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Shift Shahbuddin from Siwan jail

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 21. Several eminent personalities have called upon the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and the Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamurthy, to immediately transfer Mohammad Shahbuddin, sitting MP from Bihar, from Siwan jail to any other jail outside the State until the elections are over to ``curb his terror.'' In two separate memoranda submitted at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Election Commission office, a delegation led by Rajinder Sachar, former Chief Justice of the Delhi Court, said that Mr. Shahbuddin should be shifted to some other jail where he could be ``checked from enjoying illegal privileges and facilities of communication with the administration and his gang in Siwan.''

The delegation alleged that the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police of Siwan were hand-in-glove with Mr. Shahabuddin, protecting and patronising him, and sought their transfer to ensure a free and fair poll in the Siwan Parliamentary constituency. It also demanded the deputation of special Central observers from the Election Commission and the Central Bureau of Investigation to provide adequate security to the contenders, and to closely monitor the Siwan and Jeeradei Assembly segments in Siwan Parliamentary constituency.

The delegation comprised Prashant Bhushan, Supreme Court lawyer; Mona Das, general secretary of the JNU Students Union, and Srikant Singh, Delhi University students leader. The signatories to the memorandum are Arundhati Roy, writer; Anand Patwardhan, filmmaker; Prof. Manager Pandey, Prof. C.P. Chandrashekhar, Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Prof. Purshottam Agrawal, Dr. Khalija Ekramuddin, Prof. Uma Chakravarty, Prof. Anand Chakravarty, Prof. Anil Sadgopal, Prof. Neera Chandhoke, Prof. N. Mukherjee, Prof. Amitabh Mukherjee, Prof. Badal Mukherjee, Prof. Alok Rai, N.D. Pancholi, Dr. Tripta Wahi, Vijay Singh, Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Aditya Nigam, Rita Bannerjee, T.B. Upreti, Nivedita Menon and Javed Naqvi.

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