Jaipur public tribunal on terror   Preliminary Jury Findings and Recommendatioms

Jaipur public tribunal on terror in the name of countering terror

By YOGINDER SIKAND, TwoCircles.net

2008 DECEMBER 10

Last month, the Rajasthan unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, along with several other human rights’ groups, organised a two-day public hearing in Jaipur on the theme State Responses in the Name of Countering Terrorism and Religious Conversion. It was attended by a large number of activists from various parts of Rajasthan and beyond.

In his opening remarks, the noted social activist and scholar Ram Puniyani spoke about how communal violence in India is now being rapidly transformed into organized pogroms against Muslims in which key sections of the state and the media are playing a major role. Condemning all forms of terror, including that engaged in by some fringe Muslim outfits, Puniayni opined that what he called ‘Hindutva terrorism’ today threatens to take the form of full-blown fascism, which, while ostensibly targeted against Muslims and Christians, actually aims at preserving the status quo in terms of caste/class relations and also in promoting global imperialist forces. Lamenting the silence of the media on ‘Hindutva terrorism’, he claimed that it was possible that several other terror attacks that India has recently witnessed other than those that occurred in Malegaon could also have been the handiwork of Hindutva groups. He stressed the importance of public tribunals as this one to articulate the voices of the victims of state terror in a context when there was little hope for justice from the courts and the state machinery. ‘There now seem to be two different systems of justice in this country’, he claimed, arguing that it was increasingly difficult for Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and the poor in general to gain succour from the courts, the police and the media.

Sandeep Pandey

Magsaysay Award-winner and social activist from Lucknow Sandeep Pandey spoke at length about what he saw as the deliberate hounding of innocent Muslim youths across the country wrongly accused by the police and intelligence agencies of being involved in acts of terror. He focussed particularly on one case that he has sought to intervene in—that of a Muslim youth from Lucknow, Shahbaz Hussain, who continues to be in jail, accused of being behind the deadly bomb attacks that ripped through Jaipur some months ago. Pandey and some of his colleagues had visited Shahbaz’s house and were convinced, so he said, that he was actually innocent. He cited another instance where he had personally intervened to help stop a fake encounter that had been planned by a police officer and an army colonel involving a Kashmiri youth whom they had planned to shoot and then falsely brand as a terrorist. This had been plotted soon after what Pandey called the ‘fake Batla House encounter’. The intention, he said, was probably to ‘prove’ that just as the police in other states were picking up Muslims whom they had accused of as being ‘terrorists’, the UP police ‘wanted to show that they, too, were doing something.’

Nilabh Mishra, editor of the Outlook Hindi magazine, echoed somewhat the same sentiments. He accused sections of the media for simply parroting the police version of events in cases of terror attacks for which Muslims were invariably blamed, and remarked how the mounting anti-Muslim prejudices spread by this section of the media was doing irreparable harm to inter-community relations in the country and communalizing vital pillars of the state machinery, including the police and the judiciary. ‘This represents an organised effort to hijack the pillars of the establishment’, he stressed.

Senior Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan remarked about how he believed that ‘Hindutva organizations in India enjoy almost unfettered freedom to defy the law, to massacre people in their hundreds, with no action being taken by the state against them.’ And, despite this, he added, ‘they are referred to as patriots, not as terrorists, which is what they actually are.’ He pointed out that Hindutva forces are desperately seeking to export what they call the ‘Gujarat model’ all mover the country by resorting to terror attacks, blaming them on Muslims and then seeking to galvanise Hindu support. He spoke about the large number of Muslim youths, wrongly accused of being terrorists, who continue to languish in jails. Several incarcerated Muslims, who, when found innocent by the courts and released, do not even get an apology, let alone any compensation for being picked up, imprisoned and even brutally tortured. For the rest of their lives these people are tainted in the eyes of society, and often even their close relatives want to have nothing to do with them for fear of being suspected by the police of being ‘terrorist’-sympathisers.

Bhushan was bitterly critical of the role of the police, large sections of which, he said, were biased against Muslims and who themselves violate the law that they are meant to uphold. In this regard, he called for the setting up of a high-powered enquiry commission consisting of three retired Supreme Court judges to go into the numerous cases of ‘fake’ and ‘communalised’ investigations by the police in terror attacks. He noted that a police complaints authority had been suggested by the Supreme Court some years ago, and remarked that this is yet to be set up. He also called for adequate representation of Muslims and other vulnerable minorities in the police force. In addition, he suggested the need for a high-powered international tribunal to examine the very real threats to secularism and democracy in India.

Noted Delhi-based columnist Girish Nikam voiced similar concerns. Reflecting on his own experience of having worked in the ‘mainstream’ media for several years, he said that the attitude of large sections of the media to the issue of terrorism was ‘indefensible’, in particular their relative silence on Hindutva terror and their sensational reporting of cases of Muslims being accused of terrorism even in cases when no firm evidence had been brought against them. This reflected what he said was a deep-rooted sentiment held by many that Muslims were to be presumed guilty until proven innocent. And, he added, any critique of this policy is often quickly branded as ‘anti-national’.

Others who testified at the tribunal included Kavita Srivastava, head of the Rajasthan unit of the PUCL, Tej Kumar, an advocate who has taken up the case of some Rajasthani Muslim youth accused of as terrorists, as well as several men and women from various parts of Rajasthan whose relatives continue to languish in jail and some others who had been arrested on false charges but were later released.

Public tribunals like this one serve a valuable purpose, enabling victims to articulate their voices when these continue to go unheard in the corridors of power. However, given the fact that, particularly in the wake of the recent Mumbai attacks, the issue of terrorism has assumed alarming proportions and the role of fringe radical Islamist terror in fomenting strife in India groups cannot be ignored, it is imperative that human rights groups take a broader and more balanced perspective. While state terror and terror unleashed by Hindutva groups rightly deserve to be condemned, for us to turn a blind eye to terror engaged by radical Islamist groups is not just unacceptable, unfair and unethical, but also, from the point of view of our joint struggle against all forms of terror, which feed on each other, extremely counter-productive.

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Jaipur public tribunal on terror   Preliminary Jury Findings and Recommendatioms

Preliminary Jury Findings and Recommendations of the People’s Tribunal on

“State Action in the Name of
Countering Terrorism and Conversions”

held in Jaipur on 7-8 November, 2008

2008 NOVEMBER 9 | JAIPUR, RAJASTHAN, INDIA

The two day hearing organised by more than two dozens human rights and social organisations at Rajasthan Samagra Sewa Sangh concluded on the evening of the 8th of November. It had the participation of over two hundred women, men and children.

The Jury of the Tribunal was chaired by Justice S. N. Bhargava, former Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court and former Chairperson of the State Human Rights Commission, Prashant Bhushan, Senior Counsel, Supreme Court of India, Dr. Ram Punyani, formerly Prof IIT, Mumbai, Dr. Sandeep Pandey, Magasaysay Award winner and Convenor of the NAPM, Neelabh Mishra, Editor Outlook Masik and Dr. Yoginder Sikand, Writer on Indian Muslim Issues.

More than 40 persons deposed in front of the jury. They included survivors (the seriously injured) of the May 13th Jaipur serial Bomb Blast), innocent Muslims who were kept for several days in illegal custody in the name of investigation of the bomb blast, Survivors of the Ethnic cleansing of the Bengali Speaking migrants in the name of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, Father’s and Pastors who had bore the brunt of State supported Hindu Right wing violence. Several Lawyers, Journalists, Activists, teachers and children also deposed adding evidence of the violations on the minorities.

The Jury after listening to the survivors, their advocates and social workers for over two days they reached arrived at the following preliminary findings

1. SETTING UP COMMITTEE FOR THE MONITORING OF THE INJURED OF THE MAY 13 SERIAL BOMB BLAST OF JAIPUR
   
   According to us the members of the jury there are widespread complaints about the distribution of compensation to the blast victims. There were also complaints about the nature of relief received and the quantum of compensation given to those who were injured.
   
   It is recommended that those who have been injured must not only be compensated for injury but also for loss of livelihood during their period of injury and disablement. A monitoring committee should be created to monitor the health condition of these injured along with the distribution of compensation which should include the fund for education for children, livelihood, social security of the old and medical fund.
   
   A white paper should be issued by the government about receipt and expenditure of all money received and spent by the government with respect to the blasts.
   
   
2. VIOLATION OF THE LAW AND ETHNIC PROFILING OF THE MUSLIMS BY THE RAJASTHAN POLICE AND THE MEDIA IN THE NAME OF INVESTIGATION OF THE JAIPUR BOMB BLAST.
   
   ETHNIC CLEANSING OF THE BENGALI SPEAKING MUSLIM MIGRANTS.
   
   DEMANDING THE SETTING UP A HIGH POWERED INQUIRY COMMISSION OF AT LEAST 3 RETIRED JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT TO EXAMINE THE INVESTIGATION OF THE BOMB BLAST CASES
   
   The police authorities investigating the terror offences appear to be violating all the laws of the land and directions of the Supreme Court during the conduct of the investigations. In particular, many persons have been detained for days or weeks, without showing them to be arrested and without producing them before any Magistrate. They have been sometimes tortured and humiliated by the police officers. They have not been allowed to meet their relatives and lawyers, who have often not even been informed of their detention. The investigation of the blasts by the police also appears to be communally motivated and only persons belonging to the Muslim community have been the target of the investigations. The names of HUJI and SIMI have been bandied about by the police as the perpetrators of the blasts without any evidence. A number of former members of SIMI have been arrested and detained without any basis or evidence against them. The media has also been uncritically repeating and amplifying the baseless allegations and innuendoes of the police mentioning persons and organizations belonging to the Muslim community, thus resulting in ethnic profiling and feeding into the Islamophobia being sought to be created and reinforced in the minds of the Hindu community by the Hindutva organizations. In Jaipur this has resulted in the vilification of the entire Bengali Muslim community who have been victimized by the Hindutva organizations in complicity with the police. Thousands of them have after the blasts been picked up and forcibly transported to New Jalpaiguri and then Bangladesh without any due process of law and without giving them an opportunity to show their Indian Citizenship. This has resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Jaipur.
   
   We feel that in the light of similar evidence that has been coming from other parts of the country about the targeting of innocent persons, particularly from the Muslim community by the police for various blasts taking place in the country, it has become necessary for the government to set up a High powered Inquiry Commission of at least 3 retired Judges of the Supreme Court to examine whether the police investigations into the various serial blasts which have taken place across the country this year are being done honestly and whether members of a particular community are being victimized in the investigations. This has become necessary because of a strong and widespread feeling of victimization among the Muslim community of the country which is leading to a strong sense of alienation, despair and anger. Unless this is addressed and redressed it may have disastrous consequences for the country.
   
   
3. SETTING UP OF A POLICE COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY
   
   It has become particularly urgent to set up police complaints authorities at the district and State levels as directed by the Supreme Court in the police reforms judgement.
   
   
4. STRENGTHENING OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONS
   
   The National and State Human Rights Commissions need to be strengthened by giving them adequate powers, providing them with their own dedicated police machinery and also by broadbasing and making transparent, the selection of their members.
   
   
5. ADEQUATE REPRESENATION OF MINORITIES IN THE STATE POLICE SERVICES
   
   The time has also come to ensure by law that every State police service should have adequate representation from the Minority communities in the State.
   
   
6. BIASED MEDIA REPORTAGE OF THE BLAST INVESTIGATION
   
   The role of the media in the reportage of the blast investigations has by and large been extremely biased. They have been uncritically purveying and amplifying unsubstantiated and motivated leaks and plants by the police, which has led to the destruction of the lives and reputations of many innocent persons. It also seriously prejudices their fair trial. It has also led to communal profiling and vilification of the Muslim community as terrorists. The Press Council should lay down clear guidelines regarding such reportage and should be given powers to enforce those guidelines.
   
   
7. JUDICIARY OUGHT TO PROACTIVELY PREVENT THE VIOLATION OF THE LAW BY THE POLICE
   
   The judiciary has also not been taking steps to ensure that the police during these investigations act within the law and do not indulge in extra judicial detention, torture and victimization of innocent persons. They need to be proactive in ensuring this and taking action against errant police officers. In particular, all proceedings related to such offences need to be taken up and disposed with utmost expedition.
   
   
8. STATE SUPPORT TO HINDUTVA RIGHT WING FORCES TO INDULGE IN VIOLENCE AND HATE OF MINORITIES
   
   We find that various Hindutva organizations which have been indulging in violent crimes of mob violence and of provoking enmity and hatred among communities are being allowed to do this with impunity and have not been brought to book. This is resulting in the strengthening of their hold over the establishment of the country and their clout in civil society. It has become imperative for the authorities, particularly the police and the judiciary to take strong action against them and their members for their illegal activities.
   
   
9. THE COMMUNAL ACTIONS OF CORPORATE HOUSES
   
   It is unfortunate that Corporate leaders like Infosys have resorted to firing innocent persons who were detained by the police despite the fact that no charges were finally brought against them. This practice is totally unfair and illegal and must be stopped immediately.
   
   
10. BAR ASSOCATIONS ACTING AGAINST THE PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL JUSTICE
    
    We find that Bar Associations have been passing resolutions directing lawyers not to represent those accused of terror offences. This is not only against the principles of Natural Justice, but is also contempt of Court. Strong action needs to be taken against the office bearers of such bar Associations by the Courts.

People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Rajasthan (PUCL), Rajasthan Smagra Sewa Sangh, Jamaat e Islami Hind, Rajasthan Samta Sainik Dal, Centre for Dalit Rights, All India Peace and Solidarity Organization (Rajasthan), Jaipur Christian Fellowship & Rajasthan Christian Association, National Muslim Women’s Welfare Society, Jaipur, Sohard Resource Centre for Peace and Harmony through the Arts, Academy for Socio Legal Studies, Sadbhav Manch, IRADA, Bhai Chara Foundation, Rajasthan, National Federation of Indian Women, Human Development Society and Milli Council

Kavita Srivastava

General Secretary, PUCL Rajasthan

Address for correspondence:

76, Shanti Niketan Colony, Kisan Marg, Barkat Nagar, Jaipur-302015

Tel.: 0141-2594131

Mobile: 9351562965

Jaipur public tribunal on terror   Preliminary Jury Findings and Recommendatioms