Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
India

Maulana Azad-Najma Photo-morphing Case Posted For August 26

Darpan News Desk IANS, 23 Apr, 2015 10:45 AM
    The Delhi High Court on Thursday posted for August 26 a plea over alleged morphing of a photo of India's first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and union Minister Najma Heptulla.
     
    Justice Rajiv Shakdher posted the matter for August 26 after advocate appearing for the government told the court that the additional solicitor general was not present in the court and sought adjournment.
     
    After the court posted the matter for August 26, the advocate appearing for petitioner sought short date, but the court turned down the plea, saying that "the matter can wait, there is no fire in the matter."
     
    The court was hearing a plea by Azad's grand-nephew Firoz Bakht Ahmed, seeking to bring to a logical end the preliminary inquiries into the alleged morphing of a photo of Maulana Azad and Najma Heptulla.
     
    Firoz Bakht Ahmed had moved the court alleging that the photo morphing was done at Heptulla's instance when she headed the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
     
    Heptulla is the minority affairs minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet. She is also a grand-niece of Maulana Azad.
     
    An intervention application has also been filed in the case by Indian Foreign Service officer Madhup Mohta, who conducted the administrative inquiry in the matter in 2005. He said morphing was done at the instance of Heptulla, who was the president of the ICCR at that time.
     
    The court earlier asked the CBI to produce the relevant records for the court's perusal to show prima facie what steps were taken to inquire into the photo morphing incident.
     
    Mohta moved the court, saying he was posted as director of the ICCR during the year 2005, when the ICCR published the book containing the allegedly morphed photo.
     
    Saying he was the whistle-blower who first detected the morphing of the photo, Mohta said he conducted a part administrative inquiry on the issue within the ICCR (the other part of the said inquiry was conducted by the director general of the ICCR).
     
    "For this purpose, Mohta had examined certain witnesses, recorded their statements and had collected relevant documents/photographs used for morphing. At that time it was found that there was sufficient evidence to show that the morphing of the photograph had been done at the instance of Najma Heptulla," advocate Ashok Dhamija told court, appearing for Mohta.
     
    The alleged morphed photograph was published in a book titled "Journey of a Legend: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 1888-1958" by the ICCR in 2005 and showed Azad seating with Heptulla after her graduation.
     
    The publication was later withdrawn by the ICCR.
     
    Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for Firoz Bakht Ahmed, told the court that it was a morphed photograph as Heptulla graduated in May 1958, whereas Maulana Azad passed away on February 22, 1958.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Kejriwal Wants To Be With Yes-men: Prashant Bhushan

    Kejriwal Wants To Be With Yes-men: Prashant Bhushan
    AAP leader Prashant Bhushan on Thursday denied that he and party colleague Yogendra Yadav had resigned from the party's national executive and accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of wanting to be with "yes-men".

    Kejriwal Wants To Be With Yes-men: Prashant Bhushan

    Woman's Body Cut In 16 Pieces Found In Garbage In Rae Bareli

    Woman's Body Cut In 16 Pieces Found In Garbage In Rae Bareli
    The body of a woman, cut into 16 pieces and packed in a bag, was found in a garbage dumping site in Rae Bareli, 95 km from here, police said on Tuesday.

    Woman's Body Cut In 16 Pieces Found In Garbage In Rae Bareli

    IT Act Cannot Gag Freedom Of Speech: Indian Supreme Court Strikes Down Section 66a

    IT Act Cannot Gag Freedom Of Speech: Indian Supreme Court Strikes Down Section 66a
    The Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed the much-denounced Section 66A of the Information Technology Act after finding it violative of the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution, triggering a frenzy of laudatory posts in the social media within minutes of the far-reaching judgment.

    IT Act Cannot Gag Freedom Of Speech: Indian Supreme Court Strikes Down Section 66a

    Feel Very Safe On Censorship Issues In India: Jeffrey Archer

    Feel Very Safe On Censorship Issues In India: Jeffrey Archer
    No alien to controversies, British author Jeffrey Archer says he's not a provocative writer and "feels very safe" in India when it comes to censorship issues.

    Feel Very Safe On Censorship Issues In India: Jeffrey Archer

    Ensure Cheap, Enough Beef For Easter, Goa Catholics Urge PM

    Ensure Cheap, Enough Beef For Easter, Goa Catholics Urge PM
    Troubled by the doubling of beef prices in the state, due to a prolonged shortage of the red meat here, an association of Catholics in Goa has implored Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to ensure cheap and sufficient beef for the Easter.

    Ensure Cheap, Enough Beef For Easter, Goa Catholics Urge PM

    Hurriyat Leaders At Pakistan Day, India Rules Out Third Party In Talks

    Hurriyat Leaders At Pakistan Day, India Rules Out Third Party In Talks
    Leaders of the Hurriyat Conference and other separatist outfits on Monday attended the Pakistan Day function here, even as India made it clear that there was no place for any third party while dealing with Kashmir and other issues with Islamabad.

    Hurriyat Leaders At Pakistan Day, India Rules Out Third Party In Talks