Justice Saldanha Records 1000 Attacks in 2 Years. He Calls for Restoration of Rule of Law
The Hon’ble Mr. V.S. Acharya, Home Minister of Karnataka, On 26th January 2010, I undertook the painful duty of recording that during the short tenure of under two years of the BJP Government in this State, that 500 attacks on the Christian community had taken place. The State Government is acting in total violation of the Constitutional Mandate which guarantees freedom to practice and propagate one’s religion and this hate campaign has official sanction. There are organizations and institutions in this country which are maintaining a careful record of the increase in the number of these attacks in the State of Karnataka, as also of the fact that those involved in them are rarely arrested and even if arrested, the cases are clandestinely withdrawn. The victims are always wrongly arrested and your Government refuses to withdraw those cases and to crown it all, you have officially gone on record stating that all the attackers involved in such serious offences under the IPC are political activists according to you. This is a total aberration. August 15, 2010 brought the number of such attacks to exactly 1000, an increase of 500 in the last six months. The most sensational one came from your Party MLA – Prahlad Remani who is supposed to be the BJP MLA from Khanapur in Belgaum District. The attack was made by him in the course of his official address at the flag hoisting on Independence Day. I was in Pune attending a Conference on that day and the TV channels have shown his speech live. Among other statements, he has attacked the Christian community by stating that the British had sown the seeds of Christianity in this country (the man requires to be re-educated because this is factually false) and that Christianity and Christians have to be weeded out and thrown out of this country. This is a serious offence of inciting communal disharmony along with several other allied offences because it immediately provoked violence and tension in the whole District. The State, in such situations is required to register an offence and immediately proceed according to Law. This was not done. What is most atrocious is that when several complaints were lodged with the Police Authorities and an FIR was registered that instead of upholding the Law, the State Government immediately transferred the SP who had very rightly taken action. This was done by the Chief Minister and the Home Minister. This shows that the Statements made by the MLA are officially supported by the State Government and that the subversion of the Law and the legal process has also come from the Vidhana Soudha. The citizens of this State are protected by the Constitution of this country and therefore, demand from the State Government that action according to Law must follow. In the course of the last two years, there have been a whole series of cases where the State Government has incited, supported and shielded such communal attacks. The record also shows that the Law has been misused not only against the victims but against the Media whenever such cases have been highlighted and the International Human Rights Commission and the Press Council of India have taken serious note of this. The Central Government and the International Organizations have taken careful note of the fact that the State Govt. spends an average of Rs.50 Crores a day on self publicity in order to ensure that grave incidents of the present type are not reported. All these incidents are representative of a total breakdown of the Rule of Law in this State, it is a matter of deep regret that they have taken place even on a sacred day like August 15th and we demand that the Rule of Law be restored. JUSTICE MICHAEL F. SALDANHA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Now available in Toronto, a few copies of *Into The Diaspora Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho. Contact Bosco D'Mello [email protected] (416) 803-7264 http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/
