Taslima Nasreen is brave but stupid

  I regard Taslima Nasreen as brave but stupid. Some people have asked me to explain.

 I regard her as brave because she bravely spoke out against atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh after the demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992, in her novel 'Lajja ', even at the risk of her own life, and she has been hounded by bigots since then. I am opposed to atrocities on anyone, whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, etc, and I am opposed to hounding anyone.

 However I also call her stupid because she attacks religion without understanding the social conditions which give rise to it.

 Like Taslima, I too am an atheist, and I too believe that all religions are superstitions, and are therefore false.. But unlike her, I understand that there are certain social conditions which give rise to religion, e.g. lack of scientific understanding among most people of the objective world due to the primitive development of science as yet ( as compared to what it will be 100 or 200 years hence ), poverty, exploitation, and the chance factor in our lives. Without eliminating these social conditions an attempt to suppress religion forcibly will only make people more fanatic and bigoted.

Religion and science are poles apart. Religion states that there is a supernatural being called God, which is immortal, unchanging and all powerful. Science does not believe in any supernatural entity. It believes that the only real entity in the world is matter ( or rather, matter-energy, since Einstein has proved that matter and energy are inter convertible ), but matter is in motion, according to certain laws, which can be discovered by scientific research.

 Some people ask that if there was no God, who created the world ? This question presumes that everything must have a creator. But if everything must have a creator, then God too must have a creator, i.e. a super God, and this super God too must have a creator, i.e. a super super God, and so on. This is known as the fallacy of the infinite regress.

 In fact the only reality in the Universe is matter. If we ask where did matter come from, the answer is : matter came from matter. Matter always existed, but it is in motion.

 Religion first arose everywhere due to men's ignorance about nature. Almost all gods everywhere were initially nature gods, e.g the Vedic gods Indra, Agni, Surya, etc or the Greek and Roman Gods, Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, Poseidon, etc.These were personification of natural forces which could benefit man or harm him. For instance, if there is timely rain the agricultural crop would be good, but if there was drought, there would be famine. So men conceived of a rain god, Indra, who had to be propitiated to please him and avoid his wrath. Similarly, people in many places at one time believed that small pox is due to the wrath of a goddess ( mata ), who had to be propitiated to please her.

 Much later the concept of one god alone arose in the Jewish religion and Islam, where God represented the Perfect Man, who did not have the failings of the ordinary man e.g. he never fell sick, was never born and will never die, and is all powerful, etc

 Of course all religions are superstitions, and therefore false. But why do people need religion even today ?

 The poor people, who comprise 75-80% of all people, need religion as a psychological support, because their lives are so miserable that they would go mad if they did not have religion as a consoler and a balm ( some call it an opium ).

 Many affluent people too need religion because while they are rich today, they may become poor 

tomorrow. Prosperous businessmen today may become bankrupt in the future ( due to various causes, e.g. an economic recession ). Employees may lose their jobs.The chance factor is so powerful today that we cannot control our own lives, and so we believe that some supernatural entity is controlling our lives, which must be propitiated. This is also why people believe in babas, astrology, palmistry, etc which are all superstitions and humbug.

 It is true that today the chance factor is very powerful in our lives. We plan something, but something else happens. But this is due to the low level of development of science as yet in the world as compared to what it will be 100 or 200 years hence. Science would then have developed so much that we will be able to control our lives, and then there will be no need of religion.

 With every step science takes, religion recedes. At one time people believed in a rain god, Indra, who could cause drought or floods if he was angry. So he had to be propitiated if there was a drought ( by performing yagyas, etc ). Today, by development of science we understand how rain is caused ( by formation of low pressure areas ), and how we can harness rivers by dams, etc. We also understand that small pox is not due to a goddess, but due to a virus, which can be prevented from entering our bodies by vaccination.

 In his famous novel ' The Brothers Karamazov ', the Russian writer Dostoevsky posed the question : if there was a God, why do children, who had not done any harm to anyone, suffer ? There are millions of children in the world who are poor, hungry, homeless, and shivering in the cold. Why does not God, if he were all powerful, remove their distress ? This means that either God, if he really exists, is all powerful or good, but he cannot be both.

 100 years hence or so there will be no poverty, exploitation, etc among humans, and modern industry will have become so powerful and so big that enough wealth can be generated by it to give a decent life to everyone in the world. Also, science will have developed so much that we will be able to control our own lives. Then people will have no need of God.

 So instead of directly attacking religion, as Taslima does, I attack the social conditions which give rise to it, while upholding everyone's freedom to practise his/her religion.

 It is true that many scientists believed in God, but that was because for a considerable period of time scientific and unscientific ideas will co-exist, often in the same head ( since remnants of the old thinking persist for a long time before they die out finally ). But this does not prove that God exists.

Farmers Suicide in Punjab

This Punjabi song truly reflects the conditions of farmers in Punjab today.

In the state which was known as the bread basket of India, and which could alone feed the whole of India, hundreds,if not thousaands, of farmers have committed suicide, and are still doing so..

In one of my recent visits to Punjab I went to several villages and met many widows of farmers who had commiitted suicide. After listening to them, I wrote letters to the local dict...rict Collectors ( known as Dy. Commissioner,) and asked them to pay Rs.5 lac as compensation to each such widow. After signing the letters, I sent them through some local lawyers to the Collector. I was told later that some amount was paid as a result

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq4atfeFd9U&feature=youtu.be

A visit to two Mohalla Clinics

I had heard about the Mohalla Clinics set up by the Aam Aadmi Party, but I had never personally visited any of them. So I decided today to make a surprise visit.

I visited two Mohalla Clinics, one behind Masjid Nooh, Zakir Nagar and the other at Jogabai Extension, Okhla.

They were in congested areas, and I had to go through narrow lanes to reach them. It was obvious that a lot of poor people live in the area.

The first clinic I visited was near the Masjid Nooh, Zakir Nagar. The Doctor there was Dr. Mirza Azam Beg and he recognized me, and was very cordial. He told me the following facts about the clinic:

1.The clinic works only from 9 am-1 pm and between 50-80 patients come there every day.

2. About 80-85 type of medicines are available to the patients free of cost, including medicines for diabetes, hypertension, thyroid, fever etc. and the medical examination is also free.

3. About 200 kinds of tests can be done there.

4. The Doctor is empanelled and is on contract, given rupees 30 per patient by the Delhi government.

5. One pathologist and ANM are also posted in the clinic. Vaccination etc. are also done there.

6.There is no X-ray machine, but it is available in the nearby Batla Nagar dispensary.

7. Dr. Mirza told me that he could earn twice as much in private practice during this time, but he was prepared to work for even rupees 20 per patient as it gives him great inner satisfaction of being of help to poor people. He also said that if the local patients had to go the Safdarjang hospital or some other big hospital, they will have to spend over 100 rupees for auto fare alone, and will have to spend more money to buy medicines from the market, but here everything is free.

With Dr. Mirza Azam Beg in the Mohalla Clinic at Masjid Nooh, Zakir Nagar.

8. The clinic runs in a rented accommodation, and an AAP MLA donated some furniture for the clinic.

9. I spoke to some of the patients there and they were satisfied with the medical care provided.

Thereafter. I walked from this clinic to the second clinic which is near Pehalwan Chowk. On the way while I was walking a gentleman named Haji Mohammed Ali met me and recognized me. He was kind enough to walk all the way to the second clinic with me. He told me that the local AAP MLA, a young man named Amanatullah Khan was doing good work in the locality.

When I reached the second clinic, I entered and met Dr. Brijendra Singh, a Sikh doctor. He was also very cordial to me and I told him that I had come on a surprise inspection to see how Mohalla Clinics are actually working.

With Dr. Brijendra Singh at the Mohalla Clinic at Jogabai Extension, Okhla.

He told me that almost all the children he examined there had vitamin deficiency and many women had iron deficiency. Vitamins were available free of cost in the Mohalla clinics

He was also very satisfied with the work he was doing, particularly for the poor people. He said that people from neighbouring states are coming to visit and see the functioning of Mohalla Clinics.

However, he said that already 60-80 patients were coming to his clinic everyday. Since the clinic works from 9 am to 1 pm, if there are 60 patients that means just 4 minutes is being given to each patient. The number of patients is rapidly increasing, and so it will not be possible to do justice to a patient withing the time available. Hence he suggested that the clinic should also be open for at least 4 hours in the evening, in which another empaneled doctor could sit. I think this is a good suggestion and the Secretary Health, Delhi Government should do the needful in this connection.

He also said that there was some medicines which were not in the government list and are not allowed to be prescribed for purchase in the open market. I said that perhaps the reason for this restriction was that there were complaints that some doctors had been in collusion with some pharmaceutical companies and prescribed only their medicine. Hence in my opinion the government list should be expanded in consultation with the doctors and more medicines, which were cheap, should be added to the list.

I was also told by a gentleman that the Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain personally visits hospitals to see the condition there, and enquires from the patient whether they are getting proper medical treatment.

I got a good impression of these Mohalla clinics. No doubt they are not full-fledged hospitals, but I was told that 80 per cent of medical ailments can be treated there and free medicines given. Till now medical care was almost non existent for the poor people in India, but these mohalla clinics can set a good precedent.

In my opinion this is a good endeavour, and should be emulated by other state governments in India. In fact, I was told that this is a unique project in the world and many countries have desired to study it. The American newspaper, Washington Post has also appreciated it.

Both the doctors said that the Secretary, Health Delhi government was a dynamic person and was carefully supervising the work of the Mohalla clinics.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/03/11/what-new-delhis-free-clinics-can-teach-america-about-fixing-its-broken-health-care-system/

The Truth about Allama Iqbal ( 1877-1938 )

While I regard Iqbal as a good poet, I intensely dislike him for his strong support of dividing India and creating Pakistan.

Some people say that Iqbal wrote ' Saare jehan se achcha Hindustan hamara ' . Such people also quote the the sixth stanza of Saare Jahan Se Achcha (1904),  as proof of Iqbal's secular outlook:

Maẕhab nahīṉ sikhātā āpas meṉ bair rakhnā

Hindī haiṉ ham, wat̤an hai Hindūstāṉ hamārā

or,

Religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among ourselves

We are of Hind, our homeland is Hindustan.

Such people say that this proves that Iqbal never wanted Partition of India. These people forget that this poem was written in 1904, when Iqbal was only 27 years old, and his later communal views had not developed.

 However, his views evidently changed subsequently. Thus, in Tarana-e-Milli  written in 1910 he writes

Chīn o-ʿArab hamārā, Hindūstāṉ hamārā

Muslim haiṉ ham, wat̤an hai sārā jahāṉ hamārā

or,

Central Asia and Arabia are ours, Hindustan is ours

We are Muslims, the whole world is our homeland.[3]

Iqbal's world view had now changed; it had become pan Islamic. Instead of singing of Hindustan, "our homeland," the new song proclaimed that ' We are Muslims , and the whole world belongs to us '. (See also 'Shikwa' and 'Jawab-e-Shikwa ).

 Gradually, Iqbal became highly communal, and a strong supporter of creating Pakistan, a separate homeland for Muslims in India

.This, in his presidential address to the Muslim League annual conference in Allahabad in 1930, he strongly supported a separate nation-state in the Muslim majority areas of the sub-continent, an idea that inspired the creation of Pakistan.

Thiis is why I strongly dislike him

The Second Independence Struggle

Patriots, prepare yourselves for the coming Second Struggle for Independence in India.

The First Struggle for Independence culminated in political independence in 1947 and the end of British rule. It was followed by promulgation of our Constitution in 1950 which gave our people the political rights and civil liberties contained in Part 3 , called the Fundamental Rights ( like the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution ), viz. freedom of speech, liberty, equality, freedom to practise one's religion, etc

However, 69 years of experience has shown to the vast majority of our people that without economic independence and economic security, political independence and civil rights are sham and illusory. Freedom of speech and liberty have no meaning for a hungry man. Formal equality has no meaning to a poor person.

There is massive poverty in our country, and poverty is destructive of all rights. There is massive unemployment, widespread malnutrition ( the official figures are that about 50% of our children are malnourished ), almost total absence of healthcare and good education for our poor people, who comprise over 75% of our population of 1250 million ( see my articles ' Malnutrition in India ', ' Healthcare in India ', ' Unemployment in india ', etc on my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in ).

Long term job security has largely disappeared even in the organized sector of the Indian economy, being replaced by contract employment for a fixed short tenure, making a mockery of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and its humanitarian interpretation by the Indian Supreme Court. Unemployment insurance and old age pension are non existent.Skyrocketing prices, widespread well entrenched corruption, discrimination against women, minorities and the depressed sections, continuing farmers suicides, is all a classic mixture for a social explosion which is bound to take place unless something drastic is done.

It is.now evident that the political rights and civil liberties won by our First Struggle for Independence are insufficient. The present Indian Constitution has clearly exhausted itself. It has resulted in unchecked corporate power, massive deprivations and inequalities, widespread poverty,growing social insecurity, and lack of decent education, healthcare and housing for our masses. Freedom of speech, liberty, and equality ' guaranteed ' by our Constitution are seen to be a cruel hoax by our poor people.

In this situation Constitutional democracy is really impossible. A person on the subsistence level, as a vast majority of Indians are, can hardly make any effective use of his civil and political rights, as he cannot participate in anything even remotely equal to the rich in the polity of the nation in view of the savage economic inequalities prevailing in India today..

This therefore calls for a Second Struggle for India's Independence, whose aim must be to give our masses decent lives.

In perhaps the greatest speech of the twentieth century delivered in his State of the Union Address in January\1944, President Franklin Roosevelt called for a Second Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution ( see online and on Youtube ). Roosevelt explained that the original Bill of rIghts had clearly become inadequate to the new needs of American society. Now it was incumbent to provide for job security, decent incomes for those who work, old age pension, healthcare and good education, etc and abolish poverty, unemployment and vulnerability in illness and old age, and it was for the government to arrange all this. " A necessitous man is not a free man " said Roosevelt in his address, and added that old interpretations to the Constitutional rights were inadequate, since new conditions demanded new interpretations.

Patriots, so prepare yourselves for this coming struggle. It will not be easy, for there are powerful vested interests which wish to keep India poor and backward, and who will oppose you at every step.

It will be a long, arduous struggle, and great sacrifices will have to be made. Many of you ( me certainly, as I am already old ) will not live to see the day when a new prosperous India emerges, with its people enjoying a high standard of living. But your reward and consolation will be that you will have contributed to this great historical endeavour.

So, as Winston Churchill said, quoting the Bible ( when Nazi Germany was about to attack England in 1940 ) " Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour ".

Urdu is recovering in India

Urdu is recovering in India, but in strange ways

In a previous post I quoted the following sher of Ghalib :

" Hum wahan hain jahan se humko bhi

Kuch hamari khabar naheen aati "

...

On this there was this comment and my reply thereto :

Zhunzharrao Killedaar This line was written on the toilet walls of Central Rly Stn.

Markandey Katju Then Ghalib has penetrated even toilets. Urdu is making a recovery in India, though in strange ways

Zhunzharrao Killedaar hahahahaha Splendid..... super Sarcasm Award goes to MK... hahahaha. Good One sir

The baby Vulture eats human flesh

एक बार हिंदुस्तान में एक गिद्द के बच्चे ने अपने बाप से कहा

" पिताश्री, मुझे इंसान का गोश्त खाना है ". गिद्द बच्चे के लिए सुअर का गोश्त ले आया ई

 बच्चे ने कहा " मगर यह तो सुअर का गोश्त है " और यह कह कर खाने से इनकार कर दिया

 तब गिद्द बच्चे के लिए गाय का गोश्त ले आया

 बच्चे ने कहा " मगर यह तो गाय का गोश्त है " और यह कहकर खाने से इंकार कर दिया

 तब गिद्द गया और सुअर के गोश्त को मस्जिद में, और गाय के गोश्त को मंदिर में रातों रात फेक आया

 अगले दिन इंसानों की लाशें शहर में बिछ गयीं, और गिद्द के बच्चे ने कई हफ्ते जम के खाया

 उसके बाद उसने अपने बाप से कहा " पिताश्री, इतनी सारी लाशें इतनी जल्दी कैसे मिल गयीं ?"

गिद्द ने कहा " बेटा, यह हिंदुस्तान है, जैसा कि एक मनफिरे जज ने कहा था, यहां ९०% लोग पागल होते हैं "

The GDP growth rate figures and Dr. Goebbels

 According to Mark Twain ( qouting Disraeli ) there are three kinds of lies : lies, damned lies, and statistics.

  Statistics is such a wonderful thing that with its help one can manufacture any figure one wants, like a conjuror pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

  The latest figures given by the Government of India authorities claiming 7.9% growth in GDP in the last quarter is an excellent example, and reminds one of Lord Haw Haw ( William Joyce ), or  the Nazi Propaganda Minister Dr. Goebbels who kept proclaiming on radio to the German people  right till the very end that Germany was winning the Second World War, when in fact it was losing.

 According to this claim, the Indian economy is the fastest growing economy of the world, outstripping the growth in GDP of the Chinese economy, which grew by only 6.9% in the same period. Evidently, according to this figure, we are heading for an El Dorado or land of milk and honey some time in the future, and as Dr Pangloss would say ( see Voltaire's 'Candide' ), quoting the German philosopher Leibniz, this is the best of all possible worlds.

  But a little scrutiny of the figures throws up several doubts. Are these figures true, or dressed up, like a Potempkin village ? Also, assuming they are true, is this GDP growth benefiting the Indian masses, or only a handful of big businessmen ?

  Exports have fallen from 187.29 billion dollars in  the period April -October, 2014, to 156.29 billion dollars in the period April-October 2015, i.e. a drop of 17.6%.

  So if exports have fallen, and manufacturing has grown by 9%, as claimed by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, where have the increased quantity of goods manufactured been sold ? In the home market ? but India is a poor country, with 80% people having little purchasing power. And with the sharp escalation in food prices, real incomes have really gone down.

  According to the statement of Raghuram Rajan, the RBI Governor, most factories are running at 70% of their capacity, while in 2011-2012 they were running at 80% of their capacity. This apparently shows manufacturing decline, rather than growth. According to a Business Standard report, corporate profitabilty is below 1% on an average.

  Bad loans by banks continue to mount. According to CARE, non performing assets during July-September, 2015 stood at about Rs. 3.37 lac crores, an increase of Rs. 71,000 crores. According to a report of Morgan Stanley, The number of stalled projects, the bulk of them in the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, went up. Small and medium enterprises are having a difficult time trying to survive. The real estate sector, which provides a lot of jobs, is down in the dumps, with construction of new buildings going down, and the number of unsold homes going up..

  An article by Andy Mukherjee published by Reuters states that the GDP growth of the Indian economy is one third a statistical mirage, and real GDP growth is more likely to be about 5% rather than 7.4% as claimed by the Indian authorities. Mukherjee says :

 '' The illusion comes from a recent supposed improvement in the way India calculates its Gross Domestic Product. In theory, Indian authorities claim that Indian GDP is  close to international standards. In practice it has become utterly unreliable.

 This week, investors dumped Indian assets after the Reserve Bank of India cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point. RBI governor Raghuram Rajan found it difficult to explain why he had reduced borrowing costs five days after the country’s statistics office claimed stellar expansion in GDP.

  What is the real GDP growth of the Indian economy ?  Breakingviews tried to answer that question by looking at three indicators: corporate earnings, auto sales and imports of computer software ( since retained earnings finance new investment projects; auto sales are a proxy for consumer demand; while software imports reflect productivity gains ). Mixing the three in a simple index suggests that growth in the most recent quarter was closer to 5 percent."

 But let us assume that the 7.4% figure is correct. However, the further question still remains : is this GDP growth benefiting the Indian masses, or just a handful of big businessmen ? Is the rich-poor divide growing ? Dilip Shanghvi, Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani, Aziz Premji, Pallonji Mistry, etc are worth billions of dollars, while the majority of Indians are struggling to make two ends meet, with prices of foodstuffs soaring

 1 crore youth are entering into the job market every year, but in the last 12 months only 1.4 jobs were created.  Is this vikas ?

 I submit that the real problem before the Indian economy is not raising production ( that can easily be achieved considering our large pool of excellent engineers, technicians and managers, and our huge natural resources ), but how to raise the purchasing power of the Indian masses ? It is no use merely raising production, for unless the people have purchasing power, how will the goods produced be sold ? That is the real problem requiring a solution.. Fudging figures of GDP growth will lead us nowhere.

  The time has come when our patriotic intelligensia should use their creativity to find a genuine solution

Triple talaq is valid in India

In Sharia law, there are broadly two kinds of talaq :

(1) Talaq al ahsan, which is done by saying a single word 'talaq' 3 times, with an interval of one month every time. The talaq becomes complete when the third time the word 'talaq' is used.

(2) Triple talaq, or talaq ul biddat, which is done by saying 'talaq' 3 times one after another, with no interval of time. So this results in immediate divorce. As a matter of fact, this is the most wide...ly practised method.

Although, Muslim Sunni scholars have disapproved triple talaq, and called it sinful, nevertheless they say it is valid.

This matter, whether triple talaq is valid was considered by the Privy Council in Saiyid Rashid Ahmed vs. Aneesa Khatoon, A.I.R. 1932 P.C. 25. In paragraph15 of the judgment, after considering the relevant authorities on the subject, this is what the Privy Council said :

" Their Lordships are of opinion that the pronouncement of the triple talak by Ghiyas-ud-din constituted an immediately effective divorce, and, while they are satisfied that the High Court were not justified in such a conclusion on the evidence in the present case, they are of opinion that the validity and effectiveness of the divorce would not be affected by Ghiyas-ud-din's mental intention that it should not be a genuine divorce, as such a view is contrary to all authority. A talak actually pronounced under compulsion or in jest is valid and effective (Baillie's Digest, 2nd edn., p. 208; Ameer Ali's Mohammedan Law, 3rd edn., vol. 2, p. 518; Hamilton's Hedaya, vol. 1, p. 211)."

In view of Article 372 of the Indian Constitution, this decision of the Privy Council still remains the law in India, since it has not been altered by the Indian Supreme Court.

So people who say triple talaq is illegal in India are wrong.

Some people argue that triple talaq should be banned, but talaq al ahsan should remain. I disagree. Both talaq al ahsan and triple talaq can be done orally by a Muslim husband., while a Muslim wife cannot get oral talaq. As regards, khula, this requires consent of the husband, which he may not give, whereas a husband need not get consent of the wife for divorcing her orally.

Thus, the Sharia clearly discriminates against Muslim women, and needs to be scapped, and replaced by a Common Civil Code.

However, the Mullahs will staunchly oppose abolition of even triple talaq, and this also seems to be rigid the stand of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. And because of vote bank politics in India, the politicians will do nothing about it.

False implication of Muslims in cases of Bomb Blasts

On 6.3.2013 I received the following letter from Mr. Wajahat Habibullah, Chairman, National Commission for Minorities, New Delhi:

Dear Mr. Justice Katju, March 01, 2013

The terrorist blast in Dilsukh Nagar, Hyderabad on the evening on February 21, 2013 resulting in the death of innocent citizens and injury to many more has given rise to much discussion in the press and the media. However, the National Commission for Minorities has noted with concern that even before completion of investigation and on the basis of what appears unfounded conjecture the media appears to have targeted a particular community, which seems unfortunately, also to be reciprocated in the statements of some who are in positions of authority. Sh. B. Raman of the Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai has stated in an article in the Magazine Outlook recently that it seems to have become the trend that ïf there is terror, it has to be a Muslim. If he is a Muslim, he has to be from the IM (Indian Mujahideen). If it is the IM, it must have acted at the instance of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). That seems to be the thinking reflex of the police and the agencies.

You will agree that such a trend needs to be discouraged. Fortunately, we have had some voices, even though scattered, raised in the media against such practice. The Commission is therefore, approaching you to consider advising those in the media responsible for supervising release of news that they exercise restraint in reporting matters of this nature, which in the present case have brought much grief to a large section of Indian citizens, expressed in the article by Inscribe, a copy of which is attached”.

Consequently, I posted this on my fb page and blog :

False implication of Muslims in cases of Bomb Blasts, etc.

Bomb blasts and other terrorist activities often occur in our country. The particular persons who have committed such heinous crimes should correctly be identified, prosecuted and when found guilty, given harsh punishment. However, in my opinion often innocent Muslims are arrested and incarcerated in prison for several years in this connection.

To find out the real culprits requires scientific investigation. Unfortunately, in most parts of our country, the police is neither trained in scientific investigations, nor has the equipment for this purpose.

In Western countries, as can be seen on Discovery Channel etc, when a crime takes place, the police reach the spot and look for finger prints, ashes, blood stains, fibres, etc. These are then sent to a laboratory. The finger prints are fed into a computer which is connected to a national network, and this often enables the police to find out the criminal antecedents of the suspects. The blood stains etc. are tested in a laboratory using DNA and other tests. Even minute fibres are investigated to find out the source of the clothes of the assailant. It is only by this scientific investigation that a conclusion can be reached about the indentify of the culprit and the events that took place. For example, in the well known Green River serial killer case, the serial killer, Gary Ridgway, was identified about 20 years after his crimes by DNA tests of the semen found on the exhumed bodies of the women whom he had killed.

However, in our country most police personnel neither have training in scientific investigation nor the equipment for this purpose, and yet they have to solve the crime, otherwise they may be suspended.

Since an impression has been created in some quarters that most Muslims are terrorists, the police often arrest some Muslims merely on suspicions. Once such a Muslim is arrested it is difficult for him to get bail because when he applies for bail, the Public Prosecutor tells the court that the accused is a terrorist, and consequently bail is almost always refused. The person often remains in jail for several years, and even if he ultimately found innocent nobody can restore so many years of his life spent in jail. The recent case of Amir who was arrested when he was 17 years old and kept for 14 years in jail until he was found innocent by the Court, illustrates the gross injustice which is often done to Muslims in India. There are a large number of such cases of false implication of Muslims in bomb blast cases.

Shortly, after I become Chairman of the Press Council of India I gave an interview to Mr. Karan Thapar in his serial “Devil’s Advocate” I stated that within a hour or so of a bomb blast many TV channels start showing on their screens that an e-mail or sms has been received from the Indian Mujahidin, Jaish-e- Mohammed, Harkatuljibad-e-Islam or some other organisations having a Muslim name, claiming responsibility. I said in that interview that this was irresponsible on the part of the Media, because any mischievous person can send such an e-mail or sms, and it is not even necessary that the sender is a Muslim. By showing this on the TV screens (and often in print next day ), a message is conveyed to the viewers, even if by insinuation, that all Muslims are terrorists and bomb throwers. This promotes communalism in our society and hatred against Muslims. The truth is that 99% people of all communities, whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jain or Parsee are good. I said this also in my first interaction with the media.

As stated by Mr. Wajahat Habibullah in his letter, even before the police investigation is completed a section of the media announces that the Indian Mujahidin is responsible for the Hyderabad bomb blast on 21.2.2013.

I have repeatedly stated in my articles and TV appearances that this is a country of tremendous diversity and hence the only way to keep it united and take it on the path of progress is secularism and giving equal respect to all communities and sections of society. Hence promoting or fanning communal hatred is an anti national act.

It is indeed unfortunate that in recent years an impression has been sought to be created by certain communal elements that all Muslims are terrorists, and Muslims are often discriminated in our country in getting jobs, bank loans, houses on rent etc as mentioned in the Sachar Committee Report.

I, therefore appeal to the people of India, and particularly to the Media, to avoid doing anything which may fan or promote communal hatred and animosity, and exercise restraint in reporting cases of bomb blasts and other terrorist activities.