Varavara Rao, a noted revolutionary writer and poet who has known Kobad Ghandy for at least 50 years, told this newspaper: “It took the judiciary seven long years to find out that Ghandy is not a Maoi
Varavara Rao, a noted revolutionary writer and poet who has known Kobad Ghandy for at least 50 years, told this newspaper: “It took the judiciary seven long years to find out that Ghandy is not a Maoist. It speaks a lot for our judicial process. Here it is a case of justice delayed being justice denied. I long to meet him after his final release.”
Kobad Ghandy, who a Delhi court on Friday acquitted of terror charges while convicting him of cheating and forgery, is from an affluent Parsi family in Mumbai. He attended the Doon School and Mumbai’s St. Xavier’s College before leaving for London to study chartered accountancy. He left the course midway before jumping into the fight for radical democratic and civil rights.
Said leading civil rights activist Gautam Navalekha: “It only shows how the UAPA itself is unlawful. It took years to decide and until then Ghandy was a high-risk prisoner How can holding a certain belief and espousing it be unlawful ”
According to the police, Ghandy was involved in setting up a new (CPI-Maoist) network in the capital. The prosecution said Ghandy was among the top leaders and ideologues of the Maoist movement, had been a CPI (Maoist) central committee member after it merged with People’s War Group, and was elected to the Maoist politburo in 2007.
Earlier, too, Ghandy had been absolved by the court of terror charges due to want of proper sanction.
