On 8/7/07, A*Justice Denied** * *FORWARDED ARTICLE FROM ASIAN AGE-_Seema Mustafa*
It does seem, as the laws run their course in the courts, that while terror attacks are taken seriously by the governments, it continues to be easy to kill in the name of caste and religion. The perpetrators of the most heinous attacks against the people of India on these counts remain outside the law, and are even rewarded with political berths, as their involvement in the violence gradually fades from public memory. The conviction of hundred persons for the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts appears to have given great satisfaction to the prosecuting agencies, the judiciary and the political class. This, despite the fact that they have been given punishments as harsh as death sentence and life imprisonment under a law that has since been repealed, and on the basis of information supplied by a police machinery that has never earned the reputation for efficiency, transparency and honesty. TADA took away the one principle of justice: everyone is innocent until proven to be guilty, and changed it to everyone is guilty unless they can prove their innocence. And with this it allowed the state to assume powers that have been misused over and over again, with the victims often being poor, innocent citizens who have neither the money nor the influence to seek and get justice. Or in TADA's terms, prove their innocence. The recent convictions are a case in point. Sanjay Dutt's imprisonment, no matter how unfortunate, has completely eclipsed that of the others who remain faceless convicts (or should one say terrorists?), many of whom might have a side to the story that no one has even bothered to hear. The mindset that is overtaking the compassion that has always been a strong component of justice in India was reflected recently when BJP leader L.K. Advani, a seasoned and clever politician, joined issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over his remarks that he had spent a sleepless night after he saw Mohammad Haneef's mother on television. How could you spend a sleepless night for a terrorist, was the refrain of the BJP's criticism. How indeed? For in the mind of the rabid, every Muslim today is a terrorist and even a hint of it is sufficient proof to hang not just the man but his entire family and the entire community. In Mumbai, the city that took great pride in its cosmopolitan ethos, Muslims are finding it impossible to rent accommodation. Housing societies, say the brokers, do not want a Muslim living in their buildings. Why? Because Muslims are terrorists, scream the state and the media, borrowing statistics from the West and not bothering to stop and even look at the hard facts within India, as this would rob the propaganda of its sensationalism and divisive powers. A young actor, probably with some ideals still left, has filed a petition in court against this discrimination, and perhaps he might be able to get a verdict that brings some relief to the thousands of Muslims in Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra and other cities who have been told to their face: "Sorry, we can't give you this house on rent, you are a Muslim." There has not been a word about the violence that killed 900 persons (state figures, the actual toll is closer to 1,500 according to activists) in Maharashtra, particularly Mumbai, before the terror blasts. Where is the Srikrishna Commission's report? Why has it not been implemented? Why is the political class, including the "secular" governments of Maharashtra and India not talking about this? There is a great deal said on 15-point programmes, appointments of Muslims in positions that do not really matter, but why has no government taken action to arrest those who with the help of the law enforcing agencies shot dead the people in their homes at point-blank range? The violence targeting the Muslims continued in Mumbai for days on end, after the Babri Masjid was demolished by the Hindutva brigade. The identities of those who killed were not hidden, the Srikrishna report has indicted many and even pointed to a linkage between the "minority response" (Mumbai blasts) to this "majority terrorism" (carnage in Mumbai). This does not justify the former, but does point to the seriousness of the latter and the need for the government to have acted to dispense justice. Caste violence -- the murder of Dalits, gang rapes of Dalits and OBC women, the brutal repression that still separates parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh from the 21st century -- does not elicit any response from the state. The perpetrators of the crime are identified by the victims, occasionally inquiries are ordered, but at the end the law bends decisively for those with power and clout. The victims are told to keep silent or pay the price, while those who have killed and raped are rewarded with tickets for the elections. The law is not sufficient, as its implementation is based on the evidence collected by often compromised and partisan agencies. The state has to intervene for a fair and just trial, but its intervention is now restricted to trials of terror acts and not violence based on religion and caste. Governments do not hesitate to set up inquiries, except in the Gujarat violence where the Central and state governments actually condoned the violence that left 2,500 dead, thousands homeless and traumatised. Inquiries are good gestures and add to a certain piety in governance. The problem comes when the inquiry commissions actually take their job seriously -- unlike the Liberhan Commission that has spent over 15 years investigating the Babri demolition and has still to submit a report -- and give in recommendations for immediate and long term implementation. It is then that the state reveals the level of complicity by simply sitting on the reports and refusing to implement the recommendations. The RSS has been indicted in a number of reports, but the state does not have the will to take action. CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury recently reminded readers that at least five major judicial commissions of inquiry have not been acted upon. These are the Justice P. Jaganmohan Reddy Commission on the Ahmedabad riots of 1969; the Justice D.P. Madan Commission on the Bhiwandi riots of 1970; the Justice Vithayathil Commission on the Tellicherry riots of 1971; the Justice Jitendra Narain Commission on the Jamshedpur riots of 1979; and the Justice P. Venugopal Commission on the Kanyakumari riots of 1982. These do not include the Malliana violence where the PAC (armed state police) killed with impunity; the massacre of 2,500 Sikhs in Delhi; the Gujarat violence; and more where the perpetrators of the violence had been identified and named, and yet not even arrested, let alone convicted and punished. Terrorism is just one part of the violence in India. And since the police in its inefficiency uses the method of mass arrests and stiff interrogation of all it can lay its hands on to crack terror cases, the resulting anger and resentment in the affected sections of society is palpable. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary for the state to stop paying lip service to the secular cause and ensure that communal violence and caste based violence are dealt with a heavy hand. The commissions of inquiry should be brought out, reviewed, and recommendations implemented as and where possible. It does not do well for secularism when parties like the Congress virtually endorse the violence through silence, and an inability to take action against those known to have led the mobs -- be it against the Sikhs in Delhi or the Muslims in Gujarat. Congress president Sonia Gandhi's refusal to meet the widow of veteran Congressman Ahsan Jafri killed brutally by the mobs in Ahmedabad cannot be erased from public memory, as it is an indication of the impotence that prevents the Congress from taking a strong position against communalism. Rhetoric, appointments are all tricks that have long since stopped working. The people are too seasoned, too wise, and even too cynical to be won over by such gestures. The demand is now for direct action to ensure that India is not divided into two, one for the poor, the infirm, the backward, the dalit, the minorities, and the other for the rich and powerful. The trauma of violence does not fade if justice is denied, instead the wounds fester under the scars. Justice has to be dispensed with an iron fist, without prejudice and without delay. [image: Print this Article] <javascript:window.print();> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
