Free facts and sacred comment

Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsShoib Akhtar must be thanking his stars that he was not part of the failed Pakistani world cup campaign. One he can sit smug along with Asif telling him, "well the outcome would have been different, had we been there" but more importantly he has saved himself from being subject to endless scrutiny. The moment it was said that Pakistan Coach Bob Woolmer was strangled to death and that the Pakistani team was also being questioned, Akhtar would have found his way into millions of living rooms. Remember those visuals in which Akhtar is seen pushing Woolmer and also the news that the late Woolmer had denied-that Shoib had once slapped him. "Facts are sacred and comment is free?" This was murder inside Wolmer's room with no eyewitness around, unless of course the Police finds an approver amongst the murderers. Circumstantial evidence supported by witnesses to the circumstances that led to the murder will have to play an important role.

Back home we have the professor HS Sabharwal murder trial going on in Ujjain. Everyday new 'facts' are emerging, witnesses are turning hostile and an attempt is being made to systematically belie the basic fact-that professor HS Sabharwal was murdered outside his own college in full public view on student union election day. Here again circumstances hold the key. Strangely there is video footage available of both before and after Sabharwal was attacked allegedly by ABVP activists. Camerapersons belonging to the local media and also a police cameraman have deposed before the court but strangely no one saw the exact incidence.
Madhya Pradesh is being ruled by the BJP. ABVP is the sister organization of the BJP and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan was also an ABVP leader for a long-long time. The accused belong to the ABVP. Prominent among them are Shashi Ranjan Akela who was heading the organization in the state at that time and Vimal Tomar who was the state organising secretary. The Crime Investigation Department investigated the case. The complainant, Komal Singh Sengar and other key witnesses have turned hostile refusing to identify any of the accused as those who hit the professor. There statements in court suggest that the CID unnecessarily arrested the ABVP activists as they had never seen them hitting the professor. "ABVP men arrested in a BJP ruled state by an agency that reports to the state government and that too on concocted statements." Ho hum.
The statements recorded by the CID hold little value and only what the witnesses say in court will come on record. So even if there is no eyewitness (no one can be forced to be an eyewitness) the circumstances in which the murder was committed have to be proved and this is done by circumstantial evidence backed by witnesses who support the evidence.
There is plenty of circumstantial evidence pointing towards the murder of the professor but the prosecution is not interested in taking that into account. The face of the college election in charge, Professor ML Nath was smeared by an ABVP activist about 100 feet away from the spot where professor Sabharwal was attacked. Nath later lodged a named FIR in the case and the accused is also an accused in the murder case, presently lodged in the Ujjain central jail. Clearly the two cases are connected but the Public prosecutor in all his wisdom has chosen to keep all the witnesses in the Nath case away from the Sabharwal case. The two cases are clearly connected as the first case points towards the circumstances that led to the murder. The Nath case is being investigated by the district police headed by the SP, Mr Jaideep Prasad. Prasad has been accused by Komal Sengar on more than one occasion of trying to pressurize him.
Even the CID has raised doubts over the way in which the prosecution is handling the case. In court the public prosecutor appears more of a defense counsel and the battery of lawyers fighting for the accused have rarely interrupted. The crucial witnesses have turned hostile and the ones who have not been declared hostile were never asked about their statements given to the CID. Circumstantial evidence is the key but someone has
to present that in court.
About the AuthorHemender Sharma A chance reporter, reporting for CNN-IBN from Bhopal. Has reported for the Sun Magazine, Delhi MidDay, Hindustan Times, Asian Age and Sahara Samay in ...Read Morefirst published:March 31, 2007, 15:19 ISTlast updated:March 31, 2007, 15:19 IST
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