EC serves SIR notice to Amartya Sen for Jan 16 hearing, TMC calls it 'shameful farce'
Kolkata (PTI): The Election Commission on Wednesday served a notice to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in connection with the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal, seeking a hearing of the 92-year-old economist on January 16 at his residence, an official said.
The Trinamool Congress responded sharply to the development and called it a “shameful farce”.
With Sen currently stationed abroad, the notice was served to a member of his family in Santiniketan, Bolpur, where the ancestral residence of the economist is located, officials said.
Clearing the air on whether multiple hearing notices have been served to Sen, a senior official at the office of West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said, “There is only one notice served to Prof Sen. There were some logical discrepancies found in the enumeration form submitted by him, and for this reason, he has been asked to appear for a hearing. Since he is above 85 years, the BLO concerned will be visiting him at his residence for the hearing as per the EC rules.”
Sen's cousin acknowledged the receipt of the notice and said he would inform the academic about the development.
The notice, the official said, was generated during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process on grounds of "logical discrepancy" after the age difference between Sen and his mother, as recorded in the enumeration form, was found to be less than 15 years.
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The development has already created a political dust-up after Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee alleged on Tuesday that serving SIR notices to eminent personalities like Sen was tantamount to "insulting the people of Bengal”, a claim that both the BJP and the Election Commission rejected.
The TMC, however, continued to hit out at the EC and the BJP for what it called “their Bangla-Birodhi (anti-Bengal) agenda of division and degradation".
“A Nobel laureate should be above any suspicion, right? But what if he's a Bengali? Then he'll be slapped with hearing notices as if he were some common criminal,” the party posted on X following the handing over of the notice to Sen.
“Amartya Sen, whose groundbreaking works form the bedrock of modern economics, who has brought unparalleled glory to Bengal and the entire nation, and whose ideas are studied in universities across the world, has been issued a SIR hearing notice,” the party said.
The TMC alleged that the SIR is a “cynical, shameful farce” of an exercise conducted at the "behest of the BJP and the EC".
“They will drag our icons through the mud, tarnish our pride, and stoop to any low if it serves their Bangla-Birodhi (anti-Bengal) agenda of division and degradation,” the party wrote on its social media handle.
Earlier, the poll body clarified that minor technical discrepancies, including spelling errors in voters’ names, can be corrected administratively by BLOs and do not affect a voter’s eligibility or rights.
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'Sharjeel Imam not a disciple of Umar Khalid,' his counsel tells court
New Delhi (PTI): The counsel for the jailed activist Sharjeel Imam told a court here on Thursday that Umar Khalid never mentored his client before the 2020 Delhi riots, and the prosecution's allegation that Imam was a disciple of Khalid was "absurd."
The submissions were made before Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai, who was hearing arguments on the charge against Imam, an accused in the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case.
Counsels for Imam, Ahmad Ibrahim, and Talib Mustafa submitted before the court that, despite their client and Khalid being the students of the same varsity, Jawaharlal Nehru University, there was no direct or indirect communication between them.
"The allegations find no support from the materials relied upon by the prosecution. Rather, the applicant (Imam) never spoke to Umar Khalid. It is highly improbable and rather unbelievable that the applicant, who, as per the prosecution, was mentored by Umar Khalid, never had any calls or messages with him," Imam's counsel Mustafa said in the court.
He said both were added to two groups, the Muslim Students of JNU (MSJ) and the CAB TEAM, just because they were students of the same university.
Referring to the prosecution's allegation that Imam hatched a criminal conspiracy with the other accused persons to cause a 'chakka jam,' which was later escalated into violent riots, his counsel said that there was no evidence that showed that at any point in time Imam had any intention to incite violence.
"In none of the materials relied upon by the prosecution, including speeches. pamphlets, chats and Facebook posts of Imam, there is nothing which could even remotely suggest that the applicant at any point of time had any intention to incite violence," he said.
He also contended that the prosecution tried to create a narrative of religious extremism around Imam by conflating purported discussions of issues affecting a particular religious community.
"Notably, mere academic criticism of events perceived by the applicant to be against a community doesn't make one communal, much less an extremist," he said.
According to the prosecution, Imam, along with other MSJ members, participated in a protest called by Jamia Milia Islamia students, where allegedly pamphlets were distributed to incite communal feelings among the Muslim community and induce them to protest against the CAA.
"Nothing communal in the alleged pamphlet. Merely talks about the discriminatory nature of CAA and its possible consequence if implemented coupled with NRC (National Register of Citizens)," his counsel said, concluding his arguments.
The case pertains to the February 2020 riots in northeast Delhi that left 53 people dead and more than 700 injured.
The violence erupted during widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Delhi Police has alleged that Imam was involved in deliberate mobilisation, radicalisation and preparation of ground conditions through organised chakka jams, blockage of arterial roads, and disruption of essential services.
He allegedly created and administered the WhatsApp group, Muslim Students of JNU, which functioned as a coordinating mechanism for mobilisation, identification of protest sites.
Police accused Imam of attending and participating in conspiratorial meetings in Jangpura, where the strategy of chakka jam and escalation of protests was discussed.
Imam's role was allegedly not geographically confined to Delhi and acted as a mobiliser and ideologue, as the appellant travelled to Aligarh and other locations, police said.
Police also accused Imam of playing a decisive role in the creation and sustenance of the Shaheen Bagh protest site, which evolved into a prolonged round-the-clock blockade of a major arterial road.
They alleged that the Imam's role was foundational and preparatory, and that liability for conspiracy does not require physical presence at the scene of violence once the plan has been set in motion.
