Ram Puniyani
The verdict of magistrate Dr.
Jyotsna Yagnik, sentencing Dr. Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi and others to long
imprisonment (31 August, 2012) has come as a big relief to the victims of
Naroda Patiya, for whom it was like return of Eid to their houses.
Naroda Patiya had witnessed horrific carnage and acts of rape in 2002 and this
judgment will give a solace to the victims and their near and dear ones’. This
judgment came as a culmination of the mammoth efforts of the human rights
activists, the victims, the witnesses and the team of legal activists who stood
all the opposition form every conceivable quarter to ensure that justice is
done in the case. The adage that ‘there can’t be peace without justice’ has
been redeemed with this court judgment.
This judgment also puts right
various misconceptions deliberately propagated by communal forces. First and
foremost was that the Gujarat violence was a
reaction to the Godhra train burning. By now this is believed by most of the
sections of society, more so by the communalized sections of society all over
and more so in Gujarat . The judge made it
clear that “thousands of persons…attacked weaponless and frightened victims
with intention, pre planning while sharing common objects”. It was not a
spontaneous reaction to burning of train in Godhra. Rather Godhra train burning
was used subtly as a justification for the preplanned pogrom. Communal forces
tried to pass it off as ‘natural anger’ which the state could not control.
Contrary to this perception, now court has ruled that it was a deliberately
planned carnage, using the Godhra incident as a mere pretext to consolidate
communal polarization in the state of Gujarat .
For once the message is loud and
clear that the automatic mechanisms of justice delivery system are not
effective and a super human efforts by dedicated human rights defenders like
Teesta Setalvad, Gagan Sethi, Harsh Mander, Yusuf Muchala, Mukul Sinha,
Govind Parmar and many others like them, working through different angles, supplementing
each other’s efforts can ensure that justice is done. They had to plug the
leaks in the system to ensure that victims are protected, witnesses are
protected, the complaints, FIRs are properly recorded, and to see that all the
hurdles to justice are overcome.
The first question which comes to
mind is, will this state of affairs continue like this where nothing short of
super human efforts, protecting-sustaining the victims and witnesses against
heavy odds will be needed for getting justice. Society and the nation needs to
plug the loopholes in the policing system, in the bureaucratic apparatus and in
the attitude of political leadership so that the justice delivery becomes a
matter of routine rather than an exception. Victims of so many riots, pogroms
are still awaiting justice, Bhagalpur , Delhi and Mumbai to name
the few, still have not got the justice.
This brings to our attention
another aspect of the violence, those who led it. Dr. Maya Kodnani came up
through Rashtra Sevikasamiti, an organization subordinate to Rashtriya Swayam
Sevak Sangh, RSS. One notes incidentally that in RSS worldview, women don’t
have a swayam (Self) as is manifest in the name of Rashtra Sevikasamiti. Also
that Maya Kodnani was sitting MLA, and after the pogrom and her role in it,
inciting the mob, distributing fuel and armaments, she was promoted to the
level of minister and once she was charged with the role in violence, she was
dumped from the ministry and disowned by the state Government. Section of RSS
followers in VHP etc. are protesting against the judgment. As such the standard
technique for RSS stable is that, once its members-followers undertake the
crime, murder of Gandhi, burning of Pastor Stains, or play their part in terror
attack, they are declared not to be having any association with the parent
organization, whose ideology they are living and breathing through their
actions. Kodnani for certain reasons did say that she was victim of politics!
What does this mean? While this statement is a mystery, one hopes the meaning
of this victimhood comes out one of the days in future.
Babu Bajrangi is another
character, whose revelations in Tehelka were nothing less than shocking. He
said they have been given time for three days, and that his team-associates are
playing not the test cricket but one day match, where high score is to made in
short time. And that after killing the hapless Muslims he felt like Rana
Pratap. One wishes he knew that Rana Pratap was not killing in the name of
religion, he was fighting other kings for power and that in his army there were
Muslims soldiers as well. One of the his army generals who died while fighting
for Rana Pratap was Hakim Khan Sur, whose tomb is there in the Haldi Ghati even
now. How distortions of medieval history are done deliberately to incite hate
becomes clear again.
And what is happening to the
conscience of Narendra Modi, who has been the major beneficiary of the carnage
of 2002? Any remorse, any tears for at least those who were reporting to him
during the carnage, whom he promoted for their role in the violence and now are
being punished by the due process of law?
One hopes that we recast our laws
and system to ensure that the violence is punished in due course and that this
punishment acts as a deterrent and ensures that in future such inhuman
dastardly acts don’t repeat themselves. This welcome judgment also leaves a few
questions, what about those who faulted in the discharge of their duties to
protect the innocents, to register their legitimate complains, and to nail the
guilty as a matter of their assigned duty? We do need to work towards a system
where to begin with such hate crimes don’t take place, and if by chance such a
tragedy is engineered by some political forces, we have the system in place
which can check it right away and punish those who are either conspiring, or
executing or are not controlling those dastardly acts. One hopes that the human
rights defenders will be on their tip toes to come forward with such yeomen
efforts to have a society with justice and peace.
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