(The Times of India
22 March 2007)
Unfinished justice
by Harsh Mander
Five years after the events of 2002, a great deal desperately remains to be done for the people of Gujarat who suffered some of the most brutal communal violence — especially targeting women and children — since Independence.
Since law and order is a state subject, the central government pleads its inability to intervene to secure justice for the survivors of the 2002 carnage, citing constitutional propriety in a federal structure.
But Article 355 of the Constitution authorises, indeed requires, it to intervene in situations of grave internal strife.
There is perhaps no instance since Independence of such open and sustained denial to a segment of citizens — of elementary rights of security, livelihood, shelter and legal justice — only on the grounds of its adherence to a minority faith.
This is an eminently appropriate reason for the Centre to step in with binding directions to the state govern-ment.
Its failure to do so amounts to its abdication of its duties to defend the secular democratic ideals of the Constitution.
The state government has not restored even a sense of security and equal citizenship to the affected persons, which is evidenced by the fact that almost five years after the mass communal violence, several thousand people have still not returned to their original homes and are losing hope of doing so in the future.
Many have moved out of the state, others have bought or rented homes in the burgeoning Muslim ghettos that offer sectarian security, and around 30,000 who have not returned to their homes are living in 81 makeshift relief colonies that the state government refuses to acknowledge, let alone equip with basic human facilities.
Socio-economic boycott is a reality in majority of the villages that were affected by the violence in 2002, though it is not always obvious at first glance.
The state government has given meagre compensation, and has no rehabilitation package in place to aid the affected rebuild their homes and livelihoods.
Witnesses remain under great pressure to not give evidence against those who attacked them and destroyed their homes; often it is a precondition for returning to their homes.
With the police, courts and prosecution being openly biased, criminal cases against the accused are sinking like stones in a turgid pool.
The central government recently announced a compensation package based on the most progressive features of the one given to the survivors of the 1984 riots.
While this is a welcome move, the home minister followed it up with a retraction, and confusion conti-nues to prevail about the status of this announcement.
The central government appears characteristically defensive in putting its lot with people who have had to live amidst hate and fear with tacit or open state support.
Similarly, the anti-democratic law, POTA, has been repealed, but without retrospective effect. The result is that the state government is free to misuse this draconian Act to victimise and incarcerate members of the minority community for many years, with very little evidence.
To counter the unprecedented subversion of the criminal justice system, the central government should empower the National Human Rights Commission to re-examine all cases of closure, acquittal and bail, and if it finds prima facie miscarriage of justice at the stages of complaint, investigation, prosecution and trial, it should be empowered to order and supervise a retrial.
The central government must also establish norms to ensure prosecution of all civil and police officers, and political leaders, who failed in their responsibility to prevent and control violence, protect victims, and extend relief and rehabilitation.
There were a few police officers who performed their duties with exemplary fairness and courage during the carnage. They were subsequently penalised by the state government with punishment postings.
A special task force should be set up to monitor and take appropriate action against all individuals and organisations that preach or provoke hatred amongst people on the grounds of faith.
It should take cognizance of the systematic manufacture of hatred against minorities through textbooks and ensure their immediate replacement with a liberal curriculum, which actively promotes secularism, equity, respect for all faiths, and democracy. India cannot afford the shame, agony and betrayal of another Gujarat.
The writer works for Aman Biradari.
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