September 2006 
Year 12    No.118

Editorial


Justice, a one-way street?

As we go to press, Judge PD Kode of the special TADA court has already pronounced judgement, convicting seven and acquitting three persons charged for their involvement in the March 12, 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai. Given the manner in which Judge Kode has chosen to deliver his verdict, it will be weeks before the fate of all the 123 accused is known. There can be little doubt, however, that very many more convictions are on the cards. And that is exactly how it should be. Killing 257 innocent people, injuring 700 others and destroying property worth tens of crores is a very grievous crime and the guilty must be given the severest punishment in accordance with the law of the land.

Peace-loving citizens are sure to compliment Judge Kode for having served the cause of justice well. But they are also certain to ask whether the judicial process in India is a one-way street. In its findings made public in 1998, the Srikrishna Commission appointed by the government of Maharashtra to probe the communal violence that rocked Mumbai in December 1992-January 1993 had concluded that there was a "cause and effect" relationship between the pogrom against Muslims and the bomb blasts that followed two months later. Those guilty of the serial bomb blasts are now being rightly punished, for in a civilised society no one can be allowed to take the law into their own hands. But what about the perpetrators of the citywide targeting of Mumbai’s Muslims that, in the words of Justice BN Srikrishna, resulted in the "retaliatory" killing?

In the bomb blasts case the police and the government stretched themselves to ensure the return of members of the still absconding Tiger Memon’s family from Dubai. Four of them have now been convicted. As to the violence against Muslims in December 1992-January 1993, included among the prime accused according to the Srikrishna Commission’s report were Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and the then joint commissioner of police, RD Tyagi. Neither of them hid from the police or ran away from the city, even for a day. Obviously they did not need to do so. After the pogrom, Thackeray even ruled Maharashtra from his Kala Nagar residence for five years. Tyagi, promoted to the rank of police commissioner of Mumbai, joined the Shiv Sena the day he retired from the IPS. Those occupying high office must assume full responsibility for such a lopsided judicial system and must have the honesty to admit that it is not Sikhism or Islam but the denial of justice to the victims of the 1984 carnage against Sikhs and the 1992-93 and 2002 pogroms against Muslims in Mumbai and Gujarat that sow the seeds of extremism and terrorism.

In the last issue of CC, we published a special report, ‘No peace without justice’, emphasising why the bomb terror of March 12, 1993 must be recalled with the same horror as the mob terror on and after December 6, 1992 in Ayodhya. Our special report this time focuses on how four years after the genocide, the Narendra Modi government continues to subvert the efforts to punish the guilty and to deny a rehabilitation package for tens of thousands of victims. All credit to the Supreme Court of India and to Additional Sessions Judge Abhay Thipsay of Mumbai’s special court for the verdicts in the Best Bakery case. The punishment of the guilty in this case healed bleeding wounds and rejuvenated the hope in millions of hearts that there is justice after all. Even-handed justice, we believe, is the best antidote to terrorism, the best argument against those who claim there is no justice for minorities in secular-democratic India. But to restore faith in the system, showcasing the Best Bakery judgements alone is no use. What about the perpetrators of the Gujarat massacres at Gulberg Society, Naroda Gaon and Naroda Patiya, Sardarpura and Ode? What about politicians and policemen who were the chief sponsors and authors of the carnage?

Our cover story this month concentrates on Karnataka, a state that is assiduously being cultivated as Hindutva’s new laboratory by the hate-mongers of the sangh parivar. As is only to be expected, with the BJP now a partner in the government, the saffronisation process has gained extra impetus. But the most worrying part is that political parties that swear by secularism are no less to blame for abetting the communalisation of Karnataka. Between 1998 and 2002, we published four cover stories and several special reports warning of the systematic build-up to the impending explosion in Gujarat. Some, even from secular circles, had then accused us of unwarrantedly crying wolf. With Gujarat behind us, we must not again wait until it is too late.

— EDITORS

 

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