Pandya's widow sends legal notices to Modi government

The wife of slain former Gujarat minister Haren Pandya has sent legal notices to the state government and the police for spying on her and invading her privacy. HT reports. More trouble

The wife of slain former Gujarat minister Haren Pandya has sent legal notices to the state government and the police for spying on her and invading her privacy.

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Jagruti Pandya sent the notices through her lawyer after she allegedly found policemen in plainclothes monitoring her activities since she filed a petition in the Gujarat high court seeking further investigation in the murder of her husband.

Haren Pandya, who was minister of state for home in the BJP government, was killed on March 26, 2003 in Ahmedabad.

In 2007, a local Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court convicted 12 accused, awarding life imprisonment to nine including the sharp shooter Asgar Ali, arrested from Hyderabad.

On August 29, the high court dropped charges of murder against all the persons convicted. It, however, upheld the charges of criminal conspiracy and terrorism under POTA.

"Policemen in plainclothes are either posted outside the house, or they check her movements. They also inquire from the watchman or enter the house and ask her father about her whereabouts," the notice said.

Jagruti Pandya stressed that it was violation of her fundamental right and amounted to "criminal trespass and outraging the modesty of a woman".

According to the notice, she confronted two policemen outside her house on September 20. "They admitted they were from the Special Branch of Ahmedabad Police and had been asked to keep a tab on my activities," she claimed in the notice, adding she had taken photographs of the two constables and their motorbikes.

"They have given in writing that they were instructed to monitor and check my movements and activities," she said.