Conspiracy to deny justice
BJP leaders have created a massive controversy around the words CM Kumaraswamy has said to the police officer who called to inform him regarding the murder of a JDS leader who was close to the CM, in Maddur of Mandya district recently. Kumaraswamy has already clarified his words and the emotions behind those. But using these words as a pretext, leader of opposition BS Yeddyurappa of the BJP is trying to ensure HDK is being seen as a culprit in the whole episode. But would it not be better if the BJP leaders had one look at their own national leaders?
It is rather significant to note that BJP national president Amit Shah and the other 22 accomplices went scot free in the fake encounter case in 2005 of Sohrabuddin, his wife Kausar Bi and their associate Tulsiram Prajapati. The investigation that took place around this 13 year old incident is ridden with doubts. Justice S J Sharma who heard this case had expressed deep dissatisfaction over the inability of the CBI to prove the charges against the accused. Among the 210 witnesses, about 92 turned hostile. Justice Sharma in his verdict noted that three lives were lost, but nothing can be proved in the court without evidence and that he'd offer consolation to the families of Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram. The helplessness of the justice is clearly visible in this.
Evidences have been wiped out in this case of Sohrabuddin fake encounter, his wife Kausar Bi's rape and murder along with Tulsiram's murder as well. Investigation hasn't followed proper procedure purposefully so that the court can be misled. Even the justice himself noted this aspect. In all, this case put the judge in a helpless space where he'd be forced to declare all the accused free owing to shoddy work by both the police and CBI.
Amit Shah was the home minister of Gujarat when Sohrabuddin fake encounter happened. About 38 people including Shah were accused and chargesheeted of planning and executing this murder. Supreme Court had instructed the CBI to conduct an inquiry into the matter. But even before the inquiry started, 16 people were declared innocent including Vanzara and Amit Shah. CBI Court was shifted to Mumbai owing to safety concerns. Amit Shah was absent on many occasions when the case was being heard. Judge of CBI special court JT Utpat had to issue a strict directive demanding Amit Shah's presence in the court on June 24, 2014. But then Utpat was transferred on June 25, immediately a day before this date. Justice Loya died under mysterious circumstances on December 1 in Nagpur. New justice was named on December 15. The case was heard again on December 17 and the verdict was out in December 30. About 16 people including Amit Shah were acquitted.
One aspect is very clear from this. Gujarat police didn't investigate the matter well. Crucial evidences and witnesses were destroyed. Tapes of conversation between higher police officers and between Shah and Vanzara went missing or were destroyed. In the meantime BJP assumed power in 2014 at the centre. CBI then lost interest in the case. It never appealed to the court against the acquittal of Shah and others. Witnesses were not provided with any security. System kneeled down before the powerful. Former DIG DG Vanzara is saying in the open that had Sohrabuddin and Prajapati not been killed, they would have posed a threat to the lives of Shah and Modi. This is the law and order situation in this nation.
Gujarat is a landmine of encounter deaths. The numbers are big. Former minister Garden Pandya was killed in his car when he was out for a walk on a morning. He was privy to very significant information regarding Gujarat massacre. He fell prey to mysterious bullets fired by unknown persons. When crime sits on the throne such loss of lives becomes the order of the day. Those who are sitting in the chairs of power have destroyed the autonomy and sanctity of democratic institutions. They have illegally jailed those who have spoken against them. Our administration is being used for such personal vendetta.
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Wayanad LS bypoll: Priyanka crosses lead achieved by Rahul in 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Saturday comfortably cruising towards her maiden electoral win from Wayanad in Kerala, as she surpassed the lead achieved by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls earlier this year with party leaders and ally IUML predicting a big win for her amid the counting trends.
The Congress-led UDF's candidate from this hill constituency, Priyanka, extended her lead by over 3.8 lakh votes after five hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, according to the Election Commission.
Reacting to the lead achieved by Priyanka, Congress' ally Indian Union Muslim League and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said she would get more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in April this year and will win by a record margin.
"An amazing first trend on counting day is the massive early lead for our leader @priyankagandhi ji in Wayanad, Kerala, by-election. People of Wayanad are surely going to record in victory margins today and Priyanka ji will make Parliamentary debut with a grand win," Reddy said in a post on 'X'.
IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said that going by the trends, Priyanka will get more votes than what Rahul got and the majority she achieves would also be higher than that of her brother.
A similar view was expressed by IUML's national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty.
On the other hand, BJP leader Anil K Antony, earlier in the day, had claimed that though Priyanka has achieved a good lead, her victory margin would be less than what Rahul got in the 2024 and 2019 LS polls in the hill constituency.
According to the latest EC figures, Priyanka had a lead of 3,82,975 with 5,78,526 votes. LDF's Sathyan Mokeri was behind her with 1,95,551 votes and NDA's Navya Haridas was in the third spot with 1,04,947 votes.
Rahul had got 6,47,445 votes and won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes against his nearest rival, CPI's Annie Raja, in the LS polls this year. In 2019, he had got 7,06,367 votes and had won by a margin of 4,31,770 votes.
After winning from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh as well, in this year's polls, Rahul vacated the Wayanad seat, and the party nominated his sister Priyanka, paving the way for her electoral debut.
The bypoll turnout in Wayanad, which has over 14 lakh registered voters, was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the LS polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first.
The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began.
The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13.
Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, ruling CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas.
