HHR Press Release 20/11/08 :Sadhvi Pragya :Victim of a "Saffron Witchhunt"

nov 20th, 2008

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From: Arjun

HHR Press Release 20/11/08 Sadhvi Pragya Victim of a "Saffron Witchhunt" http://www.hinduhumanrights.org/pressreleases/Sadhvi.htm   Within the last month it has come to light that a woman has been arrested and held under anti-terrorism laws. While in prison, she has been denied the right to wear her religious clothing and subjected to lie detector tests in an effort to establish her guilt. It seems that this has proven unfruitful as the police have then resorted to techniques of narco-analysis perfected by the regimes of Hitler and Stalin by forcibly introducing drugs into this woman's body while interrogating her. In her own words, contained within her affidavit she states "I was beaten day and night, my chastity was questioned. I wanted to commit suicide..."   But this isn't the latest story from Guantanamo Bay or North Korea but from Mumbai , India . In fact, if anything this would usually be enough for such a story of a religious woman being forced to take drugs against her wishes and not allowed to wear her own clothes to cause outrage throughout the world until we realise that it is a Hindu female ascetic, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur Singh, who is being subjected to these abuses. It is noted that while not one human rights group nor any women's groups have yet spoken out about this, the media has carried out its own trial and become more preoccupied with scoring political points and demonising the Hindu community.   Hence we would expect that the media would be publicising that the Sadhvi has been detained without charge for longer than most countries allow even under anti-terrorism charges or even that a functioning democracy requires the confidence of its citizens in that suspects are treated fairly and not subjected to humiliation and torture but rather also deserve the protection of the law. Instead the stories being peddled are claims that lie detectors and drugs have been ineffective because the Sadhvi has "special yogic powers to disguise her guilt"!   So the Indian media have been bombarding the public with headlines which warn of "Saffron Terror", juxtaposing of Hindu images with terror images. For example, the CNN-IBN website carries a story on 26 October 2008 which describes a Sadhvi as "Right Wing Hindu woman" (the real translation is closer to "Hindu female ascetic" or "Hindu holy woman"). It seems ironic that the media in the country with most Hindus in the world forgets and chooses to abuse the sacred and universal nature of the saffron colour and Hindu symbols which have meaning for ordinary Hindus all over the world. Thus continues the cycle of demonising Hindus and creating the climate where it is acceptable to abuse Hindus.   It is well known that the Indian media is heavily partisan in its reporting and has lower standards than most tabloids for its news and so most informed observers have learnt to apply a good dose of scepticism to its journalism or to just ignore it as noise. Unfortunately this does not help many uninformed or curious people. Hence our concern that the Indian media and CNN-IBN in particular seem to be unconcerned with the above mentioned human rights abuses but instead using distortion and outright lies to paint a negative image of Hindus and Hinduism.   "Hindus and fair-minded people all across the world are shocked and appalled by this medieval type Inquisition carried on by the Indian establishment on a defenceless Sadhvi", states Ranbir Singh of HHR   Click here to read the affidavit of Sadhvi Pragyan Singh Thakur