Andhra प्रदेश SAMACHAR

Andhra Pradesh
SAMACHAR
DAILY NEWS
Organize by SAMACHARA BHARATI (AP Vishwa Samvad Kendra)
Email : samaachaarabhaarati@yahoo.com, vskap1@gmail.com
18 November 08


Narco tests lose credibility
Hyderabad, Nov. 17: Narco analysis tests have lost their credibility with the police top brass because of the apparent false leads they threw up in the Macca Masjid blast case. Based on the narco analysis tests, the city police had "solved" the Macca Masjid blast case and had claimed that the HuJI leader Shahed alias Bilal had planned the attack and Lashkar e-Tayyaba operative Abu Hamza had planted the bombs.
This assumption was based on the confessions of one suspect, Imran, who had undergone a narco test. But the Central Bureau of Investigation did not take up these charges seriously and no arrests were made based on the report of the city police. The Delhi CBI superintendent of police, Mr R.S. Dhankar, who is heading the Macca Masjid blast probe, told this correspondent that narco analysis tests do not even have one per cent authenticity.
"We haven't found any evidence of those revelations mentioned in the narco reports," he said. "The city police sent us a report. But we have not made any arrests," Mr Dhankar added. The Special Investigation Cell formed by CCS after Macca Masjid blasts conducted narco analysis tests on suspects Imran, Shoiab Jagirdhar and Rafi alias Shaik Abdul Kaleem at the forensic science laboratory in Bengaluru.
"Around 169 countries have banned such tests," said the Andhra Pradesh forensic science laboratory director, Mr O. Narasimha Murthy. "There is lot of controversy about them," he said. The city police is now confining itself to polygraph tests.

From DECCAN CHRONICLE, 18, November 2008
Custody for Sadhvi Pragnya, others extended
Rahi Gaikwad
Suspects file a slew of petitions

Nashik: A Nashik court on Monday extended the judicial custody for eight Malegaon blast suspects — Pragnya Singh Thakur, Shiv Narayan Kalsanghra, Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu, Ajay Rahirkar, Jagdish Mhatre, Rakesh Dhawde, Sameer Kulkarni and Ramesh Upadhyay — till November 29.
A host of applications from the suspects asking for meetings with relatives and right to liberty, copies of remand statements alleging custodial torture and two pertaining to narco tests were filed in the court. They will be heard on November 29.
Ramesh Upadhyay alleged that three postcards he sent to his friends seeking legal representation were not despatched by the Anti-Terrorism Squad. This restricted his right to liberty. He said basic necessities such as soap were also not allowed.
The court allowed the presence of a lawyer during the interrogation of blast suspect Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey.
An application moved by lawyer Kishore Vig said that Dwivedi was being tortured in custody and he faced a threat to his life. Mr. Vig argued for the rights of the accused and protection against police pressure. He cited the D.K. Basu judgment of 1997 in the Supreme Court, which laid down certain guidelines for custodial treatment of the accused — Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC) pertaining to examination of witnesses and Article 20 (3) of the Constitution which states that "no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself."
Mr. Vig, therefore, asked for either a lawyer or a relative to be present.
Chief Judicial Magistrate H.K. Ganatra ruled that a lawyer be allowed to be present "whenever it is asked by the accused and whenever necessary." This also covered narco tests as they were part of interrogation, Mr. Vig later told the media.

Concern over attacks on students
VHR to lead delegation of State MPs to New Delhi and meet Pranab Mukherjee




Only brilliant students from Andhra Pradesh being targeted: VHR
The U.S. police are just handing over bodies; a permanent solution is needed





HYDERABAD: The attack on Pulluri Sashanka, a native of Warangal district, studying in the United States has raised disturbing questions about the safety of students from Andhra Pradesh there.
Coming a fortnight after the killing of city girl Arpana Jinaga, working with the EMC Corporation, this is the sixth in the string of attacks on migrant youth from the State (including one in the UK) in less than a year. Mr. Sashanka had a providential escape from death and declared out of danger unlike six others who were brutally murdered in separate attacks.
Excellent record
A common threat that runs through all these ghastly incidents is the excellent academic track record of the victims. For instance, one of them Arpana Jinaga, figured in the list of top 20 chip designers after a contest, becoming the first Asian to get the honour.
Congress MP V. Hanumanth Rao, who has been voicing serious concern over the issue, is leading a delegation of the State MPs to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his deputy Anand Sharma on November 19.
"It is a serious issue and only brilliant students from Andhra Pradesh are being targeted. The US police are just handing over bodies when there is need for a permanent solution," he told The Hindu, adding he would raise the issue in the Parliament when it resumes its proceedings from December 10.
From the day when Allam Kiran Kumar and Chandrasekhar Reddy, pursuing doctorates in chemistry and biology respectively, were shot dead inside the former's apartment on the Louisiana State University (LSU) campus at Baton Rouge on December 13, 2007, the spree of incidents is continuing. But the motives and people behind the killings continue to remain a mystery.
Reasons unknown
'Home invasion' is said to be the reason behind killing of Kiran Kumar and Chandrasekhar Reddy.
But the reasons behind the mysterious death of A. Srinivas of Korutla in Karimnagar district pursuing his Master's in internal medicine at Scranton-Temple Research Programme at Mercy Hospital in Scranton near Pennsylvania on March 1 remains unknown.
This was followed by the killing of Vijayawada girl V.S. Jyotirmayee at her apartment at Handsworth in Birmingham, UK, on May 6 and the shooting down of Soumya Reddy and her cousin Vikram Reddy near the Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville on September 14. Arpana was killed in her Valley View apartment at Redmond – Woodsville Road, Seattle on November 1, but her parents learnt about her death only on November 4.
Independent tribunal for terror cases mooted
Staff Reporter



'Muslims being linked to bomb blasts even before investigations are done'
Efforts on to provide legal aid to those facing false charges



HYDERABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) on Monday demanded that the government constitute an independent tribunal for investigating terror-related cases, police atrocities and encounters during the last one decade.
At a press conference here, JIH national president Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Omri said, there was increasing sense of insecurity among minorities, especially Muslims with the police foisting false cases on them after the bomb blasts in different parts of the country. Muslims were directly linked to a bomb blast occurring either in a mosque, marketplace or other public places even before proper investigation was done, he alleged.
Mr. Jalaluddin said, efforts were also on to provide legal aid to those who were facing false charges in connection with bomb blasts that took place across the country. The JIH demanded the Centre to fulfil its electoral promise of enacting an anti-riot legislation which should be in accordance with the recommendations of National Commission for Minorities along with recommendations made by different Commissions that earlier probed such riots.
Senior political analyst Amresh Mishra, sought an explanation from the Andhra Pradesh government for harassing innocent Muslims in connection with the Mecca Masjid blast case.
From THEHINDU, 18, November 2008