Media directors arrested over Jainism articles

New York, January 8, 2009--B.V. Seetaram and his wife, Rohini, who head the media group Chithra Publications in Karnataka state, southern India, have been in judicial custody since Sunday in connection with two-year old criminal charges relating to their newspapers, according to local news reports.

State police arrested Seetaram, chairman and chief editor of the group, and his wife, the director, while the couple were traveling in the state's Udipi district, the reports said. Police told Seetaram the arrest was in connection with criminal charges lodged against them in 2007 for offending the sensibilities of a religious group in articles published by two of Chithra's Kannada-language dailies, Karavali Ale and Kannada Janantaranga. Seetaram told local reporters that the arrest follows a recent campaign of harassment against Karavali Ale, which is published from the nearby district of Mangalore, according to the reports.

"We are concerned that the arrest of these media owners, which coincides with attacks against one of their newspapers, is part of a campaign of harassment because they have dared to take on a sensitive religious issue," said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia Program Coordinator. "We call on authorities to drop these criminal charges and ensure the safety of our colleagues."

The original complaint was filed in March 2007 by a practitioner of the religion Jainism, shortly after the newspapers published articles questioning the right of Jain leaders to appear naked in public, according to national English-language daily The Statesman. The couple spent a total of 10 days in jail in 2007 before being freed on bail. Seetaram characterized those arrests as harassment, and said that Karavali Ale had exposed links between the Jain community, a bus company allegedly carrying out illegal activities, and local police, The Statesman report said.

The reason for the two-year delay in the re-emergence of the charge was not clear from published reports. But attacks against Karavali Ale escalated in late 2008. In December, Seetaram lodged a complaint with the Press Council of India, a New Delhi-based watchdog body, saying that groups were commandeering quantities of the newspaper from vendors and then burning the copies. Its printing press was also attacked in November, according to local news reports. The reports quoted Seetaram saying local Hindu nationalist groups with the support of the state's Bharatiya Janata Party government were targeting the paper in retaliation for articles criticizing their activities.

Local journalists have protested heavy-handed official treatment of the media chief. In March 2007, police arrested the couple in their home at midnight without proper paperwork, according to The Statesman. After Sunday's arrest (which one report said involved 25 police officers), handcuffs and chains were used to restrain Seetaram when he was produced in an Udipi court on Monday, an unusually high security measure, local newspapers reported. Seetaram refused bail during that session, saying he feared re-arrest on similar charges if he returned to Mangalore, according to The Hindu newspaper. He and his wife have been remanded until January 17.

Tensions between religious groups run high in Mangalore, and newspapers are often accused of contributing to communal disharmony with provocative or one-sided coverage, according to the popular current affairs blog Churumuri Two individuals registered complaints with local police against Vijaya Karnataka, another Kannada-language newspaper owned by the Times of India Group, in December 2008 and January 2009, for separate articles said to incite hatred against Christians in the wake of mob violence by Hindu groups which targeted churches in the state in September 2008, according to the blog and local news reports.

Modi would like Jain university in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Jan 10 (IANS)

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi wants a university proposed by a worldwide organisation of Jains to be set up in the state.”We have three choices for setting up a university. It can be in Maharashtra, Rajasthan or Gujarat. We request you (Modi) that as you did for the Nano (small car) project, help us to build the university here,” said Hemant Shah, president of the Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO), at the inaugural session of the three-day (JITO) Global Summit here Saturday.

In reply, Modi said: “I too want this university to come up in Gujarat instead of Maharashtra or Rajasthan. I have no objections. You go ahead and set up the university.”

“Last year the JITO summit was held in Mumbai and I attended it. I requested the organisers that the next meet be held here. Today Gujarat has become the host to the world,” he told the large gathering of delegates who have come here from all corners of the world.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Gandhinagar MP L.K. Advani said: “JITO is a wonderful organisation. It has set an example of religious amity.”

JITO mentor calls for uniting Jains

AHMEDABAD: 'Jains of the world unite', was the call given by Naypadmasagarji Maharaj, a revered Jain sadhu at the introductory meet on Friday on the eve of Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO)'s global summit.

Speaking to delegates, Naypadmasagarji, who is also JITO's mentor emphasised on the importance of unity for a better future.

"JITO's aim is to work for betterment of society. We should unite to eliminate poverty in the world. For this, I would ask JITO members to even go meet terrorists and try to understand their side of the story. Why should anybody choose to become a terrorist ? There must be some reason. We have to find this out for the cause of humanity", he said.

He urged that if they wanted to live in a peaceful world, they will have to create it themselves. "Jains have never discriminated while doing social works in their life. It is a tradition. I urge Jain leaders to invest their money in value based education", he said.

According to a JITO official, day one was like a "get together where JITO members and executives from various chapters presented their future course of action"

The ‘don’ of non-violence

Sanjay Singh
Tribune News Service

Patna, December 16People facing serious criminal charges being elected to the Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha is hardly a surprise in Bihar. Almost all political parties have a fair share of such don-turned-politicians. There are also instances of incarcerated MLAs and MPs doing graduation, postgraduation and Phd from different varsities.

But how about an MLA, involved in various crimes, including murder, loot, extortion and kidnapping, getting a doctorate for his research on non-violence. Meet Narendra Kumar Pandey alias Sunil Pandey, who has been awarded a PhD degree by Veer Kunwar Singh University (VKSU), Ara, for his research on the topic “Mahavir’s Preachings in Modern Context”. Interestingly, the legislator — who has been suspended by the ruling JDU for his continued criminal behaviour — made headlines four months ago when he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court for getting a Patna neuro-surgeon Dr Ramesh Chandra kidnapped for ransom.

Once again, he is in the limelight but for totally different reasons. The university published the result on November 27. A varsity source revealed that a team of experts on Jainism had taken Pandey’s interview (viva-voce examination) for the doctorate degree on November 25. He had appeared in the oral examination under police custody and the vice-chancellor of VKSU was also present there.

Pandey’s guide for PhD was Dr Ramji Rai, head of the history department of S.B.College, Ara. Pandey has been awarded a gold medal by the institute for excelling in studies and extra- curricular activities. Considered as an authority on Jainism and Prakrit, he has to his credit many articles on ‘non-violence’. Pandey is said to be a lifetime member of All India Oriental Conference (Pune), Indian Society of Budhist Studies (Jammu) and Indian Society of Gandhian studies. If his supporters are to be believed, Pandey has set his eyes on DLitt now.