[IMC Bombay] Fw: Gopal Menon's bitter experience with VHP activists and Kerala State Police

[huright]

----- Original Message -----
From: "sarat" <sarat at satyam.net.in>
To: "Sujatha" <expresskoc at vsnl.com>; "Mukundan C Menon"
<mukundancmenon at rediffmail.com>; "Madhyamam" <madhyamam at vsnl.com>; "Mohan
Kumar" <lens_eye at hotmail.com>; "Premchand"
<premchand at mat1.mathrubhumi.co.in>; "Rathnakaran Mangad"
<rathnakaran at hotmail.com>; "Sanjeev S" <samvadam at yahoo.com>; "Shaji Jose"
<shaji at malayaly.net>; "Tomy Dc Books" <tomyantony at rediffmail.com>;
"Venkiteswaran" <venkitesh at eth.net>; "Vt Padmanabhan Vt"
<vtpadma at yahoo.com>; "Ajithkumar B" <seraphophile at yahoo.co.uk>; "Sasi K P"
<sasi36 at rediffmail.com>; "Anand Haridas" <anandharidas at epatra.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2003 4:10 PM
Subject: Fw: Gopal Menon's bitter experience with VHP activists and Kerala
State Police


> Film Director Gopal Menon Manhandled.
>
> Well-known documentary film maker Gopal Menon, who has made the film `Hey
> Ram - Genocide in the Land of Gandhi' (that documented the post-Godhra
> communal carnage in Gujarat), as well as many other films on human rights
> issues, was manhandled today by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the
> Kerala state police in a public function being addressed by VHP chief,
> Praveen Togadia, in Kozhikkode today. Gopal Menon was accompanied by a
film
> team consisting of Viju Verma and Mustapha Deshamangalam, who were also
> subjected to manhandling.
>
> As soon as the team reached the spot in Mudalakkulam Maidan where Praveen
> Togadia was addressing the crowd, Gopal
> Menon was identified by the VHP activists, who with the help of the state
> police, manhandled all three and threw them out of the meeting place. The
> VHP activists threatened the film makers and asked the police not to allow
> them inside. The police in turn, threatened to arrest them if they failed
to
> leave immediately. According to the group, they escaped since their lives
> were under threat.
>
> Later, Gopal Menon and his team argued that since the event was a public
> meeting, they had every right to attend and also film the function. They
> expressed shock at the way the police force of a state like Kerala that is
> supposedly committed to secular principles could be used by a communal
> outfit like the VHP for its nefarious ends. According to Gopal, the
> organisers had violated all the basic ethics of press and media freedom.
> Marad, said Gopal, marks the beginning of fascism in Kerala. The team
stated
> that if the socially-conscious citizens of Kerala did not wake up at this
> crucial hour, the state would soon
> become a ground for bloodshed as a result of the poisonous statements of
> communal-minded politicians.
>
> The team appealed to all right-thinking and socially-conscious citizens to
> pledge themselves to fight the communal canker, and see to it that the
> 'Gujarat experiment' is not repeated in state of Kerala. They urged all
> citizens' groups to respond
> immediately and take all possible steps to isolate communal organisations
> and politicians who spread communal poison.
>
> 9846013844/0471 2461092
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>