By TCN News,
New Delhi : Journalists should be provided freedom to probe the Maudany case unbiased, demanded various cultural organizations and activists in the dharna organized in front of the Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi. They also demanded that Abdunnaser Maudany be ensured just trial in the light of the Karnataka police action against Shahina, correspondent of the Tehelka.
The case shall not be seen only as one against Shahina in Kerala, but rather it should be seen as a part of the communalization growing in the national level, opined Dr G Arunima. Every citizen in the country has the right to challenge the claims of the police, said Dr Nivedita Menon. She also reminded that democracy has no existence if journalists are not able to investigate the facts behind the police’s cock and bull stories.
Prof AK Ramakrishnan, Sreerekha and Sachin Narayanan also spoke in the dharna led by Jenny Rowena, Hani Babu, Ashraf K, Bindu Menon, Anil Thayath Varghese and Yasser Arafat. The dharna was concluded after handing over a petition to the Resident Commissioner demanding a withdrawal cases against KK Shahina, conduct of a free and fair probe into the torture of the Karnataka police, freedom for journalists to investigate the Maudany case unbiased, and to ensure just trial for Maudany.
Abdunnasir Maudany, chairman of Kerala’s PDP, was arrested in August 2010 for his alleged role in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts. He was denied bail continuously and is now in judicial custody in the Parappana Agrahara Jail in Bengaluru. Maudnay was earlier accused in the 1998 Coimbatore blasts and released on acquittal after spending nearly 10 years in jail as an under-trial. KK Shahina, Kerala correspondent of Tehelka magazine, was booked by the Karnataka police accusing her of intimidating witnesses in the case against Maudany. Shahina had spoken to two witnesses in the case and published her report claiming that one witness was not even aware that he was a witness in the case and the other was forced by the police to testify against Maudany. The police had reportedly threatened Shahina on the course of her investigation and subsequently case was charged against her.