The Hindu : National : `Will stand by testimony despite attack on Geelani'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 11, 2005

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National

`Will stand by testimony despite attack on Geelani'

By Luv Puri

JAMMU, FEB. 10. The president of the Jammu and Kashmir Trade Union Centre, Sampat Prakash, whose testimony led to the acquittal of the Delhi University professor, Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani, in the Parliament attack case, has said he will continue to stand by his statement.

Mr. Geelani survived an assassination attempt on Tuesday when he was critically injured after unidentified persons shot him.

Wants independent probe

Talking to The Hindu here today, Mr. Prakash said:

"The Delhi police special branch had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court of India against the Delhi High Court judgment in which I had to appear as a defence witness again this week. We want an independent enquiry as this is important to save Indian democracyand its high ideals. With great efforts we brought the truth to light in the Delhi High Court and we were hoping for the same in the Supreme Court. It was the victory of India's fair judicial system."

The entire case against Mr. Geelani had relied on the recorded conversation between him and his younger brother in the Kashmiri language and its translation by a Kashmiri police officer. This was produced as evidence by the prosecution against Mr. Geelani. Mr. Prakash was approached by the Defence Committee (for Mr. Geelani) to act as translator. On listening to the tape several times, Mr. Prakash concluded that a false case had been slapped on the lecturer.

For instance, in the recorded message, Mr. Geelani's brother asks the former in Kashmiri: "Delhi kyah korva?" (What has happened in Delhi?), and the prosecution had cited this as evidence of Mr. Geelani's involvement in the conspiracy.

Mr. Prakash said in his testimony: "Every language is the product of some particular culture. The syntactical pattern in the Kashmiri language is radically different from that of English. The thematic communication of a sentence gets altered with the mode of delivery. An assertive sentence changes into an interrogative one by a change in the delivery pitch. `Ye kyah korva? Dilli kya korva?' does not connote any kind of inquiry. It connotes wonder at a happening."

Mr. Prakash said: "Even the translator appointed by the police agreed with my argument." He added that despite the attack he would continue to support Mr. Geelani as per the facts and by remaining true to his conscience.

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