Meeting to discuss roadside death
A community meeting has been organised to address community concerns in response to the recent death of victim of suspected domestic violence Ranjeeta Sharma.
Twenty eight-year-old Ranjeeta Sharma, originally from Fiji, was found burning by the roadside in Huntly on Thursday, January 20. Mrs Sharma’s body was identified two days later. Her husband, Daniel (a person of interest to the investigation) who had left the country with the couple’s four-year-old son was found by police on January 25.
“A number of communities have raised great concerns about the negative labelling by targeting a particular last name and stigmatising manner in which some community groups have been sought to be labelled as condoning of honour killing by some fringe organisations claiming to be Indian but only seeking cheap publicity and following a bigoted agenda, sensation seeking journalists and news media,” Guna Magesan, general secretary of Hindu Council, said.
“One of them even went to the extent of providing complete motives and details of the crime, which even the police does not seem to have at the time when this gentleman spoke to Waikato Times, and the obliging journalist published it.
“The Hindu surname “Sharma” is a pan Asian surname used by Hindus from all over the world (Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, and so on) including North India.
“Branding is a malicious attempt to malign people with a certain surname, and the incident is even more abhorrent than the one where TV journalist Paul Henry mocked the surname “Dixit”, and was eventually forced to resign,” Dr Magesan said.
“Perhaps he escaped too lightly, since the current incident shows that no lessons have been learnt by bigoted organisations and their so called leaders, and scandalous journalists.
“Family violence and crimes of passion is a serious issue and is not condoned by anyone in any way. The course of justice should be allowed to take course and offender prosecuted as required by law.
“This is a sad case where victim had earlier reached out for help but unfortunately had to face the extreme,” Dr Magesan said.
“Sadly, it continues to afflict almost all communities in New Zealand. Seeking to malign a whole community by bigots and yellow journalists, in our opinion, is a crime that needs to be condemned and punished as well, since those who carry out such attacks aim to provoke hatred between communities”
Dr Magesan said the purpose of these community meetings was condemn the act of labelling and negative branding that has stigmatised certain communities and find out what action / response community would like to this act.
The Meeting details are as follows:
Date: Friday, 28th January 2011
Time: 6.pm to 7.30 pm
Venue: West Auckland, to be confirmed.
Please try to e-mail / text your attendance for arrangements purpose.
For further enquiries, contact: Pritika Sharma on 0210724051 or
email preet_432@yahoo.com
A community meeting has been organised to address community concerns in response to the recent death of victim of suspected domestic violence Ranjeeta Sharma. Twenty eight-year-old Ranjeeta Sharma, originally from Fiji, was found burning by the roadside in Huntly on Thursday, January 20. Mrs...
A community meeting has been organised to address community concerns in response to the recent death of victim of suspected domestic violence Ranjeeta Sharma.
Twenty eight-year-old Ranjeeta Sharma, originally from Fiji, was found burning by the roadside in Huntly on Thursday, January 20. Mrs Sharma’s body was identified two days later. Her husband, Daniel (a person of interest to the investigation) who had left the country with the couple’s four-year-old son was found by police on January 25.
“A number of communities have raised great concerns about the negative labelling by targeting a particular last name and stigmatising manner in which some community groups have been sought to be labelled as condoning of honour killing by some fringe organisations claiming to be Indian but only seeking cheap publicity and following a bigoted agenda, sensation seeking journalists and news media,” Guna Magesan, general secretary of Hindu Council, said.
“One of them even went to the extent of providing complete motives and details of the crime, which even the police does not seem to have at the time when this gentleman spoke to Waikato Times, and the obliging journalist published it.
“The Hindu surname “Sharma” is a pan Asian surname used by Hindus from all over the world (Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, and so on) including North India.
“Branding is a malicious attempt to malign people with a certain surname, and the incident is even more abhorrent than the one where TV journalist Paul Henry mocked the surname “Dixit”, and was eventually forced to resign,” Dr Magesan said.
“Perhaps he escaped too lightly, since the current incident shows that no lessons have been learnt by bigoted organisations and their so called leaders, and scandalous journalists.
“Family violence and crimes of passion is a serious issue and is not condoned by anyone in any way. The course of justice should be allowed to take course and offender prosecuted as required by law.
“This is a sad case where victim had earlier reached out for help but unfortunately had to face the extreme,” Dr Magesan said.
“Sadly, it continues to afflict almost all communities in New Zealand. Seeking to malign a whole community by bigots and yellow journalists, in our opinion, is a crime that needs to be condemned and punished as well, since those who carry out such attacks aim to provoke hatred between communities”
Dr Magesan said the purpose of these community meetings was condemn the act of labelling and negative branding that has stigmatised certain communities and find out what action / response community would like to this act.
The Meeting details are as follows:
Date: Friday, 28th January 2011
Time: 6.pm to 7.30 pm
Venue: West Auckland, to be confirmed.
Please try to e-mail / text your attendance for arrangements purpose.
For further enquiries, contact: Pritika Sharma on 0210724051 or
email preet_432@yahoo.com
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