Muzamil Jaleel

http://www.manushi.in/articles.php?articleId=1644&ptype=campaigns

An Example of Rigorous Clinical Reporting

Manushi strongly recommends the following three part reports in The Indian Express dated 26, 27, 28 September, 2012 by Muzamil Jaleel. Even while Muzamil  writing on a highly  a controversial issue and exposing the shoddy “evidence” being presented to courts for booking Muslim youth under draconian laws on charges of promoting/supporting terrorist activity inIndia these articles represent high standard of professional journalism because: 1. They are based on solid investigative work by careful examination of police records.  2. The author lets the facts speak for themselves  and avoids the use of judgmental adjectives or emotive outbursts. Instead he maintains a clinical tone in narrating facts. Such a carefully worded and investigative report in a calm tenor has the effect of forcing readers to think seriously about the implications of such a crude and dishonest job being done by our police in investigating those arrested on charges of abetting terrorist activities.  Muzammil Jaleel has consistently maintained this quality even when reporting from strife torn Kashmir, his home state. Given below are the three articles written by Muzamil Jaleel: 1.  “2 years, 5 cities, 6 cases – and ‘proof’ everywhere is the same magazine” Published on Sep 26 2012   On April 16, 2006, Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh was tense. There had been communal clashes a week ago during Eid-e-Milad. In the afternoon, policemen from the Kotwali police station arrested two women, 20-year-old Aasiya and 23-year-old Rafia, daughters of one Abdul Hafiz Qureshi. The police, in their seizure memo, claimed to have recovered “incriminating material” from Aasiya — three copies of an April 2004 issue of a Hindi magazine, Tehrik-e-Millat, and a SIMI donation receipt towards “office construction fund” (receipt no. 0033359, dated January 25, 2006) with the name “Kumari Aashiya Khan” in Hindi for an amount of Rs 500.  (To read more: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/2-years-5-cities-6-cases---and--proof--everywhere-is-the-same-magazine/1007920/0) 2. “Over a month, four ‘terror’ arrests in Indore for ‘shouting slogans” Published on Sep 27 2012 It’s just not Urdu writings or a magazine copy that can get you booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). In many cases — including five over the course of one month, April 2008, four of them in Indore alone — the script was the same: a mukhbir or informer tipped off police about men “shouting anti-government slogans” outside mosques or in front of their homes, and the men were arrested and then left to battle it out in court. (To read more: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/over-a-month-four--terror--arrests-in-indore-for--shouting-slogans-/1008344) 3.       “The posters that landed retired SIMI secy in jail” Published on Sep 28 2012  Cases registered 12 years ago — before SIMI was even banned — on flimsy charges and an investigation that has been rapped for loopholes left Munir Deshmukh a wanted man for years and have kept him in jail for the past 21 months. Once the SIMI national secretary, Deshmukh retired from the organisation in February 2001, seven months before it was banned. (To read more: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-posters-that-landed-retired-simi-secy-in-jail/1008884)   For more reports by Jaleel, see his blog: http://en.wordpress.com/tag/muzamil-jaleel/ ******** Posted on 15 November 2012