Close X
Tuesday, November 5, 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

    Mamata Faces Protests Over Nun's Gang Rape, Condemns BJP For Politicising

    Angry over police's failure to arrest any of the culprits who gang-raped a nun in West Bengal's Nadia district, scores of people on Monday held up visiting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's convoy at Ranaghat and staged a demonstration seeking a CBI probe.

    Mamata Faces Protests Over Nun's Gang Rape, Condemns BJP For Politicising

    Congress, Government Clash Over 'Snooping' On Rahul Gandhi

    Congress, Government Clash Over 'Snooping' On Rahul Gandhi
    The alleged snooping on Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi blew into a political confrontation on Monday, as the Congress charged the BJP with a "police state mentality" while the government dismissed the episode as a "non-issue".

    Congress, Government Clash Over 'Snooping' On Rahul Gandhi

    Furore Over Sharad Yadav's Remarks On Women's Complexion

    Furore Over Sharad Yadav's Remarks On Women's Complexion
    The Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed a furore over Sharad Yadav's remarks on women's complexion, as sharp words were exchanged between the JD-U leader and Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani.

    Furore Over Sharad Yadav's Remarks On Women's Complexion

    Kolkata Nun Gangrape: No Arrests Yet, Governor Seeks Public Help To Nab Culprits

    Kolkata Nun Gangrape: No Arrests Yet, Governor Seeks Public Help To Nab Culprits
    The nun was brutalised by a gang of bandits inside the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat, some 80 km from Kolkata, early Saturday

    Kolkata Nun Gangrape: No Arrests Yet, Governor Seeks Public Help To Nab Culprits

    Congress Demands PMO Explain 'Snoopgate 2', BJP Says Non-issue

    Congress Demands PMO Explain 'Snoopgate 2', BJP Says Non-issue
     The Congress on Sunday demanded an explanation from the Prime Minister's Office on why the police were seeking details about its vice president Rahul Gandhi even as the BJP accused the opposition party of making an issue out of a "routine" security-related inquiry.

    Congress Demands PMO Explain 'Snoopgate 2', BJP Says Non-issue

    'Cured' Arvind Kejriwal Returns To Delhi On Monday

    'Cured' Arvind Kejriwal Returns To Delhi On Monday
    Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will return home on Monday evening, as he is almost cured of his chronic cough and blood sugar level reduced to normal range at a private hospital here, a doctor told on Sunday.

    'Cured' Arvind Kejriwal Returns To Delhi On Monday