Will the biases about terrorists remain permanent?
Ram Puniyani
We have witnessed number of acts of terror in India, during last
two decades. While those involved in the acts of terror have been coming from individuals
of different religions, the net outcome of the actions of investigation
agencies and police has been to arrest Muslim youth, to put charges against
them and in most cases to release them after the charges are not proved on any
ground. This pattern had a ‘mini-break’ for sometime after the Malegaon blast
of 2008. The professional, unbiased and meticulous investigation of the
Malegaon blast by the then chief of Maharashtra ATS, Hemant Karkare came as a
big step in getting to the terrorists. Due to this; starting from Sadhvi Pragya
Singh Thakur, Swami Dayanand Pandey, Swami Aseemanand and many others belonging
to the ideology of Hindutva nationalism are currently cooling their heels in
the jails. Investigations into Malegaon and many other blasts are showing the imprint
of these Hindutva groups and people. One thought that this major breakthrough
into acts of investigation will change the mind set of police authorities and
they will overcome their biases and do a more professional job in investigation
into the acts of terror.
Alas that was not to be and guided by Pavlovian reflex, in a
knee jerk fashion, police continues to repeat its pattern of giving statements
immediately after the acts of terror in which the organizations like Indian
Mujahedeen. Lashkar and others continue to be being named without a thorough
probe. This is followed by the usual arrests and framing them. Recently first
in the case of Hyderabad twin blasts on 21 February 2013 in which 17
people died and over hindered were injured. These bombs were kept on a bicycle
and Indian Mujahideen were blamed for this dastardly act. Later in Bangalore on
17th April a bomb exploded 300 meters from the BJP office. For
this blast a motorcycle was used. In this blast around 16 people were injured.
It was propagated that the blast took place near BJP office! As usual Indian
Mujahedeen were blamed. In this blast again there was an additional factor
about propaganda that blast took place near BJP office, when in reality the
blast was 300 meters away from the spot. Congress spokesperson Shakil Ahmad
said that this blast and the propaganda of its being near BJP office will
benefit BJP in the forthcoming elections, while another Congress spokesperson
and BJP countered the statement of Shakil Ahmad.
In Bangalore blast, the preceding incidents are very disturbing
and revealing. Just ten days before the Bangalore blast, on sixth April in
Kannur (Kerala) a blast took place from the motorcycle and RSS swayamsevak A.
V. Dileep Kumar who was carrying four kilograms of explosives died. One recalls
that the RSS associates also got killed in blasts in Nanded, Kanpur and many
other places. This Kannur incident was underplayed and not much is known about
the investigation so far as such. It is interesting that police authorities who
immediately named Indian Mujahidin have been totally silent on the Hindutva
connection of probable terrorists, as by now the nation knows the involvement
of Hindutva groups in many acts of terror. The real loser of these biases held
by authorities and common people is the country as a whole. The real reason
being that if we don’t nab the real culprits and remain trapped in the usual
prejudices and biases, the real culprits will continue to carry on their
nefarious work over and over again.
As such apart from
other things on this trend of Muslim youth being arrested a good amount of
documentation and people’s investigation has been done by various human rights
groups. ANHAD held a people’s tribunal and published it report, ‘Scapegoats and
Holy Cows’. Lately a significant report by Jamia Teachers Solidarity
Association led by Manisha Sethi has published 'Framed, Damned, and Acquitted’. This report
in a analytic way tells us the stereotypical manner of police investigation and
actions and the plight of those who were arrested particularly by the Delhi
Police Special Cell on charges of these youth being part of terrorist outfits.
In most of these cases they were acquitted by courts. This report as such
should have created awareness about the police methods and a pressure on police
to mend its ways. The report also points that the biased atmosphere has been created
as media is publishing the police version uncritically. This is in contrast to
the journalistic ethics where the official versions have to be checked, cross
checked and examined critically before publishing them. The human rights groups
also have been struggling for getting compensation to these victims in good
measure but to no avail so far. And then the question comes up as to what about
the police officers who are guilty of these acts of wrongful investigation and
implicating innocent youth, ruining their life in a serious way? Should they
not be punished?
The pattern of police
reporting is also very stereotypical and needs to be seriously criticized. The
question is what the senior leadership is doing in the face of findings of
these reports. Is it not important for the policy makers to take cognizance of
such important reports and respond to them in the form of policy change for the
investigation authorities?
Amongst others another
human rights group, Rihai Manch from Uttar Pradesh is also campaigning on this
issue and trying to get the innocent youth released. UP Government had
appointed a Nimesh Commission to investigate these cases, but for reasons known
to itself the government is not releasing the report and is doing some patch
work here and there.
While UP Government is
dodging over the issue of implicating the Muslim youth, one of its ministers is
having the taste of these biases in United States, where he was detained at
Boston. While he is blaming Indian External Affairs Minister for this, he is
forgetting that these biases against Muslims are equally widespread and before
him, people of the stature of ex President Abdul Kalam and the celebrity like
Shah Rukh Khan have faced similar situations. Is it not an indication enough
for the UP minister to set his own house in order as for as the implication of
Muslim youth in acts of terror are concerned. The
real worrying point of all these incidents is the way biases against Muslims
are becoming rooted more and more. What efforts are needed to counter this
stereotypical nature of understanding security agencies and perceptions at
popular level needs a serious course correction on urgent basis.