Are we really living in free India ?

I request all the readers to read the following three news items. Though these three news items are not interconnected but it will force the people to think over it. Are we really living in free India where the form of Government is democracy. Is it really a democracy?

Let us first think about the CBI raid in the house of Stalin in Chennai. Whether the CBI is free to do its job or not. The way the Prime Minister, Congress President and the senior minsters of the Union Cabinet is feeling apologetic, it appears that CBI should take permission from the Government, whether the raid will suit them politically or not. Only if it suits them, then only they should conduct raid. The raid was conducted in respect of the import of vehicles without paying duty. Why the government is not allowing the machinery to work as per the law of the land. Opposition parties are also crying foul, why? Because, they were also sometime in power and they know how these machinery are being misused. What right they have got to cry? Why they did not took steps to make these machinery independent when they were in power? Even if they will again come in power, they will also do the same thing.

Second, In Maharashtra assembly legislators have beaten up a police officer, for the reason that on previous day while doing his duty, he antagonised one legislator. I do not want to discuss as to who was guilty, but is it the way our policy makers, law makers should behave and teach a lesson to the police officer. If this is the way our elected representatives will start behaving, how the government machinery will function fearlessly.

Third, Mr Sanjay Dutt has been sentenced for 5 years imprisonment under the arms act for 1993 serial blast of Mumbai. People are forgetting 257 people were killed and 713 were injured in the serial blast. Now many people including many senior leaders of the ruling party in Delhi are talking about the pardon of Mr Sanjay Dut. Why? because he is son of Mr Sunil Dutt and Nargis Dutt who were associated with the film industry and were politically with the congress party. His sister is a congress MLA. I have all the sympathy with Mr Sanjay Dutt but if the reason for pardon is his good conduct then they should take up the cause of all the convicted people whose conduct is good. Why they have sympathy for only the big and powerful people, why not for the ordinary citizens of India.

Please think over all the three instances and think are we living in independent India?

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_shocker-in-mumbai-legislators-beat-cop-who-misbehaved-with-mla-seek-action_1813105

Shocker in Mumbai: Legislators beat cop who 'misbehaved' with MLA; seek action

Published: Tuesday, Mar 19, 2013, 14:37 IST

Place: Mumbai | Agency: PTI

In a shocking incident, a group of MLAs today beat up a policeman who had allegedly stopped the vehicle of Vasai MLA Kshitij Thakur on the Bandra-Worli sealink here yesterday.

The melee occurred outside the House at noon when a group of MLAs led by Thakur caught hold of Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Suryavanshi and roughed him up.

After the Question Hour, Thakur moved a breach of privilege notice against the policeman for obstructing his vehicle on the Bandra-Worli sealink. He gave details of the incident which took place yesterday when he was on his way to attend the Assembly proceedings and how the policeman had "misbehaved" with him.

Enraged by Thakur's account, members cutting across party lines were on their feet demanding that the official be suspended. Amid the uproar, the House was adjourned for 20 minutes.

Suryavanshi, who was seated in the visitor's gallery made hand gestures looking down towards the members. Thakur identified him as the same policeman who had obstructed him yesterday.

The MLAs Ram Kadam (MNS), Rajan Salvi (Shiv Sena), Pradeep Jaiswal (Independent) and Jaykumar Rawal (BJP) rushed outside the House and caught the policeman on the first floor of the Vidhan Bhavan building and beat him.

The House witnessed two more adjournments for half an hour each. Speaker Dilip Walse Patil said the entire incident including the melee outside the House needed to be probed and disallowed the members from speaking about it. This did not go down well with the members who were firm on their demand to take action against the police official.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_cbi-raids-stalin-house-pm-says-timing-unfortunate_1813998

CBI raids Stalin house, PM says timing unfortunate

Published: Thursday, Mar 21, 2013, 22:27 IST
Agency: ANI

Two days after the DMK quit India's ruling coalition, the CBI on Thursday searched the house of party leader MK Stalin in Chennai, sparking a political storm with an upset Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying the timing was "unfortunate". DMK chief M Karunanidhi played it cool, saying enigmatically it "may or may not be political vendetta".

"We are all very upset (at these events). The timing of this is most unfortunate. The government had no role in this that I am sure of. We will find out the details," the Prime Minister said in the capital.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram also spoke out, declaring that he strongly disapproved of the CBI raid, ostensibly carried out to detect tax doging on imported cars, leading to reports that the search had been called off.

However, a Tamil Nadu intelligence official said that in Chennai that the search had "got over and was not called off".

"Normally I do not comment on the working of another department (home ministry), but in this case I have to say that I strongly disapprove of the CBI's action. It is bound to be misunderstood," Chidambaram said.

An angry Stalin, a former Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister, called it political vendetta and vowed to face all legal issues. "I am being targeted. It is quite clear why I am being targeted. We will face the case legally," he said. His father and former Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi said: "Generally actions of political vendetta surround DMK party, and this (the CBI raid) may or may not be one of that." He added that he subscribed to the view of several leaders who voiced opposition to the raids. Actions of political vendetta, he said, were carried out not only by the centre but also in Tamil Nadu.

The CBI raid was carried out in connection with the import of a Hummer car used by Stalin's son Udyanidhi, an official said.

United Progressive Alliance chairperson and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is known to have voiced her unhappiness over the CBI raids. V Narayanasamy, minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, denied there was any "witch hunting" by the Congress following the DMK's exit from the UPA. The CBI said it had registered cases under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act following a complaint that 33 vehicles had been imported in Tamil Nadu. The CBI said: "Of these, certain vehicles are believed to have been imported and subsequently sold in violation of import provisions causing loss of up to Rs.48 crore approximately to the exchequer." Faced with all round criticism on the timing of the raid, the CBI clarified that the operation was strictly in accordance with procedures and there was no intention to target any particular individual. The raid, which began around 6 am, came two days after the DMK announced its decision to pull out of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance over New Delhi's stand on supporting a US-sponsored resolution censuring Sri Lanka over killings of Tamils during the war against the LTTE.

Stalin, widely seen as the successor to the ageing Karunanidhi in the DMK, reportedly played a key role in persuading his father to snap ties with the Congress and the UPA.

The CBI also raided Stalin's friend Raja Shankar's house. The investigating agency's move gave the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) more ammunition against the Congress-led UPA.

"This is a signal to all friendly parties that what happened in Chennai can happen to you as well. The Congress is known for misusing the CBI, which is the Congress Bureau of Investigation," senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu told IANS outside parliament. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley also slammed the government.

"It is an interference in the CBI's work if the government got it stopped. And if the government was actually interfering, it is answerable to the accusation that the CBI is being misused," he told reporters.

"However, if the CBI is working as per the law, the government did not have any right to interfere. If the PM's statement is accepted, it's the CBI's normal course of search. The government does not have any right to stop it," he said.

Stalin is the third person in his family to be questioned by the CBI.

In 2011, the CBI questioned Stalin's mother Dayalu Ammal and sister Kanimozhi in connection with the flow of over Rs.200 crore from Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa's DB Realty firm to Kalaignar TV, a regional Tamil channel in which Karunanidhi's family members allegedly have majority stake.

Later, Kanimozhi was charged as co-conspirator in the 2G spectrum scam with former telecom minister A.Raja, and lodged in Delhi's Tihar Central Jail. She was later freed on bail.

The raids came on a day India voted for the US-sponsored motion against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council for war crimes.

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=41762&boxid=21073&ed_date=2013-03-22&ed_code=820009&ed_page=1

1993 Mumbai serial blasts: Sanjay Dutt gets 5 years, Yakub Menon sentenced to death

Published: Thursday, Mar 21, 2013, 19:50 IST | Updated: Thursday, Mar 21, 2013, 19:50 IST
Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI

Twenty years after the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon and commuted the death sentence of 10 others. The apex court also upheld the conviction of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt under the Arms Act and sent him to five years in prison.

The Bollywood fraternity rushed to Sanjay Dutt's aid after the verdict by the Supreme Court was announced. Noted personalities like Vidya Balan and Raj Kumar Hirani were spotted entering the actors house.

While confirming Yakub Memon's death sentence, the bench of Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan said his "deeds can't be viewed distinct from the act of Tiger Memon, hence, both owe an equivalent responsibility for the blasts". The 13 blasts in India's financial capital on March 12, 1993, claimed 257 lives and left 713 injured.

Following the upholding of the sentencing of film star Sanjay Dutt to five years imprisonment by the Supreme Court in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, Press Council of India chief Justice Markandey Katju has appealed to Maharashtra Governor K Sankarnarayanan to pardon the actor.