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