Miscarriage of justice in Hashimpura
(Source: Praveen Jain)
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
One of the most famous lines on the official All India Radio news
bulletins during communal disturbances used to be ‘ Sthiti tanavpurn
lekin Niyantran me hain ( the situation is tense but under control)
and police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in the
‘sensitive’ areas. It was well known to us as what is ‘samvdansheel
kshetra’ or sensitive areas. Most of these ‘sensitive areas’ were the
Muslim localities in the walled cities, almost ghettoized in the
aftermath of each ‘riots’ much to the comfort of the fanatics on both
the sides who wanted to see such polarization to happen. The
‘sensitive areas’ terminology reflected the mindset of administration,
police and the media in the independent India where Muslims are
treated as ‘problem-makers’ and ‘obstacles’. During the ‘communal
disturbances,’ the police ‘round off’ these ‘problem-makers’ and
‘obstacles’ as routine exercise to bring ‘peace’. Once when I
questioned these things during a visit in the early 1990s, to Meerut
on a fact finding mission, a very senior Professor in the Meerut
University blamed me promote ‘Pakistanis’ in India and warned me from
staying away from mini ‘Pakistan’ which was the walled city of Meerut.
His argument was that Muslims are criminals and that is why they are
largest in the Indian jails. I liked him because this professor did
not have hypocrisy and he spoke from his ‘heart’ which is a reality of
the middle classes upper caste Hindus in India at least at the
moment.
The release of 16 accused policemen of the Provincial Arms
Constabulary
( PAC) in the Hashimpura violence case by a Delhi Court has brought
back the issue of Communal Violence Bill that was being drafted in the
UPA regime but because of the lack of a will, could not be passed.
Hashimpura is not the first and the last case of judicial failure even
when several years back Supreme Court itself had expressed pain and
anguish in delays of the trial and Allahabad High Court’s judge
Justice termed the act of PAC as ‘criminals in uniforms’.
Reports after reports suggested how PAC goons arrested innocent
Muslims and later picked young boys to be killed later on with their
bodies floated in the Canal near Muradnagar. Haven’t we seen pictures
of gun trotting policemen in the Muslim localities herding together
men, young boys and children and threatening to push the trigger if
they protest? Riots after riots such scenes are often repeated and the
police go unpunished. They have protections and the atmosphere in all
the towns and cities where Muslims presence is nearly 30% is
polarized.
When the state has abdicated its responsibility in such a way that
justice is not just denied but miscarried than it is time to think
seriously as what ails the system. Before we come to analyse the
entire incident, let us not forget that People’s Union for Civil
Liberties had brought out a detailed report on the Hashimpura massacre
in 1987 in which it had put serious doubts on the administration. The
PUCL team which went on fact finding mission to Hashimpura and other
areas included Justice Rajinder Sachar, Mr Inder Kumar Gujral, Prof
A.M.Khusrau, Prof Dilip Swamy and others hence it is important for us
to understand what they said on this as the court of law has found no
evidence though following report is filed not only by eminent persons
but one of them was a former chief justice of Delhi High Court.
‘One of the most shameful chapters of human callousness was enacted in
Hashimpura area. It would appear by then that sufficient contingents
of police and PAC had been inducted into Meerut. It was not clear but
it seems that some decision was taken to really spread terror in
Hashimpura area. Pursuant to this on May 22 Hashimpura was surrounded
by the PAC. The PAC then forced all residents out of their houses to
the main Road. Then a house to house search was conducted. The
residents complained that several houses were looted by the PAC.
All residents of Hashimpura were lined up on the main road segregated,
and one person in Burkha identified 42 young men, who were asked to
board a police lorry. Another group of 324 were arrested and taken by
other police vehicles.
What the police did in Hashimpura is something which can never be
lived down and the shame of this will continue to haunt any civilised
Government. We talked to old persons whose sons and grand-sons were
taken away by the police. We met young women whose husbands were taken
away and later on they were either missing or their dead bodies were
found. The way the residents of Hashimpura were treated was shameful.
We were told that hundreds of people were taken out from the locality
and asked to sit on the road. One army person asked people over 50
years and less than 10-12 years to get on one side and all the others
were dumped into waiting trucks. We were told by one Ahmed, who had
got away on the excuse that he had his MA examination that morning,
and that 3 of his colleagues, namely, Kamaludin S/o Jamaludin,
Sarajudin S/o Sabarudin, Nasim S/o Nasim Ahmed, had been taken away on
the trucks. These three had not come back thereafter and the father
Jamaludin corroborated this version.
Out of 42 only 6 persons are traceable, others have just disappeared.
There is no record of these persons with the police. Abdu Bhai the
grand father of Zulfikar told that Arif and Karimuddin were also with
his grandson. They were arrested together and taken in a truck to
Muradnagar and when the truck reached a canal Zulfikar saw Karimuddin
being shot by the PAC and thrown in the canal. More than 20 bodies
have in fact been found floating in the Ganga Canal.’
(Excerpts
of the PUCL report on Hashimpura published in PUCL Bulletin)
The Delhi Court where the case had come for hearing actually released
all the ‘accused’ in the absence of ‘eye witnesses’ and their
identifications by the ‘victims’. The problem is how are the victims
of mass violence, mass rapes and social ostracisation going to
identify people in the court where the agencies supposed to protect
people have been charged with conniving and protecting the miscreants.
This is not the first case of its kind where the callousness of the
courts have released the accused but it also reflect the political
scenario of the country and how the judicial system is being
influenced. You do not need to be a law ‘expert’ to understand the
whole issue and how it has been handled. If a scrutiny of judgments on
mass killings or communal riots is done, judiciary in India would
disappointment you. I have not heard a single case where communal or
caste violence culprits have been sentenced or their political future
is at peril. Nelli in Assam in 1983, Bhagalpur in Bihar, Meerut, in
1987 in Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai in 1992-1993, Gujarat in 2002, Delhi in
1984, Mujaffarnagar in 2013 have never reached to any conclusion. Yes,
those instigated violence and polarized the voters got to power. In
the ‘First Past The Post’ system, the biggest danger is of inciting
hatred towards minorities for political gains and parties and leaders
succeeded in it. That is why there is much bigger danger of such
experiments. In 1984 the polarization helped Congress Party to win an
election with massive mandate while after 2002, Narendra Modi
continued with his winning spree in Gujarat. Once political parties
understand that such polarization help they would continue with this.
The state level experiences of extremist stand helped political
parties to gain power everywhere including BJP in UP, Shiv Sena in
Gujarat too. In fact, the success of the experiments forced the
Hindutva ‘programmers’ to go for it on a bigger level before the
general elections last year and Mujaffarnagar was actually part of
that ‘programme’.
Many things emerges out of these criminal acquittals and that happen
because of political environment of the country and none can say that
judiciary is not influenced from it particularly at the lower level.
Have we not seen acquittal of all the accused in the Gujarat violence
in 2002 particularly those who were in ‘responsible’ positions. Right
from Best Bakery to Hashimpura, it is the people who are seeking
justice are being penalized. The case of Teesta Setalwad is exactly
the same that those who fight for the right of the people and take on
the state will face prosecutions. During emergency, we could trust a
few in the media but today it is becoming difficult as media has
become bigger propaganda machinery of the political elites of the
country.
It is not for nothing that this year we have seen release of all the
accused in Shankarbigaha massacre of Dalits. Later, in
Lakshmanpurbathe, Bathani Tola,and Tsundur accused too got honorably
relieved by various courts. Practically, no case of communal violence
or mass murders of Dalits, Muslims or Christians have reached to any
logical conclusion. Most of the time the courts have ‘blamed’ it on to
the investigating agencies for failure of providing the ‘eye
witnesses’. It is another matter that the same courts have released
honorably the other accused CBI had chargesheeted in some of these
cases.
It is not for nothing that hatemongers are roaming free and taking law
in their hands. The threat of law is actually being applied on those
who can’t really afford to have an efficient lawyer. India is fast
moving towards a class consciousness hence even the human rights
defenders who have a ‘background’ would be able to save themselves but
not everyone is a Teesta or a Green Peace activist who can afford to
hire best legal brains and organisations to defend them. Most of the
cases where state is needed to be proactive actually end up in
miscarriage of cases because of the official antipathy towards the
people of particular castes or religion. Definitely, the bureaucratic
and administrative prejudices against Muslims in Indian system are
currently at the peak level and need serious relook by the government
and judiciary.
The demand that Muslims and other marginalized segments of society
must have fair representations at all level in our bureaucracy,
military and police essentially comes in the backdrop of such
happenings and need serious look. These demands are opposed by the
Hindutva and other rightwing groups under the pretext that demanding
reservation for Muslims is a communal demand and will divide the
nation. One does not know why a citizen of this country could be
deprived of a genuine demand which will have far reaching impacts on
the working of the police and administration.
As long as we do not have a mechanism to fix accountability of the
officials engaged in the districts or cities during the ‘so-called’
communal ‘riots’ things will not move on. A senior officer once wrote
that any communal disturbance can easily be controlled by the
administration in first 12 hours and if violence continue even after
that it must be assumed that ‘authorities’ and ‘politicians’ are hand
in glove with the rioters. How can ‘pogroms’ be called as ‘riots’
where police and administration has to be impartial?
You do not need to imagine too much of what happens during these
‘riots’ as pictures speaks for them. The horrific pictures of
Hashimpura which have been published by Indian Express yesterday show
how the people have been asked by the gun trotting policemen holding
their hands up in the sky in the form of surrender. Haven’t we seen
how a poor grim faced Muslim tailor in Ahmedabad was seeking
protection with folded hand from the authorities ? The tales are
endless and people have been left to fetch themselves. In fact, those
few who try to fight for them also end up in becoming victim. Daily
stories of pains, sorrows and betrayal lead us to further depression.
It is these things which make people vary of even the human rights
defenders. What is in their hand? After all, we can only express our
solidarity and share their concern and be part of the struggle. Result
is not in our hand but then these assurances or uncertainties do not
bother the people who are victims as they want results so that they
can lead normal life. Such a feeling is detrimental to the struggle of
human rights and justice and used very well by those who violate them.
In the past few years we have seen the differences is being made
between the victim of Delhi’s violence in 1984 and Gujarat 2002
ignoring the fact that in both the cases Indian state failed to
protect its citizens.
Rajiv Gandhi government at centre and Vir Bahadur Singh at the state
actually took a lesson from 1984 when they tried to use state
machinery towards majority communalism. The PAC has become notorious
in Uttar Pradesh and no government has so far dared to either disband
it or change its color. Hashimpura’s case is clear how administration
when communalized feel Muslims as ‘troublemakers’ and need to be
‘taught’ a lesson. And the administration and police do not become
communalized suddenly but through a process. Over these years,
Congress Party did not really try honestly to inculcate a secular
spirit in the country and internally promoted this soft Hindutva
approach in the party. 1984 was the worst period for Congress. It was
the defeat of what Nehru had thought of Congress, a secular socialist
party inclusive for all. The attempt to ‘teach’ minorities a lesson
and a feeling as if they are trouble makers ultimately helped gain
ground for the Sangh Parivar. That was the period of opening of lock
of Babari Masjid by a man called Arun Nehru.
Congress of 2004 and 2012 therefore was much different than 1984 when
it was arrogant in Brahmanical wisdom appeasing the caste Hindus and
targeting minorities for political gains. The phenomena continue to
grow albeit the beneficiary of the phenomena today is not Congress but
the Hindutva party.
The UPA government last time made loud noises in bringing Communal
Violence Bill but did not have the courage to bring it like it did to
other bills. A broad and inclusive communal violence bill is needed
which include the caste related violence too. The government must
decide on it otherwise the alienation of minorities will prove too
dangerous as sooner in the absence of justice as well as leadership
there is a danger of growth of fringe elements. Muslims are facing it
valiantly even when most of the political parties have used their
vulnerabilities both in the name of secularism and Hindutva. As a
citizen of India, they deserve all rights as anybody else have and
need justice and protection. It is shame that a community which has
given so much to India’s culture and heritage today feeling dejected,
isolated and left out. These are no good sign for ‘achchedin’ as all
Indian citizens irrespective of their caste, class, religion and
region deserve state protection and ‘achchedin’.
Hashimpura reminds that the state of India has neglected Dalits and
minorities in absolute terms. While we can understand that court’s
procedures are delayed. We do understand that there is a problem in
identifying the witnesses but one thing is clear and unambiguous which
is that 42 citizens of this country were killed on 22nd May
1987 in the police custody. There is no denial of fact that Muslims of
Maliana and Hashimpura were at the receiving end. Many lost their
parents, their father, husbands and sons. I have only one question.
How many of the political leaders visited them ? What was the
compensation package ? Why has it not been done ? Why doesn’t the
government take the responsibility to honorably rebuild their lives ?
Who stops them but then political class use vulnerabilities to be
charged as ‘appeasing’ the Muslims. Is denial of justice an
appeasement of Muslims ? When we know who have done it then where is
the problem ?
But the governments which live on police, use them as a tool for their
own purposes, will never have the courage to act against them. That is
the reality of Hashimpura and elsewhere. In no communal caste conflict
have we reached any conclusion because their deaths and killings have
become the biggest issue to polarize the atmosphere. This country can
fear justice to polarization. It does not bother that two communities
are being dragged in politics and that one is not getting justice. It
is most unfortunately that after 1989, Uttar Pradesh did not see any
Congress governments but that of socialists, Bahujans, Hindutva and
every other shade but none of them bothered to visit these people,
meet them and share their agony and pains. We can blame Congress for
all its sins but what about those who claims to be ‘bigger’ ‘seculars’
than Congress party ?
It is therefore essential that Muslim use all the legal tools and also
question political parties on these counts. They cannot take them for
granted. It is time, Indian state show sign of accountability to
Muslims and not push them to wall to go and approach international
courts of justice. We hope Supreme Court will be keeping an eye on it
and we need special courts under monitoring of Supreme Court to have
day to day hearing on these issues. Unless justice is provided to
people of Hashimpura and many others like them, such acquittals will
remain dark chapters of Indian judiciary.