब उनके साथ क्यों हुआ, लेकिन सलीम कहते हैं कि शायद इस देश में मुसलमान होकर जन्म लेना कभी-कभी गुनाह हो जाता है.

प्रताड़ना

वो कहते हैं, "मेरा नाम अगर सुरेश, रमेश या महेश होता तो मेरे साथ यह कभी होता?" सलीम को अक्षरधाम मंदिर हमले मामले में गुजरात पुलिस ने पकड़ा था और उन्हें लश्कर-ए-तैयबा और जैशे मोहम्मद का सदस्य बताया गया था.

24 सितंबर, 2002 को दो हमलावरों ने अक्षरधाम मंदिर के भीतर एके-56 राइफ़ल से गोलियां बरसाकर 30 से अधिक लोगों की हत्या कर दी थी और क़रीब 80 को घायल कर दिया था. इस मामले में आठ लोगों को गिरफ़्तार किया गया था, जिनमें से छह को आरोप मुक्त कर दिया गया है जबकि दो पर अभी मुकदमा चल रहा है.

सलीम शेख क्लिक करेंसऊदी अरब के रियाद शहर में एक शोरूम में दर्ज़ी का काम किया करते थे. उन्होंने कहा, "पुलिस ने मुझे 29 दिन अवैध तरीक़े से हिरासत में रखा और इस दौरान इतना पीटा कि आज भी मेरे पाँव कांपते हैं. जैसे कोई धूप में चलकर आया हो उस तरह की जलन होती है. अहमदाबाद क्राइम ब्रांच में 400-500 डंडे एक साथ मेरे पाँव के तलवे पर मरते थे. उस वक़्त मेरी पाँव की इन उंगली फ्रैक्चर भी हो गयी."

सलीम को इस मामले में पोटा कोर्ट ने आजीवन कारवास की सज़ा सुनाई थी जिससे गुजरात उच्च न्यायालय ने बरक़रार रखा.

उन्होंने कहा, "मेरे कूल्हे पर आज भी 11 साल पुरानी मार के निशान मौजूद है. वह मंज़र याद आता है तो दिल दहल जाता है कि वापसी में भी हमारे साथ ऐसा न हो."

'कौन से केस में जेल जाएगा'

सलीम ने कहा, "मुझे क्राइम ब्रांच ले जाने के बाद पुलिस ने मेरे बारे से पूछा कि मैं सऊदी अरब में क्या करता हूँ और मेरे दोस्त कौन है? मुझे कहा गया की यह जाँच मेरे पासपोर्ट की कोई ख़राबी की वजह से है. पर फिर मुझे मारना शुरू किया. मुझे कोई इल्म ही नहीं था कि वे मुझे क्यों मार रहे हैं."

"यह सब इसलिए कि मैं मुसलमान हूँ. कुछ लोग हमारी कौम में ख़राब होंगे और कुछ लोग किसी और कौम में. मैं तो ख़ुद टेररिज़्म के ख़िलाफ़ हूँ और इस देश पर उतना ही गर्व करता हूँ जितना कोई और. मैं मानता हूँ कि भारत देश का ही क़ानून ऐसा है कि देर से सही आपको इंसाफ ज़रूर मिलता है. हाँ पर मैंने इसकी बड़ी क़ीमत चुकाई है."

सलीम शेख

वो आगे बताते हैं, "फिर एक सीनियर अफ़सर ने मुझे बुलाया और पूछा सलीम कौन से केस में जेल जाएगा, हरेन पंड्या, अक्षरधाम या 2002 दंगे. मुझे तो इन तीन के बारे में कुछ ज़्यादा पता भी नहीं था. मैं 1990 से सऊदी में था और जब घर आता तब बस इनके बारे कभी बात होती. मेरे पास मार खाने की बिलकुल ताक़त नहीं बची थी और मैं जैसा वह कहते वैसा करता था."

उन्होंने कहा, "मैंने तो बाक़ी अभियुक्तों को भी पहली बार जेल में देखा."

सलीम पर आरोप लगा था कि वह सऊदी में भारतीय मुसलमानों को इकट्ठा करके उन्हें 2002 क्लिक करेंगोधरा दंगे और अन्य भारत विरोधी वीडियो दिखाते थे और फिर उनसे पैसा लेकर भारत में आंतकवादी गतिविधियों के तहत अक्षरधाम हमले को फाइनेंस करते थे.

'पुलिस की मनगढंत स्टोरी'

वो कहते हैं, "मैं पुलिस की मनगढंत स्टोरी में फिट बैठ रहा था. सऊदी में रहने वाला था और अहमदाबाद पैसे भेजा करता था. मैंने 2002 दंगों के बाद एक रिलीफ कैंप में अनाज और पानी की मदद करने के लिए 13,000 रूपए ज़कात के तौर पर दिए थे. बस उसी से शायद में पुलिस की नज़र में आया. वर्ना मैंने जो कभी सिग्नल तोड़ने का भी गुनाह नहीं किया तो फिर इतने सारे लोगों को मारने का आरोप. पिछले 11 साल इस कलंक के साथ मैंने हर पल दिल पर पत्थर रखकर बिताए."

अपने परिवार की तकलीफ़ों के बारे में सलीम कहते हैं, "हमारा मकान बिक गया, छोटे भाई को परिवार चलाने के लिए अपनी पढ़ाई छोड़नी पड़ी, मेरे बच्चे अंग्रेजी स्कूल से उर्दू स्कूल में आ गए. अब क्लिक करेंगुजरात में उर्दू का कोई उपयोग नहीं. मेरी बेटी जो उस वक़्त चार महीने की थी आज छठी कक्षा में है और मुझसे अभी थोड़ा डरती है और अब अम्मी बिस्तर पर है."

वो बताते हैं, "यह सब इसलिए कि मैं मुसलमान हूँ. कुछ लोग हमारी कौम में ख़राब होंगे और कुछ लोग किसी और कौम में. मैं तो ख़ुद टेररिज़्म के ख़िलाफ़ हूँ और इस देश पर उतना ही गर्व करता हूँ जितना कोई और. मैं मानता हूँ कि भारत देश का ही क़ानून ऐसा है कि देर से सही आपको इंसाफ़ ज़रूर मिलता है. हाँ पर मैंने इसकी बड़ी क़ीमत चुकाई है."

सलीम के छोटे भाई इरफ़ान कहते हैं, "भाई को हिरासत में लेने के कुछ ही महीनों के बाद माँ को हार्ट अटैक आया और उन्हें लकवा मार गया. फिर वह जब भी भाई की तस्वीर देखती या अख़बार में उसके नाम के साथ आंतकवादी शब्द देखती तो पूरे दिन रोती रहती. उसने कई दिनों तक तो खाना छोड़ दिया था और रोजे रखती थीं."

इरफ़ान उस वक़्त 18 साल के थे.

'कोई है जो हमें आगे नहीं आने दे रहा'

जेल से निकलने के बाद सलीम इन दिनों अपने लिए एक दुकान ढूंढ रहे हैं. उन्होंने कहा, "मेरे पास वक़्त बहुत कम है कि मैं अपनी बिखरी हुई ज़िंदगी भी समेट सकूं. अहमदाबाद में अब एक छोटी सी दुकान किराये पर लेकर वापस सिलाई का काम शुरू करूँगा. दुनिया बहुत आगे बढ़ गई है. मैं और मेरे बच्चे बहुत पीछे रह गए."

सलीम अब अहमदाबाद के जूहापुरा इलाक़े में रहते हैं.

वो कहते हैं, "भारत को अब बदलना चाहिए. मैंने एक मुसलमान परिवार में जन्म अपनी पसंद से नहीं लिया था. तो फिर भेदभाव क्यों. अब हमें भी मुख्यधारा में शामिल करना चाहिए. भारत आगे बढ़े उसकी ख़ुशी हमें भी उतनी ही होती है. पर कोई है जो हमें नज़र नहीं आ रहा और वह हमें पीछे रखना चाहता है."

सलीम कहते हैं, "जैसे मेरे पिछले साल गए, ऐसे और किसी के न जाए. हमें जेल में शाम को छह बजे कोठरी में बंद कर दिया जाता था इसलिए मैंने आकाश में तारे पिछले 11 साल से नहीं देखे थे. अब खुले आकाश के नीचे दिल की धड़कन फिर सुनाई दे रही है और मैं आंतकवादी नहीं हूँ इस बात का सुकून है वरना इतनी मार और जेल की कोठरी के भीतर खुद पर से यकीन उठ गया था."

सलीम के वकील खालिद शेख कहते हैं, "सलीम को 29 दिन तक ग़ैरक़ानूनी हिरासत में रखा था और उनके शरीर पर आज भी मार के निशान मौजूद हैं. उसे मारकर और धमकाकर उसका कबूलनामा लिया गया था और यह बात सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने मानी."

(बीबीसी हिंदी का एंड्रॉयड मोबाइल ऐप डाउनलोड करने के लिए क्लिक करेंयहां क्लिक करें. आप ख़बरें पढ़ने और अपनी राय देने के लिए हमारे क्लिक करेंफ़ेसबुकपन्ने पर भी आ सकते हैं और क्लिक करेंट्विटर पर फ़ॉलो भी कर सकते हैं.)

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/india/2014/05/140529_akshardham_accused_series2_salim_sheikh_vs.shtml?ocid=socialflow_facebook

Row over clinical trial as 254 Indian women die.

The three-cluster randomized controlled trials looked for a cheap screening treatment for cervical cancer for introduction into the public health programme

NEW DELHI: The death of 254 Indian women from modest backgrounds in the course of a 15-year US-funded clinical trial has triggered a raging debate about its ethicality. The trial was for a cervical cancer screening method and the women who died were part of a control group kept without screening to study death rates in unscreened populations. 

It is a well established fact that any kind of cervical screening reduces the incidence of the cancer. Yet, almost 140,000 women in the control arm of the trial were not screened. After a complaint made to it, the United States Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) determined that the women were not given adequate information to give informed consent. 

Those arguing that the trial was unethical also say it violated the international ethical guidelines on medical research, the Helsinki Declaration's guidelines, which clearly state that "the benefits, risks, burdens and effectiveness of a new intervention must be tested against those of the best current proven intervention". 

Even Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines stipulate that a placebo can be used only if the disease is self-limiting or when no proven preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic method exists. 

"Clearly these trials violated both international and national guidelines," said Sandhya Srinivasan of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics (IJME), who in her editorial on the subject in April last year pointed out that "these studies would not have been permitted in the country of the funding organizations (US National Cancer Institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)." 

An article in the latest issue of the IJME by Dr Eric Suba, a San Francisco-based pathologist, who had filed a complaint in the US in May 2011 against the trial, has demanded compensation for the families of the women who died and immediate screening and treatment, where necessary, of the women in the unscreened group. 

The three-cluster randomized controlled trials looked for a cheap screening treatment for cervical cancer for introduction into the public health programme. The screening treatments being examined were Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) screening, Pap smear — which is the standard of care in the west — and HPV screening. 

The trials were conducted among Indian women of the lowest socioeconomic status in Mumbai slums, villages in Osmanabad in Maharashtra and in Dindigul in Tamil Nadu. These studies compared the cervical cancer death rate among 224,929 women who were offered the different types of cervical screening to that among 138,624 women who were offered no screening at all. 

In the IJME article, Dr Suba asked what purpose was to be served by keeping 140,000 women without screening when the effectiveness of cervical screening is well accepted. "...people should not be used to demonstrate exactly how much death results from lack of medical care," stated Dr Suba.

 

Trial researchers claimed that having unscreened control groups is ethically justified in India because no-screening is considered "standard care". So all that the unscreened women got were health education information on cervical cancer, the importance of screening and where it was available. 

Since at the time of the trial there were no doubts about the benefits of cervical screening, the creation and maintenance of unscreened control groups in the US-funded studies in India required inadequate informed consent, pointed out Dr Suba's article, something that the OHRP also had determined. 

If, at any time during the past 15 years, the women in the unscreened control groups had been told the simple truth that cervical screening would lower their risk of death from cancer, they would have left the control groups and sought screening on their own, thereby nullifying a scientifically defective experimental design, Dr Suba argued. The OHRP determined that it was thus difficult to presume that the BMGF-funded studies are not compromised by the inadequate informed consent, wrote Dr Suba.

Bhavnagar model: Muslim buys house, can’t move in

Police outside the bungalow in Bhavnagar on Tuesday. express

In a section of Krishna Nagar, a posh area of Bhavnagar city, a signboard declares the address as “Hindu Sanatorium”. It is a predominantly Hindu area — till recently, only three of the 150-odd bungalows belonged to Muslims. A fourth bungalow was purchased by a Bohra Muslim, Ali Asghar Zaveri, in January this year, but he has not been able to move in due to protests by Hindu residents.

For the last two months, the Hindu residents have been holding “Ram Darbars” outside Zaveri’s bungalow every evening, gathering there and playing recordings of “Hanuman Chalisa” and bhajans.

VHP leader Pravin Togadia visited the area during the darbar on Saturday. Addressing the gathering, he reportedly warned Zaveri to vacate the premises within 48 hours and asked residents to forcibly occupy the bungalow. An FIR has been filed against him.

When The Indian Express visited the area on Tuesday, two policemen were standing guard outside the bungalow. Zaveri, who deals in scrap from the Alang ship breaking yard, was not around. When contacted on the phone, Zaveri said, “I am out for some personal work and shall call you back when I get free.” At his house in the Muslim-dominated Haluriya Chowk area, his mother said he was not home. His office in Bhadevani Street also remained closed throughout the day.

The bungalow next to Zaveri’s belongs to the family of Razak Lakhani. While Lakhani is dead, his family continues to live there. Both the Muslim families that owned the other two adjoining bungalows shifted out after the 2002 riots. The remaining residents are mostly Patels, Sonis and Brahmins. The Swadhyay Parivar, followers of the late Pandurang Shastri, also owns a bungalow in the area.

Zaveri bought the bungalow from Kishoresinh Gohil, a hotelier and real estate developer. According to records availble with the deputy registrar’s office, the sale of property was registerd on January 10 this year.

“Three years back, I bought the property for my sons for Rs 45 lakh. They did not like it so I put it on sale. I offered to sell it to residents of the area at a lower rate, but nobody came forward. Some months back, I issued a public notice in local dailies announcing sale of the property to Ali. Nobody raised any objection, so we finalised the deal,” said Gohil, who is also a local Congress leader and chairman of the Bhavnagar district land development bank.

“Gohil showed the bungalow to many people but got no buyers as it is believed to be unlucky,” said a resident. Neighbours said they came to know that the property, spread over 657 square metres, had been sold to Zaveri when he turned up at the bungalow about two months back.

“We asked him not to buy the bungalow for the sake of peace in the area, but he said he had already bought it and would live in it. There are many religious places in the surrounding area and we thought their food habits may offend us. So we decided to protest and hold ‘Ram Darbars’ outside the gate of his bungalow,” said a garment trader who lives in the area.

“As a matter of principle, I am not opposed to Muslims living in our area. A family has been living among us for the past four decades. But we fear their food habits can offend us, and it may lead to other Muslims buying properties here. That is why I am protesting,” said another Hindu resident on condition of anonymity.

“The residents told us they are opposed to a minority community member buying residential property in their locality. This is the reason why they have been holding ‘Ram Darbars’ outside the bungalow,” said Police Inspector Chandubha Dodiya.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/bhavnagar-model-muslim-buys-house-cant-move-in/99/