The Central Bureau of Investigation has initiated a case against human rights activist Harsh Mander and his NGO for suspected violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act after conducting searches at his premises on Friday.
Harsh Mander had been writing columns and articles in newspapers and web portals despite the Home Ministry highlighting Section 3 of the FCRA which prohibits the acceptance of foreign contributions by various entities, including correspondents, columnists, cartoonists, editors, owners, printers, and publishers of registered newspapers.
The CBI has filed an FIR against Mander and the Centre for Equity Studies (CES) for alleged breaches of several FCRA provisions.
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Mander was a former member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council during the UPA government and is also the founder of the non-FCRA organization Aman Biradari.
What did the Home Ministry say?
The Home Ministry termed Aman Biradari as a non-FCRA organisation.
They also stated that Aman Biradari was associated with CES and has served as a conduit for transferring foreign contributions to non-FCRA associations.
"A report by the Centre for Equity Studies in collaboration with Delhi Research Group and 'Karwan-E-Mohabbat' was published by CES in June 2020. Karwan-e Mohabbat is a campaign run under the non-FCRA association Aman Biradari Trust (ABT), which is closely associated with Centre of Equity Studies and Harsh Mander," the Home Ministry reportedly alleged.
