Modi & Mohan rao Bhagwat to share stage today

Modi & Mohan rao Bhagwat to share stage today
Ahmedabad, 28 February, 2011

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's Sarsanghchalak Shri Mohanrav Bhagwat will share the stage today in Ahmedabad in a book release function. The book is compilation of original volumes of Mahatma Gandhi's great book 'Hind Swaraj'. The book has been compiled by Samajniti Samikshan Kendra(Center for Policy Studies).

The book will be released by Shri Mohanji Bhagwat, while Chief Minister Narendra Modi will be the Chief Guest of the function. The event is only for those invited. It will be held at Ahmedabad's Tagore hall at 5.00 pm.

Center for Policy Studies is planning to publish a number of books related to Hind Swaraj. For this purpose, a seminar is also planned at Ahmedabad and another at Delhi according to its website. Shri Balbir Punj, Shri S.Gurumurthy, and Shri K.N.Govindacharya are some of the Trustees of Center for Policy Studies.

Court issues warrant against Orissa Catholic priest

The warrant was issued on February 22 after Father Ajay Kumar Singh ignored two earlier summons.A fast-track court in Orissa has issued an arrest warrant for a Catholic priest for failing to appear before it.

The priest, whose office was destroyed during the 2008 anti-Christian violence in the state, has now been given until March 4 to appear.

Father Singh said Feb. 25 that he had refused to appear before the court because he questioned its ability to deliver justice.

He said he had named 117 people as accused but the court split the case into two, proceeding to hear the case of those accused who came for a hearing. The court acquitted them in November 2010 despite several witnesses testifying against them. Father Singh said he stayed away after the same judge began hearing the second part of the action.

"I am aggrieved for not getting justice," said Father Singh, who then approached a higher court seeking a transfer of the case. "The District Sessions Judge sat on the case for nearly three months," he said.

The fast-track courts set up to speed up cases related to anti-Christian violence has become too fast for the comfort of the victims, Father Singh says. "It is bent on completing the trial, but in the process I am afraid the victims are not getting justice," Father Singh said.

The courts dispose off cases without proper investigation, he says. "The prosecution bias and state complicity have rendered the victims hapless. It is gross injustice," he said.

"If such things are to happen to us, priests, what is the fate of poor and ignorant villagers?" he asked. "It is quite scary."

Father Singh wants a special investigation team from the federal government to monitor the cases. "Otherwise, the seeker of justice has to be on the run," he added.

Father Singh directs the Jan Vikas (people's advancement), the social service center of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese, near Balliguda in Kandhamal district. A Catholic nun was raped at the center during the violence.