A price on artist MF Hussain's head
by Kamna Hajela Mathur

     Lucknow: After Uttar Pradesh Haj Minister Haji Yaqub Qureshi's offer of a reward of Rs 51 crore to anyone killing the Danish cartoonist who allegedly made a mockery of Prophet Mohammad, the Hindu Personal Law Board has also announced a reward of a similar amount for anyone beheading prominent artist MF Hussain for hurting Hindu sentiments. Hussain is being hauled up for allegedly portraying deities and Bharat Mata in the nude. "Those who are endangering religion and nation should be eliminated for everyone's good. Anyone who kills Hussain for making obscene paintings of goddess Sarswati and Bharat Mata, the Danish cartoonist, those in the German company printing pictures of Ram and Krishna on tissue paper and the French filmmaker desecrating Lord Shiva will be given Rs 51 crore in cash," said Ashok Pandey, board president. Following persistent protests by Hindu Jagruti Samiti (HJS) and VHP against noted painter M F Hussain displaying the painting on the websites and in an exhibition in New Delhi, the painter apologised and promised to withdraw from an auction of his controversial painting depicting "Bharatmata" in bad light. HJS had filed a case with Mumbai and Thane Police and appealed to the President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take action against such "anti-national and perverse attitude of the great artist". The outfit had held demonstrations against Hussain in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Higher court notice over Jessica verdict  (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Taking suo motu notice of the reports published in newspapers on a lower Court acquitting all the accused in Jessica murder case, the Delhi High Court today issued notices to Delhi Police to file a reply stating reasons. After a lower court declared its verdict on February 21, the newspapers published reports of careless handling of the Jessica Lal murder case. A High Court division bench of Justice Virender Jain and Rekha Sharma, in a notice issued to the Commissioner of Delhi Police, today has asked it to file a status report within four weeks time. The High Court has posted the next hearing in the matter till April 19. The High Court has sought all the details from the police in the case in which all the nine accused were acquitted by the lower court and has asked to file a reply to the newspaper reports that the police failed to submit concrete evidence before the trial court during the proceedings of the Jessica Lal murder case. A Delhi Court on February 21 acquitted all the nine accused in Jessica murder case including Manu Sharma and Vikas Yadav sons of Congress politicians. Additional Session Judge S L Bhayana acquitted the accused due to lack of evidence against the alleged killers. The verdict had came after a long hiatus of six years in which the case saw numerous twists and turns with a large number of witnesses turning hostile. Model Jessica Lal was shot at point blank range on the night of April 29, 1999 while she was working as a celebrity bar maid in the Tamarind Court Bar owned by socialite Bina Ramani. It was alleged that Lal was murdered by Manu Sharma alias Siddharth Vashist, son of Congress politician and former Union Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Vinod Sharma, after she refused to serve him a drink since the bar had closed for the day. The Delhi Police in its primary investigation also indicted Vikas Yadav, the son of former Rajya Sabha Parliamentarian D P Yadav, along with ten others. The sensational murder case had a high profile list of accused which included names like Amardeep Singh Gill, Coca-Cola company officials Alok Khanna, Shyam Sunder Sharma, Amit Jhingan, Yograj Singh, Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill, Raja Chopra, Ravinder Krishan Sudan and Dhanraj. They had been charged under sections 120(b), 302, 201 and 212 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Deepak Bhojwani, socialite Bina Ramani, her husband George Mailhot, and her daughter Malini had testified that they had seen prime accused Manu Sharma with three other co-accused at the party. Defence lawyer K.N. Balgopal said that there was no evidence against the accused and the circumstantial evidence against them was not enough to penalise them. Members of Jessica Lal's family expressed their disappointment with the verdict and said that this was expected. Manu Sharma has been out on bail since October 16, 2004, while co-accused Vikas Yadav remains in judicial custody as he is also the prime accused in the Nitish Katara murder case.

Fans of axed Ganguly vent their fury (Go To Top)
by Ajitha Menon

     Kolkata: Supporters of former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly marched through streets and burnt effigies of coach Greg Chappell and the national selection committee here after the latter decided to axe the former from the Indian squad for the first Test against England to be played in Nagpur from March 1. Analysts said India's formidable middle-order led by Sachin Tendulkar had remained untouched for a decade and the removal of Ganguly, seen as the weakest link, could trigger wide-reaching change. The left-handed batsman, with 5,221 runs in 88 tests and a record 21 victories as India captain, had been under pressure due to poor batting form and fitness. Ganguly was sacked both as captain and one-day player in October during a damaging row with coach Greg Chappell and was replaced by Rahul Dravid.

     Chief selector Kiran More made it clear India must invest in youth, a policy based on recent one-day performances including this month's 4-1 defeat of Pakistan. But angry Ganguly fans, many of whom worship him as God, were not buying any of the selector's optimism. "We are hurt that he his not getting chance to play in the Tests against England. It is a matter of sorrow, is a matter of grief for us. We did not expect this as he did quite well against Pakistan," said Sudhir Saha, a fan. The five-man panel introduced change from top to bottom. In-form Mumbai opening batsman Wasim Jaffer looks set to partner Virender Sehwag, having played the last of his seven tests four years ago. One-day batsmen Mohammad Kaif and his Uttar Pradesh teammate Suresh Raina, also superb fielders, can grab a middle-order berth in the absence of the injured Yuvraj Singh. The selectors showed they had lost patience with pacemen Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar after they struggled in Pakistan by including S.Sreesanth and uncapped Vikram Rajvir Singh. The selections also bore the stamp of Chappell. The former Australian captain has backed the young bloods since taking over in September and has insisted on teamwork. "Chappell wants this and the captain too," said More. The choice of 17-year-old leggie Piyush Chawla exemplified the thinking of the selectors. He is now the understudy to Anil Kumble, 35, who is into his 15th year in international cricket. He was key to Uttar Pradesh claiming their maiden Ranji Trophy recently and then grabbed four for eight in the under-19 World Cup final defeat against Pakistan.

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