Whither Justice: Fabricated Cases And State
By Ram Puniyani
15 June, 2013
Countercurrents.org
Rihai Manch, a forum for getting justice
to the falsely implicated youth in the cases of acts of terror has
currently (June 2013), held a protest Dharna (sit in) to demand the
arrest of police and IB officials responsible for the death of Maulana
Khalid Mujahid, to implement the R.D. Nimesh Commission report and to
release the innocent Muslim youth implicated in acts of terror. This
campaign is getting broader support from more human rights groups and
affected community. This is the major effort by a civic society group to
democratically protest against the insensitive and biased state
machinery, to pressurize it to come to the path of justice.
The Samajvadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav Government in UP, had earlier
claimed to be the major champion of the cause of Muslims, to the extent
that the main leader of this party Mulayam Singh Yadav was derogatorily
called Mulla Mulayam. But as he came to power last time also during his
regime many a communal episodes, violence, took place under the very
nose of the Government. Currently also Akhilesh Yadav‘s regime is marked
by over 27 episodes of major riots. On the top of that this Government
in its election promise had said that the innocents, implicated in the
acts of terror will be released. On the contrary, the death of Maulana
Khalid Mujahid in the police custody has raised sufficient doubts about
the intentions of the Government. Even R.D. Nimesh Commission report was
kept in the cold storage from last one year, and now when it has been
released finally, the government is refraining from taking action,
hiding behind the argument that it will be discussed in future Assembly
session before action is taken on the report. As such Government has
full prerogative to take action at Cabinet level. People fear that this
commission report may also face the same fate as the other commission
reports, which are generally put on the backburner or put in the cold
storage.
Ashsish Khaitan, one of the journalists with dogged determination,
sensitivity and honesty, has floated a portal, Gulail (Slingshot) to
highlight the investigative reports related to the framing of innocents
by authorities. Many an officers have falsely implicated innocents,
despite knowing the truth, to enhance their own career prospects or to
due to the biases which have gripped the large sections of the law
enforcement agencies. These agencies regard that only youth from one
religious community are responsible for the acts of terror. Khiatan also
opines that putting forward the truth of such cases is also not of much
use; as in such cases reports of honest investigations are overshadowed
by the biased reporting and opinions in the print, T.V. and social
media. He is pinning his hopes on judiciary and the people’s campaigns
for getting justice. The ongoing dharna in UP is drawing the attention
of the social groups and is being sustained for over two weeks by the
social activists and the pained and anguished community, whose young
ones’ are being incarcerated and have to suffer not only the future
career prospects but have also to get the blame, which ostracize them
from social life. In this direction various efforts have been undertaken
in the past but after temporary response and restraint the
investigation agencies lapse in to their usual prejudiced actions.
Not only can this be seen in the case of UP, but overall one sees
the wide gulf between the promises and actual actions of the so called
‘secular parties’. While in Maharashtra the Congress coalition came to
power with the promise of implementing Shrikrishna Commission report of
92-93 riots, after coming to power on this promise it put forward the
usual excuses and the guilty police officers and political leadership
continued to be in their positions of power despite sufficient proof of
their involvement in instigating and participating in the riots., As for
as justice to the victims and action against the guilty is concerned
Samajvadi Party seems to be no different. The R.D. Nimesh Commission has
given the full truth based on which it can proceed to punish the guilty
police officers, but that’s what is being avoided. The credentials of
so called secular parties are more are less similar, be it the Congress
or be it the Samajvadi Party, they have very opportunistic attitude as
far as the justice to minorities is concerned. While communal parties
are out to do away with the rights of minorities and deny them justice
through and through, these so called secular parties have dual
character. They promise and are unable to deliver as their calculations
are built around the vote bank politics.
This is due to multiple factors. One is that these supposedly
secular parties are also being trapped by the considerations other than
the values of secularism. So, controlling of communal violence, which is
possible if there is adequate determination to do so, is not being done
effectively. The second reason is the communalized state machinery, the
investigating agencies, police and bureaucracy. How to investigate the
cases, how to frame the innocents is an easy enough job, which the
authorities do and their Khaki uniform empowers them to do it with ease.
It is precisely due to this that the fate of inquiry commission reports
has not been significant one. Starting from Madon Commission of inquiry
into Bhiwandi riots, to Shrikrishna Commission and Liberhan Commission
reports, the outcome, taking action based on the report, is close to
zero as the implementing authorities, political leadership is
opportunist and lacks the strength to stick to principles.
So where do we go from here. While the communal forces are out to
proactively browbeat the religious minorities, the secular formations do
not have the spine to ensure justice and equity. Its’ here, that the
social activism which has prominently come up during last two decades in
particular, needs to be strengthened. The activist groups have taken up
these issues seriously and the initiatives by social activists is a
major landmark in this direction. One wonders, why are the left parties,
which should be principally secular to the core are shunning these
efforts. Their joining these efforts to get equity and justice to
minorities will put pressure on the parties like Congress and Samajvadi
to try to become sincere in their efforts.
The intensification of efforts through judiciary and popular
protests has to be intensified. The rot set in our democratic polity due
to the infiltration of communalism through different mechanisms has
been a very dangerous one to the values of our Constitution. It is time
that we as a nation introspect and get over the biases and prejudiced
behaviors towards weaker sections of our society. The path to social
progress is paved through amity and justice. Professional attitude in
investigation of acts of violence, communal amity and justice for all
are the prerequisites of social progress, progress of society in the
real sense.
Ram Puniyani was a professor in
biomedical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and
took voluntary retirement in December 2004 to work full time for
communal harmony in India. He is involved with human rights activities
from last two decades.He is associated with various secular and
democratic initiatives like All India Secular Forum, Center for Study of
Society and Secularism and ANHAD.
