We need to make sure that our justice system — once the pride of India, now overburdened
and slow — gets its mojo back. Because a weak justice delivery mechanism can
kill democracy.
India
has carried out the execution of Yakub Memon,†says the BBC, “the man convicted
of financing the deadly 1993 Mumbai bombings.†It goes on to say that 257
people were killed in the Mumbai blasts. In my quiet hotel room overlooking the
Mediterranean Sea, this news is supposed to
induce further calm. Oh good, this horrible mass murderer
has finally been punished for his crimes. How carefully we simplify news, how
neatly we cut off jagged ends and make a nice, presentable, bite-sized package
to be consumed easily.
No talk of how Yakub Memon, an accidental participant in the horrible acts of
terror, had defied his brother Tiger Memon, one of the masterminds of the
blasts, stepped out of the protection of the Inter-Services Intelligence of
Pakistan and willingly come back to
India to cooperate with the Indian government. No talk of how the blasts that
killed 257 were a response to the horrifying Bombay riots of 1992-93 that killed over 900.
Or of the planned demolition of the Babri Masjid before the riots. Nothing
justifies the killing of
innocents through bomb blasts, of course, but looking at it out of context
gives a wrong picture to the uninitiated.
There are several worrying facts here. We need to address them as responsible
citizens of a beautifully crafted democracy that is in danger of crumbling. We
need to make sure that our justice system —once the pride of India, now
overburdened, slow and far less majestic
than before — gets its mojo back. Because a weak justice delivery mechanism can
kill democracy.
First, we are told that it was necessary to hang Yakub Memon because he was a
terrorist. So were the others sentenced with him, some of whom had far bigger
roles in the blasts, but whose death sentences were commuted to life
imprisonment. Yakub, sadly, was the absconding Tiger Memon’s brother. In our
country, your family is more important
than your own deeds. He had to hang.
Second, it was necessary, we are told, for justice, for closure for the
families of those 257 dead. What about justice for the 900 dead in the same
city just before that? Do their families not deserve closure?
There have been only three convictions for the riots that killed so many and
wounded thousands. Three Shiv Sena men were sentenced to one year in prison. Of
them, one was a member of Parliament so he got instant bail, and died a free
man. On the other hand, 100 people were convicted for the blasts, of which
several are in jail and Yakub hanged.
Third, why are acts of terror that kill 257 worse than acts of terror that kill
900? Why is being blown to bits by a bomb worse than being butchered and raped
and killed by sadistic murderers protected by the powers that be?
To
investigate the riots, the Congress government set up a commission of inquiry,
headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna. When the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition came to power in Maharashtra,
it quickly disbanded it. It was brought back following a huge public outcry,
and asked to probe the blasts as well. The Srikrishna Commission declared that
the riots were instigated by the Shiv Sena and Hindu mobs, and that the blasts were a direct
result of the riots and the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The report was
brushed aside by the Hindutva political brotherhood, and Shiv Sena supremo Bal
Thackeray lived like a king and was given a state funeral when he died in 2012.
To investigate the blasts, however, we did not have a commission. We had a
special, horrific law, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act
(Tada). Yakub and other convicts were tried under this inhuman, now defunct
law. Yakub was hanged under this law that lapsed in 1995. How fair is that?
Fourth, our honourable political parties fight for brownie points over the
lives of citizens stamped “terroristâ€. If the Congress-led government could
collect patriotism brownie points by the disgusting, secret hanging of Afzal
Guru, how could the BJP-led government
not grab patriotic brownie points by hanging Yakub Memon? Killing convicts is a
show of strength. And the President must remain a rubber stamp —
robotically discarding all mercy pleas.
Fifth, there is a feeling that our justice system sometimes panders to political
expediency and mob sentiment. Which gives a majoritarian tilt to justice. We
saw it in the Allahabad
high court’s verdict on the Babri Masjid. It attempted to rectify the imagined
wrong of a
Hindu temple being demolished at the site 500 years ago, but made no attempt to
rectify the recent wrong of demolishing the Babri Masjid witnessed by the
nation on live television. Instead, it allowed those who demolished the mosque
to profit from their crime, thus legitimising the act. By trying to provide a
political solution to a politicised problem of faith, the court let the
muscle-flexing majority influence legal justice, disregarding the
constitutional guarantee of equality before the law.
That acts of violence against Muslims are not punished the same way acts of
violence by Muslims are, is worrying. Maya Kodnani, accused of killing a
hundred-odd people during the Gujarat riots, is out on bail, and the courts are
reportedly going slow on those accused of “Hindu terror†while moving swiftly
on Muslims — all this gives reason to fear for the health of Indian democracy.
Sixth, is it shocking that though Yakub was helping state agencies in the
blasts probe and gave them evidence of Pakistan’s involvement, he was
still hanged? Not really. When the state wants to look good it often yanks up
someone at hand to throw him to the lions. When they need to, investigative
officers unflinchingly frame police informers, or surrendered militants working
with the agencies, as terrorists.
They are usually Muslims. Yakub was not the only one betrayed by our law
enforcement officers and justice system.
Seventh, in our country, justice often eludes the powerless. Minorities disproportionately
fill our prisons, mostly as undertrials. Muslims, dalits and tribals make up 53
per cent of India’s
prison population.
Let’s face it, our justice system is biased towards the powerful. If we wish to
save the secular, democratic credentials of India, this justice deficit needs
to be urgently rectified.
The writer is editor of The Little Magazine. She can be contacted at:
[email protected]
