[Fwd: Hindu American Foundation Reacts to False Media Reports after Court Hearing]

apr 26

response to disinformation campaign by propagandists.

as i said before, the propagandists have actually lost the case, because
the objective is to influence the publishers. said publishers have now
become sensitized, as they dont want anything to affect their book sales.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Hindu American Foundation Reacts to False Media Reports after
Court Hearing
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:37:23 -0700
Fro
Reply-To:
Organization: Hindu American Foundation (HAF)
To:

*Hindu American Foundation Reacts to False Media Reports after Court
Hearing*

Washington, D.C. (April 26, 2006) – The Hindu American Foundation (HAF)
reacted quickly today to errors in media coverage of a hearing for a
preliminary injunction filed by the Hindu American Foundation (HAF)
against the California State Board of Education (SBE) in Superior Court
on April 21. The injunction sought to stop the printing of textbooks
containing inaccuracies and an unbalanced presentation of Hinduism. In
denying the injunction, presiding Judge Patrick Marlette did not
pre-judge the merits of the case, indicated that he was “troubled” by
the SBE process in approving the contentious textbooks, and encouraged
the parties to discuss resolution of the case before the start of the
school year.

No journalists were present at the hearing, and according to HAF,
several media reports relied on the motivated and biased interpretations
of an amateur writer who gained recent notoriety for his anti-Hindu
blog. This individual, with no previous experience reporting on legal
proceedings, detailed that he attended the hearing and did not rely on
official transcripts in his widely circulated report.

“While HAF’s legal team would have preferred that the preliminary
injunction had been granted, they were pleased that the judge suggested
the process followed by the SBE to be problematic,” said Ishani
Chowdhury, Executive Director of HAF. “It is sad that one individual’s
musings that were patently false at best, and blatantly racist at worst,
were accepted as truth by too many.”

Based on the writer’s account, that variously intimated gratuitous
comments as to the race and ethnicity of HAF’s legal team and of those
present in the courtroom, some media reports erroneously stated that a
preliminary injunction hearing requires a "lower showing" on the merits.
In fact, such a hearing requires the court to balance a number of
factors, including any harm that could be caused by granting or denying
an injunction. Here, presiding Judge Marlette twice indicated that he
was "troubled" by the process used to approve these texts, but in
denying the injunction request seemed concerned that even if the books
were poorly written, "harm" wouldn't occur until the children actually
had the books in hand -- something that is currently several months off.

Judge Marlette also appeared to be concerned that he could not evaluate
how "bad" these texts were in the contexts of a preliminary hearing, as
that decision would require a lengthy analysis of the texts, comparison
with the treatment of other religions and possibly expert testimony.
Preliminary hearings are, by contrast, limited. The court rules impose
limitations on both the length of the papers that can be submitted and
the amount of time available for the hearing.

“Some accounts report that the judge rejected HAF's claims ‘on the
merits,’ when the judge never decided such a thing,” said Suhag Shukla,
Esq., legal counsel of HAF. “Clearly there is a fundamental lack of
understanding as to the standard of proof required for preliminary
injunctive relief. It’s difficult to obtain -- particularly against the
government. More importantly, this particular denial has no bearing on
the ultimate outcome of the case.”

HAF leaders reaffirmed their commitment to their legal action to ensure
that California school textbooks accurately and equitably depict Hinduism

“It is bewildering that these activists will oppose equal treatment of
all religions in school textbooks, the lack of which is what led to the
lawsuit,” said Chowdury. “Hindus are merely seeking parity with other
religions in sixth-grade textbooks, where social problems of other
religions are not given the same prominence, even as the redeeming
features of Hinduism are ignored.”

The Hindu American Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3), non-partisan
organization, promoting the Hindu and American ideals of understanding,
tolerance and pluralism.

**Mihir Meghani, M.D.**

**President, Hindu American Foundation**

**www.hinduamericanfoundation.org**
<http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org/>

**Cell Phone: 510-396-2745**

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