Alleged Maoist, wife to face charges under anti-terror law

NEW DELHI: A trial court has framed charges against trade union leader and alleged Maoist leader Gopal Mishra and his wife Kanchan Mishra under the country's anti-terror law more than a year after their arrest.
Additional Sessions Judge Santosh Snehi Mann ordered framing of charges against Mishra and his wife Kanchan alias Anu for allegedly having links with outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) and committing various offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.The court said the documents recovered from them "lay emphasis" on capturing political power through armed rebellion.
"The magazines, books and booklets recovered from the residential premises of the accused persons in bulk, besides promoting ideology of CPI (Maoist), lay emphasis on capture of political power in the country by armed rebellion....Text of the books speak in strong words about bringing political and social change in the country through violence and by spreading hatred against the democratically elected government," the court said.
The accused cited the cases of Binayak Sen and Indra Das to defend their case saying that their involvement in social work for empowerment of weaker sections of the society cannot make them criminals. The court, however, trashed their arguments. Referring to the cases, the accused said, "both the accused deserve to be discharged as mere membership of a banned organization is not an offence in the light of the recent decisions of apex court."
The court, however, trashed their arguments saying "Judgment in Binayak Sen's case is order on granting bail to the convicts pending appeal against conviction. As these judgments do not contain any observations or findings on merits, they are not relevant in the present context".
Mishra, 43, was arrested by the special cell of Delhi police on April 26, 2010, from Shahdara in east Delhi and was found carrying various documents and a CD containing material related to CPI (Maoist). His wife Anu was arrested a day later.
The prosecution had claimed that during interrogation, Gopal revealed that he is an active member and city organizer for Delhi region of CPI (Maoist) and his task is to motivate people to join the banned outfit. The prosecution said Mishra and his wife used to visit colleges here to hold meetings and seminars and to distribute literatures on Maoist ideology among youth.
According to the chargesheet, incriminating materials, including a laptop, CDs, DVDs, pen drives, bulk printed and electronic material related to CPI (Maoist) ideology and activities, were recovered from their house.