The infamous
case of Mrs. MacKeown’s daughter Scarlett’s murder in India, is
yet another in a long list of police cover-ups by notorious corrupt
police forces and politicians in that country. Doubtless it was only
the very brave persistence of Scarlett’s mother against massive harassment
from crooks, police and governmental authorities and the subsequent
international outrage caused the Indian Home Minister, Mr. Shivraj Patel,
to allow Mrs. MacKeown’s appeal for an audience. He is a long-term
devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, the self-proclaimed
God Incarnate and Father of Jesus set an example for top level governmental
cover-up in 1993 after four youths were executed by the Puttaparthi
police in cold blood in the Godman’s bedroom while he stood by. |
|
|
The
present Home Minister’s considerable initial reluctance to help Mrs. MacKeown reminds of the Sai baba cover-up. The entire matter - involving
blackmail of the police into executing four devotees by rifle which
was led by Sai Baba’s younger brother Janakiramiah - was buried without
any completed investigation or court process! The Government (led by
Sai devotees Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and then Home Minister
S.B. Chavan) stopped a CBI investigation.
British
Government Authorities Fail their Citizens Abroad at will. The kind
of corruption up against which Mrs. MacKeown has had a huge struggle
without any active support by Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth office.
That it washed its hands of the matter shows a most disgusting failure
of the UK Government. They appease Indian authorities on any such issue
of justice due to their desire to keep India friendly for economic and
other reasons. (A classic example being the suspension of Metropolitan
Police investigations of Sathya Sai Baba when contracts for Hawker jets
were to be signed by the Indian PM Vajpayee, as Sai devotee who defended
his Baba on every such occasion. See this article. Scarlett’s case
was clearly suppressed by Indian authorities on economic grounds, the
bad publicity it would have caused for Goan and other Indian tourism.
The whole issue has backfired on them because they cannot treat foreigners
in the same way they do many of their own citizens who are denied their
legal rights and cannot defend their human rights. Here is a transcript
of Mrs. MacKeown’ words on Sky News - UK 2 April 08) (see
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1310763,00.html?f=rss)
1.INTERVIEWER:
Sky News Centre Presenter: “Alex Crawford said you found some very
high level contacts, even with the Gandhi family?
2.MRS.MACKEOWN:
Yeah, the National Congress of Women came down – very powerful women.
They took a letter from me back up to Sonia Gandhi. I think that helped
enormously to put pressure on the government to finally OK this. They
were sort of dragging their feet over it a little but I was a bit sceptical
because the Home Minister himself had to put his signature on the paperwork.
I think he had no choice in the end really.
3. INTERVIEWER:
You were getting a fairly rough ride in some places and some criticism
saying, well, that you shouldn’t have left Scarlett on her own.
4. MRS.
MACKEOWN: Yeah, I think that was the government that kept repeating
that message because – as far as I was concerned – I’d answered
all the questions about how I left her – and she wasn’t actually
left and she certainly wasn’t on her own. I think the government were
just putting negative messages out there to try and take the point away,
really, from the fact that she was murdered and that the police horrifically
had tried to cover it up.
5. INTERVIEWER:
You must think an awful lot about the events of that time and how it
might have been different?
6. MRS.
MACKEOWN: Yeah, I do. This is why we pushed for the CBI inquiry because
I want the policemen that covered it up prosecuted as criminals because
of what they put me through. It was already horrific enough event despite
having to deal with the things I had to deal with because of them.
Comment
on the above interview: Mrs MacKeown’s complaint against the Home
Minister (who is the top representative of the Indian Government in
criminal matters) is stated mildly. The harassment that these officials
exercise over people when they believe they can rule high-handedly is
known to everyone who has had to deal with them. Take as a classic example
of ministerial conceit and aggressiveness the former Minister of Education
M.M. Joshi when interviewed by the BBC about Sai Baba (a classic example
– see transcript and video clip!)
That the
Home Minister spread moralising slanders about Mrs MacKeown shows how
it works. The Indian Government were doubtless worried what admission
of such a horrendous kind of murder might to do its tourist trade (and
doubtless the considerable rake offs for permits and official paperwork
their officials take, a practice which is standard (illegal) practice
in India, but which is kept as far as possible hidden from foreigners).
Further details on the case are found at:
The pathologist
who carried out the first, disputed, post-mortem on British teenager
Scarlett Keeling has been suspended.
It was
only the determination of Mrs MacKeown a mother-of-nine, to prove Scarlett
had been murdered - and not drowned, as police claimed - that led to
a second post mortem examination which found she had been raped and
killed. It showed her body was covered in bruises and there was insufficient
water in her lungs to have drowned. Tourism minister Francisco Pacheco
said: “This is a clear case of murder and it has gone out of proportion
because the police tried to cover it up.
“Ms
MacKeown, 43, said she had been threatened. Police have agreed to protection.
She has accused police and Goan officials of covering up the true nature
of her daughter’s death and has moved to a secret location on the
advice of her lawyer. Ms MacKeown said locals told her to “get out
of here” during her high profile campaign to unearth the truth. “It’s
very easy for people to get at you around here,” she said.
“We’ve heard that some people aren’t very happy with us. The beach
is deserted, half the shacks have been closed, a lot of people are losing
business.
From ‘The
Times of India’
PANAJI:
The National Commission for Women has held that Goa police investigations
into the rape and murder of British teenager Scarlett Keeling were “completely
misleading”.In its preliminary report on the teenager’s death, Commission
member Nirmala Venkatesh said “police are trying to hide the facts
of the case and close it. We will never allow this to happen.”Venkatesh
claimed that Scarlett was injected with morphine. “She was raped by
four to five persons by gagging her mouth. There are nail marks on the
body and several marks which indicate that more than one person was
involved in sexually assaulting her,” she said.“Police investigation
in this case was completely misleading and evidence in this case was
destroyed by police themselves,” she said.
The NCW
member said that they will continue to fight for justice and will brief
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson
Sonia Gandhi on the police attitude in this case. From the BBC:
Ms MacKeown
has alleged that links between police officials, politicians and the
drugs mafia are hampering the probe into her daughter’s death. After
visiting Goa, India’s National Commission for Women accused the local
police of destroying evidence. The beach bar where Scarlett was before
she was murdered has been pulled down. The commission also said there
had been a delay in producing a medical report that could mean evidence
of rape had been lost. It also repeated the allegation that Goa’s
police were trying to protect someone involved in Scarlett’s murder.
From BBC1: Kishan Kumar, the senior Goa Police officer leading the investigation
into Scarlett’s murder, told BBC News it was almost complete. He said:
“To keep the Goa Police clear and say that we have nothing to hide,
we have recommended that the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI] take
over the probe. “I had admitted to initial lapses in investigation,
and we have suspended one policeman already. But now our investigation
is on the right track and we have nothing to hide.”
A spokesman
for the CBI said it had not yet received a request from Goa’s state
government.
|