The Hindu : Preventing killings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 01, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Leader Page Articles

Preventing killings

By Kuldip Nayar

The high incidence of extra-judicial killings demonstrates that the Government has failed to take effective measures to ensure that the right to life, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, is respected.

BELIEVE IT or not, the Disinvestment Minister, Arun Shourie, is a founder-member of the People's Union for Civil Liberties. The other day, asked what could upset a Government decision at the last minute, he said public interest litigation (PIL) and threat by a trade union. The remark violates the very essence of human rights and reflects an insensitivity to the needs and compulsions of those struggling for justice and all that the PUCL has stood for. Both the PIL and a strike are methods of getting one's due through democratic measures when there is no other recourse. Both are instruments to ventilate grievances that a sympathetic administration should have remedied itself.

A PIL, Mr. Shourie should know, comes in handy to activists when they find that the long procedural legal delays will not allow immediate justice. Certain wrongs require quick attention. The activists, without having to pay a heavy legal fee, can approach the court straightaway for a hearing. If some power-crazy politician or a hardened bureaucrat takes exception to such a remedy it is understandable. But it is unfortunate if it comes from a person who has rubbed shoulders with the torchbearers of civil liberties and human rights. Or was the PUCL a passing phase in the case of Mr. Shourie? Like the PIL, trade union activity is also an expression against injustice towards workers. Such associations have every right to protest and promote their interests. The remedy is not to run down trade unions but to understand their point of view and associate them with the decision-making process. Workers do not go on strike unthinkingly. The situation generally leaves them with no other option. They know the sufferings they and their families would go through. But when driven to the wall they have to fight.

But why blame Mr. Shourie alone? The entire functioning of the NDA Government reflects an attitude devoid of values and norms, not to speak of human rights. The Government is so obsessed with sants and sadhus that it has little time for NGOs or human rights activists. In fact, it harasses them all the time and there is hardly any meeting of activists where people from the intelligence agencies do not appear to record who the speakers are and what they say. The Sangh Parivar meetings, however provocative, have never evoked the Government's attention, much less concern.

In the name of terrorism and security, every act of omission and commission by the Government is sought to be defended. Instances of POTA misuse are multiplying. The Deputy Prime Minister's defence does not mean anything. Previous Governments, which had preventive laws, said all things to justify them. But the misuse never stopped. The police, despite numerous conferences at the top, remain more as a force to tyrannise people than help them. So highhanded have they become in their working that the Supreme Court has asked for an explanation of high custodial deaths.

Mr. Shourie, there was no PIL. The Supreme Court on its own took notice of the police excesses. In India, the euphemism `encounter killings' has been used since the 1960s to describe extra-judicial killings because of the frequency with which officials claim that the deceased had been killed in an `encounter'. The high incidence of extra-judicial killings demonstrates that the Government has failed to take effective measures to ensure that the right to life, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, is respected.

Patna witnessed mass protests against the killing of three youths in an allegedly fake encounter three months ago. The families of the deceased accused the police of concocting the `encounter' story and falsely claiming that stolen vehicles were recovered from the scene. A dawn-to-dusk general strike or bandh was called in Patna in protest. In response, the State Government ordered a CID probe into the killing. Six policemen were reportedly suspended in connection with the case.

An `encounter killing' was reported on January 13 in Gujarat. In Ahmedabad, the police shot dead 25-year-old Sadiq Jamal Mehtar, who, they alleged, was on a mission to kill the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. The police claimed they fired at him "in self-defence". This was the second such incident following the events of early 2002. In October 2002, another `militant' Samirkhan Pathan, who had allegedly planned to "kill" Mr. Modi was gunned down in an `encounter'. Terrorism was reportedly discussed threadbare recently at the meetings of Chief Ministers, Chief Secretaries and Directors-General of Police. But little does the administration realise that it too, probably unwittingly, contributes to terrorism. Study the profile of most terrorists and one can see that they hardened in proportion to the treatment meted out to them. Human rights activists are not letting the grass grow under their feet. Many of them have grouped themselves in different ways to fight against communalism on the one hand and what goes under the name of the WTO on the other. One group, Desh Bachao, Desh Banao (Save the country, make the country) led by Medha Patkar, has embarked on a march from Palakkad, Kerala, to Ayodhya. The purpose of the march, which began on January 26 and will conclude at the end of March, is to highlight the repercussions of what the Hindutva people and the WTO adherents are doing to the country.

Ms. Patkar writes from the field: "Although we are physically tired, the spirits are elated. Environmentalists to trade unionists, and Gandhians to Marxists are together in almost every meeting. The unity among the unorganised sectors, and in many places with the organised sector unions, was visible. Intellectuals from various fields are coming to the meetings. There is a spirit which is unique and people indeed expect that we will convert the march into a national movement."

Somewhat similar has been the effort of Muslim intellectuals who, along with some Hindu activists, undertook a countrywide tour from January 10 to 19. Saiyid Hamid, former Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, who led the "Caravan of Peace", says in his report: "The response everywhere was reassuring. The composition of the caravan and the well-reasoned speeches revolving round the goal of inter-communal harmony were very well received. The caravan was taken to represent the conscience and tradition of India. At a few places, apprehensions were voiced about the intention of the extremists to repeat Gujarat; on the whole the climate of public opinion did not appear to favour or even envisage such an eventuality.

"Although Godhra and Gujarat had a very adverse reaction in most parts of the country, the fact remains that fundamentalists are much better prepared and organised than persons who believe in democracy and secularism and the values of an enlightened society. The need for dispelling the misconception about Muslims and Christians was invariably stressed during the course of the discussions. This would require a persistent effort. It was also felt that the communal criminals should not go unpunished and the cover of immunity, which they seemed to enjoy, should be dismantled. For this purpose, the existing laws should be strictly enforced and new legislation introduced, where necessary. It has also emerged that the two major communities should try to find out as to what in respect of one is considered most irksome by the other."

The high level of public interest creates an opportunity to refocus attention on the alarming frequency with which killings have occurred, both in the name of religion and security. However irritating Mr. Shourie's remarks, the fight to protect human rights has to go on relentlessly.

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