12mar14

08, May 2017

March 12, 2014
Press Release

CJP Rebuts
Malafide Allegations by Gujarat Government

The Citizens for
Justice and Peace strongly condemns and refutes the malicious lies
being spread by advocate for the State of Gujarat Ajay Choksi in
misleading the Court about the Citizens for Justice and Peace
Â“cheatingÂ” victims of the riots.

The Secretary CJP
Teesta Setalvad has filed a strong 41 page affidavit in rejoinder
explaining point by point how baseless and malicious the allegations
of the State are. The nexus of the Gujarat government headed by
Narendra Modi, itÂ’s Crime Branch headed by powerful policemen who
have been collaborators of the regime since 2002 and Rais Khan
Pathan a former employee of the organisation who is being used as a
proxy in this malicious war have also been exposed. Before this,
too, Khan has been Â“aidedÂ” in his malicious efforts by senior legal
functionaries who are politically in allegiance with the Gujarat
government (in the Gujarat high Court and Supreme Court). He has now
been cited as Â“witnessÂ” by the Crime Branch Ahmedabad in this false
and malicious case. The timing of this Â“FIRÂ” is revealing. A cooked
up case has obviously been raked up to prevent an Appeal in the Smt
Zakia Jafri v/s Narendra Modi Criminal Case. Shri Tanvir Jafri, son
of Smt Zakia Jafri and the late Shri Ahsan Jafri has also been made
a co-accused in the Criminal Complaint, a further sign of rank
intimidation. Why is the Gujarat Government afraid of the higher
Courts?

On behalf of
herself and her husband Javed Anand, Teesta Setalvad has filed an
affidavit in the Sessions Court in Ahmedabad, pointing out the
gaping holes in the affidavit earlier filed by the crime branch of
the Ahmedabad police in the same courts with bogus, false and
mindless accusations against them for embezzling funds. Here below
are some of the main points in the 41-page affidavit (attached with
this press release) filed by her:

1. The
full-of-falsehood affidavit of the crime branch is nothing short of
intimidatory tactics with the ulterior motive of brow-beating the
organizations with which she is associated with, and her and her
husband personally, from pursuing the course of justice for the
victims survivors of the 2002 carnage and punishment of the guilty,
including those in high places. It may be noted, that directly as a
result of our efforts, till date at least 117 accused have been
convicted and given life imprisonment. This includes former BJP MLA
and minister in Narendra ModiÂ’s cabinet, Dr. Maya Kodnani.

2. The
dubious intent of the crime branch among other things is evident
from the fact that they have deliberately concealed the fact in
their affidavit that while the Ahmedabad-based accomplice of the
crime branch, Rais Khan, a disgruntled ex-employee of Citizens for
Justice and Peace (CJP) till December 2007, was paid a total salary
of Rs. 9,63,500, provided free housing and a vehicle, Teesta
Setalvad (who functioned as chief executive) neither asked for, nor
received a single rupee as salary from the organisation between
April 2002 (when CJP was founded and December 2009 (nearly 8 years).
Nor is there any mention of the fact that unlike Rais Khan, she
neither asked for nor received any accommodation allowance.

3. With
malicious intent, the crime branch has aggragated all the donations
and grants received by CJP and Sabrang Trust and claimed that the
entire amount was collected for the sole purpose of proposed Gulberg
Memorial. The fact is that till date, while Sabrang Trust has in
total received approximately Rs 4.5 lakh only earmarked by donors
for the memorial, CJP did not receive a single rupee for the same.

4. It has
been alleged that a total of around Rs. 2.62 crore was collected by
Sabrang Trust between 10.4.2007 and 20.2.2014 for the museum. This
is a blatant falsehood for two reasons. Firstly, a table contained
in Teesta SetalvadÂ’s affidavit where the purpose for which the
foreign contributions were strictly to be used were clearly
specified by the donors, it is evident that only around Rs. 4.5 lakh
in all was earmarked by the donors for the Gulberg Memorial. This is
easily established through the donorsÂ’ letters. Moreover, several of
the donors have written to Sabrang Trust in the recent period,
stating that in view of insufficient funds being received for the
Gulberg memorial, Sabrang Trust is authorised to spend their
donations on other activities. Secondly, it is also evident from the
table that the total foreign contributions received by Sabrang Trust
totaled around Rs. 1.33 crore and NOT Rs. 2.62 as falsely claimed by
the crime branch. The highly exaggerated figure is the result of a
simple accounting subterfuge: Of the total of Rs. 1.33 crore
received over the relevant period, Rs. 1.21 crore were transferred
from the trustÂ’s savings a/c to term deposits in the same bank from
time to time with a view to earning extra interest income for the
trust. On maturity the same deposits along with interest totaling
around Rs. 1.26 crore were credited back into the savings account.
In its wisdom, or malafide intent, the crime branch has chosen to
treat this Rs. 1.26 crore as fresh income!!

5. It has
been alleged that Teesta Setalvad got over Rs. 21.6 lakh from
Sabrang Trust between 1.10.2009 and 30.6.2013. Similarly, it has
been alleged that Javed Anand received over Rs. 20 lakh from Sabrang
Trust during the same period. Teesta SetalvadÂ’s affidavit clearly
points out that they were NOT paid this or even part of this amount
in their capacity as trustees of Sabrang Trust. In fact, they were
paid these amounts (averaging to Rs. 48,000 p.m. in case of Teesta
Setalvad and around 47,700 p.m. in case of Javed Anand) for
discharging their duties as Project Directors and Project
Administrators as per the budget approved by the Trustees of Sabrang
Trust and sanctioned by the donor organizations for specific
projects having nothing to do with the Gulberg Memorial.

6. It has
been alleged that Rs 67 lakh odd Â“have been transferredÂ” to
employees/ staff salaries etc. Teesta SetalvadÂ’s affidavit asks
which organisation with large scale activities such as those
implemented by Sabrang Trust and CJP functions without paid staff.

7. It has
been alleged that over a 6 year period (between 12.4.2007 and
4.6.2013) a total of only Rs. 2,49,000 was spent on legal aid from
the non-FCRA account of CJP. This is purely a figment of the crime
branchÂ’s twisted imagination. A detailed year-by-year account
provided by Teesta Setalvad shows that CJP spent a total of over Rs
2 crore (100 times the crime branchÂ’s figure) on legal aid.

8. It is
claimed that there were Â‘ZeroÂ’ credits in the savings accounts in
UBI of both Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand during the entire
calendar years in 2001 and 2002. The monthly bank statements issued
by the bank clearly show that a total of approximately Rs. 18.8 lakh
was credited (deposited) in the said account of Teesta Setalvad
during the relevant period. During the same period, a total of over
Rs 9.2 lakh was credited to the said account of Javed Anand.

These and many
such bogus and false charges have been rebutted in detail in the
affidavit filed by Teesta Setalvad. We enclose it here for your
reference. The method of Â“acquiringÂ” details of the individuals and
organisations involved in bonafide legal activity simply to hamper
the struggle for Justice and Accountability have been illegal and
intimidatory and have also been questioned by Setalvad in her
affidavit.

Finally, it may be
noted that since 2010, the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims
of Torture (UNVFVT), administered by the UNÂ’s Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, has been funding CJPÂ’s
efforts to provide legal aid to the victims of the 2002 anti-Muslim
pogrom under chief minister Narendra ModiÂ’s watch. It may also be
noted that annual audited accounts of both Citizens for Justice and
Peace and Sabrang Trust have been filed, on time each year, with the
Income Tax office, Charity CommissionerÂ’s Office and the FCRA
authorities. None of these authorities have till date found any
irregularity in the audited accounts filed by us.

Affidavit –
Rejoinder

Teesta Setalvad, Secretary

Other Trustees:

I.M. Kadri,
Nandan Maluste

Cyrus Guzder        Javed Akhtar
Alyque Padamsee
Anil Dharker          Ghulam Peshimam
        Rahul Bose


Javed Anand         Cedric
Prakash