s
this issue is being readied for publication (Monday, June 6), CNN-IBN
has telecast an exclusive interview with a retired top cop from
Gujarat reinforcing the charge that Chief Minister Narendra Modi
ordered the police to “let Hindus vent their anger”. It is evident
from the interview with retired director general of police (DGP) RN
Bhattacharya that during the genocidal killings in 2002 the
Constitution of India was the last thing on the minds of many in the
state whose bounden duty it was to impartially enforce the rule of
law. (Bhattacharya was then
additional director general of police, in charge of anti-corruption.)
The former DGP told CNN-IBN that there was a feeling among officers
that the lower-ranking officials had failed to safeguard the rights of
the citizens. As head of the IPS Officers’ Association in Gujarat, he
had called a meeting in the midst of the mass killing to discuss the
issue. As many as 40 IPS officers had attended the meeting and passed
a resolution stating that they must fulfil their constitutional duty.
What’s more, Bhattacharya fully backs deputy
inspector-general of police (DIGP) Sanjiv Bhatt who filed an affidavit
before the Supreme Court in mid-April affirming that he was present at
the meeting of top officials called by Modi on the evening of February
27, 2002 at which he issued his “Muslims must be taught a lesson”
firman. Questioning the state government’s stance before the Nanavati
Commission that Bhatt was not a credible witness, he asserted: “I have
worked with Sanjiv Bhatt when I was DG (intelligence). I have found
him to be a highly reliable man.”
That adds up to four IPS officers in Gujarat who
held senior positions during the 2002 genocide pointing fingers
straight at the man who was given a new middle name by numerous
political commentators and activists in 2002: Milosevic. The charge
against him is very serious: Sworn to uphold constitutional
principles, the chief political executive of the state instead misused
his office to sponsor the genocidal targeting of Gujarat’s Muslims.
The four officers are: DGP RB Sreekumar (retired), DIGP Rahul Sharma
(serving), DIGP Sanjiv Bhatt (serving) and DGP RN Bhattacharya
(retired). The first three spoke out while in service, the last man
did so post-retirement.
Modi shamefully misused his position in 2002 and
has continued to do so ever since. While pliable police officers have
been generously rewarded, his response to officers who upheld the rule
of law can be summed up in one word: vindictiveness. Sreekumar was not
only denied promotion to the rank of DGP but was also sought to be
implicated (unsuccessfully) in a long buried case. The Central
Administrative Tribunal (CAT) ruled in his favour but his promotion in
2007 came just a day before his retirement. Sharma has been served
with a show-cause notice for handing over cellphone call records of
February-March 2002 to the Supreme Court-appointed Special
Investigation Team (SIT). CC readers will recall that these
records reveal how, during the carnage, politicians, police officers
and civil servants were in constant touch with the field commanders
who directed the killings. The moment Bhatt filed his affidavit before
the Supreme Court, the security routinely provided to an officer of
his rank was withdrawn. What the state administration and police,
which have been functioning as Modi’s private militia, will now do, or
can do, to Bhattacharya, who has already retired, remains to be seen.
If the disclosure by top cops damns Modi, it is simultaneously a
severe indictment of the SIT. Appointed by the apex court to probe the
role of Modi and 61 other top politicians, police officers and civil
servants, the SIT chose an Operation Cover-Up.
As is only to be expected, Modi’s vindictiveness is
not reserved for police officers alone. Teesta Setalvad, secretary,
Citizens for Justice and Peace, CJP, (and CC co-editor) has
been a target, especially since September 2010. For regular readers of
Communalism Combat, the reason for this shouldn’t be difficult
to fathom: on behalf of CJP, she has been at the forefront of the
legal battle for justice for the victims and survivor witnesses of the
carnage and punishment of the guilty. If the net is rapidly closing in
on Modi and his band of mass murderers, it has much to do with her
relentless pursuit that now threatens to trap the Gujarat chief
minister in a pincer movement. On one side, the Supreme Court has
directed the amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran to make an independent
assessment of the evidence recorded by the SIT, meet deponents if need
be and report to the apex court by July 28, independent of the SIT. On
the other, the prospects of nearly 350 accused – including BJP leaders
and senior functionaries of the VHP and Bajrang Dal as also errant
police officers – being convicted in the eight major carnage cases
that are underway in Gujarat are quite high.
That is why Teesta Setalvad is being targeted. We
are grateful to our community of secular activists and human rights
defenders who have joined battle by launching the Committee for the
Defence of Teesta Setalvad and Justice in Gujarat.
