Political Diary

New Delhi, 9 January 2024

Der Hai Andher Nahi

BILKIS GETS JUSTICE 

By Poonam I Kaushish 

Courts have to dispense justice and not see that justice is dispensed with, this lexicon comes to mind when one is faced with a heartbreaking and brutal account of Circa 27 February 2002: Three days mayhem of rioting and killing which began after Muslims reportedly set fire to a bogey of Sabarmati Express near Godhra, Gujarat carrying 60 kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya, sparking revenge attacks by Hindu groups resulting in 1044 dead, of which 740 were Muslims and 254 Hindus, 233 missing and 2500 injured.

Circa 3 March 2002: Witnessed the worst horror when 21 years old and five months pregnant Bilkis Bano was gang raped and her three-year old daughter among 14 family members killed while fleeing the horror of communal riots. In November police state her case true, but culprits not found. Next year April Bilkis approaches Supreme Court seeking CBI investigation which is granted.  

Circa April 2004: Charge-sheet is filed against 20 people and Supreme Court transfers case to Mumbai. In 2008 11 are convicted to life imprisonment for murder, 7 acquitted and two abated due to death.

Circa May 2022: A convict appeals Supreme Court against a July 2019 Gujarat High Court order which ruled Maharashtra “appropriate Government to decide his plea for remission on grounds that he had completed 15 years and four months of his life term.” The Court allows the 11 convicts to appeal Gujarat Government for their early remission which cedes their request and they are released 15 August 2022.  

Shockingly, the convicts are given a hero’s welcome with band-baaja, garlands and sweets and seen sharing the stage with a BJP MP, which receives nation-wide criticism and condemnation. Given, a convict is a convict, and he cannot be felicitated on his release. Sic.

Circa September 2022: A distraught Bilkis challenges remission in Supreme Court and yesterday 8 January 2024 Court quashes Gujarat Government’s order granting 11 convicts remission and orders the accused to report back to jail in two weeks. Rapping the State Government for not having “any jurisdiction to entertain application for remission or pass orders as it was not the appropriate Government.”

Noting, “The Government abused its discretion, usurped power of Maharashtra and is on ‘thin ice.’ The incident took place in Gujarat but trial was shifted to Mumbai where a special court convicted the accused in 2008. The appropriate Government to decide on remission is the State where convicts were sentenced --- not where the offence was committed or the accused were imprisoned.” Hence, Maharashtra Government is the competent Government in this matter, it ruled.

More. It took Gujarat Government to task by avering convicts came with “unclean hands and got the order through fraudulent means by basing its order on an obsolete 1992 remission policy which was superseded in 2014 that bars convicts release in cases of capital offence. The State acted in tandem and was complicit with what  convicts were seeking from Supreme Court.

“This is exactly what this Court had apprehended at previous stages of this case and had intervened on three earlier occasions in the interest of truth and justice by transferring investigation of the case to CBI and trial to a Mumbai Special Court.” Ordering status quo ante, it reasoned that for convicts to apply for remission again they have to be back in prison first.

Not a few argue, why should they be sent back to prison as they had served 14 years of their sentence before their release? besides, they have good sanskar so should not their liberty be protected? Others opine: Should perpetrators of heinous crimes against women get remission? A big No.

Questionably, it is not only a question of Bilkis and violence but a much wider and larger national problem --- of increasing anger. This has resulted in a total breakdown of institutions, society, culture and ethical values. Replacing moral rules with naked force, hypocrisy and fraud. 

Killing yet another signpost of an increasingly enfeebled system. Symptomatic of complete lawlessness that has gripped the country. A new cult establishing an order of hatred and rage. An eerie stillness filling the senses with smell of death, mayhem and brutal carnage held hostage by rampant goondagardi.

Undeniably, what happened to Bilkis is not only abhorrent but also unacceptable in civilized society. A Government cannot be perceived to give patronage to criminals. How can our jan sevaks condone and bless convicts? As compassion and sympathy has no place before rule of law which is dispassionate, objective to be preserved. If Rule of Law is violated, the rod of law should descend to punish. The Rule of Law is the antithesis of arbitrariness. It would be a transgression of it as the Rule does not mean protection of a fortunate few.

The truth is that even as we have achieved political and economic freedom we still remain hostage to errant elements of society. Nothing justifies bloodshed or the call to commit violence in direct contravention of the law. If anyone has angst against authorities or person they should take up legal battle against them. Unless the larger network fuelling such anger and intolerance is brought to justice it will continue unabated.

Plainly rooting out malignancy of violence and immorality requires major surgery but India’s tragedy is that no one wants to rid itself of this rot gorging on our body forgetting that violence does not achieve anything. No matter what the provocation Rule of Law cannot be made to go for a toss. Nothing justifies violence or the call for dangerous descent into anarchy.

Importantly, India is at the moral crossroads. True, rules of the game have changed recklessly without a thought for the future yet in our present all pervasive decadence, interspersed with growing public distaste, cynicism and despair there comes a moment of truth and reckoning. Clearly, it is high time we, the people realize that we are putting a premium on violence and immorality.

Remember, a democracy is only as good as the refinement of its people’s moral sensibility. Our moral angst cannot be selective but should be just, honourable and equal.

The judgment holds the mirror that time to end this senseless grudges and violence that our lives are getting drenched in has come. It is distracting us from seeing or worrying about real pressing issues: rising poverty, unemployment, health and bettering lives. It should make people realize anyone indulging in irrational brutality or looking to settle a score should think twice, be it a Muslim or Ram bhakt.

We need to realise India is a big country with enough room for all to live in peace and goodwill. The aim should be to raise the bar, not lower it any more. Neither Lord Ram nor Allah will forgive us for playing havoc in its name. Can a nation be bare and bereft of all sense of shame and morality? And, for how long? After all, we are a civilized country and cannot destroy it as we shape New India.  What gives?

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)