| And now, GIA's credentials being questioned in Kashmir | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, May 7: That elements in Kashmir would also question the credentials of the members of the Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA), which recently visited Kathua and met cross-sections of society as well as J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, to have first-hand information about the unfortunate incident in Jammu's Rassana in January this year, and it has actually happened.
Earlier, they had adopted similar stand to the five-member Supreme Court-appointed team of Bar Council of India and dismissed its report as "lop-sided" and "biased". The BCI had favoured CBI probe into the Kathua case.
The GIA submitted its 22-page report to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and MoS in PMO Jitendra Singh on May 4. The report has raised several relevant questions about the J&K Crime Branch team, which conducted investigation into the Kathua case, and suggested that there was a strong case for handing over the case to the CBI. The GIA has, in addition, in its report said: "CBI probe will assuage the insecurities among the people and undo the blatant discrepancies in the Crime branch report. J&K Government must hear the voices of people of Jammu and not take any step that further alienates the people of Jammu".
All these things have not gone down well with sections of society in Kashmir. They have said that members of this group are close to RSS or they are members of the RSS. "GIA is a team which is close the right-wing groups. The GIA functions in the past have been attended by the top RSS leaders, including the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat," they have said while questioning both the credentials of the members of the team and the report that they submitted to the PMO and HMO.
Members of the group included Meera Khadakkar, Retired District Judge, Nagpur; Monika Arora, Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Sarjana Sharma, Senior Journalist; Sonali Chitalkar, Assistant Professor, Miranda House, Delhi University; and Monicca Agarwaal, Entrepreneur, and Social Activist.
To make out a case against the GIA team, they have said that Meera Khandakkar is the president of the Nagpur chapter of the J&K study Circle, which is considered close to the RSS. The Circle had hosted RSS chief Mohan Bhagat earlier this year, they have also said.
Elements in Kashmir have also questioned the credentials of Monika Arora, convener of the GIA. "On the first anniversary celebrations of the GIA in New Delhi in 2016, RSS leader Dr Krishan Gopal was the speaker on the special lecture on nationalism," they have pointed out, and added "Monika Arora, who is a lawyer, is the Government of India's standing Counsel in Delhi High Court". |
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