anil desai wrote: [1] I heard one song on youtube. I heard two serious accusations made against the priest of Colva. [2] You may or may not know but right now two Hindu godmen are under arrest in India and a third one is under investigation. [3] You should be aware of paedophilia allegations against catholic priests and currently even Pope is accused of inadvertently sheltering a paedophile priest.
RESPONSE: Dear Dr Desai, I submit that (albeit, inadvertently) you have, by your above quoted statements, demonstrated a slight inbuilt prejudice you may have against Catholic priests. Why, otherwise, would you not indicate the reason for the arrest of the Hindu godmen in Indian - and yet (quite correctly) state the pedophilia allegations against the Catholic priests? That having been said, I'd like to turn to (what I believe) is your premise with the allegations being made on the videoCD. While you await Marshall's response to your queries, I'd like to ask you a few queries of my own: a: Without making any pre-judgment on the veracity of the accusations, Is the VideoCD - a form of art OR is it potentially a form of slander? b: Having noted that (Indian) doctors are often accused in Britain of sexually molesting their patients, what would you say IF someone produced a VideoCD in Colva or Collem accusing you and other UK Indian doctors of sexually molesting your patients? c: Considering that a number of individuals are known to make false accusations of molestation - for whatever reason - What do you believe happens to the person who is falsely accused of such acts? d: Does the law (in India) make provisions for any accusations to be dealt with in court? e: Is it that we are now advocating (no pun intended) the use of the electronic media to slander individuals we do not like - be they in Ribandar or Rivona? There is, I believe, a method to achieve two goals by making a small modification in the law i.e. to Make it mandatory (under penalty of a prison term for failure to do so) for ANYONE who suspects or knows of anybody molesting another...... to report it to the police.....and be available to be cross-examined in court by the accused. The two goals achieved by this: (1) More cases of child or serial adult abuse will (potentially) be reported to the law. (2) Less cases of slander will be tolerated. I further submit the following: #1: We should leave consenting adults alone. #2: Nobody should attempt to take the law in his/her own hands. #3: If we are unhappy with the law - as it is - lobby to effect a change. #4: If the court system is too slow, study law, apply to be a judge and help clear the backlog. BUT: Let us not call slander ...... a freedom of expression. The next act of slander might be against us! sincerely jc