Teesta Setalvad
Teesta Setalvad is a journalist and educationist.[1][2][3] She graduated with a degree in Philosophy from Bombay University in 1983 and started work as a journalist.[4] She reported for the Mumbai editions of The Daily (India) and The Indian Express newspapers, and then for Business India magazine. Appalled by the communal violence during the Bombay Riots, she, along with activist husband Javed Anand, quit full-time journalism in 1993 to start a monthly magazine Communalism Combat.[5]
Teesta is an ethnic Gujarati and the daughter of Atul Setalvad, a Mumbai based lawyer, and Sita Setalvad, a rural crafts exponent.[6] She and husband Javed have two children, Tamara and Jibran.[7] She is a convert to Islam but still uses her Hindu maiden name.
In 2007, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India for her role in "Public Affairs in Maharashatra".[8]
Political views and affiliations
- Teesta has been described as 'pro-left',[9] and she and husband Javed Anand have described themselves as "very proud of being part of the Left tradition". She has, however, criticised the Communist party government in West Bengal for the police firing that killed civilians in Nandigram village on March 14 2007, by calling the tragedy "unanticipated, unjustified and unfortunate".[9]
- Teesta and Javed's publication, Communalism Combat, requested and received funds from the Congress Party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India and ten individuals to run advertisements in national dailies attacking the Sangh Parivar, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, before the 1999 Lok Sabha elections.[10] One of these advertisements was endorsed by 13 women's NGOs[10]; the total budget for this campaign was 15 million rupees. They have, however, elsewhere criticised the Congress Party for issues arising from the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots and the Srikrishna Commission report.[11]
- Teesta has been felicitated by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for her work done on the Best Bakery case.[12]
Activism
- Teesta's magazine Communalism Combat claims to foster communal harmony, and attack entities allegedly propounding communal violence.
- Teesta testified at the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom on June 10, 2002 against the BJP led Gujarat government's role in the post-Godhra communal violence.[13]
- In 1997, Teesta started work on a project, Khoj (Quest), which aims to rewrite sections of Indian school History and Social Studies textbooks to remove "anti-minority prejudices".[14]
Best Bakery Case/Gujarat Riots Aftermath
In November 2004, she was accused of pressuring Zaheera Sheikh, the key witness in the Best Bakery case, to make certain statements, leading to the unprecedented transferral of the case outside Gujarat. In August 2005, a Supreme Court of India committee absolved her of the charges of inducement levelled against her by Zaheera.
Members of Sabrang communication came to United States and accused it of not giving Christians Muslims religious freedoms and to allege the Indian state under the BJP regime as a place where minorities (Christians and Muslims) religious freedoms are under threat.[20]
Controversy over false cases
In April 2009, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) setup by the Supreme Court of India to investigate and expediate the Gujarat riot cases submitted before the Court that Teesta Setalvad had cooked up cases of violence to spice up the incidents. The SIT which is headed by former CBI director, R K Raghavan has said that false witnesses were tutored to give evidence about imaginary incidents by Teesta Setalvad and other NGOs.[15] The SIT charged her of “cooking up macabre tales of killings”.[16]
The court was told that 22 witnesses, who had submitted identical affidavits before various courts relating to riot incidents, were questioned by SIT and it was found that the witnesses had not actually witnessed the incidents and they were tutored and the affidavits were handed over to them by Setalvad.[16]
The report which was brought to the notice of the bench consisting of Justices Arijit Pasayat, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam, noted that the much publicised case of a pregnant muslim woman Kausar Banu being gangraped by a mob and foetus being removed with sharp weapons, was also cooked up and false.[15][17].
A day after the Times of India published retraction noting that the report in question was not SIT report but a report by the Gujarat Government, and the CBI director Raghavan and other SIT members were not present in court. [15][18].
Affiliations
- Co-editor of Communalism Combat magazine (along with husband Javed Anand).
- Teesta's husband Javed Anand runs Sabrang Communications which claims itself as fighting for human rights. Teesta is the official spokesperson of this organization.
- Teesta heads the Mumbai based NGO Citizens for Peace and Justice(CPJ), of which her father is also a member. Many prominent Mumbai based celebrities are supporters of this NGO.[19]
- Founder of the Women and Media Committee.[20] The group seeks to bring together working women journalists to raise job-related concerns and awareness of gender-sensitivity in writing and reporting on issues concerning women.
- Founder of Journalists Against Communalism.[20]
- Apart from the journalistic tasks Teesta Setalvad leads the project “Khoj: Education for A pluralistic India”.[21]
- Teesta is General Secretary of People's Union for Human Rights” (PUHR).[21]
- Member of the Pakistan India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy.[21]
Awards
Other than the 2007 Padma Shri, Teesta Setalvad received the following awards:
- 2004 M.A.Thomas National Human Rights Award from the Vigil India Movement.
- Parliamentarians for Global Action 'Defender of Democracy' award,[22] jointly with Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand.[23]
- the Nani A Palkhivala Award 2006.[24]
- The Nuernberg Human Rights Award 2003.[25]
- PUCL Journalism for human Rights Award 1993.[1]
- Chameli Devi Jain Award for outstanding Woman journalist 1993.[1]
- Maharana Mewar Foundation's Hakim Khan Sur Award (jointly with Javed Anand) in 1999.[1]
- Human Rights Award OF the Dalit liberation Education Trust in 2000.[1]
- Pax Christi internationally Peace Award (jointly with Australian artist Eddi Kneebone).[1]
- Rajiv Gandhi Award (jointly with Harsh Mander) for highlighting and helping the victims of violence in February - July 2002 in Gujarat, India.[1]
Reception
Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President of the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi and the former member of National Knowledge Commission has criticized Teesta Setalvad for allegedly cooking up of Gujarat riot cases and called it "an Unconscionable Act". Writing to a mainstream daily, he said that she has done the cause of justice irreparable harm. He observed that her actions, as described, will undermine the capability of civil society to have any imprimatur of impartiality in investigating riot cases[26].
Mehta, who was earlier a professor of social studies at the Harvard University, added that she has not only done deep disservice to the victims of the Gujarat riots; she has also undermined the credibility of so-called secular interlocutors. He opined that it confirmed the suspicion many have, that often those speaking in the name of secularism do not subscribe to the very values they claim to be fighting for: truth, justice, impartiality and the rule of law. "Their secularism is in the service of beating down opponents rather than discovering the truth"[26].
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Nürnberger Menschenrechtspreisträger 2003". Template:De icon
- ^ [http://web.archive.org/web/20071216023607/http://www.htnext.in/news/181_1958494,000600010001.htm
- ^ "India THE NEXT DECADE".
- ^ a b http://www.ksghauser.harvard.edu/socialmovementsworkshops/includes/Personal%20History%20Teesta.doc
- ^ Communalism Combat Completes A Decade
- ^ http://www.freeindiamedia.com/women/3_may_04_women.htm
- ^ Nuremberg Speech
- ^ http://india.gov.in/myindia/advsearch_awards.php
- ^ a b "Nandigram violence can't be justified: intellectuals". Hindustan Times.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)[dead link] - ^ a b "Teesta interview 1999"
- ^ http://www.thehoot.org/story.asp?storyid=Web21021416663Hoot115732%20PM898&pn=1
- ^ The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Minorities still living in fear in Gujarat: Setalvad
- ^ Teesta's US testimony
- ^ Google Archive School Textbook change
- ^ a b c NGOs, Teesta spiced up Gujarat riot incidents: SIT [1]
- ^ a b Setalvad in dock for 'cooking up killings' [2]
- ^ http://dailypioneer.com/169490/Gujarat-riot-myths-busted.html
- ^ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Guj-govts-not-an-SIT-report/articleshow/4407434.cms
- ^ Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP)
- ^ a b 403 Forbidden
- ^ a b c "Die Verantwortung der Medien - Journalisten zwischen Krieg und Frieden". Template:De icon
- ^ Harvard
- ^ Parliamentarians for Global Action
- ^ Civil Liberties In India By Teesta Setalvad
- ^ Sabrang Alternative News Network
- ^ a b Bhanu Pratap Mehta, An Unconscionable Act, Apr 15, 2009, Indian Express, [3]
- INDIA: The constitutional mandate and education - article by Teesta Setalvad in Catalyst Magazine (January 2006)
- "Setalvad is pressurising me": Zahira - Mid Day (3 November 2004)
- "Zaheera seeks probe into Teesta Setalvad's bank accounts"
- The latest act in the tragedy that is Zahira -- News analysis by Siddharth Varadarajan in The Hindu (23 December 2004).
- Teesta Setalvad's former confidant files FIR against her - Prokerala News (19 December 2008)
- Gujarat riots: SIT says Teesta's charges false - SIT says Teesta's charges false