Supreme Court order on Gujarat cases (Edit., Hindustan Times)

The Hindustan Times, August 19, 2004 Pg 10: Edit Page

Shut and open case
August 18

The Supreme Court order to the Gujarat government to set up a high-level police team headed by the director-general of police to examine which of the 2,000 post-Godhra massacre cases need to be reopened is a triumph for Indian democracy. Credit for this must go to civil society groups, which have fought against all odds to keep the issue from being relegated into the forgotten corners of history.

The apex court’s firm and unyielding pronouncements in cases related to the Gujarat pogrom have shown that state governments cannot take recourse to state’s rights when they bypass the fundamental rights of the citizens. This is a principle that is being increasingly applied to even nations that turn a blind eye to the rights of their own citizens, witness the UN Security Council warning to Sudan on the Darfur affair. While the court’s direction is for the police to re-examine riot cases, hopefully it will not require the trials to be moved out of the state because of the lack of cooperation by the officials.

The Supreme Court’s harsh indictment of both the state government and the police for their inaction in first curbing the violence, and then prosecuting the accused, is unprecedented. But as in the case of Nazis in Europe, there can be no statute of limitation when it comes to murder. There is no reason why even now, authorities take another look to see why justice has not been done in the Sikh massacres in Delhi in 1984. As for the Gujarat cases, it is much too early to celebrate. It is important to keep pressure bearing on our law-enforcing agencies till the guilty are brought to book. Accounts of the Gujarat police’s senior officers before the Nanavati and Shah commissions are bringing out their disgraceful conduct in the face of the massacres. The apex court order now gives the police force an opportunity to redeem its shameful reputation.