SIKKIM OBSERVER Saturday Nov 16-22,
2013
In Supreme Court, SKM demands CBI probe into police
lathicharge
Sonam Bhutia (left)
Gangtok, Nov 15: The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) has demanded CBI probe into the
brutal Sikkim Police lathicharge at its party headquarters here on February 11,
2013.
It has expressed optimism over
the recent hearing of the case against Akshaya Sachdev, IGP, Law & Order, Govt
of Sikkim, in the Supreme Court.
SKM General Secretary (Legal)
Sonam Bhutia said the case came up for hearing on Tuesday and the apex court’s
Justice Singhvi “heard the case at length”.
Appearing on behalf of the
petitioners, Prashant Bhusan and Sunil Mathew argued that the Respondent No. 2,
Akshaya Sachdeva, IPS, be suspended and that a criminal case be registered
against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The petitioners have
also demanded that departmental proceeding be initiated against Sachdeva.
Justice Singhvi passed an
order on behalf of the Bench stating that Sikkim Police’s action against SKM
supporters on February 11, 2013, were “unwarranted” and the subsequent cases
and chargesheets registered against the petitioners and other SKM members be
stayed, SKM release said.
Based on the report submitted
by the Enquiry Commission headed by I. C. Dwedevi, Ex. DGP, UP, the apex court
will decide in two weeks’ time which organization will carry out the probe
against Sikkim Police headed by Sachdeva, SKM release said.
The Commission was set up by
the Supreme Court to probe into the alleged “unprovoked lathi- charge” by Sikkim
Police headed by Sachdeva on SKM supporters.
‘North Point’ has contributed to nation building: Prez
Darjeeling, Nov 15: President Pranab Mukherjee said schools such as Darjeeling’s St.
Joseph’s School, commonly known as ‘North Point’ – as it is located at North
Point – “have stood the test of time and contributed to the building of our
nation.”
Speaking at a function here
at St. Joseph’s School on Sunday, the President said “India’s tomorrows are
shaped in the crucibles of great schools, in their classrooms, games fields as
well as co-curricular activities.”
Quoting India’s first Prime
Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, he said: “If India is to be a great nation, it must
begin in her classrooms.”
The President’s visit to the
Jesuit school is one of the highlights of the school’s year-long celebrations
of its 125 year. The celebrations will conclude in April 2014.
The President lauded the
contribution of the school and the Jesuit fathers, in particular, in the field
of education.
“Institutions like St Joseph’s School, North
Point and others run by the Jesuit fathers like St Xavier’s, Kolkata, where
Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore studied, St Xavier’s Mumbai, XLRI, Jamshedpur, and
Loyola College, Chennai, have stood the test of time and contributed to the
building of our nation,” he said.
St Joseph’s School, and St
Xavier’s Calcutta and Mumbai were founded by Fr Henri Depelchin, a Jesuit
father of Belgian origin.
Editorial
GREAT INSTITUTIONS
Take Care of Them
President Pranab Mukherjee’s
visit to Darjeeling’s prestigious St. Joseph’s School (North Point), founded by
the Jesuits 125 years ago, this week coincides with the Gorkha leadership’s decision
to go slow with the demand for Gorkhaland. While the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is
now planning to get back to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA)
instead of pursuing a hardline approach to its statehood demand other Gorkha
leaders, including Mahendra P. Lama, are chalking out a more democratic method
to achieve Gorkhaland. These are noteworthy developments on which hill people
and their leadership must now focus on.
Great educational
institutions such as ‘North Point’ have made tremendous contribution not only
to Darjeeling, India but also to the world at large. Indeed, many ex-students
of schools such as St. Joseph’s School, Dr. Graham’s Homes, St. Paul’s School,
Loreto Convent, Mt. Hermon School, Goethal’s Memorial School and others in the
region have given leadership to Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. It may also be
noted that most of the distinguished schools in Darjeeling went through a rough
time during the Gorkhaland agitation since 1986 and are still facing difficult
days. ‘North Point’’s Father Kinley needs to be applauded for his success in
ensuring that his alma mater reaches greater heights in difficult times. Hill
people of Darjeeling and school authorities must learn something from St.
Joseph’s School and start learning to take care of these great educational
institutions.
SKM: People’s movement for change is gathering
momentum
Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) chief PS Golay with his
colleagues and supporters during a party meet.
Gangtok, Nov 15: “This man is
better than Bhandari and Chamling,” confessed a prominent leader of Sikkim
Krantikari Morcha (SKM).
“I’ve worked under both
Chamling and Bhandari but Golay has better leadership quality,” he added.
“One of the main reasons why
people are flocking to the SKM is because Golay has the winnability factor,”
said an observer. He pointed out that Golay has been winning from various
constituencies ever since the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) came to
power in 1994.
When Pawan Chamling launched
his SDF on March 4, 1993, in Jorethang, South Sikkim, less than 10,000 attended
the public meeting. Ousted from the Bhandari Cabinet in mid-1992, Chamling’s
popularity in early 1993 was at its height.
AD Subba, President of Sikkim Himali Rajya
Parishad Party, who has now merged his party with the Congress, could gather
around a few hundreds for his party rallies.
The crowd at public meetings
of Sikkim Sangram Parishad, led by NB Bhandari, falls far short of people’s
expectation. The same can be said of the BJP, SNPP, Sikkim Liberation Party
etc.
Compare these to SKM’s recent
party meeting here at the Paljor Stadium which had a crowd of about 30,000.
Golay is yet to be formally crowned SKM President and the number of people
joining his is staggering.
People’s expectations from
the SKM are very realistic. “We just want change at the top. Twenty years under
one man’s rule is far too long.”
Death of A Judge
Death of A Judge
Justice Anup Deb: Did he
commit suicide or was he murdered?
By Jigme N Kazi
More than a decade after his
sudden demise the mystery of Justice Anup Deb’s death refuses to fade away, at
least among those who were close to him.
He was a Judge and I a journalist but what
bound us together for more than two decades was our friendship nurtured down
the years through turbulent times. When I got a call from someone early morning
on March 14, 2002 I rushed to Justice Debs’ official residence at Balwuakhani
in Gangtok only to find out that he was no more. The official version of
Justice Deb’s death was that he hung himself in his official residence in the
night of March 13.
Justice Deb was a strong and determined
person and those, like myself, who knew him from close range found it very
difficult to believe that he had committed suicide.
“Unable to bear his prolonged illness,
sitting High Court Judge Justice Anup Deb committed suicide,” a national daily
reported. It added “…an ailing Justice Deb (59) hanged himself in the bedroom
of his official residence here shortly after midnight leaving a suicide note
stating "I cannot bear my illness anymore."
However, Deb’s personal physician Dr. K.
Bhandari of Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial Hospital (STNM) said he was not
suffering from any terminal or serious diseases. It is the first time in
India’s history that a sitting Judge commits suicide, reported Sikkim Express.
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My own English weekly, Sikkim Observer, which many times reported on Justice Deb’s
pronouncements in the court, was out of print during this period and failed to
carry anything on his death. I hope this piece will to some extent do justice
to the departed soul and compensate for my failure to carry anything on
circumstances surrounding his tragic death which still remain shrouded in
mystery.
Deb was elevated to the rank of a Judge of
the Sikkim High Court from the State Advocate General's post in 1994. He was
transferred to the Agartala bench of the Gauhati High Court in February 1995
and then moved to the Orissa High Court in March 1996 before returning to
Sikkim High Court in December 1997. During his tenure in the Sikkim High Court
he also held the post of Acting Chief Justice for some time.
“Don’t meditate too much. Look after your
family,” were his last words to me and my wife when we went to see him and his
wife at his Gangtok residence. He was in a good mood and we had a good time.
That was, I think, the last time we met. Most of the time Justice Deb lived
alone in his residence while his wife and children resided in neighbouring
Siliguri, his home town.
Since the Chamling Government slapped two
cases on me regarding my press and residence in early 2001 and since Justice
Deb was hearing these cases I made it a point not to be around him. But by
early 2002 I learnt that he was not his normal self. During this period he once
told me that he had information from the Union Home Ministry that his life was
in danger. He used to often seek divinations for even traveling to Siliguri and
Delhi. Lots of pujas were also performed for his safety and security. At times
he was quite paranoid about his personal safety. “Some people think I’m running
a parallel government!,” Deb used to tell me at times and then burst into
laughter. Indeed, some of his observations and verdicts in the court made the
administration sit up and take note.
Realising that he was not keeping well I
made it a point to see him and personally find out what was troubling him. I
had some paper works to do at the High Court on March 13 which took some time.
It was then I decided to go and see him in his office at the High Court
premises. He was not there and I was told he was with Chief Justice R. Dayal in
his office. I waited for sometime and left a word in his office that I had come
to see him.
I was expecting a call from him in the
afternoon or evening of the same day.
Justice Deb usually calls me to his residence whenever I wanted to see
him or the vice-versa. We normally chat over a cup of tea and snacks prepared
by his cook. But this time there was no calls from him and early the next day I
get a call saying he is no more.
My first encounter with Justice Deb was way
back in the winter of 1983. I was just fresh out of college and into
journalism. What brought us together was a writ petition filed in the Supreme
Court on seats reserved for Sikkim’s indigenous Bhutia-Lepchas (BLs) in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly by Ram Chandra
Poudyal, then perhaps the most popular and articulate leader of the Nepalese
community in Sikkim.
In his writ petition, Poudyal, a former
minister in the Kazi Cabinet (1974-1979), sought to do away with 12 Assembly
seats reserved for the Bhutia-Lepchas and 1 for the Sangha, representing
Buddhist monasteries in Sikkim. Deb, who was then the Additional Advocate
General of Sikkim, sought my help to defend the case on historical ground. He
said we would lose the case if we depended solely on legal and constitutional
grounds. I took leave from Eastern
Express, where I was working, and prepared the papers to defend the 13
reserved seats of the BLs and Sangha in the Supreme Court.
When the case came up for hearing in early
1984 before the Supreme Court Poudyal was asked to “withdraw” his petition. The
five-judge constitution bench headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice, Justice YB
Chandrachud, which took note of the historical background on Assembly seat
reservation for the minority indigenous communities in Sikkim, was in our
favour. However, Poudyal tactfully delayed hearing of the petition for several
years and when it did come up for hearing in early 1993 we won the case.
“The inequalities in representation in the
present case are an inheritance and compulsion from the past. Historical
considerations have justified a differential treatment,” read the verdict of
the apex court. These were the same observations made by the apex court in
February 1984. If Justice Deb had not
advised us to depend on our history to defend our case we may have lost our
battle in the apex court and that would have been disastrous for Sikkim.
When we finally won the case in 1993 it was
my privilege to have Justice Deb, Sonam P. Wangdi, now Judge of Sikkim High
Court, then a Sikkimese lawyer who was once Deb’s junior, and my friend Chewang
Tobgay, who represented Sikkim Tribal Welfare Association (STWA) in the case as
an intervening party, at my residence at Deorali for lunch. It was time to
celebrate for our victory. Former Home Secretary, Late Jigdal T. Densapa, who
was a part of our team representing the State Government, was the only person
missing from the table.
I was the last person to place a khada on Deb when his body was placed
in the crematorium on the banks of Mahananda River in Siliguri during the
funeral. I vividly recollect what came to my mind when I first passed the
Mahananda bridge, located near the cremation place, after Deb’s death. As I looked over the bridge across to where
the last remains of Justice Deb’s body were turned into ashes and then immersed
into the river these words from the man whom I loved and respected flashed
through my head: “Don’t look back. Look forward. I did my job. Now you do
yours.” Was he referring to the Assembly seat issue? I often wonder about this
but have no answers. However, I know that our mission on Assembly seat issue
for both the Bhutia-Lepchas and Sikkimese Nepalese is still unfinished.
Whenever I pass through that bridge I look over to the same spot and whisper some
prayers for the one who is now no more but who still lives in my memory.
Did Deb really commit suicide or did someone
hang him? During the tragic incident, Deb’s younger brother, Goutam Deb, now
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s troubleshooter in Darjeeling and also North
Bengal Development Minister, was heard uttering these words in front of Justice
Dayal and other officials: “Cold blooded murder.”
The Sikkim unit of the Congress party’s
demand for a CBI probe into the incident went unheeded. The fact that one of
Deb’s prominent friends in college was senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee
– now India’s President – did not evoke much response from the authorities.
Former Chief Minister NB Bhandari also doubted the suicide claim of the government.
Years later, a highly-placed Sikkimese civil
servant close to Deb who has now retired, told me that the former Acting Chief
Justice of Sikkim High Court did not commit suicide but was forcefully hung in
his toilet. To prove his point he said there was no probe into the incident and
the policeman who was guarding Justice Deb’s residence during that period died
mysteriously one month after the tragic incident. The constable’s wife also
committed suicide shortly after her husband’s death. Reportedly, the couple
hung themselves.
No matter how Justice Deb may have met his
end I strongly believe that it was the system that thrives on lies, deceit and
corruption that put an abrupt end to his life. (Talk Sikkim, October 2013)
St. Joseph's School: 125 years of excellence in
service
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In 1877, school was
established for Catholic boys in 'Sunny Bank' a bungalow close to the
presbytery (possibly what is known as the Bishop's House today) by the Capuchin
Fathers. In 1879 new building had been put up and the school was given the name
of "St. Joseph's Seminary" under the Rectorship of Fr. Joseph
Peacock, helped by five assistant-masters. This was presumably the first
authentic ancestor of North Point. By 1881 the school was enlarged to a
building measuring 150 by 40 feet, a very large structure for the Darjeeling of
those days.
St. Joseph's School,
Darjeeling, is popularly known as ‘North Point’. The name North Point came
about because the school is situated in that area of Darjeeling.
The Kanchenjunga mountain
range forms the backdrop to the school, with Grecian columns and cuneiform
windows enclosing an eye-catching quadrangle in the centre. The school was
opened on February 13, 1888, at Sunny Bank in Darjeeling town. There were
eighteen boarders and seven day scholars on the rolls. Numbers soon increased
and the need was felt for more ample grounds.
The present roperty was
procured by Fr. Henri Depelchin SJ, the founder, on the town limits at North
Point. The foundation stone was laid on April 27, 1890, and on February 18,
1892 the new building received the first North Pointers. In 1899, the student
body consisted of 193 boys.
Towards the end of 1908, Sir
Andrew Fraser gave Rs.21,000 to the school. The money was used to close in the
quadrangle completely. With this the number of students increased to 290. In
1947, the year of Indian Independence, the number reached 422, including
ninety-three college students.
There was a steady increase
in the numbers of day scholars, and the school became more international in
character. There had always been a scattering of English, French and German
boys. Later, students from China, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand and Burma
started arriving. In 1954, twenty-eight nationalities could be found in the
college, including the staff. At one time there were Americans, Czechs,
Armenians and a mixture of religions: Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jew,
Bhuddist, Hindu, etc. Initially, the Jesuits who ran the school were from
Belgium but in the late 1940s, the Canadians slowly took over.
The building of the
structure, in 1888, was entrusted to Brother Eugene Rotsaert, who levelled the
site. Approximately 2,000,000 cubic feet (57,000 m) of rock and soil was
removed before building could begin, and a force of some two thousand men was
employed for the purpose. Below the school site, the Maharaja of Burdwan had an
extensive field known as Ladbrooke Farm. It was acquired on long lease. The
work at North Point proceeded under the lead of Brother Rotsaert. By May 10,
1889 the excavation of the foundations was completed and construction was
started without delay.
The foundation was blessed on
April 27, 1889, and the school was blessed by Fr. Depelchin on December 8. In
1892, E. H. FitzGerald joined the staff, and remained until his death in 1945.
Classes reopened on February 18, 1892, for the first time at North Point.
In spite of the financial
difficulties at St. Joseph’s, material improvements were taken in hand from the
very first year of its existence. The dormitories were panelled, dressing-rooms
were fitted out, and the equipment of the two laboratories -for physics and
chemistry- was improved.
In 1893 the unsightly mound
which stood between the building and the Lebong Road was removed.
The house system was
introduced in 1950s. Boys who come to North Point are assigned to a house.
Four houses- Ashley, Garnet,
Campion and Southwell- were established with a boy prefect each. There are no
records of those after 1938. In 1952 the present system was introduced. The
houses were named after four deceased Jesuits who had served many years at
North Point.
Depelchin House (red) was
named after the founder of St. Joseph’s College and builder of North Point, Fr.
Henri Depelchin S.J. (1822–1900).
Fallon House (blue) was named
after Fr. Joseph Fallon, a former Prefect and Rector (1913–1919). Fr. Fallon
later became Superior of the Bengal Mission. He returned to North Point and
died here in 1952.
Laenen House (yellow) was
named after Fr. Denis Laenen who taught from 1901 until his death in 1946.
O'Neil House (green) was
named after Fr. Edward O'Neil who had been a teacher and then the Prefect.
Later he was appointed Rector of St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta. (Wikipedia)
Father Kinley: ‘Second Founder’ of St. Jospeph’s
School
Born in Bhutan and an alumnus
of St. Joseph’s School, Father Kinley Tshering S.J., who is widely regarded as
the ‘Second Founder’ of St. Joseph’s School, was the first batch of ICSE in
1975 and was a Depelchin Gold Medallist.
He went to Bangalore for plus
2 to St. Joseph's, and then to Mumbai at St. Xavier's College for a degree in
Sociology. He started "Malhar" which is one of the biggest students'
festival in India today. He was awarded the best foreign student by Rotary Club
Mumbai in 1980.
Fr. Kinley graduated from
IIM-Bangalore with a MBA in Marketing. Later he did his M.Ed in Educational
Administration from the University of Manitoba in Canada.
Before joining North Point,
he was the Principal of Loyola College of Education at Namchi, South Sikkim,
Principal of St. Alphonsus H.S. School at Kurseong and The Dean of the Sikkim
Govt. College, Gangtok.
In 2003, Fr. Kinley joined
North Point and since then he has changed the face of the school in all
respect. Today North Point is one of the best schools in the region. He is,
therefore, known as "Second Founder" of St. Joseph’s School, a credit
that he rightly deserves.
There was no ultimatum…it was just smash and grab:
Chogyal of Sikkim
Imprint: Tranquebar Press
Format: Hardback
Extent: 494pp
Published: Oct-
2013
Price: Rs 795
ISBN 9789383260386
This book made history. It
wasn’t banned, not quite, when it first appeared in 1984, but its disappearance
was cleverly managed so that few got to read the only authentic account of how
a protected kingdom became India’s twenty-second state. As the Hon. David
Astor, editor of The Observer in
London, wrote, Sunanda K. Datta-Ray was ‘alone in witnessing and communicating
the essential story’.
 |
| Chogyal |
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| Kazi |
Citing documents that have not been seen by
any other writer, the book analyses law and politics with masterly skill to
recreate the Sikkim saga against the background of a twentieth-century Great
Game involving India and China. Smash and
Grab: Annexation of Sikkim didn’t only make history. It is history.
About the Author
Sunanda K. Datta-Ray
Sunanda K. Datta-Ray has been
a leading Indian journalist for half a century. He has been editor of The Statesman (Calcutta and New Delhi)
and has also written for the International
Herald Tribune and Time. He was
also the editorial consultant to Singapore's The Straits Times newspaper.
An alumnus of La Martiniere
for Boys School, Calcutta, Datta-Ray is the author of Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India, Bihar Shows the Way, Smash And Grab: The Annexation of Sikkim and Waiting for America: India and the US in
the New Millennium.
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