The wrong
arm of the law
The statewide targeting of Christians in BJP-ruled Karnataka in 2008,
even as Adivasi Christians in Orissa’s Kandhamal district were being
hounded under a coalition government of which the BJP was a partner,
caused a huge national and internal outrage. In response, the Karnataka
government appointed the Justice BK Somasekhara Commission to probe the
widespread violence. An interim report of the commission, made public
last year, suggested that the final report would be a severe indictment
of various organisations owing allegiance to Hindutva. The final report
submitted by the commission is yet to be tabled in the Karnataka
assembly. But parts of the final report which have been made public
suggest a shameful turnaround whereby the sangh parivar’s
affiliate organisations have been given a clean chit. Meanwhile, the
People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), South Kanara, and
Transparency International India, Karnataka chapter, have released the
findings of an independent inquiry into the violence against Christians,
churches and prayer halls in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Bangalore in
2008. The report of this inquiry conducted by Justice Michael F.
Saldanha, a retired judge of the Karnataka high court, brings to light
the full horror of the violence unleashed against Christians by Hindutva
forces with the full complicity of the police.
We reproduce below excerpts from the Report of the People’s Tribunal
Inquiry followed by a critical evaluation of the conduct of the
Somasekhara Commission.
The attacks that took place on September 14, 2008
were well planned, premeditated and executed with precision, as I found
out to my distress when I conducted this inquiry. What was very
significant was the fact that wherever this took place, the police
protection was zero vis-ŕ-vis the victims though they were providing
leadership and cover to the attackers, shocking as it may appear; but in
the immediate aftermath, it was the police who were the main assailants,
aided and abetted by the saffron political activists. Again, there was
absolutely no doubt about the origin of the violence because Mahendra
Kumar, the local president of the Bajrang Dal wherever the attacks took
place, has appeared repeatedly before the media (on 37 recorded
occasions), claiming full responsibility for what was done and even
promising to step up the violence. The same position holds good as far
as Pramod Mutalik, head of the Rama Sene, goes. …
Shortly after the attacks, the local RSS chief in his
public exhortation before Dussehra incited his followers by stating that
“this Dussehra when the Ayudha Puja is done, do not do the puja of your
implements of trade, as was the old custom, but do the puja to
trishuls, knives and talwars (swords), as these will have to
be used against the Christians and the Muslims. This sensational speech
was carried on the front pages of all the dailies in the state and by
the TV channels…
Immediately after September 14, 2008, oral instructions
had been issued by the home minister personally, which the heads of the
police stations admitted on over a dozen occasions to me, that whenever
a complaint was received against any member of the Christian community
on the allegation that attempts were being made to convert, the person
should be arrested, bail should be opposed and that they should be given
a good beating while in custody. Whereas prior to September 14, 2008,
there had not been a single arrest under these provisions of law
anywhere in the state, suddenly, hundreds of cases were being
registered. The shocking part of the incidents were that the local
courts refused bail for months in every case. …
During the months of September to December 2008, and to
a large extent in the months that followed, the BJP government in
Karnataka had given the Bajrang Dal a free hand to run wild,
particularly in the Karavali area. Groups of young activists would be
driving two-wheelers, jeeps and cars prominently flying saffron flags as
an intimidatory gesture to all other communities. This had never
happened before. These persons would indulge in violence at the
slightest pretext, most of the time without any cause. The police
stations and the hospitals had been instructed by the home department
not to entertain and register any complaints from the victims and within
a few weeks it was clear all over the state, particularly the Karavali
area, that it was useless approaching any of these forums. What
distresses me particularly is the fact that this infection had spread
both to the Bar and to the subordinate judiciary in the whole of the
area. A good percentage of the lawyers openly proclaimed allegiance to
the BJP. …
There were no less than over a hundred incidents within
a short period of time where boys and girls belonging to the Muslim and
Christian communities were mercilessly beaten up, kidnapped, abducted
and terrorised on the ground that they were associating with members of
another community. There were as many as 218 such incidents reported
from all over the state, the bulk of them from the Dakshina Kannada
district. In not even one of these cases was anybody arrested.
Anticipatory bail was freely available and in the small number of
instances where some limited action was taken by the police, principally
under public pressure, the subordinate judiciary was quick to grant bail
within minutes with the police and prosecutors actively cooperating. (Foreword)
Destruction of evidence
Then comes the nicest part of the operation. The home
department had instructed the police to get hold of the local
shopkeepers and workmen to immediately restore all the damage that had
taken place. Broken glass was replaced, damage to all other items was
undone and the pastors were told that the government has instructed the
police to ensure that whatever damage has taken place is immediately
undone. The speed at which this counter-operation was undertaken was
absolutely amazing. To my mind, this was a brilliant move on the part of
the state government because on the one hand, the congregation was
beaten up, they were terrorised and in every single instance, items such
as mangalsutras, gold chains and other valuables, including
ladies’ handbags, watches and men’s purses, were physically looted, the
place was vandalised, and after all of this, a pious impression was
projected by the police on behalf of the government that the authorities
were very concerned over the incident and had decided to make good all
the damage. By following such a brilliant procedure the government was
able to officially state that not a single incident of this type had
taken place and that the allegations with regard to these incidents are
not only false but are motivated. (Chapter XVI, The Sathyadarshini
Controversy)
False propaganda
In justification for the attacks against the community
and the places of worship, the saffron brigade, and particularly the
Bajrang Dal leaders, officially proclaimed that the Christian community
has been circulating a publication entitled Sathyadarshini and
that this publication contains highly offensive references to Hinduism,
to Hindu deities, and that the statements are so very bad that they are
in fact obscene in many instances. Not only did the leaders proclaim
this in writing, and issued numerous press statements, but for a period
of about two months they referred to this extensively on the electronic
media and the TV statements put out the argument that since the
Christian community had attacked Hinduism and Hindu beliefs,
counter-attacks were necessary. In as many as 19 instances in different
parts of the state where the activists vandalised churches and prayer
halls belonging to denominations other than the Catholics, the strange
part of it was that copies of this publication were alleged to have been
in circulation but were never seized. …
In the two open meetings that were held with the chief
minister and the home minister where several of their cabinet colleagues
were present I had asked that since the issue was so very serious, the
government should be in a position to produce at least one copy of this
publication so that we could ascertain for ourselves as to what were the
contents. The director-general of police (DGP) and the commissioner of
police (CP), Bangalore, as also the superintendents of police (SPs) of
Mangalore, Udupi, Chikmagalur and Davangere, were present. None of them
was in a position to produce the material… As a face-saving device, the
SPs in question stated that the police had raided all the churches and
prayer halls as also other areas and searched them very meticulously but
they could not find a single copy with anybody. (Chapter XVI, The
Sathyadarshini Controversy)
Silencing the media
Only that section of the press and TV who were
supportive were liberally fed with funds running into hundreds of crores
of rupees by the state government through all sorts of dubious heads.
For instance, 17 huge functions were held in honour of Swami Vivekananda
all over the state and Rs 870 crore were spent by the state government
in just seven weeks. The twofold objective of these activities was aimed
at terrorising the local population because those attending would
invariably indulge in a show of force on the way to these venues and on
the way back. What was characteristic was the fact that apart from the
leading politicians of the state government at all levels attending
these functions, hundreds of KSRTC (Karnataka State Road
Transport Corporation) buses and government vehicles were all mobilised
for them… The Times of India, which is basically a
neutral paper, published a news report on August 31, 2008 to the effect
that in response to a query under the Right to Information Act, the
chief secretary of the state government had admitted that in the
preceding period, which covered just five months, the state government
had spent Rs 3,118 crore on these activities. This was apart from an
amount of Rs 289 crore which the chief minister had personally (again
out of state funds) donated to various maths and Hindu religious
places which he had visited. (Chapter XVII, The Editor, Seetaram Case
– Attacks on the Media)
Throttling a free press
There is a small publication in the Karavali area which
is a daily paper in the Kannada language and it is extremely popular in
the whole of this belt. The name of this paper is Karavali Ale.
The editor of this paper is BV Seetaram. He also brings out an English
edition called The Canara Times which is published once a week.
Seetaram, popularly known as BVSee, not only carried regular reports and
pictures of the communal atrocities but he also wrote strong editorials
disapproving of the atrocities and condemning them. He and his entire
team received numerous threats over the telephone and were even
subjected to physical violence from time to time with absolutely no
relief from the police. His office was regularly stoned and vandalised
and despite whatever security measures he could afford, damage to
property became a regular affair. Instead of being intimidated, BVSee
kept up the campaign.
One Sunday morning a Jain sadhu took out a procession
through one of the main roads of Mangalore city. The sadhu was nude, as
that was his religious custom, and he was leading the procession with a
group of his followers. This incident created a controversy in the area
because it was a predominantly Christian part of town and the procession
went through the area at the same time when the majority of the
residents were making their way to the church for the Sunday mass. There
were no confrontations… One of the readers wrote a strong letter to the
editor in which he stated that obscenity is an offence under the Indian
Penal Code and that even if it is done on religious grounds, if the
offence is committed in a public place, it is actionable under law
because it is highly offensive to the general public.
It so happened that BVSee published this letter. The
government and the authorities were just waiting for an opportunity to
hit back at him. He and his wife were arrested under half a dozen
charges of inciting communal disharmony, etc and two criminal cases were
registered against them, one in Mangalore and the second one in the
chief minister’s home town of Shimoga. His wife had nothing to do with
the publication; she was only a director of the company. BVSee had
nothing [directly] to do with the publication of the letter, which was
done in routine course by the news editor and the staff. The two of them
were arrested by the police late in the evening on a weekend. When they
asked for bail, it was refused… The two of them were put in the
filthiest possible lock-up which was virtually stinking and infested
with rats and every other form of vermin. They had the most notorious
antisocial elements for company and the police refused to even allow
them clothes or home food on the ground that they had instructions from
the highest quarters in Bangalore i.e. the home minister himself not to
allow this. …
BVSee’s lawyers applied to the high court, pointing out
the conduct of the police and the magistrate. Not only did the high
court straightaway order the release of both of them on bail but passed
severe strictures against the police for registering an office which was
supposed to be on the basis of the letter that had appeared in the paper
regarding the naked procession of the Jain muni. The refusal to grant
bail by the magistrate at his residence was held to be downright
improper and motivated and the manner in which the bail application was
deliberately delayed and dilated came in for condemnation from the high
court. The high court even directed that a disciplinary inquiry be held
against the judicial officer for the biased manner in which he had
conducted himself. Nothing happened. …
This incident had a chilling effect on other
publications, all of whom decided that it was too dangerous to invite
similar steps against themselves. It must be said to the credit of BVSee
that despite threats, regular attacks at his office and attacks on his
editorial staff, they continued their campaign and, not surprisingly,
this was highly appreciated by the readers and the popularity of the
paper increased by about 10 times. The church attack incidents had swung
public opinion heavily against the state government all over the country
and all over the world and this was the reason why the police and the
state government did not openly attack Seetaram for some time. It was
however clear that they were looking for an opportunity.
All of a sudden, attacks were started against the
distribution channels. The bundles of the newspaper were targeted in the
course of distribution, forcibly seized and burnt. More than a hundred
complaints were filed with the police, even pointing out the names of
the persons doing this, but they refused to act. It became exceedingly
difficult for the paper to be distributed to the cities, towns and
villages because it was being targeted at the distribution points. The
more effective tactic that was used was that every newspaper seller was
attacked and beaten up if he so much as kept even one copy of this
paper. This was being done on a daily basis. …
[O]n a Sunday evening… BVSee and his wife had decided to
visit a temple some distance outside the city. A jeep and two police
vans turned up at his residence where his student daughter was alone.
They forced their way into the house on the ground that they had to
search the place. Extensive damage was caused, a lot of valuables and
cash disappeared from the place and the police party left. They had
obtained information as to where BVSee was going and all of a sudden, at
a lonely place in the dark, the police jeep overtook his car and stopped
it. The police officers told BVSee that he was under arrest but refused
to disclose the charges. His driver was ordered to follow the police
jeep with the two vans behind the car. For the next hour this convoy
proceeded from area to area in the hope of finding a sufficiently lonely
place. Despite attempts for over an hour… they found it extremely
difficult to find the secluded spot that they were looking for. BVSee
and his wife were terrified principally because the district police have
become infamous for the number of so-called “encounter killings” that
they have been involved in. …
When the attempts to assassinate BVSee and his wife
failed, they were driven to the police station in Udupi. They were made
to sit there for about two hours and the police refused to disclose the
ground on which they were being arrested. Udupi, incidentally, is the
home base of the state home minister. The operations were being directed
by Home Minister Acharya’s doctor son. Finally, at about 10:00 p.m., the
police informed BVSee that there was a non-bailable warrant issued
against him by one of the courts and that he was under arrest pursuant
to this. …
[The] magistrate refused bail and BVSee was retained in
custody for the night. …
The next morning, in order to humiliate him, BVSee was
chained hand and foot and was paraded through the court premises in
Udupi. There are photographs of this in the national and international
media. His lawyer raised a serious objection to a newspaper editor being
chained as though he was a dangerous criminal. …
The horror story does not end there… A habeas corpus
petition was filed before the high court and the court immediately
intervened and stopped the atrocities of the state government. This
petition was heard a few days later. The judges were virtually livid;
they directed his immediate release and ordered compensatory costs of Rs
10,000. …
The world needs to know what happened to Seetaram
because it is one of the blackest chapters in Karnataka’s judicial
history and one of the most shameful in the annals of journalism. The
home minister, Acharya’s sons have a website that drips with
fundamentalist venom. The man who wrote one of the most vicious articles
against the Christian community has recently been awarded a PhD by the
Karnataka University on the recommendation of the state education
minister. The editor of the paper, Vijaya Karnataka, who
published this and dozens of similar articles and editorials, was also
recommended for a PhD by the same politician .When the matter was
brought to the notice of the governor and the university was asked how
such a man could qualify for an honorary doctorate, the guilty
vice-chancellor and his team removed the award from the convocation
agenda on the eve of the convocation. Despite two FIRs (first
information reports) against these two individuals for inciting communal
disharmony, the Mangalore police openly admit that they were directed by
Acharya himself not to proceed and to close the cases. Another newspaper
in the city of Mangalore has been regularly targeting the Muslim
community by publishing the most offensive articles and the state
government is protecting this editor despite prosecuting others who did
so and caused communal riots and curfew over the last few weeks. If this
is not a total butchery of the principles of secularism, nothing else
is. (Chapter XVII, The Editor, Seetaram Case – Attacks on the
Media)
(The ‘Report of the People’s Tribunal Inquiry: State
Terrorism – Tyranny (A Report on the Attacks on Minorities and their
Places of Worship in Karnataka)’ by Justice Michael F. Saldanha,
published by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, South Kanara and
Transparency International India, Karnataka chapter, was released in
February 2011.)
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